Over the past two weeks,
I’ve heard the word “unprecedented” used a lot.
The speakers have been discussing recent events
in connection with race relations in general,
and the state of race relations between minority communities
and police forces in particular.
The word “unprecedented” by definition means:
Never Done or Known Before
thus making the usage of it incorrect with regards to these circumstances.
These kinds of situations have happened before in this country
and more than once…
This would be the third time on a wholesale, country-wide level —
The 1800’s, 1960’s, and Now,
where things have engendered a nationwide response
with many other isolated times along the way historically in particular regions —
among them the 1921 destruction of The Greenwood District,
the wealthiest African American community in Tulsa, OK,
and one of the wealthiest in the country at the time,
known as Black Wall Street.
It was burned to the ground
leaving a reported 300 dead.
40 square blocks were destroyed comprised of churches, hospitals and schools
as well as some 1,265 homes,
leaving another 9,000 homeless.
Additional reports describe some of the attackers as having been deputized,
reacting to an accusation of sexual assault by a caucasian woman
against an African American man,
and demolishing an entire town because of it.
Let me apply my particular brand of clarity to what seems to be confusing to some people…
some historical, socio-political perspective — my point of view, from what I’ve read.
The USA is a patriarchal, puritanical society
which was created and further developed in the midst of ONE OF – if not – THE MOST
prolonged and intense campaigns of genocide ever perpetrated in the history of the world.
Additionally, it is a society where women have always been second class citizens,
and black people were brought here as chattel.
The attitudes are endemic and pervasive…
even among those who profess to be “different”,
and who “understand” the plight of the African American.
All of the concerns are welcome because progress must always be a group effort to succeed.
Still, on a human psyche level, it is difficult to dismiss something
that is a part of one’s personal “fabric”,
even if it is a series of unknown threads and unconscious behaviors or attitudes.
Those patterns are so woven into this country’s culture,
African Americans sometimes even do it to themselves —
less now than before as the citizenry has evolved over time.
In efforts to assimilate during every open opportunity
perceived as a move to “accept” African Americans into society,
there were “infractions” from within the multi-layered body
assuming the best and worst of some individuals,
based upon what had informed the populace’s attitude from the ruling class,
rather than making a judgment from individual knowledge,
or God Forbid, maybe giving somebody just like you the benefit of the doubt.
Elementary and HS history courses covered US slavery in about three pages
(and that is a generous estimate),
Followed by a few more pages on the Civil War,
(which then opened up to Abraham Lincoln’s speech and death).
According to history, the Civil War only lasted four years time
but everyday, in the home of the confederacy,
there is a reminder that some people in that state,
and the ones below it,
have not accepted it has actually ever ended
with them on the compromising side.
Crispus Attucks is largely the reason slavery was mentioned at all –
and that was for getting shot.
Well, there’s the rub.
Not only were African Americans instrumental in literally building the country,
one of the brothers took the first bullet for American freedom –
and his “descendants” still had to wait 100 years for a voice by ballot,
once Reconstruction efforts to be inclusive failed with Lincoln’s assassination.
This amendment is revisited every 20 years in case you haven’t been paying attention.
It has been revised at least six times since it was signed originally.
Part of it was struck down by the Supreme Court as recently as 2013.
It’s not written in stone.
(Speaking of amendments, how is it the NRA has been so quiet when a card carrying weapon holder was shot over a busted tail light — making only one Twitter comment about the reports from Minnesota being troubling?
This seems like exactly their type of fight. I’m just saying… Another story. Another time.)
The bottom line is all cops aren’t bad
the same way all African Americans aren’t bad —
Just know this treatment of African Americans by police force personnel
is NOT NEW —
The difference is it no longer takes time for the story to circulate.
The difference is the story is no longer a verbal description
which leaves the listener to imagine the action.
The difference is no one has to wait for Jet magazine to show an open casket
to impress upon people just how violently one segment of the population
feels about another segment.
The difference is —
now, with the news being instantly available,
filmed from several different angles,
people are reacting just as quickly.
And it’s not just about the modern police force either —
Please Keep In Mind —
historically,
straight through the Klan years,
in some towns, the major perpetrators of violence
against the African American community
were part of the police force —
again, remember the deputized who helped destroy Greenwood in Tulsa, 1921.
I’m not going to lie to you.
I can recall the times when particular crimes were 99.99% of the time
identifiable with particular segments of the community.
Black snipers and Black serial killers just didn’t seem to exist.
I can remember when people would say under their breath or out loud,
“please don’t let it be a Black person who did this”.
Just three weeks ago, I heard a Muslim person saying the same thing about a crime.
It is always interesting to know we are all more similar than we are different.
That brings me back to where I was headed on a larger point.
The treatment of people of color around the world is more similar than it is different.
Even in societies where the indigenous population is ALL BROWN,
the darker berries get treated as less desirable. (India)
Is this a side effect of having been under British rule for so long?
In countries with majority BROWN populations
the “ruling class” has seen fit historically to subjugate those people,
exploit them and the resources of the land,
then once the businesses were established and the owners grew tired of being there,
or were called out by the rest of the world to improve conditions,
the actions have been miminal at best to achieve any level of human equality,
in spite of finally letting a 94% majority population vote
to elect the previously jailed standard bearer for reform. (South Africa)
The damage to the people, the spirit, and the land had already been done.
