My husband and I took a road trip to my oldest sister-in-law's house in Minnesota with our youngest son and his lady the last week of August.
Thinking about how badly I'd been needing to get away from it all, I shelved my traveling-during-COVID paranoia and agreed to the drive up for a surprise, early birthday party for my nephew on Saturday, 8/22. Instead of getting away from it all -- I drove right into it.
Arriving on Friday evening, we unwound at a laid back, socially distanced, driveway-hang-out that night at my oldest niece's house with her little family of three, her younger sister, their mom and my other sister-in-law who'd flown in from New York for the party. Unlike the 100-degree temperatures we'd been suffering in Texas, the weather was GREATas we sat under the stars talking, laughing, drinking and catching up (not via Zoom for a change). Because we were a part of the surprise, my nephew wasn't invited but, we'd been texting back-and-forth all evening about what he'd been doing in the community since George Floyd's murder (unbeknownst to him, I WASin Minnesota).
Then, oddly, I got this text from him at 7:25 pm (which I read to everybody else). He said, "Listening to Ranky Tanky and thinking of you. Love you guys and miss you all so much. Wish I had my family here with me. Fuck Covid!" Then he uploaded Ranky Tanky's, "That's Alright" (Long story for later about our bond over Ranky Tanky! Suffice it to say, he respects my Gullah heritage.). We thought our surprise was blown! I texted him back saying, "I feel exactly the same, Nephew. Promise we'll make that happen one day soon!"
On Saturday, per his wife's invitatiion, we had a mask-wearing, tables 6 feet apart, outside in the yard shindig that was fuck*n wonderful!!! Minnesota being a swing state, we had some serious political and racial conversations under the tent. I so appreciated that!
On Sunday, we spent a beautiful day at my youngest niece's house on a pontoon boat on the lake all day and finally, I felt all the tension I'd brought with me just drain away.
On Monday though, we went to the George Floyd Memorial -- and it felt like someone was squeezing my heart as we walked through the closed-off part of the neighborhood from the Cup Foods. This is what I saw first:
When we reached the end of the trail of names and I looked back, the stark visualization of the nationwide numbers of Black deaths felt like somebody had kicked me in the gut. My son put his arms around me and said, "Mom, it happened again." He told me about the Jacob Blake video in Kenosha, not far across the state line from where we were. I'd slept so hard and peacefully the night before, I hadn't heard yet because I'd neither watched TV, nor been online. He wanted to show it to me but -- I. JUST. COULDN'T.
Standing in that makeshift cemetery with all those "headstones" listing the names again (but this time, along with their dates of birth and death, with their actual ages over the dash) -- I thought about Jacob Blake, his children in the car watching him get shot, and how George Floyd's very public death had neither stopped nor slowed the reign of terror in our communities by these sometimes-scared, oftentimes intentional, always-jumpy jackbooted thugs. I just started to shake my head and cry.
I knew they'd quickly be "dirtying" him up, saying the cop was "in fear for his life," putting the cops involved on pretty much a paid vacation "pending investigation," despite the video. I alsoknew they'd blame him for his own murder. And they've done it all, as usual.
My nieces, along with their young children (one, a nine year-old girl and the other, an eight year-old boy), followed close behind me. I heard the nine year-old ask her mom incredulously, "Did all these people get killed by the police??" Her mom said yes. "And they ALL had Black skin??" she asked. Again, her mom said yes. As the kids went from headstone to headstone they stopped at the one for Aiyana Jones. The nine year-old said to her eight year old cousin, "Sal, she was only seven years old!" My knees buckled and I bent over. Sal's mom came up from behind me, tears streaming down her face and asked, "Are you alright Aunt Debi?" All I could do was shake my head no as we cried together.
Adding insult to injury on Tuesday night, here comes 17 year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, open-carrying against Wisconsin law when the protests broke out -- killing two people an injuring one. I was enraged as I saw cops pretty much give him the Dylan Roof treatment as he walked toward them with his long gun slung over his shoulder and his hands up (I was living in Charleston when Roof murdered the Emanuel 9 on my oldest son's birthday in 2015). Only thing missing was an offer to get him a damned burger.
So much for trying to get away from it all.
We cannot allow this to continue, Family. We've got to keep raising these issues by whatever means necessary and available. Jacob Blake's sister said it way better and more succinctly than I ever could, here:
I left the Democrats and became an Independent when the Changeling ran, and was elected the first time.
