Thursday, March 28, 2024

No Country for Young Black men.

December 27, 2012 by  
Filed under News, Opinion, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) With the recent shooting death of Florida teen Jordan Davis due to his music being too loud I’ve found it disturbingly accurate that the United States of America is not for young African-American men. Now some of us African-Americans that work for the government or the military may disagree with me which is cool I still respect them for fighting for our freedom. What happened to Jordan Davis is a continuation of a disturbing trend that’s been going on for decades throughout this country.

It’s bad enough that we had to endure the pain of the Trayvon Martin shooting back in February of this year at the hands of community watchmen Georgejordan-davis Zimmerman but when does it stop is the question. I know some people will use black on black crime as a cop out for this which is another story for another article.

Let’s take a trip down memory lane shall we now we all know the story about Emmitt Till who was brutally murdered at the hands of several white men back in Mississippi in 1955 at the age of 14 for allegedly flirting with a white woman. Now the correlation between these three young black men is that they were all young black men who were in the south at the time of their murders and all of their killers killed them due to white men being insecure about their power over them.

When I say their insecure about their power over young black men I mean some feel as if their losing their country to people of color particularity young black men and it scares them to death. Like Trayvon Martin walking through a wealthy community with his hoodie on at night. Or Jordan Davis who along with his friends played their music loud in a gas station open to the public and Emmitt Till who thought it was cool to flirt with one of their pure and seemingly innocent women.

I’ll never understand how these token Negroes who surrounded themselves with nothing but white friends and decide to ignore the fact that their skin color does play a role in their future. When I say the token Negro I’m talkin about those who surround themselves with only white friends and act as if racism is a thing of the past due to it being 2012. 

But I believe that this cycle will keep continuing until America decides to make an example out of these killers and put them behind bars for the rest of their miserable and racist lives. We can’t say that this is the land of the free and the home of the brave when our young men are being snatched away from by our historical oppressors and we sit back and do nothing about it.  That’s all till the next episode………

Staff Writer; Shawn Hudson 

Feel free to connect with this brother via Facebook; Sha.Dimes.

 


Comments

26 Responses to “No Country for Young Black men.”
  1. Shawn hudson says:

    @D. Matthews I agree with what you said for the most part but I still feel as if you have some older people who are quick to write off all young people as ignorant and as criminals.

  2. Ford says:

    @Mack
    I’m sorry you see me as simply disruptive. I think if you re-read my initial comment you will see I was simply responding to the article and, I feel, not in a negative way. You say I have made my race the center piece of my counter and your right as I felt the author was painting with too broad a brush and tried to bring forth the fact that not all whites were oppressors of blacks in fact quite the opposite. I don’t see anyone else defending me. You wonder at my true intentions. Thats easy. Knowledge. I happened onto this site by accident and like it. Why do I care to read the thoughts of black people? One,we are Americans. Two, the tension of the races, contrived and otherwise, is a constant in the daily news especially with Obama as president but the root with me I think was my grandmother. I was very young and she told me that her grandfather fought to free the slaves. Later,but not by much, she went to Virginia to take care of my cousins as my aunt developed polio and couldn’t care for her kids. She came back angry at the way blacks were treated. Where I live now blacks are about 30% of the population and things are pretty much ok. As near as I can tell all neighborhoods are mixed. Zimmerman. You and I seem to watch different news and that may well be why we have completely different views as to what MAY have taken place. One of the main three networks edited Zimmerman’s call to make it appear he was for sure racist. Then there is the picture of Martin. How old? 11? Being bullshitted like that never helps only harms. The interview I saw of a witness had the man saying Martin was on top of Zimmerman beating him as Zimmerman begged for help. Instead of helping, which is understandable, the witness went into his apartment and called the police. As he was calling he heard the “pop” of Zimmermans gun. I “heard” there were other witnesses backing Zimmerman. This MAY explain why there was no arrest. If I saw things different I would say things different. Next. If one of the posters going off on me causes me to appear disruptive then so be it. It was uncalled for and I see no reason to take shit just because it’s been dished out

  3. Mack says:

    @ Ford: your presence seems to be a disruptive one. Nothing constructive concerning the topic. And this isn’t a racial observation; but since you’ve made your race the centerpiece of your counter argument, I can’t help but wonder what your true intentions are. You claim nothing about the Zimmerman case that you’ve seen tells you it happened any other way than how Zimmerman told it. That’s convenient when there’s only one person left to tell the story: the person with the smoking gun. And I also wonder if you’re using selective observation of the info that’s out there. Because there are several differing accounts about what happened that night. And none favor Zimmerman.

