Thoughts on What's Trending Now

There are some quotes, statements, links or photos posted that just give me cause to pause. The Coretta Scott King funeral photo posted alongside the photo of Michelle Obama - one of those. Note the former pic memorializes a grieving WIDOW; although I understand the desire to view the Kings as the Black community's 1st family and thereby pair the two wives, each with her daughter laying on her lap, there is a message that is disturbing. With scriptures being ignorantly shared that wished curses upon the president a true Christian should never wish on her/his enemy...we've got to be more critical about the messages we relay. Find another pose. I'm sure there's one. Post that.

My more recent cause to pause...the photo of Emmett Till paired with that of Trayvon Martin. (DISCLAIMOR: BOTH OF THEIR MURDERS WERE SENSELESS SO PLEASE DON'T INTERPRET WHAT FOLLOWS AS A JUSTIFICATION OF EITHER.)

The posting of this sends a message of acceptance of the idea that wearing a hoodie in today's south (or wherever if you listen to the commentary) equates with whistling at a White woman in the south of the '50s. T'ain't necessarily so, folks. The latter was a violation of a widely known societal more. Whether or not a young visitor from the north knew that unwritten rule both existed and could cost him his life, Black men and women from the south were too aware and ensured their sons understood the behavioral expectations to prevent their being lynched.

To date, although Geraldo's media-seeking tweets and others justifications have implied wearing a hoodie while Black is a no-no, there has been NO unwritten rule about so doing that the masses of any community have communicated to their children. That being the case, Trayvon was not a naive young man in a foreign land unaware that he was violating a social norm by wearing a hoodie. There was nothing other than the perceived disparity between his race and location that made him a target.

To conclude this hastily written missive, a wife doesn't equal a widow and a teen murdered for unknowingly violating a more doesn't equate to a teen murdered just for being thought the wrong human in a given place. We just can't post messages that can be used to support agendas that are diametrically opposed to our intent and need to be a little more critical.