MLK 50 Forward: Bankrupt Justice
Silverbacks Note: This is part two of a three-part series on American gun violence. Read part one here.
“Man, I’ll tell you this, if your big black ass ever gets stopped by a cop just lay on the ground and don’t move. I work with them and I know them racists will shoot your black ass in a heartbeat,” said my childhood friend, a Black NYPD officer, with a chuckle and a swig of a beer one summer night.
Given that they were to write the first governing document for a democracy in the history of the world, the writers of the United States Constitution had a seismic task ahead of them. As this young nation progressed, they decided to update - or amend - the language in the original governing Document.
The Fourteenth Amendment provides the promise of equal protection under the law and the Fifth Amendment provides the promise that restricts the government's ability to prosecute folks accused of a crime. In short, Fourteenth Amendment promises fairness and Fifth Amendment promises order.
You see, these are some of the “promissory notes” that Dr. King referenced in his I Have A Dream speech when he said, “It is obvious today that America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of honoring this sacred obligation, America has given the Negro people a bad check, a check which has come back marked "insufficient funds." But we refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt.”
The enforcement of Law in the United States effectively rolls up to the Justice Department which is now overseen by Attorney General, Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III. Why the name Jefferson Beauregard you might ask? Well because his namesake is derived from Confederate icons, Jefferson Davis (president) and Pierre Gustave Toutant-Beauregard (general). Yes, the same Confederate States that seceded, formed their own government and went to war with the Union States to uphold the right to own black human beings as property. I digress; loosely speaking, the Attorney General acts as the top Law Enforcement Officer in the nation and I have a pretty good idea of what his ancestors would think about laws that pertain to my humanity.
So if you dig deeper into my childhood friends cautionary advice, what he was effectively warning me was that because of the color of my skin and the size of my person that law enforcement, backed by the full power of both the Constitutions of the United States and the State of New York, would forego my rights to fairness and order and snatch my life in an instant.
Yet again, my friend's cautionary advice came to life last week in Sacramento. Stephon Clark was fatally struck by six out of twenty bullets, in his back, while in his grandmother's backyard. Just as I’ve come to expect, “law enforcement” supporters repeated the same cold asinine statements:
“If he only would have complied with the officers' commands.”
“If he only didn’t run.”
“If he only had his hands up.”
“You put on a uniform.”
“It's a split-second life or death decision on whether or not someone has a gun.”
Does my friend's cautionary advice or Stephon Clark’s murder sound like equal protection under the law? Does that sound like due process? Does that sound like a bountiful bank of justice?
As we reflect on the fifty years that have passed since Dr. King’s assassination, lets us also remember that not much has changed since April 4, 1968. In the last few weeks, America’s bank of justice returned promissory notes to the families of Stephon Clark and Alton Sterling marked “insufficient funds.”
From the Attorney General to local Law Enforcement, America continues to remind us that her bank of justice remains bankrupt insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. I pray that my loved ones never receive a promissory note marked “insufficient funds” and that my childhood friend is not a Prophet.
Rest In Power: Stephon Clark, Alton Sterling, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.