Anonymous: tumblr is going in knots about then sharmeka moffitt incidint, some are saying is wasnt faked actully, some are saying it was fake but it hihlights some very important things about race in how it was handled, some are saying it was a proper response to the feeling of being black in america so america society in general was the perpertrator. im just confused and dont know what to think or say when ppl are like ‘yeah, she faked it.’ what is the real answer about it.
Answer:
I don’t have a definitive answer for you. I doubt anyone does. And I’m not going to ponder on the “what ifs” of the situation.
Who doe does it help for me to do so?
What I do know is that every 36 hours a Black person is killed by the police or police entities in this country.
That just as recently as Saturday, October 20th, it was reported that a group of white students attempted to lynch a couple of their black teammates.
That a New York high school recently held a pep rally in which a group ofwhite students reenacted the physical abuse of Rihanna by Chris Brown in black face.
That despite every single proof of it’s discriminatory nature and the fact that,between 2002 and 2011, 90% of the people stopped were Black and/or Latino, New York’s stop and frisk policy is allowed to continue while people of color are brutalized and women of color are targeted for gender based violence by police that’s rarely reported on.
That we have elected officials who believe that all Muslims should be deported, that we should enact a death penalty for “rebellious children”, and that neglectful parents should be sterilized. I don’t think I need to point out whose children are often seen as rebellious or whose parents are often seen as neglectful. Hint . . they’re people of color.
That youth of color are pushed through educational institutions founded in racism and white supremacy while being denied any access to their cultural heritage while in school and being fed revisionist histories of our country’s founding.
And these are just the things I can think of right now. People of color are constantly being terrorized and brutalized by racist, white supremacist institutions and the individual microaggressions of white folks in this country. That brutalization is typically multiplied tenfold when aimed at women of color.
We are denied access to any resources to nourish our selves in any way possible. We are denied our culture and histories. We are denied our autonomy. We are denied our existence.
All while constantly being told that things are fair and equal. That we live in a post racial society because we have a fucking Black president. A fucking Black president who enacts white supremacist colonialist violence in every drone strike, in every underhanded backroom deal to usurp power in some nation overseas, in every missed opportunity to say fuck this. I’m not playing this game any more.
And that’s what it is to so many of them. Our lives are simply games. You notice it in every boys will be boys, mistakes happen comment when these stories are reported.
People of color are forced to exist and survive in a world that is hellbent on our genocide. That wants us to hate our Blackness and grovel for the tiniest sliver of a chance that we could some day have something better.
I’m unsure of the truth of Sharmeka Moffitt’s story, not the one she told, but the one that is playing out right now in the media and in the conversations that white folks are sure to be having.
I have no negative feelings towards her or what the reality of the situation could be, but I’m filled with anger towards this society that we live in that fills us with so much self hatred that sometimes . . just sometimes.
The best response I’ve read today comes from the Crunk Feminist Collective.
Dear Sharmeka,
What can I say but I am sorry. I am sorry that you, your life and your story are being reduced to catchy headlines and two minute news clips. I am sorry that, for many, you will become a symbol and cease to be a real person with needs and concerns. Most of all, I am sorry that you are in pain, in any and every sense. I am sending you love, healing energy and recognition.
With Love,
Whitney
Read the full post here.
