I know many people have been in an uproar about Professor Henry Gates recent arrest in his home in Cambridge, MA. For those people who are unaware of who he is, you can google him to find additional information about him. Mr. Gates is an educated Black man who was reminded the other day by the Cambridge police that he is nothing more than a nigger (yes, I said it). Before you all get your panties in a bunch, the way he was treated shows Black America that is what the white officers thought of him.
Many Black men experience that same treatment Prof. Gates received on a daily basis and it often goes unnoticed. Most of these men are not educated, but some are. It doesn't matter in most places because any Black male is an easy target for police.
I am not sure if Black people living in America will ever get treated fairly. There are many people who often like to claim that race relations have improved but I beg to differ. If you have never been in a store and the clerk overlooked you to service another patron when it was obvious that you were next, then things haven't improved. When you are a Black female working in corporate and you are a no nonsense individual, you are labled a bitch. If this same woman is white, she is aggressive. I am not sure why this occurs, but it does. More often than not, a Back woman has to prove herself to everyone before she is given a promotion. Then if she is promoted, she has to worry about others trying to sabotage her career. Does that sound like race relations have improved? When you have educated Black people being turned down for jobs based on their names sounding too ethnic, surely things have changed. When banks enter minority communities and prey on the residents because many of them are uneducated and as a result are taken advantage of, that surely has to be a clear indication that things have changed.
I could list many more, but the reality is this: race relations are pretty much the same. I don't think it will change until more people will wake up and smell the cocoa beans. Michael Jackson challenged us all to look at the man in the mirror. Let us all take heed to his words.
Week Five Poem-a-Week Challenge: Ode to My Mom
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This week's Poem a Week Challenge was to write an ode. I decided to write
about my mom, instead of writing more poetry about the pandemic. So this is
what...
3 years ago
2 comments:
FD,
Many pundits have stated that POTUS BO spoke out of turn without knowing the facts. Well, the facts are clear about profiling. What law did Gates break? Was he a danger to himself, the officers, or anyone else? Did he have to be hancuffed and booked? As some have suggested, would Dr. Henry Kissinger have been treated this way?
I was personally profiled in Downers Grove in 1999. My wife and I had attended an event in Villa Park in the evening. Near Yorktown (near the border of Downers Grove and Lombard) a police officer pulled us over to inform me that my licence plate had expired. I had up to date sticker and registration. We were dressed in semi formal attire. I usually listen to talk radio or jazz music. We don't drink, smoke, or use drugs, and were driving a 1989 4-door Toyota Corolla, so we ere not the typical "suspicious" drivers. As I informed my father (who has a well documented experience about being profiled), he mentioned that we were probably stopped since my wife, who is fair-skinned, could have been mistaken as Caucasian.
POTUS BO didn't need the facts of this case. Gates might haveacted beligerent (probably frustrated that he had to break into his own home). But he didn't deserve to be hancuffed or arrested IMHO.
I ask, what is speaking out of turn? If Mr. Gates was a man of a different race, I know this wouldn't be an issue. It is sad that in 2009, people are still using terms like "spoke out of turn", for that matter they might as well put back up the "Whites Only" and "Colored Only" signs.
A.W., your situation is very common. I sometimes wonder if these officers truly believe that these Black men are doing something illegal or if they just want to remind Black people of their "place" in society. It is my prayer that race relations improve before I leave this earth, but if this situation is any indication of the improvement, America has a long way to go.
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