Mervins uncompromising truth with regards to black people..... There is a segment of our community that is going to have to grow up and take responsibility! Like many people, I am upset about the Ferguson verdict that saw a policeman, Darren Wilson, go un-indicted for gunning down a young black male, Michael Brown. Sadly, I wasnt SURPRISED, but I was disheartened nonetheless. That said, I was also quite disturbed to see the behavior of Michael Brown, who was supposedly in the store taking some cigars, allegedly on a dare, and had actually shoved the convenience store clerk. Like many others, I absolutely do NOT believe this whole incident shouldve ended in Browns death. More - I believe Wilsons subsequent commentary in discussions, wherein he labeled Brown a demon, pretty much identify him as a racist who had an agenda upon seeing Brown. All things considered, black Americans are going to have to quit fooling ourselves into believing that such ordinarily harmless juvenile behavior as teen dares-to-steal are going to end in the archetypical slap-on-the-wrist that a white teen wouldve received for perpetrating the same act -- it would not have! Teens dare one another to steal things all the time, but we all know that minorities and whites are not usually held to the same standards. All of this betrays a rather glaring truth about American society in my minds eye, that being that FOR EVERY WHITE RACIST OUT THERE, THERES A BLACK FOOL THATS HAPPY TO OBLIGE HIM IN HIS STEREOTYPICAL BELIEFS. How is it that we are still having discussions about black male youths pulling their pants up and not embracing the romanticized thug lifestyle that they see in gangsta rap performances? I mean seriously - African-Americans have come such a long way, yet many of us are still indulging the darker things that inevitably lead to one of two places - neither of which are good in the long-run. Ive been boiling mad at supposedly progressive commentators like Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, who are laying black hopelessness at the heels of Pres. Obama (?). Seriously - Obama is the President of the United States; hes not the emperor of black America! And while he has, at the very LEAST, a responsibility to talk about race relations, this cannot (and should not) consume his presidency anymore than it did his predecessors. More - Im very proud to have been alive when the U.S. populace elected to office its first black president in 2008. That said, I dont expect Pres. Obama to solve any of my lifes problems as a black person anymore than I would expect a church minister to be able to pray all of my pain away. I have to work on that myself. I am really incensed that all of this racial upheaval has become so much more PUBLIC since Obama took office; that was to be expected, because the Right would love to lay racial animosity at the heels of a Democratic president , especially a black one. Back to Michael Brown - while we are, and SHOULD be - angry that the man that shot and killed Brown walked free without any accountability, we must ALSO look at some of our cultural inconsistencies and such. How, and why, did this young man arrive at a point where he thought it was okay to shove around a store clerk? And if Im being honest -- yes we do have a brilliant black president now; isnt it time we stop with the thug-life stuff and embrace black pride and accomplishment? We DO need to pull up our pants and stop droppig n-bombs like theres no tomorrow. I have USED the n-word at home, and NOT colloquially, when observing such behavior. I realize that as a people we can do everything correctly (or whatever qualifies as such), and still not get a fair share, representation etc. However, this doesnt diminish the need for us to be a strong, proud and regal people. Can the thug-life stuff, please....
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 20:31:17 +0000
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