Sunday, August 16, 2015

"Dead or in jail."

I just read a touching essay from a young man named Wilbert L. Cooper.

Here it is:

'"The day you were born, there was a pine box and a prison cell built with your name on it."
Throughout my childhood and adolescence, my father said that to me countless times, especially just as I was walking out the door. The first time I remember hearing those words, I had to have been about six or seven; I was so young I didn't really understand what he meant. I had yet to grasp the burden that comes with being young and black and male in America. It just sounded scary, and after hearing it—given what little I understood about race at the time—I was left with the distinct feeling that I was cursed.
But that was dad's way. He always tried to speak to me like I was a little man. And not because he was on some cheap machismo trip or because he had a taste for the macabre—it was because he legitimately thought if I didn't understand this lesson early on, I might not make it to age 25.
 
The phrase "dead or in jail" loomed large over my adolescence, as I think it does for many young black men today. The New York Times estimates that there are 1.5 million "prime age" black men in America who are "missing" from society today, meaning they are either behind bars or pushing up daisies. How they got there is a confluence of the micro and the macro—individual choices and a game with incredibly high stakes that's been fixed against them from the start.
Allowing your child to play that game without understanding the rules is tantamount to leading them to slaughter. My parents understood this, not just as blacks who lived through the Civil Rights era but as retired police officers who saw the way race played out on streets and inside the municipal courts in the city of Cleveland.
The storied legacy of the premature death of black men (homicide is still our greatest killer, according to CDC data) has arguably been eclipsed by the mass incarceration of black nonviolent drug offenders. And although President Obama's administration has advanced sentencing reforms and clemency initiatives that will help reign in this injustice, we're going to be living with the fallout for generations.
 
Right now, blacks make up 12 percent of the population, but almost 60 percent of those doing time in state prison for drug-related offenses—and according to the Sentencing Project, these black prisoners are serving almost as much time for their drug offenses as whites are for actually violent crimes.
That is the great equalizer of the black American experience, whether you grow up in the whitest suburbs like I did or in the grimiest ghettos: Interacting with police is fraught with peril and inequity. Despite my familial connections to law enforcement—two of my great-uncles, both my parents, my uncle, and my sister have all served or are serving on the force in Cleveland—I know that sick scenes like the unnecessary arrest of Prairie View A&M grad Sandra Bland, who died in custody, or the brutal treatment of black teens at Craig Ranch North Community Pool in McKinney, Texas, earlier this summer are not exceptions to the rule. They are the norm—indignities etched into the everyday experience of being black in America. And even I—with my white friends and my media job and my master's degree in publishing—can still get caught up in that when I get stopped by the cops. Although we live in a country with an unhealthy obsession with status and wealth, whether you're in a Pinto or a Porsche, wearing a hoodie or Helmut Lang, when the law comes down on you, you're still a nigger.
 
I think that's why the last few years have been so terrifying for me as I've seen the names cycle through from Trayvon Martin to Kimani Gray to Victor White to Eric Garner to Michael Brown to Tamir Rice to Walter Scott to Freddie Gray to Samuel DuBose. I know that no matter how well I play the game, no matter how cognizant I am of the rules, it could happen to me. I think about it when I walk past the police station at the end of my block in Brooklyn. I ask myself: Is today going to be the day they are going to fuck with me? And if so, what will I do? Every time a new video shot on police cameras and bystander's cell phones emerges with yet another black life being smothered across the screen, I feel myself getting one step closer to a kind of nihilism about this country and my place in it.
I can relate to the blinding, hot rage I've seen swallow up so many other brothers of my generation, from the pain they foolishly inflict against one another because their arms can't reach the system to the pain they inflict upon themselves because they are trying to escape the realities of the everyday.
 
 It's in those fits of anger that I wonder, Were we always destined to live and die this way, like savages in the street or alone in cold cells? And if this is it, why did our parents have us at all? Why bring us into this world where our lives are short and wracked with pain?" [Read more]
 
Powerful and sad words. You have to feel for some of these young brothers out here.
 
