Precisely at the time we need leadership the most, we have been left out in the cold and shepherded into the wilderness by black opinion leaders who are more interested in cashing checks and enhancing their Q ratings than they are in standing up for justice. Gone are the days of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and erstwhile moral giants who confronted racism with the courage of lions, we are now firmly entrenched in the era of hustling hyenas like Ta-Nehisi Coates, Barack Obama and Kamala Harris who cozy up to the very system of repression they pretend to be fighting against.
Instead of leading with imagination, sambos in expensive suits prefer to distract us with agitprops and tropes. We went from “we shall overcome”, a mission statement of resilience, to “black lives matter” as we meekly advertise our inadequacies and beg for social acceptance. I am actually embarrassed every time I see a similarly complexioned brother or sister wearing a #BLM logo on their facemask or their chest; they don a scarlet letter of insecurity while thinking they are displaying pride in their heritage.
As if doing damage to our psyche was not enough, some decide to add insults to self-injury by dismissing the plight of anyone who does not have melanin like ours. It is the height of absurdity to assume that someone who is “white” has privilege by virtue of their skin color. Not only is it patently untrue, it is counterproductive as it prevents likeminded and like-mired “white” people–who would otherwise be receptive to our plight–from hearing the message we are trying to convey and joining the fight for redemption.
No one likes to be marginalized and their struggles to be minimized; this is true for the truly privileged and the most disadvantaged alike. Think about it; if someone in a wheelchair downplayed your pains and pooh-poohed your anguish wrought by a broken leg, would you not take umbrage with that person no matter how crippled she was? People who have it bad don’t have a license to insult and disparage others who have it marginally better. Instead of reaching an audience that is sympathetic to our cause, all we do is close doors and preclude much needed conversations.
The only people who profit from these campaigns of grievance and woe-is-me victimhood are the very charlatans who are sitting in the lap of comfort and leading lives of true privilege. The establishment reward demagogues who incite passions and lead us in the wrong direction. There is a reason, after all, the Obamas were compensated to the tune of $60 million and why Ta-Nehisi Coates keeps landing on the New York Times bestsellers list. The fastest way to make a buck and get leg up is to sell your own people down the river in order to be invited into the whites’ house.
The leaders of Black Lives Matter have perfected the art of the shakedown in ways that puts Jessie Jackson to shame; they have made more money in our names and using our pains than any black organization since the NAACP. What do we have to show for the hundreds of millions they have collected since Ferguson? Email or DM me if you know the answer because I have been searching for that answer since Michael Brown was assassinated. Far from being freedom fighters, Black Lives Matter is a co-op of fee collectors who hear cash registers ringing each time a “black” man or woman gets killed by a cop.
'Where is all that money going?' Michael Brown's father says Black Lives Matter abandoned Ferguson activists, demands $20 million https://t.co/KyHBeCRK6e
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) March 4, 2021
They rush to the crime scene when the camera lights are on only to vacate the hood once the last mic is no longer hot. What is sad is that we keep falling for these bamboozles. Comprised mostly of Boulet members, the supposed “talented tenth” that DuBois envisioned would lead “black” people to the promised land have instead weaponized our struggles to enrich themselves and impoverish their followers. They offer no original ideas or rallying cries worth fighting for; they just throw out inane talking points as if sloganeering is enough to defeat generations of systemic racism that has decimated the hopes of “black” folks in America.
I will keep writing this over and over again until a critical mass is formed; the only way to take on the status quo and smash the ruling class is for the bottom 90% to put aside our differences and come together as one people. As long as we are focused on our contrasts, we will always be stuck in a morass. Let us follow the lead of Fred Hampton, who figured it out, by joining hands with those whose looks and thoughts are divergent than ours. Only through inclusion and through solidarity that transcend America’s caste system can we form a coalition that would be unstoppable.
The other option is for us to keep bickering over who has it worse; as if being oppressed and maltreated is the standard that everyone should strive for. If we continue down this path of imprudence, the only thing we will keep realizing for our efforts is more of the same that has haunted us for centuries. We cannot lecture and demean our way out of the quagmire we have been trapped in for centuries; it is time to think differently and to reimagine the very essence of “black” activism. Stop groveling by stating #BlackLivesMatter and stop inciting by saying 'white privilege' and instead find ways to create synergies so we can overcome our common oppressors:: #BlackActivismFailed Click To Tweet
“We say that we will work with anybody and form a coalition with anybody that has revolution on their mind.” ~ Fred Hampton
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