There is not a lot to be happy (
not to be confused with grateful) about this Thanksgiving. In case you've been living under a rock the United States of America looks like Syria, or some other place in the Middle East in need of some
Free Dumb and Democracy quick, fast and in a hurry.
African Americans are under attack in the USA. I can't confirm, but I suspect this is a black, I mean back lash because we dared exercise our civic duty and elect an African American President not once, but twice. I know you are mad we have a black President, but please don't take it out on us. If I had known
white America was going to go this crazy I would have voted for Hillary.
I don't know why white America is mad because we have an African American President, he's done more for them than he has black folks. I kind of figured black folks were going to get screwed when candidate
Obama threw his long time pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, under the bus so white folks would vote for him.
My second clue was when
President Obama backed down from saying a Boston policeman acted stupidly when they arrested
Dr. Henry Louis Gates in his own damn house for being uppity.
My third clue was when the
white, male dominated media made him distance himself for Attorney Eric Holder's
"America is a nation of cowards when it comes to discussing matter of race" statement during a Black History Month program at the Justice Department of all places
I could go on and on about my
disappointment and
disillusionment in
America's first half black President, but that's not the topic I want to write about today. I want to write about
Ferguson Burning.
Ferguson burned. The police protected the White side of
town while allowing businesses on the Black side to be robbed and
burned. At least 12 buildings were on fire. Most protesters, though,
were peaceful. At two in the morning the police held a press conference.
They blamed protesters for tearing apart “the fabric of the community”.
Now
you won't hear about this in the white, male dominated mainstream US media, because it doesn't fit the
media driven
racial stereotype of
"violent protest" out of control
black brutes, angry because they can't have their way, but
Mike Brown's fathers church was burned to the ground.
A Ferguson, Mo., church gutted by fire on Monday was targeted by white
supremacists because the pastor had publicly called for Police Officer
Darren Wilson to be arrested, Rev. Carlton Lee alleged in an interview.
Flood Christian Church was one of more than a dozen buildings and
businesses damaged by arsonists in the St. Louis suburb overnight after a
grand jury chose not to indict Wilson in the shooting death of a black
teen.
Lee was an ever-present fixture next to Michael Brown Sr. in the months
after his son, Michael Brown Jr., was killed in a violent confrontation
with Wilson on Aug. 9. The elder Brown was even baptized at the church
on Sunday.
Let me put this
black folks can't demand equal rights because of
black on black crime meme to rest once and for all. Black folks don't march when black folks kill each other for the same reason white folks don't march when
white folks kill each other. Black folks do not commit the most crimes because they are black,
black folks are convicted of committing the most crimes because they are black.
What is wrong with this argument:
- It is a deflection. The people who make it do not truly care about black-on-black crime.
- It creates a false choice: Most who are truly concerned with black-on-black crime were upset about the Zimmerman case too.
- It allows the white press to determine reality,
which makes it seem like Zimmerman is an exception while no one is
doing anything about black-on-black crime. As it turns out, on average
there is a Zimmerman-style shooting (armed security person or vigilante
killing an unarmed black person) once every 28 hours. Trayvon Martin is
just what made the papers. His case is hardly the worst nor the only one
to get protests. Likewise, there is plenty being done about
black-on-black crime, like by the Nation of Islam, but the white press
is not particularly interested in reporting that either. Even worse, the
white press turns a blind eye to the bad policing that leads to a high
black crime rate. Yet, somehow, it always seems to find time to show
black male suspects on the 11 o’clock news.
- Crime is mostly intra-racial. That means there will
always be way more black-on-black crime than white-on-black crime.
While it is true that 94% of black murders are black-on-black, it is
just as true that 86% of white murders are white-on-white. In fact, most
crime in America is white-on-white – yet for every web page that
mentions “white-on-white crime”, there are 25 that mention
“black-on-black crime”.
- It makes the worth of black life conditional.
Conditional on good behaviour, like low crime rates. Once blacks get
black-on-black crime under control, then they can act as if their lives
matter, then they can act as if they should have justice, then they can
act as if they are human beings with human rights. Meanwhile the worth
of white life is taken seriously, as absolute, as not being conditional.
Compare Nicole Simpson to Trayvon Martin:
- No one belittled the killing of Nicole Simpson by quoting white
crime statistics, saying “white people kill each other all the time,
what’s the big deal?”
- No one deflected by talking about white parenting or violence in white films.
- No one made Nicole Simpson posters for target practice.
- No one pretended to be a dead Nicole Simpson for laughs.
- No one questioned Nicole Simpson’s character – or her choice in clothing.
Ferguson is right to resist by any means and all means necessary. We shall not remain calm while we're being attacked. We shall Overcome.....
We didn't land on Plymouth Rock Plymouth Rock landed on us.