I wrote this last night in 2 hours...I was compelled by the beating of Derrion Albert. May he rest in peace. This is pretty lengthy. You've been forewarned on that. If you do choose to read this, please leave your thoughts and/or opinions in a comment. I'd like to know what you think about this...I actually think it's brilliant, which I can never say for anything I write. If you feel compelled, please repost this. Enough talk though, time to open your mind.
What is left? That’s all I ask. It’s a very simple question. I really want to know what’s left for us as a people. The general consensus is extinction. Now let that marinate for a second. Extinction. Ex-tinc-tion. Do you understand the magnitude of that? The sheer scope of that? That would mean that our entire race would be gone, vanished from the earth. Mixed people would be the remnants of our existence. But, to that effect, we would only be remembered for violence. We would be forever known as the first and last race to self-destruct. And there would be one word synonymous with our race: why. Why would we go down that path. Why would we not try to change things. Why did it come to that. So many questions, all with the same answer.
Desensitization. But to understand this, we must go back to the beginning. Slavery was an abrupt change in the lifestyle of Africans, but the White man was far too powerful for them to resist. After awhile, they became desensitized to it; they began to accept what was going on and simply just lived the day-to-day life of a slave. But, there were those like Harriet Tubman; those who did not and could not accept such an existence. People like Frederick Douglass who took to the soapbox to speak out against injustices. Then many years later, slavery is ended. However, a subtle schism had taken place; there were those who accepted the status quo, and those that didn’t. And so, post-slavery life began. The so-called rights of Blacks in America were stripped and mitigated at every turn. Voters were either put through ‘tests,’ or just simply intimidated away. And then you had groups like the KKK, making life as a law-abiding citizen seem like the wrong thing to do. Again, you had those that accepted such, and those that didn’t. Men like Martin Luther King Jr. and Malik El-Shabazz could not live like secondhand people…they wanted equality, and for it until the met death. But, as with slavery, you had those that didn’t mind being niggers. Those that thought, ‘Hey. I have more than my parents did, and I am nearly equal. I’m not gonna get greedy here. Just gon take these here rights I do have and make due. I’m not getting sprayed down and bitten by dogs. I’m straight.’ Now, common sense would say, “My rights are in the U.S. Constitution, but I’m still getting subjugated…that should be impossible. That is THE highest authority in this country.” However, desensitization is a strong and blinding occurrence. Even so, the Civil Rights Acts of ’60, ’64, and ’68 are all passed, and life begins again for Blacks. As you can see, there is a pattern.
Every time something happens to us that we believe is racially motivated, we are outraged. But, rather than try to fix or prevent it, we just run off at the mouth, expatiating for no reason. This is why we are known to be quite loquacious. Then, when it happens again, we do more talking, but with less fervor. At this point, we expect it to be a trend; one that is incessant, but not ineffable. Typically, something that is incessant is ipso facto unchangeable. And this is why you have those that accept the status quo. But beyond that, there are those that accept the status quo because there is overwhelming pressure to do so, which makes it the easy way out. No one wants to get beaten, bitten, sprayed, etc. No one wants to be a social pariah either…especially since we are already outcasts by skin color in some eyes. A good example of this is police brutality. When Rodney King’s beating took place, there were riots, speeches, you name it. We were outraged, livid, everything in the book. Next thing you know, it happened to another man, another man, another man, and another man. After awhile, it didn’t mean as much to us. We just chalked it up as a remnant of racism and kept it moving. We again became desensitized, which again was the easy way out. And from this stems our largest problem: lack of fathers.
As crack and crack cocaine exploded onto the scene, Black people started hitting (and staying) on the streets. It was such a rush…such a good feeling that it brought to us. No matter the price, we just had to have it. Soon enough, it started taking its toll; sickness, addiction, death. And who was the most affected? Black men. All of the oppression, all of the fighting, all of the struggling, all of it could be taken away by smoking or injecting a substance. They just couldn’t resist it. But, drug users began to disappear as the drugs took their tolls. Black men began to die, which meant that fathers were dying. Then, as gangs appeared to take control of (and police) the drug trade, more Black men were slain. As appalling as that was, desensitization slowly took place. After awhile Black men were expected to be drug addicts, murderers and murder victims, drug dealers. This subtly implied that Black men weren’t expected to be fathers, which crept into and ingrained itself into the mind of the Black man. Black men didn’t expect to live long, didn’t expect much of themselves, and didn’t care about anything but money, power, and pleasure. A child definitely did not fit into the equation…especially when the mother was nothing but an object of pleasure. And so, Black men began to simply walk away from children. They were already being taken away (death, jail, addiction), so the next step was voluntary departure. Money, power, pleasure, and respect were more important. This was almost immediately accepted, as like I said, they were already being taken away from their children. Now, in the present, we still are outraged at absentee dads, but we are too far desensitized to believe it can be changed. From this stemmed another problem: the corruption of the Black female psyche.
