I have
struggled with this subject to write for a while. It is not that I don’t know
what to say but the question is what else to say. I have lived through the
media coverage of the 1960’s when those four little were killed in the bombing
of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. According
to my parents and adults, it was an outrage. This was after the federal
government ordered to desegregate the school system in Birmingham. “Fifteen
sticks of dynamite were planted in the church basement. When thousands of angry
black protesters assembled at the crime scene, Wallace sent hundreds of police
and state troopers to the area to break up the crowd. Two young black men were
killed that night, one by police and another by racist thugs”.
[www.history.com]
Here
are other examples:
“Harlem
Riots, 1964
The
riots began on July 16, 1964, when a police officer killed a young black boy in
Harlem. The Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) had already scheduled a
peaceful march to take place two days later to protest police brutality. After
the march, a group of more militant and aggressive demonstrators took their
protest to the steps of the police precinct. A number of fights broke out
between the police and protesters, and 16 black demonstrators were arrested
In the
early morning hours of July 23, 1967, Detroit police raided an after-hours bar
and arrested 80 patrons. A crowd gathered outside and rocks were thrown at
police cars, breaking their windows. The rioting increased and began to spread,
with rioters outnumbering police. The next morning, a state of emergency was
declared and the National Guard was called in to help the police. Things did
not improve until President Lyndon B. Johnson sent in federal troops to help
stop the sniping, shooting, looting and burning.
Watts
Riot, 1965
On
August 11, 1965, police used excessive force while arresting a black man in
Watts, a black neighborhood in Los Angeles, for drunk driving. A small group of
people gathered at the scene. Although the situation was tense, it was not
violent. That changed when a police officer accused a woman of spitting at him
and tried to arrest her. The crowd instantly erupted and began throwing bottles
and rocks at passing cars and buses. Additional police were called in, and the
violence and fighting intensified.
After
police left the scene, thinking that their presence exacerbated the issue, the
rioters took to the streets with a vengeance and began overturning cars, and
smashing windows of nearby stores and looting them. "Burn, baby,
burn" was the cry of the rioters. The situation deteriorated and 75 stores
in the neighborhood were burned during the first 2 days of the rioting. The
undermanned police force was helpless to combat the rioters.
Newark
Riots 1967 In Newark, on July 12, 1967,
police beat a black cab driver while trying to arrest him. A group of
protesters gathered at the precinct house and became unruly. When they were
asked to leave, they refused to obey and the police began to use force to break
up the crowd. A protest rally against police brutality was called for the next
morning. Once again, the police used excessive force, and the city erupted into
violence with looting, burning and shooting. The National Guard was called in
to help restore order. In all, 23 people were killed and nearly $11 million of
damage was caused.
Detroit Riots 1967
In the
early morning hours of July 23, 1967, Detroit police raided an after-hours bar
and arrested 80 patrons. A crowd gathered outside and rocks were thrown at
police cars, breaking their windows. The rioting increased and began to spread,
with rioters outnumbering police. The next morning, a state of emergency was
declared and the National Guard was called in to help the police. Things did
not improve until President Lyndon B. Johnson sent in federal troops to help
stop the sniping, shooting, looting and burning.”
http://www.highbeam.com/topics/race-riots-of-the-1960s-t10642
“The
day that the black man takes an uncompromising step and realizes that he's
within his rights, when his own freedom is being jeopardized, to use any means
necessary to bring about his freedom or put a halt to that injustice, I don't
think he'll be by himself”
On
Thursday, July 16, 1964, James Powell was shot and killed by police Lieutenant
Thomas Gilligan. The second bullet of three fired by Lieutenant Gilligan killed
the 15-year-old African American in front of his friends and about a dozen
other witnesses. The incident immediately rallied about 300 students from a
nearby school who were informed by the principal. This incident set off six
consecutive nights of rioting that affected the New York City neighborhoods of
Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant. In total, 4,000 New Yorkers participated in the
riots which led to attacks on the New York City Police Department, vandalism,
and looting in stores. At the end of the conflict, reports counted one dead
rioter, 118 injured, and 465 arrested. It is said that the Harlem Race Riot of
1964 is the precipitating event for riots in July and August in cities such as
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Rochester, New York; Chicago, Illinois; Jersey
City, New Jersey; Paterson, New Jersey; and Elizabeth, New Jersey
I can
go on and on. This is a small piece of what ails us as a people. To those arrogant
white people, I say stop. Stop talking about what you know nothing about. I
hear “black people need to get over it” “It was in the past”. You have no idea
how deep this is in our DNA. Just like there is a great need to keep the poor,
poor. There is a great scare of what has been done by the oppressors will
revisit them by the oppressed. In all fairness there are ignorant black people
as a culture that is sleep walking through life feeding on empty values. Poor people
are being hoodwinked against each other in the name of “white supremacy”. The
rich do not want lower income people of any race in their community.
Today
it is Ferguson. Same story, same outcome. The definition of insanity is? We
have not seen the last demonstration. The government has given most these small
towns surplus war equipment. Mom and Pop with Timmy will do what?
As a
nation, please do not lose focus. Laws are in placed to keep the masses in
control. If those officers are wrong it is because the laws on the books are
wrong. We as a nation need to……
You
fill in the blanks the world is watching. This how we will lose the seat at the
world summits.
…Pandora
