Selma and America’s Ugly Past.

I have resolved to stay away from movies about slavery and the American Jim Crow eras. They only evoke anger in me. It took some persuasions before I finally summoned the courage to see Selma. And I realized that it was positively, “a different kettle of fish”.

In the aftermath of watching the movie though, I came away with the following personal conclusions:

1. America, as great and as wonderful as it is, is a nation that is being horribly hunted by too much evil and bloodshed that were unleashed on innocent people in its past. For instance, there were the four little girls (see their picture below) that were bombed while inside their 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama on Sunday, September 15, 1963. It was described as an  act of white supremacist terrorism. It’s been over 50 years and I wonder about the lunatics with pea-sized brains in Ku Klux Klan who perpetrated the evil. Many of them would have died and probably re-incarnated somewhere else by now. In Metaphysics, there is a discourse on the Law of Karma (as you sow, so you shall reap). Therefore, for those animals in human shapes and their ilk that unleashed so much hatred, evil and bloodshed, it’s easy to figure out the possible fate of their souls. And these are manifested in the many “strange” diseases, negative phenomena, natural calamities and an excessive presence of depressions in a nation so rich-blessed. While people in countries such as Norway, Denmark and others across the world are being celebrated as the happiest, "God’s own country" is well-known as the home of the most miserable people in the world. Happiness can only thrive on the foundation of benevolence, peace and tranquility.

2. One thing has remained constant in spite of the evil and bloodshed that doted the landscapes of the America’s ugly, dark past. Back then, there were some white folks that stuck their necks out on the side of the maligned black people. And they did this at the risk of physical attacks that often led to severe injuries and deaths. They deserve to be celebrated along with Dr. Martin Luther King and the other heroes.

3. Finally, it’s a shame to see how ignorant and nonchalant some blacks behave when it comes to exercising their voting rights. Selma and other horrible places in the American south have shown us that too many black folks died or got maimed just so as to pave the way for the future generations to vote. Therefore, any black person who refuses to vote at every American election is not only being ungrateful and self-defeatist but also declaring himself or herself non-existent and voiceless!

The four girls killed in the bombing (Clockwise from top left, Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Denise McNair). May their tender and gentle souls continue to rest in perfect peace.

 

Another Victim of Racial Profiling.

“I know they killed my son… this was wrong and it was cold-hearted.”

To many readers, the above statement will sound familiar. But no, it was not made by the mother of Trayvon Martin (February 5, 1995 – February 26, 2012) a 17-year-old African American teenager from Miami Gardens, Florida who was fatally shot by an idiot who was so prejudiced as to assume that all young black men were potential criminals.



Rather, the anguished statement was made only last Saturday by Lesley McSpadden (shown above) the mother of Michael Brown, the latest victim of a racial profiling.

Michael Brown was an eighteen-year-old African American whose life was cut short by the bullets fired by a police officer in as the young man walked down a street in Ferguson, Missouri. The time of the sad incident was reported as 2:15pm on a bright Saturday afternoon. The worse aspect of it all was that the young man was merely a few days away from starting classes at Vatterott College.



According to eye witnesses, Brown was stopped by a police officer for reasons still unknown. But the people around the scene recollected seeing the officer making attempts at dragging Brown into his patrol car. As the officer did this, Brown was said to break into a run while the police officer began shooting until the young man felled to the ground. From all accounts so far, the victim was not armed.



A friend of Michael Brown was heard saying, "Everyone else wanted to be a football player, a basketball player…he wanted to own his own business.”

"He said he wasn't going to end up like some people on the streets.” another friend, Hershel Johnson, told the CNN. “He was going to get an education…he was going to make his life a whole lot better."

Unfortunately, the police officer that shot Michael Brown did not allow the fulfillment of the young man’s destiny.

The local NCAAP and other community leaders had asked federal officials to get involved in the racially-charged shooting. And the latest news on the incident is that the FBI will conduct its own investigation in addition to the one already under way by St. Louis county police. The FBI’s focus will be on whether the civil rights of Michael Brown were violated.

 

The American Ironies.

·         In America, no one is allowed by law to drink and drive. Yet, everyone is expected to show a driver’s license to buy alcohol. What therefore is the relationship between liquor and a driver’s license?

·         In every gas station, there is a sign that warns people not to smoke. However, all gas stations sell cigarettes.

·         Walk into any major retail store and what do you see? It’s the individuals who really need to do some physical exercise that you’ll see using store-provided scooters to go about the store.

·         United States is the only country in the world with too many marriage counselors who are either divorced or never married.

·         Inter-state highways are built by the federal government to link one state with another. Hawaii is an island that has no road-linkage with any other state. But why do they have inter-state highways…roads that lead to no other state?

·         America has a travel/trade embargoes against Cuba. Yet, many Americans, especially the rich and the famous (including law makers) spend huge sums of money to indulge in the habits of smoking the Cuban cigar.

·         It’s funny how rappers and thugs revel in the image of social misfits and non-conformists by their inappropriate public attires. But let them have some criminal or civil case and you’ll see them in court all “decked out” in some fanciful suits and ties. That means they do know the importance of proper modes of dressing!

·         America is globally known as the foremost land of freedom and liberty. Yet, several Americans, especially blacks, were forced by circumstances of slavery, racism and prejudice to seek freedom and liberty elsewhere by adopting the citizenship of foreign nations such as Canada in North America and France in Europe.

·         The words “colored people” have been described as the worst misnomer in English grammar. This is because it’s a Caucasian individual that has different shades of skin “colors” while a black person has only one. Therefore, how come the same words remain an integral part of an organization such as the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)?