May 20, 2020
In the Old West, if somebody
started a rumor that a guy was a cattle rustler, or a horse thief, or a murderer,
a lynch mob could take him and hang him. In the Old and Not-too-long-ago South,
a black man could be tortured and hanged for a number of reasons—again, based merely
on rumor.
Local law enforcement was not held
to have been particularly distressed by any of this, although I don’t know that
for sure.
Lynchings per se are not so much
in vogue anymore. Instead, we have people with guns. And you don’t need a
rumor. You need to have dark skin and be running. Period. At least that’s what
happened to Ahmaud Arberry in Georgia.
Local law enforcement, as per
tradition, was not particularly distressed. Not until somebody provided
convincing evidence to the rest of the world that a man was shot and killed
with no provocation.
Oh, and did I mention that it’s
not just the Old West or the South where this happens? It’s in New York, and
Chicago, and Baltimore, and everywhere else.
I can’t IMAGINE the stress of
stepping outside my door EVERY DAY and wondering if somebody is going to
question my right to walk in my own neighborhood, barbecue in a local park, go
into my own apartment building…or just be breathing anywhere near them—because of
the color of my skin. I give my friends credit I can’t even express for not cracking
under the strain and spending their days curled in the fetal position.
We have GOT to do better than
this. Sure, we can try to educate kids—beyond Black History Month. We can try
to outwait the die-hard racists and hope we can reach their kids. But we can’t
let the Law Enforcement and Justice systems chug along with no penalties for
turning a blind eye. (Sorry—dismissal from the job just doesn’t cut it.)
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