#BLACKLIVESDONTMATTER
photo of Ella Watson, African-American cleaning lady/photo by Gordon Parks
"You are not one of us and you never will be. Get over it and comply. You are not an American. Get over it and comply. The principles of free speech along with life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness do not apply to you. Get over it and comply. Slavery was a long time ago. Get over it and comply. The Civil Rights Movement was a long time ago. Get over it and comply. So what if your communities were flooded with drugs and weapons in order for you to destroy yourselves even though most of you will never obtain passports to visit the places where those same drugs and guns were shipped from? Get over it and comply. Your thoughts do not matter. Your dreams do not matter. Ultimately, your life does not matter because you are not human. You are without question 3/5ths of a person. Your position in this life is to serve our best interests for the greater good of America. You are to cook and clean, sweep and mop our floors, shuck and jive, dance, smile and entertain us. As for this so-called 'racism' and injustice, you must be consistently reminded of the natural order of things. Whatever injustices, discrimination and abuse you suffer is irrelevant; get over it and comply. If your women are raped, families broken up, friends abused and murdered, you are to get over it and comply. You are to comply, smile and get over it. You are to endure what you have been subjected to. You are never to feel frustrated, angry or bitter. You are only here to smile, dance and entertain. It is not your place to question the law of the land. It is not your place to speak out against perceived injustice within the confines of the United States of America. The reason for this is simple: this is not your land and it was never intended for you. If this makes you angry, keep this in mind: the 2nd Amendment right to bear arms was not intended for you. In fact, you have no rights. You have no rights, nor are you entitled to any because you are a NIGGER."
Before you get all riled up and offended, rushing to the proverbial social media soapbox of your choice to vent, take a moment to read the above statement again. Don't just read it again, read it and (this part is going to hurt for some) THINK about why that was written and what it really means. The above statement in many ways reflects what many so-called 'conservatives' in America really want to say but are afraid of possible consequences. Call me crazy, but what happened to that good old fashioned, Southern style racism? What ever happened to that old school, Freedom Summer, White Citizens Council, Samuel Bowers, Bull Connor, Dynamite Bob style racism? You know what I mean, that good old fashioned shoot 'em up, blow 'em up, hang 'em high YEEHAW racism that worked for so long? Apparently the world has changed, and not necessarily for the better. Today's racism just doesn't have that same style, that same ignorant, biting panache it once had. Now people speak in blanket terms in public and on social media, scribbling out 140 character tweets that reflect no real character in the person that tweeted it. Nowadays people hide, afraid to say what they really want to say for how it makes them look. Personally, I like my racism and discrimination out in the open...and I prefer my racists to have a set of balls and say what they really want to say.
On the original statement...
They say that for every action, there is a reaction; that whatever you put out into the universe eventually comes back. Law of energy, karma, whatever term or phrase you prefer to use, the results are the same. They always are. That being said, let's get something out of the way and make it perfectly clear:
IN NO WAY WHATSOEVER WAS THE MURDER OF POLICE OFFICERS IN RETALIATION FOR THE MURDERS OF ALTON STERLING AND PHILANDO CASTILLE JUSTIFIED.
If someone was to come into your home, spit in your face, rape your wife, abuse your family and friends or even murder your loved ones, would you be angry or would you comply and get over it? If someone was to create a system that made it virtually effortless for you to get access to guns and drugs, and then watch you destroy your own community from within for sport, would you be angry or would you comply and get over it? If someone was to consistently railroad you, your family, friends and anyone who looked like you in the judicial system, would you be angry or would you comply and get over it? If someone was to create a system that regarded you as inferior and subhuman, and later penalized you for even daring to fight back against that system, would you be angry or would you comply and get over it?
For those of you who only have text messages, tweets, and Facebook updates as the most profound forms of literature at your disposal, let's simplify this a bit. When I was a kid, I was bullied quite a bit. Because I was a straight A student instead of a fighter, that made me a target for bullies. For years I was afraid to fight back, oftentimes running home crying (and with black eyes). My fear overpowered my logic; I was more concerned with the consequences of standing up to my aggressor than with the obvious need to stand up and defend myself against unwarranted force and abuse that was already happening. As the years passed, more scrapes and bruises, more busted lips and more black eyes appeared. When I turned thirteen, something very arrogant and uncalled for happened. My logic overcame my fear and I started fighting back. After that, the bullies left me alone. They didn't leave me alone because I was a tough guy all of a sudden. They left me alone because I refused to back down. I would no longer subject myself to their intimidation and abuse. I acknowledged my right to live freely as a human being and refused to comply and get over it.
