Would you walk to work for over a year, like Blacks did during the Montgomery Bus Boycott?
How about having police dogs and fire hoses turned on you, like when Blacks marched at Selma? Would you get arrested?
Would so many of you get arrested that you overcrowd the jails, making it impossible to arrest you all?
If they burned crosses on your lawns or blew up your churches, would you concede?
How about if they assassinated your leaders, the way they killed Martin or Malcolm?
What if they murdered your children in the street, like they killed Trayvon, or Tamir?
Y’all are freaked out watching this country fall into a fascist state, and you don’t understand why Blacks aren’t losing their shit?
This country has ALWAYS been fascist if you’re Black.
When I say: study Black History, it’s not so you can acknowledge our achievements; we no longer require external validation. It’s because you are trying to figure out how to RESIST and we’ve been showing you for CENTURIES. We didn’t create this shitshow but we’ve been unfucking it for a while now. Check our resumé:
- Civil disobedience? √
- Organized protest? √√
- Joy and empathy? √√√
- Standing up in the face of relentless oppression? √√√√
- Personal sacrifices for the greater good? √√√√√√
- Fighting for your rights until the government changes its laws? √√√√√√√
- Unrelentingly bending the moral arc of the fucking universe towards justice? ALL of the goddamned checks.
You see things spiraling out of control. You’re not sure if you can go on. We grok this, in fullness.
You’re exasperated.
You’re exhausted.
You’re desperate.
But are you desperate enough to study Black history yet?
Let us know when you are.
We’ll be waiting.
Find us up in the front; we saved a spot for you.
(P.S.: There will probably be a Cookout after the protest. Don’t expect an invite.)