The Ramblings of a Young Black Man
I often get lost in my own head and caught in a thought. It can be so hard to get out of my own head. That is why I post so much on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It is a way for me to get my thoughts out of head. Also, some of y’all need to be educated on Black issues. It is not my job or obligation to educate you all, but it frustrates me to no end to see what some of you all post. These words are just a collective dump of my thoughts or ramblings. Some will be stories of my own and family and some will be from research I have done. I was not sure if I was going to share this or not. After telling a few people I was working on this they said that they wanted to read this as well. Even though I am sharing, this is still for me.
Slavery
When I got my current job, I had to decide if I was going to live in Virginia or Maryland. I chose to live in Virginia because Virginia was the start of my family history in America. I recently found information that an ancestor lived in the county over from where I currently live. Even though slavery has been over for years, there are lasting implications of slavery that continues to be ingrained in the Black community and culture. For starters, the diet of Black people is because of the diet of the slaves. Slaves were given the slops or whatever was left over from the animal. That is why chitterlings (which are pig intestines) are still considered a delicacy. Number two is colorism. Colorism is something that still impacts the black community. Colorism is the concept that lighter skinned Black people have more opportunities than their darker counterparts. Lighter skinned Black people were more acceptable and were often placed in the big house instead of working in the field. My mom is what you call high yellow. She would for sure be in the big house working. The same concept happens today. Say Will Smith and Wesley Snipes go in for a job interview. Both are the same age and same qualifications. Chances are, Will Smith will get the job over Snipes because of Smith lighter skin, he is seen as more acceptable. Lastly, I carry the last name of my ancestors’ owner. Slaves either did not have a surname or the master assigned their last name to their slaves. Even after the slaves were freed, they kept their owners last name or assumed it in order to be reunited with family who were sold to another plantation and owner. Because of this, it makes it very hard for Black people to trace their family tree. When I started on my family history search, I specifically wanted to investigate the Van Buren side. My great grandpa was mixed and so were his parents. I wanted to learn more about my great-great-great grandpa to see if he was white. Unfortunately, I could not find any records. Not many Black people can say that their last name is their last name by blood and not by ownership.
Lift Every Voice and Sing vs The Star Spangled Banner
Lift Every Voice and Sing is probably the most iconic song in the Black community. It was written as a poem around 1900 by James Weldon Johnson, a high school principal in Jacksonville, Florida. His brother John Rosamond Johnson, who was a trained musician, then composed music to go along with the poem. The students at the school performed the song to honor Abraham Lincoln’s birthday. The brothers then moved to New York and forgot about the song. The school continued to sing the song and the students taught the songs to others. Within 20 years the songs took on a life of its own. The NAACP in 1919 adopted the song as the “Negro National Anthem” (1).
The history of the Star-Spangled Banner is much more complicated and not a very nice. We all know that Francois Scott Key wrote the song after being held captive during the War of 1812. Key came from a very affluent, slave owning family. The only way he thought slaves should be emancipated was if they were sent back to Africa. During the war the British promised refuge to any slave which left their plantation and joined the British Corps of Colonial Marines. The slaves in return would get land for their services. Up to 4,000 slaves from Virginia and Maryland took this offer. The third verse of the song speaks to the arrangement or offer.
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
’Tis the star-spangled banner — O long may it wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave!
This verse was used to threaten slaves who thought about taking the British up on their offer. The British kept their word, and the slaves were sent to Trinidad and Tobago and given land. Their descendants live there to this day. Key would go on to become the district attorney for DC. He would protect slave owners’ rights and prosecuted abolitionists. He also made sure that his brother-in-law was added to the Supreme Court. Roger B. Taney was the justice that wrote the Dred Scott decision stating that Black people “had no rights which the White man was bound to respect.” Key was so racist that the song typically was not used as an anthem. People used “My Country ’Tis of Thee.” During reconstruction the song gained popularity among White Southerns and the military. By the early 1900s, only the first verse remained. This was due to the anti-British rhetoric, because by this time the British were the American’s allies. It had nothing to do with the fact that lyrics were highly racists. After World War I, the lyrics were questioned again due to the violent nature. Groups likes the United Daughters of the Confederacy still liked the song and fought back. Then in 1931, President Herbert Hoover made the song the official national anthem. The white supremacists were happy and thought of it as a political victory (2).
As you can see this song has been problematic since it was written and honestly had no business being the national anthem in the first place. Lift Every Voice became the Black National Anthem years before the United States even had an anthem. This song never has and never be representative of many Americans, but especially Black Americans. The lyrics to Lift Every Voice and Sing are uplifting and filled with love and pride.
