Shock and Awe!

I think the trepidation of the title is appropriate in light of the circumstances of today, particularly as it relates to African Americans. Since the Trayvon Martin case has, unbearably, consumed our consciousness they are now calling racism "bias".

Admittedly, we all know there is a long history of African American suffering from injustice in the state of Florida. Does anyone remember the incident in “Rosewood”? By the way, Malcolm X famously said, “anywhere south of Canada is south” which means injustice is embedded in the culture of America.

The Rosewood incident is not withstanding to the countless events where African Americans, and others, have come up on the short end of the long arm of the law in Florida. This police department where the Martin murder occurred has an unconsciously notorious history of abuse at the hands of the law. Before I go any further, let me state clearly that my interpretation of the Martin murder has changed. It was an ASSASSINATION!

Let me go further and connect this to the age old theory of States Rights, which means in a society or at least the belief in a dynamic that those who feel entitled are now endangered species. The extreme elements then revert back to what is instilled in their consciousness that the promise of Manifest Destiny is dead.

America, today, where millions of white people out of work, a president of color, and some say outnumbered by a multi-cultural society has given rise to hate. This I would argue is a huge problem concerning the conversation of racism that has raised its ugly head in this continuous political environment. Maybe this is synonymous with what some call a cultural of whiteness with the feeling of entitlement being lost.

When we talk about race, the major problem that exit is that most of society believes it does not exist. For example in 1963 85% of white people surveyed said black people had as much chance of receiving a good education as white children. Now, let’s look at this statistics! Brown v Board was decided in 1954 that gave us those profound words - "With all deliberate speed" but in fact it was not for 13 years that equal education showed any semblance of reality to the ruling in the form of education.

There were many whites in 1963 in the same survey that said, most whites thought everything was fine in terms of race relation. They also said Dr. King was wrong to stir up the coloreds and they were happy with their current state at the time. I will remind you that this was the same argument that those who where ardent slaveholder and supporter of that immoral institution made at the time of slavery. Also be reminded that almost all president up to Lincoln owned slaves.

So it is my contention that if the system is designed to protect the system - how can people of color who were referred to in the constitution as being less than human expect justice for all? I’ll leave you to answer this question. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective.

http://johntwills.com

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x52xIaVPtdw]