Words failed me
because America failed in race relations again. I spent a sleepless night after Prosecutor McColloch spent
half an hour defending the grand jury process even though his use of it was far
outside standard procedure. He spent most of the time bashing witness
credibility and Michael Brown’s character while defending Darren Wilson, the
man he was supposed to be considering charges against. With nine whites and
three blacks on the jury, there was no other outcome possible. I knew this even
as I held a glimmer of hope.
Then I watched the
streets of Ferguson swirl into chaos, fire, anguish, rage, and hopelessness.
AP photo of Ferguson protests
This is what
Apartheid looks like in America. This is the systemic implementation of racist and
biased policies, laws, and actions in our courtrooms, in our neighborhoods, in
stand your ground laws that seem expressly written for the protection of white
Americans, and in the ethnic and racial makeup of a militarized police
presence.
CNN reported, “Wilson
called the area where Brown was shot a "hostile environment."
Wilson testified, "There's
a lot of gangs that reside or associate with that area. There's a lot of
violence in that area, there's a lot of gun activity, drug activity, it is just
not a very well-liked community. That community doesn't like the police."
Why is the
community suspicious of police? Because the police and the city used the
community as a source of income, issuing tickets and fining people based on
petty charges. The police presence was not a positive presence but a force of
containment and oppression.
I believe it is a
high crime area. There is a lot of poverty with few paths out. That causes an
environment where some believe crime is an acceptable way of life. But not all citizens who
live there believe that and live good, honest lives. They should be afforded the same police protections
that the rest of America, white America, enjoys. They are there by
circumstance, not necessarily by choice. Why do the police, officials, and the
media impugn the whole community and not just the criminals? How can a police
officer adequately protect and serve a community he doesn’t like?
He can’t.
Justice is
bankrupt, and racism prevails.
While we argue
causes and fling hatred and suspicion back and forth, more black men and boys
die.
Including Tamir
Rice, a twelve-year-old carrying a toy gun. Look at his face. He is a child.
Why did the man who called 911 call him a man and why didn’t the police
acknowledge that he was just a kid and treat him as one? Racial bias blinds
them.
Tamir Rice
Ronald left the
house twenty minutes before the verdict was read. We had already watched four
hours of coverage, and he said he didn’t want to see the verdict. He did not
want to relive the George Zimmerman verdict. We had watched that verdict together.
I cried; he got angry, then silent.
I knew I had to
watch the grand jury announcement even as I understood he could not. I kissed
him good-bye and told him to be careful. He already knew the verdict, and my
silence when he got home, and again this morning, told him he was correct.
I understand
hopelessness. I see it in the faces of the protestors, in the tears shed by
Michael Brown’s family, in the comments on my Facebook page, and in the way
Ronald grows more introspective daily. I suffer the same hopelessness.
If we don’t fight
for change, the violence will grow and more black boys and men will die, not
just physically, but emotionally and mentally. The death of black men and boys
is epidemic in this country.
I also understand
that the election of a mixed race president did not usher us into a post-racial
world. Instead it brought to light the very real inequality and injustice under
which our society operates. Denial won’t change that fact.
The things that
will change systemic racism are the following:
·
Video cameras on every police officer
·
Police departments that reflect the racial and
ethnic makeup of the communities they serve
·
Viable citizen review boards
·
Better and more comprehensive diversity training
for officers
·
Better and more comprehensive training for
officers on how to provide a positive community presence that promotes a safe
environment rather than an adversarial force that works against citizens
·
Equality in the criminal justice system
including the charges brought against offenders, sentencing, and the length of
prison terms
We also need to
have that conversation about race in America.
Let me be brutally
honest: If you believe race does not affect your life, then you are one of the
privileged in this country. If you don’t care about or support the growing use
of unnecessary force against citizens of color, you are racist and one of the
privileged. If you don’t care about black boys and men being killed at the
hands of police officers and vigilantes hiding behind stand your ground laws,
you are a racist and one of the privileged. If you believe that every black
community is full of lazy and lawless people, you are a racist and one of the
privileged.
This is a tragedy
for all Americans, not just black Americans.
We need to dig
down into the history of our country and the institutional and systemic factors
that cause bias and oppression. We need to acknowledge how this country was
taken from Native Americans and how it was built on the backs of slaves. We
need to acknowledge that we
continue to create an underclass through sub-poverty wages, sub-standard
schools, and the high cost of college tuition.
Then we need to
educate the public about these truths and make the changes necessary through
the enactment of laws that protect equality and through Federal government
oversight. We already know that states fail to achieve equality and justice for
their citizens. Ferguson has proven that yet again with the appointment of a
biased prosecutor, an almost all-white police force in a city that is 70%
black, a jury that was predominately white, and in the militarized response to
protests.
If we don’t make
those changes, black men and boys will continue to die in record numbers.
This is what
Apartheid looks like in America.
Michael Brown will not be forgotten