  4. Deeann D. Mathews says:

    @Shawn — You are right; all the respect shouldn’t have to come from young people. But there does have to be a real reckoning of the situation; when one does not get respect by virtue of custom (and in all civilized society, elders are respected by custom), one has to EARN it. That is the burden of being young. I am not as young as I used to be, but I have just been around this earth long enough, and doing the right thing long enough by the grace of God, to receive real respect from those significantly older than me. I just found out today that a brotha about 20 years my senior has been observing me very, very intently — and today stood up without being asked, and was my champion before some other older power players. I have earned his respect — but it was almost chilling to hear the contrast when he was asked about another young person who dropped the ball on some major responsibilities in the same field. Talk about a door slammed and bolted (a cautionary tale for me as well) — again, respect from older people must be earned. It would be nice if being human meant that everybody would respect everybody’s rights to just do what we do — but the reality is that a young person will have just as much respect as his or her behavior earns. Being loud and disruptive just doesn’t qualify as a respect-building behavior.

    “When do our elders stand up and reach out to the productive young people because all of us(young people) aren’t criminals” — I wish we did see more of this. However, what we may have here is a failure to communicate. Tons of older Black people are still trying to find ways to encourage younger people to complete their education; the problem is that some younger people know first-hand that the old “go to school, get a good job, and get a secure retirement” model that many elders remember just isn’t working anymore and want something different. But the streets, while offering something different, aren’t offering anything better… so the young and the elders stare at each other trying to figure out what’s wrong with the other side. The solution may be for both sides to learn together the reality of how wealth is made and lost in the world (LEGALLY), and to then work together to better their collective condition. The elders tend to have more resources, and the young fresh energy; we all need each other. I count myself blessed that I have encountered many peple older than me (middle-age and upper) who are more than happy to help me advance in a positive way both creatively and in terms of learning to build wealth… but it is certainly true that the teachers do not appear until the students are ready. A lot of younger people are so caught up on expressing themselves that they are not in a learning mode — and I have to check myself every day to make sure I am not expressing when I should be listening and learning. Sometimes, we do need to turn the music — whatever that may be for us — down or off, and just get quiet and really hear what those older than us have to say. For there are those that are reaching out, but they are not going to shout over us.

  5. Satchel says:

    @Shawn Hudson—Do not stop writing or voicing your opinion anywhere you find a forum. It’s actually refreshing to see a young man being courageous enough to air his feeling on a worldwide blog. I look forward to your next article and pray that you arm yourself with much more than a tad bit more research.
    (An eye for an eye, leaves everybody blind.)

  6. Ford says:

    …@sankofa
    Devil? You forgot to add the blue eyed part. Because I question the great sankofa? I am on a “black” website? I “talk guns and act arrogant and shit”? That I think your a racist fuck? I’m hiding behind a keyboard…. That is pathetic. The world is fill of stupid fucks like you and color is not a factor except for the fact it’s all you, and those like you, have to feel important. You are incapable of conversation outside your tiny sphere of melanin or the lack there of. Same with racists everywhere. I wouldn’t carry on but you want to see “some Caucasian youth to get the same”. Creep.

