Black Lives Matter, Lady Liberty, The Bell, & Declaration!!!

America’s Dirty Secret Has Finally Come Front & Center Of Our Daily Lives & It Was Triggered By The Senseless Death Of George Floyd A Black Man On The Ground In Handcuffs, Not Resisting Arrest, Insisting He COULD NOT Breathe As A Police Officers Knee Was On His Neck.

The World Watched This Play Out Live For Almost 9 Minutes (8 Minutes & 46 Seconds To Be Exact) Until He Slipped Away Into Unconsciousness & Then Subsequently Died When He Was Finally Taken Away & Pronounced Dead.

This Happened In Minneapolis, Minnesota The Home Of The Icon Prince. The Roar Of Rage As Could Be Anticipated Was Immediate From The Black Citizens In The City. Protesters Hit The Streets To Demand Accountability & When They Felt No Charges Were Being Brought Against The 4 Officers (since 3 stood idly by) As The 4th Knelt On George Floyd’s Neck, The City Was Lit On Fire Burning Areas To The Ground, Burning A Police Station, & Stores Were Ransacked.

As Has Happened Time & Time Again Over These Short 59 Years O’ My Life We March To Voice Our Displeasure As Well As Demand The Civil Rights Which We Are Due!!! But This Tyme Something Different & Amazing Is Happening. THE WORLD IS WATCHING!!!

When Events Like This Unfold In Predominately Black Neighborhoods It Is “US” The Blacks Who Hit The Streets To Demand Justice. This Time White America Also Rallied Rapidly To The Cause As The Ripple FX Multiplied. From Minnesota Protest Jumped To L.A., Atlanta, Chicago, New York, & Many Major & Minor Cities In Between. My Immediate Reaction Was “Oh Boy Here We Go Again?!?”

But Then A Lil’ Sumthin’ Sumthin’ Happened As The World Reacted!!! Protest Began In London, In Australia, In New Zealand, In China, With All Of Them Chanting George Floyd’s Name & Black Lives Matter!!! I Had To Sit Down & Take A Deep Breath As This Was Incredibly Moving!!! One By One Countries Around The Globe Climbed Onboard To Add Their Voice To This Human Rights Out Cry!!!

& Now For The 1st Tyme In A Long Tyme America Is Undressed In Front Of The Entire World. The Emperor Has No New Clothes & Has Been Naked All This Time…, Yet Unlike The Little Boy Who Told Him So…, Nobody Over These Last 400 Years Truly Wanted To See/Hear/Speak The Truth Until Now When The Uglynezz Of Systemic Oppression Against Her Black Citizens Has Been Undeniably Broadcast www global!!!

Those Who Disagree & Want To Keep The Status Quo See The Protesting…, The Rioting & They Condemn Black People For Exercising Their Rights To Voice Their Disapproval Of Their Conditions. They Condemn Us For Being Un-American & Not Adhering To The Due Process Of The System As Though We Are Doing Something Un-Patriotic & In Fact Contrary To Our American Values.

Well Let Me Remind You Of Several Things. The Boston Tea Party Was A STRAIGHT OUT REVOLT Against “Taxation Without Representation.” Those Mofo’s In Boston Lost Their Damn Mind Over Some Daggone Tea!!! The Revolutionary War Was America’s Fight Against Great Britain For Independence Under What They Considered Immense Oppression; & The Civil War Ripped A Country In Half As It Fought Against Itself To Preserve The Institution Of Slavery In The South Against It’s More Liberal & Progressive Neighbors In The North.

So You Can Keep The Bullshit To Yourself About Protesting Being Un-American!!! To Protest Is THE AMERICAN WAY!!! We Fought & Died For The Right To Voice Our Displeasure & Right Now In Black America There Is A Revolution Going On To Address Our Basic Human Civil Rights In This Country That Continue To Be Eradicated Black Body By Black Body By BLACK BODY!!!

