"A riot is the language of the unheard" — Martin Luther King Jr.
From a very young age many of us have been taught that when someone else is speaking, we need to be respectful and listen. For a moment let's change the situation. A child that has been molested may show signs of anger, depression, emotional instability, feelings of being unworthy and in few cases may take on the traits of their molester. Almost the same way that a child who has been born with parents who have been users of drugs and alcohol may exhibit the same kind of aggressive tendencies, mental instability and a thought process that might not align so well with the expectations of their surroundings. Be what it may these children are never chastised for their behaviors after the fact because we understand that their actions are only a side effect of the horrible experiences they were forced into. We don't condone their behaviors, but we certainly cannot condemn them. We almost look at them with an eye of sadness and helplessness but we never stop there. We see it as our duty to gather the support of others who are professional equip to sit, listen, and respond in an attempt to try and reverse some of those side effects. In many cases those side effects will lead to and reveal the real trauma an individual has gone through, so when we see a child exhibiting those characteristic we don't ignore them, but we try to address them apologetically and with compassion.
Just like depression, mental illness, emotional instability and aggressive tendencies can be the language of someone suffering from a much deeper and darker trauma, I ask if a riot is the language of those all throughout this country, what is the much deeper trauma? How come we aren't being respectful and listening? How come we aren't approaching those people apologetically and with compassion? And how come we aren't getting those people the help that they need?
Almost all of the arguments I've heard have been supported on the back of the 1960s civil rights protest. However, I present my case on a much deeper issue, the issue of slavery in America. A switch that has been flipped over 400 years ago seems to have conveniently been forgotten by both sides who argue whether the language of the unheard is right or wrong.
Have we forgotten what this country has done to black/African people? Stealing us from another continent, bringing us over as slaves, destroying our families and communities, throwing us in prisons, not educating our children, attempting to erase our history, excluding us in your constitution, treating us less than human, keeping us in poverty, putting drugs in our communities, killing our children, molesting our mothers, lynching our fathers, and telling us repeatedly not only in words but in actions that we are not worthy of life. And then you tell us to get over it!
Again I have to ask, have we forgotten what this country has done to black/African Americans? If you're still asking what 400 years of slavery has to do with today's reactions of the unheard in Baltimore and all across this country you can stop reading now, because you'll never be able to get it.
Those slaves had children, and they too had children, and although many years have passed and out of the ashes a few stars have risen, this country has still never sat, listened and addressed the needs and concerns of its black/African people. However, America is quick to judge black/African Americans for their actions of today, with zero regard toward their own actions of yesterday. So, I cannot condone the reactions of the unheard, but I cannot in all good consciousness condemn them either. Using the metaphor of a lion trapped in a cage by a trainer, neglecting it but teasing it with false promises of freedom. Who would dare say shame on the lion for biting the trainer on the day he breaks out of that cage? A
America you have not only shaped, but created what's in that cage. Even after knowing, you continue to do nothing to address my people apologetically and with compassion. The reactions of the unheard aren't merely reactions to our black brothers and sisters dying throughout this country, but rather reactions to something much larger. I am afraid and unknowing of what is going to happen in this country if those voices continue to be unheard, but I can guarantee that I too will be on the sides of those fighting against injustice.
Anthony Ferguson Jr. is an admission counselor at Drake University. His email is anthony.ferguson@drake.edu.