Once again, a black man has been murdered by the police in the United States, and once more America is burning as a result … And sadly — and oh so predictably, once again folks who have neither a proper education of American history nor a clear understanding of what it means to survive as a minority in American society are lashing out at the “criminals” and “thugs” who are responding angrily (and admittedly, sometimes violently) to the next vile injustice that has been thrown upon their collective community.

As a white man myself, there really is nothing I can say to any of my Black brothers & sisters at this point. I have never had to face the discrimination and the ridicule and the rejection that each & every one of you have faced since your birth. And so to you I simply offer my most heartfelt condolences, my most sincere apologies, and my most convicted allegiance in these times of plight and worry. AND YET for my white cousins — especially those who to this day choose to denigrate civil rights protestors instead of join their patently just and warranted cause, I humbly offer the following FACTS …

FACT 01) What happened to George Floyd is indeed a more flagrant example of police brutality, and yet what happened to George Floyd was by no means an isolated incident nor even an exception to the rule. Indeed, on average at least 3 Americans are killed (many of them outright murdered) by the police every single day in the United States … 🙁

FACT 02) Getting killed by a police officer is the #03 non-health-related cause of death for young Black males in the U.S., and black Americans are 2.5 times more likely to be murdered by the police than their white cousins … 🙁 🙁

FACT 03) Despite the truth that white folks commit roughly 60% of crimes in the U.S., only 39% of those imprisoned are white — and despite the fact that black folks commit roughly 20% of crimes in the U.S., over 40% of those currently imprisoned in America are black … 🙁 🙁 🙁

FACT 04) That the Republican politicians in America have openly & brazenly ignored the needs of poor communities for decades — especially communities of color — has been long known, and yet what many still do not realize is that their Democratic counterparts have been and remain JUST AS WICKED. Indeed, it was the Democrats who created the private-prison-legal-slavery-system that currently generates billions of dollars for a handful of white elites off the incarcerated backs of mostly Black American inmates (thanks, Bill Clinton — NOT!) and it was the Democrats who blatantly militarized America’s objectively racist police forces with a massive influx of weapons designed for the battlefield, not our city streets (thanks, Barack Obama — NOT!)

And so what is supposed to happen when someone like George Floyd is killed in the compassionless manner in which he was murdered, my Friends? What is supposed to happen when that murder happens in broad daylight in one of America’s more “progressive” cities? What is supposed to happen when the VAST majority of Americans are now fairly classified as “poor” — living paycheck to paycheck, and not able to financially cover even a $400 emergency? What is supposed to happen when blacks are thrown into jail to make money for rich whites while wealthier whites are allowed to commit the same crimes and roam free? What is supposed to happen when ALL of America’s politicians are either directly complicit in these injustices or choosing to sit back and do nothing about the same? What is supposed to happen when there is no more peaceful recourse left for the disenfranchised and the downtrodden?

I’ll tell you what happens, my Friends … People enact the only option they feel they have left — they raise their voices, they protest, and sometimes they riot.

And rest assured, our politicians will do nothing substantive to fix this grave problem. Yes, they might be scared enough these days to enact a few half-assed articles of temporary appeasement for those affected by racial inequity and racist oppression. And yet any real & lasting change will NOT come from them. U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle are completely beholden to their corporate masters, and as such will essentially do NOTHING for the poor men & women of America — at least nothing that will cost their overloads any significant sum of power or money.

No, my Friends, until WE have the courage (and indeed the basic decency) to peacefully and powerfully address the very real economic and sociological injustices plaguing the vast majority of our fellow Americans (and almost all Americans of color), America will continue to burn.

In truth, it is now UP TO US — the Good People of all races that populate this potentially great nation — to solve this problem. It is UP TO US to get into the streets and peacefully protest injustice. It is UP TO US to stand between those same protestors and the police who would assault and incarcerate them for exercising their inalienable rights of Free Speech & Public Assembly. It is UP TO US to listen to their cries for help and justice and loudly demand the same from every rooftop. And, by far most importantly of all, it is UP TO US to reach out to the poor in our own neighborhoods and care for them dramatically and selflessly — IT IS UP TO US to get out into our own communities and do for them what our castrated politicians should have done so long ago, and yet are not doing and never will do again.

Amen, my dear Friends … May you have the courage on this very day to go forth and help make it so … Peace to ALL.

Filed under: Renouncing Racism by Scaughdt