If
not for America’s half-hearted attempt at “democracy,”
where would Black Americans be? Honestly, if not for Frederick
Douglass, Booker T Washington, Mary Mcleod Bethune, A. Philip
Randolph, MLK, Angela Davis, Malcolm, Huey P, and Bobby Seale,
Shirley Chisolm, Reverends Jesse and Al, and the Obamas…. If
not for individuals like these, fighting for a well-earned piece of
the almost mythical American Dream - where would Black Americans, if
not to some degree Black people around the world be?
These
were the tone-setters of the era.
The
promise of a “piece” of
Democracy,
a legit, legal place in a democratic society - that was a large chunk
of what fueled Black folks. We, by cruel coincidence, find ourselves
inside of what much of the world regards as “the place to be.”
Yes, because of the alleged and supposed democracy, liberty, freedom,
independence - at least the promise of. We weren’t trying to
immigrate back to a raped and decimated Africa, or Russia, China, or
Bolivia - we’ve wanted our blood-stained piece of Mom’s
all-American apple pie from Jump-street.
My
thought is, if we, as Black people, in an openly hostile, if not
ever-growing more unfriendly by the day place such as these disunited
states of America, if we don’t show up these next two national
elections, (honestly all elections from dog catcher to President)
then we almost guarantee the collapse of this frail, conflicted
American Democracy.
And
I don’t think we’ll like what’s to come. Talk about
medieval and slippin’ into darkness, that will be America if
not the world under Vladdy and Donny.
The
world is a cold place baby, a cold, rough, tough, dirty, gritty place
- by design in almost all cases. America is, as Ronnie Ray-gun
stated, a shining city on the hill, regardless of how it was
diabolically constructed. I’m not dismissing Colonialism and
Imperialism, I’m just making the undeniable point that despite
how America came to be, it be. Here it is, and if Black Americans
don’t make a united stand in the face of a racist, sexist,
elitist, and overtly xenophobic White Nationalist movement, we’re
going to find ourselves, our children, and unquestionably our
children’s children facing a harder, crueler, meaner
white-male-governed world.
Imagine
a world governed by Putin, Xi, Trump, and that clown down in Brazil….
geez it looks a lot worse, a lot bleaker than a world in which the
notion of democracy is at least touted as the greater goal of a
society, whether attaining perfection or not - at least it’s
the prime objective.
In
the face of what could come if we don’t line up to vote like we
line up for an NBA game or a Drake concert, then I can truly state
the obvious: History will define us as failures. The peak of the
Civil Rights/Black Power Movement in America will be President Obama.
History will illustrate that we, in the face of the predictable WASP
Backlash, we folded. Either we didn’t vote, or that 10% voted
for Trump.
How
embarrassing this will be for us all on the other side when we have
to face our ancestors and have to admit we didn’t care, we
didn’t “get it,” we were distracted by “all
that glittered,” we sold our souls to capitalism and the
pursuit of material wealth. We handed over the formal education of
our children to an oppressive and disconnected majority that had no
incentive or desire to make our children as smart and whole as
theirs.
I
just don’t understand how Black folks will have to be prompted,
motivated, herded, and pushed to vote in the coming years. How do we
not
grasp what awaits us?
I
can only surmise that when you don’t know your history, and
believe me - we don’t - well then, as a people, we are doomed
to repeat it.
Hold
on, it’s gonna get bumpy.
