Who are the Criminals in America?

The late Jamaican reggae singer Peter Tosh was right on target in his song “Equal Rights” when he sang:

“Everybody is talking about crime
Crime, crime, crime, crime
But tell me
Who are the criminals?
I don’t want no peace
I want equal rights and justice

I am black. I have many white friends. I consider them good friends. They are not racist. I am outraged at the wanton killing of unarmed black men all over America. Based on direct and indirect conversations, I would have to say, sadly, that not a single one of my white friends share this outrage.  Not only this, but their sympathies in every instance seem to be with the police because of “ the difficult job they have”. I think about it. This is a very bitter pill for me to swallow.  For God’s sake, “who are the criminals?”  I fear that this is a microcosm of white America.

I am an ardent member of an anti-war group. I am the only black member of the group. They are the exceptions. Every single member of this group are outraged by the police killing of unarmed black men. I am so proud of them and all the white people who joined with blacks to march through the streets of Baltimore and elsewhere in support of justice for Freddie Gray.

Recent reports reveal that George Bush’s illegal invasion of Iraq has resulted in  over a million dead Iraqis. Over one million dead Iraqis!  I am so outraged at this. My friends, black and white, are not. With them I can talk about the baseball game, the awful frigid winter, the sexuality of Bruce Jenner, but not the million dead Iraqis!  Most don’t care and many would manifest hostility to me if I dared to mention that subject.  Once again, sadly, this is a microcosm of America.  Too many don’t care about one million dead Iraqis;  our complicity in the destruction of the then most advanced country in Africa, Libya; the carnage in Syria; the genocidal treatment of the Palestinians by our tax-payer supported Israelis; our helping the worst human rights abuser Saudi Arabia to bomb Yemen. But all of my anti-war colleague care deeply.  Every single one is outraged. I am so proud of them. They have my ultimate respect and admiration. Justice for all means something to us.

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About the Author
Michael Irving Phillips has kept abreast of Jamaican and the rest of the Caribbean by his one-man production of Hot Calaloo, a newsletter about Caribbean news and views. From April 1992 to December 1999, it was published monthly and was transferred to the web at hotcalaloo.com since then.

He was born in Jamaica and left home for Howard University in the US where he received MA (Education) and BS (Chemistry) degrees. Previous books includes :"A Jamaica Poor No More", "Boycott Money And Save Your Soul – Launching The Goodwill Revolution:, “Leave the Rat Race To The Rats” and “Poems for Husbands and Other Underdogs

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