Arrogantly, I consider myself a smart man. There's a lot of things I understand and the things I don't understand I do my best to learn from those who do. But there's one thing I just can't seem to understand. Why is the value of my life nonexistent? Time and time again we see unarmed black men shot down for simply having the audacity to breathe. Then nothing happens to the murderers. We try to speak on the issue and they tell us that we should stop talking because this is a "post racial America."
When I was younger I was impressed by the tales of Martin Luther King Jr. I didn't hear these stories in school. I heard them from my grandfather. He told me stories about marching alongside Martin. I know he probably exaggerated and Martin wasn't his best friend but I was inspired non the less. I thought it was amazing that he had the strength to continue marching for equality despite all the hardships they faced. The physical aspect is easily overcome but the mental is something else.
He was able to march, and speak on the necessity that every human be treated equally. Often times he did this in front of people who discounted his life. Eventually it even cost him his life. I thought it was so amazing. Martin Luther King Jr. was definitely my hero and I thought if black people had the strength to march we could overcome anything that we faced.
I thought marching could erase the systematic oppression, I thought it could provide us with equally funded schools, I thought it would fix the justice system and most importantly I thought it would make black lives count. But I was wrong. Time and time again we see black people marching. Whether is Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sean Bell, Jena Six, Troy Davis, or any of the other things we've been marching for nothing changes.
I figured if we just spoke on how we were feeling and the struggles that we faced daily as black people it would be able to reach those who didn't understand and I was wrong again. Speaking never seems to help anything because anytime we do mention our condition, history or existence they call it reverse racism. Never mind that racism would imply that we had the ability to oppress other races. It's just hard to comprehend the fact that we can't even mention our situation without being called racist.
Anytime we try to draw attention to our causes they attempt to use Martin's image to silence us and make us think it's okay to just let it happen. People like Don Lemon go around telling us that if we pull up our pants people will stop thinking it's okay. They tell us if we stop using the word nigga they'll stop calling us niggers and pulling the triggers. People like Bill O'Reilly are shocked that they can go into a black owned establishment and receive professional service, yet he's viewed by some as an expert on the black race. These people quote the words of Martin out of context and expect us to willingly sit back and be killed and oppressed for simply existing.
Admittedly as I grew older I was no longer feeling Martin. I recognize his accomplishments but I could no longer support that non-violent protest. Civil disobedience is a powerful tool. However it's been seen time and time again that black lives are not considered valuable. Therefore civil disobedience means nothing. If black lives were meaningful, black people wouldn't be tear gassed for standing on their own property. Amadou Diallo wouldn't be shot 19 times for standing in front of his own apartment. Civil disobedience only works if the government cares about the people disobeying, and they don't, so it's meaningless.
Because of that I started reading the words of Malcolm X. I was inspired by Malcolm in a different way. Martin tried to appeal to the government, Malcolm tried to overrule them. Martin believed that if were just able to show them that we were human they'd treat us equally. But Malcolm was much more aggressive in his stance.
Malcolm captured me with the matter of fact way that he stated things. "Anytime you're walking around in the 20th century singing 'we shall overcome' the government has failed you." Martin was all about trying to appeal to the humanity of the government and other citizens, showing them that we are humans, all while admitting that we were second-class citizens. Malcolm laid it on the line. The government has failed us and it's up to us to work together to circumvent the hurdles faced in front of us.
I understand the term second-class citizen, and that's what black people are in America. Malcolm said "How you gonna to tell me you're a second-class citizen? They don't have second-class citizenship in any other government on this Earth. They just have slaves and people who are free," and that is what struck me.
We're not free here, we're still slaves. We can vote and do anything any other race can, but we're still not considered humans. It's more likely you'll receive a jail sentence for dog fighting than killing an unarmed black person. So are we below dogs too?
Malcolm didn't preach unnecessary violence. But what he did tell us is that when you're being attacked you have to defend yourself otherwise you'll continue being attacked. But eventually I stopped feeling Malcolm too and wasn't radical enough to level with Lois Farrakhan or Huey Newton. Again, I recognize that all these men have done various things to promote the health of the black community, but in my eyes they were all wrong.