Lift ev’ry voice and sing
’Til earth and heaven ring
Ring with the harmonies of Liberty
Let our rejoicing rise
High as the list’ning skies
Let it resound loud as the rolling sea
Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us
Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us
Facing the rising sun of our new day begun
Let us march on ’til victory is won
Stony the road we trod
Bitter the chastening rod
Felt in the days when hope unborn had died
Yet with a steady beat
Have not our weary feet
Come to the place for which our fathers sighed?
We have come over a way that with tears has been watered
We have come, treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered
Out from the gloomy past
’Til now we stand at last
Where the white gleam of our bright star is cast
God of our weary years
God of our silent tears
Thou who has brought us thus far on the way
Thou who has by Thy might
Led us into the light
Keep us forever in the path, we pray
Lest our feet stray from the places, our God, where we met Thee
Lest, our hearts drunk with the wine of the world, we forget Thee
Shadowed beneath Thy hand
May we forever stand
True to our God
True to our native land
Black People and Law Enforcement Officers
People like to oversimplify the relationship between Black people and law enforcement officers (LEOs). From the moment that Black people have arrived in this country, we have been hunted for sport by law enforcement. First it was the slave catchers and overseers on the plantation. Then it was the Klan. As we all know the Klan were often very influential people in the community, including law enforcement. If the law enforcement itself was not in the Klan, then they were being bought-off. From there we have the over policing of Black and Brown neighborhoods. I do not believe that every officer is bad, corrupt, or racists, but every day you hear or see something else that makes you believe otherwise. A few years ago, I zoned out while driving and was speeding. I was rightfully pulled over on the highway. I was a nervous wreck. I could not articulate, and he made me sit in his patrol car. I was let go with a warning and the officer was super nice and great. I could not help but to wonder if these were my last minutes on Earth. That should not be my thought when interacting with law enforcement. I come from a military family on my mom side and my great grandpa on my dad side was the first Black policemen in my small hometown in Missouri. He was not given the same weapons to control “Brown Town”, even though “Black people are the worst criminals” out there. When the police department did a history of the police department, it included only white officers and only females featured were in a secretary role. I called them out on not being more diverse, but I never got a response, nor was the information updated. It is not surprising though. One of the most well-respected officers shows a racial bias. My parents were having an issue with our neighbors, and my mom asked the officer about the situation. He assumed that we lived in a certain part of town since we were Black. I do not know why people who are “Blue Lives Matters” are so against police reform. The practices that people want to enact are beneficial for the officers and the people they interact with. The Human Rights Watch has developed a list of demands in police reform (3).
Below are some links that go into more detail about the relationship of Blacks and LEO throughout American history.
https://www.governor.wa.gov/sites/default/files/Dr.SharitaJacobsHistoryofRaceandPolicingIIPUFTF.pdf
https://www.vox.com/2020/6/6/21280643/police-brutality-violence-protests-racism-khalil-muhammad
Stop listening to Those Token Black People
Candance Owens, The Hodge Twins, Lil Wayne, Ice Cube, and other Black Conservatives or Trump supporters do not speak for the entire Black community, just like I do not speak for the entire Black community. Also, if you listen closely, you will hear that they often exclude themselves from the Black narrative. You finding a Black person who agrees with you does not negate the fact that most Blacks would disagree. According to Pew research conducted in 2016, 87% of Blacks identified or lean towards the Democratic Party (4). Do you really think their views are representative of the Black community? Or do you really care?
The Talk and We Are Not Talking About the Birds and the Bees
I was very happy when this was a question during the last debate. The candidates had very different responses to the question. One acknowledged the pain and struggles that Black people have endured and one talked about himself. I think I had my first talk about race around the age of 5. My mom just talked to me about her experiences and about the history and struggles our ancestors faced. Throughout the years, both my mom and dad have continued to talk to me about growing up Black in America. Tomi Lahren tweeted, “I’m white. My parents are white. They taught me to respect law enforcement. Maybe that should be the new ‘talk’.” Seeing this tweet, it really made me mad. For those of us that have had this talk, we know that this talk goes way beyond law enforcement. This talk prepares us to be Black in America. Be lucky that you do not have to have a talk on how to behave and prosper in America because of your race or ethnicity.
It is Our Obligation to Vote
Our ancestors did not wait in line and went through a whole civil rights movement for us not to vote. Do not disrespect the ancestors. VOTE. It is just that simple.
Research
(1). https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/09/10/nfl-lift-every-voice-black-national-anthem/
(2). https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2020/10/18/star-spangled-banner-racist-national-anthem/
(3). https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/08/12/roadmap-re-imagining-public-safety-united-states
(4). https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2016/09/13/2-party-affiliation-among-voters-1992-2016/
