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| "When Trayvon Martin was first shot, I said that this could have been my son," |
President Obama finally issued a statement regarding the death of Michael Brown, asking people to remember Micheal Brown with reflections and understanding.
Oh, OK.
Reflect on THIS:
By all accounts, [Michael] Brown was One Of The Good Ones. But laying all this out, explaining all the ways in which he didn't deserve to die like a dog in the street, is in itself disgraceful. Arguing whether Brown was a good kid or not is functionally arguing over whether he specifically deserved to die, a way of acknowledging that some black men ought to be executed.
Understand THIS
THIS is why we're mad about the shooting of Mike Brown.Officers have tanks now. They have drones. They have automatic rifles, and planes, and helicopters, and they go through military-style boot camp training. It's a constant complaint from what remains of this country's civil liberties caucus. Just this last June, the ACLU issued a report on how police departments now possess arsenals in need of a use. Few paid attention, as usually happens.The worst part of outfitting our police officers as soldiers has been psychological. Give a man access to drones, tanks, and body armor, and he'll reasonably think that his job isn't simply to maintain peace, but to eradicate danger. Instead of protecting and serving, police are searching and destroying.If officers are soldiers, it follows that the neighborhoods they patrol are battlefields. And if they're working battlefields, it follows that the population is the enemy. And because of correlations, rooted in historical injustice, between crime and income and income and race, the enemy population will consist largely of people of color, and especially of black men. Throughout the country, police officers are capturing, imprisoning, and killing black males at a ridiculous clip, waging a very literal war on people like Michael Brown.
As a black person in America, it's getting exhausting to still have to explain, in the year 2014, your right to exist in this country. To explain that you are a human being whose value sits no lower than anyone else's. To explain our basic humanity. And perhaps worst of all, to explain exactly why we are outraged.
11 comments:
I too, get frustrated when the media emphasizes that the most recent murdered young black man was decent and didn't deserve to die, inferring that others may be expendable. I believe the reason for the madness of bringing up the character of said victim is not as profound as it may seem on the surface. I believe it's as much about social class as color.
If a young man is gunned down in a poor white section of town, an area commonly suffering from drugs, unemployment, etc., you'll find too that his decency or lack thereof will be mentioned. Of course, police aren't nearly as trigger-happy in the poorest of white communities as they are in even the richest of black, but that is really another complicated story.
We MUST remember that all people are taught to be racist. It does not come naturally and must be carefully nurtured to sustain itself. If a person is a bigot but lucky enough to leave the area of hatred and find a community of tolerance, many come to find their prejudice a shameful character flaw and will work to be free from it.
Children raised in colorblind families are shocked at the open racism and violence popping up everyday throughout our country. As parents we try to comfort and explain the unexplainable, but also see the hatred coming out-of-the-closet, so to speak; things you wouldn't hear 10 years ago now being casually expressed in the media, politics and the worse of all - online.
It has always started with children and always will. We must listen and filter what they hear when very young. We must know how they are being taught at school and the nuances of teachers. We must know if their friend's families are hate-free and if not, have earnest discussions why we feel this or that family's intolerant and lacking.
When we pass other races on the street we must smile, make eye contact and acknowledge: "yes, I see you, you have every right to walk here as I - I trust before the fact that you are a good person so I smile to show you that I'm trustworthy too and to acknowledge we're all in this together".
This bloodshed MUST stop. It's as if we're going backward. We must demand the police work for ALL citizens. That lawmakers work for all. That Congress get to work on voting rights the SCOTUS 5 stupidly decided were no longer necessary. We must insist on the best behavior of any who represent us or they must step down.
ENOUGH.
"t has always started with children and always will. We must listen and filter what they hear when very young. We must know how they are being taught at school and the nuances of teachers. We must know if their friend's families are hate-free and if not, have earnest discussions why we feel this or that family's intolerant and lacking."
Well said bookthief, and welcome to RedEye's Front Page! As a person of color I've often wondered if racism is learned behavior or taught behavior.
@ Daryal... I believe at issue here is Michael Brown, not a known criminal. Michael was headed for college and a life that held promise. He wasn't some punk looking for trouble.
Thank you redeye - I really admire your writing.
"Throughout the country, police officers are capturing, imprisoning, and killing black males at a ridiculous clip, waging a very literal war on people like Michael Brown."
@ BOOKTHIEF-- I know that. I was refering to the comments in the story listed above!
Thank you for your kind words bookthief.
@DARYAL Pinchon You lie and say you are black when you're not, and you say "people like me write half-truths"? LOL
@ Daryal... "Throughout the country, police officers are capturing, imprisoning, and killing black males at a ridiculous clip, waging a very literal war on people like Michael Brown."
If you can't see this is true, you really need to step out of the conservative bubble or admit your true identity is Clarence Thomas.
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