Ok, so now you know. Get over the shock. You live in a racist, classist, sexist nation. Fact is, you've always lived in a racist, classist, sexist na
Ok, so now you know.
Get over the shock. You live in a racist, classist, sexist nation. Fact is, you've always lived in a racist, classist, sexist nation, state, city, and increasing - in a pro-racist "state of mind."
For now, the "illusion-delusion" dance is over. An Illusion = a FAKE IMAGE. A delusion = A DENIAL OF REALITY. Together, they can dance forever. Problem is that white people from Wall Street to Pennsylvania Ave to the Trailer Park are no longer casting the "post-racial" illusion. The music has stopped, so our matching delusion just doesn't match anymore.
Please get over the reality shock to our delusions. Please don't fashion another, stronger delusional bubble in spite of them shouting the reality in our face, or more accurately shooting the reality in our backs.
Our ancestors most responsible for our real progress didn't need to DENY the reality of white racism and the daily oppression of Afrikan people. Still, they organized. Still, they built. Still, they raised us. Still, they fought. Still, they laughed. Still, they created healing spaces. Still, they grieved the losses to the beast's various appetite.
Death was no match for them and is no match for our Spirit, worldview, and determined action. We have forgotten.
Cynical?
A couple of years ago, a friend worried out loud about me being "cynical" as I criticized Obama's collusion with this system of racism. Though he had no retort to my points, he worried out loud about losing hope. He seemed to think that If he didn't believe in white people's projected illusion and our carefully crafted delusion, he wouldn't have anything else to believe in. He feared that hope would die.
I assured him that I was more hopeful than ever. I said that I placed my hope where Harriet Tubman, Delany, Garnett placed theirs - in our people, and in our vision for real freedom which we would take by the inches or by the mile.
Araminta Harriet Tubman had no illusions about white people's racism, still, she came back for us time after time. She believed in us. She fought for us. None of that was based on an illusion that white racism had or would abate. She was openly critical of Lincoln for just trying to "wound the snake" (her words) that was white captivity of African people.
Bless our souls - many of us are still trying to hold to an America that never existed. "Just America" like "discovering America" was/is white people's projected illusion designed to reduce our righteous resistance. Fighting resistance is costly.
Sure, there have been times of more or less overt repression of our people. Sure, I prefer the less overtly repressive times. Those times have come after our vigorous and militant struggle against white oppression. Can you say the Civil War - where armed Black soldiers and millions of striking Black people broke the manacles off of our wrists? Can you say Burn, Baby Burn of the late 60's and 70's?
We haven't burned anything lately.
We have an injected "moral" aversion to it. Talk about delusion? Not always, and still too often our avowed "moral superiority" over oppressors hides our obedience, surrender or submission to them. Somebody recently said: "When they go low, we go high." Sound like we're in control, right?
We don't have to hold to a delusion to have hope - for ourselves and for the world. The root of our delusion is fear born of brutal physical and psychic oppression. This is not a put-down. Owing to years of brutality and our need for relief, our motivating and self-directing fear has morphed into what Dr. Amos N. Wilson calls "pathological anxiety." It's an over-estimation of the threat and an alienation from or denial of our own POWER.
Together, we can turn the fear into confidence. Let's get stronger together. Let's heal the wounds that make us believe that we're not enough. Let's together build strong and trusting relationships, missions, families, and organizations to protect and nurture us in our harsh current reality. We did it before.
Fear Isn't an Organizer:
Don't get it twisted - fear is a motivator, not an organizer. We must do that - every one of us within our circles of influence. Together let us create a warrior mindset and skill set designed to "kill the snake." To do so we'll have to heal the hope planted in illusion and delusion and replant it in our culture, our story, our Spirituality, our world view.
If you find it hard to hope on us, then you've just discovered the presence of "injected oppression." Mark it, it's a place for healing. Right now, just reach through it. It's a Yurugu mind trick. (Yurugu = white people, ala Mama Marimba Ani.)
Faith is the substance of things unseen, right? The problem isn't our faith; it's faith in those who profit from our misery. It's a loss of faith in our way, our ancestors and those yet to be born.
Look to our culture and our people - past, present and future and grow your hope on them. Don't see them? Has your hurt or Yurugu blinded you? Look again. When you find even one, dust them off and place them in an honored place in your home, and in your heart. Build on them.
Sure, "we stumbled a ways..." This is a protracted war on many levels.
This will not be easy, Yurugu loves to maximize your "Black hurt" while minimizing their insatiable appetite for our blood and their barbaric actions to secure our social subjugation. Don't go for it. Together, we'll get through it.
Keep reaching for our people. Keep putting them in sacred places. They and your actions will lead you to others until your mantle is full. Your clarity will grow. Ultimately, you'll outgrow the use of crutches and face the challenge of being eternal.
You'll no longer need to create a delusion to accept their illusion. Instead, you'll become a living confrontation to it - an eternal walking, talking, breathing warrior-healer-builder.
