"The whole history of the progress of human liberty shows that all concessions yet made to her august claims have been born of earnest struggle. If there is no struggle there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom and yet deprecate agitation are men who want crops without plowing up the ground; they want rain without thunder and lightning. They want the ocean without the awful roar of its many waters."
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress." -- Frederick Douglass, August 3rd, 1857
Does anyone really think George Zimmerman would have been arrested but for the efforts of his parents and leaders like the Rev. Al Sharpton to mobilize people to speak out and peacefully demonstrate urging law enforcement authorities to arrest Zimmerman? His release by the Sanford Police department would have remained unchallenged but for the determination of Trayvon Martin's parents to have the killing of their son reviewed by a court of competent jurisdiction.
The joint efforts of the Rev. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and others (no matter whether one likes of dislikes either Sharpton or Jackson), to raise the public's awareness about what happened to Trayvon, is an example of what Frederick Douglass' advised above.
It was one of Reverend Sharpton's finest moments of leadership when, in commenting on the announcement by the Special State Prosecutor that 2nd degree murder charges had been filed against George Zimmerman and his subsequent arrest and incarceration, Sharpton said, "There will be no high-fiving ... This is about justice, not revenge. It is about love and the pursuit of justice."
Tryavon Martin's mother reminded us that her effort to get justice for the killing of her son was about a mother's love for a son. A mother's love, she reminded us, "Has no color. It is neither white, nor black." It is simply love.
Prior to the announcement by Angela Corey, the Florida state special prosecutor, and the arrest of George Zimmerman, I had watched a CNN Special on race and children in America today. For those who have not seen this program, I suggest you go online and watch it. For those too young to remember, I also recommend that you Google information about the "dolls test" conducted by psychologists, Doctors Kenneth and Mamie Clark in connection with the Brown vs. Board of Education Supreme Court case. That decision unanimously declared, as unconstitutional, the racially mandated "separate but equal" education that prevailed in public schools throughout the South and other states at that time.
Doctors Kenneth and Mamie Clark asked white and black girls and boys of the same age to answer questions about two dolls, one brown, the other white. They asked the girls which doll they thought was pretty; which one was the good doll, which one the bad doll? The asked the boys the same question, as well as questions about which brown or white boy doll was the good doll, the bad doll, and which one they would most like to be when they grew up?
Guess what? The results represented in the CNN program, now almost 57 years later, are not too dissimilar in many instances to the answers of the young white and black children to the questions asked by the Clarks. Many of the answers by the children in the CNN program reflect the extent to which racism still persist in our society today; notwithstanding an African American president of the United States.
So what does this have to do with the Trayvon Martin case? As written in previous blogs about Trayvon Martin, his killing in Sanford, Florida under circumstances repeatedly described is yet another "wake up call" for our nation to confront the issue of race and "race relations" in America, honestly and forthrightly. Specifically, the issue of racial profiling by police and others of young black men in America, with or without a "hoodie" should be a national urgent priority for leaders within the black, Hispanic and white communities.
The CNN program on race and children only confirms the urgency of responding to this "wake up call." How long will we continue to let the unresolved issues of race maintain a strangle hold on our national moral conscience? Has our sense of moral outrage become so desensitized and debased that we shall remain paralyzed indefinitely, intimidated and unwilling to publicly confront the issues of racial profiling, the easy availability of guns, and wanton gun violence in our society?
When, as I wrote previously, do we say, enough is enough? When do we say, like the fictional network TV producer Howard Beale in the 1976 movie Network, that we are finally fed up, and shout, as one nation: "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take this anymore!"? How many more Trayvon Martins have to occur to mobilize us to national action?
The ubiquitous presence of race in America is not a right wing, left wing, FOX News, MSNBC, Republican or Democratic Party, Tea Party or Moveon.org, Rush Limbaugh, Joe Madison, Shelby Steele, Al Sharpton, Juan Williams, Jesse Jackson, CNN, ABC, or NBC, issue. It is an American issue. It is not going to go away under Obama's presidency or thereafter. Unless it is courageously addressed, "race" will remain the sword of Damocles hanging over our country for the balance of the 21st century and beyond -- unless we as a nation have the courage and the grace to publicly confront, head on, this issue of race in America.
The Englishman John Newton, during part of his life, had actively participated in the slave trade. Years later he wrote a journal recalling and describing those years. The lyrics to the song, "Amazing Grace," which he composed, were prompted by his earlier years of participation in the slave trade and his efforts to seek forgiveness from God.
We are blessed to live in a democratic society that can enable justice to occur in the Trayvon Martin case. Accordingly, we should remember the words of Trayvon Martin's mother and also reflect upon the lyrics of John Newton as he sought God's forgiveness:
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Daniel Gross: George Zimmerman Had Accomplices. Too Bad We Can't Arrest Them Too.
Marian Wright Edelman: What a Difference a Gun Makes
I feel that the recent Supreme Court ruling about strip searches is based in racism, too. Those who sit in seats of power need to be vetted to be fully void of racism. This majority on the SUPREME Court is not free of racism, as their rulings continue to reveal.
The FL prosecutors need to do this by more than "the book", but rather by full truth. Sometimes the book is not enough.
And the problem of race has been at the core of this country's problems since the very beginning.
Yet here we are, a century and a half later, still struggling to embrace its meaning and change our nature. Our mental evolution may be as slow a process as our biological one was.
Racism is still pervasive in our nation, and the Trayvon Martin case has clearly demonstrated how systemically entrench it remains. It’s a national disgrace that it took extraordinary efforts by Rev Al and Trayvon’s courageous parents to bring enough public attention to this atrocity to force any action.
Perhaps the only change we have seen in those tyrants harboring racist sentiments is they have broadened their capacity for hatred to encompass a wider spectrum of humanity. They apply an ‘equal opportunity hatred’ to blacks, muslims, ‘illegal’ immigrants, gays and lesbians, women who would retain control of their reproductive systems, and people of any race, religion, or creed who find themselves financially compromised by our economic system.
It is much easier to avoid being labeled racist, if you spread your hatred around over a wider swath of humanity. Hatred of other-hood; all those who do not look, think, believe, do business, and vote the way you do.
There are so many more people for the tyrants to oppress, given this broader perspective. We have far surpassed any reasonable level of endurance; the time is long past due to teach the tyrants their limit.
& again, before taking the easy route and simply calling me racist, know these numbers cut in different directions depending on the topic. If I had no choice but to leave my three children with either a white or black male I'd choose the black male every time. Why? Because white males commit 70% of all crimes against children. Maybe I over-adhere to statistics but, like the violent crime numbers, these numbers simply tell too much of a story to ignore. Should we ever have a referendum or "conversation" about child abuse in this country, I'll be out front stating that it's people like ME that are committing most of the related crimes. If I chose the indignant path & shouted bias while pointing to some historical reason why white males were being unfairly profiled as child abusers then I'd be doing the problem
They are the only ones with the credibility in the black community to make an impact. Instead they chase TV cameras and fan flames of a dying (not at all dead) fire. Convincing folks that racism is the current primary cause of a group's disfunction is self-serving and destructive to the people who need the help.
Of course every pathos and advantage of black culture exists in segments of white culture and vice versa. What is beyond doubt however, is that the black community is dragged down by such a high percentage of certain risk factors that the black male is in absolute crisis.
I personally see almost nothing being done by the black leadership on any front other than government-paid-for economic aid. I HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH THAT AID. It simply cannot fix the problem without changing aspects of the culture.
Of course racism exists. But an honest analysis, (and I believe this is what the author is calling for) tells us that much more is going on.
If any one needs the example of great courage during a storm, Frederick Douglass is the one to look to.
After all, he was born a slave. And overcame it simply from his courage and agitation. He didn't accept the status quo.
Agitation is needed for change. Simply going along to get along is to maintain the status quo.
The whites who are against this agitation do not want change. They benefit from how things are.
The blacks who are against this agitation do not want change. They benefit from how things are.
I think Justice Marshall had it correct, when referring to the Clarence Thomas' of the world.
"There is no difference between a black snake and a white one. They both bite equally."
When you recognize this fundamental truth, the enemy becomes much clearer.
But then I make more than most people.
Hatred of another human being, mistreatment, suppression of rights, priviledges, freedoms... none of this should be tolerated in any fashion by our government, but neither should it be tolerated by our people. Parents need to be better examples to their children and acceptance of all should be ingrained from birth. RESPECT for human life and respect for the inidividual should be paramount.
Who would have imagined that in this day and time, we are still such a backwards people?
You make your women do WHAT?
You LET your women do WHAT?
There is, undoubtedly, racism involved in this case, but it is not where the author is looking.
It is truly astonishing how you miss this obvious fact. And if the killer had been a muscular black man with a history of violence who pursued an innocent teenager while holding a gun, we know for sure that right wing hate media would most definitely not be defending him the way they've been championing Zimmerman.
I don't speak for the "right wing" but I can tell you that I am not "championing" Zimmerman. I think his actions were foolish at best. I think his race is irrelevant. I think his motivation, and even his decision to be armed, were sadly understandable. Most of all, I think he deserves an impartial investigation and a presumption of innocence.
David Dinkins, the former mayor of NYC, said it best when he said that the people who lived in his city made up a "gorgeous mosaic." That kind of thinking is what needs to inform us all.
"...That's where much of the focus will inevitably go instead of to what I think is far more important, and that is what blacks think about ourselves. I don't need to tell you what the response from the black community would be if the victim in the Baltimore video was black and the assailants white. But for some reason many blacks puree crimes of this nature through some warped situational ethics filter, which in the end only makes a mockery of the community more than it empowers it."
http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/11/opinion/granderson-violence-race/index.html
F&F
In an earlier blog I asked readers whether they thought George Zimmerman would have been arrested and detained by the Sanford Florida police had he been black and Trayvon Martin a 17 year old white teen under the same circumstances, except for their role reversal?
What do you think?
Professor Jones