Most of us have been taught that Rosa Parks was the catalyst
for the Civil Rights Movement. In recent years people have had disagreements
about that, but the majority of us know the story. She wouldn’t give up her
seat on the bus. Boycott Time. The black people (and some white people) joined
together and started a boycott that they didn’t think would work, but they did
it anyway to make their voices heard and the snowball of civil rights was given
a big push down a steep hill.
…but in my mind I hear the pathetic voices of a few cowardly
black people on the back of the bus “calling Rosa”. They are telling her to
just get up before the bus driver gets mad. They are telling her that it isn’t worth
the risk. Can you hear them? They are saying, “Hey Rosa. You gonna get us all
put off dis bus. Quit giving these folks a hard time seeing as how they nice
enough to let us ride.”—never mind the fact that they paid. Listen and you can
hear them too.
Every time we try to cry out about the latest black person
to be brutally shot, severely injured, beaten to a pulp, or killed in custody I hear
them. They say, “What about the black on black crime?!”—calling Rosa. They say,
“Police only kill us because we don’t care about ourselves.”-- You hear them?--
They say, “If we had fathers in the home then none of this would be happening”,
or “Teach our young men to pull their pants up”, or “If we had more jobs in the
black community it wouldn’t happen”.—calling Rosa.
If the issue is police killing black folk then THAT is the
issue. You can never win a debate by offering mitigating factors for your
opponents’ argument. I saw something on IG that asked: Do you run in the race
for breast cancer screaming about the other forms of cancer? No. Perfect
example. Why though? Because if you did that you would be minimizing the cause
you are currently running for. Do you know what happens when our people “call
Rosa”? The same powers that oppress us, bind us, and kill us use those words
and ideas as justification for the tactics. (Please read that again)
The problem with “calling Rosa” in 2015, is we know the good
that came out of her stance. We all benefitted as a country from her backbone
and bravery. Why would you call her now if you already know what’s going to
happen because of her? Are you so scared of getting “put off dis bus” that you
are willing to subject your children and grandchildren to the treatment that we
are witnessing? That’s who is going be getting treated like this soon. Do you
think these officers are deciding to shoot black individuals based on whether
or not they think that individual has been violent towards another black
person? What about this one…”just stop the crime in the hood and they will
leave”. Newsflash: If we stop all crime in the hood one of two things will
happen. The police will either search harder and more ruthlessly to try to find
something in the hood, or they will believe that the “blacks” are up to
something and REALLY search harder and more ruthlessly to try to find something
in the hood. Please don’t forget that many of your local budgets are supported
by these “street crime” cases, the prison system is largely for-profit so they
MUST have prisoners, and the people NOT affected by the heavy police presence,
police super-scrutiny, and police brutality would rather use the current system
than to pay higher property taxes.
“We are all AMERICANS”—calling Rosa. You can’t claim the
status of a group, who in every way, is saying we don’t want you. You have to
take status… ironically, the same way they got status.
“We are supposed to forgive”—calling Rosa. I’m striving to
be a Christian, but I can assure you that I do not believe that Christianity is
a religion of weakness, passivity, cowardice, nor ignorance. Then why are we
preaching that doctrine to His people? We have brainwashed our people into
forgiving the killers before they are even caught. We are trying to be like Him
right? Well He only throws our sin into the sea of forgetfulness AFTER we
repent. We aren’t preparing our people to fight or to even stand. We aren’t preaching
the strength of God supporting a cause that is just and good. How much strength
did it take to carry that cross? How much fear had to be overcome when it was
time to face His death? How much pain was endured through the lashes and the
crucifixion? By his stripes we are healed…but does that really mean now we don’t
have to do anything? The church was the very backbone of our mission to achieve
basic rights. What happened? Pastors are “calling Rosa” too and they are
teaching our people how to do it. We all have points in the Bible that we draw
from. I draw from the part where it says something like “Father forgive them
for they know not what they do”. Oh, oh, but he couldn’t have been talking about
the officers and personnel on many of the videos I have seen. These people know
exactly what they are doing because they plant evidence and lie AND other
officers support them in it. If it weren’t for the invention of portable video
cameras on phones, NONE of this stuff would have even been taken note of.
So the question becomes one of what to do. We, as the black
community, need to do something and really fast. I don’t know if we need a
black militia, protection from the military, or some type of retaliation plan. We
need to find a way to have a “family” discussion. I am certain, however, that
we’re going to have a hard time if some of our brothers and sisters don’t stop “calling
Rosa”.
_TTAII