But give the author credit, he understands that his reality is not like that of a "typical American". And he also understands that no matter what he accomplishes in life he will still be treated and viewed  differently by certain people in America.  
 
Because of what I do for a living I have been to countless prisons in my life, and I have to tell you that it's always a sad and depressing experience. While you know that some of the people you see there deserve to be right where they are, you also know that a large percentage of them should have been back in society a long time ago, or worse, should not have been in there in the first place.
 
But we can't give up. We have to encourage these young men of color to hit their books, get their priorities right, and respect their families and their communities. 
 
There will always be injustice and prejudice in the world,  but we can't let them use it as an excuse not to thrive. We just have to do our best to minimize it and make sure that those who practice it are called out when they do.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
  

48 comments:

Anonymous said...

Here is a thorough and excellent interview of Donald Trump and where he stands on "Meet the Press" .

http://www.nbcnews.com/meet-the-press/donald-trump-very-hard-say-were-ripping-iran-deal-n410641

Mr. White said...

Blacks as a group are never held responsible for their behavior, are always aggressively overrepresented in anything presented for public consumption, are the beneficiaries of unfair hiring and promotion preferences, are hyped into the stratosphere whenever they succeed in an area outside of their usual realm of competence, become household names when they provoke police into harming them even in cases that wouldn’t make the local news if not for their race, who it is virtually illegal to criticize, whose behavior you are required by social convention to find appealing or keep your mouth shut, who were even given the White House out of the bizarre deference they are afforded, who are without question the most privileged not to mention pampered group in America, somehow these people think they are oppressed.

Get a fucking clue already.

Time is running out.

Yīshēng said...

GREAT post Field, the racist melanin deficient will NEVER get a fucking clue!

Anonymous said...

Mr White, the only thing Blacks are beneficiaries of is police brutality, injustices by your white justice system, murder by your police, and incarceration in numbers that are way beyond belief.

Of course, the way White's like you think, a nigger is a nigger and should be killed. Isn't that what your parents taught you and your parents parents taught them?

Let's face it. This evil-minded type of white thinking goes way back. You had better hope there is no God. That's the only salvation you can have...NO God.

Anonymous said...

"...They are the norm—indignities etched into the everyday experience of being black in America. And even I—with my white friends and my media job and my master's degree in publishing—can still get caught up in that when I get stopped by the cops. Although we live in a country with an unhealthy obsession with status and wealth, whether you're in a Pinto or a Porsche, wearing a hoodie or Helmut Lang, when the law comes down on you, you're still a nigger."

A superb description of what it means to be Black in America, regardless of status. It also points to the long term destruction of the Black Spiritual DNA: "Dignity". Once dignity has been wiped out through constant insults to Blacks by Whites, it's only a matter of time before the soul is dead.

From all action and behaviors it is the intention of Whites to 'etch' away, killing the spirit and hope of Blacks generation after generation until no more.



Whitey's Competency said...

Yīshēng said...
GREAT post Field, the racist melanin deficient will NEVER get a fucking clue!
---

And you will never get a medical degree.

So there's that.

Anonymous said...

The way those Whites 'etch' away at killing the spirit of Yisheng proves my point.

There will never be relief.

Anonymous said...

If whites wanted black people dead, they would be dead. Blacks need to be honest with themselves and acknowledge the massive amount of help they have received from a substantial number of whites.

Yīshēng said...

Anonymous Whitey's Colonoscopy bag said...
>>>>

I'll make sure you're the FIRST thing to bow down and address me as Dr. Yisheng.

Of course, you're already 4 feet shorter than I am, so there's that.

Anonymous said...

"I can relate to the blinding, hot rage I've seen swallow up so many other brothers of my generation, from the pain they foolishly inflict against one another because their arms can't reach the system to the pain they inflict upon themselves because they are trying to escape the realities of the everyday."

---------------
I can also relate to that rage, whether I am on the golf course and some White SOB tries to f...k with me for no reason, or a cop stops me for no reason, or some clerk in a retail store follows me around. There have been many 'slights' I have experienced as a bm, going all the way back to the 50s. I have had to suck it up and go on with my life. The problem is once its suppressed it becomes like a wolf in the basement banging on the basement door to be let out.

