In the 60’s and 70’s this was a symbol of black power and solidarity. . .
Today the vicious hate mongers interpret this symbol to promote violence. . .
It is the symbol of uplifting a race of people who are still confused after 400 plus years, . . .
who are still trying to understand who we are . . .
at the same time demanding equality in our justice system. . .
Because like all lives matter so do black lives. . .
Black lives will always fail to matter as long as life fails to matter to humanity. We are a world lacking respect for the precious gift of living. Black folks pull out the race card every time an injustice is done to black lives by white hands. An infectious boil that’s been festering since the first slave ship docked. I’m not saying get over it and I’m not saying to forget. But we do need to be responsible for our own lives.
We need to consider, the black lives that die at the hands of other black hands. Where are the outcries for the teenagers recruited to keep the gang numbers high? The young black lives selling drugs to keep black lives strung out and void to living. Why is that young life standing on the corner instead of sitting in a classroom? How do we stand and speak out against injustice when we are our own genocide executioners? Where are the outcries when a mother uses foul language to reprimand and tear down the self-esteem of their child in public and private? Where are the demonstrations of rage when our children fail in school? How do we fight for black lives to matter, when we fail to make them matter, in our own home? Why don’t we make the uplifting of our children the priority? How will society respect black lives if we don’t teach our children to respect themselves and others? How can black lives become a force to be reckoned with if we don’t recognize our own worth?
Do you think, if you shout louder than me, it makes you smarter? No! It makes you sound ignorant because everyone around you can hear. What was that? You don’t care? Well that’s part of the problem. We need to learn how to talk to each other not shout at each other. We need to learn how to shut up and listen when our children speak, stop cutting them off when they have something to say. They make mistakes, you did too, remember? Actually that’s how most of learned right from wrong. Instead of calling your child a liar tell them you don’t believe that story and reiterate how important telling the truth is. Our children need to trust us. Trust that if they tell the truth we will believe them and always have their back. Calling them a liar when they are trying to tell the truth will cause them give up trying to tell the truth. When you tell them you don’t believe them because they lied before is telling them that they will never have your trust again and they will stop caring if you believe them or not.
Raising our children to fear us makes them fearless and feel unloved. They are fearless when confronted with danger. They will steal without fear of consequences. They will blow curfew because they already fear you and will take whatever you deal them punches, cussing them out, or threading them. They will pick up a gun and shoot because life doesn’t matter. That child will stand before the court laughing and smiling not realizing the life they threw away. And mother, your weeping is in vain because you failed to teach that child their life matters. Yes you failed. You should have praised that child instead of tearing them down. You should have instilled in them a healthy respect for life. You should have taught them how precious living is and that every breath is a gift to savor.
Have any of you ever heard of the word respect? First look in the mirror and respect the face you see there. Remember that face when you look in the face of a child and remember they deserve respect just like you. I’ve heard adults disrespect a child and when I call their attention to it, they said he don’t respect me. All I could do is shake my head and wonder who the adult is? Whose job is it to teach respect to a child? In order for a child to respect you they have to know what respect is.
Black lives matter and they should matter to black folks. It should matter when we raise our children. We should teach them self-respect. No, it’s not right that the police shoot innocent people running out of fear. but then a person shouldn’t fear if they aren’t guilty, thus stand with their hand raised and their mouth shut. Remember anything you have to say can and will be held against you. Keep your mouth shut until you have a lawyer. That won’t save you from a police officer who has a hard-on to hurt, or even kill an innocent suspect. But at least you were in the right and if our justice system became just the guilty police who consider murdering with malice may face a jury that will rule with a guilty verdict. Jesus dies on the cross to save souls. Maybe these lives dying at the hands of the police are dying to save the innocent.
I may be old school but if you get stopped by the police you give your name, show ID and at the same time memorize their name and badge number of the cop and make a complaint. Oh and keep your mouth shut.
