I've been thinking about what's been happening for a while now. It's been super hard to ignore what's going on because it's literally at your front door in living color, raw and uncut.
I know in my heart of hearts that good people don't do to the citizens of this nation what is being done in the guise of getting rid of criminals. We as people of color should not be afraid to exist...and yet, the threat to our very existence...the right to simply be is under assault; all because of the black and browning of this country.
That's it in a nutshell.
Someone asked me what does freedom look like. At the time he was asking this from a personal perspective and of course I explained it to him.
But freedom is a term that covers so much.
The simple fact of the matter is white people have been convinced that somehow they have been left behind and it's someone else's fault. They believe that white men are under assault and they have window seats to the evaporation of their white privilege. They don't see that white men are still running this country and have been the most coddled demographic there is and nothing has been taken from them. They still have access to the best jobs, often getting preferential treatment for no other reason than the color of their skin. They are afforded the luxury of looking through you in public, business and social settings. White women known as 'karens' still weaponize the police as a means of keeping people of color in their place as if somehow our mere presence offends them,
I keep wondering what it is about melanated skin that is so upsetting to my non-melanated brothers and sisters. But whatever is upsetting them has gone on for centuries and always contained rage coupled with violence.
As I watch my brothers and sisters either wage war or persecute victims of the same conflict, I often wonder why now and why do you carry such blatant hatred for others in your hearts?
You don't want us living in your neighborhoods? Cool. We can and have built our own. But it also seems like you don't like us having anything that resembles equality because history has shown that whenever we have done that, you burn what we built to the ground often murdering, raping and pillaging in the process.
It seems like you're not happy unless we are dependent on you so that you can decide what we can or cannot have. And it will always be much less than you which will then reinforce your ideology that you are somehow superior and more deserving of what you have taken, stolen or acquired by any other means.
Here's the good news though: All of you aren't like that. Many of you have marched alongside us during the civil rights era putting your lives on the line alongside ours. Many of you have no problems integrating with us and seeing us as regular people which should never have been a problem from the beginning.
We don't want to go to war with you not because we can't or that we're fearful...we simply want to apply our energies to what is useful...like enriching our communities, ensuring the safety of our children, working hard to leave a legacy to our families and loving one another in peace. Does that mean that black on black crime/violence doesn't exist? No. I'm not saying that. But look around at the state of affairs.
Who is committing acts against humanity in the guise of doing right when hurting people has never been okay? Who is building white only towns...spaces where black and brown people are not welcome when we never rejected you. We respond to you and if you want, you have a place setting at the barbecue.
Like I said previously, we don't want to fight you. We don't want to replace you. We don't want revenge even though I cannot speak for the families of those you murdered.
We want you to simply leave us alone. Leave our legacies alone. Leave our cultures alone.
We simply want to exercise our right to exist without any interference or disrespect from you.
Sadly, that seems like something that a portion of your demographic can't do and are willing to kill for.
~ J.L. Whitehead
No comments:
Post a Comment