Danielle Winters, your happy-go-lucky, let’s all just get along views have absolutely no conjunction with the reality of this country. We are dealing with serious racial issues here and there is no cut and dry constitutional remedy.
Racism is still deeply entrenched in our society and it’s our continued ignorance of it, and refusal to accept it that has contributed to the social stagnation across racial lines today.
The truth is , the first amendment rights that we hide behind as the last vestige of freedom is this country weren’t hurt by the Patriot Act as many liberals claim, because they were never truly applied to the entirety of this nation in the first place.
If the Black Panther Party were still an active force today, (the main reason they aren’t being the lack of constitutional protection they were afforded) they would never be allowed to march through a wealthy all white neighborhood. This is a hypothetical situation but history proves its accuracy. As a group built simply for the empowerment of their people, they fell prey to unprecedented FBI interrogation and assassination.
The long list of grievances brought against the Party were there programs offering free breakfast to school children, free medical centers, and door to door health services in their communities. By 1970 a large number of Panther leaders and affiliates had been murdered by FBI and local police forces.
By comparison, the Ku Klux Klan, a group that has openly terrorized and murdered people of color in this country since 1956, has been allowed to demonstrate and rally as they please and have never fallen prey to the levels of abuse and harassment.
The Panthers and other minority based civil action groups have dealt with having their leaders meet the bloody fate destined for nearly every African American leader this country has known.
The point is, our constitutional rights have never applied to everyone, in every situation no matter what our high school history teachers have tried to tell us. If we ever want to elevate our society, no message of hatred can be tolerated.
It is shocking to me that so many can see people acting in the streets and then see cops in full riot gear, and relate easier to the police. To call the rioters out of line is ludicrous. Nazis showed up in their neighborhood! Their plan was simply to march, but I’ve had a hard time believing Nazi’s ever since they promised my people free showers back in the 40s.
We are talking about an organization that killed over six million Jews and others deemed unfit. If they show up in my neighborhood you better believe I’m taking it seriously.
While they may not be truly connected with the Nazi Party led by Adolf Hitler, they chose this name for themselves and are therefore asking for the association. Criticizing the rioters actions is a good example of a mind set prevalent in our society of blaming the victims and not the true oppressors.
There was a time in our history closer than we like to admit when our enslaved African brothers and sisters were taught and shown that if they acted upon the injustices forced upon them, they would be whipped, beaten and killed.
By 2005, we’ve taken the blood left on our whips and belts and used it as our ink and type for our newspapers and the film in our news cameras. It is reinforced by the way we learn about leaders, such as Nat Turner. People of color cannot be condemned for their outrage; the media must be condemned for portraying their outrage as unjust.
Most people seem to be aware that our media is biased and racist. Telling those victimized by racist media depictions to water down their emotions and adapt to appease the masses is no answer.
Danielle, there is no justification for Nazi presence in this country. There is no justification for the social and economic oppression that pervades this American society.
All is not well in this land . The sooners we see the harsh reality we’ve created through our own inaction, the sooner we can begin to change.
Send comments to Corey Baum at [email protected]
