Just The Facts BY:
KB 8.28.16
I’m sitting here watching Amistad for the umpteenth time and
like all the other times I’m moved to both anger and tears of the history of brutality of this country and how well ALL
seem to forget or turn a blind eye and calloused heart to it as long as we have
a few material comforts. European slave traders found the first African commodity
to exploit; Spain, France, Portugal and The Netherlands were heavy in the
market. France had up to 26 million Africans – let that sink in 26 million, for
one country. Mind you The Holocaust accounts for approximately 6 million Jews…
why isn’t the importing, brutality, trading and enslavement of Blacks
considered a Holocaust? We remember the Jews yet we continue to see Blacks in
this country as an inconsequential entity unless the Black impacts the life of
someone White.
We then we have the people who want to discuss the facts of
Black on Black crime, like they give a damn, but let’s get real and talk about
it….Black on Black crime is a byproduct of the horrific conditions and
treatment that this country continues to promulgate. We hear the word “ghetto”
used as a synonym for Black…on some levels it’s true because Blacks continue to
be relegated to certain areas that “keep them contained” by lack of resources…a
new economic racism…but we don’t see that because this is America!!!
Now let’s just really take the gloves off and get down with
some bare knuckles…I am 2 generations removed from share-croppers and 3 from
slaves. When the freedom was fought for…save the bullshit history lesson it
wasn’t granted. The Emancipation Proclamation was written in and signed in
blood…BLOOD FROM PEOPLE OF ALL COLORS!
People migrated from the land of their oppressors…only to
find more oppression. The people, barely literate because their “owners” saw no
need to educate or prepare them for anything other than servitude to their
needs; a trend perpetuated in the perceived utopia of the North with the
creation of vocational schools – created in the perception that Blacks would
not attend college.
Blacks seemed to have made strides in employment as the
country industrialized..the majority of my family became property owners as a
result of the steel industry and auto manufacturing plants but it’s also the same industry that killed
them with various health issues because the industries weren’t regulated. Once
the industries discovered they could produce a cheaper product and pollute to
their hearts content they abandoned a group of people (once again, Black were
utilized as a cheap and dispensable labor source)
While many of us were flag waving and celebrating in the Rio
Olympics ….you have to know that Brazil had 4.9 million slaves long before the
Portuguese ever set foot on their soil and the Blacks of Brazil are truly in
slum conditions..
These are just a few of the reasons why we should know our
history and keep shouting about BLACK LIVES