I don’t think I need to go on because each “colonized territory” has a story;
Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia), Zambia (formerly Northern Rhodesia),
Botswana (formerly Bechuanaland), Malawi (formerly Nyasaland),
Australia (formerly called Terra Australis, which means “unknown southern land” —
I’m betting the “Aborigines”, who are actually many nations of original people on that contintent,
had a name for it but no one bothered to ask them before even starting to call them “Aborigines”)…
You get the idea.
Pay attention now —
The people who colonized those other nations
are the same people who colonized this one.
Different land mass, same old story.
(Next week, we’ll explore possibilities of why France is experiencing the lion’s share of modern terrorism attacks.
The French did their share of colonization as well.)
Meanwhile —
as it stands here on this soil,
Until a person can actually wake up in Black skin and are unable to remove the costume,
or let it wear off during the winter months,
understanding is empathetic at best.
People who are able to feel on a purely human level WILL understand up to 99.99%
but never totally 100.
I’ve analyzed my own behavior when a police officer has pulled me over,
or even just appeared in the lane behind my vehicle on the road.
All of a sudden, I try to appear happy and non-threatening.
I make sure there’s music playing that won’t be offensive to them.
I start singing along.
That’s my attempt to put them in a good mood so I won’t be subject to a superior attitude
and then feel compelled to return the favor which is never a good idea.
I feel relief when they turn off or pass by me.
I’m making myself sick just thinking about putting myself through those paces.
I know I’m not the only one who does it.
It’s as if African Americans assume the posture of having done something wrong
even if they haven’t done anything wrong at all.
That is the result of systemic indoctrination which didn’t happen overnight.
Still, race relations in the USA are bigger than the police force,
even if over time it seems as if they have been one of the most constant suppliers
of lumps to the head.
Because the police forces in this country are actually on the public taxpayers’ payroll,
every citizen has the right to expect fair and equitable treatment as prescribed by the law.
There is no reason a Dylan Roof,
who was apprehended after actually shooting nine people in a prayer group,
should be treated to a meal at Burger King before being taken to the station,
when a Freddie Gray, whose suspected offense was untrue,
arrived broken and crushed in several places,
and died later as a result of his wounds.
These are the kinds of disparities that have this very new generation
of very self aware young adults being loud and right.
There are some bad officers
whose behaviors need to be addressed.
There are some individual actors in the hot spot cities
retaliating for what they’ve seen or experienced.
Because of some historical treatment,
not all as flagrant as recent events but just as serious,
the same way wealthy people pass down large bank accounts to their progeny,
African Americans have passed down fear – with reason.
A long time ago, I learned the difference between waking up
and being told “you can do anything you want”
versus “here are the things you can’t do”.
That is often the attitudinal difference between the children of the races
when they step outside their homes in the morning.
Blending the two is what has to happen in a polite society.
It’s like living on the edge.
I prefer to lean toward the “you can do anything you want” zone.
One has to push the envelope sometimes in order to enlarge one’s territory.
African Americans are still trying to enlarge the territory of respect and equality.
The United States is experiencing the next level of growing pains from within, again.
For many years, there was a veiled attempt
to portray how African Americans feel best cared for as individuals,
or as a people, when subject to the good or poor judgement of others.
I’ll use the original “Imitation of Life”* movie –
not the 1959 one where Mahalia Jackson sings through your tears at Annie’s funeral –
the 1934 one where Claudette Colbert, a syrup vendor,
capitalizes on Louise Beaver’s pancake recipe.
Then, when the combination business blows up as a major success,
Colbert’s character gives her a “generous” 20% share,
in spite of the business manager’s wish for it to be less,
and further insult to injury for me,
the Louise Beaver character’s refusal to accept payment.
What?! I was thinking more like 50/50.
What’s your syrup going to do without my pancakes?
Nothing.
The conscience of Claudette Colbert’s business woman as friend
holds the shares in trust anyway.
(We won’t even go into the subplot of the daughter wanting to pass as white for a better life.)
Then there’s just about every civil war movie I’ve seen
as well as some historical documentation where released slaves happily stayed —
some because they were accustomed to the life on that plantation,
kind of a devil you know, devil you don’t situation –
and others because they entered into sharecropping deals with the former masters,
which sometimes didn’t necessarily work in the favor of the former slave —
still others stayed simply because they had nowhere else to go,
and traveling from one location to another wasn’t the safest thing to do at the time.
Well — here we are in 2016 and I’ve actually heard people say out loud,
“We need to listen to African Americans.”
It is unconscionable that has to actually be verbalized
as the African American population has been actively participating
since the beginning,
albeit not initially by choice…
but going all in trying to belong
only to have to keep fighting the same old battles this many years later.
Enough is enough.
On a side note, Jack Daniel’s is now proudly including the fact that a slave had quite a bit to do with their recipe –
but who didn’t know African Americans were in every southern kitchen no matter what was cooking?
Impress me and do some profit sharing with that hidden chef’s surviving descendants.
*(Trust. In this particular version of the movie, the tears will flow just as much at the end without Mahalia when the daughter comes back from her life of “passing” for white to go berserk at her mama’s funeral.
Time is something you never get back so better to try and use it wisely.)