By Victor C Kirk
Like most of you I watched the horrors that unfolded in Oklahoma nearly a century ago but turned to both CBS and the History channel for a debriefing. So, if what I heard and saw was correct, “Negroes” created an ethnic conclave of about 44 blocks at or near the northeast corner of a territory during a time that preceded the areas’ designation as a state. “The Negro” built homes and businesses and amassed an unparalleled wealth so much so a term was affixed to the main street of the community “the Black Wall Street”. One of “The Negro males”, while working needed to use the bathroom so “The Negro male” undertook the “boss” approved journey two blocks away and boarded an elevator heading to the fourth floor of a building where the only “for colored only” bathroom was available. The elevator operator was a young White female. At this point, my confusion began. Purportedly, the elevator shook, and somehow “The Negro male” and White female elevator operator “collided” – bumped into each other in what may have been referred to as “a jolt”. At this point a historical leap will be taken – she screamed and ‘The Negro male” knows what a screaming White female elevator operator meant when he was alone with her in the elevator, so he hauled ass. Someone White saw him running from the building after hearing the shrill of a screaming White female elevator operator and concluded she had been “sullied” by “The Negro”. And so it goes.
Emmett Till was not born yet but the “Oklahoma response” is historic and endemic of how White America even 100 years later responds to “The Negro male”. The response is “absolute”. No if ands or buts, YOU DIE. Bob Marley had not written “I shot the Sheriff” yet but his sentiments preceded his pinning of the additional words to the song – “kill them before they multiply”.
Death is in many forms but to end the life of “The Negro male” becomes the end result. The more killed the unmistakable the message – your “faith” will not protect you. We remain in one situation, or another a group of citizens earmarked for redundancy. How do I protect my family under these circumstances……?
Faith….
