Carole Simpson

It’s Still Racist America

May 14, 2020 | Being Black, Gun Violence, Something. To. Say.

It’s Still Racist America

Hello Everybody.  I have something to say about the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.

Since we’ve all been staying home to escape the coronavirus, we have been lulled into a stupor thinking about little but the impact of the virus. But recently there was a rude awakening when the news media started covering the shooting death of Ahmaud Arbery.

 

The unarmed black man was shot and killed by two heavily armed white men back in February in Brunswick, Georgia. But it wasn’t covered by national news. It finally came to light recently when a phone video was released that showed the awful, cold-blooded and senseless shooting. Arbery had just been jogging when he was gunned down.

This was a new one for black men in America—jogging while black. We’ve heard  about driving while black, walking and shopping while black. But jogging? And the white men who are now charged with doing the shooting were still walking around, no serious investigation, no arrests, no prosecution.

But national outrage forced local authorities to arrest the men and make pronouncements that justice will prevail.

I pray that will be true. For a short period of time, we forgot that this was still America…that racism persists…and black men can be killed for nothing. Pandemic or not.

See you next time.

Fear and Loathing in America

Aug 12, 2019 | Congress, Gun Violence, Something. To. Say., Trump | 0 comments

Fear and Loathing in America

Hello Everybody.  I have something to say about “fear and loathing,” in all of America. The 255 mass shootings so far this year have freaked us out. The white nationalist expressions of racial hatred and anti-Semitism have made us afraid to go work, shopping, church, school, movies and doing things outdoors. We don’t feel safe anywhere.  And to make things even more scary is the fact that most Americans have no confidence that the government will take the actions or pass the laws that would calm our fears and keep us safe.

       The most visible of fear was the video taken in Times Square when a motorcycle back-fired and hundreds of tourists ran for their lives because they thought somebody was shooting a gun at them.

      When Trump gave his inaugural address, he spoke of “American carnage.” That struck me. It was an odd description. Now I wonder if he were talking about the past or predicting the future? Because we are definitely seeing the carnage.

     President Franklin Delano Roosevelt told Americans when we entered World War Two, that the only thing they had to fear, was fear itself. With apologies to FDR…today we have to fear young white men with tiny little brains and great big guns.

Until next time.

Chicago Murders

Jun 3, 2019 | Being Black, Gun Violence, Something. To. Say. | 0 comments

Chicago Murders

Hello:  I have something to say about the Chicago shootings and murders.

I grew up on the southside of Chicago, just like Michelle Obama. But now, some of the streets I walked as a child have been dripping with blood. My kind of town is the murder capital among America’s big cities. Every weekend we can hear shocking statistics on the number of shootings and killings, which will get undoubtedly get worse during the warm weather.

The murder rate has gone down over the past two years, but last year there were still 555 people shot dead. The Chicago police say the violence is due to gang warfare.  But a study by the University of Illinois says the high number of homicides is due to race and poverty

You can visit Chicago and see all the sights and conduct business and never see or hear anything related to the murders.  That’s because the crimes are confined to a few scattered neighborhoods on the southside and westside of the city. The residents are mostly black and mostly poor. The shootings are not happening on the Gold Coast, or the enclaves of luxury condos and expensive shopping, or the quiet white ethnic neighborhoods on the northside.

 Do I believe that if the victims were white, more would have been done to stop the killing?  Yes, I do. Do I believe the problem persists because 75 percent of the victims are black?  Yes, I believe that too. It seems black lives still don’t matter that much in Chicago.

Until next time.