Unless you’ve been under a rock lately, then you know what’s been going in Baltimore. This past weekend is just one instance of the reaction African-Americans have had in Baltimore. Regardless of how you feel about the riots and protestors, a bigger issue has to be addressed and if not soon America you will become a country that is consumed in racial hatred and glaring economic disparities.
Some would say this is how it is already, but I still see the America you can be, because of what you used to be. “With Liberty and Justice for All,” Francis Bellamy was clearly hoping to bring those words into reality, but for minorities and the poor it has become a bumper sticker phrase more than a creed to live by.
One thing I noticed this weekend is that propaganda is alive and well. If you’re like me than your Facebook,Twitter, and Instagram was filled out with messages, posts, and videos about the riots and the destruction of buildings, cars and the police who have been injured.
It seems within the last two years with the death of Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown and now Freddie Gray the same rhetoric is thrown around. Some people are disgusted at the violence that is happening and makes it a point to note that “We” can do better than this. Some get upset and find ways to justify the riots and violence by pointing out historical events when other races rebelled in similar fashion for other causes. What was most prevalent in my feed was the back and forth of white and black and their viewpoint on the riots.
It seems my page has been filled up with arguments and some got heated and even nasty at some points. Even with friends of mine making some strong points about the racial and socioeconomic differences between the races during police encounters I found myself looking at malicious oral tennis matches. Then it dawned on me that this is exactly what some people want. What better way to divide a group of people than to have the media give a biased viewpoint? I love my African-American brothers and sisters and a lot of times I share similar points of view, but I also have white friends and friends of other ethnicities who I also aligned my personality with.
Seeing people divided like this is not the way you were supposed to be America!!!! I know you have a history of racism and prejudice against all of us, but I also remember ancient civilizations like Rome and Greece who lived alongside Africans. I also know of times when blacks and whites lived, loved, worked, died and rebelled together.
If we look into your past America, we’ll find that there are many cases where we depended on each other and our cohabitation was not by accident but by financial hardship and we were met with the same harsh abuses of violence and power. I want you tell them about Bacon’s Rebellion, or the Gloucester Rebellion or even Seneca Village which is now Central Park. All of these events showed how we can live together in peace and not be afraid of one another. America please show more people reflections of our past like this, so they know that we weren’t always divided.