Researching the Changeling's tenure as the senator from Illinois after his 2004 keynote address at the Democratic National Convention, told me all I needed to know about this lying, "deus ex machina" tool for white neo-liberals to secure the Black vote in particular, and the minority vote in general.
I learned a lot about the bullshit we've been fed and believed about politics in 2004. I learned that politicians are all liars in one way or another. I learned that you can't believe all, if any, of what they say until you see what the hell they do!!!
That said, I'm cautiously optimistic about Beto -- so much so, that I'll do whatever the f*ck I can to make sure he beats the hayell outta Ted Cruz in Texas during this 2018 mid-terms.
Listen to him family. Then watch what he does when he wins (cuz I'm sure he will!):
Do check out his comments on NFL players kneeling in the sidebar as well...
And trust me, this isn't only happening on the streets of New York; it's happening in people's homes; it's happening in their cars when they're pulled over with no actual probable cause; it's happening wherever "Others" congregate in a manner different that proscribed by the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy.
But, it seems to me here are "Others" who feel that, as long as it's not happening to me and/or mine, it's either those knuckleheads' fault for gettin' jacked-up or, it's not your problem. But thanks to "Citizen Alvin" here (I hope his Mama's very proud!) and those blurred-out-faced cops, afraid to lose their jobs, telling it like it really is under Bloomberg and Kelly, it's quite clear -- you'd better think again.
UPDATE -- An interesting and related conversation:
"It is exceedingly important that we have men at the beginning capable of thinking as white men, and not those who have been systematically oppressed."
That particular "exceedingly important" goal of white supremacy remains in effect -- all over the world. No matter where one turns, the M.O. is sickeningly apparent, as in the recent Marikana Massacres in South Africa.
**(WARNING - GRAPHIC)**
Were you shocked? Disgusted? I hope so. Indeed, like many of the "Blacks in Blue" here (Danziger Bridge, Sean Bell, these fine specimens in Philly to name but a few), these men have cast their lot with white supremacy, mowing down and beating up folk who look like them, with no apparent conscience, nor morality. I'm sure they're paid way better than their "systematically oppressed" brothers and sisters; probably have better homes, and even cars; perhaps they even enjoy a few beers with their white counterparts, celebrating that whole, "I'm accepted-but-have-no-real-power," status thing (more on that shortly).
Guess they skipped right over the, "For the sake of your race you should sacrifice something of your present comfort" part, in the beginning of this guilt-tripping sentence in Lincoln's above-referenced address, and headed straight to the, "...for the purpose of being as grand in that respect as the white people" part at the end.
Two articles at Black Agenda Report this week certainly bear that out. The first, "Economic and Social Crisis in Post Apartheid South Africa" by William Bowles, is a must-read that provides an excellent rundown of South Africa's neocolonialism from Mandela to Zuma:
The African National Congress (ANC) won a resounding victory in South Africa's first democratic election in 1994 with a host of promises that it would improve the lives of the Black majority (85% of the population). And whilst there have been gains in some areas, overall, most Black South Africans are materially worse off now than they were under Apartheid.
Hundreds of thousands of jobs have vanished; costs for the basics: electricity, water, food and rents have skyrocketed. Ironically, no longer the pariah of the world, South Africa's white minority is even better off now than it was under Apartheid (remember the 'Rainbow Nation'?). The only Blacks to have gained have been a tiny minority, many from the ranks of the (former) liberation movement and the trade unions as well as the South African Communist Party (SACP).
So what went wrong? Did anything go wrong? Has the ANC and its partners in the Tripartite Alliance, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the SACP betrayed their roots and sold out Black South Africa? Indeed, sold out the rest of Africa?" (emphasis mine)
The second, Mark P. Fancher's passionately succinct, "The People's Rage," leaves no doubt about who continues to have, "the real power" in South Africa; not only economically and socially -- but militarily:
The massacre in Marikana, South Africa was not a run-of-the-mill wildcat strike that was met by undisciplined police officers. It was instead an event that left no doubts that while imperialism may be willing to allow Africans to sit in government offices, it will not tolerate any disruption in the flow of profits from the exploitation of highly valuable natural resources. Platinum in particular is indispensable in the manufacture of catalytic converters and other motor vehicle parts, and South Africa has more than 80 percent of the world’s platinum group metal reserves.
