As a blogger, I challenge myself to find the words to
articulate how I feel. My writing is therapeutic, cathartic for me and intended
to be entertaining to anyone who chooses to read them. And as my thoughts are
my own, I don’t expect or want others to agree with me as much as I ask others
to understand my position. The diversity in our thoughts and convictions is the
kindling that stokes the fires of innovation, negotiation and fidelity. And
through this negotiation, we can foster compromise and coalesce in our likeness
while learning to catalyze the power of our differences.
I offer this preamble because I am troubled by recent events
(Alton Sterling, Castile in Minnesota) and am struggling to parse my words. I am
angry, hurt, vexed, and tired. I have obligations in my life that don’t afford
me the liberty to say all that I want. But to be clear, I am not interested in
leveling indictments against anyone, any agency or party. And although there is
salient evidence to support systemic indiscretion, the precipitous use of
propaganda, misdirection, and miseducation allows the truth to be obscured and manipulated.
Hence my opinion:
The narrative of American history is neat and concise,
packaging the stories it encapsulates in pithy anecdotes that tend to forget or
ignore the ancillary issues that shaped the outcome or the people/communities
impacted by the actions that made up the larger story. Modern technology is
mitigating this issue, providing us with records of the story as it happened.
And though some of the videos provided do not show the whole story, many offer
enough evidence to support the claim of egregious, deliberate actions.
Perception indeed plays a role in how we see things and thus allows for nuances
in interpretations, the simple facts of these videos are indefatigable in their
exposition of the reality.
The agency that is the Black community has a charge to its
history, present and its future. Inherent in this charge is the courage to be
accountable. That is, we must understand and accept that our actions are our
own and the consequences that accompany them are ours as well. Conversely, this
truth applies to those agencies, communities, and individuals that coexist with
us. We must be in countenance with this edict in our everyday lives if our
expectation is that others too will comply. So yes, we have a clearly defined
role in stopping the heinous attacks against our community and in particular
our men, my brothers.
Undoubtedly our society has successfully labeled the black
man the enemy, and examples of this are not hard to find. For instance, black people in general have historically
been considered the minority in America yet have the ubiquitous identity of a
Number One male/female in law enforcement. Legislation and policy crafted to
disenfranchise and perpetuate the hegemony of the Black community with the
Justice system widely accepting the unequal application of the law to
purposefully diminish the presence and effectiveness of the black community in
American society. This is not conjecture. This is not hyperbole. This is fact.
The assault on our community is endemic. The assent of
Donald Trump and the brazen nature of his constituents is emblematic of a
pervasive consciousness percolating in America today. It is incumbent upon us
to educate ourselves so that we can mobilize and mitigate the overt attacks against
our community. I believe that every man, woman and child has the right to exist
in this country as a productive citizen with the liberty to be who they are,
express their opinions, and exercise the right to oppose that which they feel
is an affront to them; and they should feel free to do this respectfully
despite the authority or agency confronting them. As such, I am not disillusioned
and understand that the constitution that governs the laws that I live by was
not written for me. I know that the color of my skin is still a precondition
for my acceptance in many places. I understand that I am a liability to some
because the perception is I do not possess the intellectual capacity. And I
know that there are those who will willfully take my life because they
understand me to be the threat or simply less than.
The thing that bothers me the most though is that the
faction that now considers themselves the victim, the one who is under attack
and is threatened, is the one who unapologetically through history is
responsible for many of the most heinous acts against man on record. I, on the
other hand, have done my best to live in peace and harmony with my fellow man,
loving each as an individual, accepting them for who they say they are until I
learn different. And, I choose this approach because it is how I want to be
treated. The fact, though, is my history, our history is unrelenting in its evidence
that me and my community are still considered the problem … the enemy. And
despite our contributions, sacrifices, and capitulations, we still are condemned
when we highlight and rail against the insidious acts that exist in the margins
of the narrative in an effort to get justice for ourselves and our community so
that we may one day live in peace, free of fear in our country.
So hear me when I tell you that I share this not for you to
agree but to understand. For this is not my perception, this is my reality.
S. McGill
Black, Father, Husband, Son, Veteran, and American
One of the most powerful things in the world can be obtained and used liberally by anyone who chooses to use it. "If" can be the beginning of something great or the acquiescence to defeat. How will you use your "if"?
One of the most powerful things in the world can be obtained and used liberally by anyone who chooses to use it. "If" can be the beginning of something great or the acquiescence to defeat. How will you use your "if"?
