Black America remembers the tragedy and mistreatment of Slavery. They remember the successes and subsequent brutality of Black Wall Street, the travails of the Jim Crow, the Minstrel shows, the adventures of the Abolition Movement, and the dream deferred that led to Juneteenth, Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, the Tuskegee Institute, W.E. B. Dubois, John Lewis, Martin Luther King, Jr., the Ku Klux Klan, dirty prejudiced cops, Rodney King, Latasha Harlans, and the negative treatment and events against many other persons and institutions who make up the history of Black America.
There is the memory of being told that hard work and good behavior would lead to success, only to learn that good luck was a more valuable asset than all the hard work in the world. The rewards of the hard work was evident in 1921 with the violent destruction of 40 blocks in the City of Tulsa and a prosperous area called Black Wall Street with its 300 black-owned businesses, black-owned mini-mart, black-owned barbershop, beauty salons, Bank, Churches, and rental properties owned by black families. The violent destruction of Wall Street was a lesson we all should never forget. That lesson said all will be well as long as nothing is done to make white folks mad. Even for just being black and doing something or not doing something that may be misinterpreted as wrong, black folks could be killed. Also for being caught up in a mess black such as, driving while black, selling cigarettes, being in the wrong place at the wrong time while or a black man speaking to a white woman without permission got him killed. History records that all the progress blacks make can be destroyed at the turn of a corner. Earning something that a racist doesn’t want blacks to have such as President, Pastor, Professor, Lawyer, Judge Vice-President, or other accolades may cause harm to blacks. Bad conduct is not required. Just being in a prestigious position, without the permission of the so-called boss man, causes trouble for blacks. As I write this, Black America is fighting for the right to vote, AGAIN. Blacks were granted the right to vote in the early 1900s, even before white women were granted the right to vote. White Republicans still don’t want blacks to vote. This was made most evident when America elected a black man, Barack Obama, for President, twice, beginning in 2009. That misstep was followed by electing a black woman, Kamala Harris, as Vice-President to Joe Biden. The Affordable Care Act, mere talk of reparations for the 400 years of free labor through slavery have been rewarded with death threats, name-calling, and unending hate, rather than accolades for the meritorious accomplishment of creating a health care system for all Americans. It’s frustrating to be hated for nothing more than wanting the fruit of your labor. We know that there are people who say how lazy and trifling black folks are, who say black folks are not as smart as whites, and that is why they don’t progress and shouldn’t be able to vote or hold public office. There are not many black folks who haven’t been told by some teacher that they couldn’t become Lawyers, Engineers, Doctors, or other professions, and yet the list of inventions by blacks is numerous. As shown historically, blacks get Juneteenth as a national holiday and the Republicans say they won’t vote for the voting rights bill. Is that racist or is that just another tactic to get Republicans to vote for their side? I call it racist. Many white toy makers and artists made toys and painted pictures of blacks in demeaning ways, eating watermelon, having big lips, black tar faces, and other exaggerated features to try to embarrass blacks. The hatred of whites is so deep it has filtered into all aspects of life, i.e., separated burial sites, drained the swimming pools after blacks have been in, so the water wouldn’t touch them. The Republicans are pushing for another all-white Congress. The evidence is in their choosing all-white judges while blocking any other judges, by any means necessary. If they could go back to Jim Crow days, there would be a mad dash. Colleges and Universities wouldn’t allow blacks to play on their teams until they realized they could make them money. Besides, it didn’t make sense. Having the best players meant having black players. Eventually, the stupidity wore off, and they wanted the best. They realized the best was to have black players. (I remember the old saying, “The blacker the berry the sweeter the juice”). |
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