Wars are fought on many fronts in what I call “the war against the 
war on black and brown people.” I watched emotionally with most of America when Diamond Reynolds live streamed on Facebook the shooting of her fiance Philando Castile, shouting: “please officer, don’t tell me that you did this to him…”
We watched him take his last breath, while her 4 year old daughter sat watching in the back seat. It did something to me, it really did. I envisioned what it must have been like when Mamie Till, the mother of Emmitt Till, made the decision to allow her sons casket to be open for the world to see the ugliness that engulfed him. America needed to see what evil was, and look it dead in the face. “I want them to see what they did to my baby,” Mrs. Till said to the world 100 years ago.
I know the part I need to play and will play in the fight for social justice and reform of the Criminal Justice system. The fight will be long and hard but I wish my erstwhile manager was here to join me in this struggle. Unbeknownst to most Jimmy Rosemond was in the front line of many social issues we struggle with now.
Being from Compton I know about these issues first hand, however, I remember when Sean Bell was murdered on the eve of his wedding -after being shot at 50 times by police in Queens, New York- leaving his bachelor party with friends; Jimmy brought me to meet Mr. Bell’s fiance Nicole Paultre-Bell along with Al Sharpton during one of their protests. She was in shock that a California rapper travelled 3000 miles to support while other New York rappers remained silent.
The officers (in that case)were later acquitted. When Hurricane Katrina rocked Louisiana the nation watched...
We watched him take his last breath, while her 4 year old daughter sat watching in the back seat. It did something to me, it really did. I envisioned what it must have been like when Mamie Till, the mother of Emmitt Till, made the decision to allow her sons casket to be open for the world to see the ugliness that engulfed him. America needed to see what evil was, and look it dead in the face. “I want them to see what they did to my baby,” Mrs. Till said to the world 100 years ago.
I know the part I need to play and will play in the fight for social justice and reform of the Criminal Justice system. The fight will be long and hard but I wish my erstwhile manager was here to join me in this struggle. Unbeknownst to most Jimmy Rosemond was in the front line of many social issues we struggle with now.
Being from Compton I know about these issues first hand, however, I remember when Sean Bell was murdered on the eve of his wedding -after being shot at 50 times by police in Queens, New York- leaving his bachelor party with friends; Jimmy brought me to meet Mr. Bell’s fiance Nicole Paultre-Bell along with Al Sharpton during one of their protests. She was in shock that a California rapper travelled 3000 miles to support while other New York rappers remained silent.
The officers (in that case)were later acquitted. When Hurricane Katrina rocked Louisiana the nation watched...
Comments
Post a Comment