Opinion
Time to Stop Ingratiating: Why we Must Stop Talking and Take a Stand
By Ryan Elcock
It is amazing how much clarity one can have when they take time to process all the crazy things that have transpired over the past few months.
However, I wanted to take the opportunity to give my thoughts on the Trayvon Martin issue in light of the recent events surrounding George Zimmerman and how it reflects the current state of affairs for the black community.
As we all know, Trayvon Martin was murdered in cold blood and his murderer, George Zimmerman, was acquitted. Not only was this acquittal a miscarriage of justice but it also sent a dangerous message that it was open season on killing black men without consequence.
As a black man, I find this to be enraging because Trayvon Martin could have been me or any of my friends or family members. However, what has really struck me is the impotence of the black community because although we had our protests and marches, nothing really came of it.
Of course many of our community leaders were decrying the acquittal and hoping that the Obama administration would step in to rectify the injustice; but even Obama, himself, stated that while the justice system failed Trayvon Martin, there was nothing that could really be done.
However, this injustice reflects something more endemic within the black community; we have become lions who can roar but we have no teeth or claws. Therefore, no matter how much we protest or cry out for justice, we will hardly see any because we have are always hoping for justice from the very same institutions that were designed to hold us back. Furthermore, we are always looking for help from without rather than within.
This handout mentality combined with the constant desire to ingratiate ourselves to those who do not really want to accept us has been the real stumbling block to our success as a people and it concerns me. After all, we have seen glimmers of individual black success in the likes of Nigerian entrepreneur Aliko Dangote (the richest black man in the world with a net worth of around US$21 billion), U.S. President Barack Obama, wealthiest African American woman Oprah Winfrey and Jamaican billionaire, Michael Lee Chin.
