Ed. Note—Complex first met Jarris Williams, a 19-year-old resident of Ferguson, Mo. and freshman at Webster University, during our coverage of the demonstrations in his hometown in August. We've stayed in touch with him since and asked if he would share his thoughts on the Eric Garner grand jury decision. This is what he wrote.
There is a civil war being waged in America. It has been claiming lives for generations, and for a short time, between approximately 1970 to 2012, it seemed to be on hiatus. But this war has simply moved from the farmhouses of Southern plantations and the streets of Birmingham to television shows, radio broadcasts, Internet memes, and celebrity worship. This is a war about the widespread and undeniable assault on the self-worth, efficacy, and respect of black culture and black people.
The word “hurt” doesn't come close to describing the feelings I had toward the Staten Island grand jury’s decision not to indict NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo for the death of Eric Garner. Just last week, a similar situation played out in my hometown of Ferguson, Mo., when officer Darren Wilson wasn't indicted for killing Michael Brown. These are only the latest in what seems to be a strategic and coordinated attack on black Americans.
This is a war about the widespread and undeniable assault on the self-worth, efficacy, and respect of black culture and black people.
The killing of black men, women, and children used to be an act that was celebrated in America, and just when we thought that was over, we see a peculiar rise in the well-publicized slayings of black people on the street.
People of African descent have lived in America for hundreds of years, and these crimes have been happening the entire time. We know this.
The trauma that has been inflicted is evident in our response on the streets. To the black community, the killing of Michael Brown wasn't just a particular act of violence—it was also a final straw in a long history of systemic prejudice, racism, and violence. In my personal experience, being out on the frontlines in Ferguson since August 14, the dialogue between the protesters has been about police brutality, profiling in stores, and bus lines not running in certain parts of the city. The issues brought to the table are so broad that it would take a much longer essay to cover them thoroughly. On the ground, through the gas and the mace, the importance of these issues is only fortified by aggressive police tactics.
1.
The non-indictment of Officer Pantaleo was an ugly reminder that, even on the heels of national unrest, interest in preserving black life is at an all-time low. Upon hearing the news, I stepped out of class with tears in my eyes and sobbed in the hallway. The heartbreak some of us feel over the decision to let "living while black" remain a crime is only eased by the massive response that has occurred. I watched in awe as New York streets filled with people.
There is a war being waged on the streets of America. It is a war on the consciousness of black people, and a war to uphold the tarnished, fading image of 'America, the Beautiful.'
Since the Civil Rights movement we have seen blaxploitation films and hyper-sexualized black men and women, crack cocaine, gangsta rap, and gang culture. Black pride reemerged in the 1990s, but it ultimately fell victim to political rhetoric about a “post-racial America” and “reverse racism.” Here we are in 2014, and I can see from my apartment on Webster University’s campus a deep-seated confusion in the minds of young black people everywhere.
From the time I entered elementary school to now, I have always been plagued by the absence of a history of my people. This absence of roots has left an entire race scrambling to identify with something. We wear blond weaves and green and blue contacts, but when one of us turns up dead, we have three different responses:
“That isn’t my problem. I need to get this money.”
“The system will never work for us. We need to find a way around it.”
Or, more egregiously, we ignore the problem and agree with the bullshit “melting pot” narrative America feeds its bastard children: “These truths we hold to be self-evident, that all men are created equally (so get off your fucking ass and do some work).”
2.
There has been an intense lack of self-respect and confidence in black people for generations. Black men are portrayed as beasts (Darren Wilson’s grand jury testimony is proof). Black women are portrayed as untamed bitches. Not only black people see and respond to this—white people also fuel these images. Which is why Officer Pantaleo could stand behind Eric Garner, feet shoulder width apart, arms crossed, ready for a confrontation with a man twice his size. He was afraid.
In a recent Huffington Post article by Myisha Cherry, she wrote about the police’s “masculinity problem.” Officer Pantaleo’s manhood was threatened when a large black civilian told him that what they were doing was wrong and they would not get away with it. Subsequently, the NYPD “won” the confrontation by ignoring Mr. Garner’s hushed cry: “I can’t breathe.”
There is a war being waged on the streets of America. It is a war on the consciousness of black people, and a war to uphold the tarnished, fading image of “America, the Beautiful.” I think I speak for all of us on the ground here in Ferguson, and beyond, when I say that this has to stop. It’s time for America to wake up.
