Race? The charade is in full spin

These are uncomfortable times and uncomfortable times call for uncomfortable conversations.

My emails, texts and phone calls from readers over the last three weeks are testimony to that.

As a Black columnist, I am expected to always weigh in when matters of race, racism and racial divide are the topics sweeping the country.

I am supposed to recount stories of the atrocities I have weathered as a Black man in America and in the wrap, offer words that bring people together and suggest paths we can follow to move forward.

I have been writing about race, racism and the racial divide one way or another since becoming a columnist in 2014.

I have tackled those subjects from every angle I could think of — from single-baby mammas to Black men who continue to make prisons their mailing address to the accomplices in our judicial system that keep that pipeline replenished.

I have written how that cycle will stay the same as opportunities for Blacks remain limited, housing in low income areas stays in disrepair and the economic impact of educational progress for Blacks is worth about 10 cents on the dollar.

But now protests over police brutality and inequality are bringing thunder to footsteps and powering voices so racism is once again front page news.

And the behind the scene forces are in play — from conservatives to liberals professing to be shocked and appalled at police brutality and inequality.

They’re pretending to lead the charge to change everything from police reform to advertising to economic opportunities.

What a bunch of fakery — as if they weren’t duplicitous all along.

I refuse to dignify this call for racial equality any longer. I refuse to appease white America — or Black America, for that matter — with words that no matter how much power and common sense I pound into them will be ineffective in affecting change.

To me, it has become a charade and I am just another pawn in the game to keep it going.

There are no more powerful words than those spoken by the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

And if the words and actions of that great man more than 50 years ago were not enough to stamp out systemic racism, then how much good are the words of a Black columnist in a small state going to do?

We all know what the problem is and we have known it for centuries. So I refuse to continue to beg my country — because that is what it is — to deliver on its Constitution and the promise to its citizens.

And to those who fall back on that worn and tired excuse that things are getting better, I will only say that my name is James Snowden Walker, not Shirley MacLaine.

To my knowledge, I have a one-way ticket; I will not be reincarnated and get an opportunity to come back and enjoy the sweet fruit after things that are getting better have gotten better.

Two weeks ago, I wrote “Why do I love my country and at the same time hate it so much?”

I might ask the same question when it comes to white people and let me tell you why.

I have been helped by white people all my life — from a trip to the World’s Fair in 1965 courtesy of my teacher Mrs. Langford and her husband, where I first tasted Belgian Waffles — to my former position as senior editor of the New Haven Register.

I have been an overnight guest in white people’s homes from million-dollar mansions in East Hampton, NY, to a small clapboard home in Kentucky where I learned long showers robbed everyone else of hot water.

I have been a dinner guest in white people’s homes from New Jersey to the Four Hills section of New Mexico and I have been in white people’s homes who were shocked I knew it was a duplicate of a Fabergé egg sitting on their mantle.

It was white people who passed me a joint and we smoked as we talked about peace and equality under the statue in Washington Square Park in NY during the 1970s.

And nothing has changed in my life socially as I have made friends and interacted with every race I have come in contact with since I was a child.

It was a white guy’s home that I was at earlier this week drinking beer and enjoying food hot off the grill.

So socially, I know white people very well.

So, why am I writing this column?

Because I am not blind and it hasn’t all been about peace, love and harmony.

It was also the white men of my era who let me know I could bang my head against the ceiling in frustration but that ceiling was not going to give way.

It was white men and women who signed legislation and introduced economic policies during my lifetime that would harm and limit the Black community.

I could go on and on because that is still happening even as you read these words.

And I am not going to point fingers at political parties because both parties have both been in control — and Blacks are out of their minds if they don’t think Democrats are just as responsible for the barriers in the Black community as Republicans.

The media has brought out its trumpets to call for change and well it should for the role it has played and the damage it has caused.

For decades, it splashed the most unforgiving images of Blacks it could find across its front pages or used those ugly images to open its nightly newscast.

