Spilling the Tea on Racism
Greetings to all my caucasian friends! How about we have a nice cup of chamomile tea and some long overdue, candid conversation about racism?
I assure you that this is not your tall, ice cold class of southern-style sweet tea conversation. Oh no, this tea is hot and is about to be spilt.
Oh wayment, you say that you not feeling that right now?
Do you ever?
I mean, let's just keep it 100. I don't like talking about racism, either. But the problem is, I can't help but think and talk about it because as an African-descended American living in a country that has yet to confront its original sin and the ongoing injustice of systemic racism that is literally killing folk whose skin and hair look like mine, it is a matter of our collective well-being and survival. Real talk. So yes we shall have to have a good sit down - and strategic engagement afterwards - to finally face the inevitable and unavoidable.
In the words of thee great James Baldwin,
"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced."
Let me give you the worst news first. Structural racism and its ongoing adverse impacts for African-descended American citizens is definitely one of those ugly and unpleasant family business items that needs to be faced and changed, whether we're talking about your uncle's bloviating everyday racism;
the toxic and racially discriminatory workplace environment you may find yourself in, and where your Black co-worker has to fend for herself;
your granddad's loose affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan, the White Citizens' Council and the lynch mob;
or your great-great grandad's kidnapping, abuse, rape and enslavement of my African ancestors.
But you say that your direct ancestors didn't own slaves and were not racist. O.K. that's all fine and dandy. But you cannot deny that they directly and indirectly benefitted from the institution of slavery, and that you both inherited and continue to enjoy the benefits derived from the institutionalized systemic inequality. That's a conversation that must be had, and it will not be a pleasant one. Not only will we have to revisit the inhumanity and immorality of chattel slavery, America's original sin, we'll also have address how the culture of whiteness, anti-Blackness and white silence in the face of injustice perpetuates and deepens the injustice and wounds of racism, wounds that have yet to be acknowledged and salved.
I am going to reasonably assume that you have more capacity for human empathy and compassion than your ancestors possessed. This racial reckoning could possibly lead to feelings of anger; shame; genuine remorse; and even guilt, fear and tears. I witnessed quite a bit of that in the immediate aftermath of the horrendous extrajudicial killing of #GeorgeFloyd last year. I have never seen white people so affected by the police killing of a Black man! But do not be alarmed by any of that. Those feelings are a natural, human responses to being forced to reckon with the enormous physical, mental, spiritual and emotional trauma that your ancestors and you, by extension, have inflicted upon your Black brothers and sisters. Yes, we are all brothers, and yes, we are each others' keepers [at least that's what the best traditions - Judeo-Christian, Muslim, humanist and other - hold as sacrosanct]. And that emotional response is healthy. What's even healthier is when the emotionals reach beyond mere sentimentality and passing regret and give rise to principled and decided anti-racist action to address and correct the ongoing harm caused by oppression. That's what some of y'alls' ancestors did during the belated abolitionist movements of the mid-19th century, nearly three centuries and ten generations after the first Africans were brought to Jamestowne, Virginia colony.
But I have good news! The only thing of yours that potentially can and will get hurt, is your feelings. You won't ever have to experience the long, dark and bitter night of racist repression,dehumanization and humiliation on the basis of your skin color. Your blood pressure will never rise at the sight of a patrol car flashing its lights and sounding its siren behind you while you lawfully navigate your vehicle to your home in your gated community. You won't ever have to have pray and cry real tears at night for your children encountering a system that is engineered to police, contain and even kill their bodies, even when they are just
As for me and my Black s/kinfolk, however, the news ain't all that good. You see, I cannot begin to describe for you the individual and corporate, existential suffering of being treated unfairly and inhumanely and hated for no good reason, but for the accidence of my birth, background and heritage. I can't run and hide from who I am. I can't, nor do I desire to, change the skin that I am in. I desire to be seen, heard and fully accepted, loved and appreciated for who I am and all the humanity that I represent. I turn again to Brother Baldwin [have you read him? I invite you to pick up and read one of the greatest writers and social critics of the modern era; you can also watch a pretty good documentary about him and his work following the quote below], who had a way with words and capturing the essence of Black pain:
"To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time."
The wounds, the hurt and the pain of racism are ongoing and real, and Black folks like me are tired, and in the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, we're sick and tired of being sick and tired. We just want to live the best natural lives that we can, to breathe, heal and be free to pursue the American dream of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
I assure you that this is not your tall, ice cold class of southern-style sweet tea conversation. Oh no, this tea is hot and is about to be spilt.
Oh wayment, you say that you not feeling that right now?
