Earlier today while reading things on twitter and trying to relax after another day of riding around the metro area applying to jobs that I probably wont get, I came across an article that kinda got to me. It didn't make me tear up. It made me angry due to the stupidity in the video that accompanied it. In the article, the author points out that the GOP and the people at CPAC in particular are having a hard time reaching out to people who aren't old white men. In the video we get to see pretty blunt evidence as to why this is true. In the video a presenter is trying to teach the crowd how to deal with accusations of racism when it all takes a weird and stupid turn.
What the guy in the video doesn't get is that slavery did nothing good for anyone,ever. It held us back as a nation for generations. It was the reason behind America's bloodiest war and honestly it made a lot of people lazy. It annoys me when I see a white person or anyone for that matter say that slavery wasn't that bad. I'm sure the 16 hour days of backbreaking labor,in the hot sun while being beaten severely and wondering if your wife is going to be sold off was a breeze for my ancestors. I mean, we did invent that wonderful blues music from it. I'm sure the prospect of possibly being killed for trying to escape to a life that doesn't involve systematic mental torture was also a fun time for my ancestors. It bugs me knowing that even after slavery, we as black people have not had an easy time or even a fair shake in America. I'm sure some white person is going to read this and note that our current president is a black man but I'm going to preemptively counter and point out the amount of racist bullshit he has had to deal with due him being a black man. He's the leader of the free world and people still look at him like a common criminal. It also bugs me to know that I am by blood related to people who did in fact own slaves. It bugs me even more that those slaves are my family members. It also bugs me that I can find out everything about the white members of my family and trace them as far back as 17th century Ireland on my mom's side but I can't get past the 1850's for the black members. I also realize that my story isn't that unique. It's long, it's weird, it's complicated and kinda sad but it's not unique. I don't know where I truly come from and there are tens of millions just like me. We could all get expensive DNA tests and the best that it would do is tell us which geographical area of the continent of Africa, which happens to be the largest land area with actual people on it. I guess what I'm saying is that it sucks not knowing who I am and it sucks even worse knowing that I'll never get a real answer to that question. Thank you white people.
Friday, March 15, 2013
Something bugging me
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