Responding to Racism

Written By Melanin Ink
unsplash-image-zswLbyR_b58.jpg

“…Then the ironic fear, guilt, gratitude, and shameful pain that (this time) it wasn’t one of my three sons, knowing full well that one day, it is likely, statistically speaking, to be…But, he was. He is. He always was, and is, one of ours nonetheless, another survivor of the terror. Is some nightmare we continue to wake up to each day. And the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) reckoning of racism as threat to public health, is way overdue…”

It’s never ending, we are always responding to racism, and it will be the case from yesterday, today, and tomorrow. On 4/14/2021 at around 6:30AM or 7 this morning I publicly responded (rather than, or after I privately reacted) to a social media post that a professor friend had shared.

My response was to also share the image to a few groups and add my thoughts to the mix by stating that: 

Some part of why so little has changed is that so few truly grasp the complex dynamics of the organized activities of these systemic problems. if you’re saying, “Wow, what a coincidence...”, then this statement applies to you. And if we don’t overcome the fear and reality of being targeted (at work, by so called friends, by family, by the “powers” that be...for speaking out about injustice, then this statement applies to us all.

Already exhausted by the decades of racial battle fatigue (which I carry like primordial markers in my DNA), I remembered that just formulating a few words for this brief paragraph took centuries of knowledge and wisdom to come to, and then as I began to think about other tasks to address on my to do lists, my thoughts mixed with memories of the far too many moons of yesterday’s, and yesteryear’s past tragedies and atrocities:

Photo courtesy New York Times

Photo courtesy New York Times

Photo courtesy CNN

Photo courtesy CNN

Photo courtesy Black News

Photo courtesy Black News

Photo courtesy wdrb

Photo courtesy wdrb

Photo courtesy Vox

Photo courtesy Vox

Handcuffing Children https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/5/31/18647308/chicago-police-raids-children-alberta-domonique-wilson-lawsuit...

Breonna Taylor

Sandra Bland

Dr. King

Brother Minister Malcom

and so many more… victims and survivors…


I scrolled for what I thought would be a few more minutes of the current events, mixed with positive affirmations, lol memes and sometimes ridiculously mindless videos and images on social media updates. Only the next video I saw looked very much like one of my own sons, and my stomach turned, my gut wrenched, and my heart dropped a few times. In that one moment of reconciling that this young son was not actually mine in the flesh, I felt a sliver of the experience so many thousands of Black, Latina, Asian and Indigenous mothers have felt, the world over. Then the ironic fear, guilt, gratitude, and shameful pain that (this time) it wasn’t one of my three sons, knowing full well that one day, it is likely, statistically speaking, to be. 

But, he was, for that agonizing moment, my child. A child of mine, he is. He always was, and is, one of ours, nonetheless, another survivor of the terror. Is some nightmare we continue to wake up to each day. And the Center for Disease Control's (CDC) reckoning of racism as another threat to public health, is way overdue.

Photo courtesy No Tax https://teeshirt21.com/product/homeland-security-since-1492-ueqO3?utm_source=merchant&utm_campaign=100&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyN-DBhCDARIsAFOELTlomhFChbB3EDeXtJxrWvpNs0Irkd7MQFQfr6CWz2cWtPBeqIV2ytoaAqXtEALw_wcB

Photo courtesy No Tax https://teeshirt21.com/product/homeland-security-since-1492-ueqO3?utm_source=merchant&utm_campaign=100&gclid=Cj0KCQjwyN-DBhCDARIsAFOELTlomhFChbB3EDeXtJxrWvpNs0Irkd7MQFQfr6CWz2cWtPBeqIV2ytoaAqXtEALw_wcB

The Department of Homeland Security (the Indigenous one, that’s recognized the issues of white supremacy since before 1492), has been clear about the threat to public safety for hundreds of years. The “new” administration of this First Nations agency is slow on developing a consciousness and understanding of how concepts and ideologies of supremacy are detrimental to our world. As one of the most notorious old school conscious hiphop artists hit us with it back in the day, “...self destruction, you’re headed for self destruction!” https://youtu.be/jxyYP_bS_6s. But, the real truth is you’re destroying us all.

