The More Things Stay the Same The More I Hope We Will Change
This is an article I wrote that was published four years ago. It is very painful to see that each year its words continue to be validated. Sometimes when we write time makes our words lose their relevance. However, each time I revisit this article the message still resonates. There are just always new names that could be added to the list of Black men lost to racially motivated violence and violence at the hand of another Black man. The death of young Trayvon Martin has caused much of the sleeping nation to wake up and take a hard look at how this country views the presence of Black males in this society. Since I wrote this article in 2008 the question still remains the same:
STATE OF EMERGENCY: Does America Value Black Life?
I recall being overcome with emotions as I would pass cotton fields in Alabama as I drove to school. I recall thinking of how many of my ancestors toiled that same blood stained land hundreds of years ago and how many of them hung from those very same trees I passed. It almost brought me to tears as I thought of the strange fruit Billie Holiday sang of. I’d get angry sometimes when I thought about how I may be the only one thinking this. Then I would shake it off and prepare myself for the tasks ahead of me.
I recall being completely overwhelmed with emotion in August 2005 when the levees
broke in New Orleans and I saw images of helpless, forgotten Black people in pure survival mode. I saw Black people who were thrust into a position to fend for themselves as if they were animals stranded in the wild. I saw the elderly, children, men and pregnant women. I saw people. I saw them crying. I saw them trying to make it. I saw families separated. I saw them grieving for the loss of loved ones. I saw them hurting. I saw them persevering. I saw it and I wept. I saw it and I was mad as hell. I heard the media call them refugees. I wanted to fight someone. I wanted to curse people out. I went and volunteered at a shelter in Atlanta. That wasn’t enough. My brothers and sisters were hurting. The media and the government had to be reprimanded before they even recognized them as people. Damnit Black people are people. Poor people are people. In 2008 why the hell do we still have to affirm that we are people too? We are human beings!
broke in New Orleans and I saw images of helpless, forgotten Black people in pure survival mode. I saw Black people who were thrust into a position to fend for themselves as if they were animals stranded in the wild. I saw the elderly, children, men and pregnant women. I saw people. I saw them crying. I saw them trying to make it. I saw families separated. I saw them grieving for the loss of loved ones. I saw them hurting. I saw them persevering. I saw it and I wept. I saw it and I was mad as hell. I heard the media call them refugees. I wanted to fight someone. I wanted to curse people out. I went and volunteered at a shelter in Atlanta. That wasn’t enough. My brothers and sisters were hurting. The media and the government had to be reprimanded before they even recognized them as people. Damnit Black people are people. Poor people are people. In 2008 why the hell do we still have to affirm that we are people too? We are human beings!
Amodou Diallo was a person. He was somebody’s son. He was sitting on his porch in
1999 minding his own business. He was being “obedient” when he was bombarded by the police. He went to pull out his identification and died because of it. He was met with a barrage of 41 deadly bullets. He died because he fit the profile of a Black “thug”. He was automatically a villain because he was Black. Now he is no more. Now he lives no more. He breathes no more. He is merely a historical reference to police brutality and judicial injustice in the United States of America. Sean Bell was somebody’s son. He was about to be a husband. He was a father. There is a black woman who is an unwed mother now. She is an unwed mother not because her man didn’t want to marry her. She is an unwed mother because her unarmed husband- to- be was killed by the police. Her daughter has no father not because he ran out. He was snuffed out. He was killed at the hands of the police. He will not be there to provide for his family. He will never hug his wife again. He will never play with his daughter. He’s dead. The young man, the human being is gone. He too is merely a historical reference of police brutality and judicial injustice in the United States of America.
1999 minding his own business. He was being “obedient” when he was bombarded by the police. He went to pull out his identification and died because of it. He was met with a barrage of 41 deadly bullets. He died because he fit the profile of a Black “thug”. He was automatically a villain because he was Black. Now he is no more. Now he lives no more. He breathes no more. He is merely a historical reference to police brutality and judicial injustice in the United States of America. Sean Bell was somebody’s son. He was about to be a husband. He was a father. There is a black woman who is an unwed mother now. She is an unwed mother not because her man didn’t want to marry her. She is an unwed mother because her unarmed husband- to- be was killed by the police. Her daughter has no father not because he ran out. He was snuffed out. He was killed at the hands of the police. He will not be there to provide for his family. He will never hug his wife again. He will never play with his daughter. He’s dead. The young man, the human being is gone. He too is merely a historical reference of police brutality and judicial injustice in the United States of America.