  7. Ramses says:

    Let me just say this….I don’t like people who are fucking stupid, no matter what their ethnic group is. I’ve seen stupid ass negroes without culture as well as caucasians as well…..there were times when Caucasians came to Egypt and learned from the fathers of civilization and sat at their feet, out of respect for them, and learned knowledge. This meant that there used to exist a peace between them. Now there are wrongs committed against one another on both sides. We have accountability on both sides. Moors sold other Moors into slavery and there have been Caucasians who sole other Caucasians into slavery as well. America was filled with slaves from Europe who had pale skin. Was feudalism so great for Caucasians? At some point we are gonna have to stop being primitive (war) and learn how to sit down as men and figure out how to coexist. This is how Men show how truly civilized they are. Men need to stop allowing women keep them in states of war. We have allowed women in this society to run amok. This arrogance in them has forced men to adapt to this mentality. According to a wise man “All men do the bidding of women. This is a fact. It is their duty, and a honest man will admit that. Even if he doesn’t, in all reality he is affected by her from the time he is born and while in the womb being made. If he is arrogant, possessive and insecure, she taught him to be that way. Much of these things were learned in the first school room of the universe — the womb.” Fraternal order is how we exact order. That’s why we came together in the first place. People think Masonry is evil. It’s not because it’s based on ancient principles that are still in effect today. I learned how to stop hating Caucasians when i accepted the truth that they are family. And sometimes you fight with family but, nevertheless, you’re still family. With all this negative history we have with one another, the fact that I can have this mentality lets you know that there is possibility for peace amongst us. Even when they are hateful, i won’t be hateful with them just because they are. I will hold my side accountable just like they need to hold their side accountable. Caucasians are getting their asses kicked by bankers just like blacks so they are not immune being ignorant to commerce and trade either. What I loved about the movie Django Unchained was that it showed Moorish slaves as well as Caucasian ones as well. People assume the hillbillies on the farm were free. They were just a little bit better off than the Moors and if it wasn’t for the Moors getting their asses whipped, it would have been other Caucasians in their positions. The British whipped plenty Irish ass and even when the Irish came to America, they were abused by plenty of Caucasians and were considered the Nigger of the so-called white race (See book How the Irish Became WHite). We’ve been fighting for years and have gotten nowhere and then when some of our men and women find love amongst each other, we are so hateful, that we can’t be civilized enough to embrace the Love between the two. Just like the Romeo and Juliet story. The hatred of the two families drove Romeo and Juliet to kill themselves. That’s exactly what we are doing as family. We need to stop this dumb shit

  8. Shawn hudson says:

    @Ramses, D Matthews & Satchel you all mdade great points about respect being shown but it doesn’t just need to come form young people it needs to come from both sides. Also when will it end I mean young black men can’t wear hoodies, blast music in a public area I mean whats next? someone’s gonna get shot because their eating fried chicken I mean where does it end? When do our elders stand up and reach out to the productive young people because all of us(young people) aren’t criminals just like all old people didn’t march for a damn thing back in the day. Mr. Matthews your right maybe I should’ve done a tad bit more research before I put the article but I wasn’t trying to get deep into their murders I just wanted to use them as examples. Also I wonder when we as a people are gonna help each other stand up to these horrible events. #R.I.P. Jordan Davis #Turn up the music!

  9. sankofa says:

    This is the last thing I will say to you devil…you hide behind a keyboard, no doubt one of those internet tough guys. You talk guns and act arrogant and shit…not everybody that is highly melanated is docile. You talk a good talk behind a key board, so we can go back and forth. Be gone devil!

  10. Ford says:

    …@ sankofa
    You seem a little sensitive. Pissed off cause I’m white and dare be here? Too bad. My ancestors, as a matter of fact, DID fight to free your black ass. Just because your embarrassed that some white men at some point in time held your people as slaves seems to have made you angry at any and all whites. That’s too bad but I really don’t give a shit. Contrary to your view of civil war history everything I see says the south never really had a chance. The north was industrialized and could crank out the machines of war. Sounds like you see some completely different history where blacks were really the ones in charge and got the whites to fight each other. Right? Here in the south there are those (whites) who are still pissed off about the south having lost. My Yankee plates bring out the looks and sometimes the actions of the ones who carry generational anger. To counter that I carry…generational guns. Zimmerman. Nothing I have seen suggests anything other than the way he presented it. No witnesses I have seen do other than to back his story. How you can say I hate blacks because of that view is stupid. ….no mask here. Just straight forward talk from a European American without euro-centric views although there are people of many beautiful colors carrying my blood in many parts of the world and you know what’s sweet? They don’t seem to see color as a difference. They like each other and they range from black to blue eyed blond.

  11. Deeann D. Mathews says:

    This article just grieved me on a lot of levels… I’ve known my share of young Black men who, upon reaching a certain age and physical development, had to come to terms with the fact that they were not going to fit comfortably into a lot of scenes. They have to put up with a lot of unwarranted suspicion and disrespect that I never have experienced. And sometimes, it is true that they are hurt or killed for just trying to find a space to be themselves.

    That said, when you are young, and Black or any other color, you do need to mind your manners in the public space and respect your elders. I used to have a neighbor who would come in blaring his rap music at midnight, when he got off from work… and I remember my father saying the only reason that young man didn’t get confronted and beat down is because he was about 6’5 or so. My dad and his dad and some other dads apparently got it all worked out, eventually… nobody was angry enough about being awakened that they took out a gun and handled it for good on this young man. But had it been just ten years earlier in the same neighborhood…

    My point: only those that love you put up with your disruptive expressions for long. And there are not many that love young Black men in this country. We owe it to our young brothers and sons to let them know, therefore, that they need to consider the sensibilities of others and not pop off unneccessary confrontations in the name of disruptive self-expression, for their own protection.

