Lest We Forget

Activists, allies, and cultural creatives continue to advance strategic actions to chip away at systemic institutional social injustices based on race/ethnicity/culture. In that spirit, we must remain mindful of the legacies inherent in American history and do not overlook ancestors who were drenched in and willing participants in furthering racial animosity. Some folks may wonder what has changed over the subsequent centuries. I wonder, what are the descendants of avowed racists doing to passionately reject their family’s past? Are they concerned that a racist gene may lay silently in their DNA? Do white folks ever question that their basic societal privilege is a consequence of simply being white and not due to any innate personal abilities? 

In August and September, once again, Americans will be cloaked in significant historic anniversaries. These recognitions are not embedded in fiction or poetic imaginary or artistic explorations. As historic reality,  activists, aligned with like-minded global and American allies, cannot passively condone, or enable “racist revisionists, apologists or pseudo-allies” to change or re-interpret the diabolical, treacherous, and evil history of racism in America. Nor, can we overlook or conveniently rationalize racism’s insidious consequences on subsequent generations. 

The battle for truth and righteousness, if not “reconciliation,” must continue to be a vigorous confrontation. We must address any attempt  to ignore, forget  or conveniently bury the legacy of  the cadre of racist elders whose covert and overt racial practices relegated Black and Brown folks, as well as indigenous and other marginalized people to endure a life of systemic injustices.  To  intentionally deny these citizens their right to freely pursue their ambitions in life, their concept of liberty, and their individually driven happiness is a badge worn by cowards who when not in sheets, reside in government, corporate offices, and live in neighborhoods that do not welcome "the outsiders." In this regard, we must continue to understand that “state” sanctioned murders, decades of legal restrictions empowered by what seems to be the majority of police, district attorneys, and judges are supplemented by ongoing micro-aggressions, implicit biases rampant in and deemed as acceptable behavior of more than a critical-mass of white society.  

 

Here are the backstories:

 

The U.S. federal government determines “that nine black children should be enrolled at Little Rock Central High when classes recommenced after the summer recess on 3 September 1957. The nine would join 2,500 other students, every one of them white.”

 

 

Here is the other backstory from August 1955, two years before Little Rock.

 

 

 

          “Millam told William Bradford Huie that he had held a .45 to the boy’s head after repeated pistol-whipping and asked him: ‘You still as good as I am?’

           The answer was ‘Yeah,’ and Millam shot him through the ear.”

  

- from James Campbell’s Talking At The Gates,  A Life of James Baldwin.

* * * 

I trust you will internalize; reflect on what you read and share to your social media platforms.  

The end goal is simple though complex.

White Americans must fully embrace and understand the numerous documented historic episodes of America’s overarching racial animosity towards Blacks (and that documentation may not fully express the stories that exist in the Black oral tradition.) And then align that history to contemporary events that all too often give birth to the untimely and unwarranted murder of Americans who are not white by whites comfortably entrenched in positions of authority and power to protect their own kind and further enforce notions of white superiority.

The correlation between the past and recent 20^th and 21^st century events are conjoined to underpin the current anger, resistance, and perseverance to take society to task for its silence and acquiescence to racist ideology. Unfortunately, this ideology has routinely posed as an accepted, unquestioned, societal norm. It has always been okay to be white; mo’ better than being of unchangeable darker skin. Now…

The current transformative to implement institutional change strengthens the resolve and moral imperative to trumpet the clarion calls, “Enough is Enough” and most importantly, “Black Lives Matter.”

These proclamations affirm that 2020 is a new time in American history. A time fully open for the world to see. Not deterred by racists, apologists and pseudo allies who want to silence and ignore the truth of their ancestral influences by voicing untruths of patriotism to maintain statues and other examples that exalt America’s racist past. A past that consciously placed whites as superior and others as less than. Unfortunately, far too many white Americans espouse attitudes driven by the silent disease of generational racism; cannot see, or refuse to comprehend their racial proclivities beneath the surface that are not reflected in their bathroom mirror. And even with that reality...

We need to be crystal clear regarding a simple fact.

Black lives matter. Black lives will matter!

Be watchful. Remember, there is a silent, lurking danger when we fail to remember the history of our story and his story.

Stay safe. Keep to the truth.

bill

publisher, aaduna

CEO, aaduna , Inc.

 

 

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