A Matter for Always
When used as an adjective, equal is defined as being the same in quantity, size, degree, or value. In this sense, equal cannot be used to describe Humans. Humans have never been equal. This can be approached from a few different disciplines to better understand. Scientifically: on a mere surface level, our unique phenotypes. We have the beautiful ability to biologically adapt to be more successful in our respective environments around the world; part of this means varying levels of melanin and darker or lighter skin pigmentation depending on the extent of UV exposure our ancestors were subject to as indigenous people around the world.
Psychologically the nature vs nurture argument is quite popular, and many studies, with many different motivations, show that the nurture side of things is much more influential in shaping us, mentally and physically. Where were you raised? Who were you raised by? How were you raised by these people, and more importantly, why were you raised the way you were? Answering these questions can often reveal more than why a person has certain biases, intelligence levels, personality traits, fears, talents, likes, or dislikes. Considering these questions is also good practice in being empathetic and rational with our judgement.
These inquiries take the matter into the more anthropological, and socio-cultural realm. They also take the matter in a direction that is under intense scrutiny in the present, as it should be. However, part of understanding what is going on today and why it is going on requisites the acknowledgment that it is not novel, and should not come as a surprise to people around the world. The issue didn’t begin with Rodney King or Michael Brown, or any of the other horrific reports of police brutality that make the news. What is worse, even though it should, it won’t end with George Floyd, Ahmed Aubrey, or Breonna Taylor. Human’s haven’t been equal since discrimination was initiated with the very first cultural encounter in history. Although Anglo-Saxons site 1619 as the beginnings of slavery, people have been enslaved for having darker skin since the 1400s, and the inequality has only been compounded since by those who are privileged enough to document and shape the narrative that is our history. Conveniently, those individuals have been white, wealthy, and male –– arguably in descending order of relevance to today’s current tragedies.
What baffles me is not that we aren’t equal as humans. There is plenty of explanation, scientific and unscientific, for that. What baffles me is that there are people out there who believe this means humans should not be treated equally. The issue is there; that we are surrounded right now by entirely too many individuals who think that because someone looks different, talks different, smells different, or comes from some place different, that they should naturally be held in a lower regard.
Let us not sugarcoat this. I mean that these people, in America especially, these white people, believe that the humans out there who are different from them, and by different I mean their skin isn’t white – where it falls on the melanin spectrum from white to black is not so important for the sake of this consideration – these white people believe that these colored people are less than. This concept is reinforced without much thought, colored people can be made fun of for the sake of popular entertainment, their culture’s appropriated likewise, their livelihoods deemed less important, their hardships justified because of their skin, their successes diminished, and most horrifically, white people seem to believe that murder is more or less justified depending on the color of skin.
There are too many instances to site, historical implications to iterate, and counterarguments to address. The essence of this issue boils down to a few very simple, incontestable, and fundamental truths.
It is unlikely to irradiate the inequality that riddles humanity. That does NOT mean people should suffer at the hands of others for these differences.
Also, in parts of the world that pride themselves on development, infrastructure, and successful modernization:
People should feel safe in their community. More importantly, people should be able to trust in the individuals that enforce the laws meant to keep them safe in their community.
What saddens me as an American is just how far from being a reality those statements are for lots of places around the world, but especially the US. There are some immediate contributing factors I would be inclined to touch more on: perhaps a lack of a national unity stemming from the Federal government, and racist systems that the country was founded upon and that are perpetuated through to the present. From a more personal perspective, an alarming default to anger and hostility by too many citizens of the country, and a disproportionate focus on funding brutality (quite literally if you inspect not only the defense budget but funding of the police forces).
Instead of writing something that requires many scholarly citations or includes controversial language and drops all the buzz words surrounding the movement today, my goal in this short piece was to avoid the polarization that consumes politics and often over-saturates the essence of an issue, something that yet again especially in the US – in my opinion – is often done so deliberately.
