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Editorials
Lessons In Forgiveness
President Obama And Kenya: A Native Son Comes Home!
T he worst a Black American can do is disavow his or her African heritage. Indeed, it sours the stomach. But if you’ve never been there ... and seen the beauty and im-
mensity of the continent with all its wonders... or waded into a crowd of people who looked like you, you would have no idea what we’re talking about.
But ask President Barack Obama about the bridge be- tween African-American and American-Africa. No doubt, since his most recent trip, he’ll be able to set you straight.
While he visited Kenya and Ethiopia, the world watched him speak with the leaders of those nations as a welcomed head of state.
But that was not the majesty of the moment. And if we could have been there, we would have wanted to stand so close as to hear the whispers and touch the tears exchanged between the man, Barack when he kissed the cheeks and hugged the necks of his grandmother, sister, nieces, nephews, and extended family members from his late fa- ther’s village in Nairobi, Kenya.
No doubt, the photo in the news article that went around the world did not show the closed eyes of both President Obama and the family folk he embraced. But those of us who have been to the Motherland, saw the photo and wept along with it.
So, what will History say about America’s first Black pres- ident?
No matter what it says or doesn’t say, unless he decides to share it, the historians no matter how eloquent, will be able to explain the speechless joy felt by a native son when he went home to Africa. And when he did that, the Black Ex- perience was a circle-now-unbroken.
From all appearances, neither parents, nor teachers are quite ready to accept the Hillsborough County School Board Superintendent Jeff Eakins’ plan for school discipline
reform.
Both groups seemingly fear the plan will result in stu-
dents “taking over’ schools and have expressed concern for student and teacher safety.
Such response surprises us. Wasn’t a pledge recently made by Public Defender Julianne Holt to provide training for students and schools’ staff? Shouldn’t the discipline re- form plan include training for teachers in conflict resolution and how to handle disciplinary problems?
Previous studies have shown that patterns reflecting small numbers of teachers having discipline problems often account for the majority of discipline conflicts and referrals from same. This issue, no doubt, is a missing part of the puz- zle to student discipline and teacher sanity.
While parents have traditionally been asked to sign a Student Rights form, they now should be required to sign a support form outlining expectations of support from par- ents in encouraging their children to behave courteously and respectfully towards their teachers and peers. (That’s all we’re saying.)
Finally, if Hillsborough County School System’s plan was guided by plans implemented by Broward, Pinellas, and other school systems that have already shown successes in their discipline reform initiatives, then parents and teach- ers should have nothing to worry about.
We support giving Superintendent Eakins’ discipline re- form plan a chance to work. Spare the child by not spoiling the rod.
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong,” wrote Mahatma Gandhi in his autobiography. When I heard family members from the nine victims murdered in the sanctuary of Mother Emanuel AME Church, in Charleston, South Carolina, offer Dylann Roof forgiveness, one- by-one, I thought about Gandhi and Martin Luther King.
Then, I was inspired to write about the legacy of forgiveness that Black Americans have left and continue to leave this coun- try.
Time after time, we have shown Biblical proportions of forgiveness. Collectively, we have forgiven the loss of millions of lives during the trans-Atlantic slave trade, 400 years of en- slavement in a foreign land, and nearly 500 years of enslavement, followed by 150 years of Jim Crow, segregation, and continu- ing discrimination and hatred.
Today, we still suffer the post- traumatic impact of slavery, Jim Crow, forced splintering of our families, rape of our women, lynching of our sons, institu- tional racism and loss of our an- cestry.
For the assassination of our
People rarely, if ever, will- ingly divulge their middle names. you could literally be ac- quainted with someone for years and never know what their middle initial stands for.
It usually isn’t until that in- dividual does something in- credibly horrific, like assassinate a beloved political figure, does his or her full moniker suddenly become en- grained into the public con- sciousness (i. e...), the John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald and James Earl Ray’s of the world). I don’t know for sure, but I believe the 3-name branding is history’s subtle way of making sure that its most despicable characters are easily identifiable through- out the ages.
This is how I was able to sur- mise that the man who shot “Cecil The Lion” last week in Zimbabwe was in serious trou- ble. When they released his name as Walter James Palmer, it was a clear indica- tion that he was about to go down as one of the most de- spised human beings on the face of the Earth.
