The other day when I began with New York State of Mind I was appalled although not shocked at the outcome of the Sean Bell criminal trial. We as black people have been witness to these ruthless executions time and again to no avail.. We have witnessed many of our greats assassinated, tortured, vilified, and betrayed by the corrupt system in which we live. I am an artist but a man first. Having a platform to speak out against the injustice I would be remiss if I didn’t…
On the edge of a rant and overcome with rage, I was foregone as to why we Black people allow this to continue time and again. I sent an email that same morning and I closed it with a charge.. DO WE RIOT OR RALLY?? The choice has been made… the results are obvious… I came across a Charlemagne (from The Wendy Williams Show) who not only expressed my sentiments but put it in the correct perspective.
In this New York state of mine… here’s a look into my New York State Of Mind…
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I was starting to have the feeling that things where changing here in Amerikkka. I was starting to think that the American creed of Freedom, Justice, and Equality was starting to be applied to all races and was just not exclusively for the rich, high class, white people. I was starting to think with the rise of Barack Obama that maybe, just maybe we where starting to be treated equally in all facets of American society. I mean even though Barack Obama is of mixed race he is in every aspect looked upon as a black man. When I saw people like Ted Kennedy, John Kerry, and the likes of them embracing Obama I started to feel like, wow MLK’s dream is being realized! A black man is not being judged by the color of his skin but by the content of his character.
My fairy tale came to a screeching halt on Friday April 25th 2008 when the Sean Bell verdict came down. I was reminded quickly and swiftly that a black man’s life has never had any value here in Amerikkka. Detectives Michael Oliver, Gescard Isnora, and Marc Cooper, the three New York City police officers accused of shooting 50 times and murdering Sean Bell, were found not guilty on all counts. Oliver fired 31 times and claims to not remember shooting the first time that’s why he reloaded and started shooting again? How could Judge Arthur Cooperman not find that utterly insane? Is that not the epitome of incompetence? When I hear a man speak like that I have to question his mental state and have to wonder is he even psychologically fit to be a cop. Isnora, who fired 11 times, had been charged with manslaughter, felony assault, and reckless endangerment. Cooper, who fired four times, faced up to a year in jail if convicted of reckless endangerment. They faced up to 25 years in prison if convicted on all charges, yet they where all found not guilty.
Another black man murdered; two others shot the fuck up and the old ass white judge Arthur Cooperman’s reasoning was the demeanor of the witnesses made him question their character and the past police records of the victims played a role in his decision. Wow, so Malcolm X had a police record, he was a former felon; Martin Luther King Jr. had a police record also. He had been to jail several times. Does Judge Arthur Cooperman believe those great brother’s murders where justified because of their past records? Since Judge Arthur Cooperman wants to talk about character and demeanor I have to question the character of every NYPD police officer I run into now because of the murderous demeanor of these cops who got off, not to mention the murderous demeanor of the cops who killed Eleanor Bumpurs, Michael Stewart, and Amadou Diallo. The same way they can’t tell a good black man from a black man who might actually be causing them a threat, I can’t tell the difference between a good cop who might really being trying to protect and to serve and a bad cop who can’t wait to use his brand new government issued pistol on me.
Situations like this are why the hood says fuck the police. This is why the stop snitching campaign is in effect because even when it’s justified for me to cooperate and help, why should I cooperate and help a system that will never cooperate and help my black ass? When Barack Obama speaks of people being bitter and having no faith in government this is why. Verdicts like this are the reason we cling to our respective religions, why we cling to our guns and why we have resentment towards a so called justice system that delivers us an injustice every chance they get. I must say Amerikka stayed true to tradition with that verdict. They reminded everyone that a black man’s life has absolutely no value here in Amerikkka.
Have you ever read 100 Years of Lynching by Ralph Ginzburg? Pick that up and read how a black man in Louisiana was lynched by an orderly mob on March 17th, 1908 because he was suspected of stealing a mule. Read how on July 14th, 1914 in Mississippi a black man was hung because he was suspected of stealing cows. Read how on December 5, 1914 in Spartanburg, SC they hung a black man because he was suspected of stealing a chicken. History continues to repeat itself. In 2007 Michael Vick was sent to prison because he fought and killed dogs, and in 2008 three cops who kill a black man get off? Animal life has more value than a black man here in Amerikkka.
It’s a damn shame in 2006 Sean Bell was killed because he was suspected of having a gun, the same way a black man was killed because he was suspected of stealing a cow. Well, these public killings, lynching, if you will, still go on today because on November 25th 2006 Sean Bell was shot and the public hanging and burning of Sean Bell’s body happened on April 27, 2008 when that abortion of justice was handed down as a verdict. How am I supposed to feel empowered as a young black man in Amerikkka? When situations like this happen a feeling of fear comes over the black community. If I’m educated they can still shoot me down if they want to, if I’m rich they can still shoot me down if they want to, if I’m a highly religious spiritual leader they can still shoot me down if they want to.
This public lynching of Sean Bell rekindles the fear they want us to have for the system. It’s the same fear slave masters like Willie Lynch instilled in his slaves while he spoke on the banks of the James River in the colony of Virginia in 1712. He demanded those devils to instill fear in black people because it was a cardinal rule to make a Negro submissive. The Sean Bell verdict is the equivalent of taking the meanest and most restless negro, stripping him of his clothes in front of the other male negroes as well as the female and the kids, tying each leg to a horse faced in opposite directions, setting the brother on fire, and beating both horses to pull him apart in front of the remaining negroes. This puts the fear of this evil system into black people. Not only will they be submissive, but they won’t get out of line.
Well I’m telling you black people all I fear is Allah. I submit to no one but the creator. I’m telling you it’s time to get out of line, No Justice, No Peace. All you leaders calling for peace, I understand you but it’s against the laws of nature. It’s against the laws of Karma. What’s about to happen is Cause and Effect. Good Deeds create good consequences, injustice creates war. You must destroy in order to build, that’s a Universal Principal that existed before us and it’s going to be here after we are gone. You gang bangers want to bang, well now is the time and that energy should not be directed at each other anymore. I can show you who the real enemy is. You brothers are going to have to start being the frontline of defense in the communities.
It’s not a black versus white thing either. I know white people who are just as pissed about this situation as we are. Racism is a learned behavior. Whites where not born to hate blacks and blacks where not born to hate whites. The law of karma, the law of cause and effect, and the law of polarity have created these racist conditions. We must unlearn what we have learned and see each other in each other and fight together because the truth is, with all these black men falling in love with white women and having babies that look like Barack Obama, whose to say your child might not be getting murdered by this evil system in the future? As Martin Luther King Jr. said an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and we will get justice in the words of Malcolm X, “By Any Means Necessary.”
(Source)
—FRESH
