Fear

Fear

August 9th 2014, an unarmed African-American man, Micheal Brown, was shot by a white cop, and a year later, November 2015, in Paris, the Muslim extremist group, ISIS killed 90 people at a live music concert. The cop, 150 feet away from Brown, opened fire and shot Brown six times. The evidence leaves a significant number of Americans, especially from the black community, uneasy at the least, despite claims of self-defence. The terrorist attack took place in Paris, but because the extremists were Muslim, fear of Muslims in America resurfaced. One of the gunmen was heard saying that it was revenge against the French president who harmed Muslims around the world. Each of these acts of violence were likely thought to be a form of protection by the perpetrators, due to societal fear mongering and ignorance. Hanif Abdurraqib writes two essays about this as a black Muslim author himself. “November 22, 2014,” and “On Paris” illustrate the fear that is on both sides of the aisle when it comes to race and religion, fear that perpetuates itself with horrible acts of gun violence. Abdurraqib informs his audience of this tragic cycle with the use of repetition, personal experience, and news reports.

Both essays explore the fear Americans have of those whose race and culture are unfamiliar to them; the “system” has created stereotypes that take hold where ignorance prevails. Abdurraqib relives an event in “November 22, 2014” when an elderly white cashier feared him, “Still, without anything chopping at the root of our souls, we’re still imagining the individual only, and not the system that surrounds them, that makes them feared. The cashier in Budord, Ohio, who jumped at my attempt for my wallet, didn’t know me as an individual. He simply knew fear learned from a system, played on loop to him for an entire life” (Abdurraqib 280). Abdurraqib repeats “still” implying that it is a place where society is stuck today, and “individual” and “system,” implying that the two have yet to be separated. He provides the audience with a perspective that gives this old man, who was afraid of him, the benefit of the doubt. If it weren’t for the system that perpetuates fear, this man would not likely flinch. This fear comes from recognizing an individual as a part of the system, not as the individual all on their own. And it is so ingrained in us that it survives in the root of our souls. In “On Paris,” a similar theme is brought to light, “It is jarring, what we let fear do to each other; how we invent enemies and then make them so small that we are fine with wishing them dead. How we decide what “safety” is, how ours is only ours and must be gained at all costs. How we take that long coat of fear and throw it around the shoulders of anyone who doesn’t look like us, or prays to another God” (Abdurraqib 223).  Abdrraqib’s use of “how” as an anaphora underlines the unpleasant results of fear. It makes the reader notice the negative qualities of fear, that affect more than just themselves. In a world of fear, there is no true safe place. 

The two essays both explore egregious violence, incidents made possible by the availability and use of guns. Abdurraqib explores the argument about whether it is the presence or absence of guns that helps protect our families. He repeats, “We all have the right to keep the people we love safe” (Abdurraqib 278) at the end of two paragraphs discussing a different perspective on gun usage. A white rural man does not want gun control, he thinks guns are needed for personal use to keep his family safe. Whereas in Abdurraqibs family, guns and the violence associated with them are so abhorrent that not even finger guns were allowed in their presence.  This parallelism clarifies that everyone wants to keep their people safe, but how it should be done is arguable. If the fear is pervasive, someone at some point might take a preemptive strike and attack someone who is as scared as they are. It’s like killing a harmless spider. It’s baseless fear that leads someone to such an action. The spider was probably afraid of you too. But who has the power? Abdurraqib builds on the argument that violence is viewed differently by different demographics in “On Paris,” stating, “It is a luxury to see some violence as terror and other violence as necessary. It is a luxury to be unafraid and analyze the very real fear of others” (Abdurraqib 222). His repetition of luxury creates the understanding that it is not an experience everybody has, it is an understanding reserved for the safe and the elite. This illustrates the disconnect between those who have been attacked and those who heard about the attack from a safe distance away. The repetition in both essays emphasizes the opposing opinions people have as a result of their personal experiences.  

Abdurraqib highlights a famous violent crime in each essay. The Ferguson shooting is one everyone remembers because it was a clear instance of police violence that was motivated by racism. In “November 22, 2014,” Abdurraqib recalls watching the news with his partner’s father a couple months after the August shooting, “In a few days a grand jury is going to decide whether or not to indict Darren Wilson, the police officer who shot unarmed black teenager Michael Brown a few months earlier” (Abdurraqib 279). He brings the story back to his reader’s heads, so that it will sit uncomfortably with his audience once again. Darren Willsion wasn't indicted; it had been two years since the shooting. This stirs up anger, dread, and fear in people. The evidence of murder is there. The implications that it was racially based is there. Police are trained to subdue people without killing them; it should not be a first resort.  Another instance of a shooting of innocent people took place in Paris a year later, which Abdurraqib writes about in “On Paris.” These people went to a concert as an escape, with the understanding that it was a safe space,“Many concert-goers, mostly young, were gunned down while taking in an Eagles of Death Metal show. I considered the dead, how many among them may have gone out hoping for an escape from whatever particular evil was suffocating them. I considered how many may have been young Muslims. Then, as always, I considered all of the young Muslims still living” (Abdurraqib 222). Abdurrqib has already introduced live shows as a sort of refuge for young Muslims, an escape that truly takes them away from terrorist allegations where people did not fear them or want to harm them, so to hear about such a tragedy is frightening. People who live in fear, especially in traditionally peaceful places, have a diminished capacity to contribute to society. Reminding his audience of these shootings evokes urgency and a need to break this cycle of fear. 

Fearing people can only bring more death and unpleasantness for the living. Perceived threats draw American communities further apart. It is the true threats against humanity that American communities must unite against. People are not “bad” because of the color of their skin or their religion, if they are “bad,” it is based on the content of their character. Making this distinction is required for a better quality of life in America.

Works Cited

Abdurraqib, Hanif. They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us. Two Dollar Radio, 2017.

“November 22, 2014.” They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, by Hanif Abdurraqib, Two Dollar Radio, 2017, pp. 277–281.

“On Paris.” They Can't Kill Us Until They Kill Us, by Hanif Abdurraqib, Two Dollar Radio, 2017, pp. 220–225.