No Comparison

I was just scrolling through Facebook and noticed this photo that one of my social media friends had shared. I'm not sure if it was the photo or the caption that caught my attention. Attached to the ppst was the following: "Hey Ferguson. Hey Baltimore. This is South Carolina. This is how we do it. We are family. No riots. No looting. Nobody acting like animals. No Obama. No Sharpton. We don't need Obama's politicizing attitude. We don't need Sharpton's divisive presence. Both of you STAY AWAY!"

Even in the midst of tragedy, the seeds of hate are being spread. When I saw this, it reminded me of a similar post I viewed shortly after two police officers were killed here in Mississippi. There was a meme showing how calm things were here in comparison to what hapoened in Baltimore. During the funeral of one of the slain officers, Officer Tate, the minister asked "where was Al Sharpton? Didn't this black life matter?" Many people, especially those in the law enforcement community, ran with that misplaced question. When Officers Deen and Tate were murdered, the accused killers were apprehended before the bodies of the officers made it to the crime lab. In Baltimore, there were riots because the community knew James Gray died while in police custody and they were fearful that justice would not be served. So, to compare the calm, organized processions, honoring slain officers after their memorial service is like comparing apples to oranges. Another inequitable comparison is to show the masses praying for the nine victims killed in South Carolina and use that moment to ridicule tne activities that took place in Ferguson and Baltimore. There's no comparison. The situations are totally different.

After the death of the police officers in Mississippi and the death of the nine victims in South Carolina, there's a reference to Al Sharpton and his presumed divisiveness. Apparently, this is an effort at revisionist storytelling. Let's get some facts. When Al Sharpton got involved in the Trayvone Martin case, Martin had been dead for weeks. Trayvone Martin was killed on February 26. The Stanford Police Department ruled the death as justifiable homicide and Gerorge Zimmerman was released after giving his statement to the police. Meanwhile, the family of Trayvone Martin were trying to get access to the evidence, the 911 call and surveillance footage but they were denied access. On Ma4ch 20, Al Sharpton became involved in the case, garnered national attention and eventually got a trial. So, to label Sharpton as divisive is a mischaracterization.

Let's be clear, there's a long history of bigotry and hatred in America and every time there's a story in the mecia, involving black people, that hatred manages to bubble to the surface. Everytime something tragic hapoens in this county, we look for a response from the President. Why are their fragments in this society that do not want to hear from the President? Is it the color of his skin? The incidents in Ferguson, Baltimore and Charleston cannot be compared because they're not the same. Just moments ago, the judge said that the family of Dylann Roof are victims. No sir. The families of those nine people killed by an act of domestic terrorism are victims. Jon Stewart summed it all up on last night's episode of The Daily Show. "In South Carolina, the roads that black people drive on are named after Confederate generals who fought to prevent blacks from having freedom...The Confederate flag flies over South Carolina and the white guy is the one who feels this country has been taken from him."