Hey yall… I’ve been watching the news, and I gotta tell you — it’s not looking like a wonderful time ahead for people of color. For that reason, it only makes sense to start thinking (if you haven’t been already) about sustainable living. No, not like you see in magazines with people wearing overpriced gear in an environment that would look better without them in it. I’m thinking something a bit more immediate — where’s your next meal coming from, if NOT from Shaw’s or Market Basket? Do you have the means to fill your belly, and those of your dependents, when the mechanisms of mass providence fail? And if not, is that affecting your current priorities at all?
Amber Guyger is one moment to examine.
First, blacks holding power is an unfamiliar and uncomfortable experience. So much so, that when licensed to operate in it, one is either guilt ridder (I don’t want to hurt you with my power) or overly disempassioned (if I feel anything then I’ll lose my ability to dole my wrath upon you). Truth is that best place to be with these two opposing extremes – give in to total forgiveness or unleash the totality of fury due – is somewhere in the middle. Yet until we “given” permission and ample opportunity to test and act in this power, black people will fall on one side of the other. The former serves to continue the narrative that we are weak, subordinate and content with being ruled. The latter enforces the narrative that blacks are angry, violent and uncivilized. Either way the most powerful message that emerges is White America will be preserved, particularly if we insist on keeping racial resolution the black responsibility.
Secondly, people reacted to the hug of the perpetrator because they feel that vengeance is due and compassion is not necessary, And right they are. Becoming the confrontation of white people who have held the bulk of power is scary and when one doles out consequences they are inclined to fear the historical retaliation that was sanctioned with such assertions in the past. That’s the knot you felt in your stomach watching the judge hug Amber – you say her caving to the fear of holding power over whites and subsequently feared that we may forfeit the opportunity to capitalize and hold ownership of the power this moment has provided us access to. The truth is that we are a unique specimen of human existence. The collection of traits that not only allowed you to surface from the belly of a slave ship through the torture of captivity and harsh work and living conditions through disadvantaged system policies, you are designed to endure substantial psychological and physical burdens, much like the image of kings and queens – our most revered human character know. No wonder compassion and vengeance are such complicated emotions: King Solomon much have struggled to govern his constituents.
Finally, when we are still operating in the psyche of the enslaved, we offer up apology for offended whites as if we still must appease them to secure our safety/security – as if we still were steeped in the era of plantation, cotton-picking, violence ruling. A time when fear was the rule of the day is what leads one to remain reticent in response.
This is all nothing more than an advertising schtick. Advertising is meant to slowly and subtly influence an association with a brand over time. The branding has worked – white people are superior and must be protected at all cost and the good image of black people has been tied to the preservation of white people to make make this association appealing.
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