Part of my daily routine is waking up earlier than I actually need to just so I don’t have to rush into the day. My chosen method of starting the day is praying, then turning on the television – usually to watch local or national news for about 20 minutes before I begin the rest of my morning regime.
One day this week, my routine was altered as I found my television tuned to a spiritual program rather than the news shows I generally watch.
The pastor on this particular program outlined seven decisions you should choose to make in life that will help you become a better, more spiritually-focused person. I won’t outline them all, but I acted on a couple of them this week as news coverage of the biker gang shootout in Waco, Texas intensified.
One of the “decisions” the pastor noted was “Your decision to look for divine rewards in every battle.” I took the pastor’s call to action literally and tried to see what type of reward could come out of the vastly different, less threatening manner in which media and Waco law enforcement respectively presented and handled the biker gang altercation that included, guns, knives, and even chains with padlocks – all items that were used as weapons. The brawl between the rival biker gangs resulted in the death of nine, 18 others were injured.
When news of the fight broke Sunday, most news outlets did not mention the race of the bikers. In stark contrast however, activist and columnist Sally Kohn noted “the day after Freddie Gray died in the custody of police officers in Baltimore, not only did most coverage mention that Gray was Black, but also included a quote from the deputy police commissioner noting Gray was arrested in “a high-crime area known to have high narcotic incidents,” implicitly smearing Gray and the entire community.”
So which angle did media take relative to the Waco incident? They chose to highlight a statement made by Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton. Swanton said, “We’ve been made aware in the past few months of rival biker gangs … being here and causing issues.”
The gangs were doing more than “causing issues,” they overtly violated the law, they compromised the safety of Americans and they killed and severely injured others.
In addition, the brazen gangs went a step further by issuing “orders to shoot and kill uniformed law enforcement officers.”
Although media and law enforcement had access to the documented threats, very few offered much coverage on it. Even more appalling is law enforcement didn’t call in reinforcement from other cities, nor did they use military-style procedures to protect themselves or keep the gang members at bay. Speaking of keeping gang members at bay, officers merely lined up select gang members, each sitting next to one another on the sidewalk. There were no handcuffs, no paddy wagons, no SWAT. There wasn’t even much action on social media condemning the gang activity.
The way mainstream media and Waco law enforcement handled the gang war was distinctly different than how they handled recent instances of Black men – even when the Black men were victims rather than perpetrators. The bias is blatantly clear and seeing the preferential and less threatening treatment non-minorities get is also clear. It’s actually as clear as Black and white, pun intended.
While the bulk of this column is focused on the Waco incident and the difference in the way it was covered compared to the incident involving Baltimore’s Freddie Gray or Ferguson’s Michael Brown, that really isn’t the main point I want to make this week. The primary objective for this week’s topic is more to do as the pastor I referenced earlier suggested: make a “decision to look for divine rewards in every battle.” I am deliberately choosing to focus on something good and positive out of the otherwise unfair and divisive outcome of treatment between whites and Blacks and browns.
So allow me to accentuate the positive. It’s really simple. The divine reward that stemmed from the discussion about the biker gang is that there are many people who happen to be non-minorities who also see the subjective coverage from media and the inconsistent manner in which some police departments handle crimes committed by whites and Blacks.
It is important for non-minorities like Sally Koen who wrote an interesting column on the topic to recognize discriminatory actions and seek to help eliminate those misdeeds because there is strength in numbers and there is also strength in diversity of backgrounds and perspectives.
During the civil rights movement, African-Americans were beaten, hosed down and even attacked by dogs. While the plight of Blacks was always known to that group, when those vicious attacks were broadcast and the world saw what was happening in the south – change began to come and Blacks didn’t have to say a word because others saw the brutality for themselves.
I will end with another “decision” the pastor encouraged. Decide “to sow seeds with expectation of a specific harvest.”
The seed I’m sowing is that one day this country will be less divisive and more accepting and respectful of others. Most people aren’t asking for special treatment, we just want fair treatment. I am expecting a plentiful harvest of equality in the future.
