As of late, it seems that the liberal media has made a mission of blaming law enforcement for the deaths of black people that didn't respect the law. Sure it's sad, but if they would have just listened to the officers, they would still be alive right now. That's a fact. Well, I don't know if that's actually a fact; but resisting arrest is illegal. I don't know if anyone actually reads these stories anymore, considering most of it is liberal agenda trash; but my good friend "Harold" chose to post a reply on this article comparing the cases of Eric Garner and Michael Brown at this link;
If you read into the comments section, my friend "Harold" posted this reaction:
Harold 1 day ago 0 👎 18 👍
"If black people want to stop profiling and being collared for failing to respect the law, they can fix the problem easily...just quit acting like thugs, and don't commit crimes. It seems those simple requirements are too complex for their brains. Anyone who says the color of the skin is the only difference between black and white people is just nuts, or ignorant. I am finding many liberals of my own acquaintance suddenly beginning to use the "N word" for the first time in their lives...and I can see why."
You see? Harold spelled it out perfectly. It's black peoples' fault. I suppose simplified, it just comes down to an easy philosophy of 'act like an "N word"[sic), get treated like an "N word".
Of course, I laid the sarcasm on pretty thick here. I have carefully watched the comments, and it seems that there is a general disdain for anyone that even slightly indicates that the deaths were in any way connected to the race of the men that died. We'll examine that shortly. I am more interested in the fact that in the reactions, there is true disgust expressed. The disgust is expressed nearly equally towards two distinguishable groups among those that posted. The first group is blacks. The second group is liberals. Apparently, both groups have a love and even a need to play the race card and to a great many people right now, this is a tired and truly exhausted concept to those of a certain ilk. There are even those in the Black community (though the number is very few) that share the same view of those that would rather cast doubt than seek understanding. It appears that they are fed up with this issue coming up as still relevant, frustrated to the point of being ready to dust off the old racial epithets and use them anew. For this fella Harold, he even implies that African Americans lack the basic mental capacity to understand the consequences of their actions. He even goes a step further and implies that African Americans are in fact, inferior to him and his.
I would like to make an observation in regard to the majority of the posts; there is no attempt at all to relate to the people marching, protesting, and rioting. There is no attempt to wonder why there is such a reaction, since it is easier to assume that the actions covered on the news fit into the expectations dictated within the observers' mental construct. From a lifetime of watching and reaffirming similar attitudes and conclusions (within one's social enclave) from like occurrences, a person is able to come to an answer about any of the floating questions in their heads when news coverage brings them stories of civil unrest. As the mind goes, the observer will try to make sense of what is happening and come to the conclusion that is the least effort and most comfortable; the conclusion that fits most easily along the lines of what these individuals have already internalized and drawn upon for other similar conclusions. Well, let's just get uncomfortable for a moment, shall we?
There's no way to get around it. The American Black male goes to jail and prison much more often than his white counterpart in every conceivable category. I don't even need to cite anything that says that 1 in 3 black males will see the inside of a prison cell in his lifetime in this country. It's been said and repeated so many times, that by now it's a statement that is almost common knowledge. The sentencing disparity between what White American males and African American males is still hovering at about a 20% differential with Black men receiving the stiffer penalties regularly. Let that sink in for a minute. If you are a Black man in this country, you have a 30% chance of being incarcerated, and on top of that, you are likely 20% more likely to receive a stiffer penalty, just for being Black if you do have the misfortune of having a brush with the law. The board is set. Wait, the board is not completely set; there's sure to be more here.
Ahhh, yes. My stinking curiosity hath dug up more disturbing factual trash. Damn my inner cat. I knew that there would be more. I really do personally hate crunching numbers (as do any of my peeps that majored in anything but mathematics in college, though especially painful for us art majors), but it does well to illustrate these points fairly powerfully. So, on to prison populations. According to the Bureau of Justice Statics website, the prison populations per state show a dramatically higher number of black inmates despite representing a significantly smaller slice of the general population. Whites make up 58% of the population in New York State, yet in 2010 represented just 26% of the prison population. African Americans in New York see a different picture entirely, it seems. While this group makes up only 16% of the states' entire population, they make up 53% of the population of the incarcerated in the state. Hmmm...that's odd. It can't be typical, though. I have faith (Yes, faith came out of my mouth) that the criminal justice system has not allowed this disparity to continue. But as I further peruse the content of the figures that I gathered from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, I find that my former faith begins a transformation. It is shredded violently like the discarded male chicks at a processing plant, then gassed into a pulp and pressed into "fritters". These tender bits are then shipped to various outlets, cooked to order, and then consumed hastily and without care by an overweight sociopath with I.B.S. that immediately runs to the nearest bathroom after eating. He shamelessly plows in, squats in hover position, and without an ounce of guilt proceeds to blast lacquer a layer of my processed faith all over anything that has the misfortune of this particular viewing angle. Oh well; on we march.
