Rhetoric Race and Religion
On Monday afternoon at Spring Valley High School in Columbia, South Carolina, school resource officer Ben Fields assaulted a 15 year old student while she sat in her seat in class. Many in social media expressed outrage. We here at R3 collected some of those reflections and expressions below. If you would like to share a reflection, please email us at [email protected]
If your first thought is, “what did she do,” or, “she should have obeyed,” or, “we don’t know the whole story,” or, “kids need to respect authority,” then you and I need to part company. Would you ask those questions if she were white? Would you ask them if she were your child? Unless she was waving an effing gun, this is bull. Oh, wait. You can shoot up a movie theatre, a school, and even a church, and make it out alive. With a bullet proof vest. And a meal from burger king. If you’re a white dude. But if you’re an unarmed black girl who’s being mouthy or just quietly recalcitrant, you get assaulted and slammed to the ground, at pool parties, in classrooms, and in your own home. Got it. No wonder one of my students said this video reminded her of slavery days. The disrespect of black persons, female and male, young and old, has a long history. The belief that black bodies are property that can be manhandled has a long history. The idea that black children are never really children, and that protection is for “ladies” (who are always white) and “innocent little kids” (who are always white), has a long history. Educate yourselves. Ask. Read. Think. Be slow to speak. That is all.-Amrita Chakrabarti Myers
I am writing to express my outrage that a young African American female student could be assaulted while peacefully sitting in her desk! In these times of heightened tension when anti-black policing is a topic of public outrage, it is important that local law enforcement agencies send the message to their employees and the communities with which they collaborate that such racist behavior is not acceptable. Officer Ben Fields is taking part in these times. He is a witness to the kinds of conversations and protests that are happening in our contemporary society around policing. And yet, Fields made the decision to brutalize a young woman publicly in front of other minors and state employees. What a blatant disregard for black life! And, (what is unfortunately but most likely to appeal to the parties addressed here) what a reckless occupation of the public position he holds as a state employee! Fields’ actions reflect poorly on the entire district and state which he represents, and he should be terminated immediately. Black children have the right to be treated as fully human. Black people have the right to be treated as fully human. #BlackLivesMatter.-Todne Thomas
And THIS is what America doesn’t have the BALLS to say: “That baby girl was body slammed in that classroom because Black girls are inherently evil. They are not female or human. They are potential monsters who must be policed in body and soul. They are criminal at best and the reason for the downfall of civilization at worst. They have no feelings because they don’t feel. They have no pain because they’re not human. They are society’s convenient scapegoat. They must be contained unless they’re needed to personify the evil others refuse to hold to their own account. They are the prostitutes that carry society’s workforce. They are angry without a cause. They must be neutralized…..unless we need them tomorrow.” What recourse do we have? You don’t want blood in the streets, yet you gladly spill our blood anytime you feel like it. You want the right to bear arms without infringement, but if we take up arms we’re nothing more than domestic terrorists. How long do you think we will continue to forgive your terrorism? Your refusal to treat us with humane dignity is asking us to go to war. Oh America, you are pushing us very close to responding with blood and fire.-Kimberly Joy Chandler-R3 Contributor
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