What YOU Gon Do?

What YOU Gon Do?

My cousin, who is currently in his fifties, posted an article on Facebook the other day that described his confrontation with police at a young age. In his words…”I grew up in the 60's and 70's in W. Philly. One afternoon, I was either 12 or 13, I personally came "this close" to being shot by the police in front of my own house.” He went on to explain how he had first hand knowledge, and thereby understood how and why black youth are still being accosted by law officers simply by the virtue of their being black. After talking with him, I learned that his commentary was in response to a caucasian friend, who although aware of the recent police shooting of an unarmed man in Ferguson, Missouri, still shared a video on Facebook, that tried to justifiably explain how black youth provoke policemen into shooting them. My cousin’s intent was to negate this assertion by sharing a personal experience that gave credibility to what black male youth are still experiencing, on a day to day basis, and to make his friend aware that black people have and are still experiencing a unique form of racism that people of other cultures do not understand.

Because he is an articulate and competent black physician, my cousin’s colleagues responded to his article with complete surprise. Most of them would have never believed or even considered that he was raised in what we refer to as the ghetto, and they expressed adoration for his willingness to openly share his story, and even more importantly, they were inadvertently co opted into questioning the validity of their own presuppositions and the accurateness of media based information. The consequences of my cousin’s action were very thought provoking to say the least.

These observations, on my part, led to the motive behind this particular discourse, namely…”What YOU gon do?”  It doesn’t take much, just a realization that complacency is rampant among us, and it’s imperative that a commitment be made by each of us to do what we can to eradicate the senselessness that pervades this world of ours. Racism is not the only issue that needs to be addressed, but be ever aware that racism, ethnicity, and religion are still the major means being employed to both commit and to justify the atrocities that are permeating each and every segment of our planet. 

 

• In Missouri the National Guard has been commissioned to assist the police in assaulting demonstrators who are protesting the killing of unarmed black people. 

• In the Sudan, millions of innocent Darfurians are still being affected by the ongoing genocide initiated by the Sudanese government years ago. 

• In Burma, the military regime is still committing mass atrocities against ethnic minorities. and... 

• In Iraq, different ethno-religious sects have been clashing, resulting in the deaths of up to 100,000 civilians since the 2003 US invasion.

None of this kind of stuff is new ya’ll, but we can do something new to offset it. Let’s start off by talking about these types of things, in public, with a beneficial purpose in mind. Let’s share our own personal, and perhaps frightening experiences, and how we managed to reach a state of mind that allowed us to elicit both empathy and sympathy, to those who are still undergoing a similar state of turmoil. Let’s discuss how important it is for each of us to learn and study the circumstances of an incident, before casting judgement and condemnation on a person/situation…and doing so only as a result of something we heard. More importantly, let’s not allow lies to be perpetrated in our presence without responding in kind with the truth. It’s only my opinion, yet I believe that we can all look forward to the creativity and collaboration that’s about to ensue.

Thanks Cuz for ‘settin it off’, and thanks to all of you for at least giving thought to ‘what YOU gon do’!!!

I’ll holla…

To comment or respond please click on the word comments at the bottom of this page, or email me at grace.calvin187@gmail.com