The Secret is Out.
I talk a lot… but I don’t think I have ever talked about this… until now.
The first time I was called a nigger in a public environment was several years ago. An older white man called me a nigger at a high school football game. My youngest sister was a member of the dance team, and I was there to support her and see my old friends. He didn’t appreciate the laughter coming from our section. He was high up in the football stands and made a point to yell it to my group of friends. Everyone just fell quiet, and he sat down. I will never forget the feeling in my stomach. I am a victim of verbal racism. The only news story that was able to beat a world pandemic in the news cycle is an old story with a new cast of characters: Social Injustice through the Vessel of Racism.
The story of police brutality against Blacks in America is not a new story, however, the United States is in a new time. Amidst the ever-present virus, COVID-19, that successfully interrupted the lives of many around the world and shifted the lives of those spared, comes documented police brutality, captured on phones by locals, stunned as they watched a team of police officers viciously murder an unarmed Black man by blocking his airway with their knees to his body, his neck in particular until he died in front of on-lookers in broad daylight. It's the equivalent of yesteryear's tree lynchings, the hanging of black men with ropes around their necks.
The story of police brutality against Blacks in America is not a new story, however, the United States is in a new time. The secret life of what it is to be a Black person in America... is no longer a secret. Americans of all races across the country are responding with anger. Riots. Protests. Looting. Global citizens in other countries are responding in solidarity. Technology has allowed secret practices of racism to be exposed, reaching the phones of people around the world who never realized what Blacks in America face on a daily basis. The thing about this is, many Black Americans are beyond fed up. They are tired. I am tired. We are tired... because this is not new.
Being Black in America means that your skin is higher in melanin than any other race. Racists do not distinguish the difference between African Americans and Africans. Racists do not distinguish the difference between African Americans and Carribeans. Racists treat all who are African Diasporans the same way, with verbal and physical violence. We are mentally exhausted because this is the America that we have been trying to navigate through since childhood, despite the fact that the system is set-up to keep Blacks down, by any means necessary.
The secret life of Blacks is no longer a secret.
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Music Credit: The Secret Life of Blacks
Artist: Add-2 featuring Koku Gonza
Music Project: Jim Crow, The Musical