Opinion | Kanye Alexander Keith
The creation of constitutional rights began to ensure the protection and liberties of citizens in the United States. The founders of the U.S Nation believed they needed to ensure that the government’s powers weren’t used to violate any person’s individuality.
Congress met in New York City, in 1789, to propose the creation of the bill of rights. Some of the basic human rights that are guaranteed by the constitution are freedom of speech, religion, press, right to bear arms, and protection from unreasonable search and seizure.
There are 27 amendments in total, according to the constitution. Personally, as a black kid transitioning into a black man, I learned this only applies to a particular audience.
In many moments in American history, African Americans’ rights have been violated, tarnished, and revoked into the trash. And not just African American rights but minorities’ rights in general. I can only speak from my perspective as a black person growing up with an afro, black skin, and a different way of talking from the majority.
The constitution protects violent organizations like the Ku Klux Klan which used to violate every basic human right known to man. They were allowed to drag defenseless black people out of their homes and hang them, burn them, mutilate them, and gut them like fish.
The author, Gladys Marie Fry, wrote about events of slave patrols and described the horrid events of the night riders. This is a quote directly from the report: “This overseer would get on his white horse and put a sheet over him, and put tin cans to a rope and drag it around. And they told all the slaves, ‘now if you poke your head outdoors after a certain time, monster of a ghost will get you.”
They peeped through and saw that and never went out. They didn’t have to have any guards (University of Tennessee Press, 1977). This is a violation of the 4th amendment where no officer or official may search and seize any person without a reasonable explanation.
Fourth Amendment: “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” (The Constitution Of The United States).
At the time, after, and before the civil war, the Ku Klux Klan was the police, they were law officials, congressmen, and lawyers. So even if black people were allowed to take this to court, which they weren’t, they had the odds already stacked against them. The system was and in many cases still is against African Americans.
After the Emancipation Proclamation, we were supposed to be sworn to our equal rights by law. The Civil War wasn’t the end of the bloodshed. We used to live in a country where a black kid could be dragged out of his house beaten, mutilated, and left for dead by a mere alleged accusation.
An example of this was the young boy Emmett Till. In Money Mississippi, in 1955, 14-year-old boy Emmet till was brutally murdered after being dragged out of his home by two white men. This was done because of the allegation by a white woman who claimed the young boy flirted with her, grabbed her, and sexually assaulted her.
She didn’t do the smart adult thing and took him to court. No, she called her two henchmen to do the inhumane and psychotic thing. They murdered this young boy, hung him, beat him, and left his body in a river like he was nothing.
This violated the 6th amendment, which allows people to have the right to court before any further action has proceeded.
Sixth Amendment: “In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.” (The Constitution of The United States)
White people could take law into their own hands while violating African Americans. They wouldn’t get arrested or put in jail. They were almost rewarded and the murderers of Emmett Till were acquitted. She later admitted he never touched her. She admitted this in an interview with Vanity Fair. “That part isn’t true,” she says in Tyson’s book, (Vanity Fair).
The constitution states that Perjury is not protected by the First Amendment. Perjury is a federal crime. Carolyn Bryant, the accuser, should be in jail for the rest of her life and be known as a felon. For some reason, she is an exception and she is living well, alive, without punishment, in Kentucky living a full, happy, white life.
While Emmett Till was in the ground and his life was cut short at the age of 14 years old. This young boy is younger than me. It’s scary how much power white people have where they can change constitutional laws to their will so they can win any case.
I am an 18-year-old adult who throughout his life has dealt with racism going to a majority-white high school. I got into fights every day defending myself when a white person would threaten to kill me, call me racist remarks, or throw a brush comb in my afro knowing it would get stuck.
I got accused of being a menace at my school by white people and black people who decided to believe them without hearing an explanation from me. In many ways, this shows how far racism has come in this country.
My people didn’t believe me. Can you guess what this school was called? Martin Luther King High School. I eventually had to move and relocate because eventually I was gonna end up getting hurt or hurting someone else. White in high positions wants to program us to hate ourselves, and others who look like us.
They painted us as killers, monsters, and fighters. Just like how they accused me. We all as black people have a chance that we may be painted as monsters like Emmett Till. As long as we as a race know the truth, the more we prosper in life as a collective.
I want to focus now on building relationships with new backgrounds whether that’s white, black, Hispanic, or more. We all have to do less talking, and more listening. Less judging, and more understanding. Our founding fathers did not make this constitution to ensure that we all as different races succeed. There was an agenda to ensure that minorities stay at the bottom. And whites stay at the top. We all should be equal. This should be America.
