Racism, Part 1

The adolescent in me is being challenged yet again. In the sad and confusing case of the death of Oscar Grant in Oakland, CA, I have many conflicting thoughts and feelings. If you haven't heard about this, here are the basics: 22 year old black man is shot in the back and killed (while face down on the ground) by a white security officer in a Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) station. This was on New Year's day, I believe.

So.

Oakland being mostly african american, the cry of racism was quick and violent. There have been protests. There has been vandalism. There is outrage. There is hyberbole. I understand all of that. Story after story of police brutality, excessive force, and inexplicable shootings with few to no consequences make minorities a little jumpy, particularly black folk. Our history in the country has been less than a vacation with umbrella drinks. So when there's yet another report - complete with witness videos - that indicate a black man has been killed by an authority figure for no apparent reason, things get extremely bad extremely fast.

My personal experiences with overt racism have been few and never involved police. (There are many reasons for that and if you want to know them, I'd be happy to tell you about that some other time.) But just because I haven't been pulled over for driving while black doesn't mean I'm not sick and angry when it appears someone has been harmed because of how they look. And were I of a different temperment, I'd go break some shit in anticipation of the security officer getting a stern talking to as his punishment for taking an unarmed man's life. Why should I expect any different outcome? I remember the Rodney King incident quite well. I stayed home watching the news and crying the day those officers were found not guilty and Los Angeles burned. Now Rodney King is a punchline.

In relation to my lack of personal experience with The Man, I am still surprised at people's lack of compassion for the realities of being a minority. In fact, I have trouble believing that it's merely lack of compassion anymore. It's fear. If those who have prospered from the status quo are forced to look at how that system is built, they will see how blind they have chosen to be and how precarious their position is. They will also have to wonder who will come to their defense when injustice comes calling. That's a scary place to live from. That kind of uncertainty no one wants to sign up for willingly.