HOTTER THAN JULY 2020

Murphy Browne © July 9, 2020

HOTTER THAN JULY 2020

In July 1919, African Jamaican poet, Claude McKay published his famous poem “If We Must Die.” McKay’s poem was a response to the racist beating and killing of African Americans by White people in America. “If We Must Die” was published during the “Red Summer” of 1919.

IF WE MUST DIE

By Claude McKay

If we must die, let it not be like hogs

Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,

While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,

Making their mock at our accursèd lot.

If we must die, O let us nobly die,

So that our precious blood may not be shed

In vain; then even the monsters we defy

Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!

O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!

Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,

And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!

What though before us lies the open grave?

Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,

Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

In 2020, many of the protesters seem to be willing to risk life and limb to “fight back” against police violence and other life-threatening issues including the coronavirus. In July 2020, 101 years after Claude McKay wrote “If We Must Die,” many seem to be willing to die. The protests continue amid the deadly virus and almost daily reports of African American protestors killed or injured by police. The protests which began with the killing of Ahmaud Arbery and intensified with the killing of George Floyd has convulsed cities across the USA. In some cases, the protests have become riotous and even though protestors of all races have contributed (some agent provocateurs) to the “riots,” African Americans are blamed and make up most casualties.

“Riots” have resulted from protests before July 2020, including the “Harlem Riots” of 1943 and 1964, both provoked by police brutality which resulted in the killing of African Americans. In the heyday of the 20^th century Civil Rights Movement, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who was considered the leader of the “non-violent” protests spoke about the “riots” of the day. In a September 27, 1966 interview, on CBS with Mike Wallace, Dr. King was questioned about the “increasingly vocal minority” who disagreed with his use of “non-violence” as a tactic to deal with police violence. Dr. King said: “I think that we’ve got to see that a riot is the language of the unheard. And, what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the economic plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. And I contend that the cry of ‘black power’ is, at bottom, a reaction to the reluctance of white power to make the kind of changes necessary to make justice a reality for the Negro.” In 1967 while delivering his “The Other America” speech at Stanford University, Dr. King said: "But it is not enough for me to stand before you tonight and condemn riots. It would be morally irresponsible for me to do that without, at the same time, condemning the contingent, intolerable conditions that exist in our society. These conditions are the things that cause individuals to feel that they have no other alternative than to engage in violent rebellions to get attention. And I must say tonight that a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last twelve or fifteen years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquility and the status quo than about justice and humanity.” In July 2020, the words of Dr. King from the 1960s, remain relevant.

In May, 1992, what began as a peaceful protest organized by the Black Action Defense Committee (BADC) was hijacked by agent provocateurs and became riotous. On May 2, 1992, two days before the planned protest against the Rodney King verdict, where 4 White policemen had been acquitted in the brutal beating of African American Rodney King, a White police in Toronto, killed 22-year-old Raymond Constantine Lawrence. The killing of Lawrence was the 14^th in 14 years, making it one for every year. It was the 8^th police shooting of an African Canadian in 4 years. In July 2020, the conditions that lead to riots, including anti-Black racism, racial profiling and race-based poverty, continue to proliferate in Canada and the USA. Riots will continue to be the “language of the unheard” and as Claude McKay wrote in July 1919, when people are “Pressed to the wall, dying,” they will keep “fighting back” even against all odds because they have nothing to lose.

Murphy Browne © July 9, 2020