Decoding racial tensions in United States: Updated
By Dr. Kwame Nantambu
May 27, 2015The shooting and killing of unarmed 17 year-old African-American male Trayvon Martin on 26 February 2012 in Sanford, Florida; the 24 November 2014 "no indictment for officer Wilson" verdict arrived at by the grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri, in regard to the shooting and killing of the unarmed African-American teenager Michael Brown and the subsequent 3 December "no indictment" verdict by a grand jury in Staten Island, New York City, in favor of a white police officer in the New York Police Department (NYPD), Daniel Pantaleo, for the "chokehold death" of an unarmed, forty-six year-old African-American man, Eric Garner; the 2 March 2015 killing of 12 year-old African-American male Tamir Rice in Cleveland; the 6 March 2015 shooting and killing of unarmed 19 year-old African-American male Tony Terrell Robinson in Madison, Wisconsin; the 7 April 2015 killing of unarmed African-American man 50 year-old Walter Scott in North Charleston, South Carolina; the 19 April 2015 death in police custody of Freddie Gray in Baltimore; and the 19 July 2015 shooting and killing of an unarmed 45 year-old African-American male Samuel Du Bose by a white police officer employed at the University of Cincinnati speak massive volumes as to the omnipresence of racial tensions/distrust between the Black community and white police officers in the United States.
As an overt corollary, to all intent and purposes, these shootings and killings seem to concur directly with the March 1857 US Supreme Court Dred Scott decision to the extent that Blacks "had no rights which the white man was bound to respect" and that "slaves are not regarded as U.S. citizens." Furthermore, what is ominously frightening is that these racial incidents/tensions are occurring on a regular basis coterminous with the anomalous election and re-election of America's first African-American (Black) president.
Indeed, it is safe to conclude that one can easily juxtapose a direct correlation/nexus between the public, acerbic, albeit law suit threatening relationship, between the African-American President Barack Obama and the white Republican members of Congress led by Republican House Speaker John Boehner in regard to Executive Orders. Ipso facto, this is directly correlated, by extrapolation, to the identical public, acerbic relationship between the Black community and white male police officers across the United States.
A la 1857 Supreme Court Dred Scott decision white Republican members of Congress are now questioning whether or not the African-American President Barack Obama should be regarded as a U.S. citizen even though the powers-that-be in Howaii have publicly issued his legal birth certificate to prove that he was born in that State of America.
The salient reality is that apparently white male police officers are taking the cue from their white male Republicans in Congress headed by House Speaker Republican John Boehner in regard to how to treat/deal with African-American males.
And this is notwithstanding the historical political truism that President Ronald Reagan issued 381 Executive Orders, President George Bush, Sr. issued 166, President George Bush, Jr. issued 291, President Bill Clinton issued 364 Executive Orders and now President Barack Obama, as of this writing, has only issued a miniscule 188 Executive Orders. What's wrong with this presidential picture?
Indeed, the poignant question that immediately comes to the fore is: Are the white male Republicans in Congress saying and/or implying that it is acceptable for a white president to issue Executive Orders but for some known and unknown reason, it is unacceptable for an African-American (Black) president to do the same?. What's wrong with this presidential picture?
Moreover, it must be clearly pointed out that President Barack Obama has been publicly described as the "worst president since WW11"; ergo, real and /or imagined, white male police officers across the United States seem to be bent on sending a subliminal signal/message to the Black community that this African-American (Black) president can't protect/defend you.
However, it is a sine qua non to recall the primary findings of the July 1967 presidential Kerner Commission report in regard to racial tensions/distrust in the United Stated States. The Commission found that the nation was "moving toward two societies, one Black, one white, separate and unequal"; the country faced "a system of Apartheid in its major cities." However, but most importantly, the Commission's report also delivered a stunning indictment to "White society" for "isolating and neglecting" African-Americans. Unfortunately and very regrettably, this racial chasm/divide has been expanding exponentially ever since under President Barack Obama.
The fact of the matter is that African-Americans (Black people) are just "sick and tired of being sick and tired" of seeing unarmed, young Black men shot and killed on a routine basis and white male police officers continue to walk free. Indeed, as a proposed healing process, now is the crucial time for all Americans to judge each other based on "the content of their character and not by the color of their skin."
In the final analysis, all Americans need to heed the salient, but apocalyptic admonition of slain Civil Rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. as follows: "Now the judgement of God is upon us (24 November and 3 December 2014) and we must learn to live together as brothers (and sisters) or we are all going to perish together as fools."
The bottom line is that African-American males Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Tamir Rice, Tony Terrell Robinson and Freddie Gray did not get /receive justice; instead, they got/received just-dis, period.
Shem Hotep ("I go in Peace").
Dr. Kwame Nantambu is a part-time lecturer at Cipriani College of Labour and Co-operative Studies.
Nantambu's Homepage | Archives | Trinicenter Homepage