9 INNOCENT LIVES FOR A SYMBOL: BLACK AMERICA SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF ITSELF FOR FALLING FOR THIS STUPID TRICK

I agree that the flag is offensive. But people have been yelling and screaming for the flag to go from public displays for decades. Yet, ask yourself, why are White people, even some southern Whites, so suddenly adamant about its removal? Why did it take the cold blooded terroristic murder of nine innocent Black people to call attention to this? The flag had nothing to do with it. It's a low-priced concession that falsely concerned white people, and overly excited black people, are ready to take in exchange for those lives. And that cheapens their lives into political bartering chips. As if removing a symbol is enough to placate our anger. Why does everyone assume that all Black people are equally offended by the symbol? Some of us care very little about it. There are far more offensive things we see every day.

The reality is that many White people don't want to deal with what really killed those people, so they attack a symbol and rally around its removal as some cheap token of justice. Where were these concerned and color blind White people a few years back when we wanted it removed? So in essence, what this tells Black America is that for even the most trivial of racial concerns to be addressed, more of our people have to be slaughtered? No. I don't agree with this. It shouldn't take that. People should not have to be shot down like animals in a church for White America to pay attention to our grievances--especially the minuscule ones.

The root of this tragedy is a mentality and a socio-political system of disenfranchisement, brutality, injustice, and segregation. It's all based upon ignorance, hatred, and fear. Those need to be addressed. Not some tired symbol that makes some of us uncomfortable (another example of White people making assumptions about how all of us think). But if these are to be addressed, then the positions of power and privilege held and enjoyed by some White people will come under scrutiny.

They don't want that because they realize many of these seats were gained and maintained through this immoral system. So, while everyone is angry, these suddenly concerned people sneak in, sympathize with the grieving and angry Black people and say, "Oh, it's high time we remove the Confederate flag from being displayed. If it was not flying high about the capital building, this horrific event could have been avoided. Will that make you happy Black America?" It's the same sort of empty gesture as removing the "Whites Only" signs from bathrooms and water fountains. It's a shallow superficial adjustment. in the end, the system is fundamentally unchanged and thus remains intact. Truthfully, a symbol only holds as much power and meaning as we allow it to. That flag did not influence that monster to kill those Black people. Many can focus on what makes us feel discomfort. I'm concerned with what causes our destruction. Why is this flag all of a sudden the focus and not the factors that made this White terrorist commit these heinous acts? It's the ultimate bait and switch and Black people jumping up and down like we have gained some sort of victory should be ashamed of themselves. You all fell for the OKEY-DOKE!

If White America is serious about change: freedom, justice and equality, then how about removing more than just a flag? Instead of removing a symbol, why don't you remove racial profiling, barriers to access to a quality education, decent housing, and effective healthcare? Not in a social welfare sort of way, but in a way where a man's skin color will not disallow him from enjoying the benefits of his labor as other people do. Instead of taking down a flag, why don't you take down the corporate-prison-industrial complex, take down brutal nature with which we are policed, take down the draconian laws that lock us up in prison more often and for longer periods of time than Whites. If you want to rid something from your eyesight, then rid the way Black people are portrayed in the media and forms of entertainment. I'm tired of seeing our men as thugs, slaves, coons, sidekicks, and violent psychopaths. I'm tired of seeing out women as picka-ninnies, subservient obese mammies, voluptuous empty sex objects, or loud raging neck-rolling-hair-weave-shaking hood rats on television fighting one another. How about you address these things and leave that stupid meaningless flag alone.

WHEN BEING WHITE IS HEARTBREAKING

A couple of days ago I was speaking to a very close friend of mine. We've been friends and colleagues for a number of years. He has three beautiful children; a seven year old son and two younger daughters. He's a very proud and educated man. He's has achieved a high rank in the military and is very involved in his local church and community. Recently, his son was talking to his wife and he said, "Mom, I wish I was White." She asked him why and he answered, "Because they are better than us." When my friend Jamal told me this it hurt my heart. I'm sure it hurt his even more. He said upon hearing this from his wife, he was almost brought to tears. He immediately took his son in private and talked to him. He showed him a photo of Barak Obama and explained to him absolutely no one is better than him and that his skin color has nothing to do with his value. He told him to look at President Obama as an example of someone who could be anything he wants to be despite the color of his skin.

That is a particular facet of the Obama presidency that is lost on a lot of people. It symbolizes a lot more than him just being another "Black First." Because White males have traditionally dominated positions of power and seats of vocal influence, many Black kids (myself included) erroneously grew up feeling that there are two worlds of possibilities; the heights that White children can achieve and the limited opportunities given to those that are Black. For example, when I was a child in the 1980's and 1990's, I would've never ever believed America would field a Black president in my lifetime. Yes, my thinking was that limited. Most of those in my generation would tell a similar testimony if they were honest.

After we spoke for sometime about this, I began to think about how a little boy who lives in a stable home with both of his parents in a nice middle-class neighborhood could come to the conclusion that his Black skin was still a sign of inferiority in the 2015. Furthermore, this is occurring while someone of his same skin color is actually occupying the highest office in the land. Think about that for a minute. It would have to come from other sources of learning that he's exposed to.

Let's be honest, our children are by and large influenced by their peers and television shows/movies. It is from these sources that their minds are infiltrated and shaped. I always harp on the ways that Black people are represented in mass media and all forms of entertainment. Here's proof that we have a long way to go. Television shows, news reports, movies, and even cartoons are still saturated with images of Black men and women that are foolish, silly, unattractive, dimwitted, lazy, sexually driven, gullible, hot-tempered, violent, loud, illiterate, emotional, etc. They are more commonly portrayed as slaves, cheap labor, criminals, gang members, pimps, loose women, shady religious figures, buffoons, athletes, single welfare mothers, unruly children, and poor. Children are not stupid. They are very intelligent and pick up on all of these representations of people like them. Not only this, these images are put up against representations of White people as leaders, heroes, super heroes, government officials, coaches, teachers, soldiers, geniuses, scientists, models, police officers, and the cool kids in school like the popular cheerleaders or the handsome athletes. In group settings, the White guy is the leader and the brains of the operation. If there's a Black kid, he's either a dumb hot tempered brute who is used for his strength or the clown of the group who is full of slang and witty jokes. A great example of this is the popular TV Show, The A-Team (which was remade as a feature film in 2010). In posters and advertisements of movies and TV shows that contain a majority White cast, if there is a Black person included, he/she is pictured in the back or the side. This is a clear symbol of them being minor in importance and thus included just as a form of tokenism to give an impression of diversity. Even in religions programming, the heroes and inspirational figures are always White. Not to mention how many super hero movies are filled with White people with a few Black sidekicks scattered around. When your child opens magazines, advertisements for all types of products mostly include White people with bright White teeth, White women with beautiful shiny hair, White men with large bulging muscles, White families harmoniously riding around in brand new SUV's, White children happily enjoying the latest sugary cereal, etc.

People think such things are trivial and like to minimize their importance. But when it's a society and a system that has historically portrayed your kind in an overwhelmingly favorable light, you will fail to notice it. Also when it is brought to your attention, you won't see it as the  grave issue that it truly is. Not until it is your child coming home wishing to be something other than what he/she is, will you take it seriously. It will finally break your heart to learn this because your child has been brainwashed to believe that his/her skin color entraps him/her into a life of being second best and inferior. But then again, in America, that's how things are. Nothing becomes an epidemic or serious social problem until it affects White kids.

SHUT UP AND WATCH THE MOVIE FIRST... IDIOT!

I finally finished watching American Sniper. Great film... Let me first of all say, that over 90% of you all that bashed the film, most likely didn't even watch it. You lazily looked at reviews or read the tweets and posts of bigoted idiots that said the film stirred their disdain for Muslims/Arabs. For someone to look at this film and come away with negative feelings towards Muslims/Arabs because some were killed in it, is idiotic to say the least. Furthermore, for people to witness the moronic behavior of such people and then claim the movie is anti-Arab/Muslim is insane. Americans were killed in the film as well--by another sniper no less. This movie does not demonize Arabs, Muslims, or Iraqis at all. It is an inside and raw look at the effects of war in general and the Iraqi war specifically.

It is not about just his acts that some people deem heroic. That's up for the viewer to decide. Having been deployed myself and having had four of my six younger brothers do numerous tours to Iraq, Afghanistan, or both, I can tell you firsthand, there's nothing glorious, beautiful, or heroic about war. War sucks. War is hell. War is death, misery, and destruction--for all involved; except for the politicians that claim victory and the private companies that profit from it. For people to say that this film was nothing but and Arab/Muslim kill-fest is so far from reality.

The film, among other things, is a brilliant juxtaposition about the costs of war. Even the concept of victory (in the context of war) is short-lived and ill-conceived. For example, on the battlefield, Mr. Kyle was seen as a warrior who never tasted defeat. Yet, away from the front lines, when he was at home, he was losing his family in the process. Out of ten years, he did four tours in Iraq. He was saving lives but his marriage was dying and his kids were growing up without him. He lost brothers in arms and with each death a part of him was gone as well. Not to mention he was forced to live with the guilt thereof. In addition, as he became synonymous with death, he himself began to die slowly by becoming more and more like the cold steel rifles he used to "do his job." In essence, he was becoming a machine--a weapon--a tool of death. And as the body count increased, his humanity decreased.

But people that come to the movie to find fault with their tired anti-American garbage will miss the nuances, metaphors, and shared struggles we face with Mr. Kyle. In the end, his attempt at redemption finally cost him his own life by the same means that he was forced to take them--from the bullet on a man in uniform. I repeat, the movie is great. But anytime you go to watch or listen to something with your mind already made up, you cheat yourself from the experience and end up parroting some other idiotic, close minded person.

This film is not about American foreign policy. Trust me, we in uniform and out of uniform can clearly see that our government's foreign policies and geopolitical political stances are stupid, hypocritical, counterproductive, wasteful, and even can at times be classified and inhumane and treasonous. We know that we had no business in Iraq and Saddam Hussein had as much to do with 9-11 as Krusty the Clown. We also know that the whole "Weapons of Mass Destruction" and "Nuclear Capabilities" reasoning was a sham. Trying to tie this biopic into that is also a stretch of the same illogical proportions. Whether you agree with the actions of Mr. Kype or not is up to you. But one thing cannot be argued; what he did took courage, intelligence, skill, love for his fellow men in arms, and cold concentration. Did he murder innocent people? Maybe. Did he follow orders. Yes. Was he simply a trigger happy redneck from Texas that one day hoped a movie about his life would influence people to hate Arabs and Muslims? Absolutely not.