The Sad Part Is We Had A Chance To Get This Right So Many Years Ago. Slavery Landed In America Long Before America Became America. So Those Folks Were Partially Absolved Of Trying To Make Change As This Truly Had To Be Like The Wild, Wild West. However When It Came Time For America To Break Free From Great Britain & Become Its Own Independent Country, The Declaration Of Independence Was Drafted & Could’ve Solved Slavery Right Then & There As The Words Were Perfectly Formed For This Nation To Start New, To Start Fresh, With Equal Opportunities For All. Read It For Yourself From The Pens Of Your Forefathers!!!

The Declaration Of Independence July 4, 1776 States:

“When In The Course Of Human Events, It Becomes Necessary For One People To Dissolve The Political Bands Which Have Connected Them With Another, & To Assume Among The Powers Of The Earth, The Separate & Equal Stations To Which The Laws Of Nature & Of Nature’s God Entitle Them, A Decent Respect To The Opinions Of Mankind Requires That They Should Declare The Causes Which Impel Them To The Separation.”

“We Hold These Truths To Be Self-Evident, That All Men Are Created Equal, That They Are Endowed By Their Creator With Certain Unalienable Rights, That Among These Are Life, Liberty, & The Pursuit Of Happiness – That To Secure These Rights, Governments Are Instituted Among Men, Deriving Their Just Powers From The Consent Of The Governed, That Whenever Any Form Of Government Becomes Destructive Of These Ends, It Is The Right Of The People To Alter Or To Abolish It, & To Institute New Government, Laying Its Foundation On Such Principles, & Organizing Its Powers In Such Form, As To Them Shall Seem Most Likely To Effect Their Safety & Happiness.”

“Prudence, Indeed, Will Dictate That Governments Long Established Should Not Be Changed For Light & Transient Cause; & Accordingly All Experience Hath Shewn, That Mankind Are More Disposed To Suffer, While Evils Are Sufferable, Than To Right Themselves By Abolishing The Forms To Which They Are Accustomed. But When A Long Train Of Abuses & Usurpations, Pursuing Invariably The Same Object, Evinces A Design To Reduce Them under Absolute Despotism, It Is Their Right, It Is Their Duty, To Throw Off Such Government, & To Provide New Guards For Their Future Security.”

“Such Has Been The Patient Sufferance Of These Colonies; & Such Is Now The Necessity Which Constrains Them To Alter Their Former System Of Government. The History Of The Present Kind Of Great-Britain Is A History Of Repeated Injustices & Usurpations, All Having In Direct Object The Establishment Of An Absolute Tyranny Over These States. To Prove This, Let Facts Be Submitted To A Candid World.”

If You Read These Words & Substitute “Black America” For The Colonies You Could Be Talking About What Has Been Happening To Us Over These Last 400 Years. The Blueprint For What Needs To Happen Going Forward Is Contained Therein As It Was For The Colonies In Their Un-Happiness With The Heavy Handed Rule Great Britain Exercised On Them.

They Bristled Under These Conditions & Ultimately Rebelled Into The Revolutionary War. They DID NOT Go Into This Blindly…, They Spelled Out Their Demands & When The King WOULD NOT Meet Them; They Had No Recourse Except To Declare War & Fight For Their Very Freedom & Independence They Desired.

Are We Blacks Here In America Today Any Different???  I Would Argue ABSOLUTELY NOT& Quite Frankly We Are At War With The Systemic Oppression That Birthed Slavery, Jim Crow, The Klu Klux Clan, Separate But Equal, & White Supremacy.  America Knew She Was Wrong & The Bill Came Due On Abraham Lincoln’s Desk When He Signed “The 

Emancipation Proclamation” September 22, 1862.

