The Vision | The new era of civil disobedience

The necessary realizations for a compatible society

By The Vision 02/03/15 12:16am

We tend to lose focus as our perceptions of reality become skewed when tragedies twist within the wavelengths that our nightmares unravel. What seems to be a massacre of American citizens by those paid royalties to serve and protect such citizens puts us in denial of what our nation describes as its “values for the good of the people” and holds us in sheer angst at the theoretical dystopia that our futures hold. These sentiments are not only for what our antagonists have gotten away with in abusing and murdering those who do not pose a threat, but also toward how much more they can get away with, knowing that wearing a badge — for the most part — constitutes invincibility from charges. We feel helpless, because with countless efforts to fulfill the always audible plea for equality and the protection of natural rights, we are no more than “race-baiters” and an unsettling cacophony to misinformed audiences. But I’d like to state that an individual shooting an unarmed individual does not sound like race-baiting, but rather a violation of one’s humanity.

I am unsettled by the fact that an unarmed black man is killed every 28 hours. When put into perspective, that gives ordinary men like myself only a little more than a day from the last victim to regretfully enjoy the merits of being alive until they face the projected probability of their fates. Black men essentially are in a dimly lit room, walking in a single-file line in accordance with the life expectancy of each individual, and within the faint silence are loud cracks of pistols as the corpse of the line leader falls and inherits the ground they walk. Nowadays, it often seems like many of us are just waiting for Rev. King to rise from his grave to recite one more edifying speech, all in hopes to deliver us from our pains once again. As such a vivid dream as that is, it is a dream deferred when the cravings for justice have no patience fo those who remain hungry. We must realize that leaders of civil rights movements are as human as we are — that we are as capable of speaking out, resisting unlawful practices and leading movements as they were and, more importantly, that they will eventually succumb to the limitations of human life and no longer be able to march alongside future generations. The latter indicates that we must no longer delay social progression in anticipation for another martyr, because we are a new generation and we cannot rely solely on our predecessors for the salvaging of our people. For instance, it becomes a problem if black people are waiting on President Obama — believing him to be a Christ-like savior of some sort — to lift his finger to anoint them with the waters of a utopian complex upon which blacks are given a key to escape the room of systematic oppression, whilst blaming him for not readily doing so, without realizing the most powerful man in this nation is, himself, limited by the doctrines by which he was elected. Not to say it is a problem to submit grievances to our president, but that there is one to think that he can change everything so easily without the progressive activity of the people under his service. The concept of “waiting” has become the crux of accepting defeat with the delusion that reluctance from taking action will lead to good measures, which will never be the case in American society.

For any person that holds authority who abuses his or her position of power, it is of utmost importance that the people do not cower and accept unjust values because they believe themselves to be helpless. We are in a new age of old values, where with technological advances we have more opportunities to not only replicate but advance the reformist ideals of the past. It is important that we stay informed about these issues as they pertain to us and have the necessary applications built from our awareness. Continue to march, continue to debate and continue to keep noise levels high. Speak for a cause, and spread the message: “The people will not be silenced.”

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