The way the media has been trying to track Palmer down, along with the aggressiveness the Zimbabwe government has displayed in their attempt to have the United States extradite him back to face prosecution,
Civil Rights champions, well known and unsung such as Mal- colm X, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Medgar Evers, Willie Edwards, Jr., Corporal Roman Duck- worth, Jr., and Jimmie Lee Jackson, we forgave.
In spite of government sanc- tioned Jim Crow and segrega- tion, we volunteered and died in every American war, brush-war, and police action, beginning with the American Revolution. Fighting as both freemen and slaves on both the side of the Union and the Confederacy dur- ing the Civil War, never did we become traitors to the Union, once we were granted our free- dom.
Even when our babies were bombed in a church basement in the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, and when our churches were scorched and bombed because we fought to register and vote, we forgave.
Time after time, mothers and fathers forgave the Ku Klux Klan for maiming and killing our sons and daughters. Mothers like Beulah Mae Donald whose son, Michael Donald, was lynched by members of the
you would think that Palmer was responsible for slaughter- ing an entire village. And that is what makes this case so inter- esting.
For several days now the en- tire world has come forward to vilify the Minnesota dentist for, what many consider a senseless killing of a defenseless animal. The level of vitriol aimed in Palmer’s direction has been so high that he’s, reportedly, gone into hiding just to escape the scrutiny.
Do not get me wrong. I am completely okay with Palmer being called out for his actions. To me, killing animals to satisfy some kind of blood fetish is one of the sickest activities in which a person can engage.
But, as I’ve observed the out- rage surrounding the unneces- sary execution of this much beloved big cat, it’s hard for me not to compare it to the lack of outrage I witnessed in the wake of the deaths of several inno- cent Black people, by the hands of police officers, over the last year. The murder of Samuel Dubose, by a University of Cincinnati campus cop, being the latest example.
When the video of Dubose being shot inside of his car sur- faced earlier last week, I don’t remember hearing any passion- ate calls, from outside of the Black community, for the offi-
United Klan of America on March 21, 1981 in Mobile, Ala- bama.
After having been asked for forgiveness by Tiger Knowles, who admitted his part in the ab- duction, beating with a tree limb (100 hits), choking and slitting the throat and subsequent hang- ing of Michael’s lifeless body, Mrs. Donald said, “I do forgive you. From the day I found out who you all was, I asked God to take care of y’all.”
Most recently, the mother of one of the young unarmed Black men killed by law enforcement officers expressed her forgive- ness. Mrs. Judy Scott, mother of Walter Scott, who was shot in the back eight times by police officer Michael Slager (who lied about the circumstances of the shooting), expressed her for- giveness by saying, “I feel for- giveness in my heart. Even for the guy who shot and killed my son. Yes, I do.”
Consequently, the recent as- sassination of nine men and women in the church basement during Bible Study called upon us to once again “forgive.”
Indeed, it is in forgiveness that we find strength and spiri- tual freedom, a concept that peo- ple filled with hate simply cannot understand.
However, perhaps, Thomas Szasz’s quote should guide our future: “The stupid neither for- give nor forget; the naïve forgive and forget; the wise forgive, but do not forget.” Watch as well as pray. Harrambee!
cer to face immediate justice. As a matter of fact, after he was ar- rested and given a $1 million bond before being released the next day, I didn’t hear a peep.
None of the people, who are now up in arms about Cecil, seemed particularly upset about the cop getting out of jail so swiftly. None of them expressed devastation at the idea that Du- bose lost his life unnecessarily or created a website to demand justice for his murder. And late night host Jimmy Fallon, who was distraught to tears when talking about the pain he felt after hearing what hap- pened to the real life “Lion King,” didn’t even bother mentioning Samuel’s name.
I guess it shouldn’t be con- sidered too ironic that the loss of Black life in America doesn’t quite equate to that of one of the planet’s most majestic crea- tures. If the contrast between the reactions are any indication of how much Black lives really matter to non-Black people I think it’s safe to assume that, as far as they are concerned, a Black life in crisis isn’t that big of a deal.
Of course, this isn’t an as- tounding revelation. There was a time in this country when Blacks were legally considered 3/5 of a human being. Now that it seems as if we’ve been leapfrogged by a supersized fe- line I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that, today, we’re viewed as something even less.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Pub- lishing Company.
Anyone wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityonice@yahoo.com.
Maybe If We Had Tails?
Training Should Be Part Of School Discipline Reform
TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2015 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5