No reparations; really America?!?!
What's up good people!!! I'd like to deliver a message to you, and I’d like to speak more specifically to my Black audience in particular, although I need my White peops to hear too. Many times we sit in acceptance when we see racial injustices taking place, because at times it seems difficult, if not impossible to have our voices heard as a people. It’s ok for us to speak up if we know the King’s English, and can hold our own in the boardroom or the classroom, but we can’t have much to say about empowering our community, or else it’s being too Black as labeled by the majority. Our focus has even been deflected, to the point that we even associate many things in our own culture with being subpar because it’s not popular with mainstream America. Yes, I can admit to conforming to society myself, but that doesn’t make it any better. There are countless problems that plague our community yet gain no attention, accept negatively in the media, where the criminal aspects of our culture are often highlighted. To that I say, what people wouldn’t develop animalistic habits after centuries of being treated like wild beasts, but that’s a whole separate essay.
But here and now, I encourage you not to sit in silence accepting the idea that “it is what it is”. It is my opinion that we don’t resist more frequently and aggressively, similar in ways to which we were subjected in the past, because we have been somewhat trained. Not trained in a way that we enjoy our position as second-class citizens here in America, but instead in a way that symbolizes fatigue, after a history of fighting even for basic human rights. Sure, we probably couldn’t enjoy the freedoms and luxuries to which we do here in America, in any other country in the world, but is that ideology really enough? Of course not! The part that gets me is when people say, “oh that (slavery) was years ago; get over it”. How do you so easily get rid of a complex through a general mindset, that was based on inequalities between races and has evolved over four hundred years, still holding relevancy today?!?!
Let’s think about slavery and reparations like a relationship between a man and a woman (for consistency purposes), for instance. The husband, let’s say (because this happens so rarely) cheated on his wife over the years, but tends to be doing better with his habits as of late {woohoo, we can vote, lol}. The wife decides to stay despite his cheating past, but their relationship is never the same because of that first action of cheating (slavery). Although she forgives, it’s been impossible to forget. The best thing the husband can do at this point is ensure her that it will never happen again (acknowledgement) and do whatever is necessary within reason to regain her trust (reparation); that’s if he (America) actually cares.
And reparations don’t necessarily come in the form of a monthly check from the government, but instead it is attention devoted to the balancing of equalities enjoyed by the oppressor, for the oppressed. To those that have major influence on the decisions of this country, come into the inner cities throughout America and completely rejuvenate the lifestyle experienced by their inhabitants! Make this highly attainable for African Americans as well as people of all cultures! And no, we can’t force anyone to live just anywhere, but offer incentives for Beautiful and Wonderful people to live side by side! For America to find peace for all cultures and creeds, we must ALL live as one. If the neighborhood remains segregated, the mentality remains segregated then too, America remains segregated.
Alright, so now you have a healthier lifestyle attainable for people of color, but you’ve still got the same people, coming from the same ghettos, having the same ghetto mentalities, void of the valued levels of education in this society. How can this race then thrive with the addition of these new accommodations, yet still have the same frame of mind? They can’t! So, next we must educate this race to a level consistent with the rest of the country, allowing them (us) to compete for the same high level jobs, etc. Everyone wants to live a lifestyle where money is plentiful, but we just have to provide more options for people of color so they aren’t lured into acquiring the lifestyle by their own means.
Above all the things previously requested, finally accept us as equals. This probably won’t happen until sometime near 2040 or so, when the races will be darker skinned; but finally acknowledge the strength that Black people possess to have been able to survive this experience in America. I would like to bet (if there were any way to validate this hypothesis….) that there’s no other race that would have been strong enough to survive slavery and its systemic counterparts that still plague the Black community. It’s pretty simple to me; just admit your wrongs and help clean up the mess.
To some this may seem impossible, that the Black race can be fairly represented in this country, but sure it can be done; we just have to take initiative! This race has survived slavery, jim crow and George Bush; we can survive anything!
