Just some ruminations on the issue, as a Local Missourian, and past resident of the town NEXT to Ferguson MO..white, adopted child of full Native American(Cherokee) mother and German-American father…
My partner is a tall, dark muscular black man (with a PHD). When he lived in Texas, the police arrived at a gas station that he was in and tased him 8 times without warning or discussion. My brother (with a degree) has been regularly pulled over. Once, a police officer pulled him over, handcuffed him and put him in the back of his cruiser. Then he searched everywhere for any possible warrant or person whose “description he fit”. In the end, he let him go after about 45 minutes. My brother has never had more than a speeding ticket. When he was pulled over, he was not speeding or violating any traffic rules whatsoever. My cousin (who is a veteran) was pulled over by a city cop on the bridge in St. Louis, MO. It was outside of that cop’s jurisdiction so he had to call the Illinois police so that they could search his car. He had nothing. They found nothing, but they had a gun trained on him nonetheless. I truly feel that there is absolutely nothing that a black man in this nation can do to be safe. If they comply, if they resist, if they are polite, if they are rude… all are irrelevant, because if a policeman has it in his mind that they are criminals, then he will treat them like criminals. No black man in this nation has escaped this treatment. I have serious discussions with my extended family and my partner to move to Canada. The powers-that-be don’t want us here anyway.
As a writer, these six words are something I’ve said before. I lend it here to hopefully add to the growing conversation, to close the divide in the races, to open racist minds and to unite all Americans, all people across the world in peace. It is up to each generation to take our experiences, teach our children the history and where they come from, so that future generations can learn from our mistakes and do better. We must do these things for a better future for our children and their children. There need never be another Charleston. There need never be another Ferguson. It is imperative to keep the conversation going to keep the past from repeating itself. There’s another 6 words. “History doesn’t have to repeat itself.” It’s so hard for me to watch all the news coverage on these racially divided and chaotic events. Not just because it is so painful, because it is. It’s so profoundly, soul-shatteringly heartbreaking. But it’s hard for me to watch because it’s uncomfortable. As a half Caucasian, half black woman who grew up in rural Texas, living with my white mother and my father out of the picture, “Black” history didn’t exist yet. This was in the 1990’s. There was only one type of history and black people had nothing to do with it after the abolishment of slavery. Or so I thought.
I still remember the first day I met the other black child who started coming to or school. It was like a starring contest. (We weren’t the right color to be friends with the white kids and we couldn’t speak Spanish so we were even shunned by the Hispanic children, who were also discriminated against, but could take solace in the insular nature of their culture and feel better about themselves by excluding me, and now “Tyson”.) We couldn’t believe our eyes. We were no longer alone in that predominantly white school. The same predominantly white school where my 1st grade teacher slapped me across the face and screamed the ‘N’ word at me. The only black history I was taught was passed to me from my Caucasian mother. But she couldn’t give me exact dates, all the battles fight and won on behalf of The Civil Rights Movement. Even if I did think my mother was the smartest person in the world and had all the answers when I was six years old, it turns out she didn’t. This is why it’s so important to me to learn what I should have learned about my heritage and history. I want to add that to what I experience in my life, to teach my children and their children so that future generations don’t have to live through the past repeating itself. They can learn from our mistakes and actively help to grow our society. My partner Scott (who is British and Caucasian) are both very much human rights advocates and activists. We want to teach our children to question everything, to live life with a purpose and to love all of humanity as though they were blood relatives. So six words- “We experience, we teach, we grow.”
Born in and raised in Saint Louis, it’s amazing how much an African-American male has to give to make a success of himself. From a early age in the 80’s, I was told never to travel alone south of Interstate 64. This was the barrier that separated predominantly poor AA’s from the north, from the Caucasian population to south. Amazingly, life here has still not changed. While the Mike Brown shooting has been and remains a catalyst for socio-economic and racial plights, Ferguson and greater st. Louis (the world) have really never changed. I cannot blame White America, many of whom had nothing to do with Slavery and institutional racism. However, the system is made to excluded my ethnic origin. We are the only group within the History Of America that never was accepted or culturally assimilation into society. As a AA male within St. Louis I have been singled out by authorities in every way imaginable. The answer is not simple, however, with access to education, careers (not jobs), a living wage (not minimum wage) society can start to move toward hope.
John Legend and Pharrell share their thoughts on Shining a Light to the Associated Press here.
Some of the country’s top recording artists including John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, Pharrell, Jill Scott, Big Sean, Sting, Tori Kelly, Pink and many more will sing songs related to racial justice and reconciliation. We’ll also hear powerful conversations on race in America from Charleston, Baltimore, and Ferguson and more.
Immediately following the concert, watch John Legend, Alicia Keys and Pharrell Williams take extraordinary journeys to Baltimore, Ferguson and Charleston, where they meet with a diverse group of residents in communities at the center of the national conversation on racial inequality and violence. NPR’s Michele Norris joined John Legend in Ferguson, award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien accompanied Pharrell Williams in Charleston and ABC News’ Byron Pitts visited Baltimore with Alicia Keyes. These visits included intimate discussions and special private performances by each for those most effected.
