Law Enforcement and the African-American community

I think a lot of people in the United States do not fully realize the long history between the African-American community, and law enforcement. Since the 1940's and before, African-Americans have typically have had a long history of injustice done upon to them. From the murder of Emmitt Till, to the assassination of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, from the 1964 Watts riots all the way to the beating of Rodney King, there are many within the African-American community who have seen their fair share of injustice.

I guess the reason why I mention the history of how African-Americans perceived justice from the revisionist perspective, is to give people here a brief understanding why there is a generational resentment towards law enforcement. What people fail to realize is that just because there is a person of color who is president, does not mean the black community does not experience the residual effects of centuries old injustice. For myself as a person of color, and as a law abiding citizen I've had my fair share of racial profiling. This doesn't mean I had my pants sagging or wear a blue or red bandana hanging off my clothes. It's just being African-American and being at the wrong place at the wrong time.

The problem I see with law enforcement is the authoritative figure mentality where many police officers feel, by being sworn into law enforcement means that they are exempt to be walking examples of what they enforce. I cannot recall many times where people have told me how cops would stop them crossing over into predominantl white neighborhoods and warn them with the stiff phrase of "go back to your own neighborhoods." People forget that in the city of Compton it was once a predominantly white neighborhood until African-Americans started moving in. Then "white flight" happened where whites moved out, and then so started gentrification.

What bothers me when reading some of the comments from the media outlets regarding the Ferguson situation are those that ask "why do they act like animals? Why do they respond to injustice with civil unrest?" I personally think if those white neighbors who decided to move when middle class black Americans moved into neighborhoods and had first hand experience as to what African-Americans went through from the 1900's on down to even today I think some would get a glimpse as to why there is continual anger within the black community.

Now, let me caution that I do not want people here to get confused with resentment and criminal activity. Regarding the looting and property damage these are done by opportunistic individuals who are taking advantage of a volitle situation to which the media focuses on and without drawing distinction between peaceful protesters it most certainly gets associated with the protesting going on. People fail to realize that despite the calls for peace as what happened in 1965 pre-Watts riots, society (most specifically White society) will not care to make those distinctions and would rather focus on the negative elements.

I wish people would understand that African-Americans throughout the creation of this country and even today, whether you're a law abiding citizen or not, are always in the stereotypical crosshairs of American society. Today's civil unrest is an unfortunate example of how black Americans as a community have given up on an impartial system of justice because very few of the viceroys of justice do so equitable fashion.