Black Belt Commonsense

 You know, the only thing that’s really shocking is that folk are STILL shocked by this: “Wells Fargo & Co Chief Executive Charles Scharf exasperated some Black employees in a Zoom meeting this summer when he reiterated that the bank had trouble  reaching diversity goals because there was not enough qualified minority talent, two participants told Reuters.“ Let’s break down this one wittle statement: 1. There’s a diversity goal - which is usually the base for acceptability - and they couldn’t even reach that! 2. In practice, honest white folk like the creator of the comic, Dilbert, talk about how when he messed up in banking, they kept giving him a promotion! Or that tap they got on the shoulder where the manager said, ‘I see something in you!’ Black people don’t get that. And the few times that we do, the expectation is that we conform to the denial all around us. ‘Yes boss...race relations sure is improving!’ 3. If the pool of Black talent is so small, then that would me...

 When I teach my young chess champions, I explain to them the value of each piece, noting that the King is ‘priceless’. Often, I have to explain this word to them with a story: “Imagine if your parents sold their place on the Upper East Side; they’d get like a gazillion dollars for it! Now imagine if that same person asked, ‘How much for Jada, Jamal, Susie and Bradley?’ Your parents would say, ‘Those are our babies! They are not for sale! They are...” and I’d wait for the CHILDREN to chime in ‘PRICELESS!’ Now why can’t we ALL see what they clearly can? We pay these white cops from elsewheres via OUR taxes. They oppress, brutalize and murder us. Then OUR taxes pay for the settlement which could NEVER BE ENOUGH! How much would you want for me to shoot your CHILD or nephew in the back of the head? 1 million? 10 million? 100 million? A billion? Fire ALL of the white cops from elsewheres! We are what we accept; and it’s long past time we stopped accepting the unacceptable. Long past. Am...

 Al Roker, as assimilated as they come, objects to his not covering Katrina 10 years later and they cancel his show. Bryant Gumbel, as assimilated as they come, goes on Charlie Rose and says these racial killings must stop! Why?  Because his son was arrested by cop for no reason other than being Black. And he rubs his own skin and says on the  Charlie Rose show, 'My son! Because of this...skin color! Not your son, Charlie...MY SON!' Years ago, a protester pleaded with Ray Charles not to play in a segregated theater and Ray listened. As a result, he  was unwelcome from playing in the entire state of Georgia from 1961 until they 'welcomed' him to play in the general assembly in 1979. According to movie lore, when the protester saw Ray turning away from the venue and he said 'thank you'  to Ray, Ray Charles said, 'No...THANK YOU! You saved me! YOU SAVED ME!' So, when we call racist progressives out on our wittle FB pages, instead of their response being ...

A veil is lifted. Not because these double standards are pointed out more frequently (they've been pointed out ad infinitum from the beginning); but because more people are letting the HORRORS sink in. Fewer trolls. Fewer gaslighters. Fewer folk suggesting that we don't know the 'WHOLE STORY.' And this is a very good thing. The one thing STILL lacking is what's most needed; an apology for all of the deflection, blame-shifting, gaslighting and trolling of our pages. And finally for all of the years of silence! But I understand. One of the highest tenets of white savagery (and therefore hardest to shake) is  never having to say, 'I'm sorry.' Again, this is what's most needed. It's not just holding us back or keeping us down; it's keeping us all stagnant. Many days I come up from prayer and meditation thinking 'Still Oil?!? Coal?!? Electricity from radiation?!? Plastic filled oceans?!? Still bombing people over there?!? A Cuba  embargo that ...

 Reason #606 for the white gaze ban: we use the same words but speak a different language.  Progressive, Trump-hating, ICE hating, brutality-hating  white folk would feel FREE to usurp my BLACK page  with their narrative. And they would be ‘well-meaning’ about it because that is their litmus: ‘I don’t feel that my actions  are gaslighting so therefore they are not’. Like when I’d mention being stopped by cops (in broad daylight for walking  my then 6yr old son from school to my mom’s and then having to rush back to work in my work attire) because  I FIT THE DESCRIPTION! They’d chime in about how they were stopped once coming out of a seedy dive  in seedy attire late at night looking like Sid Vicious so they can relate! Of course, reason #607 is they’d demand  the full numbered list of white gaze bans posted. And they’d be right. I make the #’s up as I go.  But this goes back to using the same words but speaking a different language, sinc...