Black Belt Commonsense

When white folk ‘accidentally’ say racist comments before thinking, it makes us wonder how many racist attitudes they think but catch before saying.

 One problem that I’ve had about the past is asking ‘Didn’t our leaders see the inherent problem in all of these white cops from elsewheres patrolling and brutalizing Black spaces?’ I’m gratified to find that the answer is ‘Of course they did!’ But you have to dig deeper than the history books. Look at the YouTube videos of speeches and things like letters from Birmingham jails to find the truth. So the next time someone says that King should’ve realized beforehand that we were integrating into a burning house, remember that this 39 year old at the time of his murder was one of the wisest men on the planet and that there are other options besides ignorance. Given the nature of racism in America, one option is that what they told him about integration wasn’t their actual practice policy implemented.  Another option is that he had to cut a deal, meaning that in order for integration to occur, they had to give up certain businesses of their own. There are so many variables that i...

It’s not just the slavery and Jim Crow, the redlining and Prison Industrial Complex along with the flooding of our streets with drugs and guns; the lynchings and the Blacklisting, media blitzing the narrative of our savagery and inferiority, coupled with last hired and first fired; it’s also the commandeering of our lands through violence and systemic gentrification and the theft of our intellectual property resulting in our STILL using our inventions of the cell phone, elevator and potato chip while we have NOTHING to show for it. If these same inventors were white, they’d be the equivalent of Ford, Kellogg and Walt Disney. Happy Black History Month.

I got angry over a white (almost white) person saying that I’m overreacting. Immediately afterwards, I berated myself, thinking that I should’ve held my cool. But just as we laud those black heroes who articulate the pain rather than express it, we condemn ourselves for feeling what is normal to feel.  Part of colonization says that I have no right to be angry and that my anger is naturally perceived as a threat so it’s in my best interest to hold my tongue. This is not normal. We must break the economic, physical, emotional and spiritual consequences to be true human beings. Otherwise we’re just lying to ourselves. “How dare they get angry over our oppression of them!”

 It’s not the obvious indicators of white savagery in movies that are telling, such a Planet of the Apes or The Omega Man (Charlton Heston version) that irks, but the subtle ones like Invasion of the body snatchers (Donald Sutherland version) that’s telling. The above mentioned are like “I’m gonna colonize you because you are inferior and therefore manifest destiny and all that. But invasion is where they colonize you (wipe you out) and have you thinking that you’re the crazy one for even suggesting that there’s something wrong! Very powerful evil. Tricky stuff.

Never banter with white folk about reparations. It’s like arguing with your boss about wages they haven’t paid you. The only acceptable answer, whether they can give it or not, is “Yeah… You right!” Anything less from them is pure toxicity.

  ‘Opportunities’ are a part of systemic racism as well. Let me Blacksplain. The lotto is called the poor tax because poverty is lack of opportunity.  We pack the bottom half of every MLM (multi level marketing) venture from Amway to Prepaid Legal and every Sousou money system because the traditional bank loans, grants, allotments are off limits to us.  Whenever gov’t sponsored business mandates come up, they find ways to nix us out of the running.  And of course, pouring our energies in good faith into something that’s supposedly egalitarian but really isn’t is a major drain on our already depleted time and emotional resources.  We casually talk about how Johnson publishing (Ebony, Jet) was started when a Black man, after asking for a loan for his business from 15 banks, goes back to the 1st one and gets it because he NOW says that he needs the money to go on vacation!  We boast about how he managed to ‘beat the system’! But the HORROR that is so prevalent...