400 Years and We Still Can't Breathe

As I sit here thinking about our condition as African-Americans, I can’t help thinking that it was all inevitable. I will explain later. We must come to the realization that we will always have to fight for our rights and that they are not given as freely to us as they are to others. In the big scheme of things, African-Americans have moved forward a notch or two. Sure, we have advanced degrees and own businesses, but what did we expect a country to become when its very foundation was built on black necks and black backs through black blood? 

“So…I have an idea,” thought USA in the beginning, “How about we go to a continent and kidnap the people there, bring them over here and make them plant and harvest crops that we can get rich from and pass down to our children? Oh, and it gets better! Let’s make slaves out of ‘em and make ‘em do it for free, and in return they git nothing but a hard life and suffering all their days and for their children, too?” And so it began. Formed in the minds of some whites was a superiority complex while at the same time ushering in African-Americans’ defense mechanisms. Yes, we have moved forward a mile or two. But how much farther we’d be had it not been for the scale of unbalanced policies like Jim Crow and employment discrimination. How much farther we’d be had it not been for the destruction of our towns and livelihood. How much farther we’d be if not for any of it. So, it was inevitable.

The clashes, fighting, and fires were inevitable. Because they are not new. It feels as if we stepped out of the pages of the civil rights movement of the 1960s to experience it all over again. Honestly, our lives never cease to be a civil rights movement. For as long as we live in this skin, we must be ready to defend it. We always have, and it was inevitable that we are doing it again. But how we fight and defend ourselves have nothing to do with hurling bricks and bottles. We must start using our weapons: the vote and the dollar. We must start researching the backgrounds of people for whom we vote and elect them if their policy beliefs align with moving us forward. When they are elected and prove to be a disappointment, we vote them out. Let us support or own businesses. If they get something right, write a positive review, tell everybody you know, and go back often. If not, pull the owner to the side in private and express the complaint. At least it gives the owner an opportunity to address the issue. 

I am sorry for those who have lost loved ones at the hands of injustice and hatred. After 400 years, this country doesn’t have it right. African-Americans are still fighting for rights. And we still can’t breathe.

Picture credit: @kenslerb via Twitter.com