(ThyBlackMan.com) When a person, or a people, experience a great injustice that involved severe degrees of suffering they tend to understand the suffering of others. When they are fighting for humanity and freedom it’s easy to identify with others and join when they are fighting for the same cause. There is nothing wrong with universal solidarity if it’s support to all parties involved. In America, black people have experience great injustice from being enslaved (even enslaved by some Native American Nations) to blatantly disenfranchised.
When our people were fighting during the Civil Rights Movement they would work to move legislation that would benefit many minorities while we fight to partake of the sacrifices our ancestors made. With that in mind when blacks in America see struggle happening we are quick to say brother…sister I understand and will stand with you. Do we have individuals that choose not to do this…yes we do, but in large numbers we will fight in solidarity with others that are disenfranchised.
There is nothing wrong with understanding the struggle of others, however as a people we can’t fight every battle. History has shown us when we fight our own battles we help others do the same. This is the time to focus on the needs of our communities, and the individual causes that are in our face. Our children need adequate education that is gearing them in the path of success, and not piping them towards the prison system. We must begin to look at each other as the answer to the violence and drugs in our community. None of this will be easy, but our march to freedom has never been a path of ease.
The relationship between black men and women has to improve. It’s time we truly acknowledge the propaganda elephant in the room, and stop applying our individual experiences to ALL men and women. White feminism may very well be detrimental to the healing of our men and women as is the concept of white patriarchy. There are behaviors that have been embedded in us that are not to our benefit by both our men and women. The blame game must stop as we have all been at fault. Unity on all fronts will be necessary to first heal…then grow our communities.
This idea of community empowerment and self-reliance must become a serious priority. This means we won’t have the time nor energy to attend to the fight of every disparaged group. This is not to be cruel to others, nor make it appear that black Americans are the only minority fighting injustice. With that being said, our people tend to stand with others with a force that is not reciprocated in the same manner.
There is nothing wrong with acknowledging the struggle of the women’s movement, mistreatment of the Native American, Muslim disenfranchisement, the LGBT movement, nor the struggles of Hispanic and Asian Americans. It is only human to understand and recognize the pain of others. Yet, at some point you must ask when the government works to destroy our voting rights (they are still considered acts), when the police brutality is blatant as our people are slain in the streets, when we have businesses in our neighborhood that treat us with disregard…when our right to decent education is tampered with, and certain sentences for nonviolent crimes land us in prison longer than others we must ask the question are we alone.
It is very important to recognize those that do stand with us as we fight the injustice that directly affects us in a battle that has been going on since the founding of this country. Yet, we must also be honest about the different minority groups that tend to make their community needs the priority, and they have to a degree believed the false propaganda about American Blacks. Can you imagine what it would look like if ALL minorities in this country stood in solidarity for freedom and justice for all? It can be argued that we’d all be free a lot faster, but that has not become our reality yet. Until universal solidarity occurs black America needs to make themselves the priority lending support to others when we can, but not to the detriment of our own movement.
Staff Writer; Christian Starr
May connect with this sister over at Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/christian.pierre.9809 and also Twitter; http://twitter.com/MrzZeta.
