Time For Black Americans To Focus On What's Important!

February 27-2009:

Time For Black America To Focus On What's Important!

Recently a cartoon was published which implied that the current president was a chimpanzee, which was shot by the local police. After placing a sign that said, his Stimulus Package was now dead.

This historical association of chimps with Black Americans are so entrenched in Black American psyche, that it caused a furor nationally, and even spurred some political advocates to call for the apology and resignation of the cartoonist.

Now folks, we have seen this before, we have gone down that road before, and we will continue to see such caricatures of Blacks negatively in this country (USA), for a very long time to come. Because that is human nature, and some will continue to bug those they know will react emotionally, whenever this kind of act is used to embarrass them.

Currently, there are thousands of Black and Latino Americans in our nation's prisons. And as we celebrate a Black president's ascension to the highest office in this land. It still have not caused the Rockefeller Drug Laws Act., to be repealed, nor has it caused any legislation for the closure of MOST of those jails or prisons that are being build as we speak. 

And no one seem to remember that our Judicial System seem to favor the White ethnic group in most cases where some serious felony was conducted to a person of color. Judges in our nation's law courts seem to give the White accused the benefit of the alleged crime most of the time. And let the police or White defendants walk away free from serving any real or significant time in prison.

And yet Black American political, social, religious, and community advocates seem to feel that protesting at some idiotic cartoonist and cartoon, is most important at this time.  

Sometimes I wonder when president Barack Obama's term ends four or eight years from now, if Blacks would still be advocating against stereotypical cartoons that portray them negatively. Or would they strive to ensure that our political representatives (Black, White, Latin or Asian) leaders in Washington DC, cater to our issues generally, without favor or bias in favor of any Ethnic group.

Derryck S. Griffith.
NYC.