This change in our men weighed heavily on Black women. They could not believe that the strong, passionate men they knew during the 60’s, the cool, fun-loving men of the 70’s had turned into such. But, in accord with the aforementioned rule of “taking the easy way out,” they didn’t fight it; they instead searched for ways to adjust to what was quickly becoming the status quo. Carnal sex scenes and frank deaths in moves expedited the corruption of the Black woman’s mind. She was already trying to find a way to cope with Black men wanting everything but her, and now she kept seeing herself shown as a woman that just wanted what a man had, being used for sex, then being killed. She’s also hearing songs about love yet hearing songs about drugs and gangs. It is important to note that the Black mind has always played sheep to the dog of music, thus being led anywhere music would take it. When every guy is talking about anything but you, you’re going to think you need to make some changes. What change was made? Black women began to accentuate their curves. They are naturally voluptuous, and began putting it to use, to take men’s minds off of money, power, pleasure, and respect. A pair of tight, high-waisted jeans in the 80s is akin to leggings or skinny jeans now; they showed off what a woman had going on. At this point, Black women captivated Black men…to the point that Black men felt the need to show them off to get one of those desires, respect. If the money and power I have can bring me a woman, I can use her for pleasure and gain respect, thus having all that I need. With such a manifesto, the objectification of the Black woman begins. Of course it was met with a lot of dissent, but as with anything in the Black community, desensitization slowly made it copacetic. It did not help that we were already accepting so much…once the Black woman had accepted being made into an object, we had basically had been diagnosed with a terminal illness. And we are now beginning to see just how ill we are.
The death of Derrion Albert is tragic. Of that there is no doubt. But, do you notice that no one in the video cared until the melee was over? Did you know that he was a good student and was simply trying to help someone else? Have you heard any Black “leaders” speak on it? The pattern continues. There are those that accept the fact that we kill ourselves, and those who don’t. We are being desensitized to Black-on-Black violence. But this is worse: those who don’t accept this violence are afraid to have kids because they are outnumbered by those who accept the status quo. Those who don’t accept this violence don’t really want to speak out because they know the status quo is changed by a majority, not a minority. Most importantly, Blacks who accept the status quo look down on (and put down) those who don’t. A Black woman on WIC that lives in government housing looks at a young lady like my sister, who’s in college with a job, as though she’s doing too much and is wrong. I’ve been ridiculed plenty of times for being a ‘smart ass nigga’ or ‘acting white’ or whatever else. We have become so desensitized to failing and not achieving much that we believe it is acceptable and commonplace, which we have basically believed into existence.
Remember, who wants to be a pariah? Well, no one. So more and more people live the acceptable life. Those boys in that video are likely children borne of this near irreparably flawed psyche. I believe that we are not products of our environments; rather, our environments are products of us. Black people live in slums because they accept them. Many “hoods” are unsafe because we make them that way and allow them to stay as such. Sure, there’s the Malcolm X argument that liquor stores and Laundromats are strategically ‘placed’ in Black neighborhoods. But, we accept this. We’ll take a liquor store since dying of a bad liver is acceptable. We’ll take a Laundromat since it’s ‘White’ to move out of the ‘hood’ and get your own washer and dryer. The underlying pattern here is that we have been desensitized to the subjugation and dilapidation of our race. That majority that accepts the status quo has been oblivious to the fact that the status quo has been getting worse and worse. The status quo at this point is the constant vilification of Black people. We are constantly making ourselves look bad. And we don’t even know it. Because we are known to speak our minds, everything we say is scrutinized (i.e. rap music). Because we always need leaders to step in and speak for us (i.e. Frederick Douglass, MLK, Malcolm X), Black men that we listen to are now considered leaders, and thus are our assumed spokesmen (i.e. Tavis Smiley, Michael Eric Dyson, Kanye West, Plies).
All of the patterns of the past are now shaping a bleak future. And this is why I ask, what is left? I really do wonder what is left for us. Unless the status quo becomes one of change and the aggrandizement of our race, it seems as though we are headed for self-destruction, or something along those lines. The more we accept things like what happened to Derrion Albert, the more prevalent they will become (which the already are), and the more they will affect. There will be more Black-on-Black crime…more random rob-and-shoot deals. More 35 year old grandmothers that don’t know anything other than scorn, Jordans, and food stamps. More young men in caskets that aren’t at least covered In American flags. More trepidation and a dying out effect in the Black Intellectual Community. More Black men that don’t see retirement. More Black women that don’t see a good 5 years of matrimony. I could go on and on about what can happen; but I won’t, because that’s like saying it will happen. I won’t say it will, as I hope reading (or hearing) this will help you understand and want to change things. No one person can be the catalyst for change in the Black community; it will take an across-the-board effort. However, your support could be one of the first steps in making the difference. Barack Obama, in years from now, could be an aberration, or he could be the door-opener. With your help, a youth could be inspired that makes him the latter and not the former. But that’s enough about all of this desensitization stuff; you probably didn’t want to know about all of dire situations that lie ahead of us if changes aren’t made…wait, that would make you a part of that majority, now wouldn’t it. I rest my case.
- A. Lewis
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment