How do you feel about this cartoon?

[Behind the Aegis]

22. It is a sad state of affairs.

What is even sadder is too many, mostly white, think this is a "new" phenomena. It isn't. Sure, we all know about "Jim Crow" and some of the effects after, but what many don't realize is this, the cartoon, has never stopped in this country! NEVER! When I was in middle school, my best friend was African-American. We lived on a military base, so we were surrounded by all types of people. He and I were very good friends, and our parents' 'loved' the other child more; meaning, I could do no wrong in his house, and why couldn't my friend be more like me, and I got the same treatment from my parents. LOL!

One day his family invited me to the movies, I was 12, yeah, I think so, before my Bar Mitzvah, so around that age...so, 1980-1, abouts. It was me, him, his younger sister, with whom I shared a birthday, day not year, and his parents, both of whom had Master's degrees. As we were driving through town, a police car was pulling upside the car. Now, in those days, we used to wave at police officers when they drove by us. My friend's father, without turning around, said; "BTA, do not wave at the officer, but you can smile, then go back to talking to my son." I did as instructed, after all, I was taught to respect my elders. The cop car followed us almost all the way to the movies. When I got home, I asked my mother about the situation. She explained a white child in car driven by a black man could be seen in a bad way. Which I still couldn't understand because my friend was in our car all the time, so why wasn't that a problem?! That is when I got one of the first full-on lectures about racism and how black people and other ethnic minorities were treated very differently in the US. When I spoke to my friend about it, he told me about the talks his dad had with him about how he, my friend, was to talk to the police, the MPs (Military Police), even teachers. It wasn't even remotely like my speech from my parents which simply consisted of "Be polite."

So, what I see in that comic is something I remember from my childhood and really encountering and starting to understand institutional racism, though I didn't know that was what it was called. Personally, I am glad more and more people are becoming aware of this issue, but this has been going on since the birth of our country. These talks have never not been a part of the AA experience in the US with regards to young AA children, especially young black men. This is the side of racism, which IMO, is the face many, many white people simply "don't get it" because they don't see it!