This Moment
We will never have to pay the price our ancestors had to pay. Never.
We won't have to live through the ex-facto version of slavery in the form of sharecropping.
We won't have to send our daughters to back room alley doctors to risk health and life for the right to chose.
We won't get spat upon marching for equal rights for all.
We won't have to feel that the only "white collar" job for you us was to be a teacher...as long as it was in a segregated school. Or be a cop because it was the only "good job" for a man from Ireland.
We will never feel nearly the sting of corporate racism as the first and second class of folks of color climbing the ladder at IBM, ATT and other Fortune 500's in the 1980's
No. That is a price that was long ago paid. It is a price that we can't even imagine today. If somehow, it became expected that any of the aforementioned events was something we would have to cope with, would sooner commence to trying to beat someone within an inch of his life, then let them try to desecrate our humanity in any such form.
And, it is price, that understandably none of us can relate to. Other than the vivid stories of our parents and grandparents, we have little related experience. We are so far removed from ever having to deal with this kind of treatment that many of us have looked at older folks--particularly those who were active in the civil rights movement like they are know-nothing relics of the past. We see our generations of X and Y as having crossed the post racial line in so many ways. Hip-Hop and other cultural aspects seemingly connected to "Youth" have been the great uniter.
That is until, in someways, right now.
History, once again, shows us that it still has plenty to teach us know-it-all young folks. Right now, as I type, Senator McCain and his runningmate are somewhere allowing crowds of suppoters to turn into angry seeting mobs on unfounded hatred for an opponent who is different. They are using coded language of racisim and hatred through such phrases as "dimish the prestige of the presidency", and insinuating terrorist connections to assassinate his character. Their silence about the not-so-coded language of terrorist and nigger used by their surrogates and supporters is driving the point home. No man of color. Not this time. Not ever.
And it is downright frightening. I know I have never seen anything like it. But those folks who paid the price? They have. They kept their eye on the prize. No matter what kind of hateful and beligerent behavior was constrantly thrown their way. We must do the same.
Change is on the horizon. I truly believe it.
This is our moment to stand up and say, "Never again". This is our time to be the morally compelling voice in the room. We must make sure our children never have to pay the price that we pay.
We won't have to live through the ex-facto version of slavery in the form of sharecropping.
We won't have to send our daughters to back room alley doctors to risk health and life for the right to chose.
We won't get spat upon marching for equal rights for all.
We won't have to feel that the only "white collar" job for you us was to be a teacher...as long as it was in a segregated school. Or be a cop because it was the only "good job" for a man from Ireland.
We will never feel nearly the sting of corporate racism as the first and second class of folks of color climbing the ladder at IBM, ATT and other Fortune 500's in the 1980's
No. That is a price that was long ago paid. It is a price that we can't even imagine today. If somehow, it became expected that any of the aforementioned events was something we would have to cope with, would sooner commence to trying to beat someone within an inch of his life, then let them try to desecrate our humanity in any such form.
And, it is price, that understandably none of us can relate to. Other than the vivid stories of our parents and grandparents, we have little related experience. We are so far removed from ever having to deal with this kind of treatment that many of us have looked at older folks--particularly those who were active in the civil rights movement like they are know-nothing relics of the past. We see our generations of X and Y as having crossed the post racial line in so many ways. Hip-Hop and other cultural aspects seemingly connected to "Youth" have been the great uniter.
That is until, in someways, right now.
History, once again, shows us that it still has plenty to teach us know-it-all young folks. Right now, as I type, Senator McCain and his runningmate are somewhere allowing crowds of suppoters to turn into angry seeting mobs on unfounded hatred for an opponent who is different. They are using coded language of racisim and hatred through such phrases as "dimish the prestige of the presidency", and insinuating terrorist connections to assassinate his character. Their silence about the not-so-coded language of terrorist and nigger used by their surrogates and supporters is driving the point home. No man of color. Not this time. Not ever.
And it is downright frightening. I know I have never seen anything like it. But those folks who paid the price? They have. They kept their eye on the prize. No matter what kind of hateful and beligerent behavior was constrantly thrown their way. We must do the same.
Change is on the horizon. I truly believe it.
This is our moment to stand up and say, "Never again". This is our time to be the morally compelling voice in the room. We must make sure our children never have to pay the price that we pay.
posted by Jonzee @ 2:09 PM
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