The Elephant in the Room

An Elephant's in the Room

Dedicated to the memory of all who've died in America due to racial injustice

I recall finding an old jet magazine at my grandmothers house and they always reflect on Civil Rights movement tragedies that evolved into a movement.  Back in those days it was the "Negro Race", prior to that we we're Colored or Nigger.  Color in America defines a story of love, and hate but one country.

We' as a people were not easily surprised but often terrorized by the majority race White folk as my Grandmother would say, She raised my mother with manners in the South, yes ma'am, and thank you, please, yes sir because you couldn't disrespect or dishonor your family by appearing ignorant which was passed down.  So we were taught to not make direct eye contact with a white person, be mannerable always, never dispute them in public.

Then it changed, Emmett Till a young teenager whose being raised by a single parent goes to visit relatives for a summer vacation/work/education.  Those days the sent you to South to learn discipline how to become responsible enjoy different environment and just be a kid.  Well, he went to visit his uncle and go to get some candy with his cousins he was 14 years old when he broke a rule of the South.  He whistled at a white woman that night while the house was dark everyone asleep when two or more men came to his uncles house in Mississippi they threatened the entire family and abducted took the young man.  Beat him, mutilated his body tied a fan around his neck and dropped his body in the river.  When he was found his body bloated from mold & decay the put him in a box and sent him home to his mother she put the body on display and Jet magazine recalled that story.

Fourteen-year-old Emmett Till was visiting relatives in Money, Mississippi on August 24, 1955 when he reportedly flirted with a white cashier at a grocery store. Four days later, two white men kidnapped Till, beat him, and shot him in the head. The men were tried for murder, but an all-white, male jury acquitted them. Till's murder and open casket funeral galvanized the emerging civil rights movement.

Profile

Emmett Louis Till was born on July 25, 1941 in Chicago, Illinois, the only child of Louis and Mamie Till. Till never knew his father, a private in the United States Army during World War II. Mamie and Louis Till separated in 1942, and three years later, in 1945, the family received word from the army that the soldier had been executed for "willful misconduct" while serving in Italy.

• NAME: Emmett Till
• BIRTH DATE: July 25, 1941
• DEATH DATE: August 28, 1955
• PLACE OF BIRTH: Chicago, Illinois
• PLACE OF DEATH: Money, Mississippi
• FULL NAME: Emmett Louis Till

Not only were his killers acquitted by an all white jury his mother fought for years to find justice & peace with this verdict, (out of respect for the dead I will not post a picture of what I saw in Jet Magazine that day) you could feel her pain.  I thought he was a monster, because of my age not mature enough to fully grasp this hideous photograph why did she do that is what I thought. I was in total disbelief because I had no exposure to racism.  My community was tight knitted we had a few inter-racial families, I remember not seeing many white people only when I visited my grandmother in Virginia where she knew and had neighbors who were white and it was no open discrimination in Northern Virginia that I can recall.  So when I read this piece it shocked me almost to this day I'm still frightened by the photos of his dead mutilated body.  Racism is a sometimes passionate and divisive conversation because nobody wants to admit ill will especially when it comes to race.  We've learned how to tolerate sweeping it all under the rug shrug and say well that just the way it is... hmmm how sad.  The two men who tortured and murdered a fourteen year old boy on summer vacation getting candy from a store were able to sell their story to Look Magazine shortly after their aquittal and because of the times double jeopardy did not apply nor did our federal government have ANY Civil Rights Bills on the books.  We as a nation of Negros in the 50's just had to pray, and get over it.  Move on.  But it brought about a "Movement" shortly thereafter Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus, which propelled Martin Luther King, Jr into the spotlight the rest is history.

Since then we've seen amazing change in our nation but none of it ever addresses the real issue of our suffering in a nation who only gave us rights 50 years ago.  Most immigrants came of their own free will to America, well most of your 5th & 6th generation African Americans families whose ancestors have been here since the beginning through it all.  My family  is one of them.  So I can stand proudly and boldly and say my grandfather's served in WWI, my father served WWII, and my great, great last name is Turner.  You figure it out. It was a since of pride history we are entitled to respect, true equality, and to be treated justly.  Enough already 21st Century and this is still a silent issue.

 Through the generations our heritage has known much agony, much defeat, much pain & suffering.  Black man's life isn't worth a plug nickel today vs 450 yrs ago in this nation.  Once upon a time he was a commodity being auctioned on the block torn from his family often as a teenaged boy only to being profiled in a free society stopped and frisked and place in jail for misdemeanor crimes, that still profits off our labor the criminal justice system has been doing this since the 60's makes money for private owned prisons.  Then you have the sports, entertainment, well that has always been our only foot in the door being able to entertain our audience now our children earn millions of dollars promoting materialism.  The "Good Life" when really only 03 percent are among the upper 1 percent in America's wealthiest.  So we live vicariously through another mans wealth and they market knockoff attire to make us feel we are living larger than life.  Accruing debt and at times more crimes.  Drugs, porn, you name it more young women think that hair nails & make and a nice outfit will attract $ mo money.  We lost a sense of pride.  Times have changed depending on your view of it and perspective it has become a free for all.  Polarized Nation.  Right & Left, Wrong &Right, and Democrat vs. Republicans vs Tea Party vs Independents we all have opinions.

The Elephant in the room means when people ignore the issues and pretend nothings wrong all is well.

