We'll Survive This

In case you have not heard, there is a protest scheduled today in front of the Department of Justice in Washington, DC about hate crimes. A WAOD reader, Shane, has organized a “counter protest” of the protest. But “counter protest” is an inartful way to describe what is going to take place today because “counter” implies that Shane is against the stated goals of the original protest. That is not true he probably agrees with the folk getting on charter buses to march in DC. So instead of “counter protest” a better way to describe what Shane has organized is “a very public CONVERSATION.” Folks are coming to DC for a monologue well Shane just made it a dialog and some people are in a uproar that he would dare have such a dialog on the streets of DC during their carefully crafted protest. You see, with the same fervor that some folks hundreds of years ago believe that the earth was flat, they believe that Black folks can't have a VERY PUBLIC CONVERSATION without the whole of Black America imploding on the spot, instantaneously. We survived the Middle Passage, Slavery, Jim Crow and flavor of Love, but what we cannot survive, to some folks, is a VERY PUBLIC CONVERSATION!

Shane's planned “CONVERSATION”got a write up in USA Today maybe someone will even take a picture of the CONVERSATION and spend some ink on the CONVERSATION in a paper. Maybe a news camera will capture the CONVERSATION I don't know. But guess what. Not matter what happens today, tomorrow Black America will still be here. We'll still be breathing. Life will go on. A crevice isn't going to open on the street outside DOJ and swallow all of the protesters and the CONVERSAT-ORS whole because Black folks appear to be calling out other Black folks in public. It's not a bad thing, it is a good thing

People have said what Shane is doing is creating disunity. That is intellectually dishonest because the counter protesters and the protesters are unified. They are both talking about the same thing: human rights.

He's not taking anything FROM the protest with the counter protest. What he is doing is adding to it. If you are truly concerned about human rights and civil rights of all people, you will go over and embrace him today and say “I know. I care. I am concerned too” and have a CONVERSATION with him and what other brave souls dare to stand with him today

We will all be judged on Judgment Day for what we DID on earth, but we will also be judged for what we DID NOT DO. For those that have been following WAOD, you know I didn't plan any of this ( Yes. Yes. I know Rev. Renita, you told me to stop saying that, but it is true) I have extreme doubts and fears about WAOD. Each post is an act of FAITH (I guess I am not a cynic after all). I wonder sometimes if I am doing the right thing in the right way. I am engaged in a perpetual internal struggle with what this blog has become and terrified of what it could become.

There is a lot I do not know right now, but one thing I DO KNOW is that Black American can survive a CONVERSATION. In fact, we'll be better for it. What we cannot survive is continued SILENCE. This craving for SILENCE for the sake of UNITY is killing us literally.

So everybody chill out. Today is a great day for Black America. Today we will have concrete proof that we can have a public CONVERSATION and a public “engagement” and Black America will survive and thrive.

Let that marinate.

Comments

[Attorneymom]

I want to know why some Blacks require that we, as members of the darker hue, have to be monolithic in our thought and approach to be successful or achieve collective progress. I thought about it. Despite your nationality, race, religion or gender, no one human being thinks exactly alike. So to make this a prerequisite for conversing is really insane and boring.

[Megan]

Congratulations to everyone at this blog who have kept the Dunbar Village incident from just becoming another generic crime story that disappears the next day.

Black people really need to spend less time looking at what everyone else is doing to us and look more closely at what we are doing to us.

Gina's point about adding to the discussion is right on target. Making excuses for black men and boys involved in criminal activity and violence against women should not be tolerated.

There are no excuses. There are problems in our communities, yes, but there are no legitimate excuses.

[jazztech]

I have been following WAOD since the Hot Ghetto Mess issue. As a black man in my fities, I have to say thank you God bless for actually keeping hope alive.

[mrshadow33]

I want to echo what sister megan said and give props to everyone who has been in the trenches fighting to keep the memory of the Dunbar atrocity from fading away. Ms.Gina you keep on fighting the good fight for it is a rightous cause. I also want to send blessings and good vibrations to the brothers and sisters who are in D.C. as I write this who are engaged in the public discussion. I intend to pick up my copy of USA Today after I get off work.

