Someday We'll All Be Free...Someday

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

 - Ephesians 6:12, ESV

Without having prior knowledge of the murder of Oscar Grant, I saw Fruitvale Station almost two weeks after the Zimmerman verdict.  Watching this film as an African American male who was already distraught about the outcome of the trial, I experienced several emotions as I witnessed director Ryan Coogler’s depiction of the final day of Grant’s life.  There was some joy in seeing how he sought to love his family and friends, as well as how he was willing to help strangers who crossed his path.  I was also enthused by this young man’s attempts to change his life around from a past of crime for himself and for his girlfriend and daughter.  Yet from the very beginning of the film, these emotions were constantly overshadowed by the thought of knowing that Oscar was only progressing towards a murder committed by a white police officer at the Fruitvale Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) Station.  Grant, who was unarmed and under the submission of BART police, was profiled and then executed as a result.  For me, this thought served as a constant reminder that black women and men are never safe from acts of racism invading their everyday lives, including those that are unto death.  Moreover, it helped to solidify what had become even more real with the murder of Trayvon Martin—racism has not left American society no matter how much we have supposedly tried to overcome it.

In Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism, the late law professor Derrick Bell argues that racism is, indeed, “a permanent part of the American landscape” (Bell 92).  Although many people—specifically advocates for civil rights—would like to turn to laws and practices as proof that race-based injustice has been eroding in our country, the problem has not gone away (59-60, 93).  In fact, any effort to eradicate or constrain it has often produced a cyclical manifestation of it in another form of oppression according to the work of Bell (97, 98).  Origins of this “racial realist” thought lie in the idea that civil rights advancements in particular have not led black people in general to a place where they can they can experience progression in their social environment, economic conditions and, as we can see in the cases of Oscar and Trayvon, in their inherent constitutional rights such as justice (97-99).

As Wanda Johnson, mother of Oscar Grant, expresses after her son’s murderer was found guilty of a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter, there is still a need for African Americans to “fight for our equal rights in this society” (“!!REACTION…VERDICT!!”; “‘Fruitvale…2013)”).  Moreover, she expresses a dream that echoes the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in which she hopes for a day when “a nation of people” would no longer “look at us according to the color or content of our skin” (“!!REACTION...VERDICT!!”; Bell 20, 60-61).  However, what is even more stressed in her address is a need to trust in God as the ultimate judge, especially considering how an earthly judicial system has failed her and other black people before and after her.  Also in this spiritual vein, it is in her closing remarks where Johnson attributes the severity of the battle which claimed her son to be one that is beyond natural operations of this world and one that can be won through Jesus Christ as the “Deliverer” who will bestow upon her people worth and equality in society (“!!REACTION”).  As we can gather, Johnson evokes a meaningful call to action and even utilizes symbols and dreams as a means to maintain faith for better living; however, are these practices what we must do in order to see these hopes come to pass in the present age (23)?  Is it even possible to see them come to pass if racism is an everlasting fragment of American life?     

In Bell’s epilogue he finds that, in a manner like the enslaved ancestors, black people must wrestle within what seems to be a paradox.  They must “fashion a philosophy that both matches the unique dangers we face, and enables us to recognize in those dangers opportunities for committed living and humane service” (Bell 195).  Similar to the claim in which Grant’s mother argues, black people must find a way to maintain a sense of humanity and even faith in the midst of the suffering while also knowing that this suffering is “not the extent of their destiny—or of the destiny of those who would follow them” (195).  This focus leads them to know that this suffering is worth resisting as best as possible (195, 199).  For me, this imperative, however, seems hopeful yet problematic.

Being that racism is considered a permanent social construct by Bell, it almost makes it seem like fighting for one’s place in this world based on the belief that there is a better life for them is almost futile.  Why should one have faith in believing that situations regarding race will get better?  On the other hand, if one is in a constant struggle because of racial constructs, why not find the means to fight for what should belong to him or her and have faith that liberation can come out of the struggle (98)?  Personally, I would like to uphold the latter mindset even though nothing has appeared to rid our social order of racial injustice.  I find myself agreeing with Ms. Johnson in that we are wrestling against principalities and powers that exalt themselves before us and that we can strive to overcome them by means of spiritual and political warfare and through our faith in Jesus Christ as the One who will make things right—even if it is at the very end of it all.  Whether or not this thought should be considered a notion of simply upholding symbols and dreams, if racism is here to stay, it appears that one has to hold the belief that—in the words of Donny Hathaway—“someday we’ll all be free” in order to even work towards its possible demise in our society.  As Bell finds, the destiny of black people is not that they should suffer; therefore, we must have hope and we must find ways out of an effective and realistic philosophy to press towards the release of racism’s grip on the lives of American people.                       

                

“!!REACTION FROM OSCAR GRANT'S MOTHER TO VERDICT!!”  YouTube video, 2:39.  November 4, 2013. http://www.youtube.com/watchv=JbfOKPKada4&list=

FLiZGC8opoiGNyMBV7eEvibA.

Bell, Derrick.  Faces at the Bottom of the Well: The Permanence of Racism.  New York, Basic Books, 1992.

Donny Hathaway.  “Someday We’ll All Be Free.”  By Donny Hathaway and Edward Howard.  Extension of a Man, Rhino R 66887, 1973, 7”.

"Donny Hathaway - Someday We'll All Be Free."  YouTube video, 4:08.  November 4, 2013.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv1B0ejhFVE&list=FLiZGC8opoiGNyMBV7eEvibA.

Fruitvale Station.  Directed by Ryan Coogler. USA, The Weinstein Company, 2013.  Film.

“‘Fruitvale Station’ Oscar Grant's last day, Director Ryan Coogler interview (July 26, 2013).”  YouTube video, 6:59.  November 4, 2013.  http://www.youtube.com/watchv=gpZENHUzSYI&list=

FLiZGC8opoiGNyMBV7eEvibA