When the plight of black men in America hits home

By Andrew Coakley

It’s amazing how we can see bad things happening in the world and distance ourselves from those events, simply because those events or situations may take place hundreds of miles away from where we live.

Even if something happens only miles away from us or even a street corner away from our home, we still have the ability to distance ourselves from it. It brings to light the saying “we don’t really feel it, until it shows up on our doorsteps.”

For instance, we’ve become estranged to the now frequent “killings” of black men in America, sometimes in unprovoked, senseless ways. We sit back and watch the news on our television sets or on our social media feed and while we may shake our heads and hav

e some kind of feeling about it, for the most part we feel that’s something that’s happening “over there”.

And that’s true. Perhaps that’s why it is so easy to distance ourselves from these situations.

Of course, except for our own country’s problems with gang violence, murder and high crime, the apparent systemic racism that seems to be taking place in America somehow catches our attention. Maybe because recently these murders have prompted public outcry in the United States, or perhaps, for some of us, because as black people we somehow can identify with those who are oppressed.

The recent killing of George

Floyd by white police officer, Derek Chauvin didn’t change the mindset of people towards the common killing of black people in the United States, nor did it create any new feelings of the divide that exists between whites and other minority groups. The story, although tragic, was nothing new. The crime, the characters and the scene may have changed, but the final outcome was the same.

Only this time, Floyd’s murder stirred up public outcry not just in the United States, but around the world.

For days and weeks, hundreds and thousands of people in different parts of the world united with one voice to reiterate the cry that “black lives matter” and for people to consider the fact that racial profiling and the senseless killing of young black men in America must come to

an end.

The Derek Chauvin trial was another “O.J.Simpson” trial that subconsciously divided people by the color of their skin and it became one of the highest rated and most watched event on television for the its duration. Blacks, whites, Hispanics and others all watched anxiously, awaiting for the verdict to be announced.

Chauvin was convicted of murder and manslaughter and it sent a message that the voices of thousands of people during the summer of 2020 was heard. Or maybe the evidence against Chauvin was so obvious that there seem to be no other choice but to convict Chauvin.

But will this conviction bring an end to the senseless killing of black men and women in the United States by some racist police officers and other White Supremacists? While a guilty verdict sheds some light on hope, the reality is, it may not stop these racial killings.

The truth is, in spite of what Republican Senator Tim Scott said following President Joe Boden’s address to Congress in April of 2021, the problem of racism still runs deep within the United States and what we’ve been seeing over the recent months and past year, is only a manifestation of what’s been brewing beneath in the hearts and minds of many white Americans for years.

While the verdict in the Derek Chauvin murder trial did send a strong message particularly to the police force and the way they approach people of color, its uncertain how long this verdict will have an impact on policing in the United States.

Interestingly enough on the same day the jury went to deliberate on the Derek Chauvin trail, Daunte Wright was gunned down by a white female police officer, who said she accidently pulled out her gun instead of her taser.

One verdict will not change the evil, racist hearts of some men. Only God can change them.

In other words, it will take more than just sending one (or four) white cops to jail before the United States see a real change in the mindset of many Caucasian police officers. And so we will continue to see on our television sets or on our media feed senseless killings of black men and women by the hands of white police officers.

Only this time when we watch these stories, let’s consider one other thing – one of these times when a black teen is seen on police body cam being stopped by police officers, that teen could be one of our kids who we sent away to college within the United States, or Canada or in Europe.

Suddenly, events that once seemed to far away or happening to “those people” hits home and finds its way on our doorsteps.

You see, while these killings and racial attitudes may be taking place away from where we live, we must consider that many Bahamian parents are sending their children to these places where racial bias remains strong.

So, what do we tell our black Bahamian kids when they go off to college in these places where racial profiling is imminent? Now we find ourselves having to have “that conversation” with our Bahamian children about what to do if the police ever pull them over.

Some of our children and even some of us adults have had that experience where we were stopped on the streets of Florida by police officers and the moment they heard our accent, they knew we were not American, we were told to “be careful on the streets” and allowed to continue our journey without incident.

While, the fact that our Bahamian accent may be a saving grace for us and our kids (if we are not breaking the law), what happens if a police officer never gets the chance to talk to your child, but shoots first simply because it was a black teen in a vehicle?

This is not meant to paint a negative picture of the American police force, nor is it meant to create fear in the hearts of Bahamian mothers and fathers. However, it is meant to show us the reality of the world in which we live.

It is meant to remind us that the world that was once so big and distant, has become small and can hit home.