Black Lives Matter Interview

At the Black Matters Conference, I had the opportunity to see an interview with Lezley McSppaden, the mother of Michael Brown who was a victim of police brutality. During the time period of the Civil Rights Movement and the Black Power movement police brutality was always an issue. Today we see that this issue is most cases has not yet been solved. Although in the earlier years it consisted of a lot more violence. For example, police officers helping out white rioters by supplying weapons, using violent acts to disperse crowds, and also ignore the different crimes of whites on people of color. The types of police brutality or being treated with inequality led to rebellions against authority. The acts of rebellions can be seen in the Black Panthers.
After Michael Brown was murdered by a white police officer, the city of Ferguson was flipped upside down. He was one of many added onto the list of those killed by a police officer trying to do “the right thing”, which most people know was not the right was to handle the situation. As Doctor Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor says in her book “From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation”, “Their deaths, and the killings of so many others like them, prove that sometimes simply being Black can make you a suspect- or get you killed. Especially when the police are involved, looking Black is more likely to get you killed than any other factor” (Taylor, 2016, 13). The protests in Ferguson show how that systemic racism is still alive and there is no such thing as a post racial society, and to show awareness and stand up against police brutality in hopes of receiving justice.
History is something that individuals are supposed to learn from, but as stated before some things do not change over time and are repeated. Each moment is different from the different people involved to the different amounts of power individuals have. For example, in today’s society we see that more people of color have had access to power, starting with our president. President Barack Obama is a perfect example of how far the power of people of color has come; however, the divide of poor people of color and those in the higher class is getting larger. Obama blames the lower class people of color’s choices as opposed to the funding that they do not receive to benefit children’s education, housing, and employment. This is also seen in history through the Kerner Commission Report where individuals were rebelling because of the awareness of the inequality of the system. In her book Dr. Taylor states, “Perhaps this should not be surprising: not only did the Ferguson rebellion expose the racism and brutality of American policing, it also exposed black elected officials’ inability to intervene effectively on behalf of poor and working class African Americans” (Taylor, 2016, 106).
Going to the conference actually built up on the material that was being taught in class.
The Black Lives Matter movement was influenced by the death of Michael Brown. Being able to hear from his mother was a wonderful experience. We discussed in class the riots in Ferguson in 1967 and how that can be compared to the most recent riot after the death of Michael Brown. There were certain buildings being burnt down, there was a message meaning to be sent. The opportunity I had to listen to Lezley McSpadden helped me understand why this is a social movement and not just a riot. The death of Michael Brown was a spark in the Black Lives Matter movement and can be compared to the death of Emmett Till and the spark of the Civil Rights movement. Mamie Till can be compared to Lezley McSpadden. Although there is a big difference in time period, both mothers decided to speak openly about their son’s deaths and create awareness. However, in today’s “post racial” society McSpadden received feelings of hatred walking into a store from a white woman, it was hard for her to be herself with the media attacking her, and her son. In the time period of Emmett Till’s death of 1955 it was okay for Mamie Till to express her anger, because of the fact that is was white supremacy that was the reason for her son’s death. This is a change that not many first identify, but is a change that is alarming. The officer who killed Michael Brown is believed to have only killed him based on the fact that he was
seen as a threat or as dangerous because he was a man of color. And in some cases this is seen as playing the “race card” as Dr. Taylor states in her book, From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation because of the fact that we are “post racial”.
The Black Matters Conference at UT helped me form a different view on certain situations. A new idea that arose in my mind was the fact that although there are changes over time, some things do not change. Decades later from the abolition of slavery people of color are still fighting for their lives to matter. I also learned that the media will always find some way to put dirt on your name. Lezley McSpadden explained that pain of watching the news and seeing that the media was portraying her son as dangerous and made her at times question herself. Overall the experience was wonderful and helped me build up on and in some ways prepare for the material being taught in the class.