    Are young Black men supposed to stop living life because of a few racist white men — we all wish the answer were an emphatic no. But on the other hand, enough young Black men have stopping living life — permanently — because they offended white people or even fellow young Black men over some self-expression that would have best been covered with some self-control. We still do not have the means to protect our own young if our own young disregard the common sense those of us who are older try to pass on. The best I can do sometimes for the boys I know that are growing into Black men is to remind them: “Don’t do anything stupid.” We cannot do anything about the fact that Black life is not valued as highly as the lives of some others outside — but we can at least value our own lives enough to be respectful and self-controlled when in the public square. That is a message younger Black people need to heed as well.

  12. Ramses says:

    Thanks Satchel for that update…I had been waiting for that info to be updated…I don’t bite on every conflict between white and black people and just assume it’s racial all the time……people think these teenagers get a free pass on shit….forget that this was a white dude, how about the fact that he was just a Man? I’ve been around black teenagers and when you try to tell them something, they get disrespectful as hell and pop off at the mouth. I don’t want to see any young teenager, no matter the color, get killed over stupid shit. However, when you carry yourself in public, as a young person, you need to learn or know how to conduct yourself. because at the end of the day, this white man was a Man and turned out to be an effective marksman and had other teenagers with their friend running away. If you live in Florida, knowing Trayvon Martin just got shot, and a white man asked you to turn down your music, for your own safety shut your mouth and swallow your pride before you swallow a bullet. That “Do The Right Thing’ talk shit like Radio Raheem get your ass killed.At the end of the day, white men don’t come from a culture where they bow down to their kids or kids in general. You a child you need to respect adults regardless what their ethnicity is. I remember the story of the black woman getting beat up at cracker barrel by the white man and everybody thought it was racially motivated. I was wondering why the story got quiet and looked it up on the net and found out that the black woman had a history of threatening people (thinking she was tough because she was military) and that she actually spit on the white dude. It was suspect how it got swept under the rug. Just like this story seems to have been swept under the rug. It’s like the media trying to hype racial conflicts when it’s not there. I’m a Man but if I was in Florida, i would not talk shit to anyone based on the Stand Your Ground Law, no matter what you look like. I don’t wanna give no wanna be gangsta or militiamen any excuse to pull out the cannon. Sometimes we wanna pop off at the mouth not knowing sometimes you come across a person who might twist your shit back. I’ve been at gas stations where niggas come in there music blasting like they in the hood playing filthy music and there are elderly people there sometimes forced to listen to the shit. Damn you can’t pull in at the gas station and turn your music down out of cocurtesy for other people? Niggas make playing their music loud a cause when it’s not a cause at all. It’s just niggas rebelling for no apparent reason. May he rest in peace and his mother be comforted during this painful time for her but these mothers need to stress to their sons if they don’t have fathers around, that they need to respect men in the street at all time for their own safety instead of having these emotional young men talk shit to men like they see their mothers do because there have been some bastard ass kids out here who I have wanted to choke slam in the street based on their level of disrespect.

  13. Satchel says:

    @Shawn Hudson—I applaud your effort to bring to this Blog. site your views. I do question just how much research you did before you formed an opinion. I did find several reports, both print and internet, dealing with the shooting. While the loud music did play a central part in the shooting, the music was not the reason 17 yrs old Jordan Davis was shot. Some say 45 yr. old Micheal Dunn, told the young men to lower the volume of their music, when a argument broke out. Dunn says he saw a shot gun pointed his way before he went for his gun and fired through the window. The young men left the scene and returned when they realized Jordan was hit. Dunn turned himself in the next day, claiming self defense based on “Stand your ground”. He has been indicted for 1st degree murder. Those young men had a right to play their music, but the tragedy is Jordan Davis lost his life and Micheal Dunn end up in jail for his insecurity. This whole thing was not about loud music, but about people with differences not knowing how to talk and listen to one another. I’ll be “Uncle Tom” when you read the book, Uncle Tom’s Cabin. I admire your pride be it, Foolish Pride.

  14. Steph says:

    I didn’t see a contact section in your blog. Do we need to register via your newsletter?

  15. sankofa says:

    @Steph…Click on my handle….it will take you directly to the blog.

