Black Men Continue to be Murdered by Racist Police Simply for Living While Black

by Kenny Anderson

"No Black person in America should be shocked at the ongoing racist police murders of Black men. From slavery to the present Black men have been routine victims of racist murders simply for Living While Black" - Kwado Akoma Akofena

Jemel Roberson 

The trend of racist police killings of Black men has shown no signs of letting up, with the latest being a Black male security guard ‘Jemel Roberson’ killed by police (Nov 11th ) at a bar in suburban Chicago (Robbins, Illinois) as he detained a suspected gunman according to officials and witnesses.

Jemel Roberson, 26, who was armed with a legally owned firearm chased down and caught one of the gunman pinning him down waiting on the police to arrive.

Moments after police came on the scene, a white officer immediately believing Roberson was a suspect opened fire killing him. Indeed Roberson was murdered for ‘doing his job while Black’.

According to some of Roberson’s friends he was a spiritual man, besides his security guard job they say he worked as a gospel musician at several nearby churches and had dreams of joining the police force. The pastor of Purposed Hill Church in Chicago Patricia Hill stated: "The very people that he wanted to be family with took his life.”

Botham Shem Jean

Two months before Roberson’s murder an off-duty Dallas, Texas white female police officer Amber Guyger shot and killed another 26 year-old Black male ‘Botham Shem Jean’ on Sept. 6 after she wrongfully entered his apartment; Botham was murdered for being in his own apartment while Black!

Antwon Rose

An over two months before Botham’s murder (June 19) a 17-year-old Black male ‘Antwon Rose’ was shot and killed in Pittsburgh, PA by a white police officer Michael H. Rosfeld during a traffic stop. Rose was murdered for riding in a car while Black!

As Black Men We Need a Serious Shift From The Dominant White Male Viewpoint

by Kenray Sunyaru

Growing up in a society from its inception based on White supremacy from presidents George Washington to Donald Trumpism, I have realized that the overwhelming majority of Whites in this country become extremely uncomfortable when Blacks, especially Black men frankly discuss and expose racial oppression.

Nowadays, too often many Blacks also feel uncomfortable when racism is addressed in an up-front 'tell it like it is' manner because it exposes Black apathy and irresponsibility. What Whites are comfortable with is a cosmetic - 'perfuming the scorpion' Black superficial view of racism, such as acceptable non-power slogans of ‘We Shall Overcome One Day’, ‘Can We All Just Get Along’, and let us just ‘Forgive and Forget’.

I realized very early in my life as a child that I could not and would not accept the dominant White male viewpoint of the world. As a child, I would ask Black adults why Blacks were treated so badly and why Whites lived so much better; I was told "this was the White man's world." In other words white supremacy and Black subordination was ordained by God.

When I went to church as a child I had a problem accepting a picture of a white Jesus hanging on the wall in an all-Black church as the Son of God. Even in my young mind as a child, logically, if Jesus the son was white, then God the father had to be white. This religious imagery was based on whiteness being Godliness.

Though I support liberation theology, I am not a Christian today because of racist theological imagery, along with how the Bible was used as justification to enslave 'so-called' heathen Africans. One of the first slave ships to bring my Ancestors to these shores was the Spanish slave vessel, ‘Jesus Christos’, the good ship ‘Jesus Christ’.

I am reminded of Tupac's song, “Still I Rise”, Pac states: "Got me asking a White Jesus will a brother live or die”. From the Pope to Billy Graham, to the King James version of the Bible, the White male's viewpoint of Christianity dominates.

The White male viewpoint of the world totally dominates every facet of American life! White male news anchors like Chris Matthews, Brian Williams, Wolf Blitzer, Anderson Cooper, Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and others interpret national and world news from their perspectives. Moreover the White male viewpoint dominates daily newspapers across this country - seldom is the White male viewpoint of the world seriously challenged.

Malcolm X stated: “The white media's is the most powerful entity on earth; they have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power because they control the minds of the masses.” Indeed the white male viewpoint dominates because they control through their monopoly of institutional and corporate power. According to sociology professor Joe Feagin:

“Today, white men make up about 39 percent of the adult population. Yet, after several decades of affirmative action, the overwhelming majority of those who run most major political, economic, educational, and legal - justice organizations are still white men. Recent research shows that there is a concrete ceiling that blocks Black Americans, other Americans of color, and white women from the higher level positions in the society. White men control almost every major U.S. institution – from most Fortune 1000 companies and elite universities, to the presidency, the military, and federal and state legislatures. In most of these sectors, they make up 95 to 100 percent of those in the top positions. One 1980’s analysis of the 7,314 most powerful positions in major economic, political, and educational organizations found only 20 Black men and women, and 318 (mostly white women); altogether less than five percent of the total."

"Most recent studies have shown a similar dominance of major institutions by the white male minority. According to one mid-1990’s Newsweek report, white men were then dominant in the political sphere, holding 77 percent of House and Senate seats and 92 percent of the state governorships. In the corporate world even positions below the very top were held mostly by white men. White men were dominant in the mass media, holding 90 percent of newspaper editor positions and 77 percent of TV news director positions. Most high level executives in other business sectors are also white men. According to a recent report of the federal Glass Ceiling Commission, about 95 percent of the holders of corporate positions at the level of vice president and above are white men. Perhaps the clearest evidence of the corporate world’s failure to promote meritorious Black employees is the fact that in 1998 not a single one of the Fortune 1000 companies had a Black executive as its head. As we move into the twenty-first century, these patterns of white male dominance persist.”

With only one national Black television network, BET, which is dominated by music videos and comedy, and underwritten by White corporate sponsors; this format and dependency dilutes a progressive Black news viewpoint. The Black viewpoint is not based on serious analysis that represents our true issues and interests.

The Black viewpoint has been shaped by sports, laughter, entertainment, and religion. Shaped by athletes Lebron James, Steph Curry, and Tiger Woods; shaped by comedians Dave Chappell, Steve Harvey, Cederick the Entertainer, Martin Lawrence, Jamie Fox, Chris Tucker, Chris Rock, and the Wayan Brothers. Shaped by singer John Legend and rapper Jay Z; shaped by Black ministers like Al Sharpton, T.D. Jakes, and Creflo Dollar preaching pseudo-progressivism, moneyism, and emotionalism.

What must be clear is that a Black male viewpoint shaped by sports, jokes, singers/rappers, and religious hustlers will never lead to real progress or power; nor can it ever challenge a serious White male viewpoint. Black people like all human beings experience our own view points. Our experience has been shaped and dominated by White male supremacy, which has resulted in a repeating pattern of Black behavior that accepts racial oppression - a culture of resignation.

To break this pattern, the dominant White male viewpoint must be challenged through exposure and self-determination. We must be the advocates and selectors of our own viewpoints that represent our own interests.