LOVE BEGETS LOVE
BLACKS in America today are not ready for real protests. We’re not willing to put everything on the line in the name of justice. We talk that tough talk—but our follow-through makes it abundantly clear that all we do is talk. Our actions are ineffective and tired. We can’t even comprehend the depth of the meaning behind the seven-letter word--PROTEST. We can’t fathom the implications behind the term as it had applied to racial injustice.
Since the days of Rodney King, the term has degenerated to the point where it’s become superficial. A façade. Hidden behind images and snippets and soundbites. That’s because the circumstances that created protests and sparked war, in the name of civil injustice and racial disparity before 1970, no longer exist in America. No matter how we try to reshape the narrative of injustice, no matter what political designation we try to assign to the movement or the moment we are not the same nation today as we were back in the day. .
Historically the term protest implied decisive action. The word was used as a verb—not a noun. Its use expressed a true call to action, by any means necessary. Meaning life or death. This term had been used with the knowledge that deliberate action and strategic execution exposed injustice, and as a consequence bred deadly animosity. The mindful decision to strategically defy the norm, sparked a reaction that would be costly but necessary.
During the years of the fight for Civil Rights in America, protests were devised in response to the Jim Crow laws imposed on blacks in the South. Blacks understood their reactions would cost them a great deal. Many willingly sacrificed because they understood the reward would impact generations. Many blacks took seats in white restaurants fully aware they were going to be escorted to jail or beat down or hosed. Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat knowing she was going to jail. Many willingly stared death dead in the face in the name of Justice. Medgar Evans faced daily threats on his life before he was shot in the back and killed outside his own home in 1963. Martin Luther King had been arrested 29 times before he was murdered in 1968. Fred Hampton had faced threats from the FBI before he was murdered in cold blood while he slept.
Protests weren’t just Social Media calls to meet up for posts, they were strategically organized to get arrested, to be beat down and hosed down. In February 1963 Malcolm X held a protest on the streets in New York City during rush hour, to garner attention. Of course, we all remember the scene captured in the Spike Lee movie, Malcolm X, when he led a protest from a police station to a hospital after a man was violently attacked by the police.
The Black Panthers were militant with their protest, they were the type to walk into state buildings with guns drawn, or they stood outside courthouses holding flags that contained messages like, “Free Huey.” I’m in no way saying get your gun and walk inside of a state building, but I’m saying if you want to be militant, be militant with a purpose. The point must be significant and have meaning to shift thinking. Burning down a random building on the streets in Philadelphia is meaningless. Setting fire to a church building is shameful and looting is just plain greed.
What’s happening in America today can in no way be classified as effective protests—they’re more like mini, media, marketing riots. News Stations and non-prophet organizations see these protests as tools for marketing or to build a brand. Then there are those groups that infiltrate the system to chase chaos and shed a violent light on protest.. All the violence and burning of buildings and bashing of storefronts does is create the space for opportunity and even more chaos. It’s a huge distraction from the point. In this case it’s to address the senseless killing of George Floyd. It’s a shame, the story of Floyd has gotten a great deal of traction. We see protests happening in places like the UK, Germany, and Toronto, but protesters are not burning down buildings and stealing from stores.
George Floyd, a black man was strangled to death by four white police officers. That was tragic. Not only because it’s a modern-day lynching, but because justice has not been served. Originally, the officer responsible for the crime only faced third-degree murder and the three accessories had not been arrested. But our response is even more tragic. Rather than stand in front of the police station, wearing all black with our fists raised, we fake anger and kick down the windows of storefronts to steal big-screen televisions, designer clothes, and sneakers. I understand not all protesters have participated in these acts, but we can’t deny some are guilty. It’s embarrassing. Misplaced rage. The storefronts and store owners haven’t done a thing.
Honestly, I don’t blame blacks for our misinterpretation of the term protest. In truth, this generation of blacks haven’t truly faced the real unrighteousness that blacks born in the Antebellum South faced, or the type of racism and bigotry blacks faced during Civil Rights and Jim Crow. We don’t understand what it means to be hosed down after taking a seat in a restaurant reserved for whites only. We don’t understand what it means to have to get up and give your seat to a white man on a bus. We don’t understand what it means to enter a building from the back because we’re black. We don’t understand what it means to work every day to build a nation, to plant seeds and pick cotton without financial or fiduciary gain.
Situations like Treyvon Martin, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Freddy Gray, Philando Castile, Ahmaud Arbrey, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor open the curtain and reveals a glimps of animosity blacks face by some whites due to deep rooted hate. .Then there’s the immediate outrage and the sudden appearance of Benjamin Crump and Black Lives Matter. After a few weeks the cameras disappear, families receive a lump sum settlement and the name of the deceased becomes just another name to jot down on a list of other names.
I don’t mean to stand in judgment as I understand our plight, being born with black skin in America is a gift and a curse. So, I have mercy on some of my black brothers and sisters that equate looting stores and stealing televisions as actual protesting or steps towards progress. I have mercy on our black sons and daughters as they chase behind camera crews to be captured on video, or stand on top of cars gyrating. All the while members of ANTIFA build structures to burn and crash storefronts and Black Lives Matter quench their thirst for highlights and recognition. It’s all just a media hoax a marketing panacea for organizations that tout the words racial injustice or civil rights, and exploitation for so many others.
I’m not saying that people shouldn’t protest. We as a community should express our outrage when an innocent young man like Ahmaud Arbrey is shot in the back, or when men like George Floyd are murdered in cold blood, or when a woman like Sandra Bland dies after being stopped by a white cop, for a busted headlight. Protests are necessary. But the looting and the burning of random buildings and overturning cars is completely unnecessary. If you must protest, protest with a mission, and be prepared to face the consequences. Protests should be strategically organized, and they should exclude groups like Black Lives Matter and even the New Black Panthers. Signage should not evoke an organization but should speak to the victim. Tee-shirts should be avoided altogether and definitely not sold.
We are living during a period in time where the unfortunate reality is leaders like Malcolm or Martin, Huey or Bobby, David, Frederick and Harriet are mere images of the past. So how do we rework the way we protest? It’s simple, how about we take a pause. Then look back to find the answer. How about we organize a Rally the way Blacks did after Emmett Till was beaten down and murdered. Or dress in all black and walk from where George Floyd was strangled to the grave where he’ll rest, the same way the did when blacks protested the death of Medgar Evens. How about we stage another March on Washington and walk arm and arm, as they did in 1963 when Martin Luther King Jr., delivered his I Have a Dream Speech. How about we protest by standing outside the courthouse when Chauvin and the other three officers are tried, the way the Black Panthers had done for Huey Newton and Assata Shakur. How about we protest in peace and protest in love knowing this truth—violence begets violence, but—