Greetings Dear Brothers &
Sisters,
So, I began this post last
week, but so much has happened (and continues to) that has given me a great
deal more to say. I’ve been following and posting on the ever-developing
situation in Ferguson for
over a week now. Each day, I witness and document what’s taking place for a
number of reasons. I know it’s clichéd, but I legitimately believe that
information is power. I also firmly believe that in America in
2014, a situation like this should not be happening, especially if we’re still
claiming to be The Land of the Free.
Period (for the record, I believe these kinds of abuses shouldn’t occur
anywhere). I think this is the first
time we’ve witnessed anything this intricate and volatile over the course of
the past thirty or more years, and I can elaborate why.
So many things have been
fascinating to witness over the course of the past week. The misinformation
provided by some members of the Associated Press, as well as the police, for
starters. Also, the restrictions placed on the basic rights of the residents of
Ferguson and
journalists (Ryan Reilly of The Huffington Post and Wesley Lowery from The
Washington Post were arrested while in a McDonalds. Apparently, they were taken
in for not leaving soon enough… because they were told to do so by the police
without a reason being given.).
The core of the situation is
about Mike Brown’s death. It is at the heart of everything, and it’s important
to keep that fact in mind. However, the situation has also grown beyond that.
The chaos that has ensued, that, with each passing day, casts the local police
in a darker and darker light (and it would appear that they’ve been fine with
that for the most part, because there really hasn’t been much of an attempt to rectify
anything that’s transpired up to this point until the past few days). We’re
witnessing the trampling of rights, the detainment of Americans, etc. It is
both shocking and terrifying.
I also find it interesting how
some people have responded to the reports, videos, pictures, etc. that have
appeared. A girl on Twitter last week asked a question regarding rioting and
looting. I posted an account from Wesley Lowery that stated that there had, at
the time, only been ONE night of such activity. She responded by telling me to
“shut up” and asked if I was actually in Ferguson. We
went back and forth for a bit (she’s very anti-violence, but already made it up
in her mind that the protestors were the responsible, violent parties), and it
became apparent to me that she wasn’t interested in really finding out what was
happening. I gave her a number of credible sources to follow if she was so
inclined, but I knew that that wouldn’t be the case.
At the end of the conversation,
she asked me to shut up again and go away. Then, she reiterated the she was on
the side of Mike Brown, but was against violence, rioting, and looting. I’ve
seen several other correspondences shake out pretty much the same way. I think
it’s extremely jarring that people, also, are crafting their own narrative to
the events, where good, credible, boots on the ground reporting is taking place
and extremely easy to find. I’m not sure if it’s an issue of not believing
what’s transpiring (which I can understand. A great deal of this seems like
something out of a movie), or people just hearing bits and pieces and feeling
like they know it all, when we’re really just at the tip of this ordeal.
I’ve had the chance to dialogue
with a good number of people over the course of the past week, and it’s been
fascinating in a lot of ways. I went back and forth with a guy who said that
the residents had lost his sympathy because of looting, and that, while he
agrees that the police have acted in a heavy-handed fashion, he faulted the
citizens of Ferguson for
giving them reason to do so. I told him that I don’t think that the people
there are concerned with his, or necessarily, anyone else’s sympathy. They want
justice and answers, which, I believe, the vast majority of us would desire if
we were in a similar situation. Also, I
said that I didn’t feel that there’s ever good reason for those in authority to
act in a way that abuses the powers we, as a society, give them. Police
officers take an oath to serve and protect everyone regardless of creed, age,
gender, etc.
Another person I talked with
stated that violence is never the answer.
I told him that it’s extremely elitist to have that perspective. It’s partially
due to violence that we’re all here in America. Wars
and battles have been fought for freedom, so saying that violence isn’t ever the
answer just seems like that isn’t taken into account. Plus, it’s easy to
dictate what should and shouldn’t happen in Ferguson (or
anywhere else for that matter) when you’re not dealing with what the people who
are there are experiencing. I can’t, as a Black man in Tennessee, tell
anyone in Gaza that
violence isn’t the answer, because I don’t encounter what the people there do
on a daily basis. Make sense? How entitled would I have to be to assign those
particular standards on the rest of the world, especially when my slab of it is
so miniscule?
Switching gears, I feel like
this situation is showing us an honest glimpse of who we are as a country when
it comes of matters of race, place, justice, etc. If what I’ve witnessed with
people outside of the situation is any indication, a lot of us are miles apart
on how we view things. I won’t say all, but I feel like most of us carry a
certain degree of prejudice, from how some of us view hipsters to how others
clutch purses when people darker than them are around. I don’t think prejudice by
itself necessarily equates to anything extremely pronounced, but if those
prejudices are allowed to go unchecked, they have all the makings to turn into
something deep-seated with a broader reach. Over the past week, I’ve seen quite
an amazing display of prejudice, and it’s kind of astonishing to me to witness just
how open people are about expressing it. Granted, I think, in the long run,
it’s better because you know where some people stand, but it’s still personally
surprising how comfortable people are in their view of the world and the rest
of the people in it.
I don’t want to ramble on too
long, and I know that I’ll have more to say on the matter as things continue to
develop. However, my charge for you who are reading this is (if you’re so
inclined) to go back to August 9th, and truly follow what’s been
transpiring. Don’t just rely on one source, because the story is far too
layered for you to follow one outlet and think that you’re sufficiently
informed. Also, put yourself in the shoes of those who are there and seriously
question how you’d be responding. It could be an eye-opening exercise, because (in
my humble opinion, of course) what ties us together is more abundant than that
which stands between us.
Blessings
Links:
Twitter - @ichristian3030
