Meeks: The long journey toward freedom continues

For the past two days I have been totally absorbed in the reading of "The Warmth of Other Suns" as I prepare to co-lead a discussion of the book in early January. The author, Isabel Wilkerson, does a very fine job of chronicling the lives of three families who were among almost 6 million African-Americans leaving the South from 1915 to 1970. It is the telling of their individual stories that makes this book so engaging. I traveled through its 500-plus pages with amazing attentiveness.

But, it was very sobering for me to finish my reading of this book and turn on the news to hear that the grand jury investigating the Tamir Rice case found no wrongdoing associated with his death. This book did such a good job of painting the picture of the many struggles and dehumanizing experiences of the folks traveling to the North and the West in an effort to escape the wrong that was being done to African-Americans. So many of those acts were similar to Tamir Rice's case — black people being killed for any reason and no one was ever held accountable for their deaths. Of course, it was not just death. There were so many other dehumanizing acts perpetuated that African-Americans had to endure on a daily basis. Since they were deemed as less than worthy human beings, there was no one to whom an appeal for humane treatment could be made.

While some sharecropping situations were better than others, the overall atmosphere was one that contributed to the denigration of anyone who did not have white skin. Of course, a few blacks in large urban areas in the South could fare better than their rural sisters and brothers as long as they stayed in what was deemed as their "place." But there were no safe and secure places where the rule of law would prevail against the racism of the day. So almost 6 million African- Americans sought refuge in the North and the West, but in so many cases they found that those regions had their own brand of racism. Just as it appears in this present moment that the life of a black child is disposable, they soon realized their lives were not deemed valuable in the North or the West in the ways that they had hoped to find.

The indignities continue. Whether a hundred years ago at the beginning of the Great Migration or a few months ago with the killing of Tamir, too much is unchanged. The problem of black skin that was the issue prior to the exodus from the South continues to be the issue. The perception of inferiority and lack of humanity that was woven into the foundation of society in this country continues to be lived out daily in too many arenas.

The Chicago Commission on Race Relations said following the 1919 Chicago Riots, "It is important for our white citizens always to remember that the Negroes alone of all our immigrants came to America against their will by the special compelling invitation of the whites; that the institution of slavery was introduced, expanded and maintained by the United States by the white people and for their own benefit" ("The Warmth of Other Suns," p. 543). The report went on to say that, " our Negro Problem, therefore is not of the Negro's making."

This is not news to African-Americans. Tamir Rice was not the problem. A white police officer who was operating with a very strange understanding of how to conduct his work was the problem. Some folks who left the South came back when things got a bit better, but they always understood that there was no place in this country where racism was not a factor, there were simply lesser degrees of it. It is woven into our foundation.

This column by Catherine Meeks, Ph.D., appears twice monthly. Meeks is also a contributing writer for the Huffington Post. Email her at kayma53@att.net.

This story was originally published December 29, 2015 at 8:29 PM.