America: A nation of two societies

As I reflect on current events unfolding in cities across America, following the inhumane murder of George Floyd, an unarmed, nonresistant African American male, suspected of a nonviolent crime, I am taken back 52 years to similar riots across the nation.

At that time, President Lyndon B. Johnson, through executive order, formed The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, known as the Kerner Commission, to investigate the race riots and provide recommendations for the future.

The commission concluded this nation was moving toward two societies - one black and one white - separate and unequal and that racism, America's greatest sin, was created, maintained and promoted by White society. The findings indicated one main cause of urban violence was due to white racism and suggested that white America bore much of the responsibility for black rioting and rebellion.

Here we are, 52 years later with more than 300 African Americans having been lynched by agents of the state, law enforcement officers. Some will dismiss use of "lynch" as outdated and inaccurate; however, lynchings are exactly what is occurring across our great nation.

The term is defined as "killing someone for an alleged offense, with or without a legal trial." To be a lynching, a rope, which will come immediately to mind based on the of horrific murders of blacks in days gone by, does not have to be involved. The modern lynching weapon of choice is usually a police force-issued handgun, although in the recent case of Mr. Floyd, it was a knee belonging to then-Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin.

As Mr. Floyd lay face down on the ground, hands shackled behind his back, fully subdued and surrounded by four Minneapolis police officers, he repeatedly cried out that he could not breathe, and in his distress, he called for his mother. That, coupled with the cries of bystanders that he was suffocating and being killed and with their actions being videotaped, was not enough for the white police officers to stop the lynching.

Precisely as the commission found, as cases of racism escalate, there is once again an outcry occurring across our nation. As we consider the rioting, it is crucial to remember that these lynchings have occurred before, many, many times. As recently reported by the Los Angeles Times, "getting killed by police is a leading cause of death for young black men."

To begin to understand the depth of rage being played out in our cities, one must look beyond the lynchings and also reflect on the increase of white supremacist groups, over-policing of black neighborhoods, the dumping of toxic waste in black communities, promotion of food deserts - areas lacking availability and access to healthy, affordable food options - voter suppression and countless other indicators of inequality and injustice that people of color are forced to endure.

Renowned American novelist, playwright, poet and activist, the late James Baldwin, said, "To be a Negro and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time." This rage, due to white racism, was the reality the commission found 52 years ago and is still the reality. The rage has built, and it will continue to build until real change is instituted. The time to patiently await equality and justice is past.

The time is now to ask why this is happening and why do so many white Americans remain silent as unarmed blacks are slaughtered?

Some give in to stereotyping and the long-held false belief that African Americans are prone to criminality and, therefore, the lynchings are probably deserved. As found in a 2016 survey of President Donald Trump supporters, "many whites see blacks as less human and less evolved than they see members of their own racial group." Yet others put blind faith in law enforcement, thinking officers would do no wrong. Having viewed the images of the killing of George Floyd, only an unreasonable person would continue to support that view of law enforcement in this country.

A 2009 Homeland Security report cited right-wing extremism and its relationship to violent radicalization in the United States. "Federal law enforcement agencies in general - the FBI, the marshals, the ATF - are aware that extremists have infiltrated state and local law enforcement agencies and that there are people in law enforcement agencies that may be sympathetic to these groups," it said.

While ex-police officer Derek Chauvin used his knee to crush the life from George Floyd, there are other "knees" that are just as deadly. There is the knee of exclusion used by Northwest suburban law enforcement, fire and other municipal departments.

I have been a resident of the Northwest suburbs for more than 55 years, a period longer than many suburban residents today, and yet, I do not see a sworn police officer in Arlington Heights and other Northwest suburban communities that looks like me.

Nor is there is anyone in local media that looks like me, and serious diversity deficits exist in nearly all taxing bodies. Experts will validate that omission of people of color make these communities ripe for stereotyping and trauma.

If most citizens believe in diversity and inclusion, the question becomes why the signs of exclusion are glaringly apparent? How is it these residents do not insist that local government adopt policies to ensure there is accountability for this lack of diversity? Why do taxpayers continue to permit such exclusion when most employees reside outside of the area in which they work?

Many officials point to the small percent of African Americans residing in their jurisdiction. Why is it that municipalities do not recruit African Americans for non-sworn positions, positions easier to fill? Given the population shift - both business and residential - that is under way, municipalities with a lack of African American representation will change.

Why is it that there are no African American municipal directors? Municipal leaders will tell you that African Americans do not apply. The truth is that they do not open such jobs beyond people who look like themselves. Where is the justice that many say exists in their communities?

Today, as our cities burn, the attorney general for the state of Minnesota stated that young white supremacists, encouraged by the president of the United States, have infiltrated the legitimate protest movement in Minneapolis and elsewhere.

The larger question is can there ever be interracial democracy, equality and justice in America? Do the Northwest suburbs truly value diversity and inclusion? In reality, many of our citizens want diversity and inclusion, but their "want" is not strong enough for them to enter the world of tension which will take them out of their comfort zone.

To paraphrase words once cited by the late Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., "Racial exclusion and racism will eventually die - it is a matter of how some will make the funeral.

• The Rev. Clyde H. Brooks, of Arlington Heights, is chairman of the Illinois Commission on Diversity and Human Relations.