Lies about people, stereotypes about groups, distortions of truth all lead to hate.
When people are seen as not human the hate leads to violence against them.
These lies, stereotypes and distortions lead to distrust and then to horrible violence
against people of color.
And against people of the Jewish faith.
The lies MUST STOP.
Look for what makes us One, what makes all of us Human and ultimately the same.
Find the good in other humans.
We must, else the future will continue to be unjust.
The January 6th Committee is laying out CLEARLY, CONCISELY, step by step how the “former” attempted to thwart our traditions, our Constitution to violently take back the office of President. There is no doubt that this “former” lost. Has always lost, and is still losing. The January 6th Committee, along with the latest rulings of the Supreme Court clearly point to a need to Reckon/Re-New what we want our “Democracy” to be. How we wish to face the reality of the tremendous hurt and pain we have inflicted, nay STILL inflict, on our Native People, on the ancestors of the Slaves we kept legally, for 250 years, and illegally for the next 100 years. (1619 to 1865, and 1865 to 1965). By using the term ancestor, I do not wish to imply some long ago, far away relative. The descendants of our Slaves are very short span of time away from close kin. Hell, the racism that Black Americans suffer is really a continuation of former bondage, hate, torture and human perversion of all aspects. And the hurt and pain we continue to inflict on People of Color, and people perceived as “different.”
I have great faith and trust that as our country becomes more mixed, more diverse, as races and creeds, religions intermarry, we will become more tolerant, more loving, more accepting of the variety of Human that has always been on this earth. BUT I do not believe this softening of people’s hearts will take place in my lifetime. I turn 74 this summer and I don’t believe the 20 or so years I have left is enough time for this necessary change to happen. Sadly.
But it IS happening. And along with acceptance of ALL Humans, I am also hopeful that we will come to FULLY accept our responsibility to keep our world from perishing. Our responsibility is to live with the intention to not inflict harm on others, or on our planet. To use less water, less energy, to build housing that ALL people can afford, to feed ALL people food which is affordable creates health, not disease. To provide living wages for ALL. Clean water for ALL. I honestly believe this is possible.
Yes. I am a Dreamer, an Idealist, a Hopeful and Trusting One. And I pray that more and more of us see that this is the only way we will survive. From my lips, to God’s ears!
Mr. Coates also rightly notes that whites “presume” their “whiteness”. How easily white society forgets that we are ALL AFRICAN. We ALL originated from one Black people.
We are ALL multi-colored skin. “Whiteness” is a myth, as is the concept of “race.” But it has, and repeatedly continues to use the “just-ice” system to destroy lives with skin which happens to be darker. Racism IS America’s heritage.
The Black Lives Movement’s representatives Daunasia Yancy and Julius Jones tussled with Hillary Clinton this summer, asking her to account for her role in the mass incarceration of young Black men. She and Bill advocated harsh penalties for non-violent crimes. Hillary pushed back, asking the Black Lives Matter spokespeople what specific legislative changes are they asking for.
Of course, I could not read Ta-Nehisi’s work, nor could I hear interviews with the Black Lives Matter representatives without thinking: “Yes. Of course. Everything that they are saying is exactly how it feels to inhabit a woman’s body.” And Black women experience BOTH racism and sexism. Thank you to my dear friend Demita Frazier, and to Barbara and Beverly Smith and the other pioneering Black women of the Combahee River Collective. You can google their Collective’s manifesto which clearly identified the multi-layered forces of oppression they experience as Black women: race, class, gender, and sexual orientation. Today, the term for this multi-layered consciousness of oppression is: “intersections” which I don’t think truly conveys the intensity, sometimes horror, of what it means to live in a Black and “non-white” female body.
Society would not consider me Black, despite my being of African origin (as we ALL are), but I am female and have experienced firsthand how Sexism primally, viscerally is felt in my body. How often did I experience abject fear, cold visceral fear while walking home as a young girl, young woman on the streets of New York City. My near rape in the hallway of our Manhattan apartment building when I was 8 years old created a firm knowledge that I was not safe. After this near rape, I carried a small pocket knife for “protection”. Of course it wouldn’t have protected me from another assault, but my body felt safer. The men sitting opposite me in the subway jerking off (yes, in public). The cat calls and lewd remarks made while minding my own business just walking on the street. The calculations I made when entering my apartment building: if I enter via the basement and quickly run up the stairs to wait for the elevator on the first floor, I’ll be able to hear if someone is following me. Always afraid, always looking over my shoulder, my young being, ready to avert the next attacker.
Yes, fear, bone crushing fear inhabits women’s bodies and minds, just as it does the bodies and minds of Black and multi-colored people. This is America’s heritage. Sadly, the WORLD’s heritage. My 67 year old mind and body are tired of BOTH the racist and sexist stereotypes, the violence against Blacks, against women, the sexist and racist HERITAGE which destroys us. Enough already.