Even in 1965, Kwame Nkrumah (Ghana’s first president) understood why South Africa was a focal point of mining activities. He said: “A 1957 U.S. government survey of American overseas investments shows the single most profitable area was in the mining and smelting business of South Africa, whose profits are higher than from any comparable investment in the United States. The high profits can be explained largely by the cheapness of African labor.”
Nkrumah went on to explain that South African mineworkers earned 27 times less than their U.S. counterparts. More than half a century later, South Africa’s miners are still paid extremely low wages for dangerous, difficult work. One worker reported that he receives about $500 a month. (emphasis mine)
This violent response should not have come as a surprise. An essential element of every neo-colonial state is an armed force with express or implied standing orders to put down rebellions. Often there are armies that play this role. In the case of the Marikana tragedy, those carrying out the massacre may have been branded as “police,” but they functioned as a military unit. They were heavily armed and ready to kill.
It should also come as no surprise that an overlap in South Africa’s police and army missions means that the U.S. military is lurking in the shadows. In an article published by the South African Institute of International Affairs, writer Thomas Wheeler reported: “U.S. defense attaches have on-going interaction with the [South African] military and police to define ways in which the U.S. can assist them.
One concrete example of this “assistance” was last year’s “Exercise Shared Accord.” The U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) website explained that this joint exercise between 700 U.S. Marines and about twice that number of soldiers in the South African National Defense Force was an opportunity for the soldiers to, among other things: “…engage in live-fire exercises…”
All of this raises logical questions about who South African forces are training to kill. The answers are found in the historical record. It shows that in general, African soldiers are used in conflicts with other Africans, both in their own countries and elsewhere on the African continent. The tragedy of this was not missed by Nkrumah who suggested: “…the ordinary soldier who is after all only a worker or peasant in uniform, is acting against the interests of his own class. (emphasis mine)
On another, indirectly related post over at AfroSpear, I commented, "I am so disturbed and hurt by the massacre of miners at Marikana in S. Africa! WTH?? Apartheid didn’t go anywhere, it just seemed to have melted into the ANC. {smdh}" To which Bro. Amenta replied, "Deb, when we really see and know who controls ALL of these countries; It will be clear who is the true enemy and who is not. A U.S. company owns the mine. The government agents (policemen) work at the behest of the company. Peace"
His comment, along with the two above pieces, sent me looking for some names, so I went straight to Lonmin's site and clicked on its "Investors" tab where, not surprisingly, I found the "usual suspects." Turns out the company is owned by the UK, but yes, the U.S. is right there with them, as both "investors" and "advisers." As for names -- JP Morgan, Bank of New York Mellon and Citigroup Global Markets. Glance at the "About Us" and "Our Business" tabs while you're there, the information on each is particularly laughable, especially given the video above.
On Thursday, 270 miners were charged in the Ga-Rankuwa Magistrate’s Court with the murder of 34 of their comrades, who were shot and killed by police at Lonmin’s platinum mine in Marikana in the North West. A further, 78 injured by the same force, have realised a charge of attempted murder for all accused. The legal vehicle used to charge the accused in the Marikana massacre case is called 'common purpose'; it was masterminded by the architects of Apartheid and used during the darkest times to send MK cadres to the gallows. (emphasis Daily Maverick)
This is just imperial madness run amok (and please, don't say, "But they're all Black!"-- it'll tell me you've not really read, nor understood a word I've written).
Briefly, from the Daily Maverick piece:
“The state began to fall back on the common purpose doctrine, which originated in English law and was introduced into South African law via the ominously named ‘Native Territories Penal Code’. At the time the courts interpreted this doctrine to apply to all members of a crowd who had ‘actively associated’ with criminal conduct committed by one member of the crowd – even if those charged were not involved at all in the commissioning of the crime,” writes De Vos. (emphasis mine)
For a concise explanation of the 'common purpose' doctrine, please, do read the first related article below by De Vos, a South African Constitutional Law professor (don't worry, he seems veryunlike the one selected president of this country).
Given the 'common purpose' doctrine originated in the same place as the doctrine of white supremacy brought here by the English, I'm neither surprised by the similarity, nor am I surprised at the inequity with which it is enforced there, or here -- if you're Black.
