Post my homie made on FB
I'll just call him Eddie...
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As I write this in my home, I am distracted by the sounds of police sirens and helicopters flying overhead. Protesters march down my street day and night chanting and demanding justice for another black man that has died at the hands of police. I live in South Atlanta, a two-minute walk to the Wendy's where Rayshard Brooks was killed. This area has a deep and dark history that I would like to share.
In 1906, Atlanta was developing a healthy black middle-class community. Black businesses from auburn avenue to the south Atlanta rail district thrived. During that time, two white Democratic politicians sought the nomination. Clark Howell, a former editor of the Atlanta constitution, and Hoke Smith, the publisher of the Atlanta journal. Both individuals ran on a platform of racial hatred and agitation. It is important to note both were democrats and both had significant influence over the media. Both candidates published stories depicting black men as sexually depraved people who were hanging out in salons on Decatur street that had pictures of nude women. Although false (fake news), these stories became increasingly provocative as they spoke of black men assaulting white women through benign activities. These assaults were reported as rape; One story even read that a negro had raped a white woman…. by kissing her hand.
On September 22, 1906, white people had enough of these ‘hand-kissing rapes’ and blacks getting out of their place, so a mob of 10,000-15,000 was formed. Starting in the little five points area, they began to burn, loot, and savagely beat black people. Within an hour 10 people, including 3 women, were hospitalized with two men eventually dying from their wounds. The militia was called out to help stop the violence, but they began to join in the killings as the mob walked south destroying everything black as they went along. Some of the black residents were not going down without a fight and defended themselves as best as they could with knives, guns, fists, rocks, and anything else they could get in order to survive.
A few miles away, some of the black people got word of these attacks and met to make a plan of defense. They met in a part of town known as Brownsville, a place where the black elite lived. Brownsville had black-owned post offices, restaurants, and the original site of Clark University and Gammon theological seminary. At this defense meeting, blacks discussed a law that had been put in place not allowing them to purchase guns or ammunition. It is significant that the now charred and burned Wendy's, where Rayshard was killed, is directly across from the original Clark university location.
Somehow intel was given to the militia department from a trader/snitch that the small number of guns were being housed in Brownsville and that armed black men were going to shoot the white mob if they came to Brownsville. Since black people were now breaking the law, the Fulton County Sheriff's department planned to conduct a raid with the intention of disarming these black gun-toting criminals leaving them defenseless as the mob approached. The Fulton County sheriff’s department made entry to disarm these black people with an armed mob that vastly outnumbered them not far in the distance. The black men refused to disarm, and a fight broke out, a Fulton county officer was killed. The ensuing carnage was tragic for blacks and is part of the communities’ distrust for police. The riots lasted from September 22 -September 25. Official reports say 45 blacks and 2 whites were killed, but oral history from those who lost loved ones estimate the numbers of black deaths above one hundred. The majority of the businesses and some homes were burnt or severely damaged in south Atlanta, destroying the economic power base in that area and fulfilling ideologies of white supremacy and black oppression.
Today I hear people say that if Rayshard Brooks wasn’t breaking the law, the cops wouldn’t have killed him. I wonder if those that say this would have said that when these laws were not only unjust but paramount to death if you are black. The men of Brownsville were faced with a choice like many are today. I wonder how many people died in the riot before they resisted arrest and ‘broke the law’?
Is it not significant that Rayshard died right at this same site? Did George Floyd's strangulation death while being arrested or Ahmad Aubrey’s murder, both of which we have been shown over and over, play a part in his decision to run? Are we becoming mentally conditioned to accept our fate of death by someone who considers themselves superior to us? When we discuss these killings with others, the narrative becomes well if they just followed the law or got an education, had a job, worked hard, and pulled up their pants it wouldn’t happen to them. And I say, didn’t Philando Castile have a lawful gun? Wasn’t Breonna Taylor a hardworking and dedicated EMT that was asleep in her bed? Trayvon Martin clearly had his pants up because he beat the shit out of a man who followed, harassed and attacked him for walking home, but George Zimmerman still got off because we were only told the forbidden attire of blacks was sagging pants, but apparently, we must add hoodie to the list of 'don't get murdered attire'.
Hoke Smith went on to win that election. Of the two candidates, he was more outspoken with his racism and he regularly used phrases such as ‘white supremacy’ and ‘black disenfranchisement’ when addressing his base. Today, the phrase white supremacy is often met with rejection and denial of its existence, but that phrase is what galvanized is supporters and is part of the reason he won. He became the Fulton county and state democratic chairman and went on to have a great political career as the governor of Georgia. He sat on the Atlanta board of education and then became a United States senator.
Hoke's disenfranchisement platform was the corner piece to his successful political career. By controlling media, police policy, and education over people that you don’t view as equal and may even hate, you create an environment that encourages others to display their hatred for black people all over the country. Hoke was also successful in getting constitutional amendments passed called the grandfather clause. Hokes’ policies, ideologies, rhetoric, and racism are painfully similar to Donald Trump's.
It is often said that these events were so long ago that they have no bearing today. 1906 was 114 years ago 56 years later the civil rights act of 1964 passed. If you were born when the civil rights act passed you would be 56 years old now, which is almost half of 114 years. Why do people find it hard to believe that a well thought out diabolical plan of systemic white supremacy that was supported by people all over the country is not effective today? This is still in effect via these people’s children. Is it a coincidence the area, that housed all those thriving black businesses and homes was destroyed and replaced with the housing project carver homes in 1965? Is it a coincidence that those projects are gone, and the area is being regentrified? What about the 366 % tax increase in that area? The inaccurate narrative that “they are burning down their own neighborhood” and I ask which black neighborhood? I saw looters in downtown Atlanta, and they said Buckhead, but both places are so expensive very few black people actually live there.
I have not participated in any looting, protests, or demonstrations, but I have been in attendance to observe the movements of the people of all colors and I commend it. I do not consider myself part of BLM, because its sheer definition is begging for my life to matter and history shows that black lives don’t matter to some people. Knowledge is power and I hope this may enlighten someone as to how I feel as a black man in America right now.
Eddie "