People Think This Document Freed All The Slaves…, But It Really Was A Call For The Rebellious States To Rejoin The Union. In Addition To That Ask…, It Was An Order To Free Slaves In 10 Confederate States. In Part It Read:

“…All Persons Held As Slaves Within Any State Or Designated Part Of A State, The People Whereof Shall Then Be In Rebellion Against The United States, Shall Be Then, Thenceforward, & Forever Free; & The Executive Government Of The United States, Including The Military & Naval Authority Thereof, Will Recognize & Maintain The Freedom Of Such Persons, & Will Do Not Act To Repress Such Persons. (Texas, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Arkansas, Virginia, & Louisiana.)

This Was A Leader Who Knew His Nation Was Torn Apart & He Tried To Deliver A Compromise To Help Usher In A New ERA For Black America. Unfortunately Even Though The Northern Union Army Won…, The Resource Rich, Economically Wealthy, & Still Slave Dominant Confederate South WAS NOT Having It & Immediately Implemented Tactics To Undermine Any True Chance Of This Doctrine Succeeding.

America Has Always Known It’s Had An Equality Problem For All Of Her Citizens & It Rang True Even In Her Own Cities As Slavery Was An Ill That Anyone With Eyes Wide Open & A Pure Heart Could See From The North To The South Of This Young Nation. Take The Historic City Of Philadelphia & The Liberty Bell.

Though It Is Iconic Today, The Liberty Bell Was A Lot Less Famous In The 1700’s, When It Was Just A Big Fancy Bell In The Pennsylvania State House In Philadelphia. Later, The State House Became Independence Hall, & The Bell’s Home Turf Became Famous As The Place Where Both The “Declaration Of Independence” Was Drafted & “The United States Constitution” Was Debated & Adopted.

The Bell Itself Still Wasn’t Famous, & It Remained Relatively Obscure Until Abolitionist Groups In The 1800’s Began Using It As A Symbol Of The Movement To End Slavery. They Gave The Bell Its Current Name, The Liberty Bell, In The 1830’s. In The Nearly 2 Centuries Since Then, The Bell Has Been Used For Various Other Movements As Well, Including Women’s Suffrage & Civil Rights.
Source: Independence National Historic Park – Date Updated June 3, 2020

The Early Abolitionist Found A Symbol To Rally Around As They Worked Towards Freeing The Slaves Who WERE NOT Afforded The Opportunities To Build A Life On Equal Footing Compared To Their White Counterparts.

If You Think These Injustices WERE NOT LQQKED At From A World View…, LQQK No Further Than The Tiny Nation Of France. One Of The True Benefactors Of Early America As They Gave Us The Might To Set Forth The Revolutionary War In Our Fight Against Great Britain For Freedom. You Could Say That Was France’s Greatest Gift To America…, But A-Ha…, There Is But Another!!!

Lady Liberty Is So Synonymous With Immigration That The Emma Lazarus Poem It Bears On A Plaque – Urging Foreign Lands To Send Their Tired, Poor, & “Huddled Masses Yearning To Breathe Free” – Is Almost As Well Known As The Statue Itself.

Between 1892 & 1954, More Than 12 Million Immigrants Were Welcomed By The 150 Foot Tall Copper Statue On Their Way To Ellis Island. However, When The Idea For A Monument Was 1st Conceived In The 1860’s, It Was For A Different Reason.

After The Civil War Ended, A French Abolitionist Named E`douard de Laboulaye Proposed Gifting The United States With Something To Commemorate The End Of Slavery. He Convened A Meeting Of Like Minded French Citizens To Raise Funds For A Statue, & Commissioned Sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi To Design It.

According To The Washington Post, Bartholdi Initially Considered Having Lady Liberty Hold Broken Chains In Her Left Hand, To Symbolize The Emancipation Of Slaves. In The Final Design, However, These Chains Were Replaced With A Tablet. Broken Shackles Are Still Part Of The Statue, But They’re Difficult To See From Most Angles Because Of Their Placement Near Lady Liberty’s Feet.
Source: Washington Post Date Updated - June 3, 2020

