Fighting the Good Fight
Being an adult is not always the best job. Sometimes we are called on and forced to step up to the plate. There are moments when we must see the world in the cruelest of light. One of these harsh moments took place for me Friday afternoon.
Friday began well. I was invited to go on a field trip to Memphis with O'Bannon High School, the school that I did my student teaching at this past fall. I was excited to be among the 100+ students to visit the Civil Rights Museum, do some shopping, and see the Memphis Grizzles play the Denver Nuggets in basketball.
The Civil Rights Museum was so moving. Being the history buff that I am, I was awe-struck to stand in the place where Martin Luther King was assassinated. I stood in wonder as I looked out the window where Ray sat as he pulled the trigger that killed one of the greatest men ever.
Then the day began to shift. I had no idea that soon I would see just how it felt to be treated differently because of the color of your skin. Now, I live in the South, in a low-economic area where the majority of the population is African-American. I am not oblivious to acts of racism. However, I had never witnessed it first hand.
O'Bannon High School is made up almost entirely of black students. I was the only white adult with the students. Yet to me, and to those kids, there isn't white or black. There are just people. Unfortunately, the whole world doesn't see that way.
While we were all shopping in the mall, three young men (all black) from our group walked into a well-known, trendy accessories store. One of the young guys was looking at several pairs of earrings. He proceeded to take his earrings off as he had plans to buy some new ones. The young white cashier was watching these young men as they entered the store. She claims that she saw one boy messing with several pairs of the store's earrings and then saw one pair fall from out of his pocket onto the floor. She called mall security and confronted the boy.
The two black, male chaperones were called by one of the other students. They spoke with the young lady and tried to handle things without having to press charges. However, when the two white, male officers arrived, it was clear that this black boy was not going to get fair treatment. The officers refused to listen to the young man; they were rude and did their best to try and provoke the young man and the chaperones. Despite the calmness of our chaperones and the young man, the officers refused to let the boy off. Even though there was no proof, the boy repeatedly said he was innocent, and the boy pulled out a wad of cash showing he was willing and able to pay for the earrings, the police still arrested him.
The kicker to this story -- A young white girl was caught red-handed shoplifting just a bit earlier in the same store. She was waiting on the police to arrive at the same time as the black boy. The officers hardly spoke to the girl and centered all their attention and aggression on the young man. They let the girl walk out of the mall on her own accord while they handcuffed the black boy and escorted him out of the mall in front of all of his classmates.
I saw these officers. I saw the young cashier who accused the young man. Unfortunately, all they saw was black. This 18 year old high school boy now has a record because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong skin color. The young man spent 8 hours in jail, had a $1000 bond, and has a court date Monday morning because of a $6.00 earrings.
As I sat downtown and waited to make bail for the young man, I almost cried at the hatred I witnessed. I was forever changed as reality stepped directly into my little world. Looking back at it, the day had come full circle. As seen in the Civil Rights Museum, what Mr. King was fighting for then, we are still fighting for today.
Friday began well. I was invited to go on a field trip to Memphis with O'Bannon High School, the school that I did my student teaching at this past fall. I was excited to be among the 100+ students to visit the Civil Rights Museum, do some shopping, and see the Memphis Grizzles play the Denver Nuggets in basketball.
The Civil Rights Museum was so moving. Being the history buff that I am, I was awe-struck to stand in the place where Martin Luther King was assassinated. I stood in wonder as I looked out the window where Ray sat as he pulled the trigger that killed one of the greatest men ever.
Then the day began to shift. I had no idea that soon I would see just how it felt to be treated differently because of the color of your skin. Now, I live in the South, in a low-economic area where the majority of the population is African-American. I am not oblivious to acts of racism. However, I had never witnessed it first hand.
O'Bannon High School is made up almost entirely of black students. I was the only white adult with the students. Yet to me, and to those kids, there isn't white or black. There are just people. Unfortunately, the whole world doesn't see that way.
While we were all shopping in the mall, three young men (all black) from our group walked into a well-known, trendy accessories store. One of the young guys was looking at several pairs of earrings. He proceeded to take his earrings off as he had plans to buy some new ones. The young white cashier was watching these young men as they entered the store. She claims that she saw one boy messing with several pairs of the store's earrings and then saw one pair fall from out of his pocket onto the floor. She called mall security and confronted the boy.
The two black, male chaperones were called by one of the other students. They spoke with the young lady and tried to handle things without having to press charges. However, when the two white, male officers arrived, it was clear that this black boy was not going to get fair treatment. The officers refused to listen to the young man; they were rude and did their best to try and provoke the young man and the chaperones. Despite the calmness of our chaperones and the young man, the officers refused to let the boy off. Even though there was no proof, the boy repeatedly said he was innocent, and the boy pulled out a wad of cash showing he was willing and able to pay for the earrings, the police still arrested him.
The kicker to this story -- A young white girl was caught red-handed shoplifting just a bit earlier in the same store. She was waiting on the police to arrive at the same time as the black boy. The officers hardly spoke to the girl and centered all their attention and aggression on the young man. They let the girl walk out of the mall on her own accord while they handcuffed the black boy and escorted him out of the mall in front of all of his classmates.
I saw these officers. I saw the young cashier who accused the young man. Unfortunately, all they saw was black. This 18 year old high school boy now has a record because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong skin color. The young man spent 8 hours in jail, had a $1000 bond, and has a court date Monday morning because of a $6.00 earrings.
As I sat downtown and waited to make bail for the young man, I almost cried at the hatred I witnessed. I was forever changed as reality stepped directly into my little world. Looking back at it, the day had come full circle. As seen in the Civil Rights Museum, what Mr. King was fighting for then, we are still fighting for today.
"We are not satisfied and will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like water, and righteousness like a mighty stream."
-- Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Comments
I never really thought much about racism, etc. (though I am, politically correctly, African-American, lol) until I moved to Alabama. Though I guess I'd heard of it, I had never actually witnessed it or experienced it. But I had some real issues to deal with once I was taken out of my little multicultural military brat life on a base overseas and relocated to Montgomery.
I guess the first step to the solution of a problem is realizing just that--that there is a problem. Yet some people still deny that there is. That it's a thing of the "past." But your unfortunate experience proved to you quite the contrary.