Laborers and the bounty

With 16,000 troops recently on the streets of London, I can think about what has happened must have come as a result of terrible acts of injustice, real or perceived to ferment frustration and revolt following the shooting of a young black man in the chest and arm killing him by a police officer. The incident brings memories back to the turbulent times in the USA during the civil rights movement when blacks were killed by police officers and the Ku Klux Klan without subsequent justice being rendered.

Hence a wide range of ages and races have gathered creating mayhem and social malaise. The challenge of a class system with people without jobs and feeling that their hands have been tied by a system and generations that have failed them by an unjustly flawed system.

On August 28 in 1963 America witnessed the historic March on Washington. This event of human force was a demonstration following years of unrest, mistreatment, disrespect, and injustice and a host of negative treatment to the Negro since their enslavement by America and its laws. August 28, 2011, is the date in which the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. statue in Washington, DC will be unveiled. The work of Dr. King was accomplished during the turbulent civil rights movement in the fight for justice. When he was assassinated on April 4, 1968 however, the active movement drew to a chilling stop leaving much work to be done. A part of the work still to be completed in its new phase is to teach residents how to manage their lives as they work with law enforcement officials.

Most minorities and marginalized people have yet to understand how they can stay alive when addressing turbulent circumstances, and not get caught up in the judicial system whereby they are spending hard to earn cash and years in jail or on parole.

The civil rights movement sought to bring rights to a class of Negros in preparation through advancements in education and access to opportunities for the protected class in the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendment of the US Constitution. The middle class of African Americans have grown exponentially since the civil rights movement with advancements in education, upward mobile careers, Title VII laws and Fair Housing and Voting Rights statues passage.

Each of these legislative actions served to provide opportunity and access for African Americans, yet with these advancements, a growing underclass continues. Therefore, the class of marginalized Americans need the benefits gained by those who were afforded opportunities to attend law schools and the like to share their knowledge with the people who have not had such opportunities and who continue to struggle in neighborhoods impacted by intense legal clashes with police officers. We must teach the people what their rights are under the law so that they can help save themselves and elevate their families and communities.

We must learn to think deeply about what can be accompanied with new knowledge and new experiences. The prudent and responsible operation is to bring that information back to the masses so that the tide of humanity can be lifted from the dungeon of threats, mistrust and hatred. Witnessing what is happening in London, witnessing the unveiling of Dr. King’s Monument in Washington next week are concurrent acts that should increase the middle class citizens urgency to do more for the underclass through acts of devotion to a cause that laid down a foundation for your success through the blood of families that suffered for the freedom America’s African American middle class enjoy today.

We must remember that the Civil Rights laborers did not labor for the subsequent generations to eat the bounty and not replenish it for the next generation. Too many risks were taken. Too many families were subject to abused. Too many people were hurt and damaged. Much was lost including lives, homes, and the destructions of families. So with this unveiling of Dr. King’s statue on the anniversary of the historic March on Washington, Americans of all races need to step it up a notch, as going backward is an unacceptable option for progress.

Progress can also be made in London as it was made in the USA, which will relieve racial, class and economic strife when like-minded people unite on the common cause for justice and fairness. It will come in the aftermath of social power interjected with people participating on their on behalf and for a new kind of inclusive governmental system that creates policies to benefit all. Still there will be much work to do.

May God bless and I will see you next week.