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It’s not about that…??
Too many people don’t want to talk about “it”! They claim, sale “It’s not 
about that!” This past week we commemorated on December 6, vialis 40mg 2015, 150 years since Congress ratified the 13th amendment to the Constitution. The 13th amendment states, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” Although institutional chattel slavery was henceforward deemed unlawful in the U.S., there was a caveat to the amendment, which allows for the institutionalization of slavery as a punishment for crime (where the party has been duly convicted). Hmmmm? Did we abolish slavery or didn’t we? Words matter – definitions matter and so does the context in which those words and definitions are used. The framers of the 13th amendment seemed to carve out an exception whereby slavery and involuntary servitude can exist in a “free” society. Rather than pulling up by the root and completely eradicating any form of slavery, arguably this nation’s greatest shame, the founders’ fatal flaw in creating an exception within the context of the amendment, was to plant the seeds for the institutionalized and structural racism we live with as a nation in contemporary America. The seeds planted over 150 years ago took root, and continue to be cultivated, growing within the cultural, social, and political landscape of the American society.
Social Justice, and the struggle for equal representation under the law, is a continuous battle from the streets, to the courthouse, and throughout the criminal justice system. The highest court in the land has justices who, without thought, spout discriminatory rhetoric targeting, specifically, the very African-descended people who were the historically enslaved and now have become the disproportionally incarcerated, economically diminished, and systematically denied access to the life, liberty and pursuit of happiness promised to every American by the Declaration of Independence. Fundamentally, we must interrogate the premise that the United States of America has a contradictory and conflicted history when we look at the prospect of life, liberty, freedom, and justice for ALL?
The current politics of repetition, the lack of standards in truth-telling and fact-checking seem to be more prolific than ever. People generally don’t care about what is actually legal or not, what is unconstitutional or, even, what we stand for as a nation. “Let’s just carpet bomb them into oblivion!” No one applauding that initiative seems to care that to do so would constitute a WAR CRIME! Currently, we are having a casting call for the next President of the United States, the leader of the “Free World.” The requirements for the job demand that the applicants be thoughtful and deliberative in their decision-making. They should be of excellent reputation and an individual of temperance not given to emotional outbursts or easily provoked. This individual should not be continuously making baseless claims, spewing false truths laced with bigotry or shouting boastful proclamations where “I”, “me” and “myself” are the subject, noun and verb of each sentence, paragraph or proposal. The content of one’s character matters in leadership and so does their disposition. That, alone, should disqualify “some folks” from getting an interview for the job.
We have been refusing to call the demonization of the Muslim community by the so-called leaders in this country what it is. There are leaders in politics, civic leaders, community leaders, church leaders and educators all over America who are complicit in fanning the flames of bigotry and hatred. Fear and ignorance continue to dominate social media. Silence is compliance. If you do not put out the flames by speaking out against the hate, ignorance and fear, those very flames will ultimately consume you. It is about THAT!
Up Next Week: There’s a Jewish refugee… Christians claim to know!
