Tag Archives: Injustice

A Mother’s Anguish

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It echoes in the wind.
It haunts the countryside.
It reverberates through the very soul of America.
It is the sound of a mother’s anguish.
Like a Hurricane, it begins across the Atlantic with a mother’s cries of sorrow when her son doesn’t return to the village. She looks longingly toward the coastline and realizes, like so many before, he has been taken by the white men in boats, and he would never be seen again.
It makes landfall in the American south with a mother screaming NO as the white men pull her son from her arms. As they leave with him, a tear runs down her cheek, and she realizes, like so many before, he would be sold to another plantation, and her son would never be seen again.
It sweeps across the purple mountain majesty with a mother’s sobbing as her son’s lifeless, unrecognizable body is pulled from the river. Her body trembles and she realizes, like so many before, he was in the wrong place on the wrong night, and the white men in the pickup truck took his life only for sport, and her son’s smile would never be seen again.
It rattles the amber waves of grain with a mother’s moaning as the jury of white men enters the court room and, despite all the evidence to the contrary, pronounce the defendant innocent. Her soul fills with disbelief, and she realizes, like so many before, any chance of justice for her murdered son would never be seen again.
It is heard from sea to shining sea with a mother’s grieving as the video of the white police officer calmly resting his knee on her son’s neck plays. She watches in horror as her son yells I can’t breathe and calls out for her, and as the life slowly drains from his body, she realizes, like so many before, the joy on her son’s face would never be seen again.
Listen to it, America.
Listen and do not turn a death ear to it.
Listen to 400 years of a mother’s anguish.

They Don’t Really Care About Us

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He did it knowing he was being filmed but he didn’t care because he didn’t think the black man under his knee was a man but an animal.

Three accessories to murder masquerading as police officers watched and not once did one of them think I should stop this because they didn’t think the black man who couldn’t breath was a man but an animal.

They met the protesters with tear gas, mace and rubber bullets because they didn’t think they were men and women but animals.

They didn’t charge him with 1st degree murder because they don’t believe the life he took was that of a man but of an animal.

Wait…I’m wrong because a dog is an animal and they care more about a dog’s life than the lives of African Americans.

Because they don’t really care about us.

He did it knowing he was being filmed but he didn’t care because he didn’t think the black man under his knee was a man but an animal.

Three accessories to murder masquerading as police officers watched and not once did one of them think I should stop this because they didn’t think the black man who couldn’t breath was a man but an animal.

They met the protesters with tear gas, mace and rubber bullets because they didn’t think they were men and women but animals.

They didn’t charge him with 1st degree murder because they don’t believe the life he took was that of a man but of an animal.

Wait…I’m wrong because a dog is an animal and they care more about a dog’s life than the lives of African Americans.

Because they don’t really care about us.

As long as There is Racism My Voice Will Never Be Silenced

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Today, someone asks me, after reading one of my social media posts about Tucker Carlson, why am I so angry? We get it; there are still people who do things that speak to either blatant or implied racism. Ignore them, let it go, don’t let them consume you, they said. That may be easy for you, I said, but I cannot mute my voice in the face of any racism. I will never allow my voice to become a whisper to their screams so that others feel comfortable when it comes to race. As my Jewish brother and sister say, never forget, and I will always remember that we were forcibly taken from our home, stripped of our culture, and told us we were not people but property. I will never forget that sheets were donned, crosses burned, and men rode through the night to strike terror into our hearts. I will never forget our voices were silenced at the voting booths with violence and intimidation. I will always remember we were turned away at the lunch counter, the doors to the school were locked, the dogs were set free, and the hoses were turned on us. I will never forget that one leader after another was assassinated for daring to ask, we be treated as equals. I will not go quietly into the night because of the patriotism I have for a country that I love, and my people helped create as much as anyone else is questioned if I dare protest its continued racial inequality. I will not go quietly into the night as they attempt even to this day to hold us down, strip away our dignity, our pride, and our self-worth. So, I told him no, I am not mad. I am one of many races, colors, religions, creeds, genders, and ethnicities who refuse to be silenced. A group that is rising now together as one. A group determined to ensure America marches forward and not back even if some believe that was when America was great.

The NFL gets the anthem thing wrong again

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Today the NFL issued a statement stating that NFL owners have unanimously approved a new national anthem policy that requires players to stand if they are on the field during the performance but gives them the option to remain in the locker room if they prefer.
This policy sadly misses the point. Hijacked by the President, the original intent of the protest was never about the anthem. In this case, the anthem is simply a means to an end used as the “prop” to bring to light the injustices perpetrated on people of color daily. One could say without the anthem; there could have been a stage for the protest.
This action serves one purpose, silencing the voice of protest by shoving it in a locker room.
NFL players should respond in kind with a statement: We see opting to stay in the locker room during the anthem as a real sign of disrespect. Kneeling during the anthem is our peaceful way of shedding light on the treatment of people of color by a segment of the population while at the same time maintaining respect for the flag and those servicemen and women who have fought under it to continue to preserve our way of life. We stand with them and all Americans, or as James Baldwin so eloquently stated: I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually.

Who’s the patriot

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Listening to sports talk radio, I heard it over and over again from callers. This anthem thing is disrespectful, and I’m done with the NFL. I haven’t watched a game all season.

I get it you’re offended by players kneeling. You’re all about the veterans, and this is spitting in their face – it’s not, by the way – even though you probably wouldn’t give up a day off to volunteer at the VA and you wouldn’t sign off on a homeless shelter for veterans going up in your neighborhood.

