The danger of being Black

By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.
TriceEdneyWire.com Columnist

I come from a family that includes a Texas State Trooper, a Louisiana Deputy Sheriff, several Houston police officers and lawyers. I believe in following just laws, but, I will picket, protest, write about and speak out against unjust laws and treatment. I know racism has always been around, but the last few years have tried our souls far too often to remain quiet.

Where there’s no justice, I’m unnerved. I didn’t have to be a Black woman to be seriously unnerved by what I saw happening to a young Black woman in McKinney, Texas. I’m even more unnerved by not hearing commentary from women of all races about what they saw. Never-the-less, we, Black women must never allow our disappointment in others to accept such treatment. We must rise up and say, “Enough is enough.”

We spend a lot of money in places where we’re mistreated. We’ve got to begin using the power of the purse and the vote. We vote for a lot of people who make no changes that benefit us. I know there’re some prominent researchers out there who can tell us where our withdrawal of spending and voting would have the greatest impact. It makes no sense for us to continue supporting our own demise. We may not be in a position to withdraw our business or votes from all who disrespect us, but we sure can start with the biggest offenders. It’s time for us to collectively get serious about ways we can make a difference for the betterment of our people. The world continues to see the dangerous rise in racism in America—even from those charged with making our laws and those charged with defending our laws.

I have family members in McKinney. I fear for their safety and wish they would move to another city, but with all that has gone on lately across the country, it’s dangerous to be Black no matter where you live! Even the President of the United States and his family endure racism regularly.

We don’t know all the details of what happened at the pool party, but a picture is worth a 1,000 words. We saw grown white women fighting Black girls. We saw a large white man pushing young Black girls back from seeing what was happening to their friend. We saw him holding his arms out in an effort to protect a cop who was manhandling the girl. We saw a cop draw his weapon and chase young Black boys who were sympathetic to what was happening to their friend. No one chased the white man away. His skin gave him the privilege to do what he was doing without fear of being killed. No cop on the scene came to intervene and stop the crazed cop from his criminal behavior. Anyone who didn’t see the racism in this should have their eyes checked and their heads examined.

Eric Casebolt was allowed to resign with benefits, but what about the girl who was brutalized and now is afraid to come out of her home? Even Joe Scarborough agrees that the teens showed no sign of being a threat. Michael Steele could not bring himself to criticize the police but wondered what the police should have done! Scarborough had to school him. “If they’re teenagers…wearing bathing suits, I can tell you what you don’t do,” Scarborough responded. “You don’t pull out a gun!”

It’s time for us to stop contributing to our own troubles. We must refuse to pay for racists to abuse our children and us. Taxpayer dollars pay the people who abuse us most. Our choice of places to spend the rest of our dollars does the rest. We can’t just let this go.

Dr. E. Faye Williams is President of the National Congress of Black Women. 202/678-6788. www.nationalcongressbw.org.

This article originally published in the June 22, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.