Originally written and published by as op-ed piece for the Micheal Smerconish Show on SiriusXM, August 2022
Black America is in an abusive relationship. A relationship where everybody knows about it but, our friends, neighbors, and even family refuse to talk about. A relationship where our partner has told us if we tell anybody or try to leave, they will kill us. A relationship where our partner says, “I’m sorry, I’ll never hit you again” repeatedly. A relationship where rape, physical and mental abuse, withheld financial resources, and murder are used to keep us in place, our place.
Americas in an interracial relationship akin to an arranged marriage. Black America did not get a chance to date, play the field, and never got a chance to view America’s profile and swipe right (or left) – think immigration.
We have tried to leave and build our own house, only to have our places of refuge and escape destroyed; New York City in 1863, East St. Louis in 1917, Chicago in 1919 the “Red Summer”, along with Washington D.C. and Knoxville in that same year, Tulsa in 1921, and Rosewood in 1923.
We have tried to gain self-esteem and self-awareness but the systematic use of “black” = bad and “white” = good permeates every facet of life in America’s house. America has even taught us to loath our darker selves and reward our closer proximity to whiteness. America makes sure to highlight Black America’s worst traits to re-enforce stereotypes. Are there no images of white people looting that the media can show?
We have tried to get financial independence, but our spousal partner America has made sure access to capital is almost impossible to gain and when we get access terms and conditions are grossly unfair. The land that we tilled, build on, that allowed America to become the wealthiest nation in the world has not shared its prosperity as promised, our 40 acres.
We have tried to assimilate by code switching, hair dyeing and colored contacts, but the color of our skin cannot and should not ever be compromised or masked. Assimilation is also a cleverly devised tool, we use it against ourselves, hating the sell-out who “talks white” that we see in the mirror.
We have accepted your terms of showing respect by calling law enforcement, even when we have broken no laws, sir or ma’am. But we both know it is purely for self-preservation, not respect. America wants us to be submissive and is in utter disbelief when we don’t “comply with simple commands” and the penalty for that is death.
Black America has endured your experiments like on Henrietta Lacks, the work of James Marion Sims, and the Tuskegee Study. America tells us our fears, distrust, and disdain for medical professionals and the healthcare system is unfounded.
America has done an excellent job of telling the rest of the world how bad their Black spouse is, and lets them know that if they come to live in our house they don’t have to start at the bottom, we keep that space for our Blacks! The same system was used to elevate poor whites’ esteem after reconstruction.
America loves the things that we brought to the ill-fated marriage and continued to create once we were here, our science, our food, our culture, our music, and our language. But we are still not welcome at the table or even in the house.
Now we ask we rise once again and ask you to stop beating, abusing, and murdering us; we must rely on you for the change?
So here we are, asking America for emancipation, again. Allowing Black America its unencumbered freedom to live, grow and be a partner in the continued success of the thing that you could not have built without us.
What say you America? Will you allow us to breathe or put your knee back on our neck?
