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Editorials/Column
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The Picture They Paint
It never fails. Whenever a Black person is murdered by a cop or some gun-wielding vigilante, it seems as though there always emerges a pic- ture or video of the victim having a previous run-in with the law in an attempt to paint him or her in a negative light. We saw it with Trayvon Martin. We saw it with Michael Brown. We saw it with Alton Sterling. Now, unfortunately, the same thing appears to be happening to Ahmaud Arbery.
Last week, two videos have come out showing Arbery engaged in altercations with members of law enforcement.
In the first one he's being harassed for sitting in his car at a park.
In the second one, he's ar- rested for allegedly shop-lift- ing. Neither, of course, had anything to do with him being killed by two rednecks while he was minding his own busi- ness.
For anyone who is not Black, I imagine that the im- ages of Arbery's seemingly frequent encounters with po- lice officers would point to the young man being a bit of a troublemaker. But, to those of us who are all too familiar with what being Black in America feels like, they were simply a reflection of what oc- casionally happens through- out a typical week.
I doubt that I'm the only Black man who, upon watch- ing the videos, thought to himself, "Yep. I've been through that bulls---." For many of us, going through those types of exchanges with cops is about as common as rain in the summer.
The sad part is that any of it has become connected to the story. It shouldn't matter what Arbery did two years ago, or who he did it with, the focus should be on the fact that he was lynched by two men who were so comfortable
with their actions that they recorded the episode and handed the evidence over to the authorities.
The irony of how these im- ages conveniently surface whenever a Black person is murdered during these events is that they never appear to show up when one of our lighter-skinned brothers or sisters is killed in similar fash- ion.
When Becky is killed by her husband or abducted by a stranger, we never hear about her smoking meth, her fre- quent trips to swingers clubs or her multiple D.U.I.s prior to her death. In those in- stances she's often portrayed as the perfect angel who was snatched from Earth too soon.
Now that he's gone, Ar- bery's life deserves that same level of respect. They may want to make it seem as though his demise was a gift to society but, regardless of how hard they try to spin the narrative of his murder, they'll never find any justifica- tion.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bul- letin Publishing Com- pany. You can contact Mr. Barr at: cbar- ronice@gmail.com.
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Obama On The Brain
Since the first days of his new presidency, the “loath-affair” between Donald Trump and former President Barack Obama has deepened, day by day. But just recently, it hit a new low when the Donald refused to unveil the official portrait of the well-loved and re- spected former President Obama in the White House.
Tongues wagged, heads bowed as people wondered, what are the reasons for Trump’s obsession with the man he succeeded? Could it be that it’s because Trump can never match President Obama’s intellectual bril- liance or his aura of handsome class?
Maybe, it’s Obama’s matchless diplomacy skills and his ability to form successful global friendships and al- liances. Then again, could it be his warmth and accept- ance of all Americans regardless of their race, gender, religion, life-style, immigration status, or party affilia- tion?
Could it be that Trump realizes he can never achieve Obama’s worldwide respect by global leaders or ever surpass Obama’s ability to hire and keep qualified White House staff? Maybe, Trump is angry because he can never surpass Obama snatching the American economy from the brink of depression brought on by an eight-year Republican administration and Wall Street rip-off.
Whatever the reason, if Trump had had the sense to befriend President Obama as an apprentice, he would have learned to be a REAL president.
Therefore, Trump should get over it because Presi- dent Obama’s picture already sits in millions of Amer- ica’s libraries, homes and hearts.
However, one parting shot, to the Trump-Obama one way relationship is the question, what might hap- pen if Joe Biden picks Michelle Obama as his vice pres- idential running mate? Could Trump overcome the shock? We sincerely doubt it.
This Is What I Am Afraid Of...
person. This is especially true if you are Black. It easily sets one back fifty plus years to the times when White people took the law into their own hands and murdered
TAMPA -- As a Black man living in the time of COVID-19, we are seeing unprece-dented changes in our society. This is especially true with regard to law enforcement and the legal system and how racist White America will take advantage of these changes in our society to invoke their own brand of justice, much like what is seen here and what has
been seen by our forefathers in America's not so distant past.
The words of an irresponsible president do not help. When White Americans who are already prone to such violence and racist acts, hear the words that congratulate them for
their use of their Second Amendment rights and encourage them to rise up and liberate themselves because their great second amendment rights are under siege, coming from the president of the United States, that is not a good thing.
If the more than disturbing racist events that we witnessed coming from Brunswick, Georgia are any indication of things to come, we are in for a world of problems.
The video that captured the lynching of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick, Georgia while jogging, is a vivid and sobering sight that incites feelings of anger and fear in the mind of any rational
What are Black people supposed to do with this information? How do we process what happened? Are Black people supposed to, once again, just sit back, suck it up and just accept another apology? Maybe we're supposed to just accept money from a wrongful death claim and malfeasance on the part of the State of Georgia and go away with no further mention of this situation.
We need to keep a watchful eye on the direction our society is headed and work to condition our minds and actions so that we don't allow our minds to sink into an abysmal state of violence from which we cannot return. This is what I'm afraid of.
WALTER L. SMITH, II, MLA, LEP
Black impunity.
people with
FRIDAY, MAY 29, 2020 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5-A