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Here’s the latest episode of the podcast where I share my reflections on the world finally paying attention to how black people are affected by racism. If you’d prefer to read along see the text below.
Never in a million years post the previous episode did I think the conversation would’ve shift so quickly.
We’ve gone from the normality around getting ready and comfortable to return to work to talking about the public execution of black people by police.
White people have finally had some sort of mass awakening to the issues that have affected black people since as far back as is conceivable.
In part this may be inspired by the speaking out of corporations and brands adding their support for the cause openly.
– quoting MLK at every opportunity
No offence to you uncle Martin however I feel like you’re their poster child for reasons of non-violence and, as much as I wouldn’t use the word, passivism.
It’s as if they mention you because you were about non-violence however what they don’t realise is that you also were about hitting their pockets through boycotts too.
It’s ironic that through this conversation and throughout the commentary of the calls for non-violent protests they fail to mention the fact that the dominant society assassinated the person they hold in such high esteem as non-violent.
Which goes to show that it doesn’t matter whether you’re passive and choose to fight back
If what you’re saying gives others hope, they’ll get you.
I could list a plethora of cases where the FBI and CIA were sent in to infiltrate and destabilise black liberation and other organisations that threatened the power structure of the dominant society or global policy
But that’s only a miniature part of the story.
Black lives are spread across the globe
far and wide
As if we were the punished folk of old
We don’t share a common language, culture or goals
After generations of attempts to liberate ourselves
We aren’t even close
We share a collective rage when we see these public executions
We march, shout and share
When there’s never a conviction
No justice, No Peace is what we scream…
These man don’t care about democracy
These man don’t care about freedom
They only care about control
They only care about self-preservation
It’s survival.
Whether it’s infiltrators in Garvey’s UNIA or Black Star Line
Whether it was infiltrators within the Black Panther Party and Nation of Islam
Assassination attempts on Castro
Successful execution attempts on Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Fred Hampton and a host of others through foreign collusion
I wonder if group economics is the solution.
In “I, Marcus Garvey”, a first person account of his life and times
Garvey details his travels throughout South and Central America, the West Indies, and Europe
To find out if the injustice to blacks is elsewhere.
To no surprise he found it abroad on his travels
He would ask himself
“Where’s the black man’s government?”
“Where is his king and his kingdom?”
“Where is his President, his country and his ambassador, his army, his navy, his men of big affairs?”
He couldn’t find them and then declared
“I will help make them.”
Garvey became restless for the opportunity of doing something for the advancement of his race
He was determined that the black man would not continue to be kicked about by other races and nations of the world
As he saw in the places he travelled.
After a culmination of the aforementioned and reading up about the conditions affecting the black man in north America from
Booker T. Washington’s ‘Up From Slavery’
Garvey’s young and ambitious mind led him to leave London for Jamaica where he established the UNIA
Universal Negro Improvement Association
If you’re familiar with Che Guevara
There are so many parallels in their stories of travelling
Which inspired them to change the world.
It’s far from coincidental
Travelling unlocks the mind.
How many of us travel and put life into perspective
As we experience and observe an alternative way of life?
For me travelling to somewhere like Amsterdam and just being about to walk everywhere made me feel liberated
Madrid inspired me to learn Spanish and I loved being able to stroll around freely in the sun
Jamaica always put life into perspective.
There’s something spiritual about travel
Taking you out of your way of life creates reflection
Disconnecting allows you to be free
In a way you see what your life is really like
You experience other cultures
You encounter customs
You appreciate humanity much more as a result
Funnily enough I don’t actually know where I’m going with this
I started out trying to address current events
[Well not so current as if you’re black its all day innit]
I’ll admit that I was in a much different place at the start of my script
In comparison to where I am today
I realise that there’s never a right time for anything
Except the present
So if for example there’s been racism
Whether in political or ideological movements
Pre-dating and during our lifetimes
For as long as our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents
Have been in Britain
They’ve always been subject to all forms of racism
It could’ve been the race riots
The teddy boys, the many nationalist and political parties
Combat-18, the National Front and the BNP
UKIP, EDL, to everyone
Known or unknown in-between
Racist rhetoric and violence
Has been a cornerstone of this country
Whether systemic, overt or micro-aggressively
The question is did you make the choice not acknowledge
Or unsee
Did you chose to overlook the details of
What you now see?
Who dumped a truckload of red pill in the global water supply?
Who is responsible for this miracle?
I question whether this train of change
Is about to lose steam
As people get distracted by other things
I admit
I wrote ‘So I know its real’ as more receipt
To express my concerns about this mass awakening.
So to close out
I’m going to play the poem I wrote called ‘So I know its real’
Until next time
Stay tuned, stay safe, stay active
Stay on the path of create a better tomorrow
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