Let’s not forget that our ancestors were considered to be chattel. They were not considered human. It eased the conscious of the oppressor if he convinced himself the atrocities he committed were being done to sub-humans. It’s one thing to hang a human being. It wasn’t so bad to hang, whip or castrate a nigger. In 2008 so many of us feel we have arrived. Have we? Sean Bell’s killers are free. Amadu Diallo’s killers are free. Should I run down the rest of our brothers who died this way? Their killers are free. So, are they too considered chattel? Does America’s heart bleed when Black men are gunned down? I couldn’t agree with Mos Def any more when he said “the length of Black life is treated with short worth.” The sad thing about it is that his statement applies to us too. Sean Bell’s killers included Black men. I didn’t start writing this to go into details about the tragic incident. If you didn’t read about it I ask that you take time to find out more. However, I do have to add that after the 50 shots were fired it was reported that Mr. Guzman, the passenger in the car, leaned across Mr. Bell with his bloody arms extended in a gesture of surrender. Mr. Bell was slumped back and lay there mortally wounded. Yet the lead detective ordered that both men be handcuffed despite their deteriorated medical conditions. Where is the humanity in that? So they mistakenly thought Bell and Guzman were armed when they shot at them 50 times. After the policemen emptied their guns at these young men, these people, and walked over and saw them half dead, how much of human beings did they consider them to be if they ordered defenseless people to be handcuffed? How much did they value their lives? Did they still feel their own lives were “in danger?” Did they feel the victims were so dangerous that even as life was leaving Mr. Bell’s body he still belonged in handcuffs? Were they thinking about his future being gone? Were they thinking about his family? Did he remind these officers of their sons and brothers? Or did he remind them of this American image of Black men as thugs?
Yet, I can’t end this piece without addressing that on the other side of the law lies our responsibility as Black people. For my brothers who are holding it down, taking care of themselves, their women and children, I applaud you. For the brothers who turned their lives around, I applaud you and I have your back. But for my brothers who have internalized this thug mentality I am mad as hell at you. The numerous murders of Black people in Chicago are at the hands of other Black people. The numerous murders of Black men in Philadelphia are at the hands of other Black men. Tears land on my keyboard and anger and frustration fill my heart as I think of this. The conditions of this society are hard no doubt. There are so many wrong choices that are easily available to a Black man growing up in the inner-city. But it is time to pause. It is time to think. It is time to regroup and reroute. This façade of being the hardest has to end. There are people who care. There are people who are trying to help. Chasing after instant gratification has to stop. The right way isn’t always the fastest or easiest way. It is time for Black men to realize how valuable their own lives are! It is time for Black men to think long term. It is time to realize the long term effects of murder. It is time to stop thinking that if you kill a Black man it is no big deal. Raheem’s life is just as valuable as Raymond’s and we better start to realize that. Until we do, the police, both white and Black will continue to gun down our men with no repercussions. After all, if we are gun toting thugs who easily kill each other doesn’t that give the cops the right to fear us-so they say? Diallo and Bell probably would have been shot by another Black man anyway right? Come on people. Anybody else angry?
We have to do better. We have to become proactive. Our reactions have to be more powerful. We have to unite. We have to educate our children and each other. We must also talk to our brothers about how to respond when stopped by the police. Everyone can do something. If you are frustrated leave me a response. If you are frustrated talk to people around you and come up with things you can do no matter how big or small. When these things happen we can’t just watch it on the news then forget about it. My heart goes out to the family of Sean Bell and to the families of all Black men who died at the hands of police brutality. Let’s all do our part to bring about change.
Power concedes nothing without demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have the exact measure of the injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.
Frederick Douglass
**This was originally written before Obama was in office and it still applies today. So much for the post-racial utopian society that non-Black people love to tell us we live in**
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