We should no longer be in the phase of realizing there is a problem. Denial and disbelief should be winding down. When the top dog (white men) of our captors start proudly using food stamps intended for the ‘lower’ class, we need to be retreating and preparing. They are.
The next phase is anger. Though many of our people are very much into this, it needs to be controlled to a point. Make it work for you. Be angry enough to ask questions and analyze. Be angry enough to be an exposer of injustice. Be angry enough to open up your own educational institution. Be angry enough to demand Afro-Americans and all their history be included in books for children or write your own. Be angry enough to defend you neighborhoods by whatever means available when enemies encroach. Be angry enough to vote. Be angry enough to demand a fair voting and counting system. Be angry enough to confront the injustices - in the media, on a megaphone at a rally, to your legislator, in front of a municipal building, on YouTube or Twitter. What other justices to defend can you get angry enough for?
We have all the tools necessary to rebuild and start our own. What do I mean? Many of the reasons why Afro-Americans* have put up with the crap of modern day jobs and careers was for the perks. Pay, prestige, benefits, overpriced homes, 60” flat screens, X-box 360, all-types of media blitz junk ‘must haves’, etc. Thanks to the super-greedy, now the means, to connect with the vices of life are gone. Why would anyone put up with the injustices of racism that is practiced in many of our jobs/careers?
Afro-Americans have all the manpower and expertise to fulfill our rebuilding. Architects, engineers, accountants, lawyers, educators, bankers, health care practitioners, therapists, first responders, military specialists, bricklayers, clerks, secretaries, farmers, artisans, mechanics, managers of operations, logistical experts, etc. This includes all the experts locked up in prison. You name it. We have someone as an expert in the field.
We need to understand that our captors and their descendants have done everything in their power to destroy us and keep us divided. Whatever they instilled in us, our parents and ancestors that lead us to fall for that trap, needs to be refuted by ourselves and all generations moving forward. This isn’t as difficult as many believe. No longer accept or give as an answer to anyone ‘You’re no good.’ Instead say, ‘That was not a good choice for you. I have faith you can do better’. In that and similar ways, you are letting them know their ‘behavior’ is questionable not their ‘person’. You may be stunting a future genius. Someone who is going to free your people for decades to come.
At the present time we still have Black-owned banks. Dole out some of your money to them. Thanks to radio announcer Warren Ballentine, there is an initiative called the People Empowerment Movement available at various black-owned banks nationwide, which will reinvest through us in our communities. Take advantage of it. Freedom and justice is for us all and it starts with a small seed - You.
As our economy ‘collapses’, we need to remember, as our parents, pastors, and ancestors told us ‘we made a way out of no way’. We have what it takes. Our spoiled captors have been away from it for too long. They have no idea of what hard work really is. Let’s communicate and align ourselves with each other in our not too distant past and take advantage of this ‘change’ in the proverbial guard for our future. We need to pinpoint, with as much accuracy as possible, 1 year out, 5 years, 20 years, 50 years, 100 years and beyond, what our Reparations package will look like. Now is the time.
*Afro-American terminology, spiritually and morally unites Americans of the African Diaspora with other Afro descendants worldwide. Afro- is the term adopted internationally by the Worldwide Conference Against Racism.