Blacks may live on the same planet as the perceived dominant race, but the worlds they navigate couldn’t be more different.
The large room with windows facing a busy Philadelphia street in the building which houses the City’s largest news operation was, but only for a second or two, silent; then ensued brief inaudible mumbling followed by chuckling, not the type that you hear when responding to humor, but rather the sort of awkward laughter that comes when you’re uncomfortable.
Those individuals who occupied the space at the Philadelphia Daily News a year ago today ran the gamut of public service, non-profit and private-sector leadership. And despite their differences – like job descriptions, political ideology, and religion – every Philadelphian in that moment produced the same response to the story being told by a media executive who, days prior to the evening’s gathering, had been asked a hard question by her 10 year-old child.
“Is there any place in America where black people and white people are treated the same?,” Mrs. Sara Lomax-Reese, General Manager of 900am WURD, a black talk radio station, recalled her son asking. “The hard answer is no,” she admitted, adding: “That’s a very painful thing to have to tell a 10 year-old.”
Mrs. Lomax-Reese, one of three speakers that night – the other two being Philadelphia Mayor Mr. Michael A. Nutter and Philadelphia Urban League President Ms. Roslyn McPherson – could’ve lied to her son in order to maintain his childhood innocence, but she rightfully chose to be honest, not wanting her son, she said, to be vulnerable and a potential victim because he wasn’t armed with reality.
The reality, as Mrs. Lomax-Reese sees it, is one where her black sons aren’t always safe with law enforcement, an assertion she made un-apologetically in the presence of a Sergeant with the Philadelphia Police Department.
Her 14-year-old son, she shared, after the death of 17-year-old Mr. Trayvon Martin, pledged not to wear hoodies anymore and tried to think of other ways to not appear as a threat to either law enforcement or prejudice vigilantes like Mr. George Zimmerman, who shot and killed Mr. Martin, who was unarmed.
“Every young black male should be screened to assess levels of “pre-traumatic stress disorders” — that is the anxiety he feels waiting for something bad to happen,” writes Mr. Richard Rowe for The Baltimore Sun in a recently published piece entitled ‘Protecting America’s Black community,’ an article that centers on the idea that African-Americans must come together and “be given support to deal with the mental trauma of being black in America.”
I would imagine Mrs. Lomax-Reese, who said her radio station is there to give voice to “our pain, frustration and anger,” certainly agrees with Mr. Rowe, given that in her roughly 7 and half minute oral presentation that night she alluded to the impact race-centric trauma is having on her life and how she mitigates it.
“I mediate a lot… The angry is there,” said Mrs. Lomax-Reese, while describing a moment when she got angry in a fine arts museum because she noticed there was no black representation. “What would it be like not to go through that dance all the time. What kind of toll is it taking on my mind, body and soul, and how do I disrupt it so that I don’t pass on the pain to my children?”
The seemingly increasing numbers of unarmed black men being shot by police officers has made the conversation of protecting America’s black community one of rapid frequency, with ideas ranging from citizens taking up arms, to forming an independent, community-run police department, like those which guards college campuses, public transit or expensive, gated residences.
A loyal listener and sometimes caller to Mrs. Lomax-Reese’s radio station is Mr. Greg Brinkley, an activist and former correctional officer who has told me on numerous occasions that he’s willing to die in order to save his community from tyranny.
Mr. Brinkley a year ago this month saw his and others tireless activism bear fruit when the District Attorney of Philadelphia dropped all charges against Mr. Tomayo McDuffy, a black teenager with no criminal record who was accused by his next door neighbor of attempted murder and originally given a bail of $500K.
Mr. Brinkley, a vocal critic of Mr. Seth Williams, Philadelphia’s first black District Attorney, in September of 2013 fought alongside activists Mr. Asa Khalif and Mr. Edward Lloyd to lower the “ransom” to $100K, Mr. Brinkley then posted the bail.
Mr. Seth Williams, who refers to himself as a minister of justice and someone who protects the innocent as well as prosecute the guilty, failed to protect Mr. McDuffy from baseless claims, and the Philadelphia Police Department failed to investigate anyone other than the scared teen, and they had given his name to the media despite him being a minor and his guardian not being notified first.
These types of injustice not only cause irreversible damage to black lives and communities, they widen the trust deficit between government and citizens, and it’s also what fuels movements like Black Lives Matter, which began after Mr. Zimmerman wasn’t held accountable for killing Mr. Martin.
Though Black Lives Matter came into existence for legitimate reasons, there’s an undeniable, disingenuous effort to criminalize it, and that’s because the movement doesn’t just challenge the status quo, but it makes America confront its sins and demands repentance and atonement for them.
The rage seen on the streets when traffic has been halted by activists is real and is the outcome of systemic oppression. The tears that flow from the face of black mothers who feel unable to protect their children from racism and police violence is real and is an outcome of decades of unmitigated state-sanctioned violence against the black body. The code-switching and double consciousness that the majority of black Americans must employ to survive is real and is the outcome of a society that has historically repressed and devalued the black race.
Blacks may live on the same planet as the perceived dominant race, but the worlds they navigate couldn’t be more different.
This isn’t just a hard truth for a black mother to explain to her young son, it’s a hard truth for any black American to accept; it’s the cause for much trauma and pain, and, equally, it’s the catalyst for the current youthful movement to reaffirm the value of black life and to demolish systems of white supremacy.
‘The Modern Day Civil Rights Movement,’ a free panel discussion at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia preceding Grammy Award-winner Mr. Christian McBride’s Nov. 21st 8pm concert at the Merriam Theater, will be moderated by Christopher “Flood the Drummer” Norris.
Thanks for reading. Until next time, I’m Flood the Drummer® & I’m Drumming for JUSTICE!™