I have heard the non-decision of the not so grand "grand" jury of darren wilson's peers because surely they feel no kinship to, identity with or compassion for the defenseless young man who was murdered and left to die in the street. Obviously they don't even see him, his Family or our community as human, forget 3/5. This rings of old when racist whites openly killed, raped, lynched & terrorized Black folks, admitted it, went before a jury of their peers and laughed all the way right out the front door of the court house... The hate that has reared its ugly head of late is beyond sickening. It is becoming physically sickening...
As much as I hate to admit it, it is at times like these that I am really upset with Tavis Smiley. He allowed his ego and greed to get in the way and destroy a very powerful and effective platform he was building. He had a captive audience, he was keeping us informed and teaching us to utilize and respect the power of our unified voice, the power of our dollar. All it took was for him to tell his audience to inundate a business with calls and people did it, jammed up the switchboard until we were heard... If he threatened that Black folks would boycott a product or service, the tides changed and the corporate big whigs were begging to come on the TJMS radio show to apologize, to explain, to respond to our collective voice. Tavis had the perfect platform to empower, educate and inform the Black community and he threw it away...
Tavis was on his way. He had commanded respect and tremendous credibility and possessed a different appeal because he did not have the baggage that Jesse & Al have. Respect them both but their ships have sailed.... Brotha' Al compromised his effectiveness as soon as he took a high paying position with a major network. How can he possibly criticize and hold accountable the very hand that feeds him? Not going to happen. Brotha' Jesse, for whose accomplishments I have deep respect, has just lost his appeal and sadly groomed no one to pick up the mantle.. Shame... I surmise that because Tavis was becoming so effective, therefore threatening, he was lured away with TV shows and such. Oldest play in the book, Can't shut them up or control them?, then put them on your team... Works every time and sadly Tavis fell for it leaving the Black community hanging... No one since has so effectively galvanized our community...
As my Friend Vincent Collaso constantly reminds us regarding what should be our response to the Ferguson non-decision, this is a time for new strategies. Not to knock at all the hard work of our predecessors, they gave us the foundation, but those old strategies are predictable. Mainstream America expects us to get angry, burn up our own shit, call them whitie, cracker or some other derogatory name all the while keep voting them into office, all the while spending our hard earned money in communities other than our own, with persons who don't look like us or have our best interests at heart... Of course too they will throw us a bone putting a few folks in the limelight to make some of us feel good, making sure we all see it and keep in line...
As much as I wish that I did, I don't have the answer. My heart hurts too but something has got to give. We have got to have a new strategy and it has got to be all about organizing US and making decisions in our collective best interest, decisions that preserve our dignity and keep our dollars in our communities being spent on our goods and services, like pre-integration... It frightens me that Black America is becoming more and more peripheral in America as we sit silently waiting/hoping to be accepted, waiting/hoping to be thrown a crumb, satisfied that a few of us have "made it" while the rest suffer...
As Vincent Collaso, Maggie Anderson and many others are constantly preaching, its about economics folks!!! Turn off the boob tube and get involved! Conceive It, Believe It, Achieve It...
Again, it is at moments like this that I am truly disheartened that Tavis dropped the ball and that no one, as per usual in our leaders, was in place or groomed to pick it up... He was on to something...
Believing In Us!!! Forever & Ever!!!
Just My Thoughts... Who will pick up the baton and get us running?
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