They want to hurt black people in America.
I detailed here how my father, a military veteran, had to come home from foreign wars to sit in the back of the bus. He died in 2005 from drug addiction and a long struggle with illness. We were estranged during the latter part of his life, but I loved him still because, well, he was my dad.
At his best, William Carnell Norman was fun, hilarious, and charming; never met a stranger. My fondest memories were the sounds of him singing to his favorite vinyl artists as he cooked or cleaned.
He had an amazing voice.
Another occasion I can recall near vividly is when I won my first major writing competition— the Atlanta Public Library Black History Essay Contest. Then a senior in high school, the awards event was to be televised on the Library Channel, so I had my hair braided three days before.
Thing is, long braids are always notched at the base with synthetic strands and can sometimes come loose. I was so afraid one of my braids would slip out during the acceptance speech that I had great anxiety about the event. Dad grinned and said, “Girl, if that happens, just grab your braid off the flo’, wave it in the air, and say “Baby, I got to get me a new hairdresser!”
That lesson has stuck with me throughout my life. Now, when people ask me why I laugh when life is so hard, I say, “I laugh because life is so hard.”
In the end, his struggle to be a proud gay black man in the South took its toll. He died in the VA hospital after a ten-year bout with HIV/AIDS.
Now, monsters like Ron DeSantis want to rewrite history and say that Black folks were partly responsible for their own deaths at the hands of White Supremacist mobs.
Rosewood. The Ocoee Massacre. Black Wall Street. The Atlanta Riots, hell; even 14-year-old Emmett Till are all somehow to blame for the hundreds who died at the hands of racist mobs. These murderers had no interest in truth; they just wanted an excuse to kill People of Color.
Now, the very proponents of stand-your-ground laws, where timid White men can kill POC for any hint of supposed violence, try to equate Black people defending their homes and their own lives with the “perpetuation of violence.” The psyops couldn't be more clear. They want black people to become African Dodgers. You know the story, don’t you? Back in the day, White people used to throw baseballs at the head of Black people who signed up for “work” at carnivals.
They did this for mediocre prizes.
Many Black people were severely harmed as a result but it was all in good fun, right? There were anti-wokeism-type cries when the practice was eventually shut down. One wonders why Black men and women would allow themselves to be debased in such a way—but imagine being told that you don’t even have the human right to defend yourself against bodily harm because you are less than human.
The grooming worked on some, but not all. King, Malcolm X, and the Black Panthers—they raised a Black fist and fought back. All were called communists and terrorists. All were defamed.
King eventually rose as the cream of the crop because of his nonviolent stance, but I do not recall Malcolm X or Panthers burning any crosses. Their voices were just more angry and defiant, and folks didn't want to hear that.
I am with Rage Against the Machine on this one now—anger is a gift—it helps us maintain focus on what needs to change.
Now, here we are again.
Where is the extremely loud and vocal public pushback?
Where are the allies screaming to stop this?
I created a video about my feelings on the topic. I have been creating them every day as a way to vent and release my pain and frustration.
I couldn't stop crying—so I just let the last recording run.
youtube.com/...