Revisit, Rethink, Reset
Revisit, Rethink, Reset
I now know what agitation feels like. Generally, I’m your basic happy person who can always find the upside to everything, even Covid-19’s. It’s ability to give the world a rest from its most dangerous predictors was welcomed. Right now, however, I can’t. I can’t see any upside to the cauldrons that are burning because whites want a race war. I can’t see any upside in the vitriol that comes out of the highest political office of this country. I can’t either, imagine the abuse the (p)resident of the (u)nited states must have felt as a child to be this evil. But like the wise African Proverb says, “A child who is not embraced by the village will burn it down to feel it’s warmth. His world must have been very cold.
Still, I’m sure that as soon as my spirit and mind are done been seized by the disquietude of the times, I will return to my optimistic self. I hope too, that the United State will finally come to understand a basic tenet of the universe. You have to balance the equation. You can’t do to one side what you don’t to the other. Both Black and White minds have been co-opted by the system of racial injustice. These riots show that none are happy. The thin veneer of White Superiority feels like an imposter syndrome, which it is and the feeling of Black inferiority feels like a yoke, which it is. So many untold true stories and the erroneous stories of the “victors” have planted pandemic sized virus infecting racial injustice. Voices matter. Stories matter and it’s through these narratives that we might find equilibrium for humanity. We’d better start TALKING.
Since I am on a rant, let me add in a moment of diversion insult to injury. The messages flooding my mailbox from corporations who understand the power and impact of the black dollar on their businesses that are sucking up and using these trying times for disingenuous grandstanding. The politicians who suddenly care so much about the disenfranchised Black Community, and who have been ramping-up their donations asks to make sure we elect the right candidate. These asks are going into the mailboxes of people ravaged by COVID-19, and unemployed (quite insensitive wouldn’t you say and the reason to take money out of politics). Then there is the Black community that abhors institutional racism calling for Blackout Days and desperately trying to be heard by any means necessary. (In case you’re wondering where I stand on this…let me say I stand with by any means necessary.) When I do completely recover from the emotional, psychological, and financial assault of the past four months, I will, more than likely, default to the things I love to do most. Solve problems.
It surely is not hard to see that America has a serious race problem. Because I happen to be on the unbalanced side of the equation, the water under the bridge side, I have perspective. I am Black. I’m beyond happy to be Black and proud that I have never and would never let anything as trite as the colour of my skin get in my way. You see I set the bar way high on how anyone can relate to me including white boys who have cowered in my presence. But this cowering was not because of colour, it was simply because they were marginal, a common occurrence in people who have such cushy “White Privilege” they forgot how to compete to strive and to survive. White Privilege, a noose around their neck has killed their hunting instinct. Still, I’m one who can walk in the shoe of another, and without question, America has a huge RACE problem. So how do you solve problems? Take them down to their least common denominators.
The deep-seated, institutionalized Race problem in America that has disadvantaged people of colour for centuries, has turned vicious and yes, it is time. It is time for Black folks to get up, stand up never to go down again. It ends now! We may be standing longer than we want but we cannot tire or put our arms down, literally until the deep-down seeds of racism have been excavated, eradicated and incinerated. For this to happen, a four-pronged problem-solving technique has to be employed on both sides of the pond. White folks must quit talking about White Privilege, which in my opinion is the lack of consequences for a heinous history and Black folks must that stop believing in any rhetoric on inferiority, which is clearly nonsense. I might even argue the opposite, and the seat of the fear.
So Here Goes
Social: We need to get to know each other. Black folks and white folks. You will see I am no different from you and contrary to your knee jerk belief, I am not poor, not destitute, not uneducated, and I am not a thug. And even if there are people who fit this description, you created them and thus must live with the consequence…for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The virus in your head about my inferiority has been planted and had systematically implemented to create a sense superiority and ascribed white privilege to you. The virus in my head that believes the virus in your head will be vaccinated, like NOW. So, let’s have a dinner party and have real conversations about race, yours and mine. Be vulnerable, get mad, get inspired, defend your forefathers, or whatever, but for God’s sake don’t be provincial, pedantic, defensive or destructive. Listen. Really listen.
Political. This Trojan horse must die. By any means necessary. Government as it is, is not okay. The three branches of government meant to balance each other out, well has been hijacked. As I stated earlier, the equation must be balanced. It is the unintended fourth branch of government that has mucked up the soup; Lobbyist and special interest. With them has come greed, cruelty, moral decay, and an inhumanity I have never seen in my lifetime all in the name of money. The Benjamins in Politics must go! And term limits should be set for all senators and congressmen just like the presidency. The inbreeding of perpetuity has created deformed children.
Spiritual: Connect with your inner spirit and find your God there…she is, I guarantee you, not at a megachurch. If you are human with a conscience there are just things you just cannot do. Morality matters. The problem with rich folks is they think they can break the law without consequences. Check yourself. If you are bored, abusing kids, killing, and all in between is not the answer. Go read the history of the world…this un-managed desire, greed and treachery has brought down civilizations time after time.
Economic. This will be the hardest part of the equation to solve as it has the hammer used to oppress. From Redlining to Wells Fargo’s Ghetto loans, from public housing, because of discrimination, to denied education, to welfare, to creating prison complex and infested neighbourhoods, this has been the most destructive part of the rigged system. Literally, this part of the equation (calculus) water under the bridge may need exploding. Fundamental changes in a system rigged to financially disadvantage black is something only Blacks can do. No ‘Man’ can help you here. They burned Wall Street, Tulsa, and Rosewood but you must build it again. In a capitalist country, it’s the money stupid. With 3.4 Billion in communities of colour who disproportionately spend as consumers…you have a voice. Suck your money out of the machine and hear the sound of the vacuum. With White folks narrowing the to the 1% who want billions…it is your money they count on to get there. STOP. Spend in your own community. Let your money circulate 10 times or better and you have solved every problem of racism! Ask me how later. Do NOT, for the love of God let these young Black Men’s lives be snuffed out in vain. “Galvanize, mobilize,” as Barack would say and “let us all work together to create a just and first class nation made up of the diversity that gave it its greatness.
All these have to be solved in tandem and I promise the sheep will rise up again and remember it was once a lion.
