When Will Racism Lose the War?

I do not know what it is about us earthly inhabitants, but from the beginning of time, we have found a reason to hate, oppress, enslave, distrust, look down upon, negatively stereotype and ultimately attempted to depopulate and annihilate people of other races. The differences in our phenotype that is dictated by our genotype has always and continues to pervade even now and into the future as a reason to perceive and treat people differently and, sometimes savagely. Let’s be honest, no amount of technology, education, money, research or religion has successfully eradicated the world of the scourge of racism and there is very little indication that this type of mindset will ever be completely cured. We hear terms like the war against racism, not internalizing that if we have to wage war against a phenomenon like racism, then racism must somehow be fighting back and the question that emerges from this realization is, if racism still exists in the year 2014, then who is truly winning the war?

Ever since Mike Brown, the unarmed teenager was shot and killed by a police officer in Missouri, I have seen a drastic increase in race debates, articles and news features about race, sometimes related and sometimes unrelated to the death of Mike Brown. Let’s side track for a minute. Notice I did not say Mike Brown, a black unarmed teenager was shot and killed by a white police officer in Missouri which the media has done myriad of times for emphasis and reaction and thus pulling our emotional strings while planting seeds in the minds of the public even before the facts are revealed. As a reading populace, we have to know and understand that the media very much plays word games and is able to some extent, dictate our opinion and cloud our judgment through the simple mechanism of word play. We have a responsibility to ourselves and to each other to navigate through what are considered facts and what is considered hysteria so that ultimately, our opinion can be balanced, rational and most importantly based on facts and not sensationalism. My personal opinion, on the tragic incidents that took place in Missouri is not one subscribing to the race card debate that I have seen taken place and led to a lot of misguided actions even today. In fact, I believe that the matter highlights the issue of police brutality which is certainly a problem that not only needs to be address and corrected by the police force but also by the government on a national scale.

 Reverting to the point at hand, yes, there has been an onslaught of material on race circulating the information stream ever since the Mike Brown incident and I have watched with much disdain at how the ugly aspects of racism were just hissing away like the many ferocious snakes on Medusa’s head. I have seen how racism begets racism, where people felt as if it was okay to hate and degrade other races because they themselves felt hated by those of other race(s). I have seen where racism censors people of other races, where people of one race felt as if certain other races should not have a voice or opinion on issues that does not affect their race per se. Or, if you disagreed with a particular outlook on the race argument, you could incur the wrath and isolation of the people within your own race. I have seen where racism trivialized the struggles of other races, where people of other races would attempt to hijack the opinions of individuals who felt oppressed by people of other races. I have seen the race card trump and curtail other valid facts, where when an incident involving two races ends with some level of causality, the focus is mainly on the race of the individuals and any other matters pertaining to the incident is muted, curtailed or overlooked. I am truly in such amazement and awe.

However, when I saw an article explaining that a part of dealing with racism is to practice empathy, my heart just welled with overwhelming frustration at what seems to be the continuous misconception of race and race related issues. You might be wondering why such a seemingly sensible statement would be the factor that led to my height of frustration. This is because I believe that this statement epitomizes the fact that collectively, we are still in the dark ages when it pertains to race and racism. I say this simply because; no one should feel the need to empathize with an individual for being a particular race. Why would I empathize, with someone for being Black, White or Asian? A race is not an affliction, it is not a disease, nor is it or should be a form of strife. My race is by definition, the physical manifestation of the genes that are present in my DNA passed down generationally through my ancestors. Neither I, nor anyone else for that matter needs empathy for something as self-evident and simple as being born a particular race. Empathy can be saved for issues like unemployment, homelessness, being underpaid and overworked. Think about walking a mile in their shoes because they are experiencing strife that is universal and could happen to almost anyone. However, I do not need empathy for my skin color.

In addition to this, before any individual decides to explain that this writer may have meant empathy for the struggles of certain races. I will reiterate that no one from any race needs empathy for being a particular race. No individual needs to be able to walk in the shoes of another race for one simple reason. Each of us, regardless of race, should have enough ethics and principles to know that all they need to show towards another human being is respect and equality. Race has nothing do with how we each need to treat each other. Do not empathize with me, simply treat me the same way you would treat another individual from your own race and that’s enough for me. When everyone can do this, there would be no reason for sympathy or empathy, only fairness and universal respect.  

To Record Or Not To Record Is The Question...

In this day and age of gadget extremus, where almost any device can be a camera/video camera, it is not surprising that people are being recorded on a daily basis by the government as well as by random individuals. Yet, when is it okay to record someone?

