Some survived. Many didn't. There was damage to our community that we still haven't recovered from.
This is also a WS talking point that slavery wasn't so bad, that black folks survived. That regardless of how bad the situation is, black folks are used to it, so it's ok to treat us like shit. It's similar to the strong black woman trope that I hate so much, that just because someone can survive and make a dollar out of 15 cents that struggle should be the norm and that it's ok to put us in sub par circumstances and actively work to prevent us from rising above them. It's just another way to dehumanize and other us, to imply that we don't feel pain, and relieve white folks of the responsibility for the consequences of their actions toward us because in their minds one doesn't need to have compassion or decency toward us because to be in despair and living below white folks is our natural state. It was ok to rip our kids away because a black woman couldn't feel a mother's love or pain, no more than a dog when her litter is divided up. It's ok to shoot our kids for the same reason.
Then we see the stress killing black men and women, the emotional issues that lead to over eating, drinking, drugs and other destructive ways to cope leading to other health problems and somehow don't see the correlation.
Yeah we CAN survive, but survival mode shouldn't be a chronic state.
Joy DeGruy told y'all already. PTSS.
They equate our people to animals for a reason. You don't need concern for simple minded or dangerous beasts. Trump has been doing this successfully with immigrants, but it's just right outside our circle. I expect white folks to accept this mindset, I expect better of us when our ancestors and communities have been and still are subject to it and we know better.
We have folks on this board who want reparations. With black folks making up 13% of the population, how does this happen without the support of non blacks? Should they tell us what y'all say to others - hold your own nuts? What's the point then? It's all talk because it won't lead to anything if others have y'alls same attitude.
Y'all want to burn everything down like we won't also be on the receiving end of burns and smoke damage.
Beautifully stated, Camille (as expected).
I wonder sometimes if some of the "hold your own nuts" crowd were abandoned by their fathers...If maybe that's why they consistently parrot the twisted ahistorical, amoral views of YouTube personalities. The way they quote these frauds who have zero record of providing any neighborhood resources, participating in any organized protest, generating any candidates or joining (and refraining from attacking) any other groups out here actually fighting for our liberation - is disheartening and pathetic. It's as if these YouTube personalities have become substitute father figures for lazy negroes. They are especially dangerous because they run their fucking mouths nonstop, quietly collect their constituents' money, but are quick to lie and say, "I'm not a leader" to absolve themselves of the responsibility and consequence of their words. They're worse than televangelists. They ARE televangelists. "God wants you to be prosperous.The more you send me seed money, the more it will come back to you!". And then on the other side, "Sign up for my Black Wealth Bootcamp. The little money you invest in that is small compared to the wealth you'll achieve!"
It's the same damn thing! One misuses God and the Bible to empty people's pockets with slick talk and pipe dreams of personal wealth. The other misuses Black identity and Black frustration with the realities of white supremacy to empty people's pockets with slick talk and pipe dreams of personal wealth, enlightenment and imaginary academies for boys.
There is clearly a disconnect when it comes to the idea of what it is that constitutes manhood and leadership. If you have children, you house them, love them, nurture them, give them your time, guide them in taking their first steps, teach them, feed them, clothe them, get them schooling, provide for them, encourage them and celebrate them.Deadbeats distance themselves from parenthood and their kids. They might think about their kid sometimes, maybe brags about them to friends. They keep and spend their ends on themselves and
maybe occasionally will pay a visit to their seeds. They miss the notion that
love is an action word and they miss the reality that leadership is
sacrificial and is active, not passive.
YouTube charlatans are deadbeat parents. They snow their followers into the fantasy that talking conscious, repeating what the charlatans say and criticizing those who are actually active in trying to change the system constitutes being conscious.
When I was a child, I was blessed to have literate parents who were active in the movement toward Black liberation. Their bookcases stayed full and replenished and both of my parents made sure that my bookcases were full and updated too and that a love for reading was nurtured in me. I learned through their life examples that we each have a personal responsibility to be
active in securing our liberation and we each have the responsibility of defending and protecting the freedoms that we collectively are able to secure. I also learned what it is to be a Good Samaritan. I later learned how that ties into the concept of Ubuntu.
I wish that everyone could have had my parents. Knowing that's not possible, I feel a responsibility to pass on to others what was given to me by them.
As a young person, my generation was told, "If you have a question that we can't answer, call the library." I remember doing that. I remember standing for hours in the African bookstore, reading. Going to the library and walking out with a stack of books and incurring late fees..lol.
Today, all of us are walking around with hand held computers in the form of smart phones but so many seem to lack questions or the wherewithall to use these computers to educate themselves, learn history, download books and develop a worldview based on the knowledge they acquire through personal study (and through service). The library is in everybody's pockets. One doesn't necessarily even have to go to a physical location (although I recommend it). Instead of using their pocket computers to become knowledgeable and personally develop, folks are skipping the process entirely and instead allowing others to think for them.
In 1854, in 'Walden', Henry David Thoreau wrote:
"Most of the luxuries and many of the so-called comforts of life are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind."
Truer words never spoken.