Get the point? Of course...I didn't think so. Again for the benefit of those with the attention span and intelligence of inbred gnats, let's simplify this further:
No African-American should be subjected to racism, discrimination and abuse.
No White American should be subjected to racism, discrimination and abuse.
No Asian American should be subjected to racism, discrimination and abuse.
No Hispanic American should be subjected to racism, discrimination and abuse.
No Italian American should be subjected to racism, discrimination and abuse.
No Native American (if you can find any) should be subjected to racism, discrimination and abuse.
No man, woman or child should be subjected to racism, discrimination and abuse.
Simply put: NO HUMAN BEING SHOULD BE SUBJECTED TO RACISM, DISCRIMINATION AND ABUSE.
But that of course is the fundamental problem at the heart of the 'Black Lives Matter' movement; the problem that spawned this entire movement from the beginning. Consider this for a moment. It's 2016. If I actually have to say to you that Black Lives Matter, clearly that's a problem. It's a problem because a system of thinking and of government has been established within America that renders the lives of African-Americans as being less valuable than those of others. This is a system that has been in place for hundreds of years and continues today. Black Lives Matter does not mean 'Kill White People' or 'Kill Cops'. It means 'STOP KILLING US'. Now let's address the elephant in the room. We're well aware that such a thing as Black on Black crime exists in America. It's not like every single African-American on the planet is laughing, collecting welfare checks, drinking 40 oz liquor, smoking weed and watching this go down like it's some sick WWE style death match. We know it happens, and believe it or not, there are those in communities throughout the country that reach out in prisons, youth groups, schools and churches in order to teach future generations not to go this route. Why are we frustrated and angry in the first place?
Consider:
A White kid rapes a young woman and gets six months in prison. A White kid goes into a Black church and shoots up the place, killing nine people. The situation is defused and he's escorted to prison. A Black man sells CDs or cigarettes and is MURDERED. A Black man notifies a police officer that he has a firearm with a license to carry, offers to produce his ID, etc. and is MURDERED. Once the story hits the news, of course the rebuttal is always the same. "If only they would just comply. If only they would just comply." What happens when a group of people who have been discriminated against and victimized finally get tired of complying? What happens when a group of people who have been oppressed and humiliated finally get tired of turning the other cheek and praying for something better after they die? What happens when you back someone into a corner and refuse to back off with the intimidation, bullying and harassment? This is not about justifying the murder of police officers. This is about the fact that murdering police officers or anyone else is horrible and should never happen, but killing unarmed Black people? Well...shit happens. Boo fucking hoo.
What happened in Dallas was unjustified and never should have happened, but if we're going to get into this, let's get into it all the way. Don't demonize a senseless act of violence without also demonizing the system of injustice and brutality that created it. The same reverence and respect that we show for the lives of police officers who are funded by our tax dollars to serve and protect us should also be paid to the people...ALL PEOPLE OF ALL COLORS. It's a shame that we're still struggling and fighting for civil rights in 2016, but this of course is America. We're the dumbest country on Earth along with being a card carrying member of quite possibly the dumbest generation human civilization has ever produced. And let's be clear on something else: I don't write these words because I want special treatment. I don't want your welfare. I don't want a handout. I don't want your reparations because quite frankly, my work ethic is probably better than 90% of you reading this right now. Most of all, I don't want civil rights because that's always been the con from day one. We sing songs and march for something that was already ours since birth. We fight and die for something that no one should have to give to us.
The fact that we actually have to say BLACK LIVES MATTER makes it perfectly clear. Instead of arguing about this in American courts of law that were never established for us, the plight of African-Americans and other people of color needs to be taken to the United Nations and argued for what it truly is: a human rights violation. I don't say Black Lives Matter because I harbor ill will towards White people or police officers. I say Black Lives Matter because I want to exist freely in this world without a target on my back simply because of the color of my skin. But of course, this is America. I'm not suppose to want equal rights. I'm not supposed to want human rights. I'm not supposed to get frustrated or angry whenever I see people who look like me get brutalized and murdered because they look like me. Hell, being 3/5ths of a person, I'm not even supposed to know how to read or even type this (shit, I guess I'm busted). I guess at the end of the day, I'm supposed to accept the irrefutable truth that America has been forcing myself and those like me swallow since day one.
BLACK LIVES DON'T MATTER.
We're only here to entertain. As for everything else, we're only supposed to comply and get over it. Maybe my dying wish is for those in America who think this way to actually have the balls to say it out loud, because I already know what you mean. I'm seeing it everyday.
