July 18
th
Black Lives Matter: Protests and Terrorism
I began this message as a Facebook post, but it had gotten
to be too long, so I am posting it as a blog. Before I begin, let me reiterate
what I’ve said many times and that is that I deplore violence and do not
believe that it is justified to pursue a cause.
I will also repeat what I said about how attacking a law enforcement
officer, in my opinion, is a selfish act and serves no purpose other than to
silence a peaceful protest movement. I
continue to support the message behind the Black Lives Matter movement, it is not
anti-police. As I’ve stated after
hearing about the police shootings/killings in Baton Rouge on Sunday (July 17th):
“I was actually getting back into watching cable news, enjoying the campaign
coverage via MSNBC and then I see breaking news, more officers shot and
apparently killed. I don't know the details, but messages are lost when people
engage in vigilante justice. People who engage in shootings are not helping the
Black Lives Matter movement, legitimate protests for accountability, and
helping individuals who do not understand and get what the fuss about, to get
it. Shooting an officer is a selfish act, it is not engaging in legitimate
protests;it is silencing it. Again, I don't know the details, but the public
should realize that these shootings do not represent the vast majority of
protesters and sympathizers. Life is precious; it is also fragile and
unpredictable.”
With the above said, I
said that today I would avoid the news today and commenting on it, but then I
read an article about a petition wanting President Obama to declare Black Lives
Matter a terrorist organization, citing the law enforcement officers killed in
recent weeks (
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-responds-to-petition-to-label-black-lives-matter-a-terror-group/).
During the peaceful protests in the 1960s, so many people were killed and brutally
beaten by law enforcement and by INDIVIDUALS in the White community (not all,
not most). Would we retroactively call Bull Connor, Commissioner of Public
Safety in Birmingham (look him up if you must) a terrorist? Gov. Ross Barnett (Gov.
of Mississippi- Medgar Evers was assassinated in his driveway under his watch
and rhetoric, riots occurred when James Meredith tried to integrate the
University of Mississippi and Barnett went to a football game and gave a
half-time giving a defiant speech about segregation and the federal government
interring with the way they treated Blacks. Gov. Wallace? The University of Alabama has put of a plaque
and devoted space to Autherine Lucy’s attempt to integrate the university in
1956- riots took place by students protesting her attempted enrollment. The same at the University of Georgia when
Charlyne Hunter and Hamilton Holmes attempted to integrate the school. Many of
you are familiar with Fannie Lou Hamer (
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/biography/freedomsummer-hamer/).
Are you familiar with what happened to her in a jail when she was arrested for
having the audacity of helping people to vote- she was pulled off a bus along
with other passengers and taken to jail, beaten severely at the request of the
jail guards- and she wasn’t the only one. If you get a chance to hear her very
difficult recollections of it, please do so. Even Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr’s house was
bombed as a result of his peaceful protests.
Dr. King, the peace leader, the preacher of nonviolence and one of my
heroes, experienced violence and he experienced criticism for agitating people-
please review his
Letter From a
Birmingham Jail, why he wrote it, and to whom it was addressed. Who would we blame for the bombing of his
house? Dr. King? The protesters? Or
individuals who wanted to deal with issues and change in their own way? The
violence and murders took place while peaceful protesters were trying to
address serious issues, tying to seek justice and equality, yet, they
experienced both state sanctioned violence and violence of vigilantes who
wanted to take matters into their own hands because they did not want change.
They feared change.
Did most white Southerners and Americans support these
actions, certainly not, but they could not control the violent actions of
others- the State could have, but not individuals. The state perpetuated the violence in too
many ways. So if you want to start labeling Black Lives Matter a terrorist
organization, then let’s start the naming retroactively. A country that refuses to understand its
history and opts to hear the voices of people who whitewashes it will never get
a grasp on why people are still hurting and demanding accountability- not for
what happened in the past, but from what is happening today- AND how the past
has shaped the present. The people who
are engaged in these violent shootings believe that protests are not enough and
they are doing the very wrong thing. Life is too sacred to take
indiscriminately.
People peaceably protesting during the Civil Rights Movement
and Anti-Vietnam War protests (remember Kent State, oh, also remember Jackson
State) faced violence that they incited simply by peaceably protesting. These protestors included children, remember
what happened during the children’s campaign-children joining Dr. King in a day
of protests- police didn’t like that, the fire hoses and police dogs were
fiercely used against these kids. Protesters included people travelling from
their home states to protest- Blacks and Whites, and when you listen to some of
the footage courtesy of Eyes on the Prize,
you hear some Whites saying that it was whites coming from other places causing
the violence. So, again, let’s be careful with the rhetoric and with
associating individuals with violent solutions on their minds with people
trying to work within the system using the tools of the U.S. Constitution- the
right to peaceably assemble, the right to protest, it is in that amendment that
comes before the 2nd Amendment.