Remember last year when James Anderson was beaten up by a group of white, Mississippi darlings and then run over by Deryl Dedmond with his pick-up truck? And it was all caught on a hotel surveillance camera? There were seven of them. As of March of this year, three were charged and pled guilty to murder and hate crimes and are serving life sentences; one was charged with simple assault, pled not guilty and is free on a $5,000 bond because he left the scene before Anderson was killed; I could find no criminal charges filed against the other three -- two of whom, were females (James Anderson's family has filed a civil lawsuit against all seven of them).
“When confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family. We must stand together.”
The Changeling in Aurora, CO
What? No words for Manuel Diaz and his family? Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out which"American family" he stands with during "moments of darkness and challenge." {smdh}
While Krauthammer's take on the Democratic strategy of painting the Tea Party as extremists in his, "Visigoths at the gate?" is hardly far-fetched, we already know, or should know by now, that they're no different than the other side of the aisle. What was more interesting (and typical Krauthammer) was this :
Sweet irony. Fear-over-hope rides again, this time with Democrats in the saddle warning darkly about "the Republican Tea Party" (Joe Biden). Message: Vote Democratic and save the nation from a Visigoth mob with a barely concealed tinge of racism.
First, this is so at variance with reality that it's hard to believe even liberals believe it. The largest Tea Party event yet was the recent Glenn Beck rally on the Mall. The hordes descending turned out to be several hundred thousand cheerful folks in what, by all accounts, had the feel of a church picnic. And they left the place nearly spotless -- the first revolution in recorded history that collected its own trash. (emphasis mine)
Funny how my brain works sometimes - because I see nothing but irony in Chuck's smarmy display of schadenfreude and his mocking of what is so obviously clear (at least to me) in both of the linked pieces. Reading them, my often, auto-pilot mind just began to drift to the many recurring images of some other,"cheerful folks in what, by all accounts, had the feel of a church picnic" -a scant, 80 years ago. But they got all dressed up in their Sunday-go-to-meetin' clothes for their big event!
(Click Then... for an excerpt of a first-hand account of the August 17, 1930 lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith in Marion, Indiana - from the then, 16 year-old, third-intended victim, James Cameron, who died in 2006).
The Now... photo may have been missing its "Strange Fruit" on that day, (they've even unashamedly co-opted, and twisted that history for monetary gain!), but neither Chuck, nor anybody else can convince me there weren't people in that crowd who were either around, 80 years ago - OR- are descendants of someone who was. Somebody please - DO tell me how that's not relevant to their little, "Restoring Honor" get together!
And seeing as you guys are not bigots or racists or anything - what, pray tell, are you trying to say here Chuck?:
"And they left the place nearly spotless -- the first revolution in recorded history that collected its own trash."
First of all, unless I slept the revolution during which the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy actually fell, I'm confused about the whole "revolution" thing. But I digress.
Given the number of recorded marches that have been held on the National Mall, I doubt very seriously that Chuck has trash stats to support that "first" thing. If he does, I'd like to see them. But heis right about one thing - they've gotten a lot better at leaving their gathering places nearly spotless. Before, they'd just burn what they considered their "trash" and leave it - for all to see:
Yes folks, that plume of smoke in the first photo is also the body of a Black man -burning. And according to the Without Sanctuary site:
Another version ofthis photopostcardwasmarketed with the negative etched, "Coon Cooking." (emphasis mine).
Trust me Chuck, we all know what you meant by your racist, hiding-in-plain-sight insult about "revolutions" collecting their own trash. But please, DO pat yourselves on the back about your progress in no longer leaving any evidence of your having ever gotten together for that "church picnic," which I suspect, will soon produce the same glee-filled faces as those in the Then... photo above.
Yeah, I know. I should juststop bringing it up all the time and; I should look forward, not back because; like the twenty-something, Black brother in my journalism class on identity (no less!) told me last year during a group critique of our second, graded essay - about ourselves: "You didn't need to put that in there, we know all about what happened, and that was a long time ago.
People like him are the exact reason why I needed - "to put that in there." Left to their own devices, the history we already barely know would become non-existent. That's not an option for me - becausemy history matters.
I took the assignment to write about ourselves seriously, which meant culling together the life experiences that had informed the person I'd become. What caused most of the class so much dis-ease, was the fact that I'd included a couple of paragraphs about the unexplained, and uninvestigated "drowning" of my cousin, Darryl which was, ironically - just a month and a half shy of his 14th birthday, and my - 21st (No, I don't make a habit of hanging out in cemeteries but, they're such great - and accurate - genealogical tools! Last name redacted for obvious reasons).