Well, Trayvon Martin trial and outcome brought all of those feelings back. That Jury found him guilty of being black, in the right place at the wrong time.  George Zimmerman profiled this teenager, stalked, and confronted him. then when young Mr. Martin fought for his life, stood his ground and was shot through the heart.

 How can a teenage boy on the phone talking with earplugs, a bag of skittles, and Arizona Tea in the rain coming home from 7Eleven get shot through the heart?  How is it that in 2013 an all white woman jury couldn't find any crime in a 27 year old man stalking, profiling on tape, then confront shoot to kill him not wound him use a stun gun so he could spare his life never identified himself as a Neighborhood Watch Captain.  My son would have fought him too.  Six people heard and saw a poorly presented argument by the State of Florida Prosecution team and were left to reasonable doubt poorly collected forensic evidence because this never was a murder investigation but a John Doe. They deliberate with and find a verdict of Not Guilty?  Boggles the mind even listening to the 911 calls I could hear my son's cry for the first time in my life I feel afraid.  If you can't get pass ideologs and Fox News spin on it they made this about Race spinning lies and division instead of reporting the facts.  George Zimmerman was found Not Guilty by a jury of his peers.  I have to accept that because it was America's due process, verdict was rendered.  Move on?  We will but our voices will be heard because here again is another example of fear and injustice proved out by Gun Violence against a person that was a victim of a crime.

  I like others will not accept that he's innocent, but his defense team did their job and gave him the best defense.    The State of Florida should be under investigation for how this entire crime was handled. They were reluctant to bring a case against him but public outrage brought about an arrest a trial and a verdict.

  I'm not a reporter but just a mom who loves everyone not against white, blacks, latino, asian, muslims, christians, hindu, whatever whoever I believe in God's last commandment "Love Thy Neighbor as you your Love Yourself".  It's the "Rules of Law"  Man didn't write that one and if I had to judge we'd all be convicted. Guilty as Charged and most of us believe in eternal life... So GOD will forgive but only he can judge a man for his deeds and Karma is infinite.  Bible also say's "You Reap what you Sow."  

So at the end of the day, America we need to work on healing the issues of race and false sense of white superiority and recognize that it still exists and many of my friends who aren't black know it still exist but at least we are friends despite their upbringing and outside family influences same goes for me.  I have family members who don't like or trust white people they see them as the enemy.  They think they're better than us, is how they regard them, well I have an open mind and a big heart I am a christian and don't like to brag about because folks turn around and wanna judge your habits instead of how you walk and treat others.  We need to hang out with each other more often and not be afraid to ask a intimate question about a person culture.  Slavery was bad, Ku Klux Klan traumatized a nation for years a lot of families where destroyed, we never had equal anything subculture, our education and resources are still substandard compared to thriving communities.  Let's be real minimum wage jobs can not get a women off welfare.  Just because Barack Obama is the President of the United States, he still get's treated with major disrespect from opposing party and their constituency.  People always finding a way to find a negative out of something we hold honorable and good.  He gives me a sense of pride as a Black America, African American, Colored, and Negro Woman.  So this is my tribute to Trayvon memory that just because the judicial system found him not guilty doesn't mean justice was served it failed Emmett Till update Mike Brown Ferguson, St. Louis MO; and Trayvon Martin almost 60 years later after his killers were acquitted.  

"If nothing changes, nuthin changes"

#‎BLACKLIVESMATTER‬ From Emmit in 1955 - 2015 "If nothing changes, nuthin changes" ‪#‎ENDRACISM‬ These are just a few of the people listed who've died at the hands of injustice heart emoticon ‪#‎SHOWSOMELOVE‬ heart emoticon

Samuel DuBose
Sandra Bland
Walter Scott 50
Bernard Moore 62
Lavall Hall 25
Jonathan Ryan Paul 42
Jamie Croom 31
Terry Garnett Jr. 37
Monique Jenee Deckard 43
Tony Terrell Robinson Jr. 19
Tyrone Ryerson Lawrence 45
Naeschylus Vinzant 37
Andrew Anthony Williams 48
Dewayne Deshawn Ward Jr. 29
Ledarius Williams 23
Yvette Henderson 38
Edward Donnell Bright, Sr. 56
Thomas Allen Jr. 34
Charley Leundeu Keunang, “Africa” 43
Fednel Rhinvil 25
Shaquille C. Barrow 20
Kendre Omari Alston 16
Brandon Jones 18
Darrell “Hubbard” Gatewood 47
Cornelius J. Parker 28
Ian Sherrod 40
Jermonte Fletcher 33
Darin Hutchins 26
Glenn C. Lewis 37
Calvon A. Reid 39
Tiano Meton 25
Demaris Turner 29
Isaac Holmes 19
A’Donte Washington 16
2014 Tamir Rice, 12, Cleveland, Ohio—Nov. 22, 2014; Michael Brown, 18, Ferguson, Mo.—August 9, 2014; John Crawford III, 22, Beavercreek, Ohio—August 5, 2014; Eric Garner, 43, New York, N.Y.—July 17, 2014; Yvette Smith, 47, Bastrop, Texas—February 16, 2014; McKenzie Cochran, 25, Southfield, Mich.—January 28, 2014; Andy Lopez, 13, Santa Rosa, Calif.—October 22, 2013;

— looking for hope.

#SHOWSOMELOVE 

@Lovleeannwise  all rights reserved 7/15/13, 8:26 PM