    Peace

  16. Steph says:

    Sankofa,

    You forgot to give ua your blog address

  17. sankofa says:

    @Steph…I have the information on my portable hard drive, it will take me awhile to find it, but leave your email at my blog and I will dig it up for you, as well as the information where he sold the constitution. As for a screen play…Nah…would rather do one on Nat Turner, that’s my spiritual grandfather…Lol!

  18. sankofa says:

    #Shawn hudson …no problem African. I am still waiting..waiting for some Caucasian youth to get the same Trayvon or Jordan treatment

    @ Steph… “Until lions have their own historians, tales of the hunt shall always glorify the hunter”…this saying varies from African country to country but the essence is the same, and cats like this Edsel character won’t put down their knapsack of white privilege, so they follow us inside stores, in our gated communities, in our neighborhood, even on our damn blogs that clearly says thyblackman.com

  19. Steph says:

    Sankofa,

    Who was the first president of the U.S. if it wasn’t Washington?

  20. Steph says:

    Sankofa,

    I hope that you will write a film review on Lincoln because you have a lot of knowledge!

  21. Steph says:

    Thank you Sankofa for your brilliant answer! Well-read people know that the main interest of Lincoln was to save the Union!

  22. Shawn hudson says:

    @ Sankofa i used the word “allegedly when talking about the Emmitt Till case Now @ Satchelplayin loud music on a bus is a violation but where does it say its against the law to blast your music in yourown car at a gas station? I also have to agree with Sankofa that I’ve yet to hear a white boy get sho for bumpin heavy metal music. Also are we as young black men suppose to stop livin life because a few racsit white men or uncle tom negroes are scared of our potental for the future? You guys say that we can’t wear hoodies because of the Trayvon Murder, you say

  23. sankofa says:

    Listen to me carefully you arrogant prick, Yurugu..your “fathers” didn’t free the enslaved Africans, neither did that half breed. That knee-grow in hiding needed cannon fodder because the south was kicking your ass in a major way. The south was economically and militarily superior and the North was losing the damn tribal war. Read the damn speech and don’t gloss over it. The 40 acres and a mule not only was not only a lie, but any concession was rescinded by the next president. They say African Americans know fuck all about the countries story , obviously the same applies to dumb asses like you.

    Only Caucasian that hates African people would defend Zimmerman or did you not see the neighbours whose lawn the young man was shot on, who gave a different story of an aggressive Zimmerman with no signs of trauma or bleeding? Did you miss the fact that to this day thees two Caucasian females were never interviewed by the media and who in fact held their own press conference to talk about them not being questioned by the Po-lice?

    Oh! by the way, the same Lincoln…sold your damn constitution as collateral to the Bank of England in order to get funding to arm and feed the armies of the North. I can see the architects of the American constitution, including the real first African president and first president of the country (not Washington) turning in their graves at this shit.

  24. Ford says:

    …I have thought also that Till was out of his element and murdered for it. Don’t know anything about the gas station killing. Zimmerman is different. Witnesses say he was being beaten and calling for help. Drew his gun and fired when he thought Martin was about to grab it. As for your “historical oppressors” your painting all white people as having been that and with a current twist. It was whites who freed you my great, great grandfather among them. Lincoln was killed and with him went the 40 acres and a mule that would have truly given blacks freedom as they would have had a means to be financially independent. As I remember those same blacks were to be armed so they could defend with bullets those 40 acres. Had Lincoln lived parity would soon have been achieved.

  25. sankofa says:

    @Satchel this is true, but I have yet to see a Caucasian male being killed for any of that…just saying. And to the writer Emmitt Till never tried to flirt with that trash, this is a lie they use to justify a lynching. Born and raised in the North, Till’s crime was not knowing how to act like a Southern nigger in that he was looking that Caucasian woman in the eye and trying to speak to her with his stuttering that was mistaken for whistle…just saying!

  26. Satchel says:

    @Shawn Hudson

    Your opinion piece rests on white man’s insecurity over the lack of power over young blacks, may have validity in itself, but what sets this case apart from the other cases you compare it to is the action of law enforcement. The shooter in this case has been arrested and charged with first degree murder, but a young black man is still dead. Until our young people consider the consequences of flaunting their PRIVILEGE of self expression, we will visit more of these type of incidents. I say this from driving a public bus for over a decade in a major city, were load music is a posted violation of code. Young people will test the rules, decency included.

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