Come Together
The Beatles hold the distinction of creating some of the greatest pop music classics of all time.
However, one song title, “Come Together,” means more now than it did in 1969.
A country that once bragged about a post-racial era is dangerously close to racial implosion. It is up to people of all colors to come together and admit America has a problem or the racial divide will become a much worse problem and no one will be able to ignore it.
While all of the facts have not come out, recent incidents in Mississippi and Virginia have garnered headlines that are reminiscent of newspaper headlines 50 years ago.
According to the Los Angeles Times, “The FBI is investigating the death of a Black man who was found hanging in a tree in rural Mississippi…”
The death of Otis Byrd, 50, has not been ruled a homicide or a suicide at Regal press time.
Furthermore, University of Virginia student Martese Johnson, 20, was shown in photos that went viral bloodied and beaten allegedly by officers with the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control.
Johnson, who is Black, had been refused entrance into a local bar because of an alleged fake I.D. He was charged with public intoxication and obstruction of justice. According to NBCNews.com, a court date has been set for March 26.
Regardless of one’s ethnicity or where they stand on racial issues, it seems like everyday American news organization have another story to tell about racism and discrimination.
Only someone in complete denial can say that America does not have a racial problem.
Those who think that racism is not that bad and that African-Americans complain too much about perceived discrimination need only imagine if the shoes were on the other foot.
If other races constantly faced this type of discrimination, they would be up in arms too.
Fortunately, we still have time to make things better before everyone is up in arms over our race problems.
As a country, we can come together despite our racial differences or we can remain divided.
The African-American community must do their part in coming together as well. Too often we add fuel to the racial fire by saying things that are insensitive to other races only to complain when others do it to us.
And too often many in White America believe racism cannot be as bad as African-Americans make it out to be since many Whites have never been victimized by it.
News flash, it is that bad and it is getting worse.
Therefore, it is up to people of all backgrounds to come together and solve the problem of racism before this country implodes because of its own ignorance.