Kansas has even more in store, even though by utilizing a rational thought process, it wouldn't seem that it should. I was sincerely hoping that the jayhawk state wouldn't be so as sharply misrepresented as New Yawk, but the aforementioned sociopath decided to bear down again with gusto, blasting away the last of the irritably digested steaming material of my long lost faith. In 2010, the total population in the entire state of Kansas for African Americans represented only 5.9% of the entire populace. However, per 100,000 African Americans in the state, 3,306 were incarcerated. This is in contrast to 418 per 100,000 Whites. That's right. In Kansas, while only representing 5.9% of the total population, African Americans are roughly 8 times more likely to be imprisoned per 100,000. Blacks represent 31% of the incarcerated population, and only represent roughly 6% of the total state population. That's a hard fact to swallow.
Let's go to another state that keeps figures on such matters. Idaho? Yes; I am vaguely curious as I do reside here currently. As it stands, per 100,000 Whites are seeing 656 incarcerations, while African Americans see that number at 3,252 (2010). Yes, even in Idaho, where the population of African Americans is less than 1% of the state total population, Black residents are 5 times more likely to be incarcerated than White residents. That's not to say that the prisons and jails in Idaho are just brimming with Black folk; in fact, Whites represent 77% of the total population incarcerated in Idaho. These figures, however, are being put forth by myself to illustrate a point in a factual manner.
Facts. Yes, they are a bit hard to swallow. For those who choose to look away, it may be never absorbed. To have overwhelming and easily decipherable facts neatly packed and ready to go for someone will ultimately be done the injustice of being completely overlooked by someone who says that they want the facts, but decide suddenly that those are not the facts that they wanted. Truth causes discomfort, especially the lurking truth that is now emerging via those facts. Perhaps in the back of the minds of those that deny the existence of modern racism and the complexities therein, are so afraid that admitting that it exists is going to shatter the fragile moorings of their reality construct. "Pfffft. I'm not a racist. I have Black friends", is usually one of the myriad of utterances thoughtfully flung from their grab bag of go-to's especially reserved for hot button issues. Never mind the fact that there are plenty of reasons right here that should give a moment of pause to any thoughtful individual that is willing to empathize briefly and actually wonder what it might be like to wake up every morning and realize that your chances of waking up the next day in a cell are exponentially increased due to the color of your skin.
What would it be like to live in a culture where not only are you more likely to go to prison because of who you are, but you are also labelled habitually by any means of association available? One clear example to me is the incomparable Richard Sherman. Richard Sherman is a naturally gifted athlete, leader, charitable soul and intelligent young man. And, he's also a thug. A thug. This man with a degree from Stanford and has an IQ higher than 99% of the planet, was labelled a thug repeatedly on social media because he likes to verbally put his opponents in their place. He's game for an argument, and tends to become boisterous when in the midst of action. Yeah, he's a thug. The same word used to describe the behavior exhibited by Michael Brown more than once on Fox News. The same word that I'm seeing on message boards describing Eric Garner. And Rumain Brisbon. And Bernard Bailey. And John Crawford III. And Tamir Rice. And Ronald Madison. And Aaron Campbell.
Just in case anyone is wondering, the word thug is used colloquially to describe a common criminal, but also describes hired muscle. As a professional football player, Richard Sherman may indeed fit the latter description. It is, however, interesting to me that on social media, he was likened to other black men with no consideration of their respective backgrounds. Prison record or no, whatever the educational background, separated by decades in some instances as far as age goes, regardless of career or life accomplishments in any respect, these men were all labelled as thugs on social media.
To me, it sounds like these oft spoken and infrequently recognized external stimuli could justly produce a sense of resentment. Not just a sense of resentment, but that sense of resentment coupled with a very real fear and presence of hopelessness. I would like to think these musings would present the reader with a moment of pause, a shred of doubt where one is actually needed (if you didn't already have one). The facts cannot be ignored; this is a systemic problem. To issue forth philosophies waxing about personal responsibility and putting blame on the actions of men that resisted arrest because they knew in the backs of their minds that injustice is far likelier to occur to them based on statistics alone is not only willfully ignorant, but it also demonstrates an atrocious lack of humanity. Only one who has not experienced the sting of being treated like a threat or an invader in their own country while among their own countrymen could so boldly sweep aside these happenings as pretentious or misleading.
One argument that I see and hear often; "These men were no angels". Of course they weren't. Some of them had records. Eric Garner did. Rumain Brisbon did. Michael Brown had just finished swiping cigars from the market and rag-dolled the clerk that tried to stop him. Did physical intimidation play a part? Perhaps. Eric Garner was a massive man compared to the men who restrained him. All four of them had to look up at him. He was 6 foot 3 inches and well north of 300 pounds. Michael Brown was 6 foot 4, 290 pounds of High School grad. Intimidating, right? Well, there were is also the fact that none of the press never mentioned that Darren Wilson also stands 6 foot 4. And weighs 210 pounds. And was a trained officer. With a firearm. In keeping with the smear campaign that usually follows with such events, many parties decided to ponder the 'what if's' by peppering the legal troubles with some awesome conjecture, including Eric Garner's rap sheet and testimony that Michael Brown looked like a "demon". Congressmen Peter King said that Garner died because he was too fat. Interesting little factoid for those paying attention; some people in this paragraph are only referred to in past tense. They are lost to their mothers, children, brothers, friends, neighborhoods, you get the picture. They will never again get a chance to right wrongs, or see what the future brings. In part, perhaps because they were intimidating; also in part because they felt that their freedom could be forfeit if they happened across law enforcement. So they resisted.
