Racism is alive and well

Julia Lucio writes: I don’t know about you, but I don’t particularly like racists.

When I look at people, I don’t see color. I think most Canadians are probably like me.

I grew up with a father who, like most people of his generation, occasionally used the N-word, not because he was racist, not to be derogatory but because that’s what Canadians in the fifties called people of colour. We Canadians lived the slavery era very differently than the Americans did and when the word was used, it didn’t have the same connotation, honest to God! I’m not saying it’s right, it’s not, but we don’t understand the hurt that lies in that word, we don’t realize that this word, in the mouth of a white man, brings back images of beatings, hangings, killings – lynchings. Racism in Canada is barely talked about in history books. In America, it seems to be the norm. The wounds run much deeper.

I actually had no idea what racism was, I mean really was, until I met my husband and got to spend some time in the United States as one of them rather than as a visitor. I had been to the States many times before, but with white folks. I soon found out that traveling the Country with my kind is very different than roaming with a Hispanic American.

Here in Canada, I never felt looked down upon when out in public with John. As a matter of fact, I always have considered him white until he told me he was brown! I don’t see him as being dark. I don’t see our children as being dark. Over there, especially down South, dirty looks are a common occurence. Looks that when aimed at me say “how dare you choose this substandard human being instead of a white man” and when aimed at him mean “How dare you steal one of our white women!” It’s surreal. It’s something I just can’t comprehend. The hate is almost palpable, like nothing I’ve ever felt before. And John is not even that dark! I can only imagine what kind of harassment I would get if my husband was black.

The hatred between whites and non-whites runs deep in the blood of Americans and within it, lies hundreds of years of questionable history. Discrimination is omnipresent. It’s no wonder all hell breaks loose when events like that of Ferguson happen.

Maybe Michael Brown was a thug. Maybe he had it coming. Maybe he had attacked Wilson, wasn’t surrendering and was charging at Wilson when he fired. Maybe Wilson WAS just doing his job. But that is not in question. It’s not in question because it wasn’t allowed to be in question.

The problem is that Wilson wasn’t indicted. A grand Jury, composed of 9 whites and 3 blacks, in an area where the vast majority of the population is black, decided that there wasn’t enough evidence to indict. Nancy Grace said last week “when a prosecutor wants an indictment, he gets one!” It is extraordinarily rare for a grand jury to override the prosecutor’s intention to obtain an indictment. So I can only assume that the prosecution didn’t use the due diligence required to push this case further. When the prosecution asks witnesses questions such as “Do you know what the name of your medication is that you take for your mental health” or “The first time you talked to the FBI… you told them a story that had a bunch of lies, isn’t that right?”, totally discrediting them as a witnesses in the process, you don’t really need a defense, do you?  Are prosecutors are defense attorneys for the police?

Guilty or not, Brown did not get fair representation and THAT’S the problem.

The judicial system decided that Brown’s memory was not worthy of preservation. They decided his family didn’t have the right to know what really happened. They stripped all of them down of their basic dignity–the white man is still Master and the black man, slave.Wilson walked free without so much as a slap on the wrist, simply adding insult to injury.

I remember thinking after seeing the picture of officer Wilson’s injured face on TV that my 4 and 6 year old hurt themselves more than this when they fight each other! Was this seriously the only injuries this guy sustained? Michael Brown was unarmed. Wilson, who stated being terrified by this “giant”, still pursued Brown and shot at him a total of 12 times, 6 of which bullets hit him, the last one killing him. Seems to me a couple of non-fatal shots could have stopped Brown, no? Why did Wilson have to use deadly force if not for the deep hatred he harbored for the fugitive?

And why a grand jury? Why, if not for the fact that the defendant is a white police officer, would a prosecutor invoke a grand jury when they can simply bring the charges before the judge? Do you know that while being investigated, Wilson was still collecting paychecks and planning his wedding? What do you think would have happened if Brown had killed Wilson? If the roles were reversed? I’ll tell you what would have happened! Brown would have been charged the very next day and would have spent the last few months rotting in jail, waiting for trial.

Indeed, racism is alive and well in America.

The policemen or soldiers are only a gun in the establishments hand. They make the racist secure in his racism. -Huey Newton