Black Americas role in the shootings of black men by white cops

When Leonardo da Vinci began painting the Mona Lisa back in 1503-1504, he probably had no earthy idea that he would be viewed as one of the best of many eras or that his painting would result in becoming "the best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world". Had he known, he would have probably made other choices than the ones he made once his finished project was done and was exposed to the public.

This is the same exact road we continue to travel today.  No one knows the results of an experiment or an action when it first begins.  They know what results that they would like or what results that they were after but no one can say exactly what the end result will be.  Because of this, we often look back at the place where it began and then attempt to correct any incorrect turns or wrong directions we took but to no avail.  We then become frustrated and later many just plainly give up and give in.  We search now for excuses to excuse our inability to solve a problem and the more we run from responsibility, the more excuses we find.  Some sound pretty good and for a while it works but in the end after all is said and done, the responsibility does finally land where it belongs and the art of dodging it is no longer possible.  On the day that we stand before God Almighty, all the excuses in the world will not prevent him from looking us dead in the eyes and asking why did we not do all that we could to avoid the loss of so many lives and so many souls.

What I am talking about is the recent shootings of black men by white cops that many are so outraged about.  Many others have said and it is totally true, that why this can force a massive gathering of like-minded people of all colors and not the consistent and daily killing of each other is a very strange thing.  Every life is precious and should be guarded regardless of the color of that person’s skin but only certain actions cause’s reactions that seem honorable in the beginning until it turns quickly into dishonor in a second.  We are all upset about white cops shooting black men but what we refuse to see or wish to avoid and deny is the responsibility we bare as African-Americans for this very thing.  We have helped to elevate this thing to superstar status and mainly for the benefit of those not even personally involved and because of that, the chickens surely have come home to roost.

Many of us wish to blame all this racial tension on slavery but that is not true and have not been true since the civil war.  You see, the civil war gave slaves the opportunity to work through their frustrations of that time because they were allowed to fire back without reprisal.  The so-called “anger” does not stem from there.  The anger stems from what happened immediately and consistently after the civil war.  The immense and often legalized disrespect of black America by those who promised inclusion after the war.  This began as a refusal to honor any agreement with people thought to be 1/6^th of a man and bloomed into this mushroom cloud that we see before us today.  Now let’s not get it twisted, it may have begun with a few old white men but it was not fully implemented until the black community grabs a hold of it and helped to denote this bomb.

We did so because it benefited us.  We embraced the title “angry black man” because it allowed us not to be sensitive or to show fear or to even care about nothing and no one.  It saved us from ourselves.  The angry black man was a person to be feared and to avoid at all cost while people like Dr. Martin Luther King were seen as nothing more than just a nuances.  The idea that black men could be smart, articulate, intelligent and knowledgeable was a rarity not only in all other communities but in the black community as well.  We had convinced ourselves that we would never amount to anything more than a farm hand or a house maid so to see another with the same skin color would immediately point us in the direction of them being a sell-out or a pretender.  We never gave ourselves a chance to prosper because we decided it was best to stay inferior instead of doing all that we could to raise superior.

From singing groups like NWA to organization like the Black Panther Movement, we indeed propelled the idea that an angry black man was worse than a wounded caged lion.  All other races fell for this facade and they too began to believe this myth and along with the belief of this myth results in the quick action many officers take when it comes to a black man with or without a gun. It’s the fear factor that causes many to over-react and this fear is often fueled by the very ones who later become upset and violent behind what results from that painting that they began.  If you watch all cops regardless of color reactions to a white assailant, they seem more patient and willing to disarm instead of shooting first and asking questions later.  Many of those pushing this myth today wish you to think that it is because of race but it stop being about race long ago.  It’s simply about fear, the fear of what will happen to them if they give this person a chance like they would those who they do not fear.  It’s the fear of the angry black man, the stories of how ruthless and barbaric they can be and how self-preservation is the word of the day when you encounter one.

We are not seen as men, boy or in most cases even human at these times and the respect that we think we deserve would be ours if and only if we showed this type of respect towards each other.  We shoot and kill each other on a daily basis and nothing is made of it except to blame others instead of ourselves.  Drugs being sold in our neighborhoods can easily be cleaned up by those who live there and say no to them.  Drug dealers are nothing more than someone ‘s son or daughter who thinks that by using the angry black man defense, they are authorized to commit crimes and many other atrocities against their own communities without fear of the community fighting back.  Show them that they do not own anything except their souls and watch how now your painting begins to take the shape you wish it to.  Stop throwing around this provocative and racist title of “Nigga” as if it was candy because each and every time it is used by someone belonging to the black community, it emboldens another to show that same level of disrespect.  Stop acting like a spoiled brat when things do not go your way and rioting or looting just because you can because each time you do it emboldens others to think that if you care not for where you live, what makes them think you are capable to care about anything else.  Stop being the reason we are shot and start being the reason we are respected.