How Deep Is Your Love?

As I continue to grow in life and my awareness of the truth expands, I begin to notice how powerful love is. I’ve learned one of the greatest things that Europeans attempted to steal from us 500 years ago was love. We have been conditioned to hate ourselves and one another. This is the only way an oppressor can keep us down, by dividing us.  It seems like self-gain is our main concern, and that concern for others comes secondary to our worldly desires. Love is what the people, my people, all people, need.  While reading Kwame Ture tonight I ran into a great passage which I think captures how important love is, and how having love as a people is necessary. Kwame Ture states these words at a Free Huey Rally in Oakland, CA: 

Three things: first and foremost, the honky has been able to make us hate each other. He has channeled our love for each into love for his country – his country. We must begin to develop- and this is the most important thing we can do as a people – we must develop an undying love for our people, our people. We must develop the undying love personified by Brother Huey P. Newton. Undying love for our people. If we do not do that, we will be wiped out. Our slogan will become: first, our people; then and only then, me and you as individuals. Our people first.”

Our people first. That phrase hits home for me because it simplifies what I keep in mind while I try to uplift, educate, and liberate my people. Our people first. I often say that my life is about the people. I truly believe that serving the people is serving God. In order to really be a servant of the people you must have an undying love for the people. The glue that will unify and keep that unification cemented is love. This love must be unconditional. Love must be unconditional, it can’t have any conditions associated with it. If love has conditions then it is not real. So how do deep is your love for the people? Is it strong enough to give your life? Would you be willing to risk your own securities for the greater good? What is the greatest thing our community needs? Love. So how deep is your love? Stay Woke. 

The Cage

Put people in a cage. Take away jobs, give them poor education, all the while flashing materials and money in their face. Put drugs in the cage and then arrest them whenever they sell it or use it. Teach the people in the cage to hate each other and divide themselves over the silliest things, down to what side of the cage they are from. Allow a few to them to leave the cage for the sake of “progress”. Then blame the rest of them for still being in the cage and the exhibiting symptoms from living in such conditions. This is what happens in every ghetto in America today. The only way to break free from this cage is if we unite and empower ourselves. Take control of our businesses and education. Police our own neighborhoods and create our own political power.

shoutout to @szfebje on twitter for his line “Then blame the rest of them for still being in the cage and the exhibiting symptoms from living in such conditions.”

KNOW YOUR HISTORY

My generation is deprived of history, we are literally starving to death because we either don’t know or don’t care about how powerful history is. Many people seem to walk around blindly and think the events of the past have no affect on us today. This is an incredibly crippling mindset to have, however I don’t place full blame on those people. The society we live in has fooled them into thinking that history holds no strong place in their lives. Often times when someone is speaking about the injustice of chattel slavery in America, you will hear someone was express “Slavery ended over 100+ years ago, get over it.” America has fooled a person like that to believe that these past events have nothing to do with conditions today. It goes back to cognitive dissonance which I spoke about in my last post. If America acknowledged the institutional racism that still exists from the days of slavery, then that would cause them to condemn themselves. If they condemn themselves then would have punish themselves. So to combat this they fool people to think history has no affect on the our present situation. 

When they are not fooling us that history is not important, then they are teaching us a white-washed distorted view of history. They teach us lies like Columbus “discovered” America. The inherent racism of that statement is almost overwhelming. The statement basically acts as if Columbus was the first human to set foot on the land, and the natives that he encountered must have been subhuman or inferior. People had lived in America and the Caribbean Islands for THOUSANDS of years before Columbus every set foot on that land. In school we learn all about European history as a required course. We learn of the Greek, British, Roman, and even Russian empires but there is slim to no mention to the empires that existed way before those such as empires in Afrika, India, and China. 

In order for us to ever unite and truly end in the system of oppression, we must have a strong knowledge of history. Someone sent me about powerful quote today that I think captures just how powerful history is. “The events that transpired 5000 years ago or five minutes ago have determined what will happen five minutes from now, five years from now or 500 years from now. All history is a current event.” Why is it important for us to learn our history? What happens today is because of what happened yesterday. If we don’t learn history, especially the ugly parts of it, then it is bound to repeat itself. Stay Woke. 

America’s Equilibrium: The battle of dissonance

As you know I am digging deeper into the book “Stokely Speaks”, and during my reading tonight Stokely talked about a subject that hit home to me. Just this week the trial of George Zimmerman began. Ever since the start of the trial, I have read and even encountered personally people who are in strong support of George Zimmerman. The question I often asked myself was “Are these people really this sick that they could support this man who killed a 17 year old kid in cold blood on Sunday February 26, 2012?”

