The time for weeping and gnashing of teeth is over. Yes, we’ve been p-slapped into reality and awakened from our foolish, delusional, Charlie Brown-Lucy-with-the-football-esque belief that white women would ride to our rescue, realizing their lives were at stake in this past election.
We blindly thought that Trump’s and MAGA’s full-blown anti-immigrant stance and decade-long demonization of our Brown brothers and sisters would have them standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Black women and 80% of Black men who voted for humanity and against giving the nuclear codes and all military power to a person and movement that worships the myth of white supremacy.
Maybe it’s because we’ve seen this movie non-stop for at least 400s that we forgot just how seductive the promise of white acceptance and approval still is to so many. We ignorantly thought a truly “rainbow coalition” of folk was ready to champion the cause of humanity over white nationalism and the buddy passes they offered those who are so hellbent on being white-identifying.
Man, were we wrong. And that has thrown us into the throes of sadness, grief, and depression.
But now, it’s time to dry your eyes, wipe away those tears, and dust off your sackcloth and ashes. We’ve got work to do. Because absolutely no one is coming to save us but us.
We’ve got networks to build. With cops having a freer hand than they already enjoyed, to go upside our heads at their pleasure, we’ve got to build survival networks.
FOOD
All those church and neighborhood urban gardens have got to form working networks to make sure our people eat. We foolishly thought Roe V Wade and Affirmative Action were permanent. They’re gone–just like democracy. So, why the hell do we think our ability to access food from the nearest grocery store will always exist?
These food networks, co-ops, gardens, delivery systems, etc. have got to ramp up their game. Or we don’t eat.
EDUCATION
America is so America that America flipped out and moved to whitewash an already lily-white American miseducation system. And now, it stands to get even whiter. But that’s not all. With control of education going back to the states, and most states being led by Republican governors who are pro-vouchers, public schools may soon be a thing of the past. It’s not inconceivable to think that education will only be available for the haves and not the have-nots. That means we need to be creating our own educational networks today, or better yet, yesterday
SECURITY
When Blackfolk in these never-United States were ravaged by white domestic terrorism in the form of lynching, Ida B. Wells Barnett pushed for the NAACP to make anti-lynching measures their top priority. The group who founded the NAACP, an almost all-white gathering, deemed Wells Barnett’s plan too radical. Instead, they consigned themselves to write about the horrors of lynching and denounce it as evil. And the lynchings continued.
Whether we will have a revisitation of that level of white domestic terrorism or not, we’d do well to take Wells-Barnett’s approach and plan and secure ourselves for that eventuality. Because history shows, when we’re not wanted in their neighborhoods, businesses and schools, and we create our own networks, they don’t like that either… especially when those networks shine like Black Wall Street. So, security is vital
OTHER
Speaking of security, we’d do well to take a different approach to going out. Traveling in pairs or as a crew, choosing more gatherings at the crib, may be things we should consider. And taking advantage of gun laws that allow us to secure weapons for defense is a no-brainer. Hurling MLK quotes at hate-filled attackers won’t hold them off.
My position is not for us to live in fear, but to create networks where our humanity is valued, and where we are willing to uplift, support, work with and defend each other.
