A Black father tells his Black son that it is important to understand that as Black men in this country, the rules are different for us. Everything that a Black man does in this country (along with Black women) is viewed through a different set of lenses than those used to view white men and women. So the Black father encourages his Black son to carry himself in a respectable manner so as not to be grouped in with the crowd that could be considered threatening. This would include the way the Black son dresses, the way he talks and walks, the way he interacts with people in positions of authority (ESPECIALLY with the police), the way he treats others, the way he represents himself. I'm sure every well intentioned and well intended father of any nationality has similar conversations with their sons, but within the Black community, this conversation is for one thing and one thing only. To ensure that the Black father will not have to experience what so many Black families as of late have experienced, their Black sons not making it back home alive.
We all know the names, we all know the situations and we all know what the outcomes have been or will be. We've all heard the responses and the explanations, we've seen support on both sides, we've seen peaceful and violent reactions. We've heard opinions from people directly affected and opinions from those just weighing in on a subject they cannot relate to. There have been accusations of false reporting, sensationalizing and purposefully causing racial tension and division to promote a political agenda of some sort. We've seen and heard the comparisons of all the situations where an unarmed Black man or teen was shot and killed by an overly aggressive police officer or other individual and we've seen the smear campaigns in an attempt to justify what occurred. We know all of these things, all too well.
But we are still left with the same questions. What does a Black father, mother, son or daughter, uncle, aunt, cousin, nephew or niece do when the rules for living and being Black in America no longer apply? During the Jim Crow era in the South and even during that same time period in the North, it could have meant life or death or serious physical harm if a Black person ever challenged a white person, let alone one in a position of authority. It seems that today, yes today in 2014, we are reliving those times. You hear about or see videos where a young white person gets pulled over and challenges the requests of an officer and at the end of the video it says "know your rights". But as a Black person, you KNOW that the situation changes DRASTICALLY if the driver is a Black person. I've been told by a white police officer during one particular confrontation where I called out the practices that I've seen in my own neighborhood that "in the state of South Carolina the law states that you must obey the requests of a police officer", which I took as a backhanded (or maybe not so backhanded) way of saying "Nigger, when a white officer in the South tells you to do something, you do it!". We've heard reports of veteran white police officers stating that if a person doesn't want to get shot, then you "shut up and do what the officer tells you to do, even if you feel like your rights are being violated". These are trained law enforcement officials who are basically saying that they have the right to shoot you if they feel like you are challenging their authority. This is NOT an exaggeration.
The Michael Brown/ Ferguson, Missouri and the Eric Garner/ NYPD cases point to a very disturbing trend that is not really a new thing when it comes to the tension between minorities and law enforcement. In both cases, the lack of value of life that the police officers in question displayed for both victims is concerning. Eric Garner died on a Staten Island sidewalk after police choke dragged him to the ground. Before he died, during and after he was being choked, he repeatedly told the officers he could not breathe. Those officers, once they "subdued" him, didn't bother to check to see if he was alive. His body, once he passed, was left on that sidewalk for several hours. EMT's were not called right away. In the case of Michael Brown, after Darren Wilson shot him a reported six times, police officers left his body in the street for about four hours. Whether or not Brown could have been helped after the shooting is irrelevant. The fact that his corpse was left in the middle of the street, exactly like Garner's, shows the apparent disregard the officers had for these individuals lives, if the initial incidents themselves didn't show that in the beginning. In the wake of the Brown shooting, much like what we saw occur after the Trayvon Martin shooting with George Zimmerman, there has been an overwhelming support for the officer who shot Brown. One report states that supporters have raised over $350,000 for Wilson while the Brown's are left to bury their son. Wilson's supporters say he was just doing his job and ensuring that he made it home safely. Brown, on the other hand, was not so lucky.
