Spring Break
The Bullet or the Bullet
Paris responds to murder of Oscar Grant
Paris, Guerilla Funk
Issue date: 2/5/09 Section: Opinion
Well, here we are...another new year and another high-profile cold-blooded murder of an unarmed black man by racist police. When will it stop? And what does our community do in response?
Oscar Grant, R.I.P. Could've been you, could've been me. Or our brothers or fathers. Hell, it could've been our wives, sisters and mothers too, especially when sexual assault is added to the list of offenses pigs perpetrate against us. I've been saying it for years. The police do not have our best interest at heart. I've also said for years that the only language America speaks and understands is violence as it relates to people of color and those on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. Maybe it's time we speak back in a language they can understand.
I've seen the new efforts by the media to spin this story by attempting to create sympathy for Oscar's killer. It won't work...the brutality has gone on for too long. Even if the officer wasn't racist in this case, the end result is still the same - another black man dead at the hands of the police. And I've heard the calls for calm after our brother's murder and to stop the violence...and I disagree. That's all we ever hear when we respond vocally to brutality perpetrated against us. It's now time for people to be held responsible for their actions - physically. If an eye for an eye will make the the whole world blind, then I guess we'll all be bumpin' into shit, 'cause this has to stop now.
Of course, it's also important to analyze the fact that many of us have become desensitized to Black Death anyway. It's sad, but true. Look at the murder rates among our youth in major cities nationwide - the statistics are numbing. Where is the collective sense of outrage there? Yeah, we complain and say how sad things are, but we don't galvanize our anger into even temporary action when black on black violence occurs around us on a daily basis. It's easy to blame those who perpetrate the violence, but the reality is that society in general, and black elders in particular, have failed our youth. But that's another discussion altogether.
Oscar Grant, R.I.P. Could've been you, could've been me. Or our brothers or fathers. Hell, it could've been our wives, sisters and mothers too, especially when sexual assault is added to the list of offenses pigs perpetrate against us. I've been saying it for years. The police do not have our best interest at heart. I've also said for years that the only language America speaks and understands is violence as it relates to people of color and those on the lower rungs of the socioeconomic ladder. Maybe it's time we speak back in a language they can understand.
I've seen the new efforts by the media to spin this story by attempting to create sympathy for Oscar's killer. It won't work...the brutality has gone on for too long. Even if the officer wasn't racist in this case, the end result is still the same - another black man dead at the hands of the police. And I've heard the calls for calm after our brother's murder and to stop the violence...and I disagree. That's all we ever hear when we respond vocally to brutality perpetrated against us. It's now time for people to be held responsible for their actions - physically. If an eye for an eye will make the the whole world blind, then I guess we'll all be bumpin' into shit, 'cause this has to stop now.
Of course, it's also important to analyze the fact that many of us have become desensitized to Black Death anyway. It's sad, but true. Look at the murder rates among our youth in major cities nationwide - the statistics are numbing. Where is the collective sense of outrage there? Yeah, we complain and say how sad things are, but we don't galvanize our anger into even temporary action when black on black violence occurs around us on a daily basis. It's easy to blame those who perpetrate the violence, but the reality is that society in general, and black elders in particular, have failed our youth. But that's another discussion altogether.
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