The Swamp logