Delta Collegiate Editorial.
The recent events in Ferguson, Miss. have sparked discussion about police brutality, the militarization of police, and racism. All three topics deserve discussion, but racism seems to be the topic that Americans have the toughest time talking about.
Racism is here; it is not going to go away; it cannot be swept under the rug. It may make you uncomfortable to think about, but that is something we must get past to have an open and honest conversation about our nation.
To understand what’s happening in Ferguson, you may need to shift your perspective. If you’re a person of color, you’ve likely lived what’s happening in Ferguson.
The recent fatal shooting of Michael Brown on Aug. 9 was not the first time a cop or vigilante has gunned down an unarmed black man. According to MotherJones, four other unarmed black men have been killed by police in the last monthalone: Eric Garner of Staten Island, John Crawford of Ohio, Ezell Ford of Los Angeles and Dante Parker of Victorville, Calif.
Black people have been met with excessive and often deadly force in our own community as well. Police confronted Milton Hall, a black homeless man from Saginaw, in a parking lot after he stole a cup of coffee from a gas station on July 1, 2012. According to the Mlive coverage of the case, nine Saginaw police officers and a police dog arrived. Hall pulled out a pocket knife. Six officers fired at Hall 47 times, striking him 11 times, reports concluded. Hall was pronounced dead after being taken to a local hospital.
Hall was apparently executed for petty theft, because nine trained officers felt their lives were threatened by a black man with a pocket knife. Michael Brown was reportedly stopped for jaywalking, and was shot at least six times.
Black people in the United States have faced this kind of violence along with systemic racism and oppression since colonial times. The first African slaves arrived in the colonies in the early 1600s. Slavery wasn’t outlawed until 1865, and former slaves did not gain citizenship under the Constitution until 1868. Our Supreme Court deemed segregation by race constitutional. “Jim Crow” laws disenfranchised black voters.
But that was then; this is now, some folks say. They point to President Obama as proof that the Civil Rights Movement is “mission accomplished.”
But the discrimination continues, in various forms, throughout our society. Four centuries of belief in racial inequality will not change overnight because some laws are passed. Saying, “I don’t see color” and “We’re all human” trivializes the experiences that people of color, especially black people, face every day.
We must begin to replace feigned color-blindness with race consciousness. We need to educate ourselves. We need to start a dialogue about race and racism in our own lives. Pay attention to how the media portray black people and take up the challenge of deconstructing and critically analyzing those messages.
