grey.

I just watched the evening news and read the news online about the four cops in Minnesota and about the “Karen” in New York City. Yes, they all got fired, as they should have. But what happens next?

At what point do people stop using stereotype-fueled fear as an excuse for blatant bigotry? I’ve lost count of all the viral videos where people go on a racist tirade, because they feel entitled to do so.

I really try to keep politics out of my social media, but as an African-American male (who just as easily could have been in either of these type of situations or the Ahmud Arbery tragedy), this shit has gotta stop.

I don’t care if your Evangelical Conservative or extreme Liberal, pro-gun or anti-gun, pro “Wall” or anti “Wall”, there are not “good people on both sides” here.

If anyone has to live in fear of going for a jog out of fear of a hate crime, the system is broken…..correction, it’s REALLY FUCKING BROKEN…enough lip service – I never want to see riots like the ones after Rodney King….those were days that I wish we could erase from our history. We’re already divided as a country, and I pray that these events don’t become the straw that breaks this nation’s back.

If your initial reaction to any of these three events was to assume that these victims “must be thugs” before the truth was known, I feel incredibly sorry for you. George Floyd matched a description of a suspect for forgery, not rape (like the acquitted Stanford swimmer) or murder (OJ). Even though he resisted arrest, he did not deserve to have a police officer’s knee in his neck until he choked to death. Christian Cooper was threatened by a Caucasian woman who stereotyped him after he asked her to leash her dog as required in Central Park. Ahmud Arbery – he was out for a jog….A FUCKING JOG!!!

I named this post “grey” for two specific reasons; grey is the combination of black and white, and because we ALL need to be on the right side against racism…there is no grey area here.

When my parents moved to the Catskills to teach public school music in 1960, there was a petition in the school district against them living there. My dad had recently completed his Master’s Degree in Music Education at University of Missouri, and my mom had been a well-respected music teacher in both Oklahoma and Missouri. Sadly, some things never change – it doesn’t matter how many degrees you have, how many awards you’ve won, or how professional you are – there are people who will still live in fear of you because you’re a NIGGER (the word in the English language that I despise the most…and the word that you NEVER forget when someone calls you one).

I hope that this post makes people think….it’s very easy to turn a deaf ear and say “not my problem”…..welcome to reality – this IS everybody’s problem.

By the way, tune into “America’s Got Talent” tonight to watch Archie Williams…he’s an African-American singer from Baton Rouge, who was incarcerated for 37 YEARS for a crime he did not commit. Go get ‘em, Arch!

Ebony, Ivory, living in perfect harmony?