On the Baltimore Riots, and WHY

After all of this mess that has been going on, you'd think people would understand the message. I mean, history tells us that Black people have been killed by various methods, lynched, burned, beaten, killed, spat on, and countless other morally reprehensible things done to them that postcards and footage from the Civil Rights marches didn't capture. They have been kept out of schools, the opportunity to own property and get loans with FAIR rates only to be met with a fake meager attempt of forced integration when it came towards getting employed.

Not only that, any time some sort of perceived success has been made, all the shade gets thrown by various methods, be it getting pulled over,somebody accusing said Black person of being an Affirmative Action case,or somebody damaging your property as a passive aggressive attempt to put you in your place. And when that isn't the case, their intelligence gets ignored, undermined and snubbed.

And THEN people want to say things like "I don't understand why they tear down where they live... I don't get it." I refuse to engage with people who don't "get it". They "don't get it" because they refuse to look at it. They don't want to get it. They just want to perch up in their chairs and survey the situation and play stupid.

Then they say " What if that was your business getting looted?" I'd say the following:

If it was my business getting tore up, I would defend it. BUT I would also make sure I am a part of the community by hiring people in it, and I would invest money into it, and I would invest in the product I bring into the community. Not only that, I would make sure the people know me, and appreciate me. That should be basic business etiquette.

People tore up the neighborhood because they pay taxes anyway and are still not being treated fairly. They figured, why pay for mistreatment, and disrespect after they've asked for it to stop over the course of many years. They don't actually own any of the stuff in the neighborhood, so they realize it isn't theirs. Taxes pay for that. Their taxes.

So a combination of paying for a bunch of shit that isn't even theirs, that's owned by people who make sure they keep reminding people about their lack of ownership, while harassing them whenever they DO get a little bit of ownership (car, decent job, etc), to the possible point of getting beaten up or killed because of it. And having to raise their children in that environment << THAT'S why they tore it up.

Last time I checked, it sounds like the people are rioting because of taxation without representation. And as long as it continues, shit will get tore up. I'm just saying.   

Happy Juneteenth

Here's something interesting for you: Last weekend, the Juneteenth Festival took place. The festival had no alcohol, they even had an anti smoking booth that gave out information on quitting smoking, a booth where one could register to vote alongside various other informative booths. There was gospel music that was being sung by a local church, and various food kiosks were selling plates of food. But the police were EVERYWHERE. They were on bikes, in cars, and walking around. Now, last time I checked, I don't think they need that many police for a small gathering of people listening to Gospel music and eating food. That being said, this is why Juneteenth kind of pisses me off. I love it because I get to see more Black people in my town. I hate it because of the police.

Across town, there was an art festival with alcohol, and a lot of the prices of the artwork were pretty expensive.   I think I saw ONE officer and he was near the beer vendor area.  I think there were more people at the Art Festival than there was at the Junteenth Festival. You'd think there would be more police at the art festival to prevent theft. Nope, they were mostly at the Juneteenth Festival.

This sort of thing reminds me of a conversation on Facebook about profiling.  I asked the following: Why is it that when a bunch of Black people get together to have fun, the police have to show up in droves? Maybe they were making sure nobody stole an $8.00 catfish dinner plate because, you know that food MUST be valuable or something. :p

This was a drug free, alcohol free zone with GOSPEL Music that took place at the local college.  What the hell did they think was going to go on? Were they expecting somebody to say Hallelujah too loud? Did they think we were going to celebrate it wrong?

See this is what gets on my nerves. People in this country like to act brand new when it comes to racial issues and pretend they don't exist. They say things like, "I don't see color," "We're all human," "My (insert relative/friend, or significant other here) is (insert any race other than the so-called majority here) so I/we can't be racist. Talking about it is divisive, and the only way to 'get over it' is to ignore it, just like Morgan Freeman said."

I say that hiding and pretending it doesn't exist is divisive. This country is abysmal when it comes to race relations because hiding from all of it is what started this mess in the first place. They were too busy inventing band-aids to tie people over or keep them from discussing them and dealing with them.  That right there is complete bald faced bullshit.  It's such an easy  cop out to say, "If you don't like it, then LEAVE!"  because I guarantee  if someone told them the same thing when they were discussing an issue that affected them in a negative way, they would be up in arms.  The difference between race and any other issue was that I was born Black and it's the first thing everyone will see no matter what I do, wear or how 'well' I speak. Contrary to popular belief,  I can't change my wardrobe to appear "less black".   If they truly had some love for this country, they would discuss these issues and stop hiding behind everything under the sun in order to justify their privilege to NOT understand what's going on. Maybe it's just me, but I see that as the ultimate form of treason right there.

