OP-ED: We Need the Legalization of Being Black

I have sometimes imagined that because of my time in prison I can understand what it is like to be black in the United States. I lived for nearly 25 years under conditions of control, viewed with suspicion and presumed dangerous.

The law enforcement that ran the prisons were taught to view prisoners as an enemy, and that things could go wrong at any moment and they often responded with preemptive or excessive force.

It was also a world full of black prisoners, who far outnumbered the other races, so I lived as a minority and sometimes suffered because of that. I thought these experiences qualified me to understand the lives of blacks in our nation. I was wrong.

Following the shooting of Michael Brown I began to intently follow events in Ferguson and elsewhere with increasing anger. The oppression that black citizens face, especially young black men, was starkly exposed in the response of law enforcement to protests and marches. Watching the live feeds of riot police shooting tear gas at chanting demonstrators, hearing the crack of gunshots and the yells of those struck by rubber bullets and wooden disks I was outraged. It seemed to me that the ugly face of oppression, normally disguised, was revealed in full.

Other police shootings began to receive national attention. I followed each, reading about the circumstances, examining how patterns stretching far back into our nation’s past were being played out in the modern world. After a few weeks of this I was exhausted. Ezell Ford’s death was the last straw for me. The unarmed man, aged 25 and reportedly suffering from mental illness, was killed by Los Angeles police on August 11, two days after the shooting of Michael Brown.

I felt physically ill and hopeless that any change was possible. A seemingly endless stream of tragedy was pouring out of my Twitter and Facebook feeds, and I couldn’t take it any more. I signed out of all my social media accounts, stopped habitually listening to the news and began to focus on my work closer to home. After all, I told myself, there is enough injustice to go around, and I have a prayer to affect it in my own community.

It felt good to take a break from all the pain and suffering, and I did get a lot of work done in my own sphere. A few days later I was talking to a friend who lives near Ferguson and is also a restorative justice practitioner. He asked about my decision, since we often sent one another links to various stories and feeds. I told him I was just tired and needed to check out for awhile.

“Well John,” he said, “I understand that it’s painful, but I want to say that black folks don’t get to check out of being black in America.”

I felt frozen by his words, not because I was offended or hurt, but because they seemed so true. Eventually I recovered and went on to explain how I was more locally focused now, and that a lot of my time on social media didn’t have anything to do with justice anyway. It was mostly just food and cats and science articles, but his words were still stuck in my head.

He got what I was saying, but he was also afraid. He was afraid that a lot of people who have been galvanized into action were burning out.

I kept rolling his words over in my mind. Even with my parallel experiences one critical difference separated me from blacks in this country. My time in prison, though long, has ended.

I am back to being a middle-aged white man in America, essentially the most privileged status in the nation. I don’t worry about being profiled by police while walking down the street or driving my car. No one is likely to call the police, nor are the police likely to kill me if I am holding a bb gun in Walmart.

I’ve been able to do so much more than put my experiences behind me, I’ve actually been able to use them as a way to further my work. In some ways they have become an advantage. Black people don’t have that chance. They can’t check out of the pain of systemic racism. They can’t put being black behind them — not in the U.S. at least.

A few days later I had coffee with another friend, also a restorative justice practitioner. He’s focused a lot of his career on race relations and historical harms. He’s black as well, and sat patiently through my story, just smiling and nodding his head when I told him how I had been mistaken in my understanding.

Our conversation rambled for a few hours, and towards the end he asked about my parole status. Because I have a life sentence I need a commutation or a pardon to be totally off of parole. I explained how I’d have to apply for those and make a case that it served the interest of the community.

“Wouldn’t that be something if we could get a pardon for being black?” he asked.

We laughed a little, but something about his idea seemed off to me. The fact is that I received my sentence justly under the system, and I don’t have any resentment about it. No, I told him. Black people haven’t done anything wrong to be in need of a pardon. They have in fact been the victims. What they deserve, and what we desperately need in this country, is the legalization of being black. That could be the beginning of justice.

Facts Are Stubbon Things

Does anyone remember Detective Melvin Santiago? He was a Jersey City police officer who was shot to death just a month ago, on July 13th. Santiago was white. His killer, Lawrence Campbell, was black. Does anyone recall Obama appearing before national television and calling for justice for Officer Santiago’s family? Does anyone recall Eric Holder (what a joke he is) rushing to Jersey City to see that justice was done?

How about Officer Jeffrey Westerfield. He was a Gary, Indiana police officer who was shot to death last month on July 6th. Westerfield was white. His killer, Carl LeEllis Blount, Jr. was black. Where was Obama? Where was Holder?

Or Officer Perry Renn? He was an Indianapolis, Indiana police officer who was shot to death just last month on July 5th, the day before Officer Westerfield was killed. Officer Renn was white. His killer, Major Davis, was black. I don’t recall any mention by Obama about the untimely death of Officer Renn. And, I doubt that Eric Holder rushed to Indianapolis to make sure justice was done. Or, maybe I just missed it.

Vermillion Parish Deputy Sheriff Allen Bares was gunned down by two men just last June 23rd in Louisiana. Deputy Bares was white. His two killers, Quintlan Richard and Baylon Taylor, were black. Was Obama outraged? Did Eric Holder rush to Louisiana to make sure that the family of Deputy Bares found justice?

Killeen, TX, Detective Charles Dinwiddie of the Killeen Police Department was murdered by Marvin Lewis Guy, a black male. Officer Dinwiddie was white. This
happened on May 11th, just over two months ago. I don’t even recall seeing anything about that on the news. Certainly, the white citizens in Killeen didn’t take to the streets to loot and burn businesses. Again, I don’t recall any mention by Obama or Holder.

Then, there is Officer Kevin Jordan of the Griffin, Georgia Police Department. He was gunned down just two months ago on May 31st. Officer Jordan was black. His killer, Michael Bowman, was white. This was a white man murdering a black police officer. Where was Jesse Jackson? Where was “The Reverend” Al
Sharpton? Was there looting and burning on the streets of Griffin, Georgia? No. In fact, I don’t recall hearing about this one in the news, as well. Why? You can draw your own conclusions.

Over the past 60 days, there have been five reported deaths of police officers by gunshot in the US. Of those, four were white officers who were murdered by black men. Blacks complain that white officers threaten black men more aggressively on the street. You can draw your own conclusions on that one, as well.

I think there should be legislation that stops organizations from manipulating black Americans into the black Plantations. We are all being manipulated. They use dissenfranchised blacks the same way they use dissenfranchised Muslims, and some people take the bait.

Marxists turn around to the dissenfranchised and say, “see they hate you”. Most blacks are not willing to cause harm, and most Americans feel the manipulation, and ignore.

They are intentionally trying to create race wars, with blacks and latins. This didn’t start with Zimmerman or Ferguson, and it isn’t working out for the Obama administration that is looking for any reason to impose Marshall Law. The sock puppet is probably up to a lot of no good having these distractions.

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