I don't know about you, but to me - if a person you know and love, is found dead - washed up on a beach he knew like the inside of a shrimp trap; with blunt, force trauma to his head and nowater inhis lungs; after having been reported missing to the police, who did little more than take a report the day before -that'sa life experience which informs who one becomes.
Let me be real clear here: If it's your cup of tea, to pay "The Price of the Ticket" - as if one's beginnings had no bearing on one's becoming - that's your journey. Mine involves, not denying truth for fantasy in order to be accepted into this - as they say in the Keys - "One Human Family." First of all, I was human all along. Second of all, who died and made them humanity's arbiters, deciding who is human enough, or "civilized" enough - and who is not?
All I can say is, the fact - that privileged, white supremacists, need to make Black folk savages in order to make themselves feel superior - is, and will forever be, their cross of inhumanity to bear. And those who cosign their fantasy - will be right there with them, lugging that load around until they reap what they've sown.
As I continue my own journey of reexamining everything (defined by Baldwin as,"doing your first work over"), I have found many of my "realities" mightily challenged on more than one occasion. But the one, immovable rock upon which I stand, the one reality that cannot be challenged - by anyone - is who I am, and what that means to me.
Which brings me to the question Brother Malcolm asked more than 40 years ago:
Can somebody please just "Make it Plain" for me? Who ARE these - Blacks, in Blue in Philly?:
Lawd ha' mercy! Look at how far we've not come! {smdh}
On a lighter and happier note - Y'all can laugh at 'Toine if you damn want to!
When some poor excuse for a man crawled in through the second floor window of their Lincoln Park, Alabama home in the projects trying to rape his sister, 24 year-old Antoine Dodson reacted exactly like I'd want my brother to act - Chase that mofo down! And if you can't catch him - go on the news and raise Holy-damn-hell until somebody pays attention! I ain't mad at him - that's Leonidas behavior! (No fan of war, for war's sake - I am a '300' fan!).
And neither am I ashamed of his, described-by-many, "ghetto" behavior. I've always hated the way "white" folks, and now many of us - conflate Black, with ghetto (Oh, don't act like you don't know what I mean!).
Not long ago, while my sons were still living with us, the youngest invited a white friend of his over for dinner. The son had on some shorts that were saggin', showing his underwear (a whole 'nother conversation for another day!). Everything was going fine until the visitor said something about that being "ghetto."
Everything stopped, for what seemed like an eternity, as the son looked at the friend and shook his head saying, "Man, you MUST not know where you are!" - just as I launched into my, "Do you even know what "ghetto is??" rant. Long story, short - what I said to him, was basically what Judge Lynn Toler said - (What?? TV is one of those challenges I'm still workin' on! After a steady diet of TV before, and after - there were color TVs,it's an ongoing battle!) - to this young,Black guy when he said, regarding how his white wife had yanked his ass out of another woman's car - "If I wanted ghetto, I woulda married a Black woman!" My sister DREW that little body up real tall on that bench - and - let-him-have-it!:
"Black is who you are, what you were and what you have survived. Ghetto is a state of being, something thrust upon you, something that happens to you."
If we could - at a minimum - just stop using their labelling-to-demean techniques, we'd be on our way to a new understanding of who we are and what that means. Just sayin'.
Anyway...
Stepping and standing up for his sister, without hesitation, has proven to be doubly beneficial for 'Toine - and his sister. According to this piece - "Bed Intruder" YouTube Song Earns Antoine Dodson A House - they won't have to deal with that, "something thrust upon you" anymore:
Antoine Dodson and his sister have earned a whopping fifty percent of all the profits made from online sales of the Gregory Brother’s ‘Bed Intruder Song’. The song hit the Top 50 iTunes list in terms of sales so you can only imagine how much money the family must have made. Dodson told Us, “We made enough to move and get a house.” In addition to the house, Dodson plans to use the money to go back to school and move forward with his life. He says, “I signed up to finish my Associate’s Degree in business. That way I can take everything to the next level and be on a more professional level.” His ultimate goal is to open either a salon or a hotel. (emphasis mine)
Go 'head 'Toine! If nobody else understands that where you live, informs who you've become, but does not define who you will later be as you grow - I do. Hell, I'll make sure to click that link - every time I think about it, just so 'Toine can get his Bachelor's, and Masters too (their real educational value being debatable - having them, at least begins to thwart that, "qualifications" hurdle)!
