Don’t Ignore The Spider

The death of George Floyd occurred at a time when the world was standing still. Covid-19 had pushed paused on any aspect of our lives and we had little distractions that would keep us from seeing something that happens all too often. We never have witnessed the slow, methodical murder of someone caught on video with no regard for the consequences. His death, although it hasn’t been the only one, stood out in the minds of everyone who stomached and watched that 8:46 video.

Again, this is not the first time things of this caliber have happened and neither is it the first time it has been caught on video. The reason that this has sparked protest around the world has been because there was no other noise to drown out the cry of this man calling for his mother who, I’m told, had been dead for two years at the time of his death. Emotions are beyond raw and a conversation has to be had.

“Systematic Racism” has been a trending topic on most social media posts, internet talk shows, broadcast television, and satellite programming. It has dominated the news and be the subject of many blogs, newspaper editorials, and round table discussions.

But one of the most profound post I saw read:

Talking About The System And Not Talking About Its Maker Is Like Talking About The Web And...

Ignoring The Spider!

~Bro. Bedford

When I read that statement, I was shaken to my core! The reason it shook me was because of the profound truth wrapped up in it.

Being the visual person that I am, I immediately pictured a web but I could not picture just one spider. I pictured several different spiders working together for the slow and methodical destruction of a race of people to hold fast to the seat of power that they occupy. I saw a spider in the banking industry that spun a web in the 1930s called “Red Lining” that disenfranchised people of color from getting equal funding for homeownership. I saw this same spider create threads that keep people of color from getting the same home equity when it came to selling their home.

I looked again and saw another spider in the employment area of the web displaying willful discrimination against people of color. This was done through discriminatory hiring practices that left well-qualified people of color without sustainable wages to care for their families and invest in their future. Yet another spider spun a web of social disenfranchisement by painting a picture of people of color as lazy and looking for a handout. This was done through the media, television, newspapers, magazines, and even movies.

Still another spider spun a string of webs that disproportionately incarcerated people of color through our legal system with unfair sentencing, extended jail times for the same offense committed by others. And let’s not forget the “War on Drugs” which has been proven to be a war on Hippies and black people.

I could go on and on about the web but what I want us to do is to not forget the spider. I saw another spider checking the web of discriminatory hiring practices. This was done by overlooking well-qualified people of color to hire those that looked like them. They may have passed up on their next Superstar employee for the sake of keeping the status quo.

Some people don’t believe in “Systemic Racism” they think that everything should be handled on a case by case bases. This thinking keeps focusing on the Web, the System that has been out in place. It fails to address the Global Systemic Racism that continues to paint with broad strokes that people of color are inferior to other races of people.

Everything within people of color screams they have more to offer, from their intellect to their compassion to their artist performance and athleticism, people of color have proven that when the playing field is level they succeed. So to address the system, we have to address the system makers.

Next month we will look indepth at how that can be done.