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(Editorial note: Recent events in the US have made it necessary for me to speak out. Thank you for listening.)
Yes, shame on you! Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and all the other young black men and boys who have lost their lives unjustly at the hands of America’s lawmen, who subsequently are absolved of all responsibility and blame. What a travesty of justice! Are the lives of these young men not important to America? Just expendable non-entities? What is happening in the land of the free and the home of the brave?
I grew up during the Civil Rights Movement. I marched for our rights and those of all US citizens. I experienced a race riot and the subsequent harm it did to our community. I, too, was a victim of discrimination and racial hatred. Fortunately I was never beaten and never arrested, but I know people who were. A college friend beaten during the race riots in Atlanta. One of my brother’s friends punched in the stomach by a policeman just because he was black and standing around. My nephew arrested unjustly by the police because he just happened to fit their interpretation of a description of someone they were looking for. After all, we all look alike.
I’ve lived in Europe for over 25 years. I left an America which seemed to be on the way to healing its wounds with regards to racism and discrimination. That made me happy and proud. There were people of color occupying crucial management positions in some of our most important companies. Schools were integrating, allowing our children exposure to other children of different races, cultures and ethnic groups. It is with the children that we instill the values of respect and acceptance for others. In general, things just seemed to be better for minorities.
But I was wrong. Oh so wrong. A backlash would set in as the state of the US economy worsened. The old hatreds would raise their ugly heads and challenge Americans to continue their efforts to move forward and embrace all Americans.
In the past few months, I’ve read dozens of articles and watched myriads of videos about black students at some of the most prestigious American universities voicing their dismay at the fact that they are treated differently from their white classmates – a throwback to the racial environment of the sixties and seventies. I’ve watched shocking iPhone videos of people of color (not only blacks) being shot on the street by irresponsible lawmen or people of color minding their own business arrested using overly violent tactics. I’ve read horrifying accounts of police brutality toward young black men. Policement using the only weapon they know, violence, in the face of suspects whose physical appearance scares them. As tears came to my eyes, I had to remind myself that I was in 2014 and not 1969.
What is America coming to? In the words of Martin Luther King, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” I fear we will all end up together as fools. It is a real shame, and my heart is truly saddened.
Theresa Nash 
I guess, from across the pond, we all look alike too.
Nothing like condemning all Americans, especially since you apparently are unwilling to dig into matters.
I grew up in the segregated south, finally leaving at the age of 18. Pretty ignorant; all I knew was what I’d been taught.
A year later my best friend, the guy I went drinking with, was black. Pretty astonishing.
I found out quickly that racism wasn’t one-sided. We were both underage, both soldiers, so we went across to Juarez to get a drink. Some bars we could go in; others, Willie wasn’t welcome in, but there were some where I wasn’t welcome. These bars were frequented by other soldiers,
But I understood; people were different, and color didn’t make them good people necessarily, any more than it made them bad.
A year after that, Willie and I went our separate ways; the Army does that, transfers people, and that’s what happened to us. I found new friends, I guess Willie did too.
My friends and I often went to breakfast after Saturday morning formation (soldiers then worked 5 1/2 day weeks). We invited one of our friends to come with us.
This ended in the first sit-in I ever heard of, that you’ll never have heard of either. No newspapers, no headlines. Just a bunch of determined soldiers who decided to wait after the restaurant refused to serve us. After two hours, we got food, all of us. Including our black friend.
Two years later, I went on a block-busting outing in Chicago with a black woman who wanted to rent an apartment in a white neighborhood.
Got the picture? I was ‘active’ in civil rights when you were probably a teenager, if that.
Protests? Yep.
But I didn’t loot stores. I didn’t bash an innocent truckdriver with paving stones. I didn’t burn black businesses.
These ‘protests’ break out when a largely African-American basketball team wins a trophy. Arson, looting, riot…not race riots, but they’re largely black; whites stay away from the celebration for a reason.
As the economy worsens, so does the divide. I’m not causing it, any more than you are. But it’s happening.
And whites aren’t pulling away from blacks, at least not alone. Blacks are distancing themselves from the white and yellow and brown populations. Not all, of course, but a lot of them. Look at the names. Look at the language, the holidays, the culture. Many choose to differentiate themselves further from the mainstream of the nation they live in. Values have changed too.
But again, not all. In pulling away from the mainstream, some adopt a culture their forebears never knew, a Middle-East culture. Go figure.
But you gloss over that. America is to blame.
I’m not sure where you live,but you’ve been fooled by the headlines just as so many over here are.
Look at the evidence.
I won’t cite sports, where only talent rules. Skin color? Not a problem.