I shouldn't say they were wrong, I simply don't understand. It's like the wool has been pulled over our eyes. Every time we see a small amount of progress, a glimmer of equality we let our guard down. We let our guard down and celebrate progress, but there's no real progress.
I don't understand the way things but always stay the same. When Barack Obama was elected to not one but two terms as the first biracial president we fell into the trap. The media started screaming about a post racial America. It looked like a Colbert skit was coming true. We no longer saw color in America. Black people knew that wasn't true, but we thought things had at least gotten better. We let our guard down, writing things off as isolated incidents, hoping things were truly getting better. But we were wrong. Things hadn't gotten better. They had gotten worse.
People thought Barack Obama meant racism was over and it gave them the right to say whatever wicked things they had on their hearts. All of the racism was laid out in the open. All the cards were shown. Now we have people buying guns because they fear a revolution. They fear that people will come for the equality they were promised.
We are still being sold the idea of the American Dream. We are still being told that if we just work hard we'll be able to overcome anything and reach the top. Every now and then there's a person than sneaks through but for majority of us black people we fear being shot just for going to the corner store for a can of tea and a bag of skittles. Any time we try to mention the things we go through we hear the same old excuses. This is supposed to be a post racial America but we're still discriminated on due to our race.
When there's a problem we're always told that we need to come together as Americans. We need to come together as Americans to fight against ISIS. They aren't killing Black Americans but we're supposed to stand together against ISIS when we're afraid that our own police are going to shoot us in the backs.
In school we're taught "All men are created equally." Those are the words that Thomas Jefferson wrote, on his slave plantation. The words all men are created equally were never meant for us. They weren't meant for us when they were written. They weren't meant for us when we 3/5 of a white man. They weren't meant for us when segregation ended. They weren't meant for us when Barack Obama was elected. They still aren't meant for us. Those words are always quoted to us but they're never true and I can't understand that.
No matter how smart I think I am I can never understand why the value of my life is nonexistent.
Follow @OriginalKingD
When I was younger I was impressed by the tales of Martin Luther King Jr. I didn't hear these stories in school. I heard them from my grandfather. He told me stories about marching alongside Martin. I know he probably exaggerated and Martin wasn't his best friend but I was inspired non the less. I thought it was amazing that he had the strength to continue marching for equality despite all the hardships they faced. The physical aspect is easily overcome but the mental is something else.He was able to march, and speak on the necessity that every human be treated equally. Often times he did this in front of people who discounted his life. Eventually it even cost him his life. I thought it was so amazing. Martin Luther King Jr. was definitely my hero and I thought if black people had the strength to march we could overcome anything that we faced.
I thought marching could erase the systematic oppression, I thought it could provide us with equally funded schools, I thought it would fix the justice system and most importantly I thought it would make black lives count. But I was wrong. Time and time again we see black people marching. Whether is Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Sean Bell, Jena Six, Troy Davis, or any of the other things we've been marching for nothing changes.
I figured if we just spoke on how we were feeling and the struggles that we faced daily as black people it would be able to reach those who didn't understand and I was wrong again. Speaking never seems to help anything because anytime we do mention our condition, history or existence they call it reverse racism. Never mind that racism would imply that we had the ability to oppress other races. It's just hard to comprehend the fact that we can't even mention our situation without being called racist.
Anytime we try to draw attention to our causes they attempt to use Martin's image to silence us and make us think it's okay to just let it happen. People like Don Lemon go around telling us that if we pull up our pants people will stop thinking it's okay. They tell us if we stop using the word nigga they'll stop calling us niggers and pulling the triggers. People like Bill O'Reilly are shocked that they can go into a black owned establishment and receive professional service, yet he's viewed by some as an expert on the black race. These people quote the words of Martin out of context and expect us to willingly sit back and be killed and oppressed for simply existing.
