This is the second of Tyreses posts regarding this boycotting Black Friday in order to start a movement for change on the front lines of the war on racism. Sadly, I doubt it will have the impact he is hoping for and while I am all for ending the racism war, using Michael Browns death as the catalyst is not the way to go about it. Use someone upstanding, not someone who was caught in the middle of committing a criminal activity. Not someone who made poor choices that lead to their own demise. I know I am going to piss many people off by weighing in on this, but I feel that some points need to be made. ******************************************************************************************************** Yesterday, I read a post from a very influential celebrity ~Tyrese~ who normally promotes love, unity, peace, and demotes hatred, racism and ignorance. However, yesterdays post was as many said going to cause his social media suicide. I have to wonder if they are spot-on being as when I first read the post that was to boycott Black Friday, (His actual Post was, Take a stand- NO SHOPPING ON BLACK FRIDAY - on behalf of Michael Brown - until you STOP we wont SHOP- you hit their pockets thats when they will pay attention #notguilty????? #FOH) I thought perhaps I am misunderstanding his message, because there is no correlation between the two; or perhaps he simply misstated his meaning and motivations behind the message. I was hoping that there was some explanation that would make sense. However, after spending too much of my valuable time reading through the comments, and trying to get an understanding of what is going on here, here is the conclusion that I came too. This movement lacks logic, reasoning, and principle. Let me continue first by stating that this was posted on HIS page, and while I may not agree with his motives, or his stance in how to deal with this case, it is HIS page and I am always the first to stand up for peoples right that they have the right to post whatever they want on their own page. However, I am also going to use that very same right to share my thoughts on my own page in regards to this. Before I actually get started with what I have to say in regards to this movement I want to take a moment to thank Ms. Elizabeth Galindo for taking the time to educate those on the comments thread that tried turning the term Black Friday into being another racial slur as to how and why the term Black Friday actually came about. Here is her very insightful post for any that may not have known the history of this term. Elizabeth Galindo The term “Black Friday” was coined in the 1960s to mark the kickoff to the Christmas shopping season. “Black” refers to stores moving from the “red” to the “black,” back when accounting records were kept by hand, and red ink indicated a loss, and black a profit. Ever since the start of the modern Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1924, the Friday after Thanksgiving has been known as the unofficial start to a bustling holiday shopping season. For those making black friday once again a race thing. Read up and get educated. Corporate America is not to blame for the Brown case in Ferguson, so to attempt to attack Corporate Americas pocket books makes absolutely no sense. Just the same as the businesses (who more than likely dont even participate in Black Friday sales, or at least not to the same extent the large corporations do) in Ferguson being destroyed. The Brown case is nothing more than being the catalyst for people to behave in such a deplorable manner and think they actually have the right to justify their actions. It has about as much sense as someone saying they are going to do more shopping than they had originally planned too just to support cops across this country....There Is No Correlation! The irony is that there are many people trying to justify how boycotting Black Friday is going to make an impact on this case. I especially like how Eddie Thomas tries to explain it and at the same time throws Tyrese under the bus as being a racist himself. Eddie Thomas Let me explain .... He is pointing out that blacks should not shop on Black Friday ... Why research shows that black people out buy more than whites and thats a fact ... So in order to get attention that is needed you hit it where it hurts ,their pockets ... Again this message is really for blacks ... See Tyrese didnt want to sound racist and one sided ... Obviously white people always take something and misconstrue , make and issue that has nothing to do with it , to fit their agenda ... #knowledge. Again, it all goes back to being nothing more than the catalyst of excuses for people to do what they had already been wanting to do but not having a reason too. They wanted to behave in a poor manner, now they got too. Many of the people that feel the cop was wrong (please keep in mind that I have not, and will not take sides, I am writing from a neutral stance in this case) have a compassionate heart towards the mother, and strongly feel that no mother should have to bury their child. I agree, no mother should have to endure that kind of pain, no mother should have to bury their child. But as a mother, that is our job, our responsibility to teach our children right from wrong. To guide our children into leading a life of honor and integrity. To admit they had done something wrong, and to pay the consequences for our own decisions and actions. Sadly, too many mothers and fathers are not teaching their children these values, and we now have a society filled with an entitlement attitude. A society full of people saying that because they had it rough growing up everyone else owes them not only the world, but the sun, moon and stars too. Sorry people, but that is not life, nor reality. Not one person owes you shit! You owe it to yourself to pull yourself up by the bootstraps and get out there and make a life and a legacy for yourself! Where was his Momma at when he should have been learning all these valuable life lessons? It is up to each and everyone of us to teach our youth to act with integrity, and responsibility. Rather than promoting