Entertainment? Muddier, but still, that venue’s reasonably color blind. Google the top actors/actresses now working, the box office draws. Blacks are represented. But not because of color, because ALL of us will go to films they’re in. You may have heard of Oprah Winfrey. Think only blacks watched her show?
And this America you call shame on elected a black president. Twice. Do you really think a small slice of this nation did that?
Next time you have a McDonald’s burger, ask yourself: what color is the CEO of McDonalds?
I suppose it doesn’t matter, my rant countering yours. This one may never even be ‘approved’. I don’t care.
It needed to be said.
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Thank you for your comments and taking the time to respond. You have absolutely raised some good points. I don’t agree with all of them, but the debate is important. However you also said – “America is to blame.” (Thus the post title.) America is a melting pot that doesn’t seem to be melting very well. There is blame on all sides.
I am black. I live in Switzerland. I grew up in Waterloo, Iowa, a very racist town, on the East Side which was at that time predominately black. I was a teenager at the time of the Civil Rights movement but I did what I could (and what my parents would allow me to do knowing the inherent dangers) to participate. I was elated when Obama was elected President and I thought the racial climate would get better, but no. The news here has only scanty coverge of the incidents I sited at the beginning of my post. The feeling of an increasing pessimism on the race scene comes from the articles and videos my family, friends and others post on Facebook and other social media; These are all of US origin.
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If only shame were a motivator! If it were, more injustices and hypocrisies would fade away. But, alas, it is not and so here we are: renegotiating everything that so many have already fought and died for. It’s like history is not linear like it seems it should be but rather old realities bending in on themselves in terrible tragic ways.
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Born in a very white WASP in a suburb of Boston in 1961. Luckily my parents and particularly my mom’s side of the family that experienced much poverty tried to teach me to judge any person on their acts. Seeing the violence of busing and the Vietnam war on the news every night both confused me and upset me as a young person. I do believe some changes have occurred over the years. Having moved to northern CA (which seemed like another country to me) and now being married for 31 years to a black man (and his wonderful family) has shown me many changes. We have gone from black and white people yelling expletives at us while walking on the street together in the early 80’s to now seeing people of mixed color and races kissing on t.v. I don’t know exactly what the problem is or that you can even pinpoint one or two reasons for everything going on. I do know that all societies go through changes. As we “modernize” more we seem to isolate more and have less security in the more consistent communities we use to have. We don’t know our neighbors anymore and don’t feel like we can even talk to them anymore or can ask for help. While my family was fairly unstable, I remember feeling secure that “others” were looking out for me as well (teachers, neighbors, friends). Given that we are more stressed, have less resources and have less “family” around to support us I’m not at all surprised that we continue to have multiple rounds of violence. They aren’t so bad when the economy isn’t as bad, but increase when it is bad. It seems each time it gets bad that the divide between the haves and have nots gets worse and worse. This mentality seems to be getting stronger and more destructive within our (US) government. Values seem to be concentrated on how much rather than quality in our lives. If we are dividing ourselves with isolation that focuses on getting what we can, rather than demanding quality relationships and ethics and respect that is within ourselves, community and government, how can we possibly expect to solve any of these problems? Our problems are not just the problems of the individual, but of communities and governments. All I know is that we have a lot of work to do. We’ve made attempts, but we fall short on true change and understanding. It starts with us as individuals.
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Carol – Beautifully said. Thank you for commenting. I think you hit on an important point – “as we ‘modernize’ more we seem to isolate more and have less security.” This is evident everywhere. That isolation prevents us from reaching out to others. And not reaching out leads to unwillingness to understand and accept differences, which nourishes a sense of insecurity.
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We underestimate the need to be social. It has so much to do with not just our survival, but our ability to thrive and grow. We do need to have more discussions about these topics instead of brushing them under the carpet and trivializing them as the media acts to do. Thanks for raising the question Theresa.
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All colors riot. When some Blacks do it, it seems some generalize the behavior to all Blacks. Here’s a recent post about Whites rioting over certainly lesser matters: http://mic.com/articles/105198/9-photos-of-white-people-rioting-put-the-ferguson-demonstrations-in-perspective
I don’t generalize about White males, assuming every one I see is a Timothy McVeigh or Ted Bundy or Jeffery Dahmer or Charles Manson or someone who will shoot up a schoolhouse or movie theater.
People are individuals.
I could say more but it just makes me sad.
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Thanks for your comments. The rioting in Ferguson is the manifestation of a much more serious problem than some hooligans rioting because of sports-related incidents. And it makes me sad, too.
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