It appears to anyone who really understands African American culture in this country that African Americans are, for the most part, a very forgiving people.
While there are individual African Americans who aren’t so forgiving, or forgiving at all, especially when it comes to race relations, most for the most part are.
The majority of African Americans have forgiven white people, and the institutions that white people have produced for every crime against humanity that was done to us by them. They have forgiven them for slavery, segregation and everything else. In fact, the civil rights movement that Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. headed was built and maintained upon forgiveness and turning the other cheek.
Throughout the history of this country, we have been the victims of white people’s unrighteousness, we have somehow found the moral righteousness within our souls to forgive them. Yet, it appears that the very people(s) and institutions that we have forgave, never seem able to forgive us!
Whether it is today, or yesterday, the same historic fact remains. Black people are, for the most part, never forgiven by the white power structure within this country. Though many of the white people who don’t forgive claim to belong to a religion that has its very foundation built upon forgiveness.
This same religion was used, or should I say misused, by certain religious leaders to first take away the religious beliefs of the ancestors of African Americans. Then to replace it with this new religion which was written in a book called the bible. Within this book were words unknown to the ancestors of today’s African Americans. These words were used/misused to convince these people that it was God’s will that while they were on earth they were to be the slaves of the white man. But also in this book they were taught about forgiveness. So they ended up forgiving the very people who enslaved them…or most of them did…
It seems that the trend of forgiveness is a one-sided thing for the most part in this country. You can see this by the number of white people sent to death row for killing black people. And the number of black people sent to death row for killing white people. Whether the convictions were right or wrong isn’t the fact, but the forgiveness or lack thereof is…
On December 17th, 2003, the state of California went and received a date of execution in order to kill me. This date was to be February 10th, 2004.
Between those dates, as well in all the years I have been fighting to prove my innocence, as well as for my life. I have been subjected to many different forms of inhumane treatment by the people who work for the state of California’s criminal justice system.
On February 9th, 2004, when I found myself standing butt naked right next to the death chamber within this prison I came within 3 hours and 42 minutes of first being tortured, then being murdered by this state, and my life hasn’t been the same since.
Sometimes after these events happened to me, a well meaning and good intentioned friend of mine asked me, do I forgive the state of California, and all the many people who either work for it or support it, for what they did – and tried to do – to me?
After seriously thinking about this question, because it is a very serious question and deserves serious though, I replied. Why should I forgive a system and its people who never forgive anyone for anything? This question was met with a look of confusion…
So, to clarify things, I answered like this: Hell no, I do not and will not forgive the state of California and its supporters for trying to murder me, and for doing all the other inhumane things that they did to me!
There was a time in my life that I would have forgiven then, but that was a long time ago, back when I was uneducated, miseducated and stuck on stupid!
I guess that I am not a forgiving people!
In Struggle From Death Row
At San Quentin Prison
Kevin Cooper
7-19-04