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The Shame of being Black in ameriKKKa

Part 3; ALL OR NOTHING

You don’t have to have an abusive background to feel the pain of woman suffering abuse at the hand of her spouse. The majority of people hearing her story would feel the pain and have empathy for her even if you don’t understand why she stays or why she feels worthless or deserving of the pain she is enduring.  Being a Black American is being is similar to be an abused spouse.  You never know when the hit or hits are coming. There’s nothing you can do to stop them and although you want to pretend everything is fine, you simply like the energy to pretend.  Pretending makes people feel better, it relieves them of responsibility.  Far too often, black men and women in amerikkka play that role daily.

We’ve pretended for so long, that we have made peace and comfort with the pain of our skin color. It has become a way of life to live under a microscope. Everything we do or say is judged, criticized and/or questioned. Our speech dictates our education even when that stereotype isn’t true.  The dictation in our voice had to be right to gain a place in Corporate America. It dates back to slavery when we were separated by the pigment in our skin and forced to control one another in an effort to save our own life.  It was beat & instilled in us to choose among ourselves.  It is behavior that we have yet to outgrow.

Freedom was something each of us longed for, as Black Americans, but the fight for our Civil Rights has always been different depending on the background of the Black Leader, one followed. Instead of understanding the fight collectively, naturally, we choose sides because it is what we were taught to do. As long as we remained divided, we swell, but never grow as a people.

In the days of our so-called freedom, we learned to become all or nothing.  You either did everything right, mind your manners, broke down racial walls (figuratively speaking & only true when it is comfortable for Corporate), established oneself as distinguished. The other scenario is to be regular, law-abiding, quiet worker finding his or her place in society.  Not elite, but not criminal, just regular.  Then there are those whose life isn’t perfect. They have bent a law or too, fallen from grace, needed a second-chance.  Over time and years, we learned to repeat the pattern of division; classifying ourselves by our actions. We begin to buy into the stereotypes set before us; based on a select few.  If a few of us made it, then there was opportunity and those who fell by the wayside, somehow bought it on his or herself, whatever that punishment may be. Living under that type of scrutiny would make anyone crazy and it has definitely taken its toll on Black America.  If one of us does anything negative, somehow, we’ve all done it.  If one of us does anything exceptional, then he or she is the exception and that excellence isn’t in all of us.

Black Americans are treated as one collective group void of diversity in the eyes of amerikkka, our thoughts are singular, we all know one another unless we disconnect from our roots. Many are White Americans that find ways to tolerate a few, categorizing those as ‘a good black person’.  It’s extremely degrading.

It is one thing for White Americans to treat us abusive, but slavery taught us to treat one another badly as well and quite frankly, we haven’t out grown that behavior. While our cultural is beautiful, unique, diverse and full of life; to be accepted or successful, we abandon it until White America, finds it fascinating like a style trend.  We’re suspended from school because of our hair as we watch that same style become a Hollywood Trend when worn by a celebrity whose not Black. Our rhythm is coveted and our blues ignored or said to be outdated.  However, here we are in 2020, watching genocide on national TV executed by the law officers who are paid to protect and serve us. As parents of Black Children in amerikkka, our talks about police are quite different. Black Americans can’t ask questions without being described as resistant. We can’t question police without them saying that they fear for their life, although primarily we are the victims of police brutality.

Despite the unbalance scales of justice, we, still have the great divide. There are some Black Americans who insist that somehow the lifestyles of victims lead them to die. That argument could work except when you factor in people like Breonna Taylor who was asleep in her home or Botham Jean who was in his home eating ice cream when the police officer made a mistake. Still the argument lies in his clean background.  If Botham Jean had anything in his background bad at all, the police officer could have gotten off for killing him. It’s all or nothing!

We cannot be regular people who live regular lives. We cannot make mistakes and have justice. We are the only people held to this caliber of justice! And again, the worse part of that many Black Americans buy into this method of thinking. The problem is that method of thinking isn’t fair for anyone especially Black Americans who are a minority in a country they built; and yet we represent the majority of those in lockup.

We are either, perfect and change the course of history and still received little to no recognition. The exceptional are often made to feel or be humble and not even bask in their triumph or accomplishment.  The other option is that we are regular/criminal and in that case, deserve nothing but whatever we can grab. In those cases, the lack of economic empowerment usually has us fighting against us (black on black crime).  Regular Black People do not have the options or opportunities as their White counterparts.  We are consistently paid less, valued less, work more and lead more stressful lifestyles.

It would seem and be inhumane to continue abusing the woman who escapes an abusive spouse. As Black Americans, the abuse never stops and when White American cannot reach or feels too clean to reach out; they’ve taught the hate to us, some digest it and carry it into our communities and perform the abuse inwardly.

Reshape your thinking. You do not have to agree with everything anyone does, whether they are black or white or purple! However, by the same token, understand and agree that we as Black Americans have earned the right to life, liberty and a pursuit of happiness! We’ve earned to be innocent until proven guilty and to not be executed in the streets.

Fighting for justice isn’t about accepting a lifestyle choice, it’s about ensuring JUSTICE FOR ALL!

~BLACK IN ameriKKKa