Selfie Pleasure

T. R. E. A. M. – Tubman Rules Everything Around Me

Once again, I am coming down on the opposite side of the misguided youth and their stance on Harriet Tubman being the first woman on the $20 bill.  The momentum has grown to the point of a viral epidemic in the last two days to not have Harriet Tubman as the first woman on US currency, furthering the evidence that the masses form their opinions based on the popularity of posts on social media, not logic, not reason, not information. 

Their arguments, all well-intentioned but based on ego more than anything, seem to be based on the theory that she wouldn’t have liked it because she wouldn’t have supported capitalism, that she would have objected to being in the same company of the men who would have enslaved her as 3/5ths human.  First and foremost, you cannot make assumptions about what you THINK she may have wanted based on your limited knowledge of her.   IF she were alive today, her perspectives would have evolved with the times.  It’s absurd for anyone today to make a supposition as to what she would have wanted because it’s impossible to apply today’s standards to an antebellumrevolutionary consciousness.  While she may very well have been the single most forward-thinking African American alive during her time, she never knew the freedoms we take for granted hourly.  It smacks of incredible arrogance to assert you can speak for someone whom you only know because of a 15 minute Black history lesson in the 7^th grade.   Harriet Tubman was a trailblazer.  She was a pioneer.  I THINK she would want to be the first Black woman who is acknowledged for her heroism and sacrifice.  It’s not about my opinion of what she would want however, it’s about her being acknowledge for her invaluable contribution to American history. 

Secondly, AmeriKKKa NEEDS to acknowledge Black female brilliance.  This is an opportunity like no other for the world to see, learn about, and be exposed to the protagonist that was Harriet Tubman.   This is an opportunity for white people to choke on their bitter bile of racism daily.  This is one small step for Black womankind.  At every single solitary turn Black women’s accomplishments are downgraded and diminished.  Here is an incredible opportunity for Black children to learn about slavery, to learn about what it means to literally put your life on the line when you are fighting for Black lives.  This is an opportunity for a Black woman to be celebrated for more than her ability to make her behind jiggle.  One can only suppose that the masses wouldn’t mind if Beyonce was on the $20 bill but will there ever come a day when Black women are celebrated for more than their propensity to conform to sexist, misogynist representations of femininity?  If we are ever to be seen as more than thugs and niggers and ghetto queens, we must let white Americans know that we deserve to be everywhere: The White House, the boardroom, and on their precious dollar dollar bill ya’ll.    

Third and most importantly, there is absolutely no downside to Harriet Tubman being on the $20 bill.  There is not one negative outcome for her being the first woman to be represented on American money.   It will not undermine our efforts to make Black Lives Matter.  It will not set us back in our efforts for justice.  It will not do anything detrimental or negative.  It won’t make money more inaccessible to Black people.  It won’t allow police to kill us with impunity.  There is no down side.  The only results are positive ones.  THAT, my dear misguided youth, is the measure of a movement.  Harriet Tubman was an icon, she was one of the greatest leaders of recent history.  Her ability to free herself from the chains of mental slavery during the time of the most brutal chattel slavery in known history is more than most   Black people can claim of themselves today.  She should be acknowledged, celebrated, and recognized at every turn. 

Copyright 2015 Scottie Lowe

The Baltimore Beast is Justified

It’s time for a public service announcement for white people once AGAIN.  I get it.  You think we are animals.  You think we’re savages.  You think we’re beneath you and inherently inferior.  You despise us because you think that whites are superior in every way and that we are a different species, that we are naturally criminal, ignorant, and violent.  To you, ALL Black people are niggers, a sub-human species that has no value.

You and your fallacious system of white supremacy have created this monster of criminality and ignorance you call niggers.  You and your public policies, your racism, your bigotry and lynching, your refusal to see us as equals, your hatred of us, your intention to keep us undereducated, unemployed, and disenfranchised is what’s created this nigger beast you loathe so much.   It’s your sick and diseased rampant ego that has allowed you to believe that you could OWN a race of people, buy and sell us like cattle, profit from our blood, sweat, and our complete cultural annihilation for your profit and continually keep us down, ignoring the fact that only the most heinous and evil race of people could be unapologetic in their enslavement of millions for no reason other than the color of our skin. 

But we aren’t inherently inferior.  We aren’t inherently lazy or criminal, you aren’t superior in any way.  We are victims of oppression, racism, bigotry, we are the victims of your deep-seated hatred of us.  WE ARE HUMAN BEINGS.  We have the same feelings and emotions as you do; we have the same exact potential as you if you give us the same chances.  If someone killed your brother, your sister, you would be outraged, you would hurt.  If someone repeatedly killed your family, if they did so with arrogance, if they didn’t get punished but got paid vacations, you’d be ready to start a war. 