Remember that election when you didn’t vote in? Well a councilman, assemblymen and or senator was elected. You believe you were violated go to their office and demand action. They’re in the neighborhood. Give your complaint to their representative and check often to find out what they are doing to protect your interest. You can volunteer to help, you know. If it turns out they aren’t doing what needs to be done in your community. I’m not just talking about police brutality but with the pot holes that are destroying your car. What about slow buses when you need to get to work or school? What about trash cans on our corners so we don’t have to litter? About littering why must our black communities look like shit? Why can’t you hold that trash until you find a corner trash can? Come on it’s our community and litter invites rodents and an accumulation of litter creates funk. It’s the community where we live and we should care how it looks. I recently told my grandson not to litter. He said everyone does it. I said well why you don’t be the one to make the change. Now I’m asking all of you.
Sorry I got off track. If your elected official doesn’t represent your interests then come next election get out and vote his ass out of office. They work for you. Collectively we pay their salary with our taxes. When we are wronged or injustice is dealt get our representatives to speak up for us this includes the issues of black lives mattering.
To prove black lives matter is to take care of our black lives ourselves and demand the respect we should have for ourselves.
Oh, by the way young man and young lady pull those damn pants up. Nobody, not even the young ladies you’re trying to impress want to see your dirty draws. And one last thing stop promoting black on black violence with those videos on FaceBook of people fighting and cussing. Stop promoting it and they may stop posting them or better stop fighting each other. Everytime you share one of those fight you are part of the problem.
This post was inspired by the words in The Ramblings of an Intellectual Sistah post.
Whispers I Silently Heard Kindle version will be free from December 31, 2015 to January 4, 2016 on Kindle. Get your copy.
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©Kimberly Wilhelmina Floria
12/27/15
silentlyheardonce 
Some societal and family issues are true regardless of race…the problems can be found within each…but race has been and will continue to be an issue within various societies…someone is always at the bottom of the ladder being held back…whose at the bottom differs from country to country..but there is someone at the bottom…a random thought brought on by you thought provoking post.
It’s the thoughts that hopefully will come up with solutions.
One righteous post and I endorse it one hundred and ten per cent
Thank you my brother. 🙂
🙂
Kim, there is a lot here because the issue is complex. As a result, the solutions need to be multi-faceted. Some like to point to one aspect oversimplifying the cause, thus oversimplifying the solution.
The statement All Lives Matter is correct, but I view this as a means to usurp a movement of Black Lives Matter that does need an audience. As a white man of age 57, it is difficult to understand the white privilege I have, as I can go pretty much any where I want. A black man is not afforded such luxury, even if dressed well.
The studies on lack of socio-economic mobility in the US point to several necessary improvements: economic investment, social investment, education, community policing and encouragement of two parent families through family planning and birth control and education are all cited as needs.
You are correct we need better conversations around these issues and not convenient excuses. We also do not need the politicizing of tough issues, as the sound bites are typically short of the mark.
Thanks for writing this. Keith
It is hard for anyone from different backgrounds to understand what goes on. Just as what I do in my household is different than my neighbor. There will always be differences but the fact will always remain that we all need the basic necessities, food, clothing and shelter. Blaming this issue and that issue definitely isn’t going to correct the issues. We do have to create honest dialogue. I think one way to help shed light on the problem is to teach history. Not just ones side, teach the truth. American history is ugly especially during slavery time and after. Details with honesty must be taught to all of our children. It’s embarrassing for white people who know that ugly part of our history was disgraceful. It’s painful and makes black people angry when confronted with the abuse. But if white people see the pain their ancestors inflicted they may understand the mentality of most black people. If black people see the struggles their ancestors endured maybe they will start to respect each other more. Yes there are books that tells the history but only a handful read them but if they were in the school text books then maybe we may meet each other for real. I think we can a long way but still there are the stragglers who don’t want to let go of the old ways of thinking. This is a subject like you said has many facets and solutions are far from being met. My father was Spanish white, my mother was black with American Indian. My father’s family didn’t want to have anything to do with me and my sister because of our mother. I’m friends with my first cousins on FB as I sought them out. We have yet to meet in person and we’ve been friends on FB for about 5 years. So if we can’t heal in our own family how difficult will it be to heal a nation? I think together we wrote a whole new post. But it feels good to express myself honestly with you.
Thank you Kim for your words both in your post and in follow-up to my comment. Your perspective is greater than many with your background and experience. I think a honest look at history would teach much. Thanks again. Keith