Hollywood actor Blair Underwood was caught being interviewed by CNN’s Piers Morgan while black. He made some
profound statements once Morgan raised the subject of Trayvon
Martin. Morgan has more or less been the network overseer
when it comes to blacks and their freedom of opinions in
pretty much the same mold as Fox’s Bill O’Reilly. Especially
in the case of a young black male of 17 getting shot by
an adult overgrown white Hispanic man with a gun. CNN’s
overseer led off the Trayvon part of the discussion with
“What do you say to your son, who’s walking home in that
situation, if a George Zimmerman appears on the scene? What
do you now say? Has it changed?”
Note:
Morgan’s question “has it changed?” Has what changed? Notice
this sly inquiry; overseer Morgan wants to know what black
fathers (the few that are perceived to be remaining) are
saying to their sons about them. Underwood, who is currently
on Broadway starring opposite Nicole Ari Parker in a modern
remake of “A Streetcar Named Desire,” and Morgan exchanged
a few words about “hoodies” and then Underwood stated, “The
point is, as I said to my son, you’re beautiful. And I always
preface the word black with beautiful. Your beautiful black
skin is a threat to some people. It is a sad reality, but
it is a reality. It’s something my father told me. And I
grew up in a house with middle-class privilege. I mean he
was an Army officer, to a certain extent. And he said your
presence is a political statement. My father told me that.
I said that to my son.”
Underwood’s
phrase “political statement” as just pertaining to black
skin is my first time ever hearing of that and yet, it’s
extremely believable. Most of us have lived this, blacks
know what it’s like to be viewed as what Underwood called
a “threat” from a variety of different angles. The biggest
problem with these facts however, is not with whites or
White America. Something is being handed down among men
in the Underwood family that I fear is not taking place
in many other black families. I’m not just referring to
a lack of discussion about the “birds and the bees,” I’m
talking about that other “facts of life” discussion that
has much more to do with the blacks and the blues. By blues
I don’t mean music, I’m talking the blue para-military uniforms
associated with most police forces around the country.
Man-to-boy,
father-to-son talk along these lines is rare today in a
nation where 72% of black children are raised in single-parent
households. Not only are most of the parents the mother,
but some of the fathers and single black fathers have been
cowering-back on talking to their sons or daughters on the
subject of what to do when confronted by a racist. This,
regardless of whether the racist of the moment is a typical
average citizen, to someone white who is occupying a position
of trust: Police Officer, School Teacher, or even Neighborhood
Watchman.
I
know that many of you now reading this, black and white
want me to push for black parents to talk to their sons
about confronting another black youth who stands to be a
greater statistical or more frequent danger to his or her
son. That’s part of the problem. Crime in general is an
intramural sport; like most politics, it’s local. Even in
cases where there is violence just between blacks, white
judges, cops or laws written by myopic and detached white
legislators always stand to impose backwards rulings. Perfect
example is another case in Florida having to do with “Stand Your Ground” that the southern state’s
news media has much more success in hiding than they did
with the Trayvon Martin case. In fact way before George
Zimmerman there was Marissa Alexander. This was a potentially
life or death altercation between two people that the Florida Judicial
System saw fit to initially and purposely make a bad
call on, while patting themselves on the backs at what looks
to be the final sentencing.
Like
Zimmerman, Marissa held the gun, like Trayvon, she is black.
Like Zimmerman she pulled the trigger, unlike Zimmerman
she only fired to scare. There were no casualties except
for probably her husband’s underwear. Easy call for Florida,
she goes to jail. Marissa was known to have undergone spousal
abuse for at least a year, and was cornered by her husband
Rico Gray. On 8/1/10 she ran for the garage, fearing for
her life. The door was jammed, so she grabbed a pistol,
and as Gray was approaching she raised it over her head
and pulled the trigger. She is about to do hard time for
only hitting the ceiling (the Judge refused to grant her a retrial just days ago). Clearly
this sister, a college graduate with no prior record, is
not a killer in even the most remote sense of the word.
Florida, on the other hand, has what they call a 10-20-Life
Statues measure that allows their pro-redneck judges to
cherry-pick who’s right and who’s wrong as much as Stand
Your Ground does (I don’t have to tell you that they have
been claiming Stand Your Ground doesn’t apply to her case
even with Rico’s violent history of abuse and the circumstances).
Just firing the pistol itself is a mandatory 20-year sentence
(she could have received 25-to-life if she had aimed lower).
Reportedly
there is no language in the law that distinguishes malice
from fear. I don’t know Rico, but he seems to be an IGNANT
MFer, he openly boasted from the witness stand during
trial that he has five baby mamas and he regularly beats
4 of them, and Marissa was just 9 days removed from giving
birth when this incident happened. In a Reality TV world,
the Rico-man is king. Whereas he should be under the jail,
he remains the beneficiary of some old white southern boys
who view the educated black woman as the greater “threat”
while he continues his Hustle and Flo’.
Obviously
the father and son conversation that is handed down in the
Underwood household was sorely missing in the Gray home.
Skin color was skillfully used as a political statement
in various versions of Stand Your Ground in numerous states,
with lawmakers reportedly admitting this is a white man’s
fantasy ruling that applies differently toward blacks. Not only won’t Rico be
punished, there’s the possibility that he may never “get
it.” Stand Your Ground was a repelling factor towards black
skin, failing to protect a black woman against an abusive
black man with a Hispanic name, months before it failed
to protect Trayvon from an abusive white Hispanic man (I’m
using “man” in both Rico and George’s case very loosely).
It
behooves all black parents to stop pretending racism is
over. Stop trying to use Christian dialogue to replace race
dialogue (you can be both conscious and Christian at the
same time you know). Turn off the TV and have that Black
& Blue Talk with both your sons and daughters.
BlackCommentator.com
Columnist Chris Stevenson is a syndicated columnist, his
articles also appear on his blog; the Buffalo Bullet.
Follow him on Twitter @pointblank009) and Facebook (pointblank009). Support his petition to permanently Abolish the Death
Penalty in the US the Troy Davis Bill, HR92111. Click here to contact Mr. Stevenson.
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