Can Charleston offer us a chance for change?

From the above it is clear, ideologically speaking, that it is here in the U.S.A where I became a MAN and learned “why the caged bird sings.” And, as Langston Hughes had the mother say … “Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair but son, I’se still a climbing.” At the age of 80 I am still “evolving.”

Permit me to be equally clear; this is NOT about ME it is about US – the people of America – and why WE, collectively, cannot continue to permit the politics of racism and hate to lead us irrevocably down a path of self destruction. This is an attempt to persuade us to”emancipate ourselves from the mental slavery of yesterday AND today.

While it is true that, as it was yesterday, there were those who had freed themselves of the odious venom of hate – I remember Charles Sumner, Fr. Groppi, Viola Liuzzo and Schwerner, Chaney and Goodman – so too there are, today, those who have liberated themselves from its stench – those white. Black, and latino men and women who marched in streets across the nation seeking JUSTICE the senseless killing of young Black men. Yet, too many remain who still sow the seeds that flower the fruits of Charleston.

Equally important, it must be understood that what I am suggesting is only a short term approach designed to have our nation, as one, begin the process of coming together to collectively defeat the demons that would have us consume ourselves in a race war.

Can Charleston offer us a chance to change? I believe that Sam Cooke had it right “A change is gonna come!” It is the task of those who believe in a society where justice and equality prevails to make it happen. Yes, we can!

To do this however, there are some “uncomfortable truths” that we must face. As such, it is imperative that we viscerally accept the historical fact, not MY “fact” – lessons we learned but have had little, if any, interest in internalizing i.e.: racism in America has been systemic; it is not and has never been simply about the rejection of the hue of a people, but rather, it has always been predicated on the retention and expansion of the riches and resources the country received from the enslavement of Blacks, native Americans, and the indentured servitude of poor whites. To this end, the struggle to preserve hegemonic control has been led by those who still savor – figuratively and literally – the power of yesterday’s white America and rapaciously hunger for its return. We must recognize that it is not fundamentally about expanding our collective consciousness about race… the story and stories have been written. White America, in my view, has chosen to delude itself into believing that it can cast the first stone. It is psychologically too painful to do otherwise; and Black America has permitted itself to be bamboozled into the false notion that, with Obama’s victory for example, we now live in a post racial society. My statement here is intended to be descriptive and not pejorative.

I believe that were President Obama to address the nation in a “fire side chat” – not a speech, accompanied by, the leaders of Congress, showing and conceptually expressing the notion that it is time for the nation, as a nation, to be spiritually joined in the quest for a National Day Of Atonement , Reconciliation, and Rejuvenation; a day wherein Black people and white people who share in the spirit and nature of this evolving nation , would join together in the hills and valleys of red and blue states. It was done in a nation whipped by storms of greater strife—South Africa, then why not in the U.S.A. We can reprise the real meaning of Dr. King’s dream, which for some has become a nightmare, and in a full court press transform the dirge of Charleston into a symphony of hope and national rebirth. In so doing the nation will regain its sanity and its humanity.

Specifically, what can be done? State, municipal and county governments can enact legislation eliminating all obstacles to the free exercise of the vote; automatic voter registration; gun control reform; be supportive of immigration reform, and the rights provided in our constitution to ALL men and women regardless of race, color, gender, or sexual orientation.

Yes, I am very aware of the idealistic nature of my suggestion. However, let us not forget that without a vision the people perish. In this case, the nation could perish consumed by irrationality bigotry and hate. Let us not forget that It was a white woman who followed the Charleston assassin, who like others before him, intended to ignite a “race war”, who, believing that she was following divine direction called the cops; remember also that it was a Black man Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who dreamt what few had dreamt— Black and white together singing “We shall overcome” to be later echoed by a white Southern President, Lyndon Baines Johnson, who echoed those words as he signed the Voting Rights Act. Let us also remember Emmett Till and Trayvon Martin who, for many of us, lost their lives in a society where hate not “Agape” – unconditional love, was the order of the day. Grieving a is NOT enough to heal the nation. Let the church say Amen!