I am celebrating my birthday today in my own imitable style….shooting
from the lip and taking no prisoners, saying what needs to be said without
fear!
Once again I am writing about race, not because I want to
but because I have to. Just because
people of color are choosing to turn the other cheek does not mean we have to
be silent and accept the injustice!
Death, bigotry and prejudice have become EEOC (Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission) compliant. Now the police are brutalizing
and killing women of color and still using the same old tired excuses that they’ve
used for years (and the band played on.)
Worst yet, I pride myself in my choice to celebrate and defend
diversity but I am now growing very
weary of hearing my white friends say that they don’t see color and selectively
reacting to the genocide; yes I used THAT word. I’m tired of people convoluting
the issue by bringing in invalid and moot points to justify their apathy. Let
me set you ALL straight on a few facts so we can come together and kill the
diseased thinking of racism and treat the atrophy that prevents all people from
moving….
To my white friends – you don’t see color because you are
not conditioned to. The America you know is founded by and embraced by you and
you operate in an infrastructure (privilege) that was built for and by you.
Imagine having to defend your presence on a daily basis, imagine hearing s---
like, “you speak so well” when English is your ONLY language, imagine not
ever hearing your history until you’re damn near an adult, imagine being a
child and never seeing your image correctly depicted in print or effigy (dolls),
imagine having to pay higher prices just for the “privilege” of being relegated
to a ghetto existence, imagine it being assumed that you’ll never make it to
college, so, if you’re lucky, you’re taught a trade, imagine a system of
operation so biased that by the time you’re an 18 years old, you stand a
greater chance of going to prison than you do of getting a job or going to
college, Imagine being treated as a good luck charm or a novelty, imagine only
being able to live in certain area because you entertain or perform for the
dominant culture in that area. Imagine hearing that you’re not good enough, you
don’t fit in, you’ll have to work harder …day in and day out and these
perceptions are based solely and wholly on the color of your skin. Yet people
still want to question why people of color are angry. We carry the weight of
all that bulls--- day in and day out.
I ain’t asking anybody to apologize for the mistakes and
bulls--- of the past, that’s dead and gone. I want people to correct their
present for a better future. I’m asking people to recognize that they enjoy
privilege and to stop, when it’s extended, and say what about my brother or
sister that I SEE on the margin, being excluded. LEVEL THE DAMN PLAYING FIELD. BE BOLD ENOUGH TO SPEAK UP CONSISTENTLY.
OPEN YOUR DAMN EYES AND NOT WAIT FOR ONE OF YOUR FRIEND OF COLOR TO POINT IT
OUT.
The second thing I want to point out is that no one gets a
pass on the N word….it had its place in history. It was funny when comedians
used it to illustrate the hypocrisy and injustice; it was funny when it was
used to cover the pain of a common experience; we laughed to keep from crying.
Now, the word is a bullet in a gun for a rapper. Now the word is a battle cry
for the very angry, oppressed and uninformed younger generation. Now the word
is embraced by an angry people without hope. Now the word is a weapon for a
people without a respect for the sanctity of life; an oppressed people who are
returning the gift of hatred that they were given.
Last but by no means least…..stop bulls---ting with the
black on black crime statistics as a deflection. Man’s inhumanity to man has no
color barriers. The statistics are high in the communities of color because
they are crimes of opportunity; crimes that are the result of the systemic
conditions that made them possible in the first place…..poverty, oppression and
deprivation create a hostile environment but nobody stops to look at the system
that bred the contempt.
It’s time to step out of denial and delusion and finish the
work that began in the 60’s….the revolution has come and we are at the place of
choice and it saddens and angers me to say that more and more people are
choosing violence.
How ya’ livin’?
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