What’s up everybody?
So there’s two days left for Black History Month, so I decided to touch
on something that ran across my mind the other day. I’ll try to make this one short and sweet
(just how I like my women, haha…).
Speaking of women, let me get to what’s on my mind.
NOTE: This is NOT necessarily
a history lesson…just a comparison
On December
1st, 1955, a black woman by the name of Rosa Parks waked onto a Cleveland
Avenue bus in Montgomery, Alabama and sat in one of the first rows that reserved
for black or “colored” people. As the
bus began to fill with more white people, some of the new white passengers were
unable to sit down because of the bus being crowded. The bus driver, James Blake, then asked for
four black people to give up their seats so that some of the standing white
passengers can sit down. Three agreed to
do so, while Rosa Parks decided not to and stated, “I don’t think I should have
to stand up” when asked why she wouldn’t stand.
James then called the police and told Rosa “I’ll have to arrest you”. Three police officers then came to Rosa and
arrested her and she went to trial on December 5th. She lost her trial, but her lost lead to the
Montgomery Bus boycott, where her and other African-Americans were able to
claim victory. One of the things
boycotted were for the allowance of black bus drivers to drive the bus (keep
that in mind).
This is what I call… TAKING A STAND FOR SOMETHING! Still to this day, Parks is referred to as “The
Mother of Civil Rights.
Now lets fast forward…
On September 18th, 2012
in Cleveland, Ohio, a black woman named Shidea Lane, 25, got on a bus driven by
a 59 year old black man named Artis Hughes without paying because she claimed
that she forgot her book bag. Hughes
finally did pay, and after she paid, it is reported that she called Hughes a
“bitch”. This then lead to an argument
between the two, which then prompted Lane to grab Hughes by the throat, spit in
his face, and hit him. Following that
sequence, Hughes then stands up (I’m assuming he stopped the bus, (crazy if he
didn’t, right?) and yells to the girl “YOU GOIN’ TO JAIL NAH! (Nah = Now for
all you that didn’t know that). Hughes then does the unbelievable and gives her
an uppercut (aka SHORYUKEN!!!! * in my Ken Master’s voice *) and throws Lane
off the bus. The whole fiasco was taped
on a cell phone and saw by millions, causing most people to laugh frantically
while others watch in disgust. Hughes’
explanation behind the devastating hit was, “She wanna be a man, I’mma treat
her like one”.
This is what I call…TAKING A FALL
FOR NOTHING! Still to this day, Lane is
referred to as “another ratchet black woman”.
What’s my point?
My point is that black women like
Rosa Parks was one of the reasons why a black man is even able to drive a bus
in the first place and why blacks can sit anywhere they want to on the bus. She suffered for her
actions, but the lack of injustice fueled her decisions made on that December
day. 58 years later, we see black women
that do not even know how to conduct herself in a public bus, while a black man
makes a terrible decision to take matters in his own hands and do something
totally unprofessional. Say what you
want to about James Blake, but in his defense, he was only doing his job (as he
stated on the date of the Rosa Parks incident).
Looking at both of these situations
should shed some light to what is currently going on in our black community. For every one step forward we try to take in
the right direction for better opportunities and equality, we shamefully take
two steps back right in from the window for the world to see. We still have a long way to go, and if we don’t
get it together, then the black community will never amount to what our
forefathers dreamt we could be. Martin
Luther King Jr. was an important person to the Montgomery Bus boycott…but could
you imagine if he was around to see the violent act between Hughes and
Lane? WE NEED TO DO BETTER!
(Final note: Is it ironic that I finished this blog as SOON as Bad Girl's Club started? Hmmmm...)
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