So Even Today, As The World Watches The Treatment Of America’s Black Citizens From Afar…, They’ve Always LQQKED Over The Border To See Exactly How We Are Doing!!! Those Chains Under Lady Liberty’s Feet Are So Symbolic Of The Struggle Of Black People In America As Although We’ve Broken A Few Links Here & There…, The Oppression Continues As We’re Still Being Crushed Under Feet Or Kneeled Upon If You Will…

The Bill Of Rights September 25, 1789 States:
Amendment XIII
Section 1. Neither Slavery Nor Involuntary Servitude, Except As A Punishment For Crime Whereof The Party Shall Have Been Duly Convicted, Shall Exist Within The United States, Or Any Place Subject To Their Jurisdiction.
Section 2. Congress Shall Have Power To Enforce This Article By Appropriate Legislation.

When Slavery Ended This Bill Was Put On The Books Officially In 1865 & That Should’ve Solved America’s Slave Problem For Good. But How Could It??? You Took Roughly 4 Million People Who Were Subservient To The Dominant Culture Who Had No Land, No Homes, No Means Of Economic Support, No System To Help Integrate Them Into Their New World & Set Them Free To Fend For Self.

It’s Like We Say About Diversity & Inclusion. Diversity Is Being Asked To The Party…, But Inclusion Is Being Asked To Dance 1nce You Get There. Well We Were Begrudgingly Asked To The Party…, But NOBODY Wanted To Dance With Us!!!

When You Are Dependent Upon The Dominant Culture For Every Fabric Of Your Survival…, How Can You Ever Truly Be Free??? Is This Not But Slavery Of A Different Name???

Yet In Spite Of This Black America Began To Survive…, Then Began To Thrive!!! Upon Watching Success By The Least Of…, With Limited Resources…, White Supremacy Sprung Forth & Destroyed Major Black Strong Holds As They Did Tulsa, Oklahoma. Black Wall Street Is Not A Myth…, IT WAS FOR REAL!!!

We Left Hardcore Slavery, Lynching, Rapes, Murder, & Inhumane Treatment Across All Socio-Economic-Philosophical Levels Of The Deep South Only To Be Greeted By More Of The Same Disguised As The New World Order. How In The World Could Black America Every Survive These Terroristic Threats Against Our Very Existence???

Somehow We Did & Even In The Face Of The Civil Rights Minded 1960’s As Blacks Rallied Together Standing Up For Their Rights In The Face Of INCREDIBLE Sanctioned Brutality. Go Watch Any Of The Clips From The Diner Sit-Ins, The Dog/Police Attacks, School Integrations, The March On Selma & Ask Yourself What Group Of People Would Do This To Another Group Of People Considered Your Own Country Men & Women???

America’s Dirty Lil’ Secret Is Again On Display For All The World To See!!!  It Is With Great Pain & Sadness In My Heart That I Write These Words!!! All We’ve Ever Wanted Was To Be Treated Fairly & Equally As The Constitution Says We Should Be..., Yet Here We Are 400 Years Later Still Fighting For Those Same Basic Human Rights!!!

As A Black Man On The Cusp Of 60…, The Civil Rights Movement Was In My Lifetime!!! Malcolm X & Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Died On My Watch!!!  I’ve Been Alive For Every One Of These Brutal Video Injustices Of Black People By Police & Citizens Alike Whether It Ended In Death Or Violations Of Our Rights!!!

Enough Is Enough!!!  Black America Is Mad!!!  White America Is Mad!!!  The World Is Mad!!!  We Are At An Incredible Crossroad Where The Iron Is Hot & The Time Is Now To Strike.  We Need To Dismantle A System Of Oppression That Has Never Had Our Best Interest At Heart.

We Must Weed Out Racist, Corrupt Behavior, & Instill New Equal & Just Policies That Has EVERYBODY’S…, But XSPECIALLY BLACK AMERICAN’S Rights On Full Display!!!  The Day Of Reckoning Is Upon Us & The Time To Act Is Now!!!  What Side Of The Sword Do You Fall On???  Are You On The Side Of The Righteous???  Or Will You Stand Idly By & Allow The Wickedness To Continue???

