He sat down, He read

 

HE SAT DOWN, HE READ

HE SAT DOWN, READING A COPY OF TWO NATIONS, SEPARATE, HOSTILE AND UNEQUAL. BUT THEY DON'T WANT TO FACE IT.  LYING TO THEMSELVES INSTEAD OF DEALING WITH THIS REALITY. HE THOUGHT ABOUT WHITE SUPREMACY IN A COUNTRY OF FREEDOM AND JUSTICE FOR ALL..HE SAW THAT HE, AND HIS PEOPLE WERE BEING PLAYED LIKE THE INVISIBLE MAN, ONLY SEEN WHEN WHITE AMERICA LOOKS FOR A SCAPEGOAT.  THIS WAS THE SHADOW THAT SCARES ME, IN AMERICA AND AROUND THE WORLD.

EVERYDAY, YOU SEE AMERICA ATTEMPTING TO SQUIRM OUT OF A SITUATION IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN IN. DEGRADING EVERY RACE EXCEPT THE WHITE RACE, BUT IN REALITY DEGRADING THE WHITE RACE, BY DEGRADING OTHER RACES. BY INVENTING DERAGATORY NAMES FOR THEM LIKE RED SKINS, SPICS, WETBACKS. LIKE , A WORD WITH A STRANGE CAREER,

BUT IN THE END, ALL OF THEM WITH ONLY ONE MEANING... DEGRADATION. WE FORGET ABOUT CONTRIBUTIONS MADE TO THE COUNTRY, LIKE BLACKS IN THE ARMED FORCES, OR HISPANIC CONTRIBUTION TO THE BUILDING OF AMERICA.

HE PAUSED AND THOUGHT ABOUT MARTIN LUTHER KINGS' WORDS IN A TESTAMENT OF HOPE, AND WHAT THE HONORABLE ELIJAH MUHAMMAD SAID IN MESSAGE TO THE BLACKMAN AND WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES LED THEM TO SAY IT. HE REFLECTED ON AFRICA AND THE JOURNEY TO GET HERE, ABOUT AFRICA'S GIFT TO AMERICA, WHERE IN A PLACE BUILT ON  RACIAL APARTHEID LAWS, STILL NATURE KNOWS NO COLOR LINE, AND PEOPLE OF DIFFERENT RACES GET TOGETHER ANYWAY.

HE DISCUSSED WITH HIMSELF THE STATE OF BLACK AMERICA. HE KNEW THAT MANY AGREED AND SOME DISAGREED WITH HIS VIEWS. BUT HE WAS A MAN THAT WALKED TO A DIFFERENT DRUM, AND EVERYONE HAD TO RESPECT HIS COMITTMENT, HONESTY AND DETERMINATION.

SOME TOLD HIM TO REDIRECT HIS COURSE, BUT HE KNEW WHY HE HAD LANDED ON EARTH. HIS OBJECTIVE WAS TO KEEP HIS EYES ON THE PRIZE AND ULTIMATELY OBTAIN IT REGARDLESS OF OTHERS SAYING IT WAS AN IMPOSSIBLE DREAM. YOU SEE, HE KNEW HE POSSESSED IT BEFORE.

AND WHAT ABOUT BLACK WOMEN IN WHITE AMERICA? HOW WERE THEY BEING TREATED? BEING PLAYED AS A USEFUL TOOL, A DOUBLE "MINORITY" USED TO HELP ELIMINATE THE NEED TO SHOW THE BLACK MAN'S FACE IN THE MEDIA OR BUSINESS OR GOVERNMENT. IN ADDITION TO BEING DISRESPECTED HERSELF, SHE HAD BECOME IN SOME CASES AN UNWITTING SURROGATE TO RACIAL DISCRIMINATION AGAINST HER OWN MEN.

HE REMEMBERS. AS A CHILD, FEELING LIKE A MANCHILD IN THE PROMISED LAND,  WITH MANY DAYS THE PROMISE OR EQUALITY SHRINKING LIKE A RAISIN IN THE SUN.

HE WONDERED WHY ON THE ONE HAND HE WAS THE ENVY OF THE WORLD FOR HIS ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ON THE OTHER HAND HE WAS VILLIFIED AT EVERY TURN. WAS IT BECAUSE OF JEALOUSY OR WAS IT GREED, OR FEAR OF UNLEASHING HIS GREAT POTENTIAL TO LEAD AND PRODUCE INSTEAD OF FOLLOW AND CONSUME? 

