When I published Take Five Magazine and worked as a columnist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, I wrote a series of columns about conversations with “Uncle
Ray.” Ray was the nickname I used for “Racism.” I turned a centuries-old mental
malady into an illogical, nasty, evil character that I could voice my
frustrations, fears and anger through. It’s been very cathartic for me. Taking
with Uncle Ray kept me from imploding.
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| Click here for original pool party video |
The story of black youth attending a pool
party in a
tony Dallas Fort Worth neighborhood and accosted by a police
officer, stirs a need to talk with racism…again.
“Why do you, after all these years, refuse to
die?” Through Ray, I’d ask those who blatantly or subliminally cling to the
tenants of racism, if they truly understand the trauma it sparks in the psyche
of black youth? Do you have any idea what it’s like to be confronted by the
reality of “less than?”
For
people of color-young or older-it is a life-altering reality on the job, in schools
and department stores or just driving their cars or walking the streets.
As
a kid born in the epicenter of the civil rights movement, I didn’t feel
personally connected to the plight of my people. My siblings and I grew up as Jehovah’s
Witnesses. Caring and religiously connected white people were always a part of
our childhood. The religion taught us that we were not a part of “this system.”
It encouraged us to be long-suffering and patient because God would correct all
ills.
In
my early 20s, I learned that I was indeed a part of a tainted society that
viewed people of my hue as racially inferior. I was one of the last in the group
of “affirmative action” hires at a local utility company. Our supervisors didn’t
even try to hide their anger or disgust for this new crop of young black workers
they feared would take “their jobs” or become their superiors. I was naive but
not stupid. The new rules, policies and attitudes enacted to contain, punish or
drive out those the government made them hire; wasn’t lost on me.
Many
in this country do not understand the devastating mental disconnect that can happen when young black or brown kids confront racism for the first time. Remember,
from birth-through movies, news or schools-we’re indoctrinated with the concept
that America is superior to all other countries in its stance for justice and
equality. My confrontations with racism on the job or with police caused me to
rebel and reject the foundations of my youth. I felt the adults, teachers and
religious folk that helped mold me had, in fact, lied to me. Feeling angry,
lost and betrayed, I drifted into a whole slew of negative behaviors to tame
the beast growing in my soul.
Many...do not understand the devastating mental disconnect that happens when young black or brown kids confront racism for the first time.
The
monster roars still as I watch my kids and grand kid's generation grapple with
the cruel disparities and social unrest of my youth. What might have broken in the minds of
the black teens at that party who watched cops allow whites to stand
around, gawk or walk about untouched while they were told to “get their asses
on the ground?”
“Sir,
we just came from a birthday party…”one of the handcuffed teens pleaded to the out-of-control
officer, Cpl. Eric Casebolt.
What recurring nightmares will Dajerria Becton endure throughout her life? Dajerria is the 15-year old bikini-clad teen slammed to the concrete and kneeled upon by this figure of "authority" who also pointed a gun at party-goers?
The longevity of racism isn’t just a threat
to the sensibilities of black kids. Conscientious white youth who have black friends or love black music, videos or films will also wrestle with the dichotomies of
a society plagued with ugly, stale and stubborn racial bias.
I also worry about Brandom Brooks, the 15-year-old white kid who shot the pool party. Brandon spoke of feeling
“invisible” as now retired Officer Casebolt and fellow officers skipped “over me and (told) all my African-American
friends to go sit down.”
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| Brandon Brooks, 15 / Click here to see Brandon's interview |
Will this incident embolden
him as he strives toward manhood or will the adults in his life (and on the
Internet) convince him that he’s wrong for defending his friends who were, after
all, threats to the entire neighborhood?
If I could talk to racism, I'd try to find out why there seems to be a regression to an era where blacks were feared, targeted and terrorized. Does it have something to do with the election of the country's first black president? Are we witnessing the ramifications of police forces that have recruited soldiers trained in the past 11 years of war to "subdue and "occupy" at any cost?
If I could talk to racism, I'd try to find out why there seems to be a regression to an era where blacks were feared, targeted and terrorized.
I don’t know if it’s a
blessing or a curse to work with the teens of the Sweet Potato Project (ages
16-20). It’s a blessing to be there, to listen as they talk about the tragic deaths of Trayvon
Martin, Michael Brown, 12-year-old Tamir Rice and others. But sometimes I feel it’s a curse. I see these events unfold from the perspectives of
the youth we serve. I feel their heartbreak, hopelessness, betrayal, anger and possible disconnect from a society that still considers them expendable.
As mainstream media
luxuriates in colorful debates about “race” sparked by police shootings or incidents
like the Texas pool party, I can’t help but think we’re missing an important
fact; another generation of kids-black, white and “other”-are being inculcated
and molded by the deficiencies of “race.”
More than anything, this is
what I want Uncle Ray to understand. If racism were really a character, I could
say “Please, look at what you’re doing to our kids.” The monster would scream “STOP
IT!” and the wounded warrior would openly pray for his immediate demise…once and for all.
Sylvester Brown, Jr. is a long-time St. Louis writer, community activist and executive director of the Sweet Potato Project in St. Louis, MO.
Comments
He once told me " Shawn, When the average white man is as poor as the average black man we will go through another civil war... a war against the haves and have nots. Many ignorant whites will lash out at the black community. A CLASS WAR AND A RACE WAR WILL EXPLODE SIMULTANEOUSLY"
I WAS 26 AT THE TIME AND DID NOT REALLY COMPREHEND WHAT HE WAS SAYING.... BUT I GOT HIS CONCERN FOR THE WELFARE OF THE COUNTRY WAS SINCERE.