higher learning network,nfp: March 2012

Tyler Perry was about to be next!

Tyler Perry

Hey guys,

A few days before President Obama was supposed to speak at my studio, I was leaving the studio, headed to the airport. Most times when I leave the studio I have an unmarked escort. Other times I constantly check in my rearview mirror to be sure that I'm not being followed. It’s a safety precaution that my security team taught me. As I got to an intersection, I made a left turn from the right lane and was pulled over by two police officers. I pulled the car over and put it in park. Then, I let the window down and sat in the car waiting for the officer. The officer came up to the driver’s door and said that I made an illegal turn. I said, "I signaled to get into the turning lane, then made the turn because I have to be sure I’m not being followed." He said, “why do you think someone would be following you?”

Before I could answer him, I heard a hard banging coming from the passenger window. I had never been in this position before so I asked the officer who was at my window what was going on and why is someone banging on the window like that. He said, “let your window down, let your window down. Your windows are tinted.” As I let down the passenger window, there was another officer standing on the passenger side of the car. He said, “what is wrong with you?” The other officer said to him, “he thinks he’s being followed.” Then, the second officer said, “why do you think someone is following you? What is wrong with you?”

Before I could answer the officer on the passenger side, the one on the driver's side had reached into the car and started pulling on the switch that turns the car on and off, saying, “put your foot on the brake, put your foot on the brake!” I was so confused as to what he was doing, or what he thought he was doing. It looked like he was trying to pull the switch out of the dashboard. I finally realized that he thought that switch was the key, so I told him that it wasn’t the key he was grabbing. I reached down into the cup holder to get the key, not realizing that the key had a black leather strap on it. As I grabbed it they both tensed up and I dropped it as I heard my mother’s voice from when I was a little boy.

My mother would always say to me, “if you get stopped by the police, especially if they are white policemen, you say ‘yes sir’ and ‘no sir’, and if they want to take you in, you go with them. Don’t resist, you hear me? Don’t make any quick moves, don’t run, you just go.” My mother was born in 1945 into a segregated hotbed town in rural Louisiana. She had known of many colored men at the time who were lynched and never heard from again. Since I was her only son for ten years, growing up she was so worried about me. It wasn’t until after I heard her voice that I realized that both of these officers were white.

The officer on the driver's side continued to badger me, “why do you think someone is following you?” I then said, “I think you guys need to just write the ticket and do whatever you need to do.” It was so hostile. I was so confused. It was happening so fast that I could easily see how this situation could get out of hand very quickly. I didn’t feel safe at all. But one officer stopped his questioning and said, “we may not let you go. You think you’re being followed, what’s wrong with you?” At this point, I told him that I wanted to get out of the car. I wanted the passersby to see what was happening.

As I stepped out of the car another officer pulled up in front of my car. This officer was a black guy. He took one look at me and had that “Oh No” look on his face. He immediately took both officers to the back of my car and spoke to them in a hushed tone. After that, one of the officers stayed near his car while one came back, very apologetic.

I said all of that to say this: do you see how quickly this could have turned for the worse?

Now I know that there are many great officers, patrolmen and security guys out there. I am aware of that. But although we have made significant strides with racial profiling in this country, the world needs to know that we are still being racially profiled, and until this situation has improved greatly, I’m not sure how a murder in Florida can be protected by a “stand your ground law.”

And in another case that I have been screaming at the top of my lungs about, also in Florida, is the case of Terrance Williams and Felipe Santos, a young black man and a young Mexican man. Eight years ago, in Naples, FL, they were both put in the back of Deputy Steve Calkins' police car and never heard from again.

They were never arrested, never brought to jail. They were put into the back of Deputy Calkins' car and never heard from again. And to this day Deputy Steve Calkins is a free man.

I guess it's time to march in Naples now.

RACIAL PROFILING SHOULD BE A HATE CRIME INVESTIGATED BY THE FBI!!!

That way local government can’t make the decision on whether or not these people get punished.
Tyler

View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.

America has given up on young Black men

Black Star Editorial
America has given up on young Black men, like Trayvon Martin

America loves Black men like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and even Trayvon Martin - after they are dead.
Black Star Logo
Photo of Trayvon Martin provided by The Black Star Project

By Phillip Jackson

March 28, 2012

Guyana, South America - TRAYVON MARTIN is more valuable to America as a dead young black man then he ever was alive!

As a dead symbol, the president can claim him as a son he never had, but as a living black man, the American criminal justice system claims one out of three young Black men born after 2001.