HE REMEMBERS THE ABSOLUTE ANGER OF MANY BLACKS DUE TO DISENFRANCHISMENT BASED ON RACE. THIS LEAD TO THE CHICAGO RACE RIOTS IN THE EARLY 1900'S, THE RIOTS IN THE 60'S AND THE UPCOMING RIOTS. HELL, HE KNEW THAT HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF. AND WITH EVERYONE WANTING TO DENY THE EXISTENCE OF RACIAL PROBLEMS, THIS REPEAT WAS A CERTAINTY.

MAN, MALCOLM X, STOOD HIS GROUND AGAINST THIS BULL AS HE SAID, FREEDOM HAD TO BE GAINED BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. PEACEFULLY IF POSSIBLE, BUT BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY. IT WAS REALLY NO DIFFERENT THAN WHAT WAS SAID AT THE BIRTH OF THIS COUNTRY, GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH, ETC. 

HE LOOKED UP AT HIS WALL AND SAW THE BEAUTIFUL BLACK ART AND REFLECTED UPON OVER 200 YEARS OF BLACK AMERICAN ART, AND HOW IT AND NEW PLAYS FROM THE BLACK THEATRE HELPED DEFINE THE GREAT BLACK METROPOLIS' LIKE NEW YORK, CHICAGO, LOS ANGELES, ETC.

HE FELT SORRY FOR THE FOOLS WHO DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE ECONOMICS OF UNDERDEVELOPMENT, AND THOUGHT THAT AMERICA REALLY WAS CONCERNED ABOUT HAVING NO POOR. HELL AMERICA COULD NOT EXIST WITHOUT THE POOR. PROBLEM IS AMERICAN WANTS MOST OF THE POOR TO BE BLACK. 

THAT'S PART OF THE COLOR AND RACE FETISH IN THIS COUNTRY. WHICH IS ALSO WHY MIXED RACE PEOPLE ARE TOLD THEY ARE NEITHER BE BLACK OR WHITE, WHEN THEY ARE BOTH BLACK AND WHITE

HE PONDERED BLACK LABOR PROVIDING WHITE WEALTH, THE BASIS FOR THE GOD DAMN FIX THE COUNTRY WAS IN. HE ALSO KNEW THAT BECAUSE OF THIS THERE WAS THE DEBT, WHAT AMERICA OWES TO BLACKS.

HE GOT ANGRY WHEN HE THOUGHT OF THE TOOLS OF EMPIRE AND EUROPEAN IMPERIALISM. HOW THEY JACKED THE REST OF THE WORLD AND DIDN'T LOOK BACK. THEY WANTED US TO APOLOGIZE FOR NOT APPRECIATING THE DISRESPECT AND BRUTALITY THEY HEAPED ON US AND THE PLANET. AIN’T HAPPENING

HOW THEY LIED AND ATTEMPTED TO REWRITE BLACK HISTORY. BUT THE HISTORY IS SOOOOOO DEEP THAT IT CAN'T BE COVERED WITH TIME OR LIES. REVEALING THE TRUTH ARE WORKS LIKE CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE NILE VALLEY CIVILIZATION.

TO A LOT OF US ALL THIS IS JUST ABOVE MY HEAD.  THEY'VE BEEN TOTALLY CONFUSED LEADING AN EUROCENTIC LIFE STYLE, LIKE CELEBRATING CHRISTMAS. YEAH, AFRIKAN PEOPLE AND EUROPEAN HOLIDAYS: A MENTAL GENOCIDE. 

THANK GOD A BROTHER HAD THE INSIGHT TO CREATE THE SEVEN DAYS OF KWANZAA TO GIVE BLACKS A SENSE OF RACIAL AND CULTURAL SELF ESTEEM SO MUCH NEEDED AFTER 400 YEARS OF CONTINUOUS BRAINWASHING AND DISREPECT.  HE KNEW THAT THIS WAS RIGHT.

LIKE ELDRIDGE CLEAVER, THE BLACK PANTHER WROTE, GIVE EM THE REAL, GIVE EM SOUL ON ICE. HE STOPPED FOR A MOMENT TO REFLECT ON WHAT HE HAD READ.  HIS CONFIDENCE WAS BOLSTERED AGAIN AS HE THOUGHT OF WHAT AMERICA'S FIRST SAINT SAID: I'VE BEEN TO THE MOUNTAIN TOP, AND TONIGHT I KNOW THAT WE, AS A PEOPLE WILL GET TO THE PROMISED LAND.

AND HE CONTINUED TO READ.

COPYRIGHT JAN 2004 BY J. BEN WALID