I don't know anything about these Gregory Brothers besides what I've read here:
Evan: On the financial angle, Antoine is participating in all of the revenue from the sale of anything we do [with the song], 50-50. Michael: We’re really breaking “unintentional singing” ground, so we’re trying to set precedents by making it so that Antoine, or whoever that artist might be in the future, has a stake not only as an artist but as a co-author of the song. It’s like you said: He wrote the lyrics, he’s the one who put it out there. What we’re doing on iTunes and on any other sales, we’re splitting the revenue after it gets through Apple down the middle. And that [also applies] if we ever license the song for TV or a movie. Whatever happens to the song, he has a 50 percent writing credit.
Based on what they're saying (if they're for real, for real, that is), those crooked, greedy-assed record companies better watch out!
UPDATE: "Feds to investigate Calif. train station killing"- First, let me say that I suspect their motives (mid-term elections ever closer, Kool-Aid at-the-ready for Black folks and such). I mean, really - NOW, they want to investigate?? And even with the video, there was no "urgency of now" coming from the Changeling, et al (apparently MLK was only talking about him & his) - they never said a mumblin' word. Guess that would've cast an interminably long shadow over all that "Obama Love"floating around - for more than a year. Pity the throngs of Black folk with no video of police killing, or otherwise abusing them. Who knows what the outcome will be, but they'll be able to wave this one around to the 'believers" saying, "At least it didn't take as long as the investigation into the murder of Emmett Till!" {smdh}
HuffPo had a clearer version of the video so I switched the one I'd originally posted because we need to see the reason white folks need niggers and injuns and spics and wetbacks and kikes and dagos and guineas and micks, and a new one I learned while volunteering in NOLA after Katrina - spicaninnies.
For cover and preservation of the - who - they really are, those "civilized," who continue (and it will continue - abetted by the not-so-surprising help of many of the non-alabaster-hued) to make the afore-mentioned groups always appear as "uncivilized" animals can then, somehow justify to their man/woman in the mirror - the animals within themselves.
“We live a life of fear and we want them to feel fear tonight” an unnamed demonstrator told KTVU at the height of the violence.
And yes, there was this: Live blog: Cops pour in to Oakland to try to stop looting. But while the headline concentrates on the looting, the photo array of the legions of riot-gear clad, gun-carrying cops from at least five different agencies it contains stands in silent, yet powerful confirmation that, as James Baldwin said:
"The country is only concerned about nonviolence, if it seems that I'm gonna get violent. It's not worried about nonviolence, if it's some Alabama sheriff."
Or a BART officer.
Lauryn Hill's - "Mystery of Iniquity" - kept playing in my head while I pecked this out, so I thought I'd share. For all the Marilyn Leviases (Seattle) and the more, sure-to-be Oscar Grants in this post-racial nation...
...because the beat goes on, until we say - ENOUGH! - and mean it.
Wonder how many white families have to "instruct" their kids to meekly stand fast, control themselves and not say shit to cops - except, "Yes sir," "No sir," "Three bags full sir" - just to be treated with dignity and respect. How many white families have to go through that, "If you're stopped by a policeman, put both hands on the wheel, make no sudden movements and be polite" primer? And we wonder, what's up with OUR children?
They don't respect US because, since Dr. King walked this earth, we have not been, and still are not"responsible for what we know to be true about our existence in this country" (a favorite and true Baldwinism) - and they know it. They look to us to protect them but see - every day, in every way - how we can't. And we, conscious of our own ineptitude, more often than not, blame - THEM! - for not being "perfect."
I have to admit that I'm as guilty as the next Black parent who - "gets" - that anything less might get them hurt - or worse. Feeling ever powerless (particularly here, in the belly of the beast) in our "post-racial" nation, I have to keep telling my sons they have to be "perfect," or deal with the consequences (both financial and judicial) that the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy generously doles out without blinking - leaving a trail that will follow them for the rest of their lives.
It's 20-damn-10, there's a society-identified Black man in the Big House ("fulfillment" of Dr. King's dream my ass!) AND a Black Attorney General - and still, the beat goes on...
