Why I'm on my "Black Power Shit"

I have been asked by numerous people, mostly black men ironically, why I am always on my "Black Power Shit". Why are you always on your soapbox? they say. Why do you constantly rant and rave about the state of the Black Union, the deterioration of Black relationships and Black families, the denigration of our communities? Why must you be so loud and adamant about loving Black skin? My immediate response is always, "Why aren't you?"

Why aren't you angry that the world creates a narrative of demonized blackness? Why doesn't it fill you with rage that our children are labeled delinquents out of the womb, our women are whores and manipulators on television and our men are deemed monsters terrorizing the streets? Why do you not hang your head and cry when you see the Black bodies slain at the hands of cops or gangs or poverty?'

I was raised in a home where we did Black history projects on our summer breaks and I was reading Toni Morrison at 10.  I grew up in a home of compassion and I was taught to care for the struggles of others. So I'm on my "Black Power Shit" because my people are struggling. My people are splayed  on a gurney in the corner of the hospital of life bleeding out through every orifice as the ones in power either laugh at our pain, poke at our wounds or blame us for our ailment. I am a Black woman, that's why I'm on my "Black Power Shit". I am fed up with being looked at as anomaly and agitator for loving the skin I possess. So for all those who do not understand, let me lay out for you why I am so adamant about my "Black Power Shit":

Education

When I taught in Baltimore City, I saw kids who had kids, kids in and out of jail, kids who knew selling drugs was the only way out and I saw a system that ignored their pain and outrage. I've seen schools with no books, no computers, no supplies where teachers buy everything to support the students and it was still not enough. And I've heard of administrators who care more about the scores on a standardized test then the standards of living for the children in their charge. Our schools have become daycare centers with a direct pipeline to prison. I'm on my "Black Power Shit" because our babies deserve better; they deserve game changing technologies,  attention to their diverse needs, acknowledgment of their cultural backgrounds. Being in a public inner city predominately Black school should not equal the death of your future.

Wasted talent

When it gets warm in NY I like to walk home. It allows me a chance to get some air after being in a stuffy classroom and claim I did some "exercise". But I've found thateach time I walk  I get depressed. Every corner is filled with black men; standing, sitting, talking, laughing, smoking, chilling. There would be nothing inherently wrong with this except for the fact that I know most of these men have been there all day.  I can see  the doctors and lawyers and scientists and teachers and activists they should have become. I get physically ill with the realization that whatever circumstances they have encountered in life somehow robbed them of their chances and there is no one who could shake them and scream, "Wake up!" That hand that should have been there to pull up and support was missing; poverty and drugs have torn our futures asunder and I am sick and tired. I am tired of vomiting the dreams of my people while America promotes the falsehoods of "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps". I don't even know what bootstraps are, but I do know if the socio-economic status of my people continues to be ignored I will these "bootstraps" to strangle the next person who claims America is the land of the free.

Relationships

Far too many relationships have to fight a war with the demons of broken pasts. Abuse, neglect and disloyalty result in suffering on both sides. And though ALL relationships are suffering these days I am particularly spent with trying to figure out how to have open conversations about Black love that turn into shouting matches. Stereotypes of Black men and women as angry, fat, lazy, trifling and difficult are rampant. The transgenerational curse is real folks and if you have no idea what I'm talking about let me explain it to you. As a result of the systemiatic racism of slavery not only were our families ripped apart but Black love was criminalized. We were not legally allowed to marry and even if we did the chances that a wife (or husband) could be taken and raped by master were extremely high. Men had no power to protect and fight for their women or families and turned their anger inward. Rampant domestic abuse and disgust with "being tied down"  became commonplace. We still suffer except now we can add the ideals presented by mainstream music to the mix; depictions of gold-diggers and thugs and the proclamations that "these hoes ain't loyal".  And there you have it; the perfect mix to create distrust, abuse and discord in many Black relationships.

Beauty

The natural hair movement is beautiful and also completely disturbing. The fact that we had to create a movement to promote the hair that naturally grows out of our heads is mind boggling.  I shouldn't have to argue with people about how my beauty is just as beautiful and valid as your beauty.  And I definitely shouldn't have to hear that I'm being racist when I promote the aspects of my beauty that I find unique, charming or powerful.  You don't tell any little girl who has been bullied and abused in school for being ugly that gaining confidence about who she is and taking pride in herself is harmful and hateful towards the bullies who tormented her. So why do you tell me that saying "I love my skin. I love my hair. My black is beautiful," is an affront to your beauty or self esteem? We don't need a #whitegirlsrock or My White is Beautiful campaign because these ideas have been whipped and salted into us since the day we were born. Every channel is the white entertainment channel, every magazine celebrates white beauty, every day is white history day.


Yes, I am on my "Black Power Shit" and I will consistently be on my "Black Power Shit" until society recognizes that Black empowerment is the only way to restore Black love, Black wealth and Black success and it is nothing to be terrified about. The only way to destroy the institutionalized hatred of Black skin is to teach people to have wanton love affairs with Black skin.  And I do not mean sleeping with mor eBlack people but actually teaching that Balckness is a ligeitmate source of beauty.

Loving Blackness is not hating everything else; if we want to be technical I'm definitely also on my "Women are Equal, Gay Rights are Neccessary, The Earth is Dying" shit. But loving my skin is the first step to being able to create a better world.  Loving my skin is not an act of terrorism towards anyone else but it is what prevents acts of terrorism from being committed towards me.  And terrorism is actually defined as "the use of violence and intimidation in the pursuit of political aims." So claiming that the Black woman's womb is the most dangerous place for a black child is actually a form of terrorism.  Making sure I will oose interest or nit have the proper resources or information to be able to vote is an act of terrorism.  And severing my spine while trying to apprehend me is most certainly a blatant act of terrorism.  Being on my "Black Power Shit" is actually my participation in the most relevant anti-terrorism movement to date.  Instead of saying I'm on my "Black Power Shit" I'm going to start saying I'm on my "Homeland security-Counter Terrorism-United Nations-EVERYBODY'S LIFE MATTERS" shit. Just call me a soldier because I'm dropping bombs on bigotry of any kind.  Racism and prejudice are not only acts of terrorism but an acts of war; I've got on my whole armor and I'm trained and ready to fight.