The issue isn't really reparations, but I am furious. This particular issue is about how I deal with rage. I feel that if I express it with eloquence, I will progress.
But I'm angry now. I'm angry because other Black people have questioned my sincerity by calling my clarity rhetoric, questioning my sincerity. Meanwhile, other Black Americans can't fathom being owed anything collectively - and they sure don't want to make our government or corporations (read: white people) feel any discomfort or guilt, much less be accountable for even an iota of Black destitution. These same Black people can state the problems that we experience, either through observation or direct experience, but they won't - not can't, won't - connect them to the larger atrocity at its origin. It infuriates me to see that we are more scared than we are angry about this and that we are so willing to discount our ancestors.
But I guess that fits. Do we really even know our ancestors? As long as we can be disconnected from them and say "Oh, that happened such a long time ago." and that those happenings happened to people long dead who we never knew, we don't feel as if there's anything to lose. And we have to live with white people now, right? Yes, the same white people who STILL believe that the Civil War was fought to free the slaves. (Hmmm, I wonder how those white people relate to the white people who actually fought against slavery?) We have to get along with them, right? How can we do that while begging for a check?
Okay, I lied. This is about reparations. This is one of those issues that I feel really underlines how we feel about ourselves, about other Black people and about us as a race of people. I look around and am saddened by both Black nonchalance and Black raucousness, but I'm not going to let my sadness dishearten me. I'm going to continue to strive for clarity. I could care less about a check; if this is the beginning of restitution for the Middle Passage, put it all out on the table. Let's find out exactly how this country, its corporations, its families and its individuals profited from slavery - and how they continue to profit from the residuals of slavery. Let's find out exactly how we suffered in bondage, exactly who owned us, who our families were (and who they might be), and how we might have profited if we were treated as humans and not chattel. We can have these answers, even if they NEVER lead to anything else but the answers in and of themselves - because these are answers we need to know. We won't need a spreadsheet until much later ... but how do we define our worth now?
Damn baby! You got me all frustrated and angry again. Like you, I tried to say it wasn’t/isn’t about reparations. But it is and will not go away because of whining white or Black people.
See, now I gotta put pen to paper and come up with my own sense of clarity on the issue(s).
Good! Ronn, that really puts a smile on my face. Put that pen to paper, honey …
after reading your comments on jason’s page i was smiling! thank you for your rage, your sincerity and your conviction!
We as black people need to stop beating that dead horse called reparations. We need to learn how to get along with each other first. Black men need to stop disrespecting women in rap music and women need to stop justifying the need for men to do so. We need to stay our asses out of the club and stay home to be better parents to our children. Black people need to quit trying to get a free handout(i.e. reparations)and do for self. But ya’ll don’t want to hear that though, and maybe that’s the problem.
When I sit down and really talk to black men or women, I am not bothered that they are not just like me. I don;t feel threatened unles they are openly hostile. People tend to return what they get. It seems both sides must call a cease-fire to racism before it will heal.Also the internet postings look dangerous.There is so much hatred there that few would ever express face to face. The web allows an únderground’ conduit for all the hatemongers.I don’t care for rap music(as my parents felt about the Beatles) but i don’t need to hate blacks for it. several ofthe kindest folks I ever knew were black. If everyone layed down their swords, we might find the world a pleasant place, but we nto look for positives in those not like ourselves.
yes let us as white people pay the black people all the money they want because i dont want to offend them . I also dont want to get beaten by young black thugs in the movie theater when i tell them to keep quiet because they’re behaving like raucous jerks.And lest we not forget I dont want to be car jacked and shot and have my wife raped and beaten and left for dead by the oppressed black man .Yes the black man does deserve my hard earned money even though he did nothing for it except scare it out of me.
Thank you for your article. I am planning to write and direct a film around the topic of black rage. Your points are heart felt. I looked up the synonym for rage and recieved “aggravated , angered, black, choleric, enraged” Black? What a societal mind fuck!