Stokely at the time referenced Fanon in saying that man(mankind) could not condemn himself. If he(man) did, then he would have to inflict punishment upon himself. When I read this, I automatically had a deeper understanding on how people could blindly support the likes of George Zimmerman. These people who support Zimmerman understand (consciously or subconsciously) that if they condemn themselves then they would also be condemning themselves. They know or feel that racism is still alive in this nation and many of them have their own racist logics and biases just like Zimmerman has. Many of them are so blind to this that they act almost dumbfounded when you expose their inherit racism. 

Why don’t people want to talk about race in America? Perhaps it will expose too many ugly truths. Many of those ugly truths will condemn some people who pride themselves on being “colorblind.” In a state of dissonance, people may sometimes feel “disequilibrium”: frustration, hunger, dread, guilt, anger, embarrassment, anxiety, etc. (Festinger, L. 1957).  Imagine the dissonance many white or Americans period would feel if people exposed the real racism and corruption of this country.

The fact is many people in this country benefit from the oppression of people, whether it be directly or indirectly. To expose this would cause these people to condemn themselves, and according to Fanon a man(mankind) can not condemn himself. Why do you think people love to throw the term “reverse racist” whenever a Black person speaks out the injustice of this racist nation? That person is trying to get back to equilibrium from the dissonance that they feel. Stokely states:

“As for white America, perhaps it can stop crying out against “black supremacy,” “black nationialism,” “racism in reverse,” and begin facing reality. The reality is that this nation is racist; that racism is not primarily a problem of “human relations” but of an exploitation maintained – either actively or through silence – by the society as a whole. “

As long as America continues to ignore the issues of race, racism will continue to exist in this country. For the power structure this is a good thing, as racism continues to keep people divided. Divide and rule is the conqueror’s tool. As long as people are divided, the power structure will continue to rule over us all. Those that are being “ruled over” includes many of our white brothers and sisters. You cannot heal if you do not deal. Stay Woke. 

Flectcher

I consider myself a pretty personable individual, especially when I am in a space that is filled with love and joy. However at certain times when I am in a space that is not filled with love or in a space I would not like to be in, I can be very standoffish. 

Currently my place of employment is one of those spaces not filled with love, and is definitely not on my top favorites list for places to be. However, I have to pay the bills and the job provides me that opportunity for the time being. I can be honest and admit that I am not the most personable guy on the job site. Not that I am rude to anyone or anything, I just usually keep to myself and my small circle of coworkers. Yet today, I had an experience that opened my eyes and caused me to look deeper into myself. 

While standing in a hallway at work, waiting to perform another monotonous task, a gentlemen that was working in the area stopped and simply said “Hi my name is Fletcher, what is your name?” I simply responded with my name and we shared some small talk about work and such. Doesn’t sound like some powerful experience right? Yet for me this small interaction struck something deep inside of me. 

Fletcher made me realize how important it is to shine your light to everyone you come in contact with. Regardless of the environment, it is so important to connect with the people around you. Fletcher recognized me as just another human and acknowledged the fact that since we were in the same place at the same time that it was important for him just reach out.  From now I will follow the lesson I learned from Fletcher, to everyone I come in close contact with, and the conversation will always start off with “Hi my name is Taurean, what is your name?” I know this sounds like a small pointless interaction, but you never know how a small act can impact someone’s life. Stay Woke. 

Black Power

I began reading “Stokely Speaks” today, which is a collection of speeches and essays from Kwame Ture named Stokely Carmichael at the time. I always thought I had a firm grasp on what I thought Black power was. I always believed Black power was giving power to a people who had all of their power stripped from them. This is absolutely correct. However Kwame broke it down either further to me. He explained how for many decades we tried to act towards the moral conscious of America, however it has been proven that America has no moral conscious. Many years Black people had marched and received brutal beatings. The goals of many of these demonstrations were to show America that was it was not living up to the fairytale fantasy that it loved to portray. Kwame explains how this approach was a from a place of weakness. I do acknowledge that these demonstrations were not a complete fail, as many of them did wake many white Americans up to the problems of the Negro in America. It also woke many negroes up to the problems of the Negro in America. However, we can all agree that all was not solved by these demonstrations or even close. Kwame speaks about coming from a place of power and all the means that it entails, whether that power be political, militant, economic, etc. Long Live Black Power. Stay Woke. 

Thoughts of Inez

In honor of my grandmother who passed 13 years ago to this day, I wrote these words. 

 

Thoughts of Inez

 

I often think of you

Dancing in and out of my dreams

Around every corner I see you

I chase you but I never find you

Your heart has never left me

I still see your smile

I still hear your laugh

Profound words you spoke tattooed my soul

I feel you so close even though we are far

Every time I look at sky I see you

Our love is never ending

It was created before you

And it will remain after I am gone

You were my ruby in the rubble

My light in the dark

My food for my soul

Until the next forever I love you