Police officers have a dangerous job, obviously. I spoke with a Black police officer who offered a very unique perspective on this situation. He could sympathize with both sides. He spoke of the training officers receive and the threat that an officer may feel he is under. He also spoke of the job being of the high stress variety. As an officer, he said it is his job to be one step ahead of whomever he may confront. He said that since Brown was unarmed, then Wilson should have opted to use his Taser if he felt that Michael Brown posed a threat. In a situation where a offender may have a weapon, the officer said they are trained to shoot twice to the body and once to the head when they have assessed that they are under a threat. This all has to be done in a split second in some cases. Police officers are trained to use deadly force WHEN necessary, not if. Yes, there are times when an officer has to kill a suspect because the officer's life or the lives of others may be in danger. Police officers are human, so at times mistakes will be made and they should be held accountable for those mistakes. But when you look at the way suspects were handled in the several mass shootings we've seen over the last few years, where the suspects where white, we have seen how dangerous situations are SUPPOSED to be handled. Most of these suspects will see their day in court and get a chance to fight the charges against them. Most police officers handle these situations as they were trained to do. But too many do not. Eric Garner, who was accused of selling illegal cigarettes, posed no threat at all to the police on the scene so violent force of any sort was not necessary. The cop who initially confronted Garner felt like he was not being respected properly as an officer of the law. His fellow officers agreed and proceeded to subdue their 'suspect' by any means that they felt were necessary, which included by illegal chokehold. Michael Brown, who at the time of the shooting was not a suspect whatsoever and was not accused of or being investigated for ANYTHING except for walking in the middle of the street, will not get a chance to tell his version of the story. Is it a coincidence that the Black men in these instances were shot and killed (Brown) or assaulted and died as a result (Garner), although they posed no threat, while some white males who have committed mass murders in some cases were spared their lives? I don't even remotely think so. Is it a coincidence that Darren Wilson is being shown substantial emotional and financial support while those supporting the Browns are accused of sensationalizing this situation and pulling the race card, all while the Browns bear the burden of losing a son? Is it a coincidence that whenever a situation like this occurs, there is always a calculated smear campaign put into play to paint the VICTIM as a thug or criminal so as to influence the public opinion and that public takes that lead and runs with it aiming to 'educate' the supporters of the victim? Is it a coincidence that this NEVER happens when talking about a white offender, regardless of the level of their crime? Don't believe me?
What was the back story that was reported on the Aurora, Colorado movie theatre shooter, James Holmes? Scholarship student, graduated with highest honors with a bachelors degree in neuroscience with no record of contact with local or campus police, other than a lone speeding ticket in 2011. It was deemed necessary for those facts to be reported. Oh, and the speculation that he suffers from some sort of mental illness and that he was experiencing a psychotic episode when he threw tear gas canisters into the theatre and opened fire, killing 12 people. Right now his lawyers are further delaying his trial on claims of Holmes' being mentally insane. Even the Sandy Hook elementary school shooter, who killed himself afterward, was painted as a victim of mental illness, said to have had Asperger's disease along with possibly being autistic. That goes without mentioning the fact that the entire Sandy Hook shooting has been labeled as a political ploy, even a hoax, to push Obama's agenda on gun reform. Think about some of history's most famous serial killers and the way they are described. The story often starts with humble beginnings and often leads to, in many cases, somewhat of an admiration, almost like geniuses due to the nature of the way they conducted their killings and how they evaded authorities. The back story of Michael Brown? He "was no angel" (after he was said to be relaying a sort of religious experience to his father, according to this New York Times article by John Eligon http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/25/us/michael-brown-spent-last-weeks-grappling-with-lifes-mysteries.html) and that he had gotten into "at least one scuffle with a neighbor". His back story also includes "dabbling in alcohol and drugs" and it mentions the video that supposedly shows Brown stealing a box of $1 cigars from a nearby convenience store and shoving the clerk into display case. It mentions he had just gotten into rapping and his lyrics were at times vulgar. It was deemed necessary to report those things. However, none of this justifies Brown being murdered. Even without all the facts, this type of reporting is very transparent in its attempt to paint Brown as an individual who probably gave Wilson a reason to shoot and kill him. It's very irresponsible.
