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| X'Zashea Lawson-Mayes Class of 2018 |
Rev. Dr. Cosby of St. Stephen’s Church held a sermon where
he discussed for a few minutes Matthew 23:24 which states, “You blind guides!
You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. (NIV)” With this verse, he described
how oftentimes we focus on the small things when the issues of the bigger
picture lie unsolved. His message dug into the root of the Ferguson uproar with
Mike Brown, a story we are all familiar with. Unlike the typical approach taken
to this situation, Rev. Dr. Cosby stated that communities are focusing on “gnats”
like social injustice between white police officers and African American citizens
when they should focus on the “camels” or larger issues affecting the African
American community more. Is he wrong?
One camel we tend to ignore stems from the hypocrisy in protesting
that “Black Lives Matter” when “black on black” crime accounts for far more
fatalities than police inflicted murder. The African American race is known for
wearing t-shirts that say “FREE MY COUSIN” so and so knowing that the person
murdered someone in cold blood. Even crazier, our race is the one most known
for seeing a murder first hand but not reporting the incident. Some call that “snitching”
but there were plenty of people who “snitched” on Darren Wilson when the
incident with Mike Brown occurred. Why is there a difference in reporting
crimes when the culprit is a police officer and reporting crimes when the
culprit lives right next door?
Another camel is that our race is one of the only to
criticize other members for doing better for themselves. Plenty of times
throughout my life I was called “white” or an “Uncle Tom” just because I wanted
to take advanced classes, go to church instead of parties, do school clubs
instead of smoking weed, wear Toms instead of Air Force Ones and more. We
should want our race to preform in the top of their graduating classes in
elementary, middle, high school as well as college. We should want those in our
race to pick up a book instead of picking up a blunt. We should want those in
our race to wear clothes that present them professionally when need be. Should
we be proud that we consider low graduation rates, low reading levels, sagging
pants, marijuana smoking, and selling drugs as part of being “black”? Do not
get me wrong; we are not the only race that falls victim to these things.
However, our race is one that is stereotyped by these crippling negatives and
still openly condones them.
The last camel I will discuss aligns directly with the
protests occurring throughout the nation to the tune of “Black Lives Matter”
and “Justice for Mike Brown.” We are choosing the wrong title for the protests
of racial injustice, not just for the sake of our race, but also for others who
deal with racial injustice. First, the tactic should not be to attack police
officers as the root of the problem. If your home is robbed who do you call for
help? If your car is hit who do you call? If you are robbed, whom do you call?
Not all police officers are corrupt and seek to persecute people on the basis
of race. Yes, racial profiling is an issue, but singularly attacking police
officers will not help. Instead, have a platform as to what reforms need to be
made within the police force and have everyone in the movement commit to these.
It is important to note, however, that reform within the police departments
across America is a lot to ask for when the citizens are not choosing to reform
themselves. We must try to progress to be better citizens as a whole so that
innocence is readily seen when a police officer pulls someone over simply because
their race made them suspicious. Secondly, we must not destroy the businesses,
lives, and communities of those who have done no wrong. Are you not doing to
them what you want ended? Burning down businesses, breaking into stores, and
fighting those who are innocent takes away the legitimacy of the cause. All of
these factors, whether done by one protestor or all, can give all involved a
bad name. Thirdly, Mike Brown’s face must be taken from the forefront of the
movement. In order to best explain this, the story of Claudette Colvin is most
important. Claudette Colvin was arrested in 1955 for resisting to comply with
bus segregation when she was a teen--before Rosa Parks. Why does she not have
the same fame as Rosa Parks? The NAACP decided not to use her as the face of
the integration campaign due to the fact that she was a sixteen-year-old
un-married pregnant girl. NAACP members felt that the injustice that happened
to her needed to be addressed, but using her would cause their argument to have
holes in it based on the fact that people would focus more on her pregnancy and
less on the issues at hand. As a result, Rosa Parks, an upstanding, Christian,
educated adult was selected as the face, not due to the fact that she was
necessarily better than Claudette Colvin, but because her personal life would
serve as less of a distraction. This parallels the Mike Brown case due to the
fact that many are protesting justice for this child and want people to realize
that black lives matter, but the facts of the case blur the lines of what the
argument is. The fact that he robbed a store, had marijuana in his system, and
may or may not have assaulted Darren Wilson all serve as hindrances to the
cause. No matter what anyone believes happened in comparison to what the
evidence suggested this case brings up too many distractions. While justice is
being handled for races as a whole in regards to all lives mattering, justice
will eventually be had for all victims of it. Rosa Parks was selected as the
face of the bus integration movement, but justice was made for Claudette Colvin
and all others through the united effort of the NAACP and all protestors of the
time. That same success can occur for protestors who want the government to
realize that WHITE LIVES MATTER, HISPANIC LIVES MATTER, ASIAN LIVES MATTER,
NATIVE AMERICAN LIVES MATTER, and AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES MATTER.
As Rev. Dr. Cosby stated in his sermon, we need to stop
focusing on the gnats and tackle these camels. Our race is one that is known
for progressivism in America’s history. We have won the fight for our right to
vote, sit wherever we want on public transportation, eat at any public
restaurant, attend any public school we please, and live a life with potential
to achieve anything. We need to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and stop
making excuses and blaming others for our shortcomings. We can re-route the
course of our history by raising each generation to be better than the last in
regards to aspiring to graduate, go to a college, technical school, or work
force, and all around be better citizens. Let’s give them no reason to be
suspicious of a car full of African Americans in a Cadillac—instead of falling
into the stereotype of being a bunch of hoodlums, these men could be on their
way to a graduate class. We have the power to break every stereotype ahead of
us just like we have done with some of them in the past. When contemplating the
protest for the equality in justice for ALL races, we should make sure our race
comes together and realizes what it needs to do in this fight before it can
make demands of others. I LOVE being African American and I would not want to
trade my skin color or heritage for any in the world because I come from a hardworking,
enduring, and driven people. Bring back that hard work, endurance, and drive
that freed us from the camel of slavery of white masters and use it to free us
of the camel of racial stereotypes so that we can free all of the gnat of
racial profiling we detest.
X’Zashea Lawson-Mayes is a freshman McConnell Scholar studying political science. She is from Cadiz, Ky.