Black & Brown? Really!
I’m so tired of every Black leader with a platform saying our movement is about Black and Brown people. Did Chezar Avenida Cesar Chavez advocate for Black farmers fair wages in the South? No! He advocated for his people and that’s ok. In truth, it appears Black leaders include the word Brown people to add more credibility to our movement. Chances are, Black leaders/spokespersons innately feel if it just about Blacks only, White supremacy won’t listen.
In context, it goes back to the internalized condition of instilled fear that was systemically integrated into Black psyche years ago that perpetuated dehumanization, and powerlessness — thus, less worthy to stand alone
When we bring in other ethnic groups to our platform, we diluted and pollute Black power. I know many of you are thinking this is phenomenal to see White people holding up Black Lives Matters signs and getting brutalized. Please understand, many Whites are only experimenting with our daily pain. Just understand, Whites can’t endure our daily pain, and will soon reassume their original position of privileged in a short while.
Be aware, although this looks different than before, we are still fighting against a system that has historically oppressed Black life. Don’t be bamboozled. This fight for Black justice is ours alone. If we include others outside of ourselves, the movement will become theirs, not ours… Not once have I ever heard any other ethnic group say we fight for Black causes along with our own.
We must stop this madness, because when we get policies and laws passed relating to our issues, and often other ethnic groups benefit more so than us. Affirmative Action in the 80s is a prime example. We pushed for fair participation in the economic engine of America, got 25% set-asides, and the US government allowed White women, Asians, Hispanics, and other ethnic groups to pollute the pool, and we came in last.
On every issue we fight for, we are the last ones to benefit our efforts.
Brown people are the groups that migrate into our communities, start businesses that sell low-quality overpriced foods and other products, which contributes to poor Black health and economic disparities. Due to low property values and rents, Brown people and others naturally gravitate towards Black communities to acquire a property. Because of this community infiltration, many Black communities become systematically non-existent. George Floyd’s and the other Black lives lost is not about no other group. Our lived experiences are uniquely different than any other ethnic group. This is about us, and no other group, because 401 years of living as 1/3 human had been our fate along. Not even Native Americans were given this designation. No other group owns the authenticity of this depth of trauma and pain but us.
Hispanics are the new Blacks in this era, but their presence comes with many more benefits. Immigration resistance is a temporary Trump deal, which will be soon over. America is dependent on this population similar but different from when they were of slaves. Therefore, their labor comes with livable and community-building benefits. I have yet to see White folks ride down on them and burn their communities down. I have seen White folks distribute the wealth of health, education, and enterprise development to this group.
Just to validate my claim as an example, East Palo Alto, CA during the 60s, 70s, 80s, was a robust striving, professional, and a family-oriented Black community filled with purpose, as well as future, which consisted of more than 85% Blacks. Today, the township is more than 70+ % Hispanic, and Blacks have migrated to suburban areas with minimal mental health, support services, and general resources, as well as economic opportunities. Many of the offspring of this population are being pipelined into prisons and jails after relinquishing their family homes to outside groups due to economic disparity.
The proud Black pioneers of community building who hoped for sustainable change and prosperity for future generations are left speechless of what happened.
In opinion, the only thing that happens was a continuous set of broken promises by corrupt leaders who feel Black lives don’t matter. Yes, there is much pain I’m expressing in this post as a Black man living in America at a time such as this. Just be clear, my observations are proof positive based on observational historical real-life research. The construct I’m speaking of is unlooked upon as a problem that is a contributor to the destruction of the Black community by various other ethnic groups in modern-day real-time.
When I go back South to visit where I grew up, my old community is unrecognizable. Brown people of Arab, Asian, and Hispanic descendants have settled in with businesses that are destructive to the few remaining Black families such as alcohol, tobacco, loitering for drug distribution, which promotes crime and incarceration. The sad part, many don’t live there.
I stand with those who are in real and sustainable alliance for the long haul for Black Equity. I’m looking to stand with people from all ethnic groups with the spirit of the Quakers during Harriet Tubman’s day. Not those who come in the name of solidarity, and leave us barren for personal greed.