Another facet that comes up often on social media is the list of White folks killed by Black folks. "WHY ISN'T THIS NATIONAL NEWS?" I'll answer that. Usually, because the killers have been caught. And are in jail. And are serving sentences for their actions. Every time I see a new one, I look up the victims and the case. Yup. Caught. In prison. Not to disparage the victims at all, but their families are seeing at least a modicum of justice meted out.
If you are having trouble sympathizing, I would like to introduce you to a man named Dr.Cornell West. He surmised a bit a few years ago on the state of the United States after the events and response of 9/11. The words he used, so eloquently, were the "Niggerization of America". To clarify, he meant the state of all Americans being "unsafe, unprotected, subject to random violence, and hated for who you are and become so scared that you defer to the powers that be and you're willing to consent to your own domination." He then stated that this is the history of black people in America. In my opinion, this is probably the one time in the history of this country that gave everyone a window into that daily fear of which I posited earlier.
This would be a window that a blowhard like Bill O'Reilly may need to be reintroduced to, as he feels that a professional athlete like Lebron James are clueless about the issues at present. "Pro-athletes have a responsibility to know what they're talking about before they protest on the company dime," is how O'Reilly described his main gripe with what Lebron and other NBA superstars did. Bill O'Reilly criticized professional athletes for taking a stand, without a hint of irony or wonderment of the 'why's'. I doubt very much that Bill O'Reilly has ever in his life been ill treated by law enforcement. He's the type that assumes that rioting and looting are the actions of opportunistic 'thugs', rather than the expression of frustration by the people of a suppressed community that have been crying out for help for far too long. He assumes that when these athletes are showing solidarity in silent protest that they are just haphazardly choosing to do so without any forethought, since they can't be worried about anyone in their families or their children. They just don't know the issues.
Stephen A. Smith from ESPN had a completely different take on why the solidarity of professional athletes is important when it comes to this issue, a viewpoint that comes from a respected professional that perfectly sheds light on the fact that regardless of accolades and accomplishments, he is still subject to much of the same treatment as many other poor souls have experienced regularly. There is one thing that he has in common with these men that Bill O'Reilly doesn't. Given half the chance, O'Reilly probably has some choice words about Tommie Smith and John Carlos were pinheads for throwing their gloved fists into the air in Mexico City in 1968. That was, after all, on the company dime. And unpatriotic since it was also during the national anthem. You can probably safely predetermine what that shared trait is between Mr. Smith and countless others that have been on the receiving end of this type of harassment. Please watch the video as Stephen A. spells it out for us.
In light of the previous paragraphs, I feel it necessary to interject on behalf of the large majority of law enforcement. Police have a thankless and stressful job. Even in areas where crime is less prevalent, those that choose to bear the shield do so knowing in the back of their minds that every day on the job could be their last day. Every day has the potential to pit them against unforgiving and insurmountable odds, and unexpected emotional traumas that can be life altering. They see things that they can't unsee, and are often perceived as a threat in any situation. No one just feels great when they see a police cruiser behind them, or when an armed officer is standing behind them in line at a fast food joint. This is what officers have to deal with much of the time; unless a person knows them personally, they are usually perceived in a heightened and fearful way. Some people, without even knowing them will hastily label them as "pigs" without an afterthought. I would say that in most departments, the mental health of the serving officers needs to take a higher priority not just for the public, but also for the officers and their families.
Having said that; let's call it what it is. Systemic racism. Have the balls to say it. I've seen enough posts from the trollers and enough vitriolic reporting from certain news outlets theorizing on the 'real' reasons why this is happening and why they wish it would all go away. There is a collective whine on social media from many that wishes that the whiney minorities would just be content and quit trying to invoke racism, because it was eliminated way back when. We have a black President, for cryin' out loud. These people grow weary tired of biting their tongues. Tired of the P.C. garbage that has become widely accepted, tired of 'happy holidays' instead of 'Merry Christmas'. They're aching to say it out loud, but are afraid of what it could mean if they do. My friend 'Harold' from yahoo is dying to say it; so are all his friends. I guess when they're saying that they say that they're tired of the race card being pulled, what they really mean is they wish we could just shut up and enjoy the America. Or maybe, that we could just all be as White as possible? Sure, I can dig that. I'll just ask someone how to cut my hair and how to dress and speak. And which church to go to. And who to vote for. Wait- what about my skin?
I can't really say that I have ever experienced what Black men in America experience on this level. I have experienced alienation due to my appearance or perceived threat, and I have experienced light harassment by law enforcement. However, I have never experienced anything like a good number of African American males in this country (in their own neighborhoods) experience all too frequently.
After all of that, you can willingly turn away and pretend that this monster no longer exists; Or, you can admit that there's a problem and let your own humanity dictate what actions you are willing to take to see real progress in your own lifetime. It would be truly 'thuggish' not to, and anyone who turns a blind eye are truly committing unpardonable crimes. In my humble opinion.
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