When did the horrors of murder and brutality become normalized in news and media? Some may answer that question considering the first weeks of July, claiming that seeing Philando Castile, Alston Sterling and even the police officers murdered in Dallas are the reasons we are no longer surprised by these horrors.
Another may say that all the violence and police brutality of 2015 really started it all, that Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Roy Nelson and 99 more victims are what desensitized them to the ugly truth of murder and brutality. One might also add that it was really 2014 that began the tragedies with the murder of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in a public park for having an Airsoft replica gun or even Trayvon Martin in 2012, the most memorable case for most people because they view it as the “first” instance of police brutality and murder.
In reality, we are subjected to this imminent desensitization by news and media in about the fourth grade. We are shown photographs and drawings of slaves in cotton fields, tobacco farms and even in the street with “masters.” We are shown these images mildly, the men and women are standing, working peacefully. In the seventh grade, we are taught about slave trade, touching briefly upon the “close quarters” men and women were shoved into on large slave trade boats. We are shown a drawing of people crammed together, but not told of the sickening and deadly conditions they were confined to. When we get to high school we are taught the realities of slaves, slave trade and slave labor. We are finally taught about how black men and women were dragged from their homes and families kicking and screaming, men being beaten and women raped along with their children. We are shown images of people of color bent over being whipped and beaten nearly, if not actually, to death. We are shown small children malnourished and dehydrated, working for The White Man. We learn that in early America being black is no different than being an animal.
Fast forward to the Civil Rights Movement and we learn about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks and Malcolm X, just a few names that paved the way for Civil Rights in America. Along with these names, we learn of segregation and racism. We see images of black and white separate bathrooms, water fountains and schools. Though we are shown speeches, fists in the air and picket signs, we are more often shown dogs attacking black protestors. We see the images of fire hoses flowing so forcefully people are knocked down and running in fear. We see white police beating down both men and women of color. We even see the images of the vibrant white KKK robes and the pink toned white of the men who wear them. We are casually shown the images of lynched men swaying lifelessly by trees, people charred blacker than the skin tone they had no choice to be born in and faces beaten so violently they are swollen beyond recognition.
From the time we are small children, thinking nothing of our black friends playing with us at recess, we are stripped of our blissful ignorance and taught the historical difference between black and white. We grow up knowing that our neighbors, teachers and friends came from a place of oppression and dehumanization. From as early as most of us can remember we are molded into the desensitized individuals that we have all become.
Realizing this, I want each and every person to wonder why the dead body of Alston Sterling was on the cover of a newspaper and the dead bodies of the officers in Dallas were not. It is because, even today, in the back of certain minds is the belief that some people are better than others and therefore the lesser party deserves less respect. Even in the cases of blatant murder, the headlines do not read “homicide,” “cold-blooded killer” or even “tragedy.” The headlines read “shooting” or “killing” or “unarmed man,” unarmed and unidentified and forgotten by the time the next headline comes about.
It is the responsibility of each of us to realize that we grow up desensitized to racism and the belittling of people that are not white. We are taught stereotypes and who is new to having rights. Each of us needs to take responsibility for becoming more sensitive to these heinous realities and never forget the names of those who are unjustly murdered by police brutality and racism. This is not new and it is not normal. It did not start with Trayvon or MLK Jr. it started with the people who built our country with their bare, broken hands. Acknowledge this, remember it and never forget it.