Because of that I started reading the words of Malcolm X. I was inspired by Malcolm in a different way. Martin tried to appeal to the government, Malcolm tried to overrule them. Martin believed that if were just able to show them that we were human they'd treat us equally. But Malcolm was much more aggressive in his stance.
Malcolm captured me with the matter of fact way that he stated things. "Anytime you're walking around in the 20th century singing 'we shall overcome' the government has failed you." Martin was all about trying to appeal to the humanity of the government and other citizens, showing them that we are humans, all while admitting that we were second-class citizens. Malcolm laid it on the line. The government has failed us and it's up to us to work together to circumvent the hurdles faced in front of us.
I understand the term second-class citizen, and that's what black people are in America. Malcolm said "How you gonna to tell me you're a second-class citizen? They don't have second-class citizenship in any other government on this Earth. They just have slaves and people who are free," and that is what struck me.
We're not free here, we're still slaves. We can vote and do anything any other race can, but we're still not considered humans. It's more likely you'll receive a jail sentence for dog fighting than killing an unarmed black person. So are we below dogs too?
Malcolm didn't preach unnecessary violence. But what he did tell us is that when you're being attacked you have to defend yourself otherwise you'll continue being attacked. But eventually I stopped feeling Malcolm too and wasn't radical enough to level with Lois Farrakhan or Huey Newton. Again, I recognize that all these men have done various things to promote the health of the black community, but in my eyes they were all wrong.
I shouldn't say they were wrong, I simply don't understand. It's like the wool has been pulled over our eyes. Every time we see a small amount of progress, a glimmer of equality we let our guard down. We let our guard down and celebrate progress, but there's no real progress.I don't understand the way things but always stay the same. When Barack Obama was elected to not one but two terms as the first biracial president we fell into the trap. The media started screaming about a post racial America. It looked like a Colbert skit was coming true. We no longer saw color in America. Black people knew that wasn't true, but we thought things had at least gotten better. We let our guard down, writing things off as isolated incidents, hoping things were truly getting better. But we were wrong. Things hadn't gotten better. They had gotten worse.
People thought Barack Obama meant racism was over and it gave them the right to say whatever wicked things they had on their hearts. All of the racism was laid out in the open. All the cards were shown. Now we have people buying guns because they fear a revolution. They fear that people will come for the equality they were promised.
We are still being sold the idea of the American Dream. We are still being told that if we just work hard we'll be able to overcome anything and reach the top. Every now and then there's a person than sneaks through but for majority of us black people we fear being shot just for going to the corner store for a can of tea and a bag of skittles. Any time we try to mention the things we go through we hear the same old excuses. This is supposed to be a post racial America but we're still discriminated on due to our race.
When there's a problem we're always told that we need to come together as Americans. We need to come together as Americans to fight against ISIS. They aren't killing Black Americans but we're supposed to stand together against ISIS when we're afraid that our own police are going to shoot us in the backs.
In school we're taught "All men are created equally." Those are the words that Thomas Jefferson wrote, on his slave plantation. The words all men are created equally were never meant for us. They weren't meant for us when they were written. They weren't meant for us when we 3/5 of a white man. They weren't meant for us when segregation ended. They weren't meant for us when Barack Obama was elected. They still aren't meant for us. Those words are always quoted to us but they're never true and I can't understand that.
No matter how smart I think I am I can never understand why the value of my life is nonexistent.
Follow @OriginalKingD
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Dude so great, amazing.
ReplyDeleteThanks, just what I was feeling at the time.
DeleteI think that the entire way that citizens are classified and looked at has to be completely rewritten with more than one kind of man in mind. I think that racism is never justified, for any reason you may have, you shouldn't be able to enforce your prejudice at very least. The best way to fix America would be to control it and everything bout it, but that is impossible. If the true desires of the black community could be voiced freely without mass media distortion then that message can get out. That is the one positive of the protests in Ferguson; the peaceful part has done well to spread awareness, but on the flip side the Looting and all-around blatant racism stifles it.
ReplyDeleteI found this site today and I must say, it is nice to see some voices that are looking for answers to the tougher questions.