(ThyBlackMan.com) A dear friend of mine shared a link with me today. A link that literally stopped me in my tracks, and I began to weep. Although, the subject of this link is so blatant and dares to expose itself as boldly as the proverbial “elephant in the room”, and ever presently seems to show itself to us through the accusatory judgmental eyes of the media, or more up close and personally, in the remnants of our shattered and grieve stricken hearts; the sheer starkness of the names listed on the link brings an uncanny validity to its reality, but moreover, it uncovers the shame of our complacency as a people.
In my heart, I believed a movement had begun when Trayvon Martin was murdered by “want to be cop”, George Zimmerman. I thought of all the brothers and sisters who came before us (as far back as, strange fruit hanging on trees), who were murdered and their killers never brought to justice. I hoped that this time we could, and most certainly, would stand and say, “Enough”…”no more”.
Yet, here we are again witnessing murder after murder after murder of our brothers and sisters by the hands of the so-called “protectors and servers”, stewards (if you will) of our laws of the land. We find ourselves encircled within the cycle of a chaotic mass of injustice; unwilling, and in many cases, foolishly unequipped, to stand and say, “No more!”
What does this say about us as a people bred from an ancestry of strength, compassion, motivation and sacrifice? More in depth, what does this say about us as a people, inbred into a society of integration, accepting of a life of limits and a never ending two step of a dangerous tango, at odds, sparring one’s worth versus one’s place?
I, dare answer, it says we are a people who display our “place” is more safe than our worth. Therefore, we remain safe, in our place assigned to us by society; which ignites my point of bearing grief over a list of one too many names that were slain by society’s safe protectors.
Hence, the cycle continues, as the list, unfortunately, continues to grow.
Our latest encounter, as a people, is trying to wrap our head around the report and statement given by Waller County prosecutor, Warren Diepraam. Not only, are we to believe that this woman, Sandra Bland, committed suicide; we are now expected to ingest the poison, being fed to us, of her character assassination. Mr. Diepraam’s agenda for his press conference was to remove as much of the blame from the police department’s bogus, and erred report of the incident which led to Ms. Bland’s arrest. (Remember, the protection of the badge, not only shields the pawn assigned to wear it, but moreover, its boundaries reach those in higher places who demands such barbarism be carried out in the street, for the sake of yellow tape which highlights the said “place”. With that, one must also, remember, we are in the midst of social change.)
Character assassinations of American Suspects, murdered by police, are now expected, as the highlight, within every intentionally vile report spewed out to the public. Eric Garner’s crime was illegally selling loose cigarettes, while screaming to our deafened ears he can’t breathe. Trayvon Martin was angry, and in his outrage was said to have, unleashed his fury on his acquitted murderer. Michael Brown was a “thug” (from our people’s own mouths) who robbed store owner’s for their cigars, then later turned into the “Hulk”, or was it a monster, in the eyes of the police. Now we are to dig deep, back into our old ways, once again, and question our sister’s character, and be brainwashed to consciously believe, Ms. Bland committed suicide because she very recently ingested marijuana, and it made her state of mind altered, and drove her to hang herself with a plastic garbage bag in her holding cell. The prosecutor speculated that she could have ingested it while in her cell. Or more likely, she ingested a great amount at the time of her traffic stop and, again, her state of mind was altered, which led to her arrest.
Brothers and sister, how long will we buy into this nonsense? How long will we accept the bad behavior of the badge as the norm for our society? When will we stand up for the “list of names” silently screaming for us to move? When will we cease our role in continuing this cycle of grief, and commit ourselves, as a people to demand change?
I mentioned above Trayvon Martin’s murder and alluded to my thoughts, and hopes, of the silver lining masking itself as a movement, to bring change, and courage to say, “Enough”…”No more”. Yet, I find us, still, in the comforts of complacency standing in agreement of the murders handed down by the bearers of the badge… pondering, if #BlackLivesMatter…really?
I’d like to leave you with my poem, “The American Suspect” written for Trayvon Martin. The question becomes, how can we end this cycle and cease adding to the “list” of names written by the blood-stained, shift the blame, trigger-pulling, choke-holding, plastic garbage bag providing fingers of or protectors and servers?
The American Suspect
They will hunt you
Taunt you
Rush you
Ambush you
Abuse you
Accuse you
Incite you
Fight you
Murder you
Watch your mama bury you
And according to their laws
With convenient clauses
Self-defense they will claim
And for your own death you will be blamed
They couldn’t see you as a positive man-child
But only as a suspected animal roaming in the wild
Upon sight you were judged, labeled and belittled
Accused of brandishing weapons of Arizona Iced Tea and Skittles
But it was only because you shielded yourself from the rain
Like anyone would with a hoodie and a brain
That we watched your mama bury you
Because they murdered you
Only in America
Suspect
Staff Writer; La Royce
One may read over more of this sister writings over at; http://laroyceblog2014.com.
