The No-Longer-Invisible Man: Dead people, Blaxploitation and Jesus in a new era of Public Violence
This actually started out as a Facebook post.
Well, before that, a Facebook Messenger conversation, and before that, a family discussion. My family and I were just talking the day of Philando Castile’s death and I was saying how although video evidence being publicly accessible was once a powerful thing, I feel we are past the point where it can be productive. What am I talking about? I’m sure you already know based on the biggest trending topic on the internet currently. On Medium’s homepage, the second-most tab right beside home simply reads: “Shootings.” Enough said.
When I was in tenth grade, I made a mistake. I was on the internet on a certain embarrassing Black culture website that shall remain nameless and I saw a video that had an “18+ Disturbing Content” warning in the title. It clearly wasn’t a sexually explicit video, so I was wondering what in the world it could be; the mind of a fifteen year old is overflowing with curiosity, of course. I clicked on the video and the description said something like, “A Black man is fatally shot in the street in broad daylight in NYC.” In tenth grade, I was in an awesome modern African-American History class and after learning more and more of the atrocities and triumphs of the past, I felt I was prepared to watch this video and maybe that I needed to. Maybe I even had an obligation to as a future Black educator. Maybe I did, but it was still a mistake. No one should ever have to witness another human’s soul leave their body.
Remember those Rice Crispy cereal commercials with their famous motto, “Snap, Crackle, Pop! Rice Crispies!”?
See, I never really understood those commercials ‘cause the only reason I ever asked to buy Rice Crispies was to experience the supernatural *Snap*Crackle*Pop* sound effects of them coming alive in my bowl. But time after time, when I would pour the milk in and wait for the magic, I did not experience any magic at all. No Snaps, no Crackles, no Pops. Completely different than I imagined it. What a waste.
Have you ever heard a real gun shot? Not a Hollywood one, or a Call of Duty one (or even a Counter Strike one), but a real gun firing a volatile live round. I’m not even specifically asking if you’ve heard it in person. A lot of people think they would be able to easily recognize a real gun shot if they heard one but I don’t know about that. What does it sound like? Hm… Well, do you remember those Rice Crispies cereal commercials?
Our video starts with a Black man on a wide, mostly empty sidewalk yelling indistinguishably.
Who is he yelling at? Oh dang, there’s a White cop on the far right side of the screen. The Black man, while still yelling, proceeds to run out into the street, which is suprisingly empty as well. One second later there is a body on the ground in the middle of the street. Whoa, what in the world. Where did the body come from? A man, a man who is Black, a man whose name I do not know, slumped down to fulfill the order of groveling in the gravel faster than I knew was humanly possible. His body let go. There was nothing to hold it back. There was no concious mind to direct its movements. Excuse me — rather, the conscious mind that directed the movement of this man’s body was that of an out-of-control, scared White police officer. Real gunshots with real bullets that destroyed the body of a real man. Snap, Crackle, Pop.
No one should ever have to witness another human’s soul leave their body.
To watch a human being filled with life and love — a divine temple — quickly reduced to a motionless sack of flesh is a greatly disturbing thing. Take a second and think about that. Why do we all want to watch that? Maybe Facebook agreed with me and that was why they took the video of Philando Castile’s aftermath down not too soon after it was uploaded. They, of course were met with outrage and praise, which brings up the ever important debate of internet free speech (which you can read more about here: https://medium.com/@micnews/as-the-castile-incident-shows-facebook-is-not-here-to-protect-your-freedom-of-speech-b5aafa0ea040?source=linkShare-d66f50675567–1468256824).
A few years ago, the public release of few filmed killings had potential to be productive. They incited shock and proved that certain things were and are undeniable, although still deflectable.
The numerous, easily accessible, graphic captures of death and desecration are causing Black bodies to become less and less of true, equally-endowed human entities, and more of a horrid, morbidly attractive spectacle.
Seeing a bullet-riddled, bloody Black body should not be the norm, even if the act of creating a bullet-riddled Black body becomes the norm.
We are now in a new era. A new era of exploitation. These videos are the new Blaxploitation films. When the film, Schindler’s List came out, it’s stark realism produced many Holocaust deniers. “This is unbelievable! There’s no way something like this, something this terrible actually happened! They have to be exaggerating!”
It was just a Hollywood film.
In a similar way, these real-life (read: “Reality”) videos make it even easier to deny the true, fatal plight of Black people, because these videos are “unbelievable.” Or should I say these “shows” are unbelievable.
Here is an interesting question that could be classified as a double entendre of “Black comedy”: What’s the difference between Real Housewives of Atlanta (or Love & Hip-Hop, or Superfly, or Sweet Sweetback’s Baadasssss Song, or pretty much any Tyler Perry movie) and the filmed deaths of Alton and Philando and other “Brothas in Arms” (no disrespect to our honorable armed services)?
Punchline — The first few titles I listed were scripted.
Simply put, it is hard to believe that this is our current reality so many people simply choose to not believe.
Brothers and sisters, I challenge you to NOT be those people. The past cannot be changed and now we must move forward, but never forget what and WHO have been left behind us.
God is sovereign. Providence is real. The Bible is true and it has extensive wisdom for times like these:
“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death.”
“But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness.”
Romans 8:1–2, 10 NIV (http://bible.com/111/rom.8.1–2.niv)
And yes, love can conquer all but most know not what true love is. And you can’t show them if you don’t know either. God Bless the United States of America.
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”
1 John 4:10, 16 NIV (http://bible.com/111/1jn.4.16.niv)
