I recently returned from a trip to Jamaica. Hundreds of individuals from the US who
looked like me peppered the beaches of Negril on a “runcation.” While there, I entered into dialog regarding
the narrative of people defined as “Black” or “African American” within the US.
Discord arose when I stated, “no amount of protest will change the perceived
condition of those who are defined as Black/African American in the US.” Why?
To borrow the words of a gentleman I met from Palestine… “It is not a law
issue, it is a heart issue.” As long as
a society we continue to segment life into Black and White, and in some cases
Brown, we ostensibly leave out an entire segment of people who do not fit these
categories. Additionally, we continue to
foster the concept that White is the litmus by which all others are
measured.
In 1851 Sojourner Truth delivered her speech now commonly
known as, “Ain’t I a Woman.” In a
transcript of the time she made no reference to her blackness, she simply,
spoke on the behalf of women, all women, in the struggle for women’s
suffrage. Now, over 150 years later, we
still speak along the color lines.
Individuals will debate the point that “we didn’t make the rules.” On this I agree; however, when will we decide
it’s time to break the rules of race that currently exist?
I am a fighter, an advocate for individuals, in most
instances children, regardless of race, who are disenfranchised among us. I have children from every color on the
spectrum, I fight equally as hard for those who are colored white as I do for
those colored yellow, brown, and black.
I have no choice. It is against my DNA to not fight for “the least of
these.” When I see #blacklivesmatter it
is, in my view, redundant at best, of course #blacklivesmatter because
#alllifematters. While we are fighting,
let’s fight to change the dialog from a Black life being different from the
life of another. How do we start this? By discontinuing qualifying life by
color. It is obvious that the
individuals who died, some say who were murdered, had black skin. As long as we continue to call them by color,
we continue the concept that they are different, somehow less than others.
We have to break the cycle.
We cannot continue to define manhood and womanhood by whiteness with all
others being a hyphenated. I understand
that some will be frustrated by my words.
They will perceive my words to be that I am anti-Black or not in support
of #blacklivesmatter. Quite the
contrary, I am a staunch supporter of life, the dialog must shift from black
and white and move to human to human. In
the words of one of my heroes, Frantz Fanon, “When we revolt it’s not for a
particular culture. We revolt simply because, for many reasons, we can no
longer breathe.”
“If the structure
does not permit dialogue the structure must be changed” Paulo Freire.
We cannot dialogue in a system that is
built on the concept that one group is more “human” than another based on
color. We cannot use the words of a system that were designed to justify
the enslavement of others. We have to
move outside of that system, not in an effort to deny our cultural heritage,
but by way of embracing who we are individually and collectively. Bob Marley said it best, “until the philosophy
which hold one race superior and another inferior…until the color of a man’s
skin is of no more significance than the color of his eyes…until the basic
human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race…there is war.”
Let’s use the tragedies that have occurred to unpack the
baggage of privilege. Let’s use the
travesties that have occurred to unpack the baggage of racism. Let’s use this time in history to be “sick
and tired of being sick and tired,” Fannie Lou Hamer. The future of our children depends on it.
