Epigraph:
O mankind, We have created you from a male and a female; and We have made you into tribes and sub-tribes that you may recognize one another. Indeed, the most honourable among you, in the sight of Allah, is he who is the most righteous among you. Surely, Allah is All-knowing, All-Aware. (Al Quran 49:14)
(CNN) — From parent to son, uncle to nephew, grandparent to grandson, there’s a raw, private conversation being re-energized in America in the wake of violence in Ferguson, Missouri.
It’s an intimate lecture that most Americans won’t know, but parents like Kelli Knox of Southern California know it too well because it begins the loss of their children’s innocence and exposes them to a painful national truth that’s increasingly become a matter of life or death.
As challenging as parenting is, black families in particular are assuming more burdens: At kitchen tables and in living rooms, they hold honest talks with their boys about how life can be different for them and what they ought — and ought not — to do in public, especially near police.
Think twice about wearing a hoodie. Pull up your pants. Shut your mouth around police. Swallow your pride. Don’t drive with more than three friends. And keep your hands where they can be seen.
These are just a few examples of the rules that parents tell their young black sons — and sometimes daughters — about how to stay safe. Though stark and blunt, the admonishments follow a trend of violence that touches upon the most fiery issue in America: race.
The 2012 shooting death of Trayvon Martin, the 2013 police shooting of a North Carolina teen who was apparently seeking only help and this week’s riots against Ferguson police — these sensational cases all involve shooting victims who were unarmed, young black men.
My son knows he could be Trayvon
Read further and watch a video in CNN
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Islam!
Categories: Americas, Racism, Universal Brotherhood
Such a nonsense! You persecute someone just because of their black skin!?
A nation who lets such a bullshit to prompt in their land,can never make progress. A warning sign for USA to wake up befor its too late.
It is tragic that an unarmed black man once again gets killed by the police for no crime or fault of his. And this is also painful what the smart black parents have to tell their children about safety.
Progress requires not only to recognize a problem but to do something about it. True progress requires one to ask a question to one’s own self. WHAT CAN I DO TO CHANGE THIS? So whereas I have great sympathy for the blacks in the USA, I also want to see them asking this question. What can black community do to change the negative perception surrounding them. What can they do to change the fact that 90% of black children are born outside of marriage. What can they do to change the fact that 90% of black murder victims are killed by other blacks. What can they do to change the fact that blacks lag behind in education to all other racial groups in this country. What can they do to change the fact that blacks are the least employed racial group.
I am not denying racism or discrimination. But the fact is that the Irish faced it, the Italians faced it, the Asians faced it and the Muslims are facing it these days. All these groups have been far more successful in changing their stereo typing than the black community.
The opportunity is there. If a black man works hard and is disciplined and maintains his focus he can go all the way to become the president of this country. So let the blacks focus on making progress and less on calling others racists.
Once again I am not denying the problems, but unless one stops looking back, and stop blaming others for his own misery, and starts to look ahead and try to find solutions to the problems, nothing can change.
God says in the Quran that He does not change the condition of a people unless they try to change it themselves.
And God knows that I am not a racist!!
I agree with CS
Very well explained by CS. Very good too.
The Afro-Americans had suffered much in the past in USA. But that is time bye-gone. They have achieved freedom and equality. That is good for them. Now they are to prove to the point of goodness and be up to date with the times.
The American people have given the black enough liberty and equality. There is no use complaining about the past events. That will be bad.
On the other hand, law should take its own course in present events of killings of the black persons. Justice should be done. There should be no lapse in providing justice. That will give a lesson to the killers and will satisfy the black community.
The rest of the points are all well mentioned by CS. I need not repeat.
The Irish and Italians were not held in institutionalized slavery for centuries, nor were the Asians. Nor were they psychologically conditioned into subhuman status generation after generation after generation. They were not being lynched and shot and burned in bonfires on a regular basis as documented in Ralph Ginzburg’s 100 Years of Lynching. Furthermore, an African American does not have the ability to shed their ethnicity like an Italian or Irishmen and easily blend in to conform with the rest of white American society. These groups did not and do not face the racism and discrimination that Black people do, that was true then and is true even more so today. Nor have Muslims in American even approached the level of persecution Black people endure(d). Comparing these other groups to the African American experience is comparing apples to the blood of a martyr. African American would be wise NOT to take to heart the opinions of those who only arrived in America recently, during its more “enlightened” age, and have not even remotely experienced the racial/religious persecution from America as Black people have, yet want to tell African Americans how they should “get over it”. These people do not have a strong grasp of human psychology. Furthermore, their opinions are based on nothing more than a mere surface level historical study of the African American experience. Truly they do not understand the epigenetic and spiritual ramifications of 400 years of brutal slavery. Maybe they also think the Israelites were raised up overnight and Jerusalem was built in a day. 60-70 years seems like a ‘bygone’ only to those who never went through it and do not have to live directly with the residual effects it has. Black people are not complaining about past events, they are complaining about current events, and they and other enlightened people who understand the situation correctly join them in pointing out that these recent events of discrimination and persecution are in the same vein as past events as they are motivated by racial hatred. America has not changed its tune, so those who are persecuted have not changed theirs, nor should they in this regard.
When will those religious minorities who are persecuted and killed in Pakistan stop blaming their persecutors for their misery. Don’t they know if they just work hard and have discipline and maintain their focus they can go all the way to become the president of that country? And if a Christian or Ahmadi became president, all the persecution of their brothers and sisters in faith will automatically vanish away. They should all wake up the next day and assume they have full freedom and equality. Sound ridiculous? That’s because it is.
Black people have been asking themselves the question as to how to change their condition (and that of all America) since long before those who just arrived here thought about coming to the “land of the free”, and will do so long after the Black president (who is not a descendent of slaves) has left office. And the irony is that ALL minority groups in America have benefited from what the African American civil rights movement struggled hard for. So the audacity of any minority new to Amerikkka and its dual nature trying to tell African Americans how they should feel about what happened to them and what attitude they should adopt to get ahead, as if that would stop their plague of their recent abuses from police and citizens, is ludicrous, absurd, crazy, and a host of other synonyms. Black people with these so-called “right” attitudes still suffer the same discriminations all the time.
When African Americans figure out how to bring about a change in their condition on a wide scale, it will be only because of the Mercy of God and their own efforts, with not help from any other “racial” group.
Lastly, I just want to point out that when a person who finishes their comments on race feels the need to reassure others (and perhaps themselves) by emphasizing that they are not racist, there’s a good chance that person may have said something in poor taste. In general we all should keep in mind that not being a racist at heart does not mean we cannot say insensitive (racists) things and does not mean we are somehow granted insight and understanding into racial dynamics. Please consider this.