I get it you’re all about the flag, and this is disrespecting America – it’s not by the way – even though you don’t really care about what the flag is supposed to represent embedded right there in our Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

I get it you’re all about the anthem. We should all stand and be proud of it no matter what type of social and racial injustice may exist in today’s world – by the way; we shouldn’t – even though you are probably more apt to make that beer run during the national anthem than during kickoff.

A protest is supposed to make you feel uncomfortable. Name a time when an oppressed group asked for something and just got it. Those in power will always feel like equality takes away from them. They won’t willingly tune into something that reminds them of their privilege. This country was born out of dissent. As Hubert Humphrey once said, “Freedom is hammered out on the anvil of discussion, dissent, and debate.” Let’s be honest with each other the vast majority of those who oppose the protests are people whose family and friends will never be impacted by the social and racial injustices that the anthem protest was meant to shine a light on. For many, the players are only vital to them as long as they are running or catching the ball for their entertainment; otherwise, they should just shut up and be thankful for the paycheck bestowed upon them. As if being paid, and in the process making billions of dollars for those that employ them, should mandate their silence. It shouldn’t; in fact, risking millions of dollars to bring light to injustice is heroic. Ask yourself honestly how many of those who are angry at the anthem protest would risk their livelihood to right injustice? I would venture to guess not many. Again one of our founding fathers understood this concept as Samuel Adams said, “If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace.”

The bottom line is that NFL players have a unique platform to bring attention to the inequalities that still exist in this country. Nothing is more patriotic than asking that this country live up to the principles on which it was founded. If you can’t get behind that, maybe you should question exactly what type of patriot you are.

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America – Status: its complicated

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You say it is disrespectful to our servicemen and women, but you wouldn’t give up one football Sunday to volunteer at the VA hospital.

You say it is disrespectful to the flag, but you turn a blind eye to the basic tenants the flag represents. Such as All men are created equal and individual Liberty: The principle that each person is born with freedom from arbitrary or unjustified restraint.

America is a complicated country founded on the principle that all men are created equal while at the same time it was openly embracing slavery and allowing legalized discrimination until as recently as the 1960s. Full of so-called patriots who embrace our military but at the same time are willing to turn a blind eye toward the problems many soldiers encounter after they return home. A country whose richness was built upon immigrants’ various contributions, whose diversity is one of its most vital qualities yet still has many people who reject immigration and segregate themselves in their communities afraid of the unknown from a different race or culture.

Despite all its flaws, America remains the greatest country globally, but it can be better. We as a people are tasked with ensuring that it reaches its unlimited potential. To achieve that promise, it is sometimes necessary for the people to engage in Nonviolent resistance to facilitate social change through symbolic protests and civil disobedience. Every time this is done, there will be those who disapprove those who wish to keep the status quo, but as Richard Dawkins said

“when two opposite points of view are expressed with equal intensity, the truth does not necessarily lie exactly halfway between them. It is possible for one side to be simply wrong.

We should never be afraid to raise our voice against injustice; it is our moral responsibility to see that our country lives up to the principles it was founded on. To do any less would to be complicit in the failure of the promise that is America. As H.L. Mencken so eloquently stated

“The notion that a radical is one who hates his country is naïve and usually idiotic. He is, more likely, one who likes his country more than the rest of us and is thus more disturbed than the rest of us when he sees it debauched. He is not a bad citizen turning to crime; he is a good citizen driven to despair.”

So continue to shine a light on social injustice. Continue to demand that America live up to her promise. Reject those who would have you accept the status quo; after all, dissent is the highest form of patriotism.

We as a country will forever be divided…Until

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Another shooting. Another unarmed person of color killed. Another night of unrest. The racial divide continues to grow. Yet here’s what the dimwits who dismiss the protests taking place in the NFL and other places as nonsense and disrespectful or who say to those who do protest if you don’t love this flag get out, still don’t get. It’s not about respect for America it’s about demanding America live up to what it is suppose to be, what it was founded on. In theory if not practice in 1776.

I’m a 50 year old African American who:

Loves both humanity as a whole and America as my country.

Who respects and is grateful to the police and the job they do everyday to keep me and those around me safe.

Who has never been in any kind of trouble with the law.

Yet anytime I see a police car in my rear view mirror there is a sense of anxiety that comes over me as a person of color because at that moment I don’t know who’s in that car and what their intentions may be. That’s a feeling if you are not a person of color you nor your children will ever have to deal with and if you’re not a person of color is something you should be grateful for because the reality is it’s something people of color and their children always have to deal with.

Simply put:

Until we stop telling people to turn a blind eye, chant USA, wrap yourself in the flag and assume that 100% of the police shootings in America are justified.

Until we understand that it’s the principle this country was founded on, we hold these truths to be self evident that all men are created equal, not the flag itself that is what is worth defending and worth dying for.

Until we understands there is a problem with race in this country that isn’t going to get better by ignoring it but rather by having an open and honest discussion that leads to real solutions.

Until we stop pushing the false narrative that by calling for justice and the removal of the few rotten eggs that smear the reputation of the hundred of thousands of men and women of all ethnicities in blue who put their lives on the line to keep us safe is not an attack on the police but rather on those racist individual who simply put on but do not deserve to wear the uniform.

Until we start to do these things we as a country will forever be divided.