This same morning, less than two minutes later, in another social media group, Black People Escaping the Matrix, I came across this video with a request for folks to share it in order to make it go viral: https://www.facebook.com/100044172202384/posts/300840604731677/?vh=e

Screen Shot 2021-04-15 at 11.47.32 AM.png

The military family is seen hating on a young black man for walking in “their” neighborhood. He is harassed, threatened, and assaulted by the man, who has been identified as Sgt. Jonathan Pentland, on a  public sidewalk. The young man is extremely well poised and remains calm, cool, and collected, as clearly he’s been briefed and trained to do when approached and attacked, throughout the incident, while making it clear that he has a right to walk anywhere, that he lives in the neighborhood, has done nothing wrong to anyone, and is being approached and target for no reason (other than being a black man), and that the man smells intoxicated, and is clearly irrational. According to witnesses that did step in to provide support for Deandre, after the initial violent encounter where Pentland had pushed him and then slapped his mobile phone, there were two bystanders that returned to escort Deandre to safety. They were extremely concerned that Pentland was escalating to an even heightened state of violent behavior, and were attempting to avoid any additional assault or possible lethal force. 

The incident apparently took place in The Summit neighborhood of what has been Deandre’s (the young man being targeted) childhood/life-long community. Pentland had recently moved there, less than a year ago, after being assigned to the base at Ft. Jackson in Columbia, South Carolina. The Commanding General at the base has been noted as investigating the incident to get to the bottom of it. However, what needs to take place is more than just a slap on the hand and a few days or weeks of grunt duty, and even more than just an honorable discharge (although that is an important step as well). And let’s not ignore the responsibility of the wife who played a significant role in contributing to this hate crime, which easily could have ended up in Deandre’s untimely death. She, and the girl on the phone, are not innocent bystanders or victims by any means in this set up for disaster. They all use the threat of police, which is a potentially lethal situation, and are actively targeting Deandre because he is a young black man. It cannot be that there are no repercussions for all of these people, which usually comes as a result of public attention and requests for apologies that roll in. It seems like a time for the Autobots to “roll out”.  

Part of taking some form of action and not being helpless and feeling hopeless is vocalizing, strategizing, organizing, meditating, preparing, etc. I followed up with doing some investigative research, getting the contact information, and encouraging people to send demands for action against this military officer and his family. There needs to be a zero tolerance show of force, not just a message to Pentland that you messed up, but to everyone that this behavior is never going to be acceptable again and that anyone engaged in it will have to suffer a multitude of consequences. 

In response to this young man being harassed in this video and continued disgust and rage at the violence, murders, and ongoing hate, I continue journaling, which has led to writing this blog, and eventually adding the following to my comments on the social media post:

Fired from military dishonorable conduct, arrested, and charged with assault, harassment, and hate crime. This is my legal and acceptable response that I will share as a public post, but you know how I really feel is on some black panther, Batman, Spider-Man, cat woman vigilante justice...being a responsible parent and educator is challenging in a system of racist white supremacy.

There will be repercussions. And still, for Black people in America, there are no reparations. And yet, some (albeit often flimsy) form of reparations have been granted to other disenfranchised groups (https://www.history.com/news/reparations-slavery-native-americans-japanese-internment).

Everyone who has seen this post should contact the following agencies and file a complaint that includes the point that the CDC just officially declared Racism a national health epidemic: 

  • U.S. Military Commanding General, Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, Military Police Desk 751-3113, SAFE Hotline 751-7233, Director Human Resources 803-751-3607, public affairs 803-751-5272, usarmy.jackson.93-sig-bde.mbx.atzj-pao@mail.mil, public affairs officer on call 803-751-7041

Think About It… Write About It…Talk About It…

Please share your comments, questions, and suggestions below.

Melanin Ink https://homeschool-store.myshopify.com/
Next

On Homelessness