From small towns, to large cities, from gatherings of a few hundred to assemblies of several thousands. The elderly and the young came. People of all races came. World-renowned celebrities and millions of unknowns gathered on a hot Saturday afternoon, all crying out for the same thing.
Justice. Equal protection under the law. Peace.
By now you know of the rallies held across the country in support of Trayvon Martin, the repeal of the Stand Your Ground laws, and calling on Attorney General Eric Holder and the Justice Department to continue the investigation into the actions of the night George Zimmerman took Trayvon’s life and to file a civil rights complaint against him. From sea to shining sea, the voices thundered, the signs waved, the passionate speeches were delivered, the promises were made.
And then we dispersed and went home. And little changed after that.
Two and a half hours after the demonstration ended here in Columbus, a man shot another man in the head at a party just blocks from the plaza of the Government Center where the rally took place. Later that evening, a woman was noticed wandering down the middle of the street and was eventually arrested for cocaine possession. I also noticed, later that evening, that a young man whom I saw at the rally posted an invitation on social media for his friends to join him at his house for his birthday party that night. Among the enticing words he sent out were the calls to the ladies (“B**ches, come shake that A**!”) and to the men (“Ni**as, come get that SH*T!”). Of course, he had to be plain as to what specific accommodations would be provided (“BYOB & BYOW – Bring Your Own Bottle and Bring Your Own WEED”). Everyone was encouraged to come and “Turn Up”, as opposed to “Turn Down 4 What”.
And that was just Saturday night.
Mine is a relatively small city that likes to think it’s a big one, and in the three days since the rallies we held on Saturday, there have been more incidents like this one. A Black man robbed another brother late last night, and shot him several times in the robbery attempt. Another arrest for drug possession. More unreported incidents of domestic violence. More undocumented examples of disrespectful and rowdy displays by our people of all ages.
And we wonder why people treat us the way they do.
I remember sitting on the steps of the plaza, while the speeches were being presented, and watching the crowds. I moved around and took several pictures of the event, and posted them on my own social media sites. And I asked the question, “It’s good that everyone has shown up like this, but after the rallies are over, what happens next?” No one has answered my question to date. Also interesting was the observation of one of my friends, who noted that we turned out for Trayvon because he was killed by a man of a different ethnicity for no justifiable reason, but we don’t react in a similar manner and with similar energy when it happens to one of our own. Allow me to tell you a story of one of them.
His name was Keon Coleman. A young man, recently graduated from high school. A new father to a one-year-old son, he was working and going to school. He wanted to make a bright future for his family and his son. But at the age of only 19, he also enjoyed the same desire for fun that most young adults do. A friend of his was having her birthday on a March weekend just three weeks or so after George killed Trayvon. Keon decided to join in on the celebration, and the partying eventually led them to the Broadway area of downtown Columbus.
His name was Ron Blair. A little older than Keon, at age 32, he was a businessman, with aspirations of enhancing the local entertainment and club scene in this area. He recently had leased an old bar in the same Broadway area, and was working on turning it into a club. He and his friends were also partying downtown on Broadway that same evening. As the two cliques wandered close to each other, one person from one group recognized someone from the other group. Someone began rapping out loud, and in particular, they cited a line from a “song” by the rapper Future:
“If she’s yo’ ho, then she’s my ho too…”
Someone in Keon’s group took exception to the obvious implications of that line towards the females in the group. Words were exchanged. While apologies were quickly offered and apparently accepted, Keon and Ron kept the exchange going a little while longer. They faced off against each other as they spoke.
Liquid from a red Solo cup splashed in Keon’s face. A gunshot erupted. And Keon lay dying on the ground, his blood staining the pavement from a gunshot wound to the right side of his head.
Ron’s group quickly dispersed, while Keon’s group desparately tried to save their friend. They got him to a hospital, but their efforts bore little fruit. Keon died later, in the early hours of a Sunday morning. Ron was arrested later that day as he returned to the building he had hoped to turn into the next big club in Columbus. He was charged with felony murder.