During the conversation, once the white guy spoke about self responsibility a lot of black people were visibly upset and I feel, most black people in the audience stopped listening because they were “offended”. The black rapper basically encouraged black people NOT to get involved in government. What if Obama felt that way? Or the people that voted for him did not vote. When rappers could not get record deals they began creating their own labels , rocafella, murder inc, young money, etc. think about it . you have to get power to change things do you fail a class because a teacher does not like you? no! or because she gave someone extra credit and not you? this is fool’s pride. we as black people sometimes let so called pride prevent us from taking advantage of opportunities…I feel like this was the case. He and most blacks had a palpable reaction and it was no longer a two way conversation. It’s ok for a black person to say they weren’t affected by slavery so move on but not for a white person to say it even if it is true.
REPOST from http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/gwens-take-making-peace-making-coffee/
Gwen’s Take: Making peace and making coffee BY GWEN IFILL March 20, 2015 at 10:52 AM EDT
I woke up one morning this week to discover that Starbucks had decided to launch a new initiative at its coffee shops, branding their paper cups with a #RaceTogether hashtag and encouraging baristas to chat customers up about race.
My first thought: what an admirable idea.
My second thought: heck no.
So I dashed off this tweet: “Honest to God, if you start to engage me in a race conversation before I’ve had my morning coffee, it will not end well.”
Nearly 400 people retweeted it, which is a fair amount in my Twitter world. But what I found most interesting was the people behind the tweets — black, white, other — who for their own reasons felt Starbucks might be going a step too far. That’s actually not quite the interpretation I intended.
It’s true that I was unsure that empowering someone to goose me into a sensitive conversation at a time of day when I can barely say “Good morning” was a good idea.
But talking about race, I think, is actually quite a good thing. It’s how we do it that matters.
My friend Michele Norris of NPR has been dipping into these waters for some years now with her Race Card Project, an online discussion forum that invites people to talk about race in six words. The stories that emerge from these comments are invariably enlightening, and take us well beyond the racial straitjackets we usually live in.
On St. Patrick’s Day, for instance, the conversation was largely about what it’s like to be Irish. That’s because race is not just about conflict; it’s also about culture.
That’s why a Pakistani friend can laugh when people tell her sister she looks like the Indian actress Mindy Kaling. (She does not.)
It’s why young African Americans don’t laugh when they notice that a white, tattooed alleged mass shooter in Mesa, Arizona, was subdued with a Taser, while a black University of Virginia honor student emerged bloodied and battered — allegedly by apprehending officers — after an altercation outside a bar.
It’s also why, as admirable as it is, the Starbucks plan is a flawed one. A “conversation” about race cannot be a fleeting one. It certainly cannot be an under-caffeinated one. And it is, most importantly, not a black and white one.
Check out the conversation we’ve launched on this website.
It is about the nation we have become, and are in the process of becoming. It is about demography and destiny. It is about the distance we have come, and the distance we have yet to go.
It is not exclusively about conflict, but we seem to only want to have these conversations when conflict forces it out of the closet.
There are so many good ways to talk about this. Yes, at the barista’s counter, but also at our kitchen tables and in the workplace.
So yes, let me get my latte first. But let’s not end it there. I’ll meet you on the road.
Many Different Roads, But All Connected, six words on race and cultural identity by Ethan Tribsh of Marietta, GA. Photo Credit: Cindy Brown Photography
Read more about Michele Norris and Crossing the Racial Divide in Marietta, GA. One Church was founded by slave owners, the other by former slaves.
We are excited to share our partnership with PBS to capture the reactions from “AMERICA AFTER FERGUSON” — a PBS television special moderated by Gwen Ifill.
This PBS town hall meeting, moderated by PBS NEWSHOUR co-anchor and managing editor Gwen Ifill, explores the many issues brought into public discourse in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson, Missouri.
The program, recorded before an audience on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, includes national leaders and prominent thinkers in the areas of law enforcement, race and civil rights, as well as government officials, faith leaders and youth.
It is such a special treat to work with my dear friend Gwen on this project. She is the perfect person to navigate a deep conversation through difficult terrain.
Gwen Ifill interviews Michele Norris on her Race Card Project:
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TRCP Team,
Marvin Hardy,
The Race Card Project and A&E will facilitate and archive the conversation during “Shining a Light: A Concert for Progress on Race in America” a once-in-a-lifetime event airing on A+E Networks, Nov. 20th – 8pm ET / PT, followed by the town hall special event.
Some of the country’s top recording artists including John Legend, Bruce Springsteen, Pharrell, Jill Scott, Big Sean, Sting, Tori Kelly, Pink and many more will sing songs related to racial justice and reconciliation. We’ll also hear powerful conversations on race in America from Charleston, Baltimore, and Ferguson and more.
Gwen’s Take: Making peace and making coffee
My friend Michele Norris of NPR has been dipping into these waters for some years now with her Race Card Project, an online discussion forum that invites people to talk about race in six words. The stories that emerge from these comments are invariably enlightening, and take us well beyond the racial straitjackets we usually live in.
We are excited to share our partnership with PBS to capture the reactions from “AMERICA AFTER FERGUSON” — a PBS television special moderated by Gwen Ifill.
The program, recorded before an audience on the campus of the University of Missouri-St. Louis, includes national leaders and prominent thinkers in the areas of law enforcement, race and civil rights, as well as government officials, faith leaders and youth.
