For many days I contemplated on what topic I shall discuss for my 2nd critical commentary. One day, when I was waiting for my mom from her appointment, I stumbled to an article from Glamour magazine entitled "Rodney King's Daughter: The World Watched As Their Father Was Beaten" by Gretchen Voss. Its a story of a black guy being brutalized by cops, way back 1991. The case had sparked some of the worst riots in the US history.
Rodney's daughters' and the rest of the world had seen his brutal humiliation live in a television from a cellphone camera of a person few feet away from the scene. The family felt so devastated and helpless, since they can't do anything about it. Their father was admitted to the hospital in fatal condition. Soon enough he was released from the hospital and filing no charges against his assailants his daughter, Lora, a gradeschooler back then had asked him why he was beaten and he answered "sometimes people won’t like you because of your skin color ," and that scared her off. Her fear was again proven when she was in school, the school had received many death threats call for the girl and she was constantly hear her classmates tell her that her dad "had it coming". Candice was also harassed at that time. By the time they were in highschool, they remember that the four police officers were on trial (for assault and other charges), they walked out as a freemen and that had sparked tremendous anger from the people who are in support of Rodney King, destroying the town for Rodney king they said.
The article had struck me because of the serious cruelty of racism. This case is an perfect example of one point of post-colonial theory on the damaging effect of colonialism to self-identity. On how the white people showed their dominance and superiority to the "minority", which are the black people. These people were considered as someone who are beneath the whites, and that their culture, languages and beliefs must be universal. I hate to think that such brutality really exist in our world and labeling of "minority" to some races.
For many years, black people has suffered serious alienation and humiliation all because of their skin color. There were no justice served regarding these people. Many film in the history would show how these people had lived their life where no equality among the races. The movies had perfectly depicted reality of objectifying black people, becoming slaves, tortured and humiliated, oppression in the community, getting unequal accesses to resources (income, insurance, etc). A picture of clear inequality vis-a-vis one's skin color.
Today, one could say that racism was minimized in some areas of the world, however it was not completely eradicated. I guess this type of social discrimination of history is hard to erase in some parts of the world. Black people would always be victims of social inequality, a race that is beneath the whites. The question now would be, how would the black people recover their very own "self-identity"? To practice their own culture without the interferences of the white cultures. Remembering their true self-identity according to history and live confidently and comfortably in a community that white people shares with them.
I believe that the only way to gradually eradicate this oppression is by standing up to themselves and not let the white people control on how they would live. Black should stick with their own style, languages, accents, culture, and such. Yes it may aggravate the white people but it may be effective in planting to the minds of these narrow minded people that they are their own person. Black people also have the concept of self-identity and that the whites cannot change the way they are. That they are also human beings that deserve to live normally like them, and to receive equality in all aspects of living.
Skin color must not be the basis of inequality and objectification. Everyone deserves to have a normal life no matter what race he or she belongs. Today, we live in 21 century and it must come to everyone's common senses that we all have different histories and different cultures. Each one of us deserves to be respected and accepted and that this would be the only way that may keep the peace among different races. Lets not dwell on the past and focus only to our present. Where people shall be more accepting and understanding especially on the black people.
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