Happy Juneteenth.

I Don't Understand Why (insert racist thing) is Racist, Why don't You Clue Me In? < Are you for real?

 0_____O < Insert giant side eye here.  Here's why:

Every so often, a White person will ask this question in some way shape or form, and they never cease to amaze me. I decided I'd write a default response:

I think it's crazy for Black people to have to be their teachers on this subject. Why do we need to teach grown ass adults about how to act around different people and races? This is something they should be conscious of. They are the ones who spread the idea that America is a melting pot and that we should all get along. It is up to them to act like they have some sense, and learn on their own. They can google everything under the sun, so why is it that when something racist pops up they want to ask us what the problem is? Did their google ninja skills all of a sudden fail to function? Are their fingers broke? I think not. They need to be accountable for their actions, and stop using other races as a scapegoat for their fuck ups (for lack of a better phrase). That means no more saying things like, "But my Black friend said..." or" I'm 1/16th Cherokee" or "Why do Black people get to ..." and so on and so forth. Stop the foolishness and be accountable for their actions and stay out of Black folks's business (I'm looking at those who always want to say, "But black on black crime....but statistics, but numbers..." and other various talking points and confirmation bias based data, they may want to present to state their so called case. And stop with that oh so convenient, "But we're all American" mess, when they sit up there and want to talk about "Black on Black crime, but never refer to crime committed by Whites as "White on White crime" because then and only then crime is treated as a default or American problem", and crime by Blacks is some mystical phenomenon that must be shamed ,scrutinized, and looked at with disdain. Stop following up with paternalistic tripe whenever pretending to open up dialogue pertaining to Black issues. Long story short, we are not their teachers, and we can't expect them to learn anything about us and how things are when they can't even begin to accept the what when where why and how things got to be the way they are. They better read some books, use their google fu and do real research instead of coming up with voyeuristic things to stroke their own ego and confirm their biases and for gods sake take responsibility instead of blaming everybody else and telling them stuff like "get over it" or "everyone doesn't have the same opinion as you" after they don't like what is said when their questions are answered.

Usually, the response goes:  That's bullshit and you know it. You're racist and you people are impossible. You should be thankful you're brought into this country. It's the best country for your people, and if you don't like it, you should go back to Africa. I'm sure they'd take you.

Really?  Really. Are you sure you want to take the argument there? Naw, I take that back. I read this article that eloquently explains what White America has been feeling as of late. The title leaves much to be desired, but they wrote nothing but truth. For those who don't really like to read and want the TL;DR version of the article in question, I'd like to say : GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE WITH THAT!  Reading is something that is required  when a person has a computer or tries to communicate by using one. People have time to look up things like "What Does The Fox Say?", and shit like this  but don't have time to find out the answers to their questions?!  That's very telling indeed.  If one is actually willing to seek that knowledge, they will do what it takes to learn it, but I'll go ahead and humor folks and post the short version:

Long story short,  they refuse to recognize the accountability of their great grandparents for losing the farms, or making it so minorities would end up taking their jobs, I mean, that's what they voted for, and because of the treatment of Blacks by their ancestors for so long, the so called minority would probably be of no threat to them because they would be doing their own thing away from Whites. But no, they had to keep those Blacks under their thumb by any means necessary, and now things are the way they are because of that. I'm going to say that maybe they should have educated themselves and voted accordingly instead of voting based on party. Maybe they should have read their contracts carefully before signing up for those loans. Maybe they should have worked harder to pay them off. No one told them to take the shortcut and sell their land to pay off the debt. It's called fiscal responsibility and accountability folks! The rest of us are fiscally responsible and are accountable for what we spend and what we do, so why do they think they can get a pass? Plus the media who happens to be controlled by people like them were also telling everybody that having 2.5 kids was the "ideal' for the American family while others were making babies. This unsolicited advice was given for a very long time, I might add, so it isn't our fault that they blindly followed it. Now they are in the minority, so what do they think would happen next over a couple of years? They can't blame other minorities for their loss in income. They need to take a good hard look in the mirror, and look at what their actions have caused them over the years. 

That being said, They ought to face it, America is the country where they can exercise their freedoms more than every other country and they pay the least amount of taxes when compared to those in the European union. And since the Native Americans were there first in the US, newsflash, Whites don't own it, as much as they want to think they do and cry about what they see themselves entitled to.  If they don't like it they can leave or just shut up and deal with it. /s

What? they mad? To be continued...