"And the Silent Majority Remained Silent"
Joy Johnson
My heart is so full that I find it difficult to accurately express the depth of my emotions. I want to scream into my pillow until I fall asleep from exhaustion. But I have resolved to write this post.
You see, I have worked IN the criminal Justice System, and I have worked WITH the criminal justice system for years.
I was that person who tried to work within the system to improve the system, only for the system to bite me in the....
I have seen first hand with my own two little eyes the wave of black lives being manipulated, marginalized and abused because the powers that be simply DON'T believe that black lives matter.
I have seen first hand the issue of fines twice as large to black people and not at all to white people.
I have seen first hand, like fricken clockwork the influx of black arrests at the end of the month to meet a quota that THEY SAY doesn't exist.
I have seen black families literally sell their homes to try and get some similitude of justice for their child, while a white family makes a couple of phone calls and their file is 'conveniently' lost.
I have BEEN the person on the other side of the desk listening to the pleas of my black brothers and sisters for something to be done... for something to change.
I have seen police officers come to make a minor arrest of a black man as if it is Christmas morning and they are excited to open their gift.
I have seen some police actually COMMIT the very crime they are arresting a black man for.
I have READ the files where probation FEES were just as high as probation FINES.
I have seen the hopeless...
I have seen the fears...
I have felt the anger...
I have heard the pleas...For years.... for years... I have seen it...
But, do you know the moment that stands out more than any other moment. Do you know the face that is seared into my mind and the voice that I still hear clearly to this day....
It is the voice of a single white woman, arrested in the middle of the night and placed in front of me for administration. It is her voice that resounds more then any other, as she said to me...
"I don't belong here."
After all those years I had watched the pain and suffering of so many fellow African Americans, it was her words that ignited a fire in me that will not go away unquenched.
"I don't belong here."
In all my time, in all my years, never before had I heard a single black person ever say that to me...
"I don't belong here."
And...
While under the guise of professionalism, I used all the strength I could muster to control the groundswell of anger that had been building up within me for all those years...
As I politely responded to the white women's comment...
"I don't belong here."
... with...
"Really? And who is it that does?"
So that being said...This is what I have to say about all the violence SUPPOSEDLY started by angry black folks.
________________
I have been mad about our political climate for the last 4 years as people refused to acknowledge the suffering of (NON ILLEGAL) immigrants leaving their native land in search of a place where they can have peace. People whose only crime was... not being born here. People who were punished, put in cages, and treated in a substandard condition.
(... and the silent majority remains silent)
I have been mad for the past 4 years as I watch our judicial system, legislative system, and electoral systems virtually ripped to shreds as those with priviledge and entitlement sit idly by, proclaiming that what we are seeing is not ACTUALLY what we are seeing. And that it is allllllllllll good in the neighborhood, because America is ACTUALLY becoming GREAT again. And that truth is ONLY truth when it agrees with me.
(... and the silent majority remains silent)
For the last 4 years, I have been fricken livid, as I have seen lies told. Attacks made. Names called. Rules rewritten and standards abandoned all in the name of a God who is LOVE, and would NEVER function that way.
(... and the silent majority remains silent)
For the past four years, I have sat astounded at the MASSIVE levels of cover up that have been conducted so that those who are in power can remain in power.
(... and the silent majority remains silent)
I threw my fists in the air during the primary as I saw once again how the cries of the people who are ACTUALLY suffering economically are marginalized and silenced for the sake of compliance and the 'greater good'.
(... and the silent majority remains silent)
I have cried tears every night as thousands, upon thousands of Americans NEEDLESSLY die from the corona virus and the only thing we are consistently told is that 'the numbers are not that bad'.
(... and the silent majority remains silent)
I watched in complete disbelief as white men and women in full body armor and automatic weapons stood on capitol steps across this nation, because WEARING A MASK and STAYING AT HOME represented an undue burden and a violation of their civil rights.
(... and the silent majority remained silent)
Soooo, do i think that the violence is wrong? Yes.
Do I think it is counterproductive? Yes.
Do I think it adds fuel to those who want to label, stereotype and control? Yes.
Wouldn't I prefer that people choose a peaceful way to protest? Yes.
But here is what REALLY pisses me off...And this, is to that silent majority ...
WHY ARE YOU TALKING NOW!?!?!