[iman]

When you’re a large, well funded, highly profiled advocacy organization you have a responsibility to actually respond to the concerns of the constituency you claim to represent. Whether it is refugees, political prisoners, racial minorities, woman, children etc., every advocacy organization needs to at some point evaluate themselves and their mission and ask - am I fulfilling it? I think calling these groups out on their silence on Dunbar is more than appropriate. Not only will it help draw attention to this crime and the dysfunctional WPB government, but it will also help draw attention to the many non for profit advocacy organizations that have lost their direction. Whether you like it or not, these groups help set the national agenda for their “constituency” which is often YOU. They are the ones the politicians pander to, the media recognizes and the corporations contribute to. For every grass root effort there is, one of these organizations is helping to usurp and sometimes undermine their work in some way shape or form. For most grassroots organizers, it’s not about the glory, it’s about the outcome. But when you have national organizations only make statements on issues that prove to garner the most media attention, you have to ask how much of their work is driven by the “glory”.

Al Sharpton is referred to as arguably “the most important black leader in America” on his own website. That’s a lot to live up to, don’t ya think. When people put themselves out there like that and step into leadership positions that are media created, you have an obligation to either make them live up it or get our of the way of people who are doing the real work. I believe you can walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. Meaning, you can continue to organize at a grassroots level, while calling out these larger organizations on their silence and indifference. This goes beyond having a niche. Every advocacy group has a niche and also has limitations. This is about setting priorities, fulfilling your mission and building coalitions. These groups have a responsibility to help work with and help give a voice to the groups that are working on the issues they are leaving behind. That’s what real unity means. Not - you support my issues while I ignore yours. Al Sharpton had no problem advocating on behalf of the bombings in Vieques. He and the NAACP took a stand and participated in the immigration rallies for illegal immigrants. I would say that those aren’t exactly in their narrowly defined scope either. And I highly doubt a Puerto Rican family from Vieques contacted him for his help. Black woman’s issues don’t garner enough media attention for these groups to be interested. You shouldn’t have to mince words about that, because the facts speak to themselves.

Good luck in your protest. Stay safe and educate people on the ineptitude of the WPB government. All the best!

[SheCodes]

Shane's coverage in USA Today is an object lesson of what one concerned citizen can do. Yes, some people from the march are going to be very angry, not because they have learned about Dunbar Village for the first time, but because this solitary man completely stole their thunder in a national newspaper.

There are politics surrounding the 'why's' of Shane’s coverage, but even beyond that, we need to underscore the point that when black leaders ignore the voice of their constituents, they will ultimately have to pay a price of damaged credibility for it.

This is an open call to all civil rights activists: it is time for you to start listening more actively to the younger generation of thinkers.

We do not have blinders on, and we are not content with your hyper-response to symbolic threats if it means that we must also place the substantive, factual slaughter of our own men and women on the back burner as part of the plan.

Our communities are not getting better with your leadership. The educational system in our communities is abysmal. Our men do not have meaningful jobs. Our women are dying from HIV. Our youth are caricaturized as gangster minstrels for the amusement of others. Our children are suffering from lack of proper care. It is report card time and your accomplishments are found seriously wanting. But it is not too late to make some mid-course corrections.

I write this as a concerned citizen, hoping to foster real Black unity, held together by singleness of purpose, and not a fallacious one held together by an immoral code of silence.

Shane is a whistleblower. He has called you out about what looks like proportional inequities to the attention that is placed to problems in the black community. If he was wrong, you could have approached him with evidence showing what you have done to stem the senseless tide of murder, rape, and battery in our community.

How is trying to silence Shane’s declaration of this gaping hole in your political strategy any different to that 'don't snitch' policy in Dunbar Village?

Somewhere, in some church service, I learned that God always begins to correct his beloved with a whisper in their ear. However, if they ignore Him long enough, their secrets will be shouted from the housetops, and their indiscretions will ultimately be unveiled for the whole world to see.