The moral and ethical bankruptcy of mainstream society is so, so evident when white people (and non-black people of color to a lesser extent) designate and code peaceful protests as riots. By feeding into that white supremacist concept of inherent black criminality, American citizens are responsible for the continued dehumanization of black people that gets us shot in the street by ‘defenders of the peace’ in the first place. When we grieve and mourn the loss of our loved ones, we are told to do something about it, not just take to the internet to complain. And when the peaceful, organized activists in Ferguson, Missouri, take to the streets in protest, they are told to stop infringing upon the peace of the community. The same goes for the protestors standing in solidarity with the people of Ferguson in Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C, etcetera. When black people, in what equates to murder victims standing for their own trial and being found guilty, experience this backwards application of ‘justice’, there’s this pervasive sorrow that settles amongst black American communities. When an Ohio grand jury failed to indict the the police officer who shot John Crawford III in a Walmart, and Eric Garner’s murderers (also cops), have yet to be indicted in New York, when 12 year old Tamir Rice’s life is taken by a cop, there’s this inexplicable mix of rage, sorrow, and fear. When every 28 hours (the average occurrence of an African American male death at the hands of a white cop) black Americans are reminded how little our lives matter in this country, and when that point is hammered home as the perpetuators of these deaths are allowed to walk free, this anger and bitterness sets in. Martin Luther King, Jr., champion of peaceful protest and civil rights, whom no one would disagree was a Respectable Black Man, was still shot dead with a bullet to the face in April 1968. You can have your hands up in a universal sign of peace and still be gunned down by an officer of the law in this country, if you’re of the right skin color. So please don’t presume to tell black people what to feel and how to think when it comes to the inescapable truth that our lives don’t matter in this country. Unless you live it, you’ll never understand, so it’s best you stay quiet, listen to the voices of the people affected, and do what you can in your life to make this country less of a nightmare for the citizens living in it. Donate to protestors, sign petitions, educate yourself. Respect the wishes of the family of Mike Brown- don’t allow his death to fall into obscurity and, instead, work to reform the system that allowed this tragedy, and numerous tragedies like it, to occur in the first place. Reforming systemic and institutional racism cannot be accomplished with a sole peaceful movement in which black Americans and other people of color request for our existences to be respected. It comes down to each and every one of us to make that change palpable. The least we can do is allow citizens fueled by their rage at the inequality and unfairness of the US Justice System to exercise their constitutional right to protest.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 14:50:04 +0000