If you believe that all men are created equal, then you have to take a look at the outside influences that have shaped the differences we see between people in our society. It’s easy to just label people based on what you see today, however the current view of a person has to come from a perspective that takes their history into consideration. Once you begin to understand the historical socio-economic factors surrounding the different groups in our society, you get a better understanding of the disparities that exist today. You also get a better picture of who the people are. You may find that some of the people you thought were inferior are actually pretty tenacious and some of the people you thought were exceptional had unfair advantages.
Consider the fact that the police force in this country, from its inception, was established to sustain the viability of commerce. The interest of our law enforcement agencies has always been mercantile first. Once you understand this it becomes clear who the officers are on patrol to protect and serve. This also shines light on the police profiling that has taken place in our society since the formation of law enforcement agencies. Commerce has and still holds low-cost labor as the key to maximum profitability. The ability of businesses to control the workforce ensures a level of control over profitability. The demand for a low cost workforce in this country has always been filled systematically by Blacks and immigrants. As such, controls on this targeted population have always been the focal point of the police force. Any attempts by Blacks and immigrants to organize, protest, or riot as a result of unfair or unsafe work conditions have always been deterred forcibly by the police force. This relationship between the police departments and those that fit the profile of low-income earners has eroded to what we see today and it is all still backed by commerce with its great influence in our government and court systems.
Civility in a society is determined by the law that governs. When you live in a country that has a history of laws rooted in inequality for its people, then the civil treatment of people becomes relative to the subject. This explains why the court system in our country has scales that aren’t balanced in determining justice for all. Murder is defined as the deliberate killing of another person. When a country has historically dehumanized a particular ethnic group by racism, it follows that this country may not rule it murder when this dehumanized ethnic group is killed deliberately; especially when killed by government employees. This is what I believe Dr. King was referring to when he said, “The ultimate logic of racism is genocide”. He used Nazi Germany as the case study.
What we are witnessing in this country is a continuation of what has been practiced from its founding. The insinuation that the US was once great and that this country has strayed from the virtue that was present at its founding is a sentiment lodged in the heart of the privileged and reflects the intrinsic inequality in our society that divides the “US” from them. The solution is a government with a true intent to establish equality for all and federal enforcement of the laws and policies to make it real for all people.
Fire is difficult to produce where there is no friction. The social practices that spark rioting in our society must be condemned in the same fervor at which rioting itself is condemned. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, “A riot is the language of the unheard.” I don’t condone rioting any more than I condone the marginalizing of the lives of one group to promote the wellbeing of another. Until all the people of this world come to the understanding that we all collectively make up one body, we will remain divided to the endangerment of human life as a whole.
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