Taijuan Moorman
To anyone passing by the Scripps Amphitheatre last Thursday
evening, the sight of what looked like a man being hanged would frighten some,
and alarm many. And to anyone who stuck around for Kappa Alpha Psi’s Black Male
Summit, the reaction would be no different.
Along with this display, candles sat around five pictures of
black men and one woman, whose lives were taken too soon. One of whom was
Trayvon Martin, whose tragic case has stirred up protests, rallies, and
conversations on stereotypes, racial profiling, and race in America. The four remaining
pictures were of individuals whose circumstances were equally as tragic and unfair, yet did not receive as much
attention from the general public. The gentlemen of Kappa Alpha Psi proceeded
to tell us these stories once the summit, title “Did I Deserve To Die?” began.
One member appeared from the back of the Scripps building,
stumbling towards the crowd in a way that gave the impression of him being
shot. While stumbling and lying on the ground, he spoke as if it were his last
words, pleading for justice, and questioning why he had to die. The crowd was
still.
Taijuan Moorman
One of the men gave us the first depiction of the unfortunate
cases, understandably with a bit of anger and sadness in his voice. The
incident involved Jonathan Ferrell, a former college football player, who was
fatally shot by police while looking to them for help. He had just gotten into
a serious car wreck, and sought help at the nearest house he could find. He
attempted to knock on the door of a white woman’s home, who closed the door once
she realized it wasn’t her husband coming home. She then called the police, who
once arrived to the home, shot Ferrell when he advanced towards them.
The remainder of the cases were alarmingly similar, of
people going about their lives in situations that could be common to people of
any culture, yet these cases seemed to consistently involve either race or
police brutality as a prominent factor in the deaths. And each case was
depicted by one of the males of Kappa Alpha Psi in ways that commanded
attention, and left the crowd silent.
After these instances were
presented, the crowd was asked for reactions, in an interactive way that had
many interesting points being brought up, including the need for unity, more
education and empowerment in the black community, and talk of black-on-black
crime in relation to other forms of race-on-race crime. Another issue that was
brought up directly referred to the summit, in that the black community has a
tendency to speak on a lot of these problems, however will not pursue action,
or understand how to do so.
Programs like these are incredibly informative, but are just
the first steps in solving problems in a community that understandably isn’t
always sure of what to do about it. They are also inspiring, as this summit
was, by getting people to realize that they can do something, simply by
contacting representatives, voting, and bringing attention to cases of
injustice.