A friend of mine was relating a situation to me that occurred at her job. She works at a fast food restaurant and was requested to serve a customer a waffle ice-cream cone. As she handed the woman the ice-cream cone the customer complained that she had not handled the waffle cone in a sanitary manner. Considering that my friend which I will refer to as Brenda,  was a cashier, the customer complained that since she was handling money she should be careful not to touch the part of the waffle that the customers were eating instead she should hold the waffle where the strip of paper was located on the cone. Brenda explained that she did do that but the customer insisted that she did not. Instead of arguing with the customer, she proceeded to get another cone from a fresh unopened sleeve of waffles that she had to retrieve from the back of the store. When she came back, she noticed the customer was angling the phone in her direction. She ignored the action and continued serving up a fresh ice-cream cone. By the time she gave the ice-cream waffle cone to the customer, the lady explained that she was about to record her to see if she was going to follow correct procedures. This angered Brenda immensely, as the only thing she could think of was a questionable video of herself circulating on the internet without her permission.  This prompted her to ask the customer why she would record her even though she was attempting to fix the problem. Even though the customer had apologized about wanting to record her, Brenda felt as if her rights were violated and also felt she could have been further violated had the video surfaced on the internet. It had rattled her.

Even though that customer felt as if she was doing the correct thing, was she in fact out of bounds by trying to videotape an employee for any reason without the permission of said employee? I believe that no one wants to be secretly recorded or even if the person is visibly recording, to do so without consent of the person that is being recorded. In fact, a person may be crossing legal lines when they choose to record someone without the consent of the person being recorded or are they?

We have seen the myriad of videos that circulate on the internet through social websites like Facebook. They also pop up in abundance on World Star hip-hop, Youtube and various news media like Huffington post. We have seen them at the click of a button. They are videos of fights, videos sharing moments of hilarity and cuteness, pranks, moments of exceptional behavior as well as moments of outrageous and unscrupulous behavior. However, have we ever stopped to think that maybe one or two of the persons featured in these videos may not have given consent and did not want their faces to be circulating on the internet?

In a more recent and extreme case, with the story surrounding the #Jadapose where the young lady Jada, was allegedly drugged and raped, then her half naked body was photographed while a video was taken and then released on the internet for the entire world to see her demise. Sadly, she wasn't even in a conscious state to grant or deny permission to have her naked body photographed or recorded.

The fact is, individuals constitutionally have a right to freedom of expression when it comes to videotaping and placing the footage on the internet. This clearly does not mean that people will not abuse this right or act responsibly when taking advantage of this right. On the other hand, do the ordinary people who are going about their daily lives and work have any protection from these freelancing self-proclaimed videographers? Does Brenda or Jada have any protection or legal recourse against what may seem to be an act of violation.

Legally, once an individual is in public or on public property there is a reasonable expectation for observation to take place and therefore anyone can legally videotape an individual as long as said person is within the public perimeters. If that individual is within a place where there is no reasonable expectation for observation like a bathroom inside a restaurant, their home or even a changing room in a clothing store then it becomes illegal to videotape that individual. This means that unfortunately for Brenda, the customer was within her right and reason to videotape Brenda's activity because my friend was on public property. In addition to this, the customer felt as if her food was being mishandled by an organization that gives consumers the assurance that they will receive quality food 100% of the time and therefore felt that she was doing a just act by exposing a potential hazard to the public.

On the other hand, in the case of Jada, there were many legal violations, but for the sake of this blog, we are just focusing on the photograph(s) and recording(s). The fact is, it was quite illegal to record Jada even though she was on the property of one of the perpetrators, the law states that it does not prohibit security monitoring in a residence if conducted by or at the direction of the owner or principal occupant of that residence unless conducted for a lewd or lascivious purpose. While this was specifically taken from the Michigan penal code, this law is similar for all states. We can clearly see that the recording/photographs of Jada was indeed for lewd and lascivious purposes.

I empathized with both these ladies because no one wants to be recorded then have their face plastered all over the internet against their will especially in a compromising position. There is such a thin line between freedom of expression and the right to privacy when it comes to recording someone and in a matter of seconds that line can be crossed by an individual with a camera or recording device.

The onus is mostly on ourselves to ensure that we are not being videotaped without our consent although sometimes it is near to impossible to prevent that. Thankfully, there are a few cardinal rules to follow in order to diminish the possibility of individuals being recorded without their consent. They are:

Be very aware of your surroundings.

Avoid placing yourself in compromising positions that will render you unconscious or defenseless in possibly precarious circumstances.

And speak up! Simply because an individual is legally able to record you in public places does not mean that you have to roll over and play dead. Let the recorder know that you wish not to be recorded or photographed and if they continue to videotape you, insist on getting that individuals information and their purpose for videotaping you.

In the case of the recorder, make sure that you never record someone without their consent or make sure that even after the recording you are able to procure some type of mutual agreement on the recorded material. In some cases, you are protected legally and constitutionally to partake in such activities at will, but that does not mean it is okay to do so against the will of others.

Also, a person that is recording an individual without the consent of the person being recorded can attract legal problems and in some cases may cause themselves to get hurt if the person being recorded lashes out by attacking the recorder.

The world can be a hostile place but being smart and careful can ensure that we never or seldom end up on the wrong side of the situation. In this case, for both the recorder and the person that is being recorded.