« 'The Idea" at The Roadhouse | Main | Response to A Racial Rift that Isn't Black or White »
October 2, 2006
YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE!
I heard somewhere that Bill Cosby wants every Black person to donate 8 dollars to contribute to a slavery museum. I think it's an amazing idea and it's not asking too much. After all, how many of us spend more than that per diem on useless crap which does not benefit us. But of course most of the Black people I speak to are skeptical about the idea. They want to see "proof" that that's where the money is going. No one asks to see where the money is going on the 200 dollar pair of sneakers or 80 dollar pair of jeans they buy. Oh yeah, I guess they already have the proof-they can see their favorite rapper or athlete flossing bling bling on t.v. every day of the week.
I'm just fed up of the excuses that Black people come up with when we talk about racism and oppression. Then I see what I see and it infuriates me. This is where the following diatribe comes from. This particular episode occured on the #2 train while I was traveling home from The Bronx to Brooklyn on Friday night. Reader Discretion is Advised...
I'll never forget the look on his face as he plopped down in the seat in front of me
the weight of the world on his shoulders
the look of defeat in
his bloodshot eyes
he pops the top off a colt 45, can't wait to take a sip
raises it as if to toast me with eyes half closed and a flicker of a smile
YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE
he pours the malt liquor all over the floor and in anger I rise
and move to the front of the train.
Around me they sit, unaffected, untouched.
The smell of stale liquor and fried chicken wings overwhelms me, the sound of empty soda cans rolling around is like Chinese water torture to me.
Their big hips and fat asses sway in clothes ten sizes too small. The way they move, as though they had all the time in the world, I'm reminded of herding cattle.
I'm stuck in the filth and stain. And I have to sit in it. I don't deserve this.
I can't stand it. I can't fucking stand it.
The drunk man spews a raging diatribe about the white man being the cause of his downfall. People nod their heads in agreement as they spit sunflower seeds on the ground below. (I'm sure the White man forces you to spit sunflower seeds in your living room too)
He finally gets off-they laugh, shrug it off and
Accept it for what it is.
I don't. It's not funny.
No one should have to live like this.
YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE
I glance at the pretty little girl screaming into her cell phone. She can't be older than 16 and She's pushing a baby carriage that's way too big for her. With one hand she rocks her screaming baby, with the other she holds her cell phone. (I wonder how she affords it-I have no kids and I can barely afford groceries) She's telling her home girl she's on her way over. "It's Friday night goddamit," and she's getting her drink on. Fuck the baby's no good father. He ain't never home anyway. "He's doing his thing, I'm gon do mine. Crack open that hennessy girl. It's on tonight!" She hushes her screaming baby girl, aggressively persuading her to sleep. Mommy just needs some time to play. She and baby get off at the next stop in the cold black dark. It doesn't make me sad. It makes me angry, for baby. Her life flashes before my eyes and she ends up on the street because mommy needs something to eat.
YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE
Young Black minds spewing words of hate, ignorance and disrespect. You hate yourselves. You hate each other. It's evident in the clothes you wear, the styles you wear. You embrace stereotypes and hug them close to your body like loved ones.
YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE
Don't want to read, don't want to write-You prefer to fight
For what you don't deserve as though you are entitled to any crumbs which fall from my table.
The crumbs which fall from the tables of
Working people
Honest people
Respectable people
Honorable people
Who do not hold their hands out or lay blame.
No one is oppressing you.
YOU ARE OPPRESSING YOURSELVES!!!
YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE...
YOU ARE AN EMBARRASSMENT...dickies saggin, doo-rag wearin', pants hanging off the I cringe and pray that you do not sit beside me when you get on my train. I'm nothing like you-yet, surprisingly, most people don't get that.
Your aspirations are prison. You have low expectations of yourselves and will therfore amount to that which you expect. I have no use for you. My people have no use for you.
YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE
You were not born into a culture of worthlessness. You are born to survive and take your place among dignified, respected leaders of an honorable people who risked their lives for every single thing you take for granted.
Take a look at the world around you. The cultures that prosper do not allow others to disrespect their valuable accomplishments...
but to you it's a joke.
And the whole world laughs while they rip you off, "MY NIGGA"
I will not apologize to those who take offense
You see, I know my people and my people know me.
Posted by renee at October 2, 2006 9:24 AM