Classic Corner: So Now What?! Part 1 (State of Affairs)

(Due  the to vast nature of this issue,the following write up will be split into two parts: State of Affairs and Call to Action. This will accommodate the need to fully retain and mull over  ideas and feelings with hopes to formulate the most effective responses and course of actions to initiate change...thank you) 

So now what ?! I, like many others, have struggled with this equivocal question since a grand jury in Ferguson, Missouri decided not to indict overseer, pardon, "officer" Darren Wilson  for the murder of Mike Brown .Collectively, we are all in a tailspin as we engage on a scavenger hunt for explanations, peace of mind and the most fleeting item of all: justice! Some have taken to the streets to purge themselves of frustration and disappointment, in what some would say is inexplicable vandalism.Others have sounded off on social media to express a cornucopia of sentiments which have ranged from admonishments of peace to  strident demands for vindication by any means necessary! Despite this time of confusion, one thing has been made extremely clear: black life is expendable!

Remember the old adage "If someone shows who they are believe them?" Due to  the advent of social media and other interactive outlets, it seems that we are constantly being exposed to one egregious act after the other when it comes to the value of black life. Routine traffic stop in South Carolina? Not quite if an officer of the law decides to shoot an unarmed  black male even though he announced  he was reaching for his wallet. Routine patrol through the hallways of an inner city project building in Brooklyn, NY? I would say not if an unarmed African American male is shot in the stomach because a rookie cop was "startled".The penalty  dealt to a twelve year old boy for playfully waving a toy gun in Cleveland,OH? How about two fatal shots to send him to an early  grave. Though it was totally unnecessary for a young black male to be pepper sprayed  by the police for entering his own home in Fuquay-Varina, NC,
neighbors called the authorities because they believed he was breaking and entering.Unbeknownst to them, he was the adoptive child of a white couple, I was just relieved that he wasn't murdered.All of  this why we are still trying to rinse the bitter residue from our pallets due the slaying of Trayvon Martin! And what is the  justification behind such Marshall law? Well according to former mayor of New York and Time Magazine's "Man of The Year", Mr. Rudolph Gulliani himself, these isolated incidents are due to  the high percentage of "black on black crime". In fact, such media attention to these events is unwarranted because our focus should be centered in lowering crime among blacks first. So, in essence Mr.Gullianai, until  that percentage is lowered,cops should have the right to eradicate black lives as they see fit,correct? I'd be highly interested in knowing what some  of the other statistics of murder as it relates to their racial classifications.

Now I'm quite certain that such treatment  is not a new trend when it comes to people of color but perhaps this is the country's true self coming into form. Some of us were actually duped into believing that with the appointment of a, well at least from a phenotypic standpoint, "black president" that we were actually entering into an age of post racism. Not quite! In fact, this country's disdain for such an appointment has come into full fruition. This is evident by the fervent, vitriolic attitudes displayed by its'citizens up to the obstinate behavior facilitated by political heads. It's rather eerily reminiscent of the plot of D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation, in which the Klu Klux Klan were  appointed protagonist. The Klan went on to wrestle and regain political control of the South away from freed black slaves, depicted as unruly and intellectually stumped animals, due to them being unfit to govern over themselves let alone the region. Some folks feel that their country has be taken from them. In fact, some of those individuals actually wear badges. So guess how they are working out their frustrations and disdain?

America is and will always be built on the foundation of racist ideals because it is a necessary  component in its' preservation .How else can you rationalize the ill treatment of the downtrodden without inherently believing that they are inferior? When it comes to class, which in itself is  an invisible caste system, race is the most effective divisor when it comes to preventing solidarity among the less privileged, which includes all colors! So if our goal is to eliminate this cancer that is embroidered on the very  fabric of this country ,then perhaps we are engaging in an exercise of futility.However, this  does not  prohibit individuals from empowering themselves and others in combating this scourge!It will take more than water cooler talk and intellectual "ego trippin'! It will take more than trendy activism and reactionary anger that disappears once the headlines are replace with trivial, irreverent happenings and manufactured crises to distract us from the task at hand. It is the time to stir the echos and move forward with answering that ever so present dilemma...

SO NOW WHAT?!