The pictures may be in black and white, but these photos
were taken on April 4, 1968 – only nine years before I was born. The Civil Rights Museum in Memphis is haunting
– for many reasons – but mostly because it makes you realize how recently MLK
was killed. The Lorraine Motel has been
left the way it was that day. It’s not
some old brick building from the 19th century – it is a motel of the
mid-20th century – the sign looking like something out of The Jetsons. The hotel room had air conditioning and a
television. As a country we seem to want
to put paint ourselves as “post-racial” – as if swamp of racism has been
drained and all the snakes and alligators that once populated that swamp, have
been killed off forever.
The reality, of course, is quite different. We may have a biracial man in the Oval
office, but in the last few years we’ve had some of the most violent uprisings
since the summer after King was killed. We
seem to be split – once again – along the lines of race. Many people mock the Black Lives Matter (BLM)
movement – saying that it is anti-police or anti-white or simply ineffective.
The above photo is from inside the Civil Rights Museum. These placards, stating “I AM A MAN” were
used by the striking sanitation workers in Memphis – the strike was why Martin
Luther King was in Memphis the day he was shot.
I think there is a strong parallel between the slogans “I am a man” and
“Black lives matter.” Both are stating
facts that should be obvious, but that the people making them believe are
radical statements given the way they are treated in society.
Of course, people who are against BLM for any number of
reasons, or White people who don’t want to come to terms with the different way
we still treat Black people in our society – have pounced on the idea that this
slogan means they think White lives don’t matter. If we lived in a society where everybody was
already treated equally – then they might have a point. In such a society the “I am a man” placards
would be nonsensical – but we don’t live in such a society.
Here are some facts:
·
A 2013 study found that Black men have sentences
20% longer than White men charge for the same crime and with similar criminal
histories.
·
While Blacks make up 13% of the US population
they make up 65% of prisoners serving life sentences without possibility of
parole for nonviolent offenses.
·
Blacks and Whites use drugs at the same rates –
and yet Black people are put in jail for drug related crimes at 10 times the
rate of White people.
This doesn’t even get into disparities of health and
education. In the minds of many Whites
these disparities are due to Black people being more violent or lazier – not
taking responsibility for their own lives.
As if the Civil Rights Act of 1965 cleaned the slate – and that now we
can expect Whites and Blacks to have the same advantages and opportunities,
even though we have 400 years of institutionalized racism.
A few more reminders of racist policies that lasted well
into the mid-20th century.
The GI bill after WWII was the main way that many lower to middle class
whites improved their situation. The GI
bill however was discriminatory – States had power over how money was
distributed – and Blacks were usually left out.
Of the 67,000 housing mortgages that were approved through the GI bill
only fewer than 100 were granted to non-whites.
100,000 Blacks applied for educational benefits given by the GI bill –
and yet only 20,000 were granted – mostly because many Universities in the
South did not allow Blacks entry in the 1940’s.
Another policy which stymied Black affluence was discriminatory
housing. Even Blacks who were qualified
for loans were not shown homes in White neighborhoods. In Omaha, where I live now, there were covenants
– where the deeds of houses stated that the owners could not sell to a non-white
person. These covenants are still in the
“historical” part of deeds – although non-actionable – I can’t imagine what it
is like to be a Black person owning a home – where the deed states that you are
not wanted here. The practical effect of
these policies was that Blacks were not able to capitalize on their successes
as easily as Whites – even 100 years after slavery had been outlawed.
My wife is biracial – she was born in 1975. Loving vs. the State of Virginia – the
Supreme Court case that finally protected Whites and Blacks to intermarry was
argued in 1967. Which means that only 8
years before she was born – my wife’s parents wouldn’t have been able to be
legally married in 16 states! That is
incredible to me.
This is the inside of the Church of God in Christ World
Headquarters in Memphis. It is where MLK
gave his “Mountaintop” speech the night before he was killed.
It’s as if someone were speaking through him. He wasn’t even going to speak that night
because he was tired from travel – but when he heard that a large crowd had
gathered during a storm – and they had come to hear him – he came anyways. He spoke for over 40 minutes. At the end he basically collapsed into the
arms of Ralph Abernathy.
BLM is possibly the most important movement for Civil Rights
since MLK. The issues are real. If we are to “be true to what you said on
paper” then we have to make sure that all citizens are given equal
opportunities to succeed in our country.
That doesn’t mean handouts – even though handouts wouldn’t be unfair
given how much value Blacks have created for this country without being given
anything in return – it means giving people a fair shake. It means acting against our prejudices. It means those with the power of the police
or even neighborhood watch (I won’t even get into the whole George Zimmerman
selling the gun he used to kill an unarmed Black boy issue) need to honest with
themselves about what they think about Blacks.
In our society the burden of proof seems to be on Black men to prove
that they aren’t dangerous – rather than on society to prove that a specific
Black man (or even boy) is dangerous.
Technology has allowed us to see videos which show inappropriate force
used by police. This has always happened
– civilians just didn’t have the ease in which to capture it.
Yes, we should respect police. But we should hold them to a high standard of
conduct. On my way back to Omaha I
stopped in Ferguson. There is a plaque
in the cement near where Michael Brown was shot. His father wrote it – his father is not
looking for vengeance. He wasn’t looking
for riots. He wanted justice. He wanted the life of his son to be valued
and respected. He wanted the police to
show contrition. I was struck by the
normality of the street – the balloons on the sign for the apartment complex
where he lived. It was hopeful and
optimistic. The fight for freedom must
always have some optimism, because – in order to fight and sacrifice – one must
be optimistic enough to think that the world will eventually recognize the
justice of your movement. So while
Ferguson and Baltimore did have violence – I think that these were positive
developments on the whole. We still have
a long way to go before we reach Dr. King’s “promised land” – but I, for one,
believe enough in this country to think that we will eventually get there.
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