Part 1 – Comments on Race Relations in these United States

By Dennis Matanda,
Robbinsville, New Jersey

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I was pretty amused that in the wake of recent police shootings, some Caribbean countries took the unprecedented step of warning their black men about travel to United States. The Bahamian Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggested that young males ‘exercise extreme caution’; further advising them ‘not [to] be confrontational and cooperate’ in case they interacted with the American police. Laughable as they may have seemed to some Americans, the sad irony lay in how easy it is for men of color to lose their lives at the end of a police-discharged bullet.

In the week of July 4, 2016, as reported by various outlets, Baton Rouge, Louisiana resident Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man, was standing in the parking lot selling CDs as he had for years when 2 white cops arrived. By the next morning, he was dead – had been tasered and shot about 6 times at point-blank range while he lay on the ground. Less than 24 hours after Sterling’s death, another black man, Philando Castile, 32, was shot dead by a police officer in a Minnesota suburb.

What made these deaths ever more tragic was the fact that they were filmed on cell phones, and the world was given a front seat to the moment each of these 2 breathed their last. And these moments made everyone mad, including yours truly. Today, more than 10 days later, I still shiver at the sight of a police car, flashing lights and the police uniform. But more than anything else, there’s a red-hot frustration carousing my veins. I am re-evaluating my life since, I am, after all, black. I am almost sure that the space between a bullet from a police man and myself may come down to how I speak to the law when I next interact with them. Or, whether I can live-stream that interaction directly to Facebook.

While I have seen videos of unarmed white people being killed by the police, I have also seen belligerent or intoxicated white people walk away with their lives after they waved their loaded weapons at law enforcement officers. Juxtaposed with graphic footage of unarmed blacks being gunned down – including a 12-year old Tamir Rice who was playing with a toy pistol – I am perplexed at how callous America’s finest have become. That they can pull the trigger and ask questions later is not only dumbfounding, but unconscionable in the least.

As the father of 2 black girls, I wonder what I would do if anything quite as inhumane happened to them. Do I condone what the police assassins in Dallas and Baton Rouge did? No. Incidences of police killings in the Sterling/Castile aftermath are on the rise, and breaking news says more blue lives have been lost in a whole host of other American cities. But do I understand why anyone would want to avenge the lives of those black men indiscriminately shot dead by the police? Yes. I know, for a fact, that if anyone touched a hair on my daughters’ heads, I would commit crimes of passion. And I would not be surprised if I extended a vengeful crime spree to the families of anyone involved. Is this something I relish? No. Nevertheless, I am, unfortunately, commiserating with those who take up arms against a system that seems to systematically and disproportionately target people of color.

Say what you will: there’s no doubt that something’s afoot in America’s subconscious. Could it be that black men present a clear and present danger to the police?

Well – in light of recent cop killings, one would, no doubt, answer in the affirmative. However, we must remember that those craven assassins were given an avenue to extol their misanthropy. The police started this spate of killing – going back to Michael Brown and before that. That Eric Garner could be chocked to death in broad day light; that Mr. Castille could die right in front of our eyes is not acceptable. That another mother should mourn the death of her son at the hands of those sworn to protect him should not be tolerated. And although I would never take up arms against a police force, the second Amendment makes it so easy for me to take an opportunity in my hands. And at this juncture, those Bahamians may have actually gotten it right: One needs to react to such things in the most appropriate way possible.

In Part II, we must explore why blacks are so mad, and why whites are perplexed about the protests. We shall also allude to the campaigns for the next chief executive of the United States.

July 19, 2016
11:51 p.m.