The situations that stirred up so much contention and controversy in Ferguson are bigger than Ferguson. The source of contention and strife have to do with the way that we understand and relate to one another of different backgrounds, the tiredness of consistent injustice, and personal responsibility in dealing with various situations.
One of the most relevant things that the President stated the night that the Ferguson Police Department announced its verdict was when he mentioned the history of racial tension and discrimination in this country of America. I will admit we have come along way. Integration has been around for a little over fifty years with laws in place to protect the rights of all Ethnic groups, religions and such who seek the natural civil liberties that every American requires.
However, although we have made several strides over the years the war against racism and social injustice is far from over. We know that racism is more hidden now and less blatant in many cases as it relates to housing, businesses, and other structural institutions. There is a way of communicating one’s racist beliefs in such a way as to not draw immediate negative attention in order to avoid consequence, but it still exists.
With that understanding, I will not say that every problem stems from racism. Some problems simply come from a lack of understanding of a group of people. For example, when I went to California just a couple of months ago, I figured I’d go to an open mic comedy cafe’. I was sitting at the table and a comedian was on the stage. He was a White guy. He made jokes specifically about Black women. The first joke was okay. It was about a Black woman’s weave.
However, he started talking about how Black women are crazy and how he was afraid to have a Black girlfriend because she would catch him cheating by smelling his private area and he went on about the crazy Black woman. I was the only Black woman in there and I just focused on my food and ate waiting for him to get off the stage.
He was kind of embarrassed because no one was laughing especially me. I just ignored it as comedy that was based on stereotypes and wasn’t really funny. He got off stage and just left afterward. I would assume that the comedian did not have very many Black female friends. He probably watches shows like Jerry Springer, where unfortunately, there actually was a Black woman saying the things that he said during his set. However, in reality there are many other Black women who carry themselves with a since of pride, dignity, and self-respect.
My point is we cannot judge one another of different backgrounds by stereotypes perpetrated in the media or anywhere else. Unfortunately, many of the stereotypes relating to Black men are negative and therefore Black men are looked at as being more violent than other racial groups. Because of the many negative stereotypes that are aimed at Blacks in general, Black people have had to be extra excellent at whatever we have done in order to disprove the negative stereotypes of the mainstream.
Black people are not the only ones who fall victim to stereotypes. There are stereotypes that Blacks have about Whites as well. For example, normally when there is a school shooting, mass shooting, or serial killer, some Black people are surprised if the killer is Black because the norm for mass shooters have largely not been Black in the media. In a sense, every race of people can be guilty of having negative perceptions about one another, but those perceptions should begin to die the more that we begin to see each other as humans deserving of love and respect.
Many have asked why are so many people angry and saddened by what took place when Darren Wilson was not indicted for the death of Michael Brown, as if the Michael Brown incident was an isolated incident. The truth of the matter is that the Michael Brown incident is not an isolated incident, but an incident that the Black community has seen far too much. There is a reason why people are angry. People are fed up and tired. The message to those who are angry should not be to get over it and move on, but rather to channel their anger in a way that will bring about a positive outcome to prevent things of this nature from reoccurring in the future.
There is no sin in being angry. The sin comes about when we make poor choices due to our anger. Scripture reminds us to be angry, but not to sin. When we make poor choices because of our anger, it takes away from the injustice that was done to us, making us appear to be the one in the wrong (Ephesians 4:26).
To add insult to injury, when a case becomes prominent of an unarmed Black male being killed, that male is always made to look like a criminal to justify the shooting. That is extremely hurtful to the families and all involved. We have seen it with the Trayvon Martin case, of which I am still upset that his killer was not brought to justice, the Michael Brown case, and even in the case of Tamir Rice, the 12 year old boy shot by police in Cleveland. There are stories circulating about his father having a history of domestic violence. What does that have to do with justifying a 12-year old boy being shot and killed? I am not condoning any inappropriate behavior, but if we all got shot for all of the mistakes we made as young people, we all would be dead.
Do I believe that all police officers are bad? No. Do I believe that all White police officers are racist? No. Do I believe that all police shootings are motivated by racism? No, but I do believe that some are motivated by an inappropriate perception of someone who has a different racial background than that of the officers. Other cases are motivated by the lack of accountability for police officers to be brought to justice on certain actions. It is common for police departments to protect officers, and I can understand that to a degree because police officers put their lives on the line to protect citizens and sometimes they simply make mistakes and need grace just like any other person.
However, when the same occurrence of unarmed Black males dying at the hands of officers continues to occur, then something needs to be done. I believe in order to see effective change concerning this issue, there has to be a collaborative effort by everyone effected. That includes accountability from those outside of the local state to ensure that citizens have a fair chance and that their rights are not being violated. The cameras are also a good idea because it takes away from the questions of what really happened. In many cases, it has been the livings’ testimony against the dead. Lastly, families teaching their sons and daughters how to deal with the police, and more diverse examples of Black males in media.
More diverse examples of Black males in media would include decreasing the violence in our own communities. Unfortunately, it isn’t good to only see our communities of color come together when there is an offense that has taken place involving a White person, but when African Americans kill one another it is acceptable. I was very upset when I watched a documentary of the L.A. Riots that showed a truce between two popular Black gangs because of the misconduct of White officers, but any other time they would be killing one another. That is unacceptable. We have to do better.
Thankfully, in the day and age of social media, news of injustice can spread quickly and cause a positive movement that effects change that impacts all races and nationalities. I am glad to see many people who are not Black as well as other Blacks marching for Garner, Trayvon Martin, and Michael Brown, so that their lives would not have been taken in vain, but that it would effect positive change for others.
As the media, rides the wave of social injustice, we have to be careful to not just respond in anger, but to respond in prayer also praying for those that are in authority to make the right decisions and praying for everyone as a whole.