A year and a half later, as the trial of George Zimmerman got underway in Florida, the trial of Ron Blair began here in Columbus. You know how the trials go: the prosecution presents their case, the defense cross examines, then the defense presents their case while the prosecution counters. Closing arguments are presented, the judge instructs the jury one final time, the jurors deliberate, and then the verdicts are read.
In Florida, George Zimmerman was acquitted, to national outrage. It appeared the facts in the case were unimpeachable, and should have at least resulted in a conviction for manslaughter. But he walked. In Columbus, GA, Ron Blair was also acquitted, and there was barely a mutter. It appeared that the facts in the case were similarly airtight, and a similar conviction should have been given. But Blair walked too. Other than the local news outlets reporting the results of the trial, there were no further protests, no follow-ups, no calls for a civil suit or anything like that. Keon’s mother, Keyona Coleman, noted the proceedings at the Government Center plaza last Saturday afternoon with not a little irony.
“No one gives a damn unless one of their own is gunned down.”
I told the story of Keon Coleman and Ron Blair, and I mentioned the things I saw and heard after the demonstrations, to make a point. Someone once told me that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.” I heard a preacher say once that “change ain’t change UNTIL you change.” And I humbly submit to you, gentle reader, that like the President said many times over in his speeches in 2007 and 2008, “WE are the change we’ve been looking for. WE are the change that we seek.”
I have another friend of mine who loves to go sailing. As often as she can, she puts the boat out on the water and heads for her destination. But wind and water react in various and unpredictable ways. If you’re in the boat and headed for a certain place, you have to keep an eye on both. If you do nothing, you will always drift off course, carried along by the current of the water and the whims of the breezes. So people who use sailboats to move around the water have to always keep changing course, to keep the boat heading in the direction they want towards the destination they want. Sailors call this change of direction tacking. And they’ve learned over the centuries how to use the tacking method to go in the direction they want even when the prevailing winds are against them. This is called tacking into the wind. The result of the maneuver is a zigzagging course to one’s destination rather than traveling in a straight line, because straight line travel is virtually impossible in a sailboat when the waters beneath you and the winds above you are constantly moving.
As some of you may have heard your preachers in church say, “I said that to say this:…”
We have always had to contend with the prevailing winds of oppression and resistance. For a long time, their strength was likened to that of a hurricane, keeping us isolated on the island of slavery and the rocky shorelines of Jim Crow. But through the persistence, patience, determination and resolve of our forebears, on both sides of the racial divide, we got the winds to calm down a bit. But they still blow. Conversely, we have spent the last four centuries working to define our own cultural waters. Many of the aforementioned forefathers strived, learned, worked, talked, and even fought and died to make our waters as calm and promising as any other. But we’ve succumbed somehow to a Siren song of complacency that has allowed us to drift off course, and created a mindset within our culture that many of our young people have not only bought into but now aspire to. The lines between art and life, between entertainment and reality have blurred into seamlessness, and now our youth want to be like what they see in the movies, on the court, on the field and in the videos. And the waters beneath us are being driven as they always have by the winds above us, the corporate executives, politicians, pundits and government operatives who have worked for years to create the very environment we find ourselves in right now.
And so when stuff like this happens, when tragic events like that of George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin beset us, we come together to grieve, to comfort, to encourage, to resolve. And then we do little else.
Ladies and gentlemen, I submit to you that we need to make some course corrections. We need to tack into the wind, if you will. We need to do SOMETHING other than the massive amounts of NOTHING that we typically have done. And the time is right for it.
First of all, I have seen some attempts being made in certain areas. A group called the Dream Defenders has formed and they are working to address the issues brought out by the Zimmerman trial, and trying to ensure that laws that are passed will apply to everyone and be equally applied for everyone, regardless of demographic. That’s good. I’ve seen more people, like myself, blogging, texting, emailing, phoning, and doing whatever they can do to keep the conversation going. That’s good. Groups like the NAACP and the NAN have vowed to continue their work to level the playing field and give everyone a fair shot at life and happiness. That’s good.
