Just The Facts BY: KB 8.28.16

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