By Lucius Gantt
I applaud America’s young people and others that are standing up and speaking out about inequality and injustice in the United States.
But guess what. That’s what young people are supposed to do!
Most of the rebels in slavery day rebellions were young. The Freedom Riders were young. Martin Luther King Jr. was young when he began to speak and preach about racism and discrimination. Huey Newton, Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, Fred Hampton, George Jackson and other Black activists were young when they opposed and protested against racism and bias.
Even Jesus Christ was young when his opposition to wicked Roman politicians and government law enforcers got him nailed him to a cross.
Not only are African Americans marching, chanting and singing, they are also the people you hear on TV and radio.
Let me tell you about today’s spokespersons. If you don’t know the men and women that appear on MSNBC, FOX, CNN and other networks, the networks know exactly who they are hiring as consultants and contributors.
They know the Black faces they put in places are mainly cheerleaders that will encourage and promote the ideas and tactics that the exploiters and oppressors are comfortable with!
The devil doesn’t mind protests, if the protests are non-violent. Devils will join and, sometimes, take over marches if the marches don’t erupt into civil disobedience, riots and mayhem.
When the poor, angry and downtrodden Black protesters end up at churches for meetings, or funerals, the devil has no problem with allowing and sanctioning prayer and gospel singing that doesn’t speak harsh words about the perpetrators and endorsers of police murder and police misconduct.
I think young Black people all over the world should take a moment to talk to their elders.
Black people that truly know their history and culture are well aware of the importance of the views, opinions and experiences of mature Black Americans that, in protest terms, have been there and done that.
Until the political and media devils began to try to divide older Blacks and young Blacks, people of African descent always loved their elders, honored their elders and learned their most important lessons from their elders.
How many times have you heard a young person say, “My grand mother told me…” or “I learned from my grandpa….”? You heard those kinds of things because grandparents know more about racism and injustice than parents know.
Young people have been protesting police murder for a few weeks but Black seniors, elders and grand parents have been fighting racism all of their lives!
Black elders, like Black sheep, can recognize the voice of the true shepherds.
Black youth have called for the defunding of police departments. That suggestion is like a fish in an oil spill, dead in the water.
The elected officials our youth will approach are the same elected officials that support, praise and reward biased police officers. Elected officials take tax dollars paid by families victimized by lawless law enforcers to give pay raises to bad cops, to pay for bad training tactics that are used in police murders, taxes that pay to provide legal defenses for crooked cops that choke the breath and life out of unarmed Black people and taxes from Black tax payers pay the salaries of judges that let murderous cops walk out of courtrooms as free as a Jay Bird!
And local officials are the ones that sign off on labor contracts that give bad cops immunity even when they murder a citizen.
When Black sheep are wandering around America’s pastures and a fox and a wolf are allowed to guard them under the pretext of protecting and serving and the sheep start being murdered, the sheep don’t take their grievances to the fox hole or the wolf pack, they take their case to a sheep farmer or hunter that will stop the devilish canines by any means necessary.
We can’t wait on Congress and local elected officials to establish study groups and commissions to address our problems with police.
We need to control the policing of our communities.
We need cops patrolling Black neighborhoods that live in those Black neighborhoods and corporate America (you name the corporations) should provide financing for law enforcers to buy homes in Black neighborhoods for cops that love Black people.
Why? Because kids of police will grow up with your kids, go to school with your kids, play sports with your kids and officers can shop where you shop, worship where you worship and truly get to know the people they are hired to protect and serve, for example.
Influential community leaders, like George Floyd was, should be deputized by Sheriffs and other law enforcers, not to arrest or snitch on neighbors, but to de-escalate and calm situations that arise in the hood.
Citizens you trust should be utilized to negotiate with alleged or suspected law violators.
Young people have young ideas flamed by social media that will be watered down, no, doused, by the people that have always rubber-stamped proposals by police departments.
We have to depend on ourselves, depend on each other. The fight for equal rights and justice is not a kid confrontation. We all have a role in Black progress, especially our Black elders! Seek advice and direction from mature Black activists that are our modern-day elders. Listen to the voices
Lucius is a contributing columnist to NNPA newspapers around the nation, and the author of “Beast Too: Dead Man Writing,” available on Amazon.com and from bookstores everywhere.