"You were born into a society which spelled out with brutal clarity and in as many ways as possible that you were a worthless human being." -- James Baldwin
In the coming days after the Zimmerman not guilty verdict, many will cry, some will wallow in despair and disbelief while others will take to the streets. In each instance, we are forming a more perfect union as we realize that #ajmia -- American Justice is MISSING in Action. We realize we can no longer satiate our humanity in the trivialities of Twitter followers and Instagram likes. We are searching for justice, as we pursue happiness.
We have been force-fed the myth of "post-racial" America; that electing a black president will somehow Etch-a-Sketch 400 years of racial strife from our collective memory. For many youth, this is the first time they have visceral first hand experience with the stinging slight of hand known as institutional American racism. The #TrayvonTragedy unearths notions of white superiority and black inferiority. Fortunately I believe at the root of all inferiority and superiority complex is a need for love and power. So how can African Americans, love themselves and feel empowered? We are going to have to shift our paradigm, our concept of being black and hence our role in society. Below is my prescription. Let's embark on this journey and please keep me abreast of your progress.
The newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.
Instead support independent media and especially watch Fruitvale Station a new film produced by Forest Whitaker about Oscar Grant, another unarmed blackman slain #ubs by a BART police officer. The film is a riveting portrayal heralded by the NYT.com as making
"Oscar a fully human presence, to pay him the respect of acknowledging his complexities and contradictions. The radicalism of "Fruitvale Station" lies precisely here, in its refusal to turn a man into a symbol."
"Now we know, and knowing is half the battle".
Hence start a study group to learn more about issues that plague the black community including the Post-Traumatic Slave Syndrome and the Prison Industrial Complex (angela davis link) prisons are obsolete). Excellent resources include The New Jim Crow, Black Pain: It Just Looks Like We're Not Hurting. To have a better understanding of the history of race in America, take time to study the shifting ideas and po (http://www.pbs.org/race/003_RaceTimeline/003_00-home.htm)licies surrounding race and recall that many of the founding fathers were slave owners. In fact notions of raced started after the Constitution's declaration that all men were created equal. Since blacks, were slaves, they were deemed subhuman and hence other pseudo-sciences including eugenics and the Willie Lynch prophecy started. Then spread the word.
This world is but a canvas of our imagination!- Henry David Thoreau
Take it from me someday, we'll all be free, yeah
Hey, just wait and see someday we'll all be free, yeah- Donny Hathaway.