Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. - Article 1, Section 2, Paragraph 3 of the United States Constitution. America was founded on the notion that black people are not fully realized human beings. Even today, even after the 1954 Brown decision, after the Civil Rights Act and after the election of a half-black man to the Oval Office, that notion still informs the fabric of America. To be black in America is to surrender your claim on your body and your existential humanity. To be black is to be the physical marvel whose exploits on the playing field whose feats are complemented by his white teammate who is, by contrast, the epitome of grit and hustle. To be black in America is to secure an apartment lease, only to find it mysteriously sold off when the landlord sees the color of your skin. To be black in America is to inherit the legacy of the Hottentot Venus, Saartjie Baartman, which is still writ large in a country where black bodies are chattel, exhibition pieces, playthings and cannon fodder. When framed against this historical context, the how and the why of Darren Wilsons murder of Michael Brown hardly matters. Except insofar as this is the latest rallying point for blacks who have seen their brothers, fathers and cousins murdered by the police whose squad cars are ironically emblazoned with the motto to protect and serve A murderer will walk tonight, free to join his other brethren in uniform who are similarly complicit in the murders of John Crawford, Tamir Rice, Kajieme Powell, Ezell Ford and Eric Garner. These are merely names off the top of my head from 2014 alone. Todays failure to indict Darren Wilson for his murder of Michael Brown is but the latest data point on a graph that provably documents that Americas devaluation of black lives is still extant and has been since its inception. Well-intentioned folks will call for peace and calm and perhaps thats the best we can hope for in the interim - until another black kid is murdered by a police for his skin color. Temporary peace and calm wont save that kid. Neither will peddling in respectability politics. Support the Ferguson protesters and help them spread their voice. Let them know that youre better than America and that you hold them to be five fifths of a person. This battle was lost, but its one loss amongst the hundreds of other injustices that have transpired this year alone and they still continue to stand up for justice for Michael Brown, for Trayvon Martin, for Renisha McBride and for the black Americans who were or will be killed for being black. They stand up and protest as if their very lives depended on it. Because they quite literally do. https://indiegogo/projects/ferguson-defense-fund
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 03:44:54 +0000
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