Category: View from the Battlefield

I am not from the school that believes love neutralizes hate, or that you pray for your enemies and everything will be alright. I wish it was that simple. Black folks need to go on the offensive and I don’t mean being hyper-vigilant 24/7. That’s the kind of stress that’ll kill you.

A major political and cultural shift to the right came with the election of Donald Trump as the 45th U.S. president. We’re coming up on the fifth anniversary of the Ferguson Uprising. This year will mark the 400th anniversary of my people’s kidnapping to these shores. How are we assessing our past and applying the hard-learned lessons to our future?

Women of color, and especially Black women, are leaning in, stepping up and growing into various leadership roles in our racial justice movement and beyond. I bear witness to their brilliance and to their resistance. I’ve seen their writings, their organizing, their passion to fight the stereotypes, practices, laws and policies that restrict or stop their professional and political growth.

In the spirit of a few Black athletes before him, Kaepernick has used his status to elevate an issue that white America continues to ignore and earnestly take on—the issue of race. He added his voice to the national debate about the treatment of Black and Brown people by so-called law enforcers. He took on the powerful NFL and won. Whether Kaepernick gets an NFL contract or not, his place in the struggle for human dignity and racial justice is noteworthy.

King had many profound insights about life in the U.S. that can still inform our quest for racial and economic justice. Because the mainstream media has us stuck on dreaming, it has taken years to uncover the nuggets of wisdom in King’s many speeches and writings that expose the barriers to peace and prosperity for all American citizens.

The two-party system is slowing turning into a one-party dictatorship. The checks and balances in the three branches of government—Executive, Legislative and Judicial—are methodically disappearing.

Progressives also need to step back and think about how we’re going to build political power in this current climate and despite the Democrats. The midterm elections show that our strategy and tactics could use some polish.

Americans are abusive, and they are deep into self-medication abusing prescription drugs, alcohol and everything in between. I foresee medical weed being over-prescribed by doctors as they have done with opioids.

It’s already been documented that Kavanaugh has lied under oath at least five times in past and current Congressional proceedings. He’s probably got a lot to lie about and much more to hide. That’s why a million pages of documents has been assembled—a record for a judicial nominee.

We must fight for meaningful relief of those still living. We must advocate for humble remembrances of the Black and Brown lives tragically lost in disasters, whether man-made or natural.