Parker: Blacks see daily scrutiny from Caucasian discomfort
As the power of gentrification delivered destruction of souls and disintegration of neighborhoods in the play, “Salt, Pepper, Ketchup” (which recently wrapped up a run at Mill Hill Playhouse), Cece, a single mom trying to make it but losing her job over a “stolen” apple, explodes.
“I’m really trying hard not to hate you mother**kers,” she raged, her anger pitched toward an invasion of Caucasians empowered by money, property acquisition and entitlement.
It is understandable how Cece reached that state of mind and why others in marginalized communities have as well, based on recent events. Not all white people but let’s be honest, President Donald Trump has awakened Caucasian fear and power as police are being called on African-Americans for simply being black.
Oh, sure, these trumped up accounts of checking on the status of black people resonates as legitimate concerns but bottom line, these incidents rank as opportunities to keep African-Americans and Latinos in check.
Personal loathing lurks as videos surface of white people calling police on black people for reasons cultivated by racism, fear, bigotry and Caucasian anxiety. My blood curdles when Caucasian people challenge Spanish-speaking people about immediate conversion to English laced with all the insults about going back from whence they came.
While “This video has gone viral” has developed into an overused term, some recorded instances of life do strike nerves and gain world-wide attention.
Tenant Hilary Brooke Mueller blocked D’Arreion Nuriyah Toles, a black professional, from entering his St. Louis, Missouri, apartment during a tense exchange last weekend. Mueller wanted proof that Toles lived in the building. She expressed feeling “uncomfortable” about Toles’ presence.
Toles responded, “You can be uncomfortable. That’s your discretion. You’re uncomfortable because of you.” Being or feeling uncomfortable ranks as codes for not expecting black people or other minorities to have earned enough money to move into your neighborhood or condo complex.
Mueller, who would be fired from her job after the video’s release, followed Toles up to his fourth-floor apartment, watched him enter the residence with his keys then backed off. Still, Toles said police showed at his door about 30 minutes later. They responded to an alleged suspicious person in the building.
Toles took the high road with a request that people not pester Mueller, to allow her to live her life. Age, experience, and exhaustion produced a different personal feeling as videos and instances materialize about the discomfort of some white folk when placed near black people.
Last week, a Caucasian woman accused a 9-year-old boy of sexual assault in New York. She alleged that the boy had grabbed her buttocks inside a corner store deli before a video showed that his backpack had grazed her bottom. She apologized profusely.
In August, Oumou Kanoute, a rising sophomore at Smith College, had her lunch interrupted by a campus security officer who responded to an employee’s call about a “suspicious” black man. Kanoute, a woman, had been working a summer job teaching chemistry to high schoolers for Smith’s STEM program.
“We were wondering why you were here?” the security officer said. The incident left Kanoute in tears as a phone call enacted a law enforcement response for a young woman who had worked hard to attend Smith and now faced the hot spotlight of prejudice, of being black in a predominantly white college.
Kanoute cried but something inside of me raged that bigotry and discrimination exist without restraint, unabashed and hurtful although tears no longer leave my eyes. Instead, anger and payback have connected to produce a movement that leaves me “trying hard not to hate.”
Something nasty and niggling approaches as the United States remains trapped by the politics and persistence of race issues. How many times can the police be called on black people for just being in this place, on that street or in that room before we offer retaliations?
That’s not a threat of violence although a disconnect from communication will divide even the white, black and brown people who engage in lines of conversation and support efforts to repair relationships between races and ethnicities.
Kathleen McCartney, Smith’s president, released a statement and apologized to Ms. Kanoute. She noted that “we continue to fall short even as we continue to make progress.”
“This painful incident reminds us of the ongoing legacy of racism and bias in which people of color are targeted while simply going about the business of their daily lives,” Ms. McCartney said. “It is a powerful reminder that building an inclusive, diverse and sustainable community is urgent and ongoing work.”
Perhaps even impossible.