Oh yeah - we have a black President, which despite the ramblings of some does mean we've come a hell of a long way as a nation in the past fifty, forty, even 20 years. For a while, subconsciously or not - I tried to make myself believe that President Obama's election meant we had reached some sort of nirvana when it came to race relations. And I'm proud of this country in so far as my son can sit in a classroom and see a picture of President Obama on the wall and think "why not me?"
That has been my message on past Martin Luther King days when I have rambled in blogs like this or on ridiculously long Facebook posts. I have thanked MLK and others for their part in improving this country.
But, as the past year has made all too clear, we aren't "there" yet when it comes to Dr. King's vision of a country that judged all by the content of their character.
2014 was the year of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice. If we're being real, we know those weren't the only three black men (one barely a man, one a boy by any definition) treated "unfairly" by police (to use a ridiculously soft word.) I could probably think of plenty more myself if it weren't 3:27 am.
In the case of Mike Brown, I don't know what the hell happened but I do know that any district attorney who wanted to get the thing through the grand jury could have done so and that cops seem to get a free ride under Robert McCulloch. There's a LOT of troubling things going on - on both sides - this one needed its day in court. That's why we HAVE the courts!
You get your choice with what's most despicable about the Eric Garner situation:
You get your choice with what's most despicable about the Eric Garner situation:
- The society of overcriminilization. (Loose cigarettes?)
- The amateur hour policing of the two initial officers.
- The chokehold itself - there were more than enough officers at the scene to subdue Mr. Garner (if he needed being subdued for his big crime) without the chokehold.
- The classic cop move of getting a suspect into a position where it is physically impossible to move and screaming to put your arms behind your back while shoving his face into concrete for "resisting." (#99 played that part to a tee on the video).
- The piss poor medical attention he received. Actually - I think this matter has gotten lost in the whole thing. As bad as the first video is, the second one of him lying motionless while a dozen police officers stand around showing less medical where-with-all than the average Boy Scout may bother me even more.
I won't argue there weren't other factors to consider - some obvious from the tape and some unseen - but I don't understand how anyone could argue this doesn't deserve a day in court. Police officers have among the hardest jobs inaginable, and they also have the monopoly on legitimate violence in this country. The people - not the self-interested DA's, need to have a role in policing the police.
Tamir Rice, one year older than my son, gunned down without a warning. Spare me the details of his size and the fact that the gun looked legit...If the police can arrest James Holmes - who had just murdered 12 and shot 70 more - without incident, then I think it' a fair assumption that the Cleveland police could have managed to resolve this without a need to make funeral arrangements for a middle-schooler.
As anyone who has seen me with my son can figure out he's adopted. As a white father of a black child (Don't you love it when the Obama haters pull out the "He's half-white, you don't hear anything about that" line, and then promptly ask for his birth certificate.) - I know I have a responsibility to teach him history. History that extends far beyond Dr. King and Harriet Tubman.
He needs to know about Emmert Till, Edgar Mevers and the bombing of the church in Birmingham that killed four young black girls attending Sunday school.
He needs to read the Constitution that deemed black men 3/5's of a person (not to say women got a fair shake in that one, there's a lot in the constitution we don't like to talk about.)
He needs to truly understand slavery, as well as the share-cropping system that replaced it that was hardly any better. Dred Scott. Governors standing at the gates of schools to protest the matriculation of a black woman.
And that's just the beginning - the History 101 stuff.
In short, he needs to understand a concept that seems completely foreign to him: Hate.
There are no shortage of resources to teach him a much more comprehensive history of black men in America than what he's getting in school. And I need to step up and do it. Before he hears his first "why does their have to be Black Entertainment Television" speech...Or "the NAACP is racist" or - my personal favorite: "Why isn't there a white history month?"
When I adopted my son I pictured having him in much more diverse environments than I have placed him. Make no mistake - from what I can tell he's been accepted by the kids (and parents) in almost all situations. He gravitates towards the bi-racial kids whenever he can - which makes sense. However I have seen a lot more love toward him than anything else.
But he has a pure heart. He's never had a bad word for anybody. Some would say he's immature emotionally because he doesn't have anything in the way of cynicism. I just think he looks for the best in everyone - that he has a belief in the goodness of the human spirit.
I hope he doesn't lose that.
Tamir Rice, one year older than my son, gunned down without a warning. Spare me the details of his size and the fact that the gun looked legit...If the police can arrest James Holmes - who had just murdered 12 and shot 70 more - without incident, then I think it' a fair assumption that the Cleveland police could have managed to resolve this without a need to make funeral arrangements for a middle-schooler.
As anyone who has seen me with my son can figure out he's adopted. As a white father of a black child (Don't you love it when the Obama haters pull out the "He's half-white, you don't hear anything about that" line, and then promptly ask for his birth certificate.) - I know I have a responsibility to teach him history. History that extends far beyond Dr. King and Harriet Tubman.
He needs to know about Emmert Till, Edgar Mevers and the bombing of the church in Birmingham that killed four young black girls attending Sunday school.
He needs to read the Constitution that deemed black men 3/5's of a person (not to say women got a fair shake in that one, there's a lot in the constitution we don't like to talk about.)
He needs to truly understand slavery, as well as the share-cropping system that replaced it that was hardly any better. Dred Scott. Governors standing at the gates of schools to protest the matriculation of a black woman.
And that's just the beginning - the History 101 stuff.
In short, he needs to understand a concept that seems completely foreign to him: Hate.
There are no shortage of resources to teach him a much more comprehensive history of black men in America than what he's getting in school. And I need to step up and do it. Before he hears his first "why does their have to be Black Entertainment Television" speech...Or "the NAACP is racist" or - my personal favorite: "Why isn't there a white history month?"
When I adopted my son I pictured having him in much more diverse environments than I have placed him. Make no mistake - from what I can tell he's been accepted by the kids (and parents) in almost all situations. He gravitates towards the bi-racial kids whenever he can - which makes sense. However I have seen a lot more love toward him than anything else.
But he has a pure heart. He's never had a bad word for anybody. Some would say he's immature emotionally because he doesn't have anything in the way of cynicism. I just think he looks for the best in everyone - that he has a belief in the goodness of the human spirit.
I hope he doesn't lose that.
I found the link to be a powerful message - http://healthytropicalsensation.tumblr.com/post/108768039145/lookdifferentmtv-latoya-peterson?utm_campaign=SharedPost&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=TumblriOS
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