Cause & Effect, Part II: The Effect

“I do not think life will change for the better without an assault on the establishment, which goes on exploiting the wretched of the earth. This belief lies at the heart of the concept of revolutionary suicide. Thus it is better to oppose the forces that would drive me to self-murder than to endure them. Although I risk the likelihood of death, there is at least the possibility, if not the probability, of changing intolerable conditions.” – Huey P. Newton

For some, being Black in America is constantly living in fear and combating internal conflicts. The fear comes from the reminder of the inequality shown every day that is amplified through social media. This bleeds into several battles waged within because the same injustices that are happening today, my great-grandparents had to deal with. Fights between the anger that rages because of the blatant disregard for the people that look like me and the realization that everyone that doesn’t look like me may not have ill will towards me. But we’re way past the point of someone who considers themselves to be an ally to remain silent. Wars that infuriate me as I think about why I put on my uniform and have to defend the people who do not live by the code of the flag they hold sacred. Skirmishes on whether I should attempt to change the mind of a person I think should know better or ignore their idiocy. I do not say this because they have a different opinion than me. I say this because the logic they choose to stand behind lacks a foundation to hold up their argument. Those battles eventually erupt for some. Some write, others find ways to protest and make change. But most people are tired of protesting. We’ve said that police brutality has been happening. We march for change. Colin Kaepernick kneeled and got blackballed, but people focused on the invisible disrespect for the flag and not why Kap was kneeling. Still no change. Riots never come from nothing. There was the cause and the riot was the effect.

I know we’ve seen the MLK quote that states that rioting is the language of the unheard. On some levels, I agree. I’ve also seen the video of 2Pac using the analogy of hungry people at door and how the song they sing would change after unanswered requests (see here). Both of the men speak of rioting as a result of exhausting other means of protest. Here’s how I think about it: the nation was born through rioting. The Boston Tea Party was an illegal protest that became the catalyst of The Revolutionary War. Because it was illegal, some of the participants dressed like Mohawk warriors to place the blame of this act on First Americans. It seems that this tactic is still being used today. Too far back? The Detroit Riots of 1863 is where 35 buildings were destroyed and more than 200 people lost their homes. This mob consisted of angry White people that attacked Black businesses and houses and took anything of value as they went through. Because of this, a full-time police force was formed that was still being controlled by White people late into the 1900s. Still not enough? The Rosewood Massacre of 1923 happened based off of a White woman falsely accusing a Black man of beating and raping her. The 1963 Birmingham riots caused because the KKK worked with Birmingham police to bomb a residence of MLK’s brother and the Gaston Motel where Dr. King and his campaign supporters were staying. The Miami riots of 1980 where 18 people were killed, 350 adults and children injured and 600 arrested because a black former Marine died after injuries sustained when he was arrested by four white officers. What about the good people of Charlottesville, VA? The biggest evidence of the inequality and double standard that exists in America is the devastating riots in Tulsa, OK in 1921. A White female teenager accused a Black male teenager of assault and he was arrested. This led to unrest in the black community, so they armed themselves and surveyed the courthouse. The fear of a “Negro uprising” caused panic and created a hostile environment. The hostile environment steered the energy towards the first shootout that caused 12 deaths. This fear caused the White residents to grab their guns. Important White figures took part in the riots. The National Guard was called in. All of this because of an accusation and the spread of rumors. This example of “White Privilege” resulted in the destruction of Black Wall Street, a part of Tulsa that spanned 35 blocks and was the wealthiest Black community in the U.S. at that time. After the riot was over, almost 1000 people were injured, 75-300 estimated dead (which is far from the 36 that was officially recorded in 1921) and a 2019 equivalent of $32.25M in damages. I bring all these up because all of these riots, with the exception of the Boston Tea Party, were because of injustices that happened to Black Americans but were mostly started by White America. All of these from different parts of the country at different times. One of the problems about rioting is that the energy used to condemn them is not met with the same energy to correct the reason why the riots began. It feels like Black America is being spoon-fed the solution we’ve deserved since the realization that the 13th Amendment was a way to repackage slavery on some levels. At one point, we barely got an arrest from police who murdered an innocent person. To appease, more cops are going through the court system. Now, we’re on to the fact that an arrest is not enough when a conviction is necessary. Even then, we’re spat on. Cops are convicted, but their sentences are far less than some of the time that people who look like me are serving because of the effects of the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. The problem does not begin with the rioting; it begins with the seemingly free reign that the police have to impose their will on the nation. See? Cause and effect.

To close, I will say that I would never want to be anything other Black. It’s amazing, scary and insane. Amazing because I’m part of a tribe that’s 13% of the population of the country we live in, but that 13% controls the aesthetics of most of the world. We inspire the fashion because people from all over want to dress like us. We have my generation and the ones after mine sounding like my tribe in speech and music. We have people outside of this tribe getting lip injections so they can have lips like us (but their great grandparents create caricatures of it) and augmentations to have the shape like the women of my tribe (but Sarah Baartman was an attraction at a freakshow). Scary because some days I live in fear that a cop can have a bad day or just have hate in his heart and decide to take my life. Scary because of someone who looks like me has to commit crimes because they feel that’s the only option. Insane because that 13% has had so much taken from them, abused by the systems that are in place to hold them back, yet some of that 73% hate the fact that they were not born part of the 13%.