The tragedy in Ferguson was instantly thrust into the national spotlight by a less than responsible media which shirked its obligation to provided honest and unbiased journalism for a chance at top billing in the evening news cycle. Across the national, networks and news platforms pushed a story that leaned heavily on the side of a community which claimed that a white police officer shot down an unarmed black man in cold blood. And so the fire was ignited!
Hands Up Don’t Shoot
Spurred from the attention being received by the civil actions, prominent black figures began to come out of the woodwork to cast their aspersions on both Officer Wilson and law enforcement in general who they claim has a long seeded history of racial bias against blacks. The underlying message from all was the same, they were tired of a claimed overwhelmingly disproportionate number of black men getting killed by white cops and demanded that this social injustice be brought to an end. On the ground, the false account of the police shooting, perpetuated by the young black man Michael Brown was walking with at the time of the incident, birthed the Hands Up Don’t Shoot mantra.
With hands raised in the air, protesters in major cities across the nation have been demonstrating. Most demonstrators have been peaceful while some have been disruptive and in a few incidents protestors have become destructive. In a veiled attempt to justify their disruptive and sometime destructive behavior, protestors have claimed they are doing so to foster attention to the injustice that was bestowed upon Michael Brown, an injustice that was concluded by a grand jury to have never occurred.
Crusaders Come and Crusaders Go
The Ferguson incident is not the first and certainly will not be the last that will dredge up a group of self-proclaimed defenders of the cause and place them in the limelight. Their devotion to standing against social injustices lasts for as long as current headline stays in the news cycle and then they are gone. Not until they see Al Sharpton’s face appear on the evening news again will the even give a second thought to it. Their temporary outrage is as disingenuous as their message and does a disservice to those who are actually engaged in fight against social injustice and racial bias. However, their moment in the spotlight often does tell an important story, as has very much been in the case in the Michael Brown shooting.
A three month long grand jury hearing kept the protests and social unrest in Ferguson going. As well, it did the same for the story in the news cycle. This provided a great opportunity for the less liberal leaning cable news outlets to invite the most recent group of black conveyors of social justice to appear on their news segments and get their views on the justice system and how it is applied to the black community. What we saw in virtually every interview was contempt for white police officers and in many cases a general view that any jury that does not reach a verdict in favor of a black defendant as being racist.
For those few who have spoken out in favor of the white police officer in Ferguson, they have been chastised by many of their black peers and throughout social medial, predominately by other blacks.
Don’t Be An Uncle Tom!
It’s a disturbing message and one that cannot be ignored when those who are black and choose not to play Michael Brown as a victim are labeled as traitors to their race by so many. Many have even gone so far as to call these individuals Uncle Tom’s.
There is clearly a racial divide but not one created by the white segment of society. Many of those in the black community whom have made derogatory remarks about those blacks that do not share their racially biased opinion have done so loudly and proudly while embracing their own hypocrisy.
Change Cannot Happen Without Change
After watching and listening to one black spokesperson after another make outlandish claims, such as cops are hunting down blacks and that no black man could ever get a fair trial, you can’t help but wonder, do these people not realize that we live in the 21st century? Those making these claims include several elected officials and those of prominence. Countless wildly embellish statistics have also been thrown around over the past several months, some so blatantly false that it makes you scratch your head in wonder what the real object is, what message are these people truly trying to convey?
There is nothing that can be said or done that will change the minds of this segment of black society and until they decided to be honest with themselves and take some responsibility for what is going on inside the depressed black neighborhood instead of always claiming to be the victim, nothing is likely to change.
Let Us Not Forget How Far We Have Come
Far behind us are the dark days of our nation when blacks had to sit in the back of the bus and drink from a separate water fountain. Through the civil rights efforts of great men and woman including but certainly not limited to the likes of Roy Wilkins, James Farmer and Martin Luther King Jr., the blatant violation of even the most basic civil rights of black Americans have all but been eradicated. That is not to say that America is free of bigotry and racism which is the reason we must remain vigilant in our efforts to stomp out these intolerances as they surface.
What we must not allow is for those who make their living on the issues of racial hatred and mistrust to create a racial divide that serves their professional interest. We also must not allow those who exploit racially charged incidents used to further their political aspirations to do so. Both are opportunists and their motives disingenuous, self-serving and have done more to victimize the depressed black communities throughout the nation than to uplift them.
