We Whites have no sense of the terror Blacks feel of the police, no matter their age and accomplishments over their lifetimes. The primal fear is acquired as a youngster. It never goes away.
The below are excerpts from an extraordinary LNP Op-Ed. Please read the article in its totality.
“I have come to the conclusion that a big part of the problem is ignorance and what I call the ‘Imaginary Negro Syndrome.’ Many whites have no concept or understanding of just what it means to be black in America and even greater ignorance of what it is to be a black male, whether a child or a man.
“I realized the ‘Imaginary Negro Syndrome’ existed after years of being told by white friends, acquaintances and business associates, ‘You’re not like the rest of them.’ It especially became clear when I realized they did not know ‘the rest of them.’ I was usually the first African-American with whom they had any business, personal relationship or social interaction…
“This is clearly seen in the testimony of Darren Wilson, the Ferguson police officer who testified, supposedly under oath, about his altercation with Michael Brown: ‘And when I grabbed him, the only way I can describe it is, I felt like a 5-year-old holding onto Hulk Hogan.’
“In other words he met face to face while holding a gun, his imaginary Negro, who made him feel like a 5-year- old child.”
Perhaps Rev. Bailey needs to be asking LNP ownership, management and the editorial board why there are no minorities on the writing/editing staffs for the only newspaper that supposedly serves an increasingly diverse city and county population.
Perhaps then, and only then, will there be real dialogue on these types of social issues. And I am just not suggesting a ‘token’ minority hire, but to really have a diverse staff that can more adequately and intelligently address these issues.
I know the hope of the Hotel/Convention Center proponents was that it’s success would bring about a ‘changing face’ of downtown Lancaster….in terms of returning the ‘face’ of downtown Lancaster to the fifties ‘look’.
This kind of ‘head in the sand’ outlook denies what is going on in all of our neighborhoods, and LNP better wake up and smell the coffee!!