(above photograph – Ross D. Franklin/AP)
Over the weekend at the Netroots Nation Conference ( a Progressive event), Martin O’Malley, who is a candidate running to win the Democratic Nomination for President of the United States, was being interviewed by the host, Jose Antonio Vargas. O’Malley’s interview was interrupted when Black Activists came on stage. This is how part of it went down.
One Black Activist, Patrice, spoke saying, “We are in a state of emergency. If you don’t know that emergency, you are not human. I want to hear concrete actions (question directed at O’Malley) and I want to hear an action plan.”
O’Malley responded with, “Let me say a couple of things. All of us as Americans have a responsibility to recognize the pain and the grief throughout our country for all of the lives that have been lost to violence, whether at the hands of police or civilians.”
His response was met with heckling.
O’Malley tried to respond, saying: “This is … let me … sure. I’ll just share with you … I’m trying to respond as best I can. No … hey. Look … I know, I know.”
O’Malley continued with: “Every life matters and that is why this issue is important. Black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter.”
With this, they literally “booed” his ass right off the stage.
I have been listening to people talk about this all day long with many scratching their heads saying, “What was wrong with O’Malley saying ‘all lives matter’ ?” They do not understand and are literally perplexed by the “backlash” Martin O’Malley is receiving. They do not understand why his comments are being perceived by many folk as being racially insensitive to black people.
I will humbly attempt to sum up in a few paragraphs what could literally take a lifetime to try and make others understand. Here we go… The “Black Lives Matter” movement is not something new in America. Black people have been trying to convince white folk of this truth for eons…but to little or no avail. It was even hard to convince Abraham Lincoln of this truth. Yes…even Abraham Lincoln. Let me explain. While Abraham Lincoln did not think that black folk should be held in slavery, he did not (and, I repeat), he did not think black folk to be his equal.
In a speech at Peoria, Illinois, on October 16, 1854, Abraham Lincoln said:
In attacking slavery, he went on to say further:
“Let it not be said I am contending for establishment of political and social equality between whites and blacks. I have already said the contrary.”
So, if someone does not view you as their equal, how could they view your life…to be as valuable as their life? They couldn’t. They wouldn’t. God says, there is nothing new under the sun. As in the times of yesterday (slavery), many…far too many… hearts of white folk have the same view, today, that Abraham Lincoln held back then. “Black folk don’t need to be held in bondage, but they sure as hell better not try to put their feet under my table.” Stay with me now… O.k.
These kind of views have been smacking black folk in the face for a very long time. It has occurred…even after slavery ended, when black folk were lynched just because some white folk felt like doing that…that day. It has occurred when black children were killed during the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. It has occurred when the black person didn’t get the job (“your over qualified” type of bullshit) even when they were the best applicant. It has occurred when the white student was given extra classes (secretly) in high school so they could beat the black student out for Valedictorian when the black student had the better GPA at the beginning of the high school senior year. It has occurred when citizens like Eric Garner were murdered, in broad daylight, by the people who are paid by taxpayers to protect all citizens. It has occurred when the killers have not been charged and convicted for the crime of murdering Eric Garner. It has occurred when 9 black folk were shot to death, during bible study, in Charleston, South Carolina in the year of our Lord, 2015. Can you hear me people? Do you understand… yet??? Let me continue.
O.k… White folk ain’t never been through what black folk have been through in this country we call the “United States of America.” We may say that the states are united…but I know for damn sure…that it’s people are not. How can a people truly unite if one group refuses to acknowledge and understand the degree of the unjustified suffering, pain, horrors, oppression, cruelty, disrespect that the other group has experienced & continues to experience in this country? How can a people unite if one group refuses to apologize for their part & the part of their ancestors in the other group’s most miserable plights?
So, you see… How could the Black Activists at the Netroots Convention unite with Martin O’Malley when he refuses to see the unique plight of injustices that black folk are going through, still, in this country? How could the Black Activists at the Netroots Convention unite with Martin O’Malley when he refuses to see that even God, is not a respecter of persons?
When Martin O’Malley said, “Every life matters and that is why this issue is important. Black lives matter, white lives matter, all lives matter” in the context of what the Black Activists were trying to explain to him, O’Malley was basically saying to black folk, “I don’t give a shit about what’s happening in your lives that make you think white folk don’t value your lives as much as they value their own.” Martin O’Malley expressed the same view, in his own way, that Abraham Lincoln held. Again, that view is, “black folk are not my equal.”
Iris R. Whiting ©