Do you ever?
I mean, let's just keep it 100. I don't like talking about racism, either. But the problem is, I can't help but think and talk about it because as an African-descended American living in a country that has yet to confront its original sin and the ongoing injustice of systemic racism that is literally killing folk whose skin and hair look like mine, it is a matter of our collective well-being and survival. Real talk. So yes we shall have to have a good sit down - and strategic engagement afterwards - to finally face the inevitable and unavoidable.
In the words of thee great James Baldwin,
"Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced."
Let me give you the worst news first. Structural racism and its ongoing adverse impacts for African-descended American citizens is definitely one of those ugly and unpleasant family business items that needs to be faced and changed, whether we're talking about your uncle's bloviating everyday racism;
the toxic and racially discriminatory workplace environment you may find yourself in, and where your Black co-worker has to fend for herself;
your granddad's loose affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan, the White Citizens' Council and the lynch mob;
or your great-great grandad's kidnapping, abuse, rape and enslavement of my African ancestors.
But you say that your direct ancestors didn't own slaves and were not racist. O.K. that's all fine and dandy. But you cannot deny that they directly and indirectly benefitted from the institution of slavery, and that you both inherited and continue to enjoy the benefits derived from the institutionalized systemic inequality. That's a conversation that must be had, and it will not be a pleasant one. Not only will we have to revisit the inhumanity and immorality of chattel slavery, America's original sin, we'll also have address how the culture of whiteness, anti-Blackness and white silence in the face of injustice perpetuates and deepens the injustice and wounds of racism, wounds that have yet to be acknowledged and salved.
I am going to reasonably assume that you have more capacity for human empathy and compassion than your ancestors possessed. This racial reckoning could possibly lead to feelings of anger; shame; genuine remorse; and even guilt, fear and tears. I witnessed quite a bit of that in the immediate aftermath of the horrendous extrajudicial killing of #GeorgeFloyd last year. I have never seen white people so affected by the police killing of a Black man! But do not be alarmed by any of that. Those feelings are a natural, human responses to being forced to reckon with the enormous physical, mental, spiritual and emotional trauma that your ancestors and you, by extension, have inflicted upon your Black brothers and sisters. Yes, we are all brothers, and yes, we are each others' keepers [at least that's what the best traditions - Judeo-Christian, Muslim, humanist and other - hold as sacrosanct]. And that emotional response is healthy. What's even healthier is when the emotionals reach beyond mere sentimentality and passing regret and give rise to principled and decided anti-racist action to address and correct the ongoing harm caused by oppression. That's what some of y'alls' ancestors did during the belated abolitionist movements of the mid-19th century, nearly three centuries and ten generations after the first Africans were brought to Jamestowne, Virginia colony.
But I have good news! The only thing of yours that potentially can and will get hurt, is your feelings. You won't ever have to experience the long, dark and bitter night of racist repression,dehumanization and humiliation on the basis of your skin color. Your blood pressure will never rise at the sight of a patrol car flashing its lights and sounding its siren behind you while you lawfully navigate your vehicle to your home in your gated community. You won't ever have to have pray and cry real tears at night for your children encountering a system that is engineered to police, contain and even kill their bodies, even when they are just
- just trying to walk home while Black #TrayvonMartin
- crossing the street while Black #MichaelBrown
- playing in the park while Black #TamirRice
- selling loosies or CDs while Black #EricGarner #AltonSterling
- shopping in Wal Mart while Black #JohnCrawfordIII
- eating ice cream in their own apartment while Black #BothamJean
- driving while Black #SandraBland
- walking while Black and having a mental health crisis #LaQuanMcDonald
As for me and my Black s/kinfolk, however, the news ain't all that good. You see, I cannot begin to describe for you the individual and corporate, existential suffering of being treated unfairly and inhumanely and hated for no good reason, but for the accidence of my birth, background and heritage. I can't run and hide from who I am. I can't, nor do I desire to, change the skin that I am in. I desire to be seen, heard and fully accepted, loved and appreciated for who I am and all the humanity that I represent. I turn again to Brother Baldwin [have you read him? I invite you to pick up and read one of the greatest writers and social critics of the modern era; you can also watch a pretty good documentary about him and his work following the quote below], who had a way with words and capturing the essence of Black pain:
"To be a Negro in this country and to be relatively conscious is to be in a rage almost all the time."
The wounds, the hurt and the pain of racism are ongoing and real, and Black folks like me are tired, and in the words of Fannie Lou Hamer, we're sick and tired of being sick and tired. We just want to live the best natural lives that we can, to breathe, heal and be free to pursue the American dream of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
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