that black youths will be targeted while white youths can get away with murder, we need to be raising awareness to the sad state our society is in AS A WHOLE, not black vs. white crap. Families are dysfunctional, parenting is no longer about raising your child about being a productive member of society but about getting them to their eighteenth birthday and turning them loose on society to teach, usually through the prison system. We need to focus on the real issues at hand here. Not harming those simply trying to provide for their family by boycotting their job. This boycotting Black Friday is NOT going to hit the people where it hurts. If anything, it is only going to hurt the wrong people, and help the wrong people. Tyrese is wanting to make a statement peoples pocket books, SO SHOP WHEN THERE ARE SALES! They are still making a profit. But going out and getting the same stuff that you would ANYWAYS, whether it be because you need it, want it, or are gifting it at some point this holiday season, is only going to help those he is trying to attack because then you are having to pay full price for the crap anyways. The sad thing, is that there are going to be many families that can not afford stuff without the Black Friday sales, so it is only promoting that families hurt themselves, hurt their children, their spouses, that they suffer without, and for what? So that people like Mr. Gibson, who can afford to burn his money can make a point? Yes, he has the means to go out and buy what he wants when he wants. What about the family that has been saving a little here and a little there all year long for this one day so that they can get the things they have been doing without at an affordable price, or that they could give their children the Christmas, or birthday that they deserve? It is not as cut and dry as Mr. Gibson would like to make it out to be. Not only are ones knowingly going to be hurting themselves, but what about the people they inadvertently hurt....the extra employees that have either been scheduled to work, or who have volunteered to work in order to make extra money, and now they are going to be sent home early because of the lack of customers showing up. Now you have played a part in costing someone much needed income. Working at a retail store is NOT a glamorous job that pays so well that people love going into work. It is a job that provides a roof over their head, and food in their bellies and keeps them off welfare. Are you going to have a hand in ripping rug that self-sufficiency out from under their feet? Are you going to stand in line with them to get an application at the welfare office when they cant make their bills, or put food on the table for their children, all because one person wanted to promote vengeance? Are you going to promote a message that translates to its ok to commit illegal activity as long as youre a black youth? Mr. Gibson, you have the ability, position and authority to influence people and you choose to press a movement that will harm all the wrong people while the ones you are wanting to affect will still prosper. This is absurd! People follow you not because of your fame, but rather because you normally are such an inspiration, and you encourage people to achieve excellence and success. Please use your status to try educating those who are destroying the mom and pop businesses, who are rioting, and looting these small town businesses into bankruptcy and despair. Try educating parents of young children to take their responsibility seriously and teach their children right from wrong, and to stand up and admit when they made a mistake, and to accept accountability for it. Try teaching parents the importance of teaching their young children to be law abiding citizens, to let the the judicial system do its job, and that knowledge that there will be times when the judicial system will fail but that doesnt mean it is over, because it is still in Gods hands, and God WILL HAVE vengeance. Use your celebrity status to teach the importance of getting an education, and working hard, to have self-respect, as well as show others respect......INCLUDING Respecting AUTHORITY! Use your influence to educate society on the peaceful means in which Dr. King and Rosa Parks made an impact that forever changed our society, history, and so many lives. Use your influence to teach our youth the impact that just one person can have on an entire community. Dr. King marched, and Rosa Parks silently stood her ground in her seat and they had most impact, positive impact than all these rioting fools. Why dont you use your influence to teach todays youth that honey catches more flies than vinegar. A term that has been proven more times than not throughout life. How many people have been hurt in these riots? How many businesses have been destroyed, and families that will lose everything now because they lost their income in the riots? How many people will lose their jobs because of following a movement aka rioting for a cause they dont clearly understand? This movement/rioting has been captured for the nation to watch, for employers to watch their employees partake in. That is going to have a bigger affect than boycotting Black Friday. By promoting this movement, you are condoning the rioting in Ferguson, you are justifying the entitlement attitude that has infiltrated our society, and you are motivating and inciting more hatred, racism, and ignorance and I know from the many videos motivational talks that you have shared, that this is NOT the message that you are wanting to convey. So many of your fans (both black, white, chinese, hispanic, etc.) have not only been caught off-guard by this stance you have chosen to take, but are disgusted and disappointed by it. I have read many of the comments, and many of the black population is just as indignant about his stance as any of the rest of us, because this has NOTHING to do with racism, with the continuing black vs. white battle of who is victimized more, worse, etc. This has nothing to do with the Brown case in Ferguson. This has everything to do with ignorance consuming our society. This