| A lot has been said and the annals of history will be colourful when the subject of the year Two-Thousand and Twenty Anno Domini is discussed. Personally, up until late May and early June the most jarring aspects of 2020 were the untimely deaths of Gianna Bryant and her father Kobe as well as the still unfolding (despite everybody seeming to forget) COVID-19 global pandemic. Silly me thought that the latter might represent the crescendo of the craziness or maybe a storm or two in the hurricane season might turn the madness up further.
However, and if we are honest not so surprisingly, what has our attention now is one of our world’s original and eternal sins…the plight and fight of Black people. Old people say certain things come in threes and three incidents “started” the current downward spiral. The murders of three unarmed Black Americans – Ahmaud Arberry in Glynn County, Georgia; Breonna Taylor in Lousiville, Kentucky; and most recently the straw that broke the camel’s back George Floyd in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Mr. Floyd suffered the the gross indignity of 3 police officers kneeling on him, one fatally on his neck for nearly 9 minutes with a sadistic smile on his demonic face, all while knowing that they were being recorded. A big 6 footer of a man was reduced to urinating on himself and crying out for his mother, his deceased mother.
Each of these stories added another layer to the harrowing story of unarmed black people being killed at the hands of the law enforcement in that country and like the proverbial spark that gets the fire going an essentially global movement against the injustices faced by black people has re-emerged and re-emerged in force. These events have sparked several conversations ranging from why these types of incidents can’t stop happening, to what is the appropriate response for the persons who are hurt and the victims of this systemic oppression that foster these murderous events. In the spirit of “Reasoning” I had this plan for this wonderful article where I was going to neatly weave previous quotes with respect to racism from the civil rights era and before from the likes of Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., HIM Haile Selassie I. After these older quotes I was going to juxtapose them with quotes from the later 20th and 21st centuries and highlight how prescient the elder’s words were and at the same time how disappointingly relevant they still remain.
But that is what I WAS going to do. The emotional toll of story after story after story highlighting the ills of white supremacy globally, the news cycle interspersing the various protests and riots with the responses of racist persons as a counterpoint and the various social media debates have killed the vibe for a perfectly crafted piece and just has me currently feeling, for want of a better word, down. We see all the while clichés about protecting your energy and watch what you consume as what you let in affects what comes out. This has never been realer to me than this week but especially today. Firstly, the story of a man named Noel Chambers has become big news in Jamaica land we love. The cliff notes version is that this man died in prison after spending 40 years without charge because he was not found mentally fit to plead. 40 years 40 years 40 years. I am 32. This story was a punch to the gut. Emotions were already running high and that story may very well need a blog for itself cause of how horrendous it was.
Then I really did it to myself! Scrolling through the TV guide I see a show entitled “Strange Fruit” and hear the familiar lyrics being crooned “…blood on the leaves…” Further investigation uncovered it was a documentary about the August 9, 2019 murder of an (surprise surprise) unarmed teenager named Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. Boy was this a hard watch, especially in the current climate as summarized before. If ever there was a metaphor for scratching a scab and ending up with a worst cut than the original, then apply it to watching this documentary. What is especially sad is that all these stories could be replaced for each other and you would think it is the same story, and as all these types of documentaries do, it presents a recap of all the similar cases. So if I didn’t remember the names Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Walter Scott, Sandra Bland, Philando Castile those memories all came flooding back.
The thought of injustices black people face and have faced all over the world being placed squarely back in view by way of America and then mixing that in a cocktail with all the atrocities locally, not least the story of Mr. Chambers and others like him, has me stewing in a seriously fowl mood. As I said earlier I had thoughts of putting forward some profound treatise of the black condition and presenting some coherent thoughts on the way forward, however much to my disappointment I am just here in a sack of raw emotions. I’m sure this feeling will pass but outside of personal grief this is among the worse feelings I’ve ever felt. Eventually the focus will get back to the resistance, the planning and the building of our race and our nation but right ya now mi jus tired.
Still think some of those planned quotes can be useful and hopefully they stir myself and others into action eventually, but the reality is that not everyday people will feel like a revolutionary. Some days the emotion of it all will get to you and I think that is ok. In fact, I have been repeatedly recommending “Note to Self (Okay)” by Jah 9 ft. Chronixx as musical therapy in these craziest of moments.
SELAH.
PS:
#JusticeForNoelChambers
“…until the philosophy which holds one race superior and another inferior is finally and permanently discredited and abandoned; that until there are no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation; that until the colour of a man’s skin is of no more significance than the colour of his eyes; that until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regard to race; that until that day, the dream of lasting peace and world citizenship and the rule of international morality will remain but a fleeting illusion, to be pursued but never attained…until bigotry and prejudice and malicious and inhuman self-interest have been replaced by understanding and tolerance and good-will; until all Africans stand and speak as free beings, equal in the eyes of all men, as they are in the eyes of Heaven; until that day, the [world] will not know peace. We Africans will fight, if necessary, and we know that we shall win, as we are confident in the victory of good over evil…” – H.I.M Halie Selassie I Address to the United Nations (1963)
“But at the same time, it is as necessary for me to be as vigorous in condemning the conditions which cause persons to feel that they must engage in riotous activities as it is for me to condemn riots. I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. Certain conditions continue to exist in our society which must be condemned as vigorously as we condemn riots. But in the final analysis, a riot is the language of the unheard. And what is it that America has failed to hear? It has failed to hear that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened over the last few years. It has failed to hear that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met. And it has failed to hear that large segments of white society are more concerned about tranquillity and the status quo than about justice, equality, and humanity. And so in a real sense our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our nation’s winters of delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these recurrences of violence and riots over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention…” The Other America – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (1967)
“The problem is that white people see racism as conscious hate, when racism is bigger than that. Racism is a complex system of social and political levers and pulleys set up generations ago to continue working on the behalf of whites at other people’s expense, whether whites know/like it or not. Racism is an insidious cultural disease. It is so insidious that it doesn’t care if you are a white person who likes black people; it’s still going to find a way to infect how you deal with people who don’t look like you. Yes, racism looks like hate, but hate is just one manifestation. Privilege is another. Access is another. Ignorance is another. Apathy is another. And so on. So while I agree with people who say no one is born racist, it remains a powerful system that we’re immediately born into. It’s like being born into air: you take it in as soon as you breathe. It’s not a cold that you can get over. There is no anti-racist certification class. It’s a set of socioeconomic traps and cultural values that are fired up every time we interact with the world. It is a thing you have to keep scooping out of the boat of your life to keep from drowning in it. I know it’s hard work, but it’s the price you pay for owning everything.” – Scott Woods (2014)
“…To my white brothers, I love you. Every race here, I love you. But it comes to a point now, where if you love me and you not standing on the side of me, then your love don’t mean shit…” – Stephen Jackson (May 29, 2020)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVkNMecQ8ow – Marc Lamont Hill (May 28, 2020)
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Reasoning with The Cunning One 