I read another article today with the headline 'There's No Such Thing as Black America' (see here: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/08/27/there-s-no-such-thing-as-black-america.html). As good as that sounds, it's a ridiculous thought. I understand where the writer, Ron Christie, is coming from but Black America does exist, as does white and Hispanic America, as does LBGT America, etc. If there was no separation, then the need for dialogue on equality wouldn't be such a hot topic. Darren Wilson isn't being called a racist because he shot and killed and unarmed black teen. The protests and riots aren't about that. They are about Black and white America actually being separate, held to a different set of rules when it comes to the value of existence and life. It took the rioting out in Ferguson to bring attention to what had been going on out there for decades, racial tension between a majority Black community and it's majority white police force. Often when it comes to racial equality amongst the Black and white demographic, resistance by way of violence or the fear of it is the only thing that brings attention to the matter. Black people are often criticized when this occurs, as we should be because rioting and looting and destroying one's own neighborhood and businesses accomplishes nothing. Nothing except awareness from others that something wrong is going on. Had the Ferguson community not reacted the way they did, with peaceful protests that resulted in a militarized standoff with local authorities that led to some violence, then it is a good possibility that we may have never even heard about anything that happened out there. A large part of the reason why it has become national news, along with the Martin, Davis and Garner cases and cases like theirs, is that the subject of race has been injected into the story. That's sexy, it's ratings, it gets people riled up. But it is also the reality of the world we live in. As much as one would like to take race out of the equation, it will always be there because we as a people, as a society, will keep it there. The Black police officer that I mentioned above said the only thing that will keep race from being an issue in cases like this is if we stop talking so much about it. I agree to a certain extent, that if we stop just making everything a Black versus white thing maybe some progress can be made. But as a society, we agreed, that will never happen. There will always be a group or groups of individuals who feel they are better or above others, who feel they are entitled, on both sides of the racial divide. Both parties, citizens and individuals in positions of authority or law enforcement have to honestly have accountability for their actions. I don't know if Darren Wilson acted with or without accountability and I don't know if Michael Brown acted with or without accountability. All I know is this is a reoccurring situation and at some point it has to stop. Sooner rather than later.
A white father doesn't have to go over the rules with his white sons the way Black fathers have to. If you line up 5 teenagers, 4 white and one Black but all dressed the same with sagging jeans, oversized ball caps, jewelry and tattoos and ask a white suburban housewife which one is likely to have criminal record, I'd bet money that she would assume the Black kid did. Put Darren Wilson's picture up next to Michael Brown's and ask that same white suburban housewife, with no knowledge of who those men are, who she thought had ever killed someone, it's a safe bet to say she'd pick the Black guy over the white guy more times than not. I say this confidently because we see it happen all the time. Black males are often judged by the way they look and carry themselves and can even be judged unfavorably in the company of white males who look just like them, either it be in a suit or in street clothes. Trayvon Martin, even though he was not killed by a white man but had his actions judged based on his ethnicity and the way he was portrayed by the defense, was essentially posthumously tried in his own murder case. While Jordan Davis' case saw his murderer convicted, there was still an effort to justify the action of a white male who took the law into his own hands over something as insignificant as loud rap music. He claimed there had been a gun pointed at him and so he acted in self defense, shooting multiple times into a vehicle as it drove off, filled with young Black men. Fortunately for Davis, there was nothing to use against him in a smear campaign. Apparently, his father had the 'rules' talk with him and he followed those rules pretty closely. But he still ended up dead way too early.
So what does a Black family do when the rules of being Black in, yes, a Black and white America unfortunately, no longer apply? All they can do is pray that there sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins make it home safely, just like families of police officers do everyday. If they don't make it home, then the families will then have to pray for justice instead.
A white father doesn't have to go over the rules with his white sons the way Black fathers have to. If you line up 5 teenagers, 4 white and one Black but all dressed the same with sagging jeans, oversized ball caps, jewelry and tattoos and ask a white suburban housewife which one is likely to have criminal record, I'd bet money that she would assume the Black kid did. Put Darren Wilson's picture up next to Michael Brown's and ask that same white suburban housewife, with no knowledge of who those men are, who she thought had ever killed someone, it's a safe bet to say she'd pick the Black guy over the white guy more times than not. I say this confidently because we see it happen all the time. Black males are often judged by the way they look and carry themselves and can even be judged unfavorably in the company of white males who look just like them, either it be in a suit or in street clothes. Trayvon Martin, even though he was not killed by a white man but had his actions judged based on his ethnicity and the way he was portrayed by the defense, was essentially posthumously tried in his own murder case. While Jordan Davis' case saw his murderer convicted, there was still an effort to justify the action of a white male who took the law into his own hands over something as insignificant as loud rap music. He claimed there had been a gun pointed at him and so he acted in self defense, shooting multiple times into a vehicle as it drove off, filled with young Black men. Fortunately for Davis, there was nothing to use against him in a smear campaign. Apparently, his father had the 'rules' talk with him and he followed those rules pretty closely. But he still ended up dead way too early.
So what does a Black family do when the rules of being Black in, yes, a Black and white America unfortunately, no longer apply? All they can do is pray that there sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles and cousins make it home safely, just like families of police officers do everyday. If they don't make it home, then the families will then have to pray for justice instead.
