The Afronista Rants #7: Sorry, MLK, the War Ain’t Over Yet

Today is Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day.

Today is Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day.

I would say it again, but you get the point. So, my question is, what precisely does that mean? I got a day off, thanks to Congress, because some people rallied together and thought we should have the day off. We celebrate a lot of white people, why not this guy who gave some speeches and got killed for his efforts? That’s their argument, not mine; I’m just trying to give you the basic premise.

At any rate, today my aunt posed a question “do white people celebrate MLK day like black people do.” My response was, “black people celebrate MLK day?” Oh, really? Yeah, there’s some parades and stuff, but they have parades for anything these days. How precisely do you celebrate MLK day? Do we stand around and talk about the meaning of being black and oppressed? What do we do? Somebody let me know because I might feel like celebrating.

I told my aunt that today is just like any other day. This is one of those partial holidays, where some people get it and some people don’t. Those that get the day off are glad they don’t have to succumb to Monday morning blues. MLK day is just like any other “holiday” we have where people only “celebrate” half-heartedly. I told my aunt to look at how Christmas is celebrated in this country and she would get her answer. If supposed Christians hardly give a damn about the alleged birth of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, why would anybody give a damn about a black man who got shot 40 years ago?

At any rate, I hate this day more than any other holiday that we have. It’s so phony to me. All my black friends on Twitter and Facebook are posting their “I’m black and proud” posts, most of them have had to do with President Obama and how cool it is we have a black president. There’s lot of posts talking about our freedom and how we’ve won against the oppressors and whatever else. I’m sure that’s all wonderful and everything, but seriously… what precisely do you think you’ve won? How free are you exactly? Where did you get these idiotic ideals? Are you even on the same planet as I am?

NEWS FLASH: THE WAR AIN’T OVER YET!

We might have won a battle, a major battle, but the war is not over yet. And just in case you didn’t know, much like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, there has been a total shift in focus: we no longer fight The Man; we’re fighting ourselves.

I do not think we’ve made a significant victory in the war against racism and oppression. Sure, legally, we’re not allowed to discriminate and all that jazz, but that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t happen. Does it make it any less criminal just because we can’t see it? But I won’t even turn this into a black versus white charade. Let’s talk about black versus black. We’re our own worst enemy. We oppress ourselves far greater than the white man ever could.

Talking white, acting white, Uncle Tom, etc. all these things that black people say to other black people to make them feel guilty for succeeding in what they have decided is a white world. Why not just be happy that somebody is successful at something, anything? Why alienate your own kind because you can’t play the game, failed the game, or don’t even know there’s a game going on?

Black people segregate themselves far worse than the Jim Crow laws. How many black people would never consider dating outside their race? Black people won’t even listen to “other people’s” music because they “didn’t grow up around it” (whatever that means). And the reason they didn’t grow up around it is because black people sit in their own crummy neighbourhoods generation after generation without a thought in the world to moving out to something better. Just because you were born and raised in the hood doesn’t mean you have to stay in the hood. With each new generation there is less and less determination to try and do something with oneself.

Black people want to be rappers and football players like other black people who supposedly have made it. Never mind the fact that the chances of becoming such is slim to none. So when you can’t be a rapper or a sports star, what is there left to do? Black men don’t think of college. They take the easy way out. Drugs on the corner, sold to their own black brothers and sisters. And when they get locked up, it’s the white man’s fault. “They’re keeping us down.”

Oh, are they? I don’t recall seeing any white people parading through your hood with a gun to your head forcing you to have hopeless dreams of celebrity. They didn’t force you not to think of your own future. They didn’t force you to start selling drugs, your ass, your mother’s pearls to make ends meet. They don’t even force you to stay in your ghetto trashy neighbourhood, the one you call home. You did that on your own because “that’s all you know.” You didn’t even dare to dream of something else. Because you’re afraid of being “too white.” If being successful, comfortable and in charge of one ownself is being white, then what is being black? Being a loser?

That’s what we say to ourselves day in and day out. And when January 20 (or the closest Monday) rolls around, these same fools get up on a soap box and talk about how far we’ve come. “Look, we got ourselves a black president. Ain’t we proud, mammy?”

You can’t even spell president. Out of every thing to be counted that is important in the United States, black people come up last. Is this how you honour Martin Luther King’s legacy? By being a race of illiterate drug dealers and video hoes? Is this how you want to follow up President Obama’s presidency? We have a black president now, but when will the next one be? Who’s following in his footsteps? Who’s inspired by this?

As long as we continue to oppress ourselves, this “holiday” is utterly meaningless. You got your right to vote (that you only utilised just recently). You got your right to drink from the white water fountain. You got your right to ride in front of the bus. You got your right to attend college (which you only use some of the time, and maybe if it’s so you can play pro sports). You got your right to whatever is out there that’s available to everybody else, but you haven’t gone out there to get it. I guess you thought that right along with the reparations, somebody was gonna come knocking on your door to hand you your due.

Black people today, particularly young black people, need to realise that you haven’t won shit. The war is not over; in fact, it’s just getting started. Hate to say it, but you’re losing this one. And once it’s gone, it’s gone.

Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream. Where is yours?