A PROPHET OF HIS ERA Therefore, understanding Baldwin’s prophesy - “a hundred years after his technical emancipation, he [the American Negro] remains - with the possible exception of the American Indian - the most despised creature in his country,” Farrakhan bridged the gap between blacks, who continue to opt for the Christian faith in larger numbers than any other faith, with the faith of black Muslims in America. Zimmerman, until a year and a half ago, did not cast much of a shadow in the affairs of humankind. But that all changed Feb. 26, 2012 when he profiled an African American teenager walking in his condo community, stalking him and baiting the youngster into fighting his way home. Then Zimmerman took out his concealed weapon from his holster and shot the black teenager in the chest, killing him almost instantly. A jury of five white women and one Latina woman gave more deference to the white/Latino defendant who testified through his inconsistent statements than to the young black lady who was on the telephone with Trayvon Martin just moments before he was killed. Baldwin laid out the precipice for the Zimmerman jury verdict 50 years ago. Their verdict was predictable. Albeit, nothing has changed how white people view black young men in this country. Even with a black man-child serving as president, notwithstanding. Perhaps the only thing that has changed is the distain and disrespect with which the country now views its president. Rev. Al Sharpton, president and founder of the National Action Network, has called for rallies in 100 cities on the seventh day after the Florida jury released George Zimmerman with his gun. Rage over Zimmerman is simmering in the countryside. It is quiet, deliberate, calculating and in little over a month, a coalition of progressive Americans will re-enact the March on Washington 50 years after King’s dream. A dream once syrupy sweet was left to rot in the orange groves of Florida last week. The nation’s black citizens are often left out of the American dream. They sense their status is changing back to the forgotten Americans. With recent Supreme Court rulings on affirmative action and voting rights, black people are simmering over the acquittal of Zimmerman. There is an African Spring coming to America, non-violently, but a determined resolve to not stop until the denigrating narrative some white Americans hold in their minds about African Americans has been neutralized by laws or political muscle, or both. Otherwise, Baldwin’s words cry out from his tomb in the South of France, “If we do not now dare everything, the fulfillment of that prophecy, re-created from the Bible in song by a slave, is upon us: ‘God gave Noah the rainbow sign, no more water, the fire next time.’”
Posted on: Fri, 19 Jul 2013 15:04:36 +0000