Remember the Bruins
10th October 2016 · 0 Comments
By Edmund W. Lewis
Editor
I am so proud of the Bonnabel Senior High School football team. As far as I am concerned, they are already champions.
Champions in life and a sterling example of dynamic young people who are blessed with wisdom and insight beyond their years and the courage of their convictions.
For the life of me, I can’t fathom why anyone — be it law enforcement officers or members of the school’s alumni association — would view them any differently.
Several weeks ago, some of the school’s alumni and Jefferson Parish sheriff’s deputies began treating them like Public Enemy No. 1 for having the audacity to kneel down during the playing of the national anthem. Like San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and other NFL athletes, they decided to take a knee to show their solidarity with those seeking to end unconstitutional policing, the murder of unarmed Black and Brown people, mass incarceration and all forms of racial, social and economic injustice.
The alumni association actually canceled several fundraisers it had planned that would benefit the team and spoke harshly about those who participated in the protest as if they had broken the law or engaged in some form of risky, irresponsible behavior. Some Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies took the silent protest as a personal affront and said they would not work security details at Bonnabel football games. The actions of this band of young, principled students were labeled by some as “despicable.”
“Despicable,” as if these young people had gone into a house of worship and murdered nine people, ran into a crowded movie theater and sprayed everyone with bullets or walked into an elementary school and committed mass murder.
The comments posted about these young people on Nola.com were dripping with vitriolic hatred, viciousness and rage. One reader posted “Monkey see, monkey do,” a bigoted swipe at all Black people and a suggestion that these young people would have had no reason to feel disenchanted with the recent police shootings of unarmed Black and Brown men, women and children and race relations in Jefferson Parish and the rest of America had it not been for Colin Kaepernick.
It was as if these teenagers had gone out and posted threats against law enforcement officers or had organized a campaign to target and harm police. They didn’t do any of that.
All they did was take a stand for justice. And for that they were harshly criticized, vilified and marginalized by a group of adults who should have known better.
What ever happened to encouraging young people to think for themselves and become socially responsible?
These young people are living, breathing human beings with eyes, ears and minds of their own. Not only do they have constitutional rights, they have the ability to see and understand racial injustice when it occurs.
Like most Black males, many of them have been racially profiled, harassed and targeted for bullying by the same law enforcement officials who get their feelings hurt every time anyone utters a disparaging word about police. They have seen their fathers, grandfathers, uncles, brothers, cousins, classmates and neighbors become victims of police brutality for Driving While Black, Breathing While Black, Shopping While Black or Simply Being Black.
They watch the news, read newspapers, browse social media and know as well as anybody that Black and Brown teenagers are not immune to police terror.
They know that the problem is not a new one or just an American one. Hector Peterson was 16 when he was gunned down during the Soweto Uprising by South African police. Bobby Hutton, a member of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, was also 16 when he was gunned down in the 1960s by Oakland police.
More recently, Trayvon Martin and Jordan Davis were both 18 when they were gunned down by trigger-happy white men. Michael Brown was 18 when Ferguson, Mo. police killed him and Tamir Rice was just 12 when Cleveland police fatally shot him.
Trust me, Black teenagers — particularly Black male teenagers — get it. The hunt is on and they are the prey. As far as law enforcement agencies are concerned, it’s open season on Black and Brown people.
After the Bonnabel game versus Landry-Walker, local news channels showed the Bruins players linking arms during the national anthem, except for one player who knelt in front of a JP sheriff’s deputy.
Interestingly, none of the local news stations mentioned or showed footage of what the Landry-Walker players were doing. Coincidence? I doubt it.
There was another football game on the West Bank recently during which the two Black high schools didn’t even bother to play the national anthem. This has not been reported in the mainstream media.
The logic is simple: He who controls the news stories and the images controls the minds of the masses. The last thing mainstream media organizations want to do is fan the flames of a growing movement for freedom, justice and equity in which young people are becoming increasingly active.
But you can’t Kill a movement or the spirit of young Black and Brown people all over this nation and the world.
I salute you, Bonnabel Bruins. You deserve to be treated by the media, your school and members of the community like heroes and excellent role models for other young people — not criminals or menaces to society, Rock on with your bad, Black selves.
This article originally published in the October 10, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
