Black History Month Message

For so called Black History Month and all the months thereafter:

Folks please don't deify Doctor King.

We need to honor the Man and all his 'warts' . . . not the saint he became in White America's eyes once he was de-fanged of his future works, 'threat' and 'bite ' . . . by Death

He was not the only freedom fighter out there.

Trotting out 'MLK' and 'the way he was', which is actually the 'distilled' version White America turned him into, when you're feeling overwhelmed by a person of color venting about today's racial situation or an incident, or if you don't like their volatile emotions or rhetoric when expressing their outrage or rage, or when you're on the loosing end of a debate about race and its effects or history . . . does nothing to further 'the cause'.

America has 'picked apart' 'The Man' and have 'preserved' the 'milquetoast' or 'non-combative' parts of his resistance like a relic in an 'ether' of sorts . . . which is actually the Holiday they've given him in January . . . and have thrown away the other 'entrails' and buried, under pain of 'indictment' for 'reverse racism' or some other ridiculous attempt at flipping the script on people of color, if you 'dare' point-out how hollow and frankly insulting this 'canonization' is.  These efforts try to make it seem like all prejudices hold the same 'weight' or historical path . . . making it seem like all racial prejudices are simply racism.  Factually and in reality such attempts at bias 'equivocation' is foolish because it lacks any such realistic base to stand on.  

Racism is racial prejudice with systemic and societal power to enforce or make your bias 'felt' by the targets of your 'disdain', as they interact or live within the system and take part in the society.

No other definition makes sense . . . and frankly charging any and everyone with 'racism' if they seem to harbor racial prejudices makes all the 'fuss' that people of color have made over the centuries seem silly and ridiculous.

Why?

Because you can't control individuals and how they think or act.

Racial or its simile ethnic prejudice is as old as man and will remain until we go extinct.

The 'fuss' MLK, Malcolm and others were making was about the power that whites collectively have here and worldwide to impugn their prejudices in real, systemic, societal, cultural and social ways.  The 'prejudice' becomes 'racism' aka an 'economic force' once the party with the 'privilege' has the means to 'mold' the reality of those they 'don't like' into whatever form or shape they 'choose'.

That is racism.

The interpersonal biased interaction and treatment becomes part and parcel of racism because society 'backs You up' in carrying your prejudicial 'wishes' out.  Society and her institutions, due to the way people of color are dealt with, actually fulfill 'your' feelings about 'certain' types by pretty much 'guaranteeing' a certain outcome or seeming proclivity, trend or lifestyle for those you 'despise'.  That disparity has an obvious and blatant economic effect on 'those' you may 'not like', which is why I also referred to it as an economic system.

Learn what Racism is.

MLK knew this.

So if you really want to honor him start truly 'getting' him and how he saw the world . . . grasp the concepts as He (and many others) saw them.  Not knocking folks too much but we need to be real if we're truly talking about fighting racism.  Folks need to expect to feel uncomfortable and have things called out about themselves that they were not aware of . . . or were in simply stubborn denial about.  That is the demon of racism - it's omnipresent, resilient, chimerical, deceptive, strong and it has had a lethal 'attitude' problem for centuries now through to this day.

This is how you begin to fight it

For some of you, it's like extracting the iron from your hemoglobin.  For others it's finally confronting that bully you've always felt you'd lose everything to if you fought them and 'vented'.

But it must be done

Although it may get nasty . . . stay in the fight, 'let it play' unless you're being specifically personally threatened by others.  Attacking each other on social media is ultimately, in terms, of the real world, harmless.  The attacks are borne of heated passions that race evokes in all of us.  Many folks are good people.  Some may not be as articulate as others but we all have valuable things to contribute to the fight against racism.  Also yes some of us folks of color may go off on some whites at times but it's not because we 'just hate whites!'  It's because the nature of the social media environment gives many of us a forum and an opportunity to express certain pain, angst, fear, frustrations, fury, etc that has built up over our various lifetime lengths, that due to survival concerns - roof over our heads, supporting a family, holding down a job, social connections and circles, etc - we had to keep bottled and tamped down.

So try to be a little more empathetic with each other.

Remember that if you're white you can log off in annoyance and go back to your world and not have to deal with 'prejudicial people of color' (in your view).

People of color have no such 'escape'.

We have to deal with 'you' 24/7 whether you insult us or annoy us . . . because you are the 'majority'.  You control all spigots of opportunity in this country.

Now on the other hand, there are some whites that are genuinely trying to improve their 'racial literacy' as it were.  However, due to, again varying lifetimes of being submerged in a racial caste system of privilege, where they have been effectively shielded from the effects of their oblivious racism and how it propagates a system that has been detrimental to people of color . . . their syntax and even some of concepts they express and maybe even take for granted will be dripping with the same 'fluid' that us folks of color are very sensitive to and loathe.

They are not being malicious (for the most part as there have been a few trolls) . . . but they are trying to unlearn a lifetime of pervasive, drummed-into-their-subconscious bias . . . and that will take time . . . and unfortunately they will unintentionally continue to offend some of us of color.  May I humbly request we find a way to be civil but passionate to inform them of their missteps so that they learn in a functional manner to improve themselves when it comes to society's racial problems.

If we do this we may improve the long overdue and much needed conversation so much more.

At least that is my hope and wish . . . 

Make every month be an unfiltered American History Month because Black history or Native American history or the history of all the myriad of cultures and ethnic groups that have resided here for centuries . . . all make up inextricable parts of American History.

It must all be laid bare for all to see.

No more hiding, censoring or muting should be allowed . . . if we are truly serious about this.

Just my two cents . . . now carry on