Testing An Age Old Proverb

 

The Inhumanity Clause

 

It is not hard to fathom the possibility of alternate clauses appearing within historical documents newly found under the scrutiny of Google and Wikipedia. These days you can ask any question about anything in the comfort of your domicile and get an answer. Often, the response will be something neither of us expected to hear. Yes hear, each one has a distinctive voice, Alexa, Siri, Soundform, Facebook Portal, Amazon Echo and a host of other interactive virtual assistants can assist you in your quest for knowledge. Most of us Americans are aware the Three Fifths Clause in the constitution, increased the representation in government by southern states but did not offer any resolve or resolution to the enslaved people themselves. None of these points are up for discussion they are facts and cannot be changed. We are here to discuss the possibility of America having an ‘Inhumanity Clause’.

It is not that farfetched a country with no moral compass, no empathy for the citizens they deem not worthy of participation in the freedoms or inalienable rights. No matter what is done on the outside, they expect full participation in the great American song. You are supposed to sing with your right hand across your heart including the third verse, although it will never be sung out loud. Just for the record, the third verse of the Star-Spangled Banner written by Francis Scott Key reads.

“And where is that band who so vauntingly swore, That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion A home and a Country should leave us no more? Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave, And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.”

Should it not be inhumane if the country you fought for, shed blood for, went to war for wants you to harmonize a song about your own demise. There is so much animosity, anger and hostility toward any non-Caucasian who questions the meaning of the words in this verse. As if the meaning is not clear enough as expressed in the writing and reading of the words. You are considered un-American if you do not sing “No refuge could save the hireling and slave, From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave”. It just so happens each time the song is sung they stick closely to the first verse for safety. How does it work?  How am I to smile with right hand over my heart and sing? For so many years we mimicked motions and movements as demanded. We moved our lips even if we did not know the words. We marched to cadences that were off beat merely because we were told to march. Not now, not here, I refuse to blindly go in the direction unattached hands point anymore. I will not sing a song of my demise. I am searching because there must be a secret document, a legitimate reason none of the officers who shoot and kill unarmed black men and women are not being held accountable. It must be considered inhumane that any black citizen can be taken to court and charged using video footage as evidence, but no matter how many cameras show the wrongdoing of police the evidence must be further evaluated. It must be inhumane how week after week unarm black men are being shot, some in their backs while walking or running away. Most videos seen where an officer stops a black man usually ends with a trip not to the hospital, but to the morgue. You can search the internet and find multiple cases of white men, young and old baring weapons, not obeying orders yelled by police officers yet if arrested will have their day in court.

Imagine with me, what document would hold such a clause for these amounts of years and none of us would have discovered its whereabouts? Which amendment? The second with guns would be a good place to start. I believe America would change her laws instantly if fifty percent of the minorities in this country began to purchase firearms for the safety of their home or workplace. Imagine the horror if every black person of voting age purchased a weapon, a firearm during the same week or month. I have to believe there would be new questions added to whatever application necessary for gun ownership. Or maybe somewhere within the nineteenth amendment that gave the right to vote to women. You can use the women part loosely because black women did not appear to be a part of this great monumental occasion. I would consider it inhumane while the nation celebrates the end of women suffrage it is not completely true it is the end. Black women suffered another five or so generations before accomplishing the same feat, the right to vote. Could be in 2013 as the Supreme Court rolled back provisions of the 1965 Voting Rights Act a clause such as this could find a home. It always seems we are the last to know when rights or privileges fought for and won years ago are taken back. An Inhumanity Clause would find a perfect fit in the secret retrieval of advancements or rather setbacks we are facing under an administration (2016 - 2020) proud to place us back in our proverbial place.

Let us address a frightening truth in the year twenty twenty. More than one hundred and ninety-eight permanent judges have been appointed over the last three years and not one of them black. What percentage is that? How inhumane is this? Could it be an accident? Maybe the Inhumanity Clause is not in writing, is not printed on any document. Maybe it is in the actions of those voted in office that do not have all of the American people in their plans. We must consider it inhumane if laws are passed or actions taken treating any of the minorities in this country less than. If police are not to be held accountable for their actions when the result is death. If states, governors, attorney generals do not speak truthfully at press conferences when addressing the out right murder of citizens without provocation. Maybe we do not need a clause, amendment or new laws passed that uses the language of inclusion. Maybe if America could abide by the laws we have presently and uphold truth and justice in the application of them. This is the best country to live without question. It is somewhere in the word equality we find fault in the system. We have never been an equal partner in the freedoms every other American holds dear. Somewhere in the writing of the foundation of American politics we were left out on purpose. We still struggle for the proper interpretation of the phrase “all men are created free”. Shouldn’t we be a part of the all men?