I Fear For My Life…, My Family’s Life…, The Lives Of The Brave Black Youth On The Front Lines Protesting…, & The Messengers Who Speak Truth Upon Death Ears As They Wrap Those Truth Words Into Convenient Excuses To Do Nothing Or Twist The Words Into Making The Accusers The Aggressors!!!  We’ve NEVER Been The Aggressor…, You’ve Held All The Power For 400 Hundred Years!!!

We Need You To LQQK Deep Into The Mirror Of Your Soul To Examine Your Own Moral Conscious & Realize That Even Though You ARE NOT Slave Owners Today…, You’ve Benefited From A System Of Systemic Oppression That Has Given You A 99 Yard Head Start In A 100 Yard Dash That Not Even Usain Bolt Or Carl Lewis Could Recover From.  

BLACK LIVES MATTER!!!

White America We Need Your Help.  Black America CANNOT Do This Alone..., & For This Country That We All Love & Call Home…, This Could Be Her Undoing If We DO NOT Get This Thing Right!!!  Barack Obama Was The Hope Of Something Amazing In This Country That No One Ever Thought Could Be…, Then Trump Quickly Dimmed That Hope With A Divisive Leadership Style Heavy Handed On The Haves vs. The Have Nots & You Better Know Your Place On The Scale.

I Love My Country…, I Love My Country Men…, But I CANNOT Love A System That In Return Shows Me No Love In Return!!! I Have Always Been A Proud Strong Black Man & It’s By The Grace Of A Higher Power I Still Stand Here Before You As I’ve Been In Some Situations I Probably SHOULD NOT Have Survived.

I CANNOT Stand Idly By & Turn The Other Cheek As Suffering By My People Is At An All Tyme High.  A Change Is Gonna Come…, Because If Not Now…, When???  You Can Be A Part Of The Solution Or Continue Being A Part Of The Problem.

Unlike Marcus Garvey I AM NOT Preaching A Return Home To Africa.  I Don’t Know Africa As My Home. I May Be An African-American To Some…, But My Roots Go Back To The East Coast Of North Carolina!!!  That’s Where My Mama, Her Siblings, & Her Parents Came From!!!  So If You Want Me To Go Back Home Somewhere…, It’s Back To The Tar Heel State Of North Carolina Where My Forefathers Came From.

Unlike Elijah Muhammad The Soft-Spoken Yet Fiery Orator Who Led The Nation Of Islam…, By Taking Black Men From The Depths Of Despair & Molding Them Into Upstanding, Forthright, Self-Reliant Citizens I AM NOT Preaching Separationization!!! In Reading His Book “Message To The Black Man In America” He Goes In Hard On White America (rightfully so) Explaining The Sins & Transgressions They Put Upon The Black Race Here In America!!!

But Ultimately He Wanted A Separate Space & State For Black America To Live In Run By & For Ourselves W/O Your Intervention.  As Interconnected As The World Has Become In The 21st Century Separation Is Not Feasible As I Think We All Need To Embrace Each Other & Come Together For The Greater Common Good. Because As Difficult As It Would Be To Figure Out Reparations For America’s Black Citizens, No State Is Giving Up Prime Real Estate When It’s Already In Their Hands!!! Frederick Douglass Said “Power Concedes Nothing Without A Demand. It Never Did & It Never Will.”

Many Great Nations In History Past…, Have Collapsed Under The Weight Of Its Own Inequities…, DO NOT Let America Be Next. Since 1776 We’ve Been The Gold Standard Of What Is Possible When All Citizens Have A Voice & We Are Governed “For The People, By The People, Of The People!!!” We Must Get Back To Those Ideals Of Being Inclusive Of All Our Citizens To Truly Make This Nation The Greatest Place It Can Possibly Be!!! Until America Does Right By Her Black Citizens…, She Can NEVER EVER Truly Be Great!!!

Peace & Blessings The Bro J!!!