(ThyBlackMan.com) Some sensible persons have finally had enough of the bull manure surrounding extrajudicial killings of Black men by police across the country. We’ve started to see a bit of positive, meaningful action in the form of calling for economic boycotts and the moving of money to Black-owned banks. When comparing demonstrations (marching and shouting) to hitting America where it hurts (in their wallets), soft green power wins every time.
There will NEVER be a better way to get the dominant majority’s attention than to take away confidence that their African American cash cows will happily continue buying and investing in their goo
ds and services. They’ve let their attack dogs loose to guard America’s collective Achilles heel – wealth, security, and worldly status.
But withholding finances to retaliate against law enforcement somehow seems mismatched. Or is it? Because of ancestral DNA, Caucasoid Americans have an instinctive fear of loss and hardship. By stoking that weakness, Nat Turner and Gabriel Prosser, both slaves in Virginia, remind us of how effective a weapon that pushing the panic button can be. In each case, new laws and tighter enforcement of existing ones were considered to prevent (or avoid) another revolt. Freeing the millions of miserable humans and treating them with kindly Christian love were never good options at the time. Instead, to their minds, barbarism and paranoia seemed most appropriate.
On November 5 (1831), Nat Turner was tried in the Southampton County Court and sentenced to execution. He was hanged, and then skinned, on November 11.
In total, the state executed 55 people, banished many more, and acquitted a few. The state reimbursed the slaveholders for their slaves. But in the hysterical climate that followed the rebellion, close to 200 black people, many of whom had nothing to do with the rebellion, were murdered by white mobs. In addition, slaves as far away as North Carolina were accused of having a connection with the insurrection, and were subsequently tried and executed.
The state legislature of Virginia considered abolishing slavery, but in a close vote decided to retain slavery and to support a repressive policy against black people, slave and free.[1]
Poor ‘Gabe’ never got the opportunity to spread fear and terror as Turner did. A few in Prosser’s circle and the general populace of slaves preferred loyalty to their masters and eventually spilled the beans. This led to ritual executions and panic. In both cases of Turner and Prosser, not much has changed in terms of the psychological aftermath that follows. We all know the drill.
In our 21st century America, there will be calls for unity, love, nonviolence, and harmony. There will be an upsurge in talk about inequality, White privilege, and Black misery. Everyone will go tippy-toeing around what should be done with “bad white cops” and the misfortunate citizens of color that they violently encounter.
I’m with the sensible people on this one. Hit them where it hurts; cause financial panic to get the attention of the ones who hold real power and influence. In this way, they’ll be forced to get their dogs back on the leashes.
[1] Africans in America, Resource Bank, People and Events, Nat Turner’s Rebellion 1831, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part3/3p1518.html
Staff Writer; Mu Octavis Taalib
May also connect with this brother online over at; http://www.bigrivermumin.com.