BLACK MEN ARE ASKING: WHY SHOULD WE CONTINUE TO MARCH?
THE DEADWILEY TRUTH
OP-ED
COLUMN
THE “PEN,” WHEN USED EFFECTIVELY CAN
CHANGE THE WORLD
By
Eric M. Deadwiley
August
25, 2014
BLACK
MEN ARE ASKING: WHY SHOULD WE CONTINUE TO MARCH?
For
well over 60 years, Black people in America have been utilizing the “Archaic”
and “ineffective” strategy of marching and rallying to call attention to
systemic problems and abuses plaguing our communities. The Honorable Rev. Dr.
Martin Luther King Jr., successfully utilized “non-violent” resistance and “civil
disobedience” to bring about a change in public policy in the 60’s. However,
back in the 50’s and 60’s there were other groups that stood in sharp contrast
to the passive resistance of Dr. King’s movement. Groups such as the Student
Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the Black Panther Party, for self
Defense (BPP) and the Nation of Islam (NOI) with Min. Malcolm X as the NOI’s
national spokesperson. It may be that the United States Government accepted Dr.
Kings movement simply because his movement was less painful to the American
public. However, today Black Americans do not have any radical organizations
which would stand in contrast to the three established civil rights
organizations: The National Association for The Advancement of Colored People
(NAACP), The National Urban League (NUL) and The National Action Network. All
of which has presided over the worse economic and human rights nightmare the
Black community has endured in more than 60 years.
CIVIL RIGHTS OVER 50 YEARS
The
social problems which were pervasive back in the 50’s and 60’s: “high unemployment,”
“Police brutality,” “high incarceration rates,” “segregation” and “Jim Crow
laws” are still as prevalent today as they were back then. In fact, in some
areas (many would argue) (myself included) that Blacks are doing worse now than
we did back in the height of the civil rights movement. For almost 30 years now the Black community’s
civil rights struggles has been under the exclusively direction of the National
Action Network (NAN) which is the brain-child of the Reverend Al Sharpton. Ever
since the 1986 “Michael
Griffith” case, Rev. Sharpton and his organization has organized marches
and rallies in various Black communities across the country; with very little
(if any) success in delivering “actual” justice to the families of these
victims. Financial compensation “is not” adequate justice for murder.
In
fact, many analyst are wondering if the Black community has gone outright “insane.”
It's often said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over
and over again but expecting a different outcome. Well, that is essentially
what the Black community in conjunction with the top civil rights organizations
have been doing for the past 30 years. Whether the victims were Abner Louima, Amadou Diallo, Sean Bell, Treyvon Martin
or Ramarly
Graham (all of whom had the National Action Networks, Al Sharpton leading
the protesters and setting the agenda), all but one victims family has ever
seen the Police Officer(s) involved in the case face justice. The 1997 Abner Louima case was the only case
in which the Police Officer(s) involved in the case actually were convicted for
their crimes. The Black community continues to follow the same failed blueprint
for justice.
AFTER THE EVENT
Every
time a high profile killing occurs, civil rights leaders step in and
immediately call for non-violence and calm. These civil rights leaders step in
and speak as if they are reading from a script. They say we need to march and
be peaceful. They say we need to show the world that we can peacefully protest
the killing of our Black males at the hands of law enforcement. They tell the
Black community to do something that no other ethnic group on the planet would
do under these circumstances, which is to be peaceful and non-violent in the
very face of violently brutal and (as the whole world witnessed in Ferguson,
Missouri) increasingly militarized law enforcement agencies all across the
United States of America.
Over
the past 30 years Black Americans have had to accept “poor schools,” “targeted
arrest,” “unjust prosecutions,” “mass incarceration,” “civil death (collateral
consequences of a conviction) policies,” “negative portrayals (defamation) of
Blacks in the media” (I.e. “COPS,” “48 HOURS,” “CSI,” “Law & Order”) and a brutal and hostile
police force which is overwhelmingly White. The Israeli Government often
proclaims their “right of self-defense,” and every elected official from the
President on down to local Assembly-persons “openly” agree that Israel has a
right to defend itself. Yet, when Blacks speak about protecting our children by
any means necessary, we are accused of inciting violence. The Black community
continues to fall for the “flim-flam.” There is no other ethnic group in
American society who has more of a right to protect their children than Black
Americans. “Any species (whether it be human or animal) that allows another
species to kill off its offspring is a species doomed for extinction.”
WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO TARGETED ECONOMIC
SANCTIONS (BOYCOTTING)?
Marching over the past 30 years have not bared any fruit
for the Black community. Actually many folk both in the advocacy community and
in the media are openly questioning civil rights leaders (Al Sharpton in
particular) of having a sort of “dual” allegiance to the Black community and to
corporate entities such as MSNBC. Dr. King believed in the power of the “boycott”
as well as marching, rallying and civil disobedience. Why is it that Rev.
Sharpton never calls for economic boycotting? Could it be that Rev. Sharpton’s “bottom
line” would be disrupted if he were to call for economic sanctions against the
United States? Could it be that Rev. Sharpton’s “connections” with President
Obama, and countless Mayors, U.S. Senators, Congress-people, State Senators, Assembly-persons
and numerous Corporate entities that financially support the National Action
Network would stop financing Rev. Sharpton’s “enormous” national organization. The
National Action Network is a “national” Not For Profit organization which is
funded by governmental, corporate and private means. The Black community
deserves to know who is funding Rev. Sharpton’s “enormous” organization and
lining his pockets. This way we will know to whom Rev. Sharpton owes his
allegiance.
PAIN CHANGES THE
COUNTENANCE OF A MAN
In many cases, only “pain” brings forth change. Why is it
that when the looting, vandalism and violence stopped in Ferguson, the media
quickly disappeared? We cannot afford to have Michael Brown’s case end up like
Ramarly Grahams case. Rev. Sharpton is quickly earning the reputation of
leading high profile cases to their grave.
“Power concedes nothing without a
demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will
quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and
wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are
resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed
by the endurance of those whom they oppress.”
—Frederick Douglas
Eric M. Deadwiley is a Freelance Op-Ed
Columnist, Investigative Reporter and Author
Contact: Eric
M. Deadwiley
Email edeadwiley27@yahoo.com
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