Will the Madness Ever Stop?

This week, I read about a white Yale student calling the cops on a black Yale student found sleeping in the commons, an area available to students to relax. The call was made as if this student was trespassing on the grounds of the school where she is enrolled.

Yesterday, I watched a video of a white woman in Oakland, CA calling the cops on two black men attempting to barbecue in the park along Lake Merritt, claiming it was a “no charcoal barbecue” area. This incident was documented by others in the park and a woman who questioned and prodded her ad nauseum, to no avail. The white woman spent more than 2 hours trying to get city police there instead of calling park authorities.

These are just two of many incidents reported throughout the week. In both cases, the reports were false. The Yale student was within her right to nap in the student lounge and the two men were not in violation. There was no “charcoal-free” space as the woman complained. Only two weeks ago, two black men were arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks, after asking to use their restroom without a purchase.

The way I see it, there has been a declaration of penalty on Black folks ever since the Emancipation Proclamation. Since oppression by way of slavery was outlawed, other forced statutes would take its place.

In the 1960s and 70s, an encounter with the police was another incitement of conflict and rioting. If we look back at the civil unrests, police involvement resulted in lost lives from undetected gunshots.

Moving into the 21st Century, we have the benefit of cell phones and social media to document the mistreatment of EWB (Existing While Black) at the hands of others and law enforcement. Yet, it seems that the dynamic conflict between Blacks and the police is being exacerbated by those who know the fear of Blacks, especially men and outspoken women, by Whites and law enforcement often results in unfair arrests, unjust convictions and killings of unarmed victims.

I’m not one for ongoing conspiracy theories. However, I see all of these bogus police calls as set ups to humiliate, remind us of “our place in their second-class citizenship world,” imprison or worse, encourage possible gunfire, with a subliminal genocidal mindset.

I can’t read these people’s minds. But it seems like there needs to be a greater promoted message to threaten arrest and fines for false police calls and reports that waste officers’ time, taxpayers’ money and most of all, attempt to target and disgrace on the grounds of race and ethnicity. We don’t need more confrontations with law enforcement. The relationship is already stretched to its near breaking point.

These incidents are increasing and tensions heating up to combustible states.

I don’t know the solution to its end. I just question will the Madness Ever Stop?

Published by Marilyn Batchelor-Parnell

A 20+year veteran of the entertainment and media industry, I've marketed many of the best and developed and brokered brand deals for some of the biggest artists in the business, including serving as the architect behind the relationship between Monster Music and Interscope resulting in the multi-billion dollar beats by Dre' deal. A graduate of Syracuse University (Journalism, English Lit & African American Studies); Harvard Business School's PMD program; Fuller Theological Seminary (M.A.Theology & Ministry) and a PhD student at Claremont Graduate University, I am in love with God, followed by my love for my people and our history and literature. In the Summer of 2017, I had the opportunity to live in Paris for 5 weeks, Studying the migration of Black Americans to Paris through the "Paris Noir" program with Syracuse University. In tribute to the man who nurtured and raised me, I began the legal process to change my name, explaining the new hyphen. I am a native of the Motor City and a walking music encyclopedia, who lives in Los Angeles with my two dogs Chloe' and Sasha. I serve in the Los Angeles inner city as a youth pastor and believe my calling is to speak for the underserved and silenced.

3 thoughts on “Will the Madness Ever Stop?”

  1. Heavens above, what is wrong with people? This is starting to feel uncomfortably like a “self-fulfilling prophecy,” in which I think some whites are trying to make things rough for black people to the point where some blacks are so frustrated they lash out, then the white person who started it can go “see, I knew there was a reason to be concerned!” It’s scary how it feels like this is what’s going on… of course, with certain unashamedly racist elements in our government spouting and freaking out “good people,” with stereotypical fears all the time, that’s probably not far off.

    This is just a theory, but part of me wonders if this is a combination of divisive rhetoric and a passive-aggressive backlash for having Obama in office for 8 years. The country didn’t turn into a ghetto and Obama was polite and articulate (far more than this guy we have now). And Dump’s doing all he can to dismantle what Obama did in his 8 years. It’s like they’re trying to erase bit-by-bit any memory that we ever had a black president. That feels very “1984” to me; it horrifies me, and they’re grinning while they do it. Are they so affronted that a black man could do a decent job in the White House or something? I’m white, and I just can’t wrap my head around what their problem is. I feel like a space alien looking from the outside in, trying to puzzle it out. They’re obsessed with Obama, and this is the only thing I can think of.

    Heavens above, how much worse will their insecurity let things get? I think we’ve reached the lowest of the low in terms of divisiveness and social inclusion since the Civil War. I’m not a praying person, but I’m going to give it a shot, a prayer for common sense and jumpy whites to think about what they’re doing and why. This is ridiculous and shameful.

    Like

    Reply

Leave a comment