For a couple of weeks now, Sophie Grace and I have been discussing the Reconstruction Amendments and the case of Plessy vs Ferguson. In short, the amendments were established after the Civil War to guarantee freedom/s for people who had been enslaved. The 13th abolished slavery, the 14th identified all folks born in the US and naturalized in the US, as citizens and the 15th guaranteed voting rights. Within the 14th amendment, section 1 states, among other words, that no state can deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law; nor can a state deny any person equal protection of the laws.”
Plessy vs Ferguson is a case that came to be about 25 or so years after the amendments that, more or less, helped usher in a “legalized” line of segregation leading to the establishment and practice of “Jim Crow” laws which only ended up erasing the work set in place by the Reconstruction era of thinking and implementing.
Soph and I have spoken at length about atrocities that took place after Plessy Vs Ferguson and throughout our nation, in the years that followed, which appeared “protected” by laws
Like all bias, Racial Bias, disguised as law or excused by law, quietly led people toward mistreatment.
I cannot help but think to these as I read post after post about the Ahmaud Arbery case. Let’s set aside the emotion (though very hard) at this moment and assumptions or unknowns for starters. By that, I mean, we do not know (for a fact) that he was the suspect in the robberies, we do not know (with 100% certainty) that he was out for a jog, we cannot be certain that Arbery didn’t “take the first swing” at McMichael.
Arbery’s defenders have indicated that he regularly jogged for fitness and his opposers have shared that he has prior criminal history as recently as 2018.
Here are a couple of key things that strike me; a 25-year-old man lost the opportunity to speak to his innocence or guilt when two citizens chose to shoot and kill him and secondly, while running, he encountered two weaponized men, one standing near him with weapon in hand.
Regardless of race, two men took the law into their own hands, shot an unarmed man and proceeded to watch as he fell into the road and died. Neither man appeared to check his pulse, attempt CPR or attempt to make Arbery comfortable as he died. Which appears to show an emotional disengagement from their actions.
Like all bias, Racial Bias, disguised as law or excused by law, quietly leads people toward mistreatment.
When I walk alone (as someone at risk/a woman), if confronted with someone who seems at odds with me, I have two choices; run/avoid or stand/defend/fight. I am only likely to come into contact with someone threatening me because I am a woman, not because I am white. A black man jogging and coming upon any person standing in a threatening manner with a shotgun is likely going to do the same; run/avoid or stand/defend/fight.
Black men are significantly at risk of being threatened simply because they are black men. Whether it is because (to name a few) they are perceived as a threat out of fear based discrimination, size or bias.
If I, a white woman, chose to defend myself to anyone, regardless of race, and was shot/assaulted in the meantime, voices of anger and demands for justice would quickly ring out. Good words regarding my character would likely be spoken, even if my past were a little checkered. If my attacker happened to be another race than my own, anger would likely be amplified in my racial community. And it likely would not have taken more than two months for my attacker/s to be arrested and charged, especially if a video were involved.
Like all bias, Racial Bias, disguised as law or excused by law, quietly leads people toward mistreatment.
Hundreds of years in the making, discrimination against the black race has been the backbone to many nations, ours not withstanding. They were stolen, held captive, and enslaved because of bias that they were somehow “less” worthy of life. When freed, bias still permeated through intentional segregation mandated by our court systems which were lead by men who historically “tended towards racism” bias giving permission to the ever present, festering thoughts that the black race WAS less and deserved less.
Like all bias, Racial Bias, disguised as law or excused by law, quietly leads people toward mistreatment.
Ahmaud Arbery was targeted because these two men said that he resembled a suspect in recent robberies. Having thought this, these two men grabbed their weapons and chased him down with intent that ended violently, more than likely, because of his race.
Systemic racism is in this country’s DNA. Eradicating laws doesn’t change bias. Saying we want change, electing black leaders and residing in multi-cultural neighborhoods does not undo the bias that has existed for hundreds of years. They are beginnings but it will take many years more to undo what has been so intrinsic in our country’s lineage ... that Racial bias is somehow founded and justified. That minorities are less than, that their lives hold less value. We need to change our environment, we need to hold people accountable for their actions and be held accountable for our own, we need to expect immediate and swift justice and we need to scream when it’s not been delivered.
Until we, as white people, can see and admit our ingrained bias, we will forever have white men chasing down black men and shooting them without regard to the value of their life, there will be no change.
Until we can see that racism has always existed and is ever present still, there will be no change.
Until we are able to genuinely mourn with black families for loss of life without trying to excuse it, there will be no change.
Until we are able to see that all life matters; before and after birth, black or white, young or old, Christian or not, criminal or innocent, there will be no change.
Ahmaud should have been able to go home to his mother.
Ahmaud should have been approached as an innocent man.
Ahmaud should not have died on a suburban road.
Ahmaud’ s life should not have been reduced to an argument of right and wrong, discrimination or not.
Ahmaud should have had a voice.
Emotionally, I don’t have the capacity to understand the loss of life in this way. I cannot fathom burying my son. I lost my father on a highway by an irresponsible man; I worry a little more when my loved ones walk out the door and get behind the wheel. My mind wanders when the minutes pass the hour they should have been home and still, I will never comprehend, the very founded and unspoken worries of a mother when she says goodbye to her black son as he heads out for his day.
Her last hug stolen, her last “I love you” robbed and the last glimmer of that bright smile forever framed in a moment she will never get back.
Systemic racism is in OUR DNA. Racial bias leads US toward mistreatment.
