A new View

Interview with an Average Black American Joe: PT. Two George Floyd Protests

Joe: like I said when we met before that if we lose focus on what this is about nothing will change but a few surface adjustments. There are all these other activists attaching themselves to the Black Lives Matter movement and implanting all of these distractions of tearing down statues and taking over city blocks and declaring a free zone.

Free to do what? Act the same way towards others the way you say you have been treated.

I saw where one of the things being touted in the CHAZ compound where they have taken over several city blocks in Seattle that they ran out the police and can police themselves effectively.

But a man was attacked for walking down the street carrying an american flag and a Trump hat.

They tried to take away his flag and he was physically attacked and had to be escorted to safety.

 Interviewer: Shouldn’t he have known better?

Joe: That’s not the point. They harassed that man the same way black men have been harassed just walking down the street by the police. How can you demand respect when you don’t respect someone else’s rights as a human being.? 

He was protesting the same as what you are doing.

Everyone should have the same rights as you to walk down the street and not be impeded upon. Anything less is  hypocritical.

Those protesters in that area of Seattle are not protesting for black lives, they are protesting for themselves. What they are doing parallels what gangs do when they take over a neighborhood.

They hold that neighborhood hostage in that community. They make their own rules, make their own  laws as to who comes and goes. They enact their own brand of street justice to keep the people on that block in those communities in line. 

Is that what black folks want? Is that what Black folks are demanding? What we are demanding is a systemic change in law enforcement and government policy as to how we are seen in their eyes. We are tired of being tired. Tired of being seen as a people not worthy of respect from a system that was built without Blacks in mind as equa. Not equal to the same values and desires of white’s but here only to serve. To be stepped on.

Interviewer: You said a lot Joe. Tell me, as a black man what was it like for you growing up in your era.

Joe: I grew up in the sixties and was made aware of the color barrier when My parents thought we were getting old enough to learn what truly existed outside of our comfort zone.

We were told where we could and could not go. Not to look at white folks directly but always be aware that they were there. Don’t venture off by yourself if you were around a lot of white people. If you went in a  store downtown to not put your hands in your pocket and don’t go in a store unless you were buying something. When the civil rights movement began as a child you were scared of the visions you saw on television of violence against blacks. Every black kid knew the story of Emitt Till and you were terrified that white men only wanted to kill and hang you from a tree. You watched as Dr. King marched and protested in the streets and marched on Washington. But you had no Idea what power he truly possessed. Such power that he was declared an enemy of the country, hunted, jailed and killed. All for wanting equality for blacks.

We carried on after his death continuing to try and live out his dream. But it has never really come to fruition. Has it? His death gave us  the emergence of Jesse Jackson and his cry of I am somebody. Every black person shouted that credo from the rafters to the rooftops.

I was growing into my preteen and teenage years so my father and many mothers of the black community had the talk with their sons. No not that talk but the one about what and what not to do when faced with a police officer. They were not all that officer friendly cop that came to our schools to teach us about right and wrong. No, these were the ones who were looking for a reason to lock you up and did not mind giving out whoop ass on your way to the precinct.

It was known that if you were put in the back of that car there would be a side trip to the nearest ally or secluded place where they would beat yo ass for interrupting their day.

And neve run and make them chase you because when and if and when they caught you it was twice as worse. You would be taken into the police station with bruises or a bloody lip and It was explained by saying “ Oh he fell”. 

My dad said we must always answer a cop with yes officer or no officer. Don’t make direct eye contact , make any facial or physical gestures for they see that as attitude. And it’s a sure sign that you could face their raft. Keep your hands where they can see them never reach in your pocket or if driving across the seat or to the glove box. Always ask for instruction and verbally call out your actions. “Can I reach for my wallet officer” My registration is in the glove box officer. “Is it alright for me to get it”? 

To this day these are the things we coach our kids on as the come of age.

The Sixties brought us the civil rights movement that protested for equal rights for blacks.

There were marches led by Dr. King. Protesters were attacked by police , white civilians and dogs. They never wavered instead they marched and marched and raised their voices to the rooftops of congress. Dr. King was about getting things done through non-violence but there were others like Malcom X that believed in by any means necessary. Many of black folk were beaten, arrested and murdered. 

Then finally with a march on Washington DC that filled the mall President John F. Kennedy pushed for a drafting of the Civil Rights Bill. He would never get to sign it. He was assassinated later that year. 1964 the bill passed and was signed by Lyndon B. Johnson with Dr. King on hand July 2nd 1964. This was the bill to liberate us as Junetenth did but also see that we were treated as equals. 

But it still was not to be for a year later there were the Watts Riots that erupted spurred out of more police brutality. In 1968 there were the Detroit riots. As Black  people living in crowded low income neighborhoods got into it with an overbearing police department over the closing of a non licensed night club.

Five days of rioting brought in the National Guard. As a result many lives were lost, businesses looted and buildings were burned to the ground. Hundreds were injured during the chaos. 

Interviewer: Seems nothing had really changed for many.

Joe: That’s  the way it feels. No matter what strides we thought we had made it still feels like we were back at the starting gate. Fighting to matter.

To be continued in the next segment of Interview with an Average Black American Joe.