Collectively, the anger that Blacks have had to suppress over the centuries has GOT to be......you fill in the blank.

One thing 'for sure', Blacks cannot value themselves much by doing this over decades or centuries for that matter.

Anon10:09p I hear you. It's too bad more folks don't.

Field, thank you for your post. It is excellent and goes to the heart of the matter of the heart of Blacks.

Anonymous said...

Anonymous Anonymous said...
If whites wanted black people dead, they would be dead. Blacks need to be honest with themselves and acknowledge the massive amount of help they have received from a substantial number of whites.

10:48 PM
--------------
You mean like you killed off the Native American Indians? Instead of genocide for us you made us slaves and then lynched, robbed, raped, incarcerated, Jim Crowed us, terrorized us, and now you've gone modern by shooting us dead or hanging us in your jail cells, better known strange fruit cells.

Yep, you have done a lot for us. You need therapy to bring you back to reality.

Millions of Refugees said...

"Instead of genocide for us you made us slaves and then lynched, robbed, raped, incarcerated, Jim Crowed us, terrorized us, and now you've gone modern by shooting us dead or hanging us in your jail cells, better known strange fruit cells."

Still beats living in Africa.

Yīshēng said...

@10:59 you left sodomizers off your list, you KNOW whooteemoos LOVE that 'ish.

A Black Panther Forever said...

I suppose the US/whites did not benefit from the oppression of my people. You can not be that unknowing as to not recognize how we got to this point. Without forcing a population to be subservient, American may had become a third world entity. Stop speculating about my race taking from you. You have benefited from just by virtue of having white skin. Remember, there are still many Blacks living now that saw the signs saying "Negro need not apply". We felt the sting of having to bow our heads when addressing your fathers and grandfather.

Whites should appreciate that many of them were raised by Black females. So now 50 years later you expect a race that has had so much trauma to be perfect. Be thank the shoe is on my feet and not yours, because with the shortness of reasoning: if the shoe was on your feet you may have "snuffed" yourself. Your own Bible speaks of the passing of pain from one generation to the next. The same way you developed your "faulty" sense of superiority, we developed our "faulty" sense of inferiority.

Lastly, "some" people ask why we can't get ourselves together...it may be that since arrival in America, "some" people have ALWAYS been there "trying fix us". None of the- so called- special benefits that Black Americans have was taken from you-by Blacks-, they were given by the people in charge.(Again your people).

Let me clue you with one last thought- you are basing your assessment of African Americans on a small percentage of us. Just like the reefer laws that are used to suppress young Blacks- while not using the reefer laws on the people who smoke and deal the most- YOU get this special benefit. So get on your knees and be thankful that the majority of the lawmakers are people like you. StillaPanther2

Anonymous said...

Brothers and Sisters, I feel your pain. Living under the white man's oppression is hard. So very, very, very, very hard. Oh Lord, yes.

But there is an answer! There is a PLACE, a place G-d created just for you (though the Chinese are setting up shop in ever-increasing numbers). A place where you can be safe, and FREE! Free from the white devil's unfair drug laws, and their snide comments, and their stupid-ass questions about your hair. Yes, children, there is a place for you ....

AFRICA!

Yes, beautiful Mother Africa ... She is calling you home! She longs to cradle you in her ample bosom. She has endless animals for you to eat, and an unlimited supply of sticks and mud for you to build your huts. Frankly, I don't see why you all don't leave right now!

Anonymous said...

A Black Panther Forever, thank you for your comment. Of all the commenters here you have the most insight, depth and understanding. And that is what we need most.

I am over 80 and pretty much tired of the whole damn racism scene. However, I have come to accept that it is here to stay, without much change in the hardened heart. The impact, trauma, and results of racism is too great for humans to solve. I am disheartened about it and America.

I suppose 80 years of hope and expectations has been a wishful dream of equality for all, including Blacks. It won't happen as long as there are Whites running the show. It is not in them. And quite frankly, it's not in Blacks, either. The way Blacks and Whites act and behave toward each other's race insures the "superiority" and "inferiority" game continues.

