Michael Brown

It’s hard to express my emotions after hearing that 18-year-old Michael Brown, a rising college freshman was gunned down by a police officer one block from his house in Ferguson, Missouri, a suburb of St.Louis.

America deliberately fosters in its minority communities what Dr. Shawn Ginwright labels as “social toxins.” From rape and homicide to fraud and malnourishment, these toxins — borne out of what Ginwright calls the “urban trifecta” of disappearing jobs, a thriving crack economy, and violence — work to hinder or stunt the social development within communities of color.

And social development is what Mike Brown was robbed of last weekend, along with his Ferguson community. As black men, the most pervasive social toxin is homicide. According to the latest statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), homicide is the leading cause of death among black males 15-34. And even more sinister, according to data collected by The Malcolm X Grassroots Movement for its report, “Operation Ghetto Storm,” one black man is killed extrajudicially every 28 hours. These facts point to a whole segment of the population that’s deemed invisible, unworthy, and unlovable. Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, John Crawford, Eric Garner, Jonathan Ferrell, Sean Bell, and now Mike Brown — black men who’ve been killed by the law enforcement, a force publicly paid to protect and serve — move thru the news cycle as disrespected victims, ultimately serving as cautionary tales of what not to wear, how not to speak, and how not to behave.

Similar to the situation I found myself in as a child, I am at the mercy of my country, the Western systems of economics, imperialism, and culture. I’m dependent on my country for survival, and just as love I my parents, I love my country. But I’m also aware that the healthy response to abuse is to leave. Our health is dependent on our ability to listen, openly and honestly, to our truth. Furthermore,by denying my emotions, changing who I am or the way I dress, or blaming myself for the racism I feel everyday, I’m not only raising the deadly stress levels that new studies are suggesting may explain the health disparities between blacks and whites, I’m reinforcing the myth that love is a weak, timid response to healing.

According to Ginwright, black men may benefit from radical healing, a quadrant of practices founded on the principles of caring relationships, consciousness, community and culture. Yet, the value of Ginwright’s idea rests on love being healthy in its origin. A love that expresses gratitude and cherishes the independence and irreplaceable value of another human being. I have to assert myself, my blackness, my humanness, in order to live, in order to heal, yet from another trauma. My survival depends on my ability to face and tell the truth, my truth, in the face of an ever-changing, violent reality. If I succumb to this turbulence, I will perish, I will not heal. Rest my brother, Michael Brown.

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5 Comments

  1. Western imperialism????

    Capitalism invented the computer you are using , moron !
    Leave , go to North Korea!!

  2. The communist moron who wrote this article is a “social toxin” , a welfare scum and a thug admirer
    Just disappear, move to N Korea, leave , racist scum
    Disparity between blacks and whites?
    What about getting jobs instead of looting in honor of the other scum , Mike Brown?

  3. Whoever “many” is, apparently believes that the point of view in this article is somehow promoting rowdy, disrespectful, and abusive behavior that brings down the foundation of the US. The foundation of the US was built on land being confiscated from the indigenous people and bullying their way through this territory through rowdy, disrespectful and abusive behavior. Oh…

  4. Mike Brown was no good kid. He was a bad seed, with occasional good tendencies towards others like him. For the most part though, he was a thoughtless, misogynistic criminal that deserved exactly what was dished out to him. He could have changed the way that day went.. Once he went on a crazed path of stealing, beating up a store clerk and attacking an officer for his weapon, he received his sentence for his crime.. People need to learn, you get what you put out… thats life in a nutshell, and there is no returns for the idiots.

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