Its been a minute since I have blogged. I had something weighing heavy on my mind but I wasn't sure if it would be too heavy to share, or too long to read for a blog... but decided to share it anyway. If you came looking for humor, you can bounce now and come back tomorrow or the next day...
The other day, as I walked to the subway station on 145th street, I couldn't help but notice a loud spectacle. A tall young brotha with an afro, in a hoodie and jeans was having a loud argument with two women. He was probably about 6'4", and clearly much larger than them, but he was backed up against the wall as the two women yelled and screamed in his face at the top of their lungs. What made me stop in my tracks wasn't so much the argument, but that there were FOUR policemen (three men and a woman) standing maybe four feet away watching and looking ready to intervene.
I stopped because I knew where this was headed if it wasn't played out carefully. The tall brother began to yell back, which caused more yelling by the women. Seeming frustrated and exacerbated, the tall brother yelled, 'I didn't disrespect any of ya'll, get out of my face', pushed his way past the women and started walking away from the dispute past the police.
I thought to myself, good, remove yourself from the situation, bruh. That is the best move. The police are WAITING for you to fukk up. As I turned to leave, the only black officer of the bunch stepped in front of the tall young man who was still yelling as he walked away, and within a blink of an eye, it had now become a tussle with the four officers.
Basically, the officer said something about calming down and stop yelling, and the dude didn't acquiesce fast enough and the officer grabbed his arm. The dude reacted by shrugging off the officer and still trying to walk away and the four police swarmed him. This all happened in like five seconds.
It went down hill from there. The brother was now yelling, "What?!! I didn't do nothing! What are ya'll arresting me for?! I didn't do nothing!", and wouldn't surrender as they tried to push him against the wall and cuff him. All three male officers got involved as the female officer blocked the women and played crowd control. Two grabbed his arms, the third pulled his legs from under him, and he fell forward, hitting his head and scraping his face along the concrete wall on his way down.
As I witnessed the scene, my stomach was churning. A crowd had gathered and we are all randomly screaming, What did he do? He didn't do anything! This is bullshyt! The female cop is looking at us with a look of understanding, trying to calm the crowd, but not turning to the cops and saying, CALM DOWN! THIS ISN'T NECESSARY! And NOW, the women who were screaming at the tall young man were pleading 'Please, let him go! He didn't do anything!' But by then it was too late.
The struggle went on for about 5 or 10 minutes. The tall young man was strong as a bull and would not submit. He was adamant about his obvious innocence. He put his hands up right away as if to say, I AM NOT ARMED! But he resisted getting against the wall as the cops pushed and shoved at him. He resisted putting his hands down to be cuffed. He resisted being shoved into the police car.
In my head I was thinking... dude, just relax. Fall back and this will be over in a minute and you can go about your business. I know you got pride dude, but let it go for a minute and 'cooperate'.
Then I heard myself... and I thought, 'wow, did I just say that?' Why should he have to sacrifice his pride to appease the officers when he didn't commit any crime? He was trying to walk away. Why do we as Black men always have to sacrifice our manhood and humble ourselves to pacify police officers who are harassing us? And why am I so brainwashed to believe that we should have to bow down in order to get by? I felt like the house Negro telling the field slaves not to revolt because 'we got it good here.' I felt like an old southern black man telling his younger northern relative not to sass a white person in the Pre-Civil Rights south.
He didn't do anything wrong. And when the situation didn't create enough reason for the officers to use their handcuffs, they created one because he didn't bow down to them.
Through out our entire experience in this country, Black men aren't allowed to have pride. In pre-Civil Rights Jim Crow times, Black men had to humble themselves to all white people. They had to respond with 'yes, sir' or 'no, sir' when a white child called a grown man 'boy'. We were trained to stay in our place, and to never buck up. Just the thought of looking at a white woman funny was enough reason to justify the gruesome murder of 14 year old Emmet Till. I won't even get into the atrocities of slavery... some of ya'll are too young to remember Roots... but I remember it. I wasn't even 5 years old, but I remember a man being whipped because he would not allow his white master to change his name from Kunta, his African name, to Toby. I couldn't understand it then... but I do now.
The only difference in the treatment of Black men today is the absence of legal lynching. But then, I am not even sure about that when I think about Sean Bell or Amadou Diallo. They were both unarmed Black men who'd committed no crime, but were shot a ridiculous number of times... and the men who shot them have walked away unscathed (or probably will). Doesn't seem too different from the past to me.
As I stood there watching, I felt as helpless as the young man in handcuffs. We all argued in his defense... until they drove off with him in their cruiser. I stood there free... but still feeling imprisoned, knowing that this could have easily happened to me or any other proud Black man. Black men have been robbed of their Pride and Manhood from the moment the first slave was captured and put on a slave ship. And we are still fighting to regain it til this day.
Times may have changed, but so much remains the same. The color we fear is no longer only white, it now includes the blue color of the police uniform. When a cop car pulls up behind us in our cars... we tense up. I know I do, and every brother reading this does too. We know we aren't doing anything wrong, but we still get nervous. If we see cops on the streets and the cops looks at us, we look away, hoping not to fit some random 'description.' That mentality Black men had back in the day of humbling themselves just to get along is still alive and well today. Hell, even I am guilty of it. An educated black man with advanced degrees. I realize that when cops see me, they see another crime waiting to happen, regardless of my education, or my clear record.
Witnessing this incident made me sick to my stomach. I know that this young Black man was not guilty of any crime. His only offense was having pride. And for a Black man in this country... having pride is a crime. It always has been... and until we all realize that this is an issue and wake up and do something about it other than accepting it... it always will be.
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