Racism of the 21st Century - August 2014

From the title of this post one might conclude that a) it's personal b) it's probably about race and c) the town Ferguson will be mentioned.  If you simply don't care, don't want read, are sick of hearing about Ferguson or whatever the case may be....here is your chance to stop reading and head back over to Facebook or check out my sisters non-profit Project: More love. Also understand that this is not my business site and I would hate to potentially offend anyone, but I feel as though I would like to begin to share these pieces that I started writing back in August after the shooting of Michael Brown. I find that disclosing my views on social media are counter productive and ultimately fuel unwanted  arguments. 

So I started keeping a journal every time I got upset over a sensitive issue, I wrote about it privately in order to get out what I wanted to say without keyboard warriors talking uneducated nonsense on a topic that they don't grasp in the least. It has helped me gather my thoughts and gave me an outlet to put my feelings in writing. Somehow it makes the swirling in my brain a little calmer and settles my passionate voice for that. moment.   I felt like down the road if I wanted to share these journals I could. People could read them.... Maybe not.... But at any rate the sole intent is to keep these concepts into perspective for personal reasons. I don't know everything and I don't to know everything. I only know what I feel and what I have read along the way.  

Please remember these were written over the last three months.....

If you haven't heard of Ferguson or Michael Brown by now you have been probably living off the grid with minimal human contact or perhaps under a rock. However, you can brush up on it <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/09/ferguson-teen-police-shooting_n_5665305.html">here</a>. There is the obvious story that an unarmed black 
teen (male) was shot at least six times by a police officer. Then there are all the other issues that surround this highly controversial and sensitive case, which clearly have many confused. 

I am not an expert on any of it, nor am I speaking for anyone but myself. I have obsessively watched the news over the past  weeks, tuned in to hear Obama speak, read countless news articles, followed alderman Antonio French on Twitter since August 10 and drummed up conversation with just about anyone that might  help me better understand the circumstances and strong feelings that have spread through social media like wildfire. I have yearned for knowledge, to take in every tiny detail and fact, I have educated myself thoroughly trying to gain a sense of understanding, I CAN'T, no matter how many news articles I read, no matter how many times I check twitter for updates, I have  come to realize that I will NEVER fully understand. My skin is fair and freckled and I have lived a life oblivious that hate still exists. I have been naive to think that everyone is like me, seeing 
people for people. Even writing it out it just seems like a no-brainer. People are people. 

 Being black, white, freckled, Hispanic, Asian, Icelandic or whatever, is part of who we are. I think that a person should be proud of what they look like, it makes them who they are and but more importantly it should not define what they are or what they represent. I read a quote that Talib Kweli tweeted a few weeks ago and it said "Don't trust someone that says they don't see color, to them you are invisible." THAT, that right there. Embracing who you are without trying to deny that we are all the same or that one doesn't see color. We do. Its not that we should see color and immediately think something negative or positive, but seeing a person as a person is where we lack progression. 

My point is that  regardless of what people think is going on, regardless of whether there are two sides to every story, regardless of how any of the media is portraying anything, the fact remains that black men specifically in our country are treated differently. It doesn't matter  if 
you think that I am wrong, because you see it is not about being wrong or right. We are 

talking about feelings here. These are peoples feelings. You can't tell someone that feels sad that they don't feel sad. How do you know what they have been through? You don't, you haven't lived their sorrow and you can't feel their grief. You can feel for them but you don't feel what they feel. Its the same concept. People feel they are looked at differently and treated differently, we should empathize with that. Regardless if you think that they are over reacting or that it is not true. I am sorry friends. It is true. Its very real and it is very scary. 

I am so heartbroken for a family who has had to bury a child. I am confused at how an altercation of a routine police stop ended in the death of a young man and a cop that is probably stunned and forever changed by this one fateful day. It will be one that I won't forgot in my lifetime and one that brings inner turmoil that I can only hope to express through words. 

Good night friends,

Jaime

August 13, 2014