Genocide is defined as the policy of deliberately killing a nationality or ethnic group. And it’s happened time and time again on different parts of planet Earth. It is intentional, it is mean-spirited and it is evil. More often than not the murders — and that’s what goes on in the act of genocide — are predicated on the hatred or fear of ‘the other.’ Those who are the most powerful due to size, strength or military might are able to successfully kill their opponents — well, because they can.
There are probably millions of undocumented examples of genocidal acts — that is, man’s inhumanity to man. However, we need only look to recent history to cite instances where millions were killed because of their differences: Bosnia-Herzegovina [1992-1995, 200K deaths]; Rwanda [1994, 800K deaths]; Pol Pot in Cambodia [1975-1979, 2M deaths]; the Nazi Holocaust [1938-1945, 6M deaths]; Stalin’s forced famine [1932-1933,7M deaths]; or Armenians in Turkey [1915-1918, 1.5M deaths]. And the beat goes on.
Today in urban cities like Miami, there’s a new kind of ‘sheriff’ in town that has targeted young Black men — boys who are not quite adults that may like rap music more than R&B, probably wear their pants a bit too far off their wastes and are naturally rebellious as all teens tend to be — no matter what their ethnic persuasion. But in careful attempts to demonize these boys, we are now seeing trigger-happy, NRA card-carrying, self-appointed community watchmen, Anglo-Saxon wanna-be-cops like George Zimmerman [the murderer of Trayvon Martin] and Michael David Dunn [the murderer of Jordan Russell Davis] taking a stand and committing murder.
That’s what genocide is — murder. And because of laws like Stand Your Ground, we are seeing more and more Black youth shot down senseless. Murdered because they decided to walk to the store for a Snapple Iced Tea and a bag of Skittles. Murdered because they were listening to music at decibels that were unacceptable to others. Maybe we miss the past so much that we are attempting to resurrect America’s good old days — you know, the Wild, Wild West.
We just wonder when someone will have the guts to change these laws and make murderers accountable for their crimes. Maybe our lawmakers don’t care since those being killed are just Black boys!
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