August 5, 2015
Page 7
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O PINION
We are People of Distinction - Not Extinction
We are the
American
society
M. L INDA J ARAMILLO
Author’s Note: I wrote this
commentary in 2006, but in
light of recent disparaging re-
marks, it seemed appropriate
today with some minor updates
added in response to the cur-
rent situation.
Personal honor was a funda-
mental value in my upbringing.
However, honor was not about
arrogance or conceit; it was
about humility, honesty, and
respect for oneself and others.
We were to avoid boasting, yet
there was no question that we
were to be proud of our family
heritage and ancestry. We were
taught that we are a people of
distinction.
BY
Our parents recog-
nized that social sys-
ni
tems would tear us
te
down, so they worked
do
extra hard to instill a
ex
sense of history and
se
dignity in us. As chil-
di
dren, we were constantly told
that we were not as smart or
important as the Anglo children
in our schools and neighbor-
hoods. As a child, there were
times that the discriminating
practices in our segregated
schools seemed insurmount-
able, but our parents modeled
the belief that we could make
a difference in our own destiny
and so we did.
My grandfather, many gen-
erations removed, was born
in 1601 in the New Mexico
Territory, which includes the
southern border states of Ari-
zona and New Mexico extend-
ing into Colorado and parts of
Texas. Yes, it was before the
Plymouth Rock landing. Yes,
it was before 1776. Yes, it was
when the land was part of Mex-
ico before being claimed by
the United States. Yes, further
back than many American his-
tory books and would be poli-
ticians account for. The truth is
that many of us did not cross
the border, rather the border
crossed us.
I am proud to claim this an-
cestry and refuse to be accused
of “being a problem to Ameri-
can society.” When discussing
immigration we should review
the history of the settling of
this land now known as the
United States.
We must not forget that
the land was the homeland of
American Indian brothers and
sisters and stolen by European
invaders, ending authentic civ-
ilization for thousands of peo-
ple. We should not forget that
much of the western region of
the United States region was
Mexico. We must remember
that 99 percent of us are im-
migrants who came in search
of the American dream. These
historic realities are often dis-
counted because our cultural
elitism declares that we are en-
titled to anything we want.
Disparaging
descriptions
of immigrants, such as mur-
derers, rapists, criminals, free
loaders, leeches, illegal aliens,
are thrown around without re-
gard for their humanity or the
potential for inciting hatred
and neighborhood warfare.
Generation after generation
wages war; however, these
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to nation against nation. Sad-
ly, the war now being waged
against immigrants within
the boundaries of the United
States is resulting in fear and
hatred of one racial group
against another.
As a Latina and a Christian,
I reject these accusations. Incit-
ing fear and hatred is certainly
inconsistent with the teach-
ings of Jesus who taught love,
compassion, and human under-
standing. Claiming a special
preference for one race above
another absolutely contradicts
the basic Christian message of
“loving our neighbor as our-
selves.”
Despite current soundbites, I
will not be told that people who
look like me are the problem of
American society. We are the
American society. We are peo-
ple of distinction, not extinc-
tion. And we vote.
M. Linda Jaramillo is exec-
utive minister for the United
Church of Christ’s Justice and
Witness Ministries.
Protecting the Lives of our Young People
God did not make two classes of people
M ARIAN W RIGHT E DELMAN
Democracy cannot breathe,
and will die, if those enjoined to
protect and uphold the law snuff
it out unjustly and without con-
sequence. Justice cannot breathe
when black men and boys and
women and girls are routinely
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killed with impunity by police
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must protect the lives of our
young people—all of them. God
did not make two classes of peo-
ple or children and America con-
tinues to do so at its peril.
Like so many I have been
deeply disturbed by the sense-
less loss of black male lives at
the hands of law enforcement
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fected by Tamir Rice’s sense-
less death—a 12-year-old sixth
grader who loved drawing,
basketball, playing the drums,
and performing in his school’s
drumline. When Tamir was
shot and killed last November,
who was there to protect him?
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cer Timothy Loehmann—the
man who shot him. Tamir was
sitting outside a recreation
center near his home holding
BY
a friend’s toy gun when Loeh-
mann careened up in his squad
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The surveillance video shows
Loehmann took less than two
seconds between getting out
of the barely-stopped car and
shooting Tamir. Worse, this
child was left mortally wound-
ed on the ground in agony for
nearly four minutes while nei-
ther Loehmann nor his trainer
Frank Garmback administered
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An FBI agent who happened
to be nearby responded to the
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one to try to give Tamir help.
When Tamir’s 14-year-old sis-
ter ran to see and comfort him
she was tackled by a police
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the back of a squad car unable
to comfort her stricken brother.
When Tamir’s mother arrived
at the same time as the ambu-
lance the police wouldn’t let her
get close to her son and she said
they threatened to handcuff and
arrest her too if she didn’t calm
down. She was then denied en-
trance to the back of the ambu-
lance to ride with or hold the
hand of her son on the way to
the hospital.
I can only imagine
the deep terror of both
mother and child iso-
lated from each other.
Tamir died from his in-
juries the next day.
Who was there to
protect Tamir? Not the Cleve-
land Police Department, who
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mann and put him out on their
city’s streets before fully re-
viewing his previous record as
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Ohio Police Department shows
he resigned in December 2012
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training when he learned a dis-
ciplinary process of separation
had already begun—appearing
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His previous supervisors said
he displayed “a pattern of lack
of maturity, indiscretion, and
not following instructions,” a
“dangerous loss of composure
during live range training,” and
an “inability to manage per-
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for the Independence Police
Department should have been
warning signs for Cleveland or
any police department in as-
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Cleveland
Police Depart-
Cl
ment
m has a long history of
bad
ba policing that harms
black
boys and men and
bl
those
with mental illness.
th
Just
Ju days after Tamir was
killed
the U.S. Depart-
ki
ment
of Justice released
m
harshly critical results of a civil
rights investigation on overuse
of force by the Cleveland police
department and called for mas-
sive reforms.
The scene that unfolded in
the minutes Tamir lay on the
ground bleeding without com-
fort from anyone is perhaps
the hardest part to understand.
What kind of human beings and
responsible law enforcement
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Gunning down a 12-year-old,
threatening his distraught sis-
ter and mother, and standing by
watching a child just shot lying
on the snowy ground dying?
Who was there to protect
Tamir? In the end, no one. Now
a child who might have become
a musician or an artist or any-
thing else he wanted to be is
dead, and his mother has joined
a long, long list of black moth-
ers crying out for justice. A few
weeks after Tamir’s death she
stood at a Washington, D.C. ral-
ly with Trayvon Martin’s moth-
er and the families of Eric Gar-
ner, Michael Brown, and other
unarmed black boys and men
killed by police and told the
crowd: “I have one thing to say
to the police force: Don’t shoot.
Our children want to grow up.”
Our children want to grow
up. Our children deserve to
grow up. And it is the respon-
sibility of every adult in every
sector to see they grow up safe-
ly and respected and seen and
are not subject to “othering”—
as someone less than or apart
from ourselves.
Until we can achieve a pro-
found change in law enforce-
ment culture and their taking as
much care in protecting black
boys’ lives as white boys’ lives,
our children are going to remain
at risk. That places a burden on
black parents and faith congre-
gations and community lead-
ers and educators and everyone
who believes in justice to stand
up and do everything possible to
make sure our children get home
safely and can reach adulthood.
Marian Wright Edelman is
president of the Children’s De-
fense Fund.