How far have Black people and their have allies come? And where do they go from here?
These two questions summed up attorney, CNN commentator and politician Bakari Sellers’ webinar on Thursday.
These questions were sparked after George Floyd, a Black man, was killed May 25 by Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The white officer pressed his knee to Floyd’s neck for eight minutes and 46 seconds. This moment sparked outcries, protests and unrest throughout America.
There have been protests in support of and against the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement throughout Idaho, including Moscow, Pullman and Lewiston.
Issues of systematic racism are beginning to be addressed at the University of Idaho. In its first webinar in the Black Lives Matter Speaker Series, the Office of Multicultural Affairs hosted a webinar Thursday on “The Present and Future of the U.S.” Sellers was the featured speaker.
Sellers began by speaking about a man born in Denmark, South Carolina. Sellers said the man’s life changed in 1955 after the death of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy, was lynched. This man thought Mamie Till, Emmett’s mother, was the strongest woman he knew because she let the world see her son after he was brutally beaten.
“This moment, even in 1955, the world was watching. And people were taking him back. What racism did to young black people in this country,” Sellers said. “Emmett Till was brutally beaten because he allegedly whistled at a white woman named Carolyn Bryant. Carolyn Bryant as she was on her deathbed — trying to get into heaven — she admitted that she lied.”
Sellers added that viewers should ask themselves that question again, “How far have we come?”
So, the young man from Denmark, South Carolina became an activist. Sellers said this man would go on to help organize the Orangeburg Massacre in 1968. This man was shot in the shoulder and later arrested during the Massacre.
Sellers described the man today as someone whose eyes might not pop like they used to or whose shoulders aren’t as upright.
And if asked what his greatest sacrifice was, he would say it “was not being in jail or losing his freedom per se, but the greatest sacrifice he had to make was being in jail for the birth of his oldest child, well, my big sister,” Sellers said. “Because this young man from Denmark, South Carolina who grew up into a hero, who was shot and imprisoned and deemed an outside agitator is my father, Cleveland Sellers.”
Sellers said he shared the story of his father because he shares many experiences like what his father went through 52 years ago.
“And this country should be better than a vicious cycle in which we have state violence against people of color, against Black people. Where we see a video. Where we take to the streets. Where we lift up voices, but we have so much pain and so much anguish. And then we go to the point of grieving and we have a home going celebrations and memorials,” Seller said. “Then we do it all over again.”
This led Sellers into his other question: “Where do we for from here?”
Sellers said for Black people and their allies to understand where they go from this point in the cycle, the point of George Floyd, they have to ask when the cycle will be broken.
“When will this cycle of trauma, when will this cycle of pain, when will this cycle of injustice be broken?” Sellers asked.
Sellers referenced a piece by Dr. Martin Luther King entitled, “Where do we go from here?”
“Dr. King he gave us two choices,” Sellers said. “He said we could either have chaos or community.”
Alex Brizee can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @alex_brizee