Photo from protest scene / August 14, 2014-SBJ |
“Like absentee parents, you revisit the nightmare you abandoned to
chase “the Dream.” Where were you while poverty and unemployment
mounted…while they packed the children of your parent’s parents in prisons,
herded your kin into Gateway ghettos and stereotyped us all into irrelevance? Your impotent call for calm is too late, even though my blaze
validates your worth.”
When asked about the essay during
a KMOX Radio interview, I added that I’m waiting for “the best and
the brightest” to return and commence with the hard work of saving youth,
creating jobs and reclaiming and rebuilding communities.
Unbeknownst to me at the time, the comment didn't go over very well.
“You sounded like a white man,” a
long-time acquaintance and member of the Nation of Islam told me when I visited the
protest site on Thursday.
I’m not sure if legendary
comedian/activist/health guru, Dick Gregory’s comments were related to my essay or not but during our brief discussion that day, he bluntly asked: “What are you
doing?” I tried to hand him my card and explain that I had started a program, the Sweet Potato Project, aimed at teaching black youth to be entrepreneurs in their own neighborhoods, but Gregory
just waved me off:
“Never heard of it!” he said before curtly walking away.
“You sounded like a white man...”
My good friend, entrepreneur Sterling
Moody, who is well-connected with the well-connected, called to warn me: “Man,
they’re pissed at you.”
I get it. Who am I to criticize
well-meaning local and national black folk who are simply doing what they do
best-which is to bring attention to crises? The symbolic hands-up response
to police brutality that’s been adopted internationally is simply brilliant. Although
my frustrations weren't necessarily aimed at any specific individual, I can see
how my comments could be deemed rude and dismissive.
Who am I to criticize well-meaning local and national black folk who are simply doing what they do best-which is to bring attention to crises?
Here’s the deal; it’s not you, black
leaders; it’s me. I’m a journalistic dinosaur who’s been covering police
brutality cases and the region’s reaction to them for more than 25 years. Metaphorically
speaking; I've seen this movie too many times. As the publisher of a monthly magazine, my
wife and I covered the 1997 adaptation where a gang of St. Louis Police officers
severely beat Gregory Bell, a mentally retarded teen in his own home. We explored the 1999 case of Julius Thurman, a young man who died from massive head injuries inflicted by police after
they caught him burglarizing a pawnshop. Then there was the 2001
case where undercover drug officers fired 21 shots into the bodies of low-level
drug dealers on a Jack-in-the-Box parking lot. In 2012 two St. Louis police officers shot a fleeing felon, Cary Ball, 21 times.
Ball, who had led police on a car chase, did indeed have a gun but witnesses
say he threw it aside and had surrendered before
officers opened fire.
I guess I've become a curmudgeon who’s grown tired of
writing about our collective negative condition and decided to do something about it. I
believe that our salvation is in the hands of the young people
we’re allowing to drop out of school and drop into nefarious lifestyles. We've
watched our kids mercilessly herded into our nation’s prisons for decades. If we don't provide sustenance, employment and opportunities for disenfranchised
youth, who will?
Don’t get me wrong, I recognize the
power of celebrities and their ability to eloquently speak to our pain, draw crowds and amplify
our frustrations. I’m particularly impressed with Missouri State Highway Patrol
Capt. Ron Johnson. His actions and words have brought much-needed respect and humanity to atmospheres of disrespect and inhumanity. Yet, days
after taking control, we still see armored trucks, canisters of tear gas hurled
at crowds and aggressive police in military gear.
Johnson’s a good man but he’s a
part of a system that limits his power. He can't oppose the governor’s curfew. He cannot repair the damage of city and county police
forces that have failed to hire and/or promote officers of color, who are charged with
maintaining order in majority black communities. He cannot undo the
psychological damage of National Guard, Highway Patrol or militarized police personnel who have allowed “race” to blur their distinction between US citizens and foreign terrorists.
Don’t get me wrong, I recognize the power of celebrities and their ability to eloquently speak to our pain, draw crowds and amplify our frustrations.
So, forgive me dear leaders, I’m just looking
for a different kind of leadership. I’m looking for a do-for-self, sustainable
economic and social plan that will finally get
us past generational, race-based poverty and immune to stubborn racial prejudice.
Since the protesters made national
news, national leaders such as the Rev. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and Martin
Luther King III have come to town. They've waxed poetically about “injustice”
and demilitarizing the nation’s police forces but those issues were made
glaringly important before they arrived by Brown's shooting, outraged protesters
and organizations created to abolish harsh police
tactics.
Are they spokesmen or leaders? If the latter, where are they leading us?
Remember back in 2010 when
Sharpton and PBS commentator Tavis Smiley almost came to blows over the issue
of Obama mentioning a "black agenda"…or not? It was Sharpton who promised that he and his National
Action Network (NAN) would hold the Administration accountable. He vowed to
develop a real agenda for Black
America. Well, that's been almost five years ago. Where is the agenda,
Reverend? This is what I was looking for when you spoke at Greater Grace Church on Sunday.
We need leaders who can go beyond
the simplistic demand that white people act right and black people vote more. For
decades, we've had black aldermen, local, state and national legislators and
now, we have a black president. But what good is all this if Obama can’t even
speak to the disproportionate predicament of black people without being tagged a “racist?” With
the poverty and unemployment rates among African Americans basically unchanged
in 45 years, where is the incentive to invest more time, more energy
or more hope into politics or politicians?
We need leaders who can go beyond the simplistic demand that white people act right and black people vote more.
I've learned from the young
people I work with these past three years. We can capture their
imaginations with programs that address their immediate needs. Talk to them
about your “Rebuild Ferguson” plan created to employ youth who'll restore damaged businesses
and neighborhoods. Excite potential young entrepreneurs with a County-sponsored plan
that will allow them to join the businesses along the ever-bustling Florissant
strip in Ferguson and adjoining municipalities. How about designating land in
the area where they can grow food that consumers, restaurants and grocers can purchase? These are immediate ways to reduce the tension, empower the disenfranchised
and include them in the regional economic mainstream.
So again, I apologize. I’m a guy
who’s grown tired of waiting for racism to die. I’m an old dude who’s come to
the conclusion that it’s up to those of us who've lived long enough to create new, sustainable, alternative systems that will finally
address the inadequacies of our institutionalized current systems.
Perhaps I’m just a killjoy or a black guy "who sounds like a white guy" (whatever that means). The death of Michael Brown and the ensuing protests have given us a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for real, significant long-lasting change. Tweeting, posting, posturing and
pontificating black politicians and speakers is all well and good but we need more. We need a solution, we need final
economic resolution...
We need a plan.
Comments
John D - St. Louis
John D
Mr. Raqib Supports you.