I don't know. Maybe the answer is to get away from humans? They are so mean-spirited, unkind and hateful. Not even Christ, Buddha or Mohammed has been able to change the human race for the better. We just keep getting worse morally and ethically.

Anonymous said...

Anon3:28am, thanks for your thoughts. Btw, where are your ancestors from? Ever thought of going back? I bet you visit your motherland every year.

The Purple Cow said...

Quote:OneTrickPonyBill

"Remember, if you like the way things are going keep voting for the same party.

Nothing says change like doing the same and hoping for different results."


After all this time, no matter how often we have explained it to him in the simplest, most-childlike terms possible, Bill STILL doesn't get it.

Just how stupid is Bill, do you think?

ctrl+halt+del said...


"Frankly, I don't see why you all don't leave right now!"

I'm waiting for the last euro to leave, first.

ctrl+halt+del said...


I'm waiting for the last euro to leave Africa first

Faith_and_Fairness said...

Talk about the best of both worlds in the form of featuring an article such as "Dead or Jail," followed by Mr. Field's personal commentary of the real-life crisis he encounters with an out-of-control justice system.

And hitting the nail on the head is Still a Panther's post. Not a enough words of thanks for such a keen analysis.

If only the posters pronouncing the 80% or other such high crime figures took the time to explore further beyond their preconceived narratives, they would come across the countless untold stories of the many foot soldiers residing in urban communities who are proactive in combatting the loss of our young people to crime and senseless death.

This is a completely separate issue from the men and women commissioned to serve and protect all citizens. It should not matter the number of unarmed people dying in police encounters are less than the percentage of all arrests.

Hence the reason these life and death matters are front and center to begin facilitating much needed justice reform.

Anonymous said...

Yīshēng said...

Anonymous Whitey's Colonoscopy bag said...
>>>>

I'll make sure you're the FIRST thing to bow down and address me as Dr. Yisheng.

Of course, you're already 4 feet shorter than I am, so there's that.


Have you ever noticed short people run away from you when you approach? Try washing that dirty hoochie mama coochie. The world smells different to short people, when Black Hoochie mama's are around.

field negro said...

Thanks for some great comments.

Anonymous said...

President Obama golfed with Bill Clinton this past weekend. Obama's FBI currently has Bill's wife under investigation.

I wonder what they talked about.

What do you think Bill is going to have to pay to make sure this investigation goes nowhere?

Anonymous said...

What you say might hold more weight if those that are in Africa could "get it together"
They haven't.
Your black men want white women
Your black women try to look white
You deny you were destined for genocide in Africa
You deny the atrocities committed by black's
You deny the blessings given by whites to your race
You deny the blessings given by whites to the world

Anonymous said...

The blacks in this country reduce the average morality.
Killing in the streets
Cussing and name calling in music
Drug use and gang banging in pop culture
Mother's with no "baby daddies" (plural)
Baby daddies with multiple "baby momma"
Anger and rioting in the streets with rampant theft.

Instead of love and caring and cleaning up the neighborhood.

Sickeningly hypocritic

Yīshēng said...

@8:06, I understand that broken English is your third language, behind the languages you're fluent in called the ignorant and stupid languages.

But do you think if you could acquire some 21 century vernacular like Thot, even if you're speaking ill of your mother too?

Thanks hun!

Bill said...


The LyingPurpleCow said...
Quote:OneTrickPonyBill
"Remember, if you like the way things are going keep voting for the same party.


Still obsessed with me LyingPurpleCow?

I don't even need to ding ding you or ask if hitler was a socialist to goad you into replying anymore.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


What emotional payoff do you get from your obsession with me?

Anonymous said...

You go to hell!!! Dog Yisheng!!!

Bill said...


Gotta love how old white dumbocrats think.

Bernie Sanders promises to tackle racism as president
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-promises-to-tackle-racism-as-president/

An old white guy from a state with 1% Black population believes he can tackle racism better than a Black man from Chicago.


Didn't FieldNegro write a couple days about Bernie reaching out to #BlackLivesMatter?