Whether it was poor, illiterate Blacks trying to make a statement or the capture of a suspect, the media made sure it used the images that were going to produce the most terrifying effect to match the headline or the one that portrayed an inaccurate picture of the Black community as a whole.

It took decades for positive images of the Black community to emerge and even today, nooses abound and Blackface keeps making an appearance to show minstrels are still going strong.

But now, the spin is on. The same media will now use words and images on its front pages or evening broadcast to play like a violin-led symphony over the ills of systemic racism and the plight of Blacks.

Some people will read these words and say they make a lot of sense. Some people may call them nonsense.

But they are the same words I said when I was a child, then a teen and then an adult.

They are the same words I wrote as a metro editor and the same words I wrote as a senior editor.

And they are the same

As she lays clinging to life in a hospital bed, Marietta’s thoughts are on her family. Throughout her life, she and Anthony did everything they could to give a good life to their children and grandchildren.

Yet now, they will need some extra help to make sure their family is OK.

Many in our community are now living well into their nineties. Families are often caught off guard, or in the least unprepared for the added burden of funerals at the end of one’s life.

In simpler times, friends and family members gathered to pay their respects at the home of a deceased. It was in these times that Anthony D. Lacerenza purchased his funeral business in 1926. A couple of decades later, his son, Richard D. Lacerenza, saw the family business grow even as the town of Stamford was becoming a city. The needs of 100,000 residents had to be met.

Today, Richard’s grandson — and the fourth generation of his family — Jerry Macari Jr, is at the helm.

Over the decades since the early immigrant times, our community has become more mobile. Thus, at the end of life, like Marietta’s, it is those who are here, local, that end up caring for their loved ones’ end-of-life needs.

The current coronavirus crisis has also changed the way people celebrate the life of deceased family members and friends, at least for now. Families must choose socially-distanced small group services before private burials, often without church services. Many still are making the words I have been writing as a columnist.

I am one voice among millions of Black men and contrary to popular belief, we all don’t think alike, see the current situation in America from the same viewpoint or are in one accord as to how we make things better.

So, I certainly am not a prophet.

As I pointed out in another column, “I’m just a boy from the projects.”

And I wonder: How do you achieve equality when it decision to choose direct cremation over traditional services.

In the days ahead, families will gather again, like Marietta and Anthony’s. Friends will join them to remember and pay their respects. And full funerals will once again be celebrated.

For nearly one hundred years, the Lacerenza, and today Macari families, have served the greater Stamford area. Lacerenza’s recentlyrenovated facility in downtown Stamford provides all the amenities of a modern funeral home.

Licensed, professional funeral homes today provide comfort, guidance and help families plan for end-of-life care with even more skill than generations ago. They can offer various types of financing, burial insurance and other funding options not previously available to families of other generations. This allows families to choose the right type of service for their loved one without fear of added or unexpected financial burden.

The Lacerenza website (www.lacerenzafh.com ) and social media platforms provide new sources of online has never existed?

Because it is hard to break chains; even when they are rusty and rusting, they remain strong.

Race? The charade is in full spin. information to interested information seekers, both in the local community as well as those far away. Through its web portal, customers are even able to create pre-need arrangement contracts and payment plans without having to meet in-person, should they wish.

And services can be streamed over the internet for those who cannot attend in-person.

Today, as then, there is meaning in the dignity of life, especially a life like Marietta’s. In meeting the challenges of our times, it is only the norms of the day that change.

At Lacerenza Funeral Home and Cremation Services, there are several ways to keep informed of options in end-of-life care. The public is invited to attend any of the public seminars on end-of-life care put on by the family’s staff throughout the year. You can learn more about options by visiting www.lacerenzafh. com, or simply call or email us – 203-324-0158, info@ lacerenzafh.com and request, free of charge, a comprehensive 38-page planning guide or “Options in Covering Funeral Costs Today” brochure.