The words you are searching are inside this book. To get more targeted content, please make full-text search by clicking here.
Discover the best professional documents and content resources in AnyFlip Document Base.
Search
Published by Anthony Mungin, 2019-11-06 10:41:57

MADDENING TRUTH1

MADDENING TRUTH1

INTRODUCTION

I have learned many things in my fifty years of life, some good and
some bad. I have learned of course that life isn’t nearly as easy as I thought
it would be. That, there is pain, sorrow, and suffering that we must all go
through, if not endure. After all, it’s called life and in the game of life, no
one gets off without paying their dues. In essence, no one gets a free pass.

I have been made painfully aware that there are three distinct
classes in America, the rich, middle, and poor and that we are dangerously
approaching a situation where the line of demarcation, that line between
the poor and middle class is becoming more and more blurred, if not
obliterated. The end result is destined to leave us with but two distinct
classes, the rich and the poor.

Consequently, in any set of circumstances where you have one
class with far more advantages than the other, there is bound to be
uprisings, if not attempts at hostile takeovers.

We’ve certainly seen or heard of uprisings, revolts, attempts to
overthrow governments in places overseas. Two of the more recent
countries are Egypt and Libya. As a footnote, I'm sure many agree that the
same attempts to overthrow government can happen here in the US.

I have learned also that justice is sometimes blind and I have found
that a guilty party with financial means can get off scot free while an
innocent party who is poor is that much more likely to do time behind bars
simply because of the fact that their financial means is, well, severely
lacking.

Of course, you have gross racial inequities and disparities that the
powers that be resists the notion of talking or doing anything about,
namely, police brutality, racial profiling, mass incarceration, lack of
healthcare and high rates of unemployment which obviously disfavors
blacks.

I have witnessed how the good dye young and feisty, mean, old
farts (bigots, racists, cheaters and beaters) hang around forever. It seems
their doomsday; their day of reckoning never comes. Though, I have been
given some cause for hope that though these behemoths linger long
among us, all the while they are surely facing their demons, day by day,
hour by hour, and minute by minute. And, I am even made to rest assured
that their bad deeds are eating away at them from within.

Anthony J. Mungin

I have learned too that the wheels of justice turns ever so slowly.
Even worst, is the painful reality that change in laws do not always mean
rapid improvement in our social conditions, especially the black social
condition.

The process for change, especially as it relates to black America is
often slow, and long and many times impeded by the inability of our
oppressor’s mental capacities to catch up, or their stone cold heartedness
to turn to more benevolent ways or for their resistance to the notion of a
level playing field to turn into a capitulation of sorts.

Slavery was ended in 1863 when all men were declared equal with
the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness yet many
of our brethren still have cause to feel enslaved and oppressed and
definitely, not equal.

I have learned too that a black president in a white house does not
mean that we are living in a post-racial era. Actually, things have gotten
worst for blacks.

Today in 2014, one hundred and fifty one years later, Ferguson
Missouri has allowed the National Guard to be called in; a consequence of
their legendary, unfounded fear of what black protestors might do if
Darren Wilson, the rogue cop who murdered Michael Brown in cold blood,
is not indicted.

Moreover, its Governor’s strange paranoia is being used to justify
the humongous, vicious war tanks rolling down the streets of Ferguson
daring a brown eyed mongrel to cross the line.

Both the threat and the message behind Ferguson’s authorized use
of tear gas paint a stark reminder of the sixties. It’s a wonder officials in
Ferguson have not yet sanctioned the use of German Shepherds, Billy
clubs, and fire hoses. Or, have they?

All the while, there is this case of selective amnesia on the part of
the powers that be in Ferguson. A sudden and abrupt memory lapse and
an unwillingness to acknowledge that among the reasons why blacks are
smoldering with anger is that an unarmed kid was shot six times, and his
body was left for dead in the streets for four hours before a Ferguson
police SUV transported it to the hospital morgue.

To add insult to injury, days if not weeks went by before

2

Maddening Truth: The Thin Line Between Black & White

announcing the name of the shooter, the rogue cop that we now know as
Darren Wilson. If Wilson’s actions were that justified, why was there a
need to fear? Why withhold his name? Why would his safety even become
a matter of concern?

Aren’t black people reasonable enough to discern a case wherein a
police officer’s use of deadly force was a justifiable, last resort? I would
dare say yes, indeed we are, if it was in fact, a justifiable last resort.

Of all of the grave injustices, is the fact that there is a total memory
lapse in Ferguson when considering the fact that blacks in America are just
fresh off of taking on the Florida Justice Systems’ threat of letting two
killers (George Zimmerman and Michael Dunn) go free, and are also fresh
off of enduring the harsh reality of another choke hold gone bad in New
York, a case of which the NYPD has hinted at the fact that while the
chokehold was a forbidden tactic, yet again, another rogue police officer
may go uncharged.

