I have never knowingly befriended or been on speaking terms with a racist European American. I’m certain I’ve spoken to several, been in close proximity with more than that, but never actually held conversations with them. The closest I got to talking to one, was when I was in the Air Force living in the dorms. One of the guys I worked with was from Alabama, and yeah, he fit most of the negative stereotypes of a European American from the country. Thick accent, boots, country music, not well versed on shit meaningful, claims to be patriotic…you get the picture. I went to his room one day because he was late for work and this dummy opened the door with a HUGE rebel flag on his wall.  Just to be clear, we were in the United States Air Force, not the Confederate States Air Force. I asked him if he took that shit down for dorm inspections and he said “nope, why would I have to”. He never got in trouble for it either…yet I got written up in an inspection for having a candle that was never lit on my nightstand. 

The Experience

The Black experience is interesting when you think about it. Our ancestors were kidnapped, brutalized, forced into generational servitude, forced to fight for our freedom along with northern economics, endure 2^nd or 3^rd class citizenhood, excessive incarceration, lynching, Jim Crow, separate and not equal, constant violence, drugs, discrimination and then have every aspect of our culture monetized, copied and stolen, while the American media portrays US as the threat. It’s effective branding for sure, everywhere you go outside of America, people think Black Americans are dangerous thugs just because. Even so, they steal, copy, rebrand and monetize our culture too. I assume it’s because they’re so entertained by our pain that there’s no desire to alleviate the root cause. The sad thing is we never even ask for much, just love us, or leave us alone. 

I have nothing to do with racism in America; it was here when I got here.

Paul Mooney

In the last two weeks we saw an Asian American man found not guilty of murder after chasing a Black teenager for 135 yards, then shooting him in the back. Then we saw a Black teenager found guilty of murder and sentenced to 35 years after 4 European American teens jumped him and he stabbed one in the process. This isn’t new, the justice system automatically assumes Black people are guilty, dangerous, or at fault in cases where the other side is not Black. I honestly think some of these people get high off Black pain. Not like a weed high though, more like heroin or something. They’re always chasing another hit of Black pain, so in America it feels like we are always on the defensive. The ignorant, and often bigoted European Americans love to reach for this silly stat about 13% of the population committing 50% of crime or some dumb shit. A stat that only tracks arrest numbers but for some reason, they never cite the stat that 53% of all exonerated individuals are Black. 

Til It’s Gone

I truly wish Black people could all just leave at the same time and take our talents to a place that appreciates us. I dream of this all the time oddly enough. All of our intellectual property, cultural contributions, inventions and all that, erase it from every other place, and limit access to it outside of wherever we all are. That’s not to say I’m pro-segregation, I’m saying actualize the narrative. We’re told and the world is told we don’t contribute shit, and we’re useless, so we’ll take all of our contributions to an appreciative environment. To a lot of the racist European Americans, that would seem like utopia for them too until they realize what they’re left with. They’d turn on the radio and it would be Bagpipes, Polka and some guy playing the didgeridoo. A lot of the TV shows would be the same, sports would be boring, unless you’re into NASCAR, which is already boring. No more air conditioning, open heart surgery…forget about it. Actually, if our exodus included reparations, the entire south would be bankrupt overnight.

Usual Suspects

I know who’s not benefitting, and we all see who is not as well. The idiots that hate the most and mimic the most…aka the country music loving, good ol boys that love college football but hate the players in it. The rural European American that has probably seen more deer than Black people in any given year but conveniently cite a Black friend that is probably just a coworker. The seemingly accepting Liberals who support in principle, but not in action. Those people aren’t benefitting from the nonsense; they may be ambivalent. The beneficiaries are the same now as they were since the beginning. The wealthy “elites” who can influence laws they’ll never abide by, claim to represent the common person while only catering to the ultra-rich regardless of political affiliation. They keep the country boys hating, the rural people clueless and the sympathetic liberals feeling as if symbolic stances are equivalent to solidarity. The current billionaire class stands to lose a lot, because they’re the only ones benefitting from the on-going illusion.

When you’re born you get a ticket to the freak show. When you’re born in America, you get a front row seat.

George Carlin

In this dream, with the Black scary people gone, I ponder who the new villain is? A new villain is needed otherwise poor European Americans will go crazy. Who is now blamed for stealing jobs, being DEI hires, or the reason your 3.0 child can’ t go to whatever college they want? Who then is blamed for a lack of resources, poor fiscal policy, income inequality and crime? There are far more poor European Americans than rich ones, and now that there’s no entertainment, no distraction from reality, yet the exact same living conditions, they question who’s really fucking this country up. Clearly it wasn’t Black people if we’re all gone. Imagine if every shade of Brown went to more appreciative areas along with their contributions, this country would collapse. Food options, healthcare, maintenance, defense, you name it, shit would be worse off overnight. No exaggeration there at all. It would be a hell of a wakeup call for the bigots that’s for sure.

I think I’ve mentioned this before but, my realization of how fucked up the country is, came when I was outside the country. I was in Kuwait working with third country nationals building and maintaining American bases over there. This Egyptian guy and his brother invited me to lunch one day and they shared their food with me and all that. While they were talking, they kept saying “the Americans” with blanket statements of negative things. I cut the guy off and said, “it’s not all Americans; I’m nothing like that”. They laughed at me. I spent the next 2 minutes reiterating that I was American too. The guy simply asked me when you fill out job applications, what does it say”. Applications have been updated since then, but at the time it said, “African American” and he asked how many times had I been to Africa. Then he pointed out that White people were considered Caucasian. No hyphenated version of American at all. That has been in the back of my mind since then. 

Bye Design

Every Black and Brown person that is born and raised in America is immediately “otherized” because if we along with the European Americans that actually do care stood united, sincerely, this not-so-subtle hatred we face would stop. The country we live in would be a better place, and worthy of “best country on Earth” chatter. We have all of the resources, a diverse blend of perspectives, creativity and natural beauty to make the claim now. What we lack is a legal system that is just, a political system that is altruistic, and a population that is informed. The American mediocrity we see is by design. The marketing that this mediocrity is great is by design to keep us enduring it. I doubt it will be addressed or fixed in my lifetime, so I’ll be taking MY talents elsewhere. I hope all of you find a better home for your talents, or the will to renovate this one.