Saying Something.
I didn’t know what to say that hasn’t been said before by myself and others. It’s taken me a week to “say something” with my writing because I had no will to write. Sometimes doing what you love can feel like forced labor.
The first thing I want to say is “Stop forcing people, especially white people to speak up.” People tell you a lot through silence. There are those who are silent because they don’t care. Forcing those people to take a side (your side, which is my side) will just create fake outrage, creating more people like that lady who was caught taking selfies in her “activist” swag then leaving the protest right after she got her photo-op. Forcing people to speak up (take your side) is inviting fake ass organizations like the NFL, to say they care when their anti-black/anti-free speech history can be vividly seen in a pitch black room. That organization then “encourages” its employees to “speak up” (take the right side, our side). Then you have employees of that business like Drew Brees, who’ve been vocally against protesting police brutality calling it unpatriotic and disrespectful to the American troops, posting black boxes on social media. Black boxes that symbolize anti-police brutality. The same message former NFL quarterback, Colin Kaepernick got blackballed out of the league for. You see where I’m going with this? The NFL was going to jump on the BLM train regardless of the pressure or not because “Black Lives Matter” is what’s hot right now. I’ll share my thoughts on institutions faking the funk later on. Everybody is getting their proper reading from me, just keep reading. There’s really no need to force anybody to fight alongside with us because we are on the right side of history. Those who aren’t should be educated on what’s right, but left alone when it comes to deciding which side they are on. If your white and non-black friends are silent it could be that they are racist or they like to move in silence. Same goes for your white and non-black favs. Both will be further discussed in this piece. Lastly, look at all the “good cops” kneeling, hugging, holding hands and making kumbaya speeches. Y’all forced them to “take a stand” and they are out there still brutalizing innocent lives. One officer is photographed in one picture kneeling with protestors and is on video shoving an elderly man so hard he starts to bleed from his ears, which I’m told means he’s concussed. Does that look like someone who truly cares to you? He’s just one of many police officers caught faking the funk. That’s why you’re not going to see me pressuring cops to join the fight. These are grown men and women capable of making their own decisions, and I’d be more than happy to see an actual cop be on our side as long as they are genuine. You won’t find me pressuring white people either for the same reason. The white/non-black allies that I champion are folks who made the decision to fight for and alongside black lives because they believe it is morally correct to do so. Not because they were pressured to do so or because they know it’ll make them look good.
Speaking of looking good while faking the funk, all of these businesses need to shut the f*** up. I’d rather people and entities say nothing than to have them lie to my face. Where was your concern for black lives before all of this? Most of those businesses don’t even do anything “special” for Black History Month, but will open their mouths at times like this or on MLK Day. It’s all just a facade, people. It’s the same during pride month when all these organizations rainbow their logo’s. It’s all showmanship, and showmanship isn’t genuine support. You can say something, you can do something, but if the things you say and do are baseless then you are better off not saying or doing anything at all. I am asking you, as a black man who has to live with through this shit, if you’re not genuine in your support of black lives mattering, kindly shut the fuck up and continue on working through these trying times. You’ll have more respect from me for staying neutral to keep your prejudice pale patrons than you acting like you truly believe black lives matter more than pink pennies. I like to know where everyone honestly stand on things. Whether I agree with their stance or not it doesn’t matter. The truth does.
I hope that this time has taught you all a valuable lesson. That lesson being celebrities and socialites ain’t shit. These beings, once ordinary people like you and I are now out of touch weirdos with no moral compass or pulse on the world outside of their igloo. Morality stems from personal belief and character. Not from following trends and self preservation hidden under the guise of “love for all.” You have celebs like Meek Mill posting black boxes then questioning the motives of the message. Pretty much telling you you’re unorganized because he didn’t take the time to walk his scrawny legs over to a computer and do his own research. The Dream, T.I. and Killer Mike pretty much telling folks in Atlanta not to riot, NOT because it is dangerous, but because those rioters and looters could possibly wreck one of the businesses they own. Wakanda, Cliff says. Black folks aren’t unjustly killed, racially profiled and brutalized in Wakanda, but they are in Georgia. Black men aren’t chased through white neighborhoods by white supremist and murdered in Wakanda, but they are in Georgia. Black women’s bodies aren’t found decapitated, mutilated, in body bags under bridges in Wakanda, but they are in Georgia. Cliff, tell me once again how Atlanta is Wakanda?
Do you have anything to say about the events leading up to the protest?