As a dead symbol, Republican presidential candidates can claim that Trayvon deserves his right to live as an American; but many living young black men, like Trayvon, are stripped of their rights every day because of harsh, racially-targeted and overly-punitive laws created by and pushed by Republicans.

Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow, reminds us that more Black men are in prison today than there were Blacks enslaved in America in 1850.

She suggests that we have not really ended Jim Crow, but have just given it another name - the criminal justice system.

We can also call it the education system or the economic system, but they all equate to a new system of racial control of Black Americans just like Jim Crow.

America knows how to use the symbol of a dead young black man to achieve its objectives.

When symbols are used correctly sweatshirt companies profit, candy companies and iced-tea companies profit, for-profit prisons flourish and America cleanses its conscience while the deplorable plight of young Black men in America remains the same. America has given up on young Black men, like Trayvon Martin.

As a dead symbol, Trayvon might spark a national conversation on race, but as a living young Black man, Trayvon probably couldn't get a job at a fast-food restaurant.

No place in America is this stark contradiction of symbol versus reality for young Black men more evident than in Chicago, Illinois. While hundreds of people in Chicago protested the death of Trayvon Martin, few people protested the violent murders of more than 100 mostly young black males in Chicago in the past year, mostly at the hands of other young Black males.

Chicago media, foundations and elected officials have ignored the blood of black children running in Chicago streets while they congratulate those who speak in symbolic terms about race in America.

Chicago is ground-zero for the destruction of young black men in America!

In Chicago, only three out of 100 Black male high-school freshmen will graduate from college by age 25 (Consortium for School Research at U of Chicago).

Only 44 percent of Black males in Chicago graduate from high school (Schott Foundation for Public Education).

Last summer, approximately 90 percent of Chicago's young Black males 16 to 19 years old were

unemployed (Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University).

Black boys are arrested in Chicago at two to six times the rates of other populations (Project Nia).

Young Black men who submit resumes with Black-sounding or Africanized names, like Trayvon or Barack, even with college degrees and the exact same academic credentials as persons "perceived to be White males," are one-half as likely to be called back for a job interview (University of Chicago Study).

Chicago has no plan or good intentions to address this silent, devastating catastrophe!

As dire as this crisis is, there are solutions, but they are not in symbols or soul-searching.

They are comprehensive and substantial efforts and actions to ameliorate this stain on America's reputation for fairness and equality.

Government, foundations, civic, faith and community organisations must:

Help rebuild Black families with fathers as an essential, prominent and functional component of the family structure.
Provide mentors, positive role models and viable paths for young Black men.
Ensure that all young Black men are supported to value education and to experience a globally-competitive education.
Teach young Black men about how to succeed in entrepreneurship, small business, cooperative economics and in the work world.
Encourage young Black men to be spiritually sound and to be of good character.
Establish rigorous efforts in the largest 300 cities in America that address the issues of education, family, imprisonment and employment for young Black men.
Establish a national commission to manage a comprehensive, coordinated campaign for Black male achievement, similar to the one created by Open Society Foundations.

The death of Trayvon Martin is a symbol of the plight of young black men in America.

As a symbol, his senseless death is something to which most Americans can relate. But the realities of black men's lives in Chicago and across America are the realities to which most Americans do not want to relate.

The truth is that America is comfortable with young black men as symbols, being where they are in society, being like they are, hoodie and all, violence and all!

Addressing symbols is quite useful and practical when a society lacks the courage and integrity to deal with its disturbing realities.

America loves Black men like Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X and even Trayvon Martin after they are dead.

It is the strong, vocal, positive Black men that they have trouble with while they are alive. If America continues on its present course, the symbols for Black men in America might change, but the realities will remain the same or become worse! And America will be lesser for it!

Photo of Miami Heat in Hoodies provided by The Black Star Project

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This editorial has been published in Guyana, Sri Lanka, Great Britain and the United States.

Phillip Jackson is the founder and executive director of The Black Star Project in Chicago.

The Black Star Project is committed to improving the quality of life in Black and Latino communities of Chicago and nationwide by eliminating the racial academic achievement gap. Their mission is to provide educational services that help pre-school through college students succeed academically and become knowledgeable and productive citizens with the support of their parents, families, schools and communities.

You may contact Phillip Jackson at 773.285.9600 or by email at blackstar1000@ameritech.net. Visit the Black Star Project's website at www.blackstarproject.org.