We can all agree the most powerful force for change is unity, and the only way to catalyze a forward change is to have enough of it. Instead of concerning ourselves with who is doing what and whether it is enough based on their relative levels of equality as humans, thus perpetuating the divisiveness, aggressiveness, and negativity already surrounding that topic, why don’t we unify by recognizing that despite your race, ethnicity, political ideologies, socio-economic status, occupation, religion, and any other discerning characteristic, why don’t we all agree that it is NOT okay to treat people brutally because of these differences?
At this point enough information is circulating the world wide web for people to rush to sign petitions and donate money. On that note, don’t forget to vote. It is great that so many people were able to spike the global unity over this issue since the footage of George Floyd was released last week. What would be even better is if this wasn’t a spike, and if we are able to find ways to share these sentiments with people out there that are drastically different from us. It would be great if this movement wasn’t temporary and we didn’t allow social justice and racial equality to retreat from the forefront of thought. What would be great is uniting humanity in this way; in all agreeing that in the modern social contracts that support our societies, all members get equal treatment.
A moment for J.J.
My dad had a black friend named J.J. He met J.J. when moved from Iran to Nashville, Tennessee. When my dad was in middle school, bussing was going on around the country, in efforts to end segregation and integrate the black and white neighborhoods by having children attend school together. My dad didn’t have many friends because he was a new scrawny white boy from overseas and J.J. didn’t have many friends because he was a little black boy who loved to play the piano. They became best friends. They would run away from white bullies, they would try to sabotage KKK meetings. They were attacked on their bicycles by white supremacists with baseball bats. They survived the early years of serration and grew up into men. J.J. kept my dad out of drugs and he hated guns. My dad surprised him all the time and made fast friends with his mother. My dad had me and J.J. got married. My dad left the south but J.J. stayed, and in 2005 J.J. stepped out of a cab to run back into his hotel and grab his wife some aspirin. He was shot between the eyes at point blank range by a white racist man. The last words he ever heard were “Die you n*****”. My dad got the phone call while we were at family Christmas. My dad cries to this day.
If you don’t think acts of racial violence are carried out every single day, reported on or not, you are very wrong. Take some time to think, that is all.
“The first shot was at my wedding in our early 40’s the last shot when we were in our early 20’s.'“
“You met J.J. In June of 2004 he looked like he did in the second shot sadly that was the last of the 6 months he had left of life.We were on Skips Boat when the news came over the ship to shore radio Skip came over to me as I was watching the dolphins surf the bow waves along the coast of Catalina.He said ,Mike I just got a message from the Phillips family ,J.J. Has been murdered in New mexico...really fucking sucked .man I just felt like jumping the fuck overboard....just sat there staring at the dolphins gracefully looping in and out tears welling up and then My heart just went to stone,frozen,numb, the empty set...just kind of said fuck the whole fucking cartoon.Skip asked me if I wanted to go back to L.A. fly down to Oklahoma ...I just said no I will manage he is gone cartoon is over might as well not ruin the family trip I will be alright...Really I was fucked up for months over the shit.The kluxer that shot J.J. In cold blood at first got fucking let out on his own bond putting up a 1/2 million dollar property and he got nothing but a home detention braclet,he kept breaking that rule and they locked him up he successfully made an insanity plea and got a measley 7 years even rhough he was a kluxer his nick name was “lynching Loyd”disgusting human.Did not even run bought his family a Dairy Queen dinner cops picked him up a block from where he shot J.J. His response to the cops was,”what is the big deal officer ,Its just another dead nigger.”Sad deal I was about a done onion for about 3 months.You were about the only bright spot in my life.Really gave me high blood pressure to this day.”
“It was worth it and many others suffered much more traumatic events than I have but good fucking G-D it was rough sailing,every year J.J. and I would get together .Paul Mel,Jon ,many of my friends knew J.J. He was a happy go lucky extremely social human.I would not have met or done half the crazy cool shit I did if we had not been friends.We were salt and pepper when it really was not vogue.”
–– Michael Lee Robins on J.J.
