What's going on folks. Hope everyone is having a safe and Blessed holiday. Regardless of my personal feelings about the origin and beginning of Thanksgiving the holiday, it still seems to bring families together to reflect upon things they're thankful for and I hope everyone has lots to feel thankful and grateful for. Unfortunately, this week saw the worse example of injustice this nation has seen in many years, dare I say since the 60s and 70s. Unless you've been under a rock or you isolated yourself from anything that had to do with media, you're aware of the sickening display of blatant injustice exhibited in Ferguson, Missouri. Over the summer, this once unknown city became a lightning rod for controversy over the slaying of eighteen-year-old Michael Brown from Officer Darren Wilson. What had the nation in an uproar was the fact that the kid was unarmed at the time of the shooting. After over three months of hearing from witnesses and from Wilson himself before a grand jury, they finally deliberated, only to have the chief prosecutor state at 9:15 EST that Wilson wasn't going to be indicted for his role in the death of the young Brown. Tensions were already at a searing point with the citizens of the town. Throughout that day, people started to merge outside the Hall Of Justice as they were expecting Wilson to, at the very least, face indictment. Once the decision was made known, all hell broke loose, and that's putting it mildly.
Within minutes, fires were started, looting started to commence, and people were getting hurt and/or killed, as well as arrested. While people such as Michael Brown Sr. and others were begging the citizens that, no matter what, rioting wasn't the answer, the citizens weren't hearing any of it. The scene resembled that of the infamous riots of Birmingham, Watts, and of course the most recent notable riot, the L.A. riots of 1992 following the acquittal of the officers involved in Rodney King's brutal beatdown. Many would say that the city was ready for armageddon no matter if there was an indictment or not. If there wasn't, there would've been a monstrous block party that likely would've been almost as wild. Reporters doing standups and providing live coverage of the rioting were very much put in harm's way although none were seriously injured. It was a chilling and surreal scene as the citizens, made up of mostly Black citizens, expressed their rage and frustrations over the decision by the grand jury.
Now for the rant, so be forewarned in case anyone gets pissed off here. This was one hundred percent certified example of the fact that the more things change, the more they stay the same. At first when I saw the prosecutor and he said that Wilson was cleared of all charges, I said that a war was about to develop, and it did. The funny thing is, as much as I didn't condone the actions that were about to take place, I'm not going to lie and say that a part of me didn't understand their rage and their frustrations. I felt the anger and resentment as a young Black man. If we think about the slayings and murders of the likes of Trayvon Martin, Sean Bell, Amadu Dialo, and many, many others, this situation with Michael Brown was the cherry on top of the sundae if you will. The gripping videos of R&B singer August Alsina crying on stage following the verdict as well as southern emcee Killer Mike breaking down on stage in St. Louis stating that he's scared for his twenty-year-old son and his eight-year-old son in this society were hard enough to view. Then we see the video of a heartbroken and irate Leslie McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown, weepingly almost uncontrollably over the decision and the outcry of Brown's stepfather to "Burn this bitch down", and you suddenly become one with the citizens of Ferguson. To witness a mother's heartbreak, in the midst of what she, Brown's stepfather, and Brown father have had to endure, was nothing short of tear-jerking.
Simply put ladies and gentlemen: this country is full of shit. The laws and rules of this nation weren't meant to protect a large portion of us. At first, this was a racial issue to me, but then through time I realized this was even a little bigger than race and gender. There have many non Blacks that have had their asses handed to them with injustice. Although we're the most target and hunted, we're also not the only ones. Before any self righteous asshole comes at me with the whole "Well Brown shouldn't have been acting how he was acting leading up to him getting killed", slap your fucking selves! SO what he may or may not have been acting dumb, the bottom line is that he was unarmed. Let me repeat that UNARMED. End of the fucking argument. Was there cause for rioting and looting? No it wasn't. However let me say this. The people tried the peaceful protests and peaceful marches, and still there was no justice. Nobody cared or even gave a damn about their concerns about this matter. They felt their voices weren't being heard so they had to yell a little louder to get their attention, they likely felt. The question is, what do you do when even peace doesn't work? How do you explain peace and civility to a family who's college bound son was gunned down and the killer with a badge walked free without even facing so much as an involuntary manslaughter charge?
No disrespect or sought to my non-Black friends, but I've never or hardly seen any of you all get your asses kicked and/or murdered by the cops, much less have them beat you down, kill you, and then they walk. The media doesn't show this. This also leads me to another point if I may. The media is full of shit too. I've stated this quite often but it really does sadden me that we're always depicted as animals, thugs, robbers, crooks, rapists, beaters, and every other negative depiction you can think of. The media is quick to believe this kid acting with ferocity against an officer, but not so quick to depict him as a family loving young man on his way to college.Likewise, they didn't show a ton of coverage of the peaceful demonstrations that were being held in Ferguson, but all over the riots.
I won't sit here and say that we don't have a ton of work to do in our own community. In order for us to get taken seriously by the powers that be (if we ever will), we have to conduct ourselves like we have some sense and stop feeding into these things that America expects you to become. We have no self worth, thus leading to self destruction. I've often called out those that are quick to picket and protest when Whites and other non-Blacks commit crimes and injustices against us, but we do little to nothing when it comes to Pookie killing or raping Shaniqua. We don't have marches and demonstrations about those things. We may have occasional domestic violence demonstrations and child abuse demonstrations, but what about other crimes in our community? Also, do you see anymore demonstrations about Trayvon? Didn't think so. Meanwhile that SOB Zimmerman is in custody, but not related to anything having to do with his cowardly actions towards that young man. If we want the respect that we demand, it must start in the home, as in our own community. Uplift and embrace each other, stop being the jokes that the media presents to the masses and start being the kings and queens that we descended from. Remember, people are destroyed from the lack of knowledge.
Let's look at a couple other situations that have been in the news. Tamir Rice, who was tragically gunned down when he showed police a BB gun, and they had it "mistaken" for a real gun. This sounds eerily similar to back in August, when John Crawford III was gunned down in Wal-Mart when he was playing with an unloaded air rifle, even when he was heard telling police "It's not real". There's also Andy Lopez, the thirteen-year-old child that was killed by also having a fake gun. These and other stomach-turning tragedies are reflections of how Police have been trained to now shoot first, ask later, even involving children. They're the biggest cowards in the world, well depending upon whom you ask of course. Back in '89, N.W.A. released "Fuck The Police" to much heat, but they were accurately depicting the abusive power of police. Years later, criminally under appreciated duo dead prez dropped their AMAZING and powerful classic debut, let's get free, and one of the boldest cuts was "Police State", a dark, brooding cut citing the cowardly and unjust treatment of regular citizens.
I could go on and on about this topic, but I'll end with saying that the last shall be first. We won't go out quietly. To the people of Ferguson, do NOT give up. To the family of Mike Brown, do NOT give up. To Wilson and the police department of Ferguson, you must live with blood on your hands, and will not go unpunished. Rioting may not be the answer, and I'm not going to condone those actions, but best believe Wilson woke up those that may have been sleeping. To my Black community, stop being your own worst enemy. There's strength in numbers, but we must stop being ignorant to the tricks of the establishment. Once we chill out on the self-hate, imagine the power we'll have over the system? Until next time, folks, have a wonderful holiday weekend! Rest In Power Mike Brown.
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