Black Men Subjected To "The Talk" For Survival (Part III)

ST. LOUIS - Oct. 30, 2014 - PRLog -- I will have to tell my son how to preempt the flip side of this is that Black people have the potential to rise up in an explosion of anger at the conditions we face. That has happened again and again during U.S. history, in slave revolts, struggles against poverty and racism in the 1930s--and, of course, the Black struggle of the 1950s, '60s and '70s. Currently, this is happening on a level in Ferguson, Missouri. When Black people do rebel, the struggles tend to inspire others, too, and shake up the whole of society. That's exactly why the 1 percent invests so much into repressing Blacks in particular.

So what do we do? In response to the shootings of both Brown and Martin? It's clear. People need to continue the rallies, marches, and other protests in cities across the country to demand justice.

Justice for young black men means much more than the prosecution of culprits committing these acts. It means abolition of the racist "Stand Your Ground" law. Justice means dismantling the "war on drugs," which is the pretext for passing laws that target Black people, flooding our neighborhoods with police and incarcerating a large segment of the Black population. Justice means confronting a culture in which Blacks are viewed first and foremost as criminals.

We shouldn't accept that the racism and police state conditions Black people have to endure are examples of a "white privilege" that Blacks and other people of color do not have access to. It's true that Black people may as well live on a different planet than the rest of the population when it comes to how we are treated by the police, mortgage lenders and employers. But the idea of white privilege resigns us to that inequality, rather than questioning and destroying it.

It's a good thing that many people who aren't Black are now learning about the realities that Black people face every day. It is a bitter tragedy that it took the shooting of two 18yr old boys for that to happen.

I can think of no greater way to honor the life of young black men who have lost their lives and avenge their death than by building the deepest, strongest and most relentless multiracial struggle against racism. It's time that as citizens of the United States, we, all people, declare war on RACISM.

20^TH CENTURY JIM CROW

IN HIS classic book Class, Race and the Civil Rights Movement, Jack Bloom quotes an African American mother speaking about how, as a matter of survival, she taught her children to internalize the rules of Jim Crow segregation. It's like with cars and knives, you have to teach your children to know what's dangerous and how to stay away from it, or else they sure won't live long. White people are a real danger to us until we learn how to live with them.

So if you want your kids to live long, they have to grow up scared of whites, and the way they get scared is through us; and that's why I don't let my kids get fresh about the white man even in their own house. If I do, there's liable to be trouble to pay. They'll forget, and they'll say something outside, and that'll be it for them, and us, too. So I make them store it in the bones, way inside, and then no one sees it.

The specific rules of survival have changed in the 60 years since that mother said those words, but the strategy is essentially the same. In 2014, in the era of mass incarceration--"the new Jim Crow”, black parents must not only make their children aware of the way they will be perceived by white society in general, but by the police in particular. Why? Because criminality has become the very essence of blackness in our new racial order.

The very same rights and opportunities denied to African Americans because of their color in the old Jim Crow--voting rights, employment, housing, etc.--can now be denied to us again, once the label of "criminal" (or more specifically, "felon") has been applied. Thus, for the last 40 years, America has spent untold sums of money to wage a so-called "war on drugs." As a result, drug use has not declined in the least, but Black people have been successfully equated with crime.

And so, when George Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin, he was certain he was looking at a criminal. After Trayvon was murdered, I knew that very soon, I would have to ruin my son's rose-colored glasses view of the world we live in. I have to teach him that if the police stop you, make sure you stop in a well-lit area and don't make any sudden moves. Keep your hands visible. Avoid putting them in your pockets."

criminal accusations in all sorts of little ways: "Always get the receipt after making a purchase, no matter how small, so no one can falsely accuse you of theft, later." At a certain point, the cup of endurance runneth over. In the 1950s, younger African Americans began to shed their fear of whites and openly defy Jim Crow laws. This defiance was extremely dangerous, and many activists were injured for doing things such as simply sitting where they weren't supposed to sit. Some even lost their lives.

These were courageous individuals, but their actions weren't just a product of individual courage. The movement against the old Jim Crow grew as a movement of collective, mass action.

And so it will be with the new Jim Crow. I heard Trayvon Martin's father speak at a rally in New York City last week. He said he was determined to make sure his son did not die in vain. His wish is already coming true.

A new, mass movement is emerging in the streets nationwide to demand justice. This mass movement must find ways to challenge the new Jim Crow. The protest in Ferguson, MO are a sign that revolution is at hand, and the people, ALL people want to see a change in society.

Ultimately, that's the only way that any citizens, will be able to raise our children to be afraid.

John Parker is a senior public relations and marketing professional, and President of Parker Public Relations in St. Louis, MO. He well experienced in crisis, situational, and executive communications, and public affairs with over 15 years of diverse experience in media relations, political operations and connecting individuals and corporations with the world through communications.