has everything to do with the social experiments that are perpetrated on our communities through media outlets deciding what we have the right to know and what we dont have the right to know. The media outlets have for ages, been in control of curving the information to get the reaction that they want. So how does boycotting affect media? It doesnt! The media is going to be in control of the information you get today the same as they were yesterday and will be tomorrow. That is not going to change unless we attack the media out lets directly. Stop watching the news, stop getting a newspaper delivered, stop paying for online memberships to news. Oh wait, that wont work either because then we are living blindly to the world around us. The fact of the matter is that this case has nothing to do with race, it is the media outlets bending over to a grieving mother to start another race war. It has everything to do with someone got caught doing something wrong and paid the ultimate price. It has everything to do with people making decisions and taking actions that keep themselves oppressed. I am not minimizing or denying the existence of racism and discrimination, they are very really issues that plague our society. What I am saying though, is that people try making issues where there are none. It is called making a mountain out of a mole hill. Yes, there were some serious issues with the Brown case, a boy in a mans body trying to play with the big dogs and paid the ultimate price. Who is to blame for that? He alone is responsible for the decisions he made that night. Just as the officer is responsible for the decision he made, and will have to live with for the rest of his life. True racism, and discrimination need to be addressed just as much as the dysfunctional state of families and the lack of parenting in our society; but you dont address racism by hurting those just trying to provide for their families. Just as you dont address parenting by closing schools down till parents start discipling their children. Life still goes on, and you make change happen by educating the masses. For all the people saying that the cop should be punished in some way, shape or form because he had to have tactical training and could have taken this kid down in another way that would not have ended in his death, he is a MAN. Being a cop doesnt make you a God, or make you untouchable, or above fear. This MAN had a split second to react. Did he go overboard, perhaps. Again, I am NOT going to take sides and say most definitely he over reacted, nor am I going to take sides and say the kid is lucky he only had one clip emptied into him. None of us were there, none of knows for sure what was running through either of their minds. We dont know the thought process, the fear, the anger, the hatred, WE KNOW NOTHING! Put yourself in the officers shoes, having someone more than double your size and towering over you coming at you....FRIGHTENING to say the least! Now add in the fact that the officer (picture yourself) is responding to a report of a crime in which another person had already been attacked. Imagine the fear, uncertainty and adrenalin raging through you. It is called the flight or fight mode, and once that fight mode is engaged, there is no calming it down or backing it off until the threat has ceased and desisted. As I started to write this, all that I had known about the case is that a white officer shot a black teen (the way it has been stated is as though he was a child who didnt know any better; let me clarify he was eightTEEN, which means he was to the age of accountability; the age to know and understand the differences between right and wrong; the age to legally make his own decisions and used his decision making faculties to engage in criminal activity that harmed others) during a store robbery because the teen attempted to relieve the officer of his gun. I also knew that the final shot had penetrated the top of Mr. Browns head, which without any further information would lead one to believe that he was bent over because he was going down from the previous shots. However, with researching this case, I have come to realize that the officer was still in his patrol vehicle, had fired twelve rounds with only seven of them hitting brown. At that close of range, and for someone trained in aiming a weapon, it is evident.....even without witness account that a struggle ensued, otherwise Brown would have been hit all twelve times! It also explains the reason the final shot in the top of the head, rather than in his chest. What is disturbing about all of this is that no one is focusing in on what Michael Brown did. Everyone is zeroed in on Officer Wilson, and what he did, vs. what he could have, should have done. No one is concerned with how the convenience store clerk who was attacked is doing now, or the fact that what Michael Brown did from making the decisions to rob the store, attack the clerk, attack a law enforcement officer, attempt to gain control of his gun, etc. all these were decisions HE (Michael Brown) made that lead up to him getting shot. Not to mention that there were black jurors on the Grand Jury, and the race card is still being played. It makes absolutely no sense! Its time to accept what he did was wrong, and sadly he paid the ultimate price. But rather than using his death to start a racist war, or inciting riots, and teaching our youth to pillage those who do them wrong, this young mans life should be an example of the importance to be law abiding citizens. His death is in vain, not because his life was cut short, or the officer wasnt indicted, but because the lessons that have followed in the days since the verdict have not been ones of raising our youth with more determination to create a better society for them to grow up in and to someday take charge of. That is why his death has been and will continue to be in vain. It is time to accept that Michael Brown made the decision to act and behave in a manner that lead to his demise.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 22:38:47 +0000
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