Sam’s Town: Being a Minority in “AmeriKKKa” 2015

By Kristen J. Simmons

In post-wake of the racially motivated terrorist attack on Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, America's anti-black/brown sentiment has only driven a knife deeper into an already infected wound. Weeks after the attack, the racist hate group known as the Ku Klux Klan, or the KKK, planned a rally on South Carolina state grounds on Saturday, 18 July. For a group whose history is that of such a supremacist and hateful nature, it brings about a question of morals. Why is the KKK allowed to have such gatherings in this "great land" that is a melting pot of cultures and ethnic backgrounds, a place of supposed acceptance? The answer can be summed up from a simple line in the national anthem "For the land of the free," err… unless you're black.

Let me explain! Throughout America's history, the gathering of a significant number of people of color has been seen as a threat to society. Starting in 1966, the Black Panther Party thrived and delivered a message of ending police brutality and promoting black pride. It was followed by false notions

spread by those in power afraid of strong and independent black people. The party was disabled in 1982 by the government under the false guise that the Black Panthers were a militant extremist group.

The question still remains: When will we begin calling out white people for their problematic behavior in the same manor we label black people and falsify their actions as violent? White America has proven to be very uncomfortable with the gathering of colored people. Why else would a pride group of African Americans be dismantled by the government while a supremacy group of Caucasians that have caused terror on minorities for decades be allowed to rally in public spaces?

Events like these are happening all across America on many different scales. Brown skinned Middle Easterners are discriminated against by prejudice and racist people who are paranoid about terrorism. In America the government has brainwashed us into thinking that terrorism has a color and a nationality that comes from the other side of this world. Meanwhile, actual terrorists born and raised in our own nation such as the Charleston shooter rarely ever carry the weight of such labels. It's almost as if America has a hidden clause about what makes one a racist. CAUTION: MUST BE AT LEAST THIS DARK TO BE CONSIDERED A THREAT TO SOCIETY.

So what does it mean to be a brown or a black in 2015?

We are unreasonably feared and simultaneously envied, we are discriminated against and our culture is appropriated, we are under privileged but told that we live in a fair society

The light of recent events in America regarding race has shown that there is a lot of work to be done when it comes to racial equality. Black America and minorities of this nation alike have a lot of protesting, trials, and tears ahead.

Be prepared, be mindful, and stay woke!

Kristen is a native of Mississippi, USA and would be joining University of Illinois at Chicago this fall for her studies in Communications.