But that ain’t enough, nor does it strike where the issues really are. True change starts at the grass roots. True change starts when an artist who was in favor starts to lose that favor because the tastes or the message changes. True change starts when communities come together, neighbor by neighbor, to protect and look out for each other. True change occurs when what was previously considered unacceptable gets reevaluated, and what has long been accepted and even celebrated gets reexamined. That’s tacking into the wind.
We need to have some honest conversations with our kids about the lyrics of the songs they listen to and the messages being conveyed. While many of them will tell you that the artist is just keeping it real and talking about what’s going on in the ‘hood, perhaps we can counter that argument with the sentiment that the artists themselves might have come FROM the ‘hood (maybe) but don’t live IN the ‘hood NOW, and that it’s time to change the reality of what’s going on in the ‘hood. If our youth demand change in the content of the songs (by NOT paying for a record that glorifies violence, advocates drug use, demeans women, and encourages lasciviousness), then the hit to the profits of these record labels will effect a course change.
We need to start having honest and respectful conversations with our neighbors on our streets. Many of us now live in communities where we don’t even know the person who lives next door to us, and haven’t known them for years. I admit, some neighbors are the type you don’t WANT to get to know, or at least develop a friendship with, but it’s important for us to come together and look out for one another. Get to know who’s around you. Remember that they want to live in peace just like you do. Take care of your place just like they are (hopefully) taking care of theirs. And if someone is in the neighborhood engaging in criminal or subversive activity, it’s ok to snitch! We cannot sit idly by and let them keep killing our kids! But we can’t go around being George Zimmermans either. Work with your neighbors. That’s an effective course change.
We need to help our kids see the potential in their futures when their education is complete. The higher one’s education level is, the more options they have. Their earning potential also increases. Everyone is not going to the NBA, the NFL, the Oscars, or the Grammys. And we don’t need everyone there anyway. But we’re doing ourselves no good if we have that aspiration but find ourselves either stuck at WalMart or looking for work because we didn't get the proper education. We need more people like Rachel Jeantel, who has stated her goal of taking the scholarship that Tom Joyner has provided for her and becoming a lawyer. What a success story that would be, especially if she one day is able to use her degree to successfully prosecute the next George Zimmerman, or successfully defends the next young man who is wrongfully profiled. What a course change that would be.
We need to learn how the system works, and get into position to make it work for all people. I remember a conversation I had with my mother once. I was venting about the challenges we educators face, and she told me, “Son, you can keep staying on the outside complaining about it, or you can work to get on the inside and do something about it. For change doesn’t come from those who are outside looking in. Change comes from the inside out.” Those words are true. Imagine what change could come if we had more people registered to vote, who served on juries, who participated in the process, who found young educated and driven people motivated to get into the position to make a change. Imagine if we elected them to office, and held them accountable to the promises they made to the people. What a course change that would be.
As for me, I think I've finally found my voice. I'm going to keep doing what I've been doing, teaching kids, coaching basketball, preaching the gospel whenever the opportunity presents itself, and writing about what I see. Not only the plight, but the promise. Not only the problems, but humble suggestions towards solutions. I want to see this world become what it CAN be. But I can't do it alone.
We can keep doing what we’ve been doing, and see nothing change, or things get worse. Or we can get sick and tired of being sick and tired, and this time, DO something about it. Some changes we can do immediately, like registering to vote (if you’re not yet), and having that conversation with your kids. And some changes will take time, like getting candidates in position and in office who are going to commit to actually DOING something to make things better. That’s tacking into the wind. We may have to zigzag to get there, but if we stay focused and consistent, we’ll get to our goal of peace and equal protection under the law. Let’s come about and set a new course.
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