At the top I mentioned my speechlessness due to me not being emotionally ready to speak. A week ago, if I created and published this post, you’d pretty much read “burn the whole country down. Kill every cop.” I still hate America, I still don’t have very fond things to say about cops either, but I’m tired of seeing innocent lives taken. I don’t want to see more innocent lives taken. Whether that life is black or not, wears a uniform or not. If you’re not harming people or are the reason for said harm, you don’t deserve to be hurt. I also did not want to come out and say the same things I’ve said over and over again when you’ve had plenty of other writers sharing the same sentiments. Obviously, they are not me and vice versa, but last week wasn’t my time. I’m feeling motivated now, which is why I’m saying something now via my writing. Just because you might be reading this piece a week or several weeks after the murder of George Floyd doesn’t mean I was silent until today. I spent my time being vocal on social media, lending my voice to my podcast https://anchor.fm/LetstalkAboutItPod and on non-black platforms like Instagram and Rizzle using my voice (video) to actually say what was on my mind. Was on a livestream discussing things as well. I was also signing petitions, spreading information about bail funds and keeping names like Breonna Taylor and Iyana Dior in circulation because black women and black trans-women lives matter. Whether those lives were taken by a racist piece of shit cop or one of our own. As far as my thoughts on the protest, of course I’m for them. I’m ALWAYS going to be for protest against injustice. Peaceful or not. When you restrict people from protesting peacefully, you give them only two options. Protest violently or do nothing. Ever heard the saying “you can only push people so far until they start to push back?” That’s what could happen when you push someone to the limit with your constant verbal and physical abuse. When you only answer to the calls of violence, what you’re telling people is they need to be violent in order for you to listen to them. Let’s not ignore the history of both peaceful and non-peaceful protest getting things done globally. You might be thinking, “you just said you don’t want to see innocent lives taken” and I still stand behind that. Abusers aren’t innocent. Don’t matter if they were just following orders or not. Those giving the orders to cause destruction are not innocent either. People who chose to fight back, physically do so with the understanding of the risk. Evidently the same could be said about those peacefully protesting because you see hundreds of clips, pictures and live recordings of peaceful protestors being physically abused. If you ask me, the cops have been luckily pushing people who choose to be peaceful all the time or they just haven’t reached their limit, yet.
How do you feel about the riots? Are those people innocent?
To equate breaking glass to being shot in the head (or anywhere)with a rubber bullet is wicked. To equate burning Chase banks to bleeding black bodies left on the street to rot for hours is egregious. Uou don’t need to force people to speak. Just look at those crying over broken buildings and not dead black bodies. You know where those people stand. Especially if they only speak when vocalizing their disdain for the looters and rioters and ignoring the reason why people are outside of the house in the first place. I personally won’t partake in any of the outdoor activities, good and bad, but I’m not going to focus on the bad only. And you got me fucked up if you think I’ll ever show more love for a building than a black life or a human life in general. As far as those people’s “innocence” if they have not contributed in the murdering of protestors and non-violent cops, then they are still innocent in my eyes. That Target has no feelings. Neither does Chase Bank and that police building. I want to refocus on your friends. The one’s who are silent because they aren’t posers.
You are going to ruin a lot of friendships in your life and loose a lot of good people thinking their silence means they don’t care simply because they’re not on social media every hour “showing how much they care.” You should know by now, character is who people really are, not the things that they say. As I alluded to earlier, not everybody “doing something” right now is doing it because they actually care. These people are your friends, that has to mean something. There was a moment in time before all of this that convinced you to befriend this person. I’m going to guess that it was that person’s character that made them an attractive friend to you. You should know how your friend’s are. If you know your friend isn’t the “look what I’m doing/just did” type, then don’t force them to be. What matter does it make that your followers and other strangers online know that your friends aren’t racist pricks? If you know they aren’t then that’s all the knowledge that needs to be known. If a stranger does want to look into your circle, your friend’s character will speak for them, like all of our own personalities speak for us. You do what you want with those friends, I’m just saying, being friendless is not always as good as it seems. I would know. Same goes to your favs. If they aren’t saying much online that could mean you happen to favor someone who prefers to only be in the spotlight for what made them famous in the first place. Prince is the perfect example of that and my favorite. He didn’t broadcast every charitable thing he did for someone. When he did take political stances outside of music he pretty much uttered the same sentiments he said in a song. That didn’t make him fake or mean he doesn’t truly care, he just didn’t want that type of attention and people respected that because his character spoke for him. If your fav is someone people respect and know is a supporter, they don’t need to show you how much they care. It’s the favs who are making a man’s death about them because they haven’t heard their name being called in months, those are the favs you need to be mad at.
I want to end off this piece with some self-explanatory general statements I strongly believe in it.
If black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer lives don’t matter to you, then black life doesn’t matter to you.
If black women are nothing but cum dumpsters, sex dolls and are easily forgettable to you, then black life doesn’t matter to you.
If you only care about black men when we die by the hands of white officers, black life doesn’t matter to you.
If you say #AllLivesMatter then black lives don’t matter to you.
If you say #BlueLivesMatter then we know for damn sure black lives don’t matter to you.
