I Blog Poetry and Prose

What Happened to Equality?

Istiqlál (Independence), 2 Núr (Light) 177 B.E. Friday, June 5, 2020

Day 5 entry for "The Bard's Hall Contest" .

The "Blogging Circle of Friends "  prompt for June 4, 2020: "Half a century ago, the amazing courage of Rosa Parks, the visionary leadership of Martin Luther King, and the inspirational actions of the civil rights movement led politicians to write equality into the law and make real the promise of America for all her citizens. -David Cameron What happened to equality? How did we turn back the clock of time and commit the same horrible crimes that were a a social norm before Rosa and Martin's time? Your thoughts about what's happening across the United States."

What happened to equality? Nothing happened to it, we never truly had it. Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King, Jr. brought inequality and injustice into the nation's headlines. They helped get equality written into the laws of this country; however, those laws didn't change much because they didn't address institutionalized racism. They didn't bring justice into the institutions that make up the government and corporations of America. They didn't encourage most white Americas to look into their hearts and confront the false concepts and definitions of race taught to them as children.

Most people are protesting because they see the injustice. Some are protesting because against the injustice, while others are so attached to the status quo that they fear change and don't want the spotlight on the injustice. Violent protest take the spotlight off the injustice and focus it on the violence, which doesn't help change the injustice to justice.

Traditional and outmoded concepts of race, that came into the institutions of America before and during the time of slavery. These definitions were intended to subjugate anyone that wasn't white or didn't look white. These definitions are still believed by many people today and are still prevalent in most governmental institutions. To change this we must confront injustice vocally. We can't remain silent because to do so is to repeat the injustices of the past and carry them into the future.