The website BuzzFeed reported this weekend that Sanders' campaign reached out to the Black Lives Matter protest group to set up a meeting and apologized that "it took our campaign so long" to connect with leaders of the movement.

In an interview Sunday with NBC's "Meet the Press," Sanders said the note was "sent out by a staffer, not by me" and without the senator's knowledge. He said he didn't think it was necessary to apologize to the protesters.

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-promises-to-tackle-racism-as-president/


Bernie didn't see the need to apologize to #BlackLivesMatter.

Anonymous said...

There is no cure for racism. Blacks are intolerable. Naturally, people hate them.

Anonymous said...

Anybody see Straight Outta Compton yet? Dat shit was HYPE!

My favorite scene was where Dr. Dre had to suck that Jewish man's old, shriveled dick to get a record contract. xD

The Purple Cow said...

Poor old Bill.

He thinks I'm going to stop destroying his lame-ass arguments just because he claims to 'goad' me into a response.

Can't say that I blame the poor, deluded fool. I suppose he's sick of me making him look like a total fucking imbecile.

Bill said...


The Lying Purple Cow said...
Poor old Bill.


The obsession continues.

The Purple Cow said...

Quote: Sad Bill

"The obsession continues."

See what I mean?

To Bill, just getting someone to respond to him is a victory in itself. Even if that response is kicking his sorry ass.

How sad must Bill be?

field negro said...

Anon@8:45, your moonshine should be ready by now. Time for another hit.

Typical white boy said...

Damn, my dick is tiny, my ass is tiny, my brain is tiny, but my belly is HUGE!

Yisheng said...

I'm still a stupid, worthless cunt! Will somebody please beat my ass? I deserve it!

Yīshēng said...

I'm going to bet that this isn't the only black blog infested with gay chinamen that want to be White.

Anonymous said...

I am amazed that sister Yisheng would put herself down like her last comment. I am embarrassed for her.

Yīshēng said...

Anonymous Yisheng said...
I'm still a stupid, worthless...... Will somebody please beat my ass? I deserve it!
>>>>>>>>

I realize that this is the absolute best you can do "Yisheng".

But do you think you can work a little harder on your humor? I don't even mind if you copy jokes from other comedians, YouTube is your friend and given that you work in a library, coming up with options should be too difficult for you.

Thanks hun!

Anonymous said...

Dear Yisheng, I am confused my Sister. Which Yisheng are you, the one who works in the library or the one still trying to be a doctor? Or maybe you are both?

See, this is part of the problem we can't get ahead in America. You should never accuse a Chinese man of racism. As a bm I happen to know that Chinese are not racists.

PilotX said...

Good post, good comments (at leat those not made by socially retarded racists).

Anonymous said...

Thanks PX, it makes me feel good that you think my comments as a bm were good. Thank you. All I ever wanted on FN is to 'belong'.

You are an alright brother. I have been mistaken about you and apologize for lumping you with PC and that heartless Field who keeps trying to take away my blackness.

PilotX said...

"and that heartless Field who keeps trying to take away my blackness."

It's not Field taking away anything man.


stillaPanther2 said...

Anons if we were to return to Africa.... what c ountry of the 50 plus will we call our home? Surely you would not expect a red haired Irish to feel good if he was replaced to Spain. Unfortunatelly the separation of my people during our infusion in young America was a terrible act by the masters. I understand keeping us separated during t
his time of our beatdown.


America CAN Try to relocate our origins...... to steal a man's history and now not trying to relocate ....... well you know the abuse of just that action ma
y be reason for African Americans' dysfuntion in interact.ing with each other.

America

Anonymous said...

PX @7:42PM,I forget that you will always stand up for Field.

Nevertheless, you made another good point! I guess it was one of those black voices within from long ago disguised as Field.

Anyway, I appreciate the comment.

Anonymous said...

@ Panther Piss-

What "history"?!? You guys spent the last 100,000 years running around naked in the jungle and eating each other! Who stole that "history"?

If the white man's laws didn't stop you, you'd still be doing the same things here!