Liberty And Justice For All BY: KB 1.25.17

I was watching the morning news when the reporter stopped a college student and asked her about Trump halting Obama’s refugee policy and the woman said something blah blah blah patriotic…like she ate the placard on the statue of liberty….then she said something I found very interesting “everybody has the right to feel safe” she said it with such conviction that I had to pause for a minute to think about that statement.

Now before you get to calling me all kinds of racists and bigots….think about what I’m saying here when I say “safe” is a word created from the WHITE male perspective to protect privilege….and any person of color is delusional if they believe that word is used to incorporate them. Not saying we don’t have a right to safety but is it really safety when it’s not controlled by you (let that sink in). You have to obtain some sort of pass in order to be safe.

Were the Natives (indigenous) safe? Colonizers took their land and are still taking it. Colonizers introduced diseases that are still proliferating today because health care is a right that is now being controlled. Africans were forcibly brought to these shores as a source of labor. Families were torn apart for profit and gain. Lives were taken for all sorts of subjective offenses. Diseases were introduced. Rape was a way of life for the women… Move slightly ahead in history we weren’t allowed to share the same facilities but it was most likely that a grandfather and a son were weaned on a Black breast because a White woman was considered too delicate to feed her own child but we couldn’t drink from the same fountain.

East Indian, Pakistani, Mexican, Filipino, Syrian, Iraqi, African, Jew, Muslim, woman and LBGTQ (my apologies if I’ve forgotten to list any of the modern day oppressed…but believe me this is a list I wish I didn’t have to keep) do you now or have you ever felt completely safe in this country? Now, from my perspective I have to ask this question – how does it feel to be the new millennium nigger? It was all a matter of time until the “powers” got around to  including you  - will you continue to deny it’s happening and enjoy your few crumbs of privilege or will you now grow a pair and fight for that little line we overlook…you know “liberty and justice for all”

Who taught you to hate? BY KB: 1.21.17

A while back, when I returned to school to get my B.A., I believe it was ’04. I created a little audio visual presentation on cultural diversity for part of my compilation of work for my senior project. I’m going to share bits and pieces of the presentation. I must first give you a bit of the background that led me to revamp and repost. My niece posted something about Disney, her babies love Disney films. I pointed out how Disney was a notorious anti-Semite and that the older cartoons are extremely racist. My niece highlighted her position by noting the newer films appeared to more inclusive.  I highlighted my point by mentioning two of the “newer” films that appeared to be inclusive cultivated stereotypes in a subtle way and how we get sucked in because the presentation is entertaining. Let that sink in for a moment; racism and bigotry as a form of entertainment…..

My family is blended and extended to the point of being an all-inclusive melting pot of what we want America to be: African American, Scott-Irish, Native American, Latin, German, Filipino, homo and hetero and I’m sure other things I’ve yet to discover. The thing that really disturbs me about this magical melting pot is that some folks enjoy the “passing” …I was going to write the “privilege of passing” but to me it’s not a privilege it’s a subtle form of self-loathing and internalized racism. Then there is the faction that allows the pass…not calling out racism and bigotry; often citing “I don’t want to make waves”,  “they didn’t mean it”, or I’m going to pray for them.”  Let me just say it’s nice to have hope and believe in the better but it’s equally important to let people know that their racism and bigotry was noticed and the behavior is unacceptable. It’s important to teach the younger generations their TRUE history…not the whitewashed and sterilized versions that school teach…. I got those lessons first hand. My grandfather told me stories of him being a grown man and trying to hold his temper and hands when a youngster referred to him as boy. Living in a society where he had to answer with the title “Sir”   My gramps was functionally illiterate but his mind was sharp as a tack. He memorized every employee and badge number of employee in his steel mill to become a foreman. I watched my mother struggle to go to school at night to obtain her degree while feeding and clothing 3 small kids. I hated the fact that my mother strove to be the  “Julia” ( tv show- Diahann Carroll) first negro in the neighborhood. There were times where my mother had to threaten landlords with court actions for failure to rent to Blacks. I often listened to my mother’s hairdresser discuss Blacks in stereotypical terms while they did her hair; my mother had long straight hair so she had to go to White hairdressers because the Black hairdressers were trained for pressing and perms. I often hear my mother use her “White” speech” (our own form of racism and bigotry) in responding. The bigotry in the mutual exchange.

I have become diligent and militant in my own beliefs….I remember my mother taking a course in Black literature and I, being an ardent reader, grabbed the paperback and devoured it…I read Soul On Ice at age 8. I also read literature about Black History and the Black Power movement. I was trying to obtain Panther literature, much to the dismay of my father (the rank and file negro who truly believed he’d be labeled a Communist by my striving)  I’m not totally free of my own isms and bigotry but I AM self-aware and I can check and correct myself when I feel myself going there….but I’m not giving a pass to the “free white and 21 male dominated power structure” of this country. I am not afraid to call out White privilege. I am not a self-loathing ANYTHING!

All this history brings me to the question: who or what taught you to hate? I’m going to provide a few images that have bombarded my childhood and are being subtly shifted an manipulated to future generations. I’m challenging people to WAKE THE HELL UP and think about the messages that they are being fed.

Which pill are you taking to enter the Matrix?