Still Enraged. . . Shall I Explain.

Ok, so, now that we have that out of the way… let me write a little more articulately. For those who had a hard time reading through the curses and the acerbic nature of my last post the point that I was trying to really drive home is that white people are all apart of this global economic system of oppression, if not through direct prejudice and discrimination themselves, simply through using and enjoying that privilege. Because there is no way that a white person can totally avoid using their “white privilege” and because that white privilege always comes at a price of the disenfranchisement of another, that would make every white person apart of this oppressive system. Furthermore, no white person would forgo their white privilege (if they could, because that is not a choice that one white individual can make based on the nature of the interdependent system of which I speak) or even attempt to rectify the issues caused directly by their culture or moral (or immoral; depending on who you ask) values. And that is to be expected. Malcolm X said “Power is never given… it can only be taken....” So why should I expect a white man I have never met and will never know to sell his house because his grandfather lynched the man that out bid him for the property. I shouldn’t. His argument would be “It wasn’t me, it was my grandfather. Why should I have to pay for his crimes?” To that I would simply say “Because I do…”

It has been the record of white culture to oppress others, not indefinitely (well not overtly anyway), but just long enough to be able to turn to them when they are finally aware of what the ramifications of the white culture’s Genocide, Homicide, Gentrification, eradication of said groups culture, religion, civilization, value systems and pretty much everything about that culture, and say “That was so long ago. Just get over it.” Well, that’s just not good enough for me. That is most of the reason why I’m so livid at white culture, people, and values. A lot of white people want to pretend that things are long over and done with… but when we have PRESENT day (like a month ago) cases like the Jenah 6 and James Bird a few years ago… how can we “get over it.” Very often we hear terms like “isolated incident” and “Hate Crimes.” That lends a sense of rarity to these occurrences. But when something is happening in the hundreds or thousands every year. How “isolated” is the incident. When a particular kind of behavior is generally practiced at what point does it go from being a “hate crime” (when people are actually pursued) to just being “the way we treat those people?”

Lastly, I would like to address the point of:

“You would do the same thing.”

That is a point I really disagree with. The idea that given the same situation Black people, Latino people, Asian people… would all do the same things, take the same courses of action as our White counter parts. I find that people say that to make themselves feel better. Naturally if you think that somebody else would make the same bad choices you did, you feel less guilty about making them. But just as no two people would act the same in a given situation I don’t think any two groups would either. Sociology teaches us that just like people have values and morals and particular ethics that are constant in particular groups. Groups also have their own “personalities” so to speak. For example, ask any real black person (If you are confused about what I mean by “real” read W.E.B. DuBois’ – Talented Tenth Theory”) how do you treat your elders. I promise that the answer will generally be the same around the globe; Respect, Love, Care, Obedience, the lot. However, I can’t honestly say that is a trait I see in every culture. So if one group decides to kill off all the old people and that is wrong in the greater world. When another group pulls their card about it, it would not be fair to say “Oh, you would have done the same thing in my position” as justification for your actions. I DID! They are different groups with different values. Moreover, even if that were true, another group DID NOT take that action. You did, so YOU should be held accountable. If I kill a man, and every one in the world would have probably killed him too for whatever reason I did, the fact remains that they didn’t kill him…

If you value money, property, ownership, and capitalism, the way you act and treat people will reflect your values (i.e. Apartheid, Genocide, Holocaust, Slavery, Capitalism, Gentrification, WW1 and 2 (I know what everyone is going to say “they bombed pearl harbor first… but ask why!?). If you value, Nature, Community, Knowledge, Beauty, Family, and so on… your culture’s actions will reflect that also (i.e. the color blue (if your Haitian you know what I mean), Marijuana (originally used by native peoples at PEACE ceremonies), Math, What we now know as “Gun Powder.” (created in Asia originally for ceremonial use and was turned into a weapon by… you guessed it!), and lastly, most peaceful religions (and for ANYONE who is going to sit up here and spit some propaganda about how all Muslims want to do is blow stuff up I’ll say this… AS A CHRISTIAN I know that Islam doesn’t have nearly as much blood on it’s hands as Christianity. This is not a fact, but I’d bet that more people have died in the name of Jesus by the sword then any other religion.

In conclusion, I realize that my delivery in my last blog was harsh. But I do not apologize for what I said and I will not apologize for my delivery. Those are just words on a page. I have received no apology for my grandmother not being able to sit where she pleases or to patronize the places she’s worked, I have received no apology for my grandfather only being able to be a cook in the army when he can shoot a moving target from hundreds of yards, I have received NO apology from the U.S. for slavery although the Jews have received one for the holocaust (which DIDN’T EVEN HAPPEN HERE!), I have received no apology from the man that follows me and my best friend David around the store when somewhere along the lines of 65% of kleptomaniacs are NOT black, I have received no apology for a New Orleans and I probably never will… My people are dying every day. They are being consciously exterminated! And if you as a white person will do nothing but sit and let your people exterminate mine, benefiting all the while, then I will NOT apologize to you. I have not lied here at all, and I have been brought up to not apologize for the truth. If you think or know that anything I said here is untrue please tell me and I will talk with you and we can converse. ☺

I hope that this is clearer and helps many people understand the plight of the none-white world. Being in a world where you have to beg and scrape to get thrown a bone from the man whose only reason for his position is his skin color and his people’s history of theft and killing [your own people] is hard, frustrating and emotionally devastating. And for that, I think I have a right to vent and express the TRUTH.

I’ll leave on this note…

“A white, one-legged, bus boy, wouldn’t trade places with me. And I’m RICH!”
~Chris Rock~