Like Florida and New York, Ferguson apparently has also forgotten
that while the officials of each state is plainly focused on matters of their
state and disassociates themselves from the racial oppression of other
states, blacks cannot so easily de-link themselves.

For blacks in America, racial oppression anywhere is racial
oppression everywhere. In essence, we cannot so easily dissociate Florida
from Missouri or Missouri from New York or New York from Texas or Texas
from Ohio.

Everyday blacks in America are being made to grapple with the
vicious, brutal murders of its black men (and women); young and old, time
after time only to repeatedly see white, wayward criminals or rogue law
enforcement cops beat the rap.

Neither can blacks get their head around the fact that the system
rarely work the same when it is the black cop or criminal firing the fatal
shot. Yes, I might dare add this salient point as a parenthetical way of
footnote that the outcome of these indictments are often not the same
when it is a black cop killing a white kid or black people killing white people
in general.

3

Anthony J. Mungin

The fact is that time and time again, we are made to relive grave
injustices just like we were back in the 60's. There is no reprieve from it.
Often, there is seemingly no end in sight.

To add insult to injury, the media interviewed the KKK, who
concocted a compelling lie about how they have received calls from those
fearing the devastating effects of what blacks will do in the wake of a
decision to not convict Wilson.

Does it not speak for itself, the fact that those so called "fearful"
individuals contacted the KKK and not local law enforcement? And how
about the fact that law enforcement officials, at least retired ones were
rumored to be members of the KKK? What should black people glean from
that possible reality?

In any case, Wilson’s fate almost seems to be a foregone
conclusion. By all indications, he will walk, beat the rap, be vindicated, and
returned to his place on the police force to do the same thing all over again.

And ironically, this injustice and others like it will reoccur despite
the fact that blacks are actually the majority (67%) in that little community.
In the end, this is the harsh reality that black people are forced to live with
each and every day.

Now, in all fairness to white people, it is fair to say that not all white
people are bad seeds. To be clear, I’m not talking about or am interested
in those who were forced to champion our cause. When the powers of
persuasion and scrutiny are gone they just returned back to their old ways.

Rather, I am speaking of those who believe down in their gut that
blacks are equal and deserving of every aspect of this notion of liberty,
freedom, equality and pursuit of happiness and in the same manner that
it is accorded to whites.

Let me briefly state some realities as I know them. Ever since back
in the days of slavery there have been whites that have been on black
people’s side, in their corner, and have had black people’s back. From the
days of the first abolitionist on forward, there are whites that have done
things to help blacks, rather openly or discreetly; whether direct or
indirect; by their words or through their actions. It is fair to say that there
are some whites that have paven the way and have helped to ease the

4

Maddening Truth: The Thin Line Between Black & White

struggle of blacks in America.
My thoughts bring me first to an abolitionist, William Lloyd

Garrison who called the Constitution, “a covenant with death and an
agreement with Hell”.

Along other lines, I have learned of others like Joan C. Browning,
Dorothy Dawson Burlage, Penny Patch, Theresa Del Pozzo, Sue Thrasher,
Elaine DeLott Baker, Emmie Schrader Adams, and Casey Hayden, a handful
of incredibly young, white, women from various mixes of regional, cultural,
and class backgrounds.

These nine women crossed racial boundaries and defied social
conventions, dedicating their lives to eradicating segregation and racial
prejudice.

Fast forward and one can’t help but regard John F. Kennedy aka
JFK. He earned a place in the hearts of black America to the extent that he
became known as the “best-loved chief executive in history”. Unlike the
current black president, his contributions involved appointing black people
to high offices.

Different from the current president, Kennedy also had a knack for
breaking down many racial barriers in informal ways.

Lyndon B. Johnson was rumored to have had a slippery tongue
which spouted an occasional racial epitaph, (for example, “nigra”) for
which I obviously would not have condone . But, he was also known for
smashing Jim Crow and bringing about true democracy. He was said to
have engaged the FBI in the movement to crush the Ku Klux Klan. So,
perhaps the penalties offset, making him more of a solution than a
problem.

Robert Kennedy was an instrumental champion of civil rights and
that became his legacy. When a group of Freedom Riders were stopped
facing violence in Birmingham, Alabama, he got involved dispatching
necessary resources enabling the Riders to continue on their way.

Former president Jimmy Carter, a white man, so boldly and
courageously acknowledged that the republicans et. al., hated Barack
Obama because he was black. He spoke truth despite the threat of
consequences.

5

Anthony J. Mungin
Finally, I can fast forward again to today, and tell a myriad of stories
of gracious, simple, white people who could care less about the color of
your skin, rather, simply want to live in a world of peace and harmony.
Sadly, they are not the majority.

6


Click to View FlipBook Version