evolution of a black militant…
Monday, February 2nd, 2009….. me. yes…i’m a white girl….but i’m more painfully aware than ever of a fundamental disparity. i walked around lake merritt today, pondering the BART police killing, our crumbling inner-city schools and talk of a post-racial america. while i am terribly inspired by the obama presidency….. i’m not blinded to the lingering reality. we have much work to do. i live in downtown oakland: a wonderful, messy, diverse and occasionally violent place. a child’s success is against all odds. if you have not lived in an inner-city, you may not know what this means.
i imagine my black skin and being held to a different standard in the eyes of the law. being hassled and jailed quickly. being scrutinized every hour, every day, on every street in my neighborhood. then i see robber-barons, kings of wall street, rob banks of billions as they hold their hands out for govt assistance. are they arrested? are they called welfare queens? these rich, white mthr-fkrs who reaped far more than they sowed, given every privilege and every opportunity, stealing hundreds of billions. they walk the streets free. i can only shake my head and say “that is not ok”. i don’t know why i’m poor and black but i am, and so are my neighbors, and it’s a problem, and *america* isn’t asking why. but we need to, because we rise together and we fall together. if we don’t, we will all break under the weight of this injustice.
this is only an exercise in in my head. i have a kernel of rage in my heart but if this were reality and i’d lived it and breathed it, would my rage overflow? would i lash out at the world, raise my clenched fist? would you?
Peggy Rehm