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To See The World Through Society

    Now This is a news source that is widely spread across the internet and social media, sharing many of the issues that roam our world like racism, pollution, inequality, and politics. They posted this video  which depicts a black father being pulled in by the cops as the cop claimed he was a sought after criminal by a warrant from Louisiana. The black father kept trying to resist the cop as his wife and children were watching his possible unreasonable arrest after just previously playing in their yard. As the police officer kept claiming the man by the wrong name, the man constantly defended himself by saying that he is not the name the officer was looking for nor was he ever a resident of Louisiana. His fear surged every time the cop pulled him away from his wife and kids and closer to the cop car. The cop gave up later and walked away as if nothing happened, no apology or acknowledgement that he was in the wrong. 

 I couldnt help but to be painfully reminded of my own personal experiences of the devastatingly common: racial profiling. I confess this with a heavy heart, I have always remembered this deep fear that would manifest on my chest and clutch my throat everytime authorities pass by as a child and even up until now. When driving in neighbourhoods, I always hold my breath passing the blaring red and blue flashing lights that to many may seem like a beacon of hope, but to me, a warning of danger. 

There is this vivid memory of when my dad was pulled over by the cops on our way to school because he was driving, “too close to the lines”. He sat there in his scrubs, straight out of last night’s twelve hour shift deeply apologizing to the officer who did no justice but prevented me from going from school an hour late and prolonged my dads chances of getting his well sought after sleep. Where we fit in society is determined by the way we look. In these situations, my father's darker skin and the man in the video’s dark skin and dreadlocks led authoritarians to believe they have power over us even when we are in the innocent.

The power of one’s possession over others has been determined by our appearance and the status that it has brought us. On top of the false claims, the officers walked away without regard of their wrong-doings. Society has determined that authorities play God in our lives based off the way we look.

In Ta-Nehisi Coates’ book, Between The World and Me, he discusses the death of an innocent black boy who was inappropriately shot to death by a white man. The inexcusable reasons for the life passing was that the white man felt, “fear for his life” (page 112). In truth, the boy only, “ play[ed] their music loud, to be American teenagers” (page 112). The white man’s ability to execute the young black boy comes from their statuses in society. The black boy’s life was just an expense to the white man “exercising his rights”. His body was claimed, as Coates says, which reverts back to colonial times where black people were used to produce resources for White people. He was treated insignificantly, as they did during slavery when, “they took from us and how they transfigured our very bodies into sugar, tobacco, cotton, and gold” (page 71). The White man has a higher place in this society because when Coates tried to stand up for his son, he was degraded by other white people. When Coates goes to see a movie with his son, a white woman pushes Samori and scolds him, b,among him. A white man then threatened to call the cops on Coates and it reminded Coates that in this world, his body is an object, manipulated by white people. 

Although Coates only spoke up for the justice his son deserved, he was instantly reprimanded by a white man who feels he, “rescued the damsel from the beast” (page 94). Coates’s situation is one where his child was mistreated and he had the right to appropriately correct the woman. The young boys murder was a large extreme for a little problem yet the man committed the act easily. When the white man murdered the boy, no condemning occurred as he took his leisure time after the crime, “drove his girlfriend to a hotel, had drinks, [and] ordered pizza” (page 112). In addition, he was only charged for the shots he fired after the young boy’s friends when they fled, “the killer was convicted not of the boy’s murder but of firing repeatedly as the boy’s friends tried to retreat” (page 112). In both situations, each man fought for the rights they believed the had, but one was injustice and the other was not. The white man slaughtered the young boy for reasons that his music was threatening. Coates restored justice for his son to a person who hurt him. However, in the end, Coates is in the wrong despite his objectives being good-willed in opposition to a death because of “threatening music”. Because the killer was white, his crime is easily dismissed in comparison to Coates’s rightful resistance to ill-treatment.

The Now This video and the event in Between The World and Me depict harmless acts of people where others who are privileged decided they had a right to decide their fate. The book has taught me that this disgusting self-proclaimed right is not only an ability used by law-enforcers, but everyone. From the video, I remembered facing this phenomenon of racial profiling that to me was always by authorities. But, the death in the book made me realize the extremities that this concept of racial profiling can drive people to do, even a regular citizen to murder a teen. Who has the right to claim who’s body is determined by how people see each other. Even if a black man stood up for his son, he has no right over a white man killing a boy for music, that’s his place. This book has made me see that in the real world, discrimination doesn’t chose whether it’s a police over a citizen or a woman over a little boy, everyone has.