Good Morning Everybody!
This morning I want to break down three different stories of injustice that all came to light over the past week. Each of them was filmed with a cell phone and displayed in a video that eventually went viral.
Each of them caused a great deal of pain for the victims and outrage among those of us that witnessed the injustice. And after each one, I’ve seen a few lazy conclusions that I want to explore for a few moments.
The first took place in Brooklyn not too far from where I live when a Black family visited an Asian-owned nail salon. A grandmother took her daughter and granddaughter there to get their nails done. They got their nails done, and were satisfied. They paid for this service. The granddaughter also got her eyebrows arched. The mother and grandmother felt that the technician messed up on the eyebrows and said they weren’t going to pay the $5 for the service.
Within seconds, the Asian women at the nail salon surrounded and demanded that they pay the $5, and eventually began hitting the women with broomsticks and even throwing acetone on the grandmother. I’ll be frank. When I first saw the video, it was so violent, and so outrageous, that I thought it must’ve been in a different country. I hadn’t read the caption yet, but seeing these Black women get assaulted like this made me think that it must’ve been somewhere very different. And come to find out it was less than 5 miles from my house.
That’s the first story. If you haven’t seen the video, it’s awful. I’m going to break them all down in just a second.
The second story is of a Black family that visited an Asian-owned beauty supply store in Tulsa, Oklahoma this past weekend. This type it was a mother and her two young children who were just 3 & 4 years old. The mother bought a bunch of hair products and paid for them properly, but her 3 year old son accidentally walked out of the store with a $0.99 keychain. He didn’t hide it or steal it. It was in his hand. Everybody has done this before. My kids have done this. It was an accident. Kids don’t even fully grasp debit cards and payment systems yet at that age. When the cashier noticed this, the mother grabbed the keychain from his hand and put it back.
That should’ve been the end of the story. Instead, the cashier followed her out of the store, confronted her, and got in her face. When she walked away and put her hand up to get him out of her face, he punched her in the mouth with a closed fist, splitting her lip and causing her to have to go to the hospital to get stitches.
Remember, this was over a $0.99 keychain that had been returned.
That’s the second story.
The last story took place at A Book’s Christian Academy in Florida. It was the first day of school and Clinton Stanley, Sr. took his 6 year old son Clinton Stanley, Jr. there for what should’ve been a sweet, happy memory, but after he dropped his son off, he got a phone call to come back and get him.
He wasn’t misbehaving. The boy is as kind and warm as ever. The boy, dressed neatly in his school uniform, had dreadlocks. He had been growing them since he was a baby. And the school said they would not allow him to attend unless he cut them off. Speaking to local reporters, the school later said they have “Christian standards to uphold,” but the same school had pictures of white Jesus and white disciples all over the place with long hair. Short hair is not Christian. It might be a white standard, but it’s not a Christian standard.
So the dad, who had to fight back his emotions, withdrew his son from the school. The whole thing was cold and heartless.
And after each of those instances, I consistently saw one reply that bothers me. I understand it. But it’s wrong.
After each of those instances, people said something to the effect of, we shouldn’t go where we aren’t wanted. But here’s the thing, these families didn’t know they weren’t wanted in those places. They had to find out the hard way.
By in large, white people in America can go wherever they please without these types of things happening. They are free to roam about the country. We should be free to frequent whatever establishment we so choose. Or people conclude that those three families should go only to Black owned spaces. Again, I understand that conclusion. I do. I even agree that we should frequent Black owned everything.
But we should not have to suffer abuse or humiliation if we choose to go somewhere else. It’s just not right.
I’ll close with this thought. Protests have since taken place at each location. We should start and frequent our own establishments. We should go where we’re welcomed, but the truth is, we should be able to go wherever we please.
I’ve gotta run. My kids are in camp and it’s my morning to get them there!
Take care y’all.
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Shaun King: ‘We Should Be Able To Go Wherever We Please’ was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