Well, you’ve slaughtered us.  We have suffered, we have suppressed our pain, we have sucked it up and we can’t take it anymore.  You’ve murdered us and acted as if we don’t have a right to hurt, to cry, to feel anger.  You have killed our children, shot us in the back, tased us, choked us, you’ve murdered our mentally ill like you are on safari and you’ve yet to say that you’re sorry, that you regret your actions.  You continually tell us to stop our whining; you’ve arrogantly and repeatedly told us to get over it, to suck it up because our lives don’t mean shit to you.  Those of us who are uneducated and poor are nothing to you, you don’t see us as human beings despite the fact that we are.  You care more about police cars and trash cans, you care more about keeping us oppressed than you do our lives, our humanity. 

So, what’s happening in Baltimore is your fault.  You didn’t hear our cries.  When we said, “Black Lives Matter” you said, “No they don’t, all lives matter, yours are insignificant.”  Our rage is your fault.  We have a right to fight back, to revolt, to stand up and say that we are not going to be your target practice any more.  As long as you think you are better than us, as long as you work to keep us poor and oppressed and you continue to take our lives, to murder us and act like it’s a sport to you, like it’s entertainment, you can know that every time we reach a breaking point, you are to blame.  We are going to fight back.  We have every right to loot, shoot, riot, and burn.  You’ll win of course.  You have stockpiles of weapons and you have prepared for our uprising.  You want to wipe us off the face of the planet.  This is what you’ve wanted for a long time.  All of this could have been avoided.  All you had to do was see us as human beings that have the same feelings, emotions, and that our lives matter as much as yours.  You can’t wait to see our blood run in the streets like a river.  But know that you are the source of all this strife because you refuse to treat us like human beings. 

Signed,

Black and fed up. 

Copyright 2015 Scottie Lowe

A Dead End

The system of white supremacy has crippled and crushed the Black community.  We are living in the end times.  Not in terms of some mythological savior coming back and sweeping up all the good Christians to go to heaven but we have now reached the end of hope, the end of advancement, the end of the struggle towards freedom, education, and enlightenment as a people. 

White people, with their racist agendas and their control of the legislative and educational systems have created a nation of Black people who are tragically educationally handicapped.   It’s been a multi-pronged, very intentional process that has been in place for four decades or more.  Kudos to them, their foresight, their dedication to keeping Black people stupid.  I give “them,” those with true power, those pulling the strings behind the scenes have restructured the educational system to the point of annihilation, all the credit in the world.  Along with the music industry, the illuminati or whomever pulls the read strings in this country have handicapped Black people to the point we wallow in stupidity and celebrate it. 

Black students no longer learn.  They don’t develop academically.   They regurgitate meaningless information and fill in circles with #2 pencils on tests but they don’t learn to reason, use logic, they don’t hone their discernment skills.  They repeat what they hear in soundbites.  They don’t read, explore, or research, they tweet.  They don’t watch the news, they don’t expand their consciousness beyond their dismal ghetto mentality reality.  And ghetto mentality has now metastasized into every socio-economic strata; it’s no longer a designation of income but of a mentality of stagnation, stupidity, and conformity.  If someone says it, “it’s the gospel truth” as long as the majority agree with it. 

The media has shaped our consciousness.  We don’t know Black history.  We don’t have a historical context to understand nor do we have the skills to understand how things connect to one another and create outcomes and consequences.  The educational system has done a great job in making sure the Black people only think linearly and don’t have the ability to question what they are told, read (if they read at all), complex concepts are foreign to Black people now.   The educational standards are dramatically and drastically lower.  What is an A in today’s public school system wouldn’t even be a C in the educational system of my day.  What passed for an A in my day wouldn’t have been a C a half a century earlier.  Students don’t do homework, don’t do projects, they don’t read books.  They don’t play musical instruments, they don’t create art, they don’t do anything but play video games and watch TV.  We rely on technology to the point of stupidity.  We wouldn’t know how to survive without wifi and we are quite proud of that.  Our educations are one dimensional.

Kudos to the elite whites who saw the potential dangers of integrating the educational system.  Sure, some white students have slipped through the cracks, a decent percentage of white students have been educationally handicapped by the lowered standards of the public school system but they have whiteness on their side.  When they graduate from college, they are more likely to get a job.  Hell, they don’t even have to graduate from college.  White men with a criminal record are more likely to get a job than a Black man with a degree.  You can rest assured that the rich white students, the ones in private schools and in public schools where there is hardly a black face in the student body are getting the best education possible.  You can bet your bottom dollar that what white students in affluent neighborhoods are learning in the fourth and fifth grades Black students aren’t “learning” at all.  They might not be taking advantage of that education.  They might be letting their privilege and the fallacy of white supremacy convince them that they don’t have to learn but KNOW that they are being taught things that Black students who graduate have never been expose to. 

“But they are learning European education.  They are learning the white man’s history,” you say.  Well, at least they are learning that.  Black students aren’t learning anything.  They aren’t learning European history or Black history.  It’s your job as a parent to teach them their history but you aren’t teaching your children anything.  Largely because you weren’t taught anything.  And here’s the rub.  Tell a Black student that they are the best of the best, tell them that they are on the honor roll and that they smart when they have been under and mis-educated and you will have an adult who believes that they know everything, that they don’t have to read or learn or research or study in life.  Combine that with the cheating, “get over” mentality that consumes Black people and you have a league of idiots who are going to wallow in mediocrity and dysfunction.