Dr. King once told Harry Belafonte that he fears that he has
integrated his people into a burning house. He said, according to Belafonte,
that we must become the firemen, we must not stand by and let the house burn.
Since the 1960s, we have seen a rise in mass incarceration, unjust treatment of
marginalized communities, the militarization of police officers, legislation
such as the 100-1 disparity in treatment between crack and powder cocaine, that
led to a rise of non-violent offenders in prison for long prison terms, the Rampart Scandal with the LAPD, Chicago’s Police
detective Jon Borge indicted for two decades of torturing mostly Black men,
forcing them to confess to crimes they did not commit, prisons making profits
by filling the prisons and so many other issues that trapped people into
communities without opportunities, jobs, adequate schools and so on, that you
can read in Ta-Nehisi Coates piece on reparations that are related to conditions
in many communities, and Michelle Alexander’s The New Jim Crow and so many
other books and articles. And, read Douglas Blackmon’s Slavery By Another Name
(or watch the PBS documentary based on his book).
People were upset, angry and demanding reforms before
President Obama even stepped into office. I recently watched the movie Straight
Outta Compton- finally- and was reminded by one of their songs about the police
(you know the one) and the portrayal of why they felt that way. By the way, I
heard a rap artist say that he would stop portraying violence in his music,
this, too, is progress. C. Delores
Tucker advocated for this two decades ago.
At the same time, I am aware of what I believe it was Chuck D. who said
that rap music is the CNN of the Black community, meaning that it is
articulating of the violence seen within the community, which is what Meek Mill
says in his announcement that he will soon stop portraying extreme violence (
http://www.complex.com/music/2016/07/meek-mill-vows-stop-rapping-extreme-violence-after-dreamchasers-4)
We need to address the conditions in
these communities not by excessive use of force. Let’s have a Marshall type
plan to address widespread unemployment in inner cities and rural areas so that
people can have job security, let’s address what is happening with underfunded
schools and the ever present school to prison pipeline, let’s address how
prison privatization and mass incarceration leads to poor laws and enforcement
of said laws, and let’s acknowledge that impact that slavery, segregation, and
mass incarceration continue to have in this society in the area of policing and
in the area of trust in policing.
Black on Black crime
is an issue, as is White on White Crime, as is human on human crime, and human
on animal crime, crime should be addressed, we do not want to live in a lawless
society. But when it is perceived (and
the data show) that the state has disproportionately targeting individuals of
certain groups and that there is no accountability, then that continues to
anger people. I was watching AM Joy with
Joy Reid on Sunday morning when the breaking news occurred about the shootings
of police officers in Baton Rouge. Joy
Reid had earlier interviewed the mother of Tamir Rice, the 12 year old kid
killed within seconds of a police’s arrival on the scene and she said that she
was disappointed in Lebron James for remaining silent and at President Obama
for not doing enough to address what has happened to her son and others. The daughter of Eric Garner expressed the
same frustration. I listened to a caller
to a conservative talk radio show out of Mobile, AL who shared the experiences
that he has heard from young, Black men. He said that the teenagers wanted him
to ask the Police Chief why is it that when they are standing around with their
friends, that police officers come up to them and demand that they get on the
ground, and when it is raining, they have to lie on the ground with their faces in the mud. They asked why does this happen and what can
be done. The host pondered and wondered aloud what did they do wrong; that they
would have to get on the ground. He could not imagine this just happening. The
assumption that far too many people make is that Tamir Rice did something
wrong, Eric Garner did something wrong, John Crawford did something wrong,
Sandra Bland did something wrong, Freddie Gray is responsible for his own
death, and so on. People are asking for accountability. People are asking for
fairness in policing. People are asking
for similar discretion to be used across racial lines. If a white male were in
a car with a female and a child sitting in the back seat, would shots be fired
into a car when an officer had a clear view of each individual? If a White male
is shopping at a Walmart in the toy gun section- in an open carry state, would
he immediately be shot, no questions asked? If a kid is in a White kid is in a
park with a toy gun, would an officer open fire within seconds after his
arrival?
People are asking for criminal justice
reform. People are asking for unity. People who commit violence will do so
regardless; they are not the voices of the people. And police shootings, while we hope they will
end, are not new. Here is data from the Washington Post showing that more
police shootings took place during the Reagan era than the Obama Administration-
did Reagan provoke people to shoot officers, did he just not get it, or whatever
else has been said about Obama, does it apply to Reagan? https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2016/07/09/police-are-safer-under-obama-than-they-have-been-in-decades/
I referenced Dr. King’s quote about his being afraid that he
is integrating his people into a burning house.
He said that we need more firemen. In President Obama’s President’s Task Force on 21st
Century Policing and the policy solutions put together by protesters, activists
and researchers located on campaignzero.org. you will see people trying to by the
firemen. This is not new, social media
is new, activism via social media is new, recordings of shooting incidents is
new, but the anger, pain, desire for change, that is not new. That is all.
Peace,
Artemesia
Throughout our nation’s history, there have been people of
all races joining in to fight against injustice. During the Civil Rights Movement, many are
aware of Viola Liuzzo, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, and other
portrayed in movies, but here is an individual who picked up a sign and started
walking, walking for justice, another fireman. His name is William Moore- From the Equal
Justice Initiative’s History of Racial Injustice timeline (http://racialinjustice.eji.org/timeline/):
APRIL 23rd, 1963
William Moore Killed During One-Man Civil Rights March to
Mississippi
On April 23, 1963, the body of William L. Moore was found on U.S.
Highway 11 near Attalla, Alabama, only four days shy of his 36th birthday.
Moore, a white man, was in the midst of a one-man civil rights march to
Jackson, Mississippi, to implore Mississippi Governor Ross Barnett to support
integration efforts. He wore signs that stated: “End Segregation in America,
Eat at Joe's-Both Black and White” and “Equal Rights For All (Mississippi or
Bust).”
Moore, a resident of Baltimore, Maryland, was a member of the
Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and had staged other lone protests in the
past. On his first protest, he walked to Annapolis, Maryland, from Baltimore.
On his second march, he walked to the White House. For his third and final
march, he planned to walk from Chattanooga, Tennessee, to Jackson.
About 70 miles into the march, a local radio station reporter
named Charlie Hicks interviewed Moore after the radio station received an
anonymous tip of his whereabouts. After the interview, Hicks offered to drive
Moore to a hotel where he would be safe, but Moore continued on his march
instead. Less than an hour later, a passing motorist found his body.
Moore had been shot in the head with a .22-caliber rifle that was
traced to Floyd Simpson, a white Alabamian. Simpson was arrested but never
indicted for Moore's murder. When activists from the Student Nonviolent
Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and CORE attempted to finish Moore’s march using
the same route, they were beaten and arrested by Alabama State Troopers.
This country can decide whether it wants to sign petitions
declaring Black Lives Matter a terrorist group, to listen to people to label
the call for police accountability with anti-police behavior is the best way to
unite and move forward, or to move in the direction that will make this
representative democracy stronger, safer, bigger, brighter, and great for
everyone. In the article that I read
this morning that led to this blog is this quote:
“The White House then went further: Acknowledging that it
was a "difficult time" for the country -- and that the debate remains
a "charged" one -- the statement additionally prompted petition
signers to consider President Obama's words calling for compassion towards the
movement.
"I think it's important for us to also understand that
the phrase 'black lives matter' simply refers to the notion that there's a
specific vulnerability for African Americans that needs to be addressed,"
the president said last week, talking to a Washington, D.C. gathering of
enforcement officials, civil rights leaders, elected officials and other
activists on the issue of racial disparities in the criminal justice system.
"We shouldn't get too caught up in this notion that somehow people who are
asking for fair treatment are somehow, automatically, anti-police, are trying
to only look out for black lives as opposed to others. I think we have to be
careful about playing that game."” http://www.cbsnews.com/news/white-house-responds-to-petition-to-label-black-lives-matter-a-terror-group/
In conclusion, we are all human beings, first and
foremost. Even those in the most violent
communities deserve to be treated fairly and justly. We can continue to pick and choose people who
we agree with and ridicule/ignore/dismiss those that we do not, or we can take what has
happened in recent weeks as one of those growing pains and figure out how to
move forward in a positive direction.
There are many who are already marginalized who will look at the lack of
accountability and say you see, this is how it has always been and how it will
always will be, so let’s just stop trying.
We can no more allow that attitude to fester than we can of those who
believe that Black people are responsible for the individual and state
sanctioned violence perpetuated against them.
The Civil Rights era wasn’t an easy one, constant death and brutality,
marked by achievements, the national heartache that our nation is currently
dealing with will not be east to get through, but we can, we must and we will,
but we can’t do so by remaining in our respective corners.
