This isn’t new to us anymore. Oklahoma City, New York, Boston and maybe West, Texas and Mobile, Alabama are all places where terrorists have struck right here on our own soil.
And let’s not forget the poison-laced letter sent to the White House, and even though no one has officially confirmed it, the grounding of American Airlines flights for a day.
That’s how terrorism is….the acts are horrible and the worry of what they might have been and the fear of what’s coming next is just as bad.
But one thing that comes to mind is how acts like the one in Boston really proves there are two Americas. There’s the part that includes me and a lot of you, the part that lives so far away from violence and police activity that there is shock and amazement at the very idea that a city could be held captive.
Then, there’s the other part in almost every black city in America where living like this has become the new normal.
Not to downplay the marathon bombing or its victims in any way. But that one day of terror should make people think about the way so many people of color live every day.
The kind of America that a lot of people fear is on the way–helicopters hovering over head, curfews, metal detectors and armed security in schools, bars on the windows of homes—is already here in parts of L.A., Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, New Orleans, Philly, and the list goes on and on.
Terrorism: The Not-So-New Normal was originally published on blackamericaweb.com
