Letters

First, I want to send my sincere condolences to all the families who have lost loved ones during this time. Losing a loved one during this time is difficult enough, but not to have the ability to be by their side during their transition is unthinkable.

The normalcy of life now has tragically changed. The world is spinning on an erratic axle. It’s extremely hard to comprehend.

Let’s take a quick stroll/review down the history of “This America.” I’ve really pondered, and you check me on this.

I’ve read over the Constitution, written September 17, 1787. The Declaration of Independence was formally declared on July 2, 1776. And on July 4, 1776, Congress approved the final text of the Declaration of Independence. It wasn’t signed until August 2, 1776.

Black people were not free. They were slaves. Frankly, considered and deemed as “property,” like a horse or a cow. Imagine that fact for a minute.

So my first point: This Constitution did not have black people in mind. There was no one at the table to represent black people. As a matter of fact, some conclude that the Constitution protected their wealth of “ownership.”

Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th Amendment abolished slavery in the United States and provides that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States …”

So my second point: There seem to be obvious “loopholes” of injustice in the justice system. If you can afford a “good” attorney.

A 8-minute-46-second video of a police officer casually, with his hands, it appears, in his pockets, and his knee on the neck of George Floyd, murdering him right in front of the whole world — but it takes a protest to convince the authorities that this was a crime? But when Colin Kaepernick takes a knee, he’s immediately punished, humiliated. Ahmaud Arbery, the jogger … young Trayvon Martin, carrying his Skittles … just, unfortunately, to name two of far too many.

In closing, over 400 years of injustice. And the “chief in command” of “This America,” whom many voted in and still support, tweets a fueling statement like: “When the looting starts, the shooting starts.” And the fact that too many police officers have gotten off Scot-free — and this is justice? The entire world is reacting and crying out to the injustice of this pain!

This is “all men are created equal”? Look into the mirror of your heart and tell me, what is the solution?

How can we ever breathe life in this country again?

Brenda Simmons

Executive Director

Southampton African-American Museum