US Airman Roger Fortson’s family and attorney Ben Crump hold a press conference after receiving body camera video showing fatal shooting of Fortson, left.PHOTOS COURTESY OF FACEBOOK AND MILITARY.COM

Once, in 1968, Stokely Carmichael, leader in the student civil rights movement, made a distinction between appearing peaceful- he was not ranting and shaking his fist- and being militant. He doubled-down on a follow up question and asserted that he only looked peaceful (calm) in that moment of the discussion, but further asserted that there can be no peace until all (Blacks) are liberated.

I was reminded of this exchange when I learned about another Black man who was killed by the police- in his own home while holding his licensed weapon. The details are still unfolding, but at this time we understand the following: US Airman Roger Fortson was home alone and talking to his girlfriend on Zoom, the police were responding to a domestic violence call, and had the wrong address. Fortson was licensed to carry. He was described as a ‘partiot’, who was actively serving in the US Airforce.

After being shot, police body cam audio recorded offier’s order to Fortson to drop his gun and his compliance with the order. Of course, the order came after five bullets pierced his body.

Ironically, this event happened in Florida- famously home of stand-yourground laws, and which legally upholds unlicensed carry laws.

Oh, it was a white policeman who shot the Black man.

My rage is barely contained.

We must bring justice to this grave injustice: repeated hairpin trigger responses by white police against Blacks, are simply public executions in the name of the law.

Why did the policeman shoot? Lack of training or training to shoot to kill? Instinctual fear of a person with a gun? Reaction to a Black man with a gun?

Yes, the war against civilians in Gaza deserve protests, but these police atrocities continue to happen right here at home. Where are the demonstrators?

Have we forgotten about 26-yearold Botham Jean in Texas- also killed in his own home by a scared white police officer? Or a sleeping Breanna Taylor-victim of a wrongful police invasion? The list of such executions is long.

The policing tradition of whites authorized to kill Blacks can be traced back to the slave “patrols,” when every Black person was a target for violent treatment at the hands of deputized agents.

So many years after emancipation, it seems we have become immune to ongoing police violence and we no longer seethe in anger at the terror thrust on Blacks in America. Or is our overall peaceful demeanor just a cover over justifiable rage that may boil up and over at any time?

I just completed reading Black Box, Writing the Race, a 2024 collection of essays and lectures by Henry Louis Gates in which he traces the writings of Black folk from the time of Phyllis Wheatley, whose poems were published in the 1760s!

Her intellect led to debates in the nascent nation of America- where slavery was legal throughout the entire country- and which was partially justified by rendering Blacks as less than human. Our humanity has been under long and hard debate. But has it been finally decided?

Subsequent thoughtful writing and oratory in defense of the humanity of Africans brought to this country was received unevenly, but the notion could not be denied. We are here. We are worthy. We are human. We are equal.

But how are we to continue to remain human and humane in the face of ongoing terror at the hands of sanctioned dilettantes?

Gates’ book also describes the formation of a movement beginning in the 1830s when several conventions were held in the north to determine how free Blacks should participate in the abolitionist movement, and demonstrate their humanity. Matters for discussion included what to be called, i.e., colored, Afro-American, or something else; how to foster relationships with Africa-pro and con arguments for emigration, and other important matters of the day.

One of the most militant proposals came from Henry Harland Garnet, a historical figure I just learned about.

Garnet gave his “Call to Rebellion” at the 1843 annual National Negro Convention in Buffalo in which he pronounced that it was the moral and Christian duty of the enslaved to resist slavery by any means necessary, including violence.

And we thought it was Malcolm X who spoke it first.

Nite, his remarks were delivered after the failed anti-slavery uprisings in the south by Denmark Vesey (1822) and Nat Turner (1831 ). Garnet’s remarks were well received by many, but his position was overridden by supporters of Frederick Douglas who advocated for trying “moral means a little longer.”

Its 2024, and the debate still rages. It will not be resolved until we are free to live in our Black skin without fear from the police or any other deputized entity armed and seemingly too eager to kill us.

What do we do? Train up in non-violent resistance? Yes. Elect officials who endorse a Black Lives Matter agenda? Yes. Form armed militia? Yes. And adopt and enact all other means- as necessary? Yes.

It’s become more compelling that we vote. Vote. Vote to literally survive.