What Would Fred Do?
Fred Hampton is one of my heroes. The probable heir to the Black Panther Party Chairmanship, Hampton had organized a truce between all the gangs of Chicago at the peak of the Civil Rights movement. This enabled the Chicago Panthers to focus on core issues such as political education, free breakfast, and community supervision of the police. As you may imagine, this did not please the powers that be in the United States, who were fundamentally opposed to the Civil Rights Movement. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover decided that Hampton made the Panthers the greatest domestic threat to the security of the United States and in conjunction with the Chicago Police Department, had him killed. Many people today question the origins and reasons for the violence on the South Side of Chicago. I would suggest to them that assassinating a community leader in the midst of a volatile era could catalyze a perpetual cycle of violence. I would suggest to them that in the absence of a successor the assassination of Fred Hampton created a vacuum of hope that even a future president was incapable of sealing.
I can’t help but think about Fred Hampton when I think about George Floyd. Not because George Floyd was a community activist like Hampton but because somewhere along the way, there must have been some incident that brought Hampton to his breaking point. There must have been some motivation for Hampton to join the Panthers. That’s the point I and many other black people found ourselves as we watched a man murdered on video for the whole world to see. As the video was distributed throughout the world, naturally, a couple of requests came in from work and from church to aid in the discussion and lamentation of this egregious event. To be honest, I didn’t feel properly equipped to be a facilitator or a presenter but I still said yes. Because in this sick country, the voices of black people are loudest when this country’s actions are most unjust. But is there anyone new left to listen?
Why do we consider riot an ugly word? Even the paragon of peaceful, non-destructive protest, Martin Luther King was willing to admit:
I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity
In an evaluation of power dynamics, the word riot anecdotally tends to be used most to describe a violent reaction by the oppressed against an oppressor. A massacre tends to be violence in the opposite direction. Nearly everyone on the political spectrum, myself included, hates the destruction of the property, neighborhoods, and cultural institutions that comes with riots. However, I would suggest that this particular riot would have never happened if peaceful protests by the black community weren’t previously dismissed and if Minnesota would have detained Derek Chauvin much sooner than seventy-two hours after George Floyd’s murder was seen across the world.
I’ve taken the time to read the rhetoric on Hacker News, Fox News, and r/conservative. Understanding my own persuasive limitations, I understand that the prevailing rhetoric on these three sites (Hacker News generally excluded) would suggest that I am not currently able to reach the individuals who lack the understanding of the connection between police brutality and white supremacy. I’ve racked my brain since the start of the Black Lives Matter movement as to how to reach those who don’t understand the fundamental issues but that appears I’m not able to do that. So how do I pivot in order to aid the movement? I want to explore ally empowerment.
Why do I want to focus on allies? Frankly, I’m exhausted from writing these posts in the hopes that those who oppose my basic human rights will read and understand. Clearly, I lack the persuasive or charismatic ability to effect change in the worldview of the supporters of black oppression. Consider that we have gone full circle since the death of Mike Brown: people complained about the protests where buildings burned, people complained about the protests that blocked highways, people complained about the protest where Kaepernick took a knee, and now, people are complaining about these protests where buildings burning. What upsets detractors is not the method of protest but that the protests were successful in disrupting the privilege of existing in a society that allows them to live a life devoid of any consideration about the inequities in the world around them.
On the other hand, allies exist within the middle. Allies have taken the step to acknowledge their ignorance and instead engage in understanding the pain of the aggrieved. It is unlikely that they will share the same lived experiences but through diligent education they can acquire empathy and understanding. Allies won’t be perfect. I repeat: allies won’t be perfect. How can we expect perfection of our allies when the faces of the Civil Rights Movement, from King to Kaepernick, were just as flawed? Just like racists aren’t born but are crafted so too are allies. In fact, with enough passion, you can find allies in the weirdest of places; look at the Black Panthers and the Young Patriots. Therefore, it is up to us who experience injustice to continue to educate those who are willing to learn about what they do not experience.
One pet peeve of mine in the modern Civil Rights Movement is the distinction between ally and aggrieved during the implementation of a protest, event, or mission. When we are discussing education, the distinction matters. However, when we begin execution, we must stop with delineation between aggrieved and ally because on the field of battle we are one. Allies need to know from us that we are on the same team. However, what the ally must understand is that in this compact, they are the sixth man. Their role is crucial in the pursuit of civil rights. Yet, there will be key moments when they are on the sidelines. They are not the franchise player. And that’s okay! I’m sure Golden State Warriors fans love Andre’ Iguodala as much as the rest of their starters.
There is definitely a strain of thought that African Americans aren’t responsible for educating and empowering our allies. While I fundamentally agree, the reality is that people aren’t always aware of what information they should be looking for. I understand why this would be exhausting for people and I think that it’s important during times of unrest and trauma that allies recognize that crisis probably not the best time to ask for education or resources for most people. But we as the aggrieved also have a responsibility to put forth the best argument for ourselves. I’ve heard it questioned that our allies can use Google at work but can’t use it to learn about systemic racism. However, if we are capable of advocating for ourselves at work, shouldn’t we also be capable of advocating for ourselves with respect to fundamental civil and human rights? I would argue that by living selflessly and educating our allies we are capable of amplifying our self-advocacy.
So what does that look like? I have some ideas on how I want to empower my allies. The first stage is to understand the place of protest in civic society. There is no better modern treatise on protest than Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” It provides rebuttals to some of the common rebukes to protests and demonstrations that were occurring during the Civil Rights Movement; rebukes that have persisted to this day. I think that anyone understanding what it means to be an ally needs to understand why we continue to march in spite of the bad actors who attempt to discredit our movements. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” remains timeless in this respect because the arguments of our detractors remain timeless.
The second way I want to empower my allies is for them to read more about our fundamentally broken criminal justice system. I believe this second stage is critical because it provides the foundation for enabling us to understand the journey from slavery to modern-day prison industrial complex and how that has impacted the black community and black leadership. The three books that are a part of my criminal justice track would be The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander, Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, and Rethinking Incarceration by Dominique Gilliard. I think that these books together paint a comprehensive picture of the ails of America’s criminal justice system from the country’s Puritan roots to the modern day prison industrial complex.
The last step is simply to get invested. Let me be perfectly clear: if you aren’t making mistakes, you aren’t invested. Colin Kaepernick made mistakes. Jimmy Fallon made mistakes. There are a lot of people in both the camp of the aggrieved and the camp of allies that have erred in their approach to racial equality. But just like Big Sean, they’ve bounced back. I believe that you can do the same. What does investment look like? Here are some simple ideas: buying into minority-owned businesses, donating money to non-profit organizations with a minority focus, or volunteering with non-profit organizations with a minority focus. It’s also having more than one black friend. Anyone who has felt comfortable enough to reach out to me should know that I’ve been hitting them up with “Letter from a Birmingham Jail.” I haven’t even responded to some of your messages yet because I’ve been taking an hour today to deal with the texts. It’s not even that many texts; like two or three a day. The point is: I don’t want to be your only black friend. Go make a better one. I’m a degenerate; it shouldn’t be hard.
Is there where I write the concluding paragraph? Well, I’d like to acknowledge there’s no biblical component to this to the consternation to some of my readers. If you haven’t figured out, I didn’t really want to write this and so I didn’t give 100%. But if you want to know what God and Jesus Christ might think about America wildin’ and having an embarrassing criminal justice system, you can refer to Leviticus, Deuteronomy, Jeremiah 6:14, and Matthew 21:12–15. There’s your starter pack off the top of my head. Go read the rest. But make sure you turn that Bible right-side up first. Love y’all. Go be great.