Posted on 02/07/2015 10:54:11 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Last fall was yet another defining moment in America’s long history of contentious race relations. A movement that began in the small city of Ferguson quickly awakened nationwide protests from Oakland, Calif., to Staten Island, N.Y. News broadcasts’ lust for controversy was met as shocking images of protest flooded the media. In the span of six months, any shred of hope that we had finally reached a utopian “post-racial” America was tossed aside as visuals of Ferguson protests surfaced.
As protesters expressed their outrage over the murder of 18-year-old Michael Brown, they were met with virulent backlash and suppression from law enforcement. What began as peaceful demonstrations ended in tear gas, riot gear and arrests. The violence of the civil rights movement had now arrived in 2014, and yet no lessons had been learned.
Despite the understandable outrage and confusion over the St. Louis Police Department’s handling of the case and demonstrations, it was the community members and activists who were demonized in national conversation. At a time when law enforcement were escalating tensions through excessive force, politicians and officials instead focused their attention on protesters. An 18-year-old was shot at least six times for dubious reasons and left bleeding in the street for four and a half hours. Yet, according to officials this was a time for “calm” and “healing.”
In a nation born out of protest, the population that has endured the most injustice was silenced once more to satisfy the country’s desire for “peace.” The American citizens who stood undeterred in their anger against a failing legal system were now lumped together as “unreasonable” and “violent.” For another cause, maybe they would have been called patriots.
But when you are fighting for the rights of the marginalized and minority, your demands are not deemed worthy of merit. The media feasts on images of angered communities, extensive mass protests and civil disobedience but has not taken the time to acknowledge the humanity lying at the core of the movement.
Revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara stated, “At the risk of seeming ridiculous, let me say that the true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality.”
If one truly seeks to understand the heart of the #BlackLivesMatter protests, they must first realize that all of this anger, this pain, this “Black Rage” is rooted deeply in love. One does not risk their time and safety fighting for the life of a person they have never met without love. Nor can students abandon their classes and the approval of their peers to join nationwide protests without love. Nor do average citizens dedicate their time to marches and die-ins during Black Friday shopping or Thanksgiving Day parades or holiday parties without a deep and abiding love for others.
In the Excelano Project’s fall 2014 poetry show, I experienced personally the emotion of the #BlackLivesMatter movement as senior Victoria Ford recited her “Eulogy” piece. In her poem she read off 97 names of those killed by police violence and lynchings over the course of America’s history. As each brief story was read, the audience learned how the murder was either deemed “justified” or warranted only a slap on the wrist. As we sat listening to the stories of those lost, many of us — considered to be campus leaders, activists, even “radicals” — broke down into tears. Yes, we are angry, furious and passionate about these issues, but at the end of the day we are heartbroken.
There is a South African philosophy of “Ubuntu” popularized by Nelson Mandela that reflects the idea of “collective humanity” or “I am because we are.” It is this same belief undercurrent in all justice demonstrations from the civil rights movement to the present. I will never have the chance to meet Michael Brown or Renisha McBride or Trayvon Martin or Aiyana Stanley-Jones or the hundreds of others who will die from police or state-sanctioned violence. Still, I will continue to fight for them as if their lives were my own. No matter how unpopular, my rage is the greatest manifestation of love.
*****
NIKKI HARDISON is a Wharton senior from Buford, Ga. Her email address is chardi@wharton.upenn.edu
“The Vision” appears every Tuesday.
“I will never have the chance to meet Michael Brown or Renisha McBride or Trayvon Martin or Aiyana Stanley-Jones or the hundreds of others who will die from police or state-sanctioned violence.”
*****
I wonder when she’s going to post her list of the names of blacks killed by other blacks.
I won’t hold my breath.
.
Her black and/or white marxist professor guidance counselor that got her into the program to begin with, using federal education money tagged to the task by other congressional types who line entry into the “education” budget.
Yep, and like her hero Che, that "love" results in a lot of people being killed without mercy, property being destroyed without recompense, and a lot of hypocritical frumpery about lofty ideals and glorious visions that somehow belie their far more earthy execution.
Go sell it to the natives, honey, cuz I ain't buyin'.
The black police chiefs are expressing outrage at the “anti-cop” “activists” and recognizing that race is just the entry card for anarchists and marxists. They know this as well as the white police chiefs.
Should also say that all of this if part of the larger Cloward Piven/Alinsky agenda.
Making the logical jump tells me that if you don't make the cut to be a rocket scientist you damn sure ain't gonna weed no collards.
The dirty little secret is that to most blacks, black live don’t matter very much.
What do these people want?
A free ride at the NBA Star level, without consequence for their personal actions.
Pumped full of resentment, armed with nonsense.
Just my two cents on this,
From what I see in this article long story short, this article reeks of Far-left mentality, collectivism, emotionalism and hive/herd group think all of which harm certain minority neighborhoods ( black ones mostly), and after so many years they would think that particular way of thinking is part of the problem, but alas they have not. What also turned me off from this article was the fact she mentioned communist revolutionaries, well regardless of the color of my skin not that it matters I will never agree with communism over free market capitalism, there is nothing great about communists and same with thugs like Travon.
I once had a conversation with a guy named Charlie who was mostly black with some Native American blood if memory serves me right when I was at ODU soon after the election of Obama, he was a very smart and intelligent man to boot and he spoke like one as well. One night we were talking about Obama and of the bat he said “who cares if he is the first black president who actually happens to be mixed though the media does not say it” and pointed out the black illegitimate birth rates, the violence in the neighborhoods, and the lack of wanting to get properly educated so that they can assimilate better into American society, and to top it off quoted an ex KKK member that said that we do not need to kill them N**&&#rs they will do it to themselves.
To end this, my friend Charlie saw the writing on the wall for he put aside BS’ing himself about what was going on, and this woman and others are going to have to do the same thing eventually, they are really becoming a 5th column, and government and society really cannot help them much anymore, they are on their own.
Sorry for the long statement but feel free to post if you agree or disagree.
“didn’t see any love for all those business owners who got their stores looted, smashed, burned to the ground and what not.”
Spirited: Of course not. But then self-centered tantrum throwers in adult-size bodies have no love for anyone but ‘self.’
Thank-you for your thoughtful “2 cents.” There is much I agree with, especially your conclusion regarding the author, et al. They don’t realize it but their selfishness, grievance-mongering and hatred are weapons of mass destruction in the hands of manipulative Leftists who use it to destroy our nation. Lenin contemptuously described such people as useless idiots.
As for Leftists, what are they but hard-hearted psychopaths. The flames of hell burning within their minds shoot forth from their lips, take the form of deceptions, lies, propaganda and snares to entrap the gullible, destroy our nation and lead people to self-destruct.
Oh yeah.
Ummm, the thug was shot because he was attempting to kill a police officer... Also he was NOT left 'bleeding' in the street. He was dead at that point. But Nikki Hardison's right about one thing... His body should not have been left in the street for four hours. That part's an outrage. The rest of her complaints are... essentially ... lies.
Nikki Hardison needs to get a copy of last Sunday's Tampa Bay Times ( former St. Petersburg Times) and read the piece by Bill Maxwell - a black man who wrote on the same subject but was actually... well, thoughtful...
You leave a dead shooting victim where they are while the investigation takes place. Had they not done that, this crowd would be screaming “Coverup!” from the rooftops.
The “murder” of Mike Brown.
Yes, but four and a half hours is too long.
The Wharton School is allegedly one of the nation’s finest business schools...she can always open up a store selling Che Guevara T-shirts and other authentic Communist memorabilia (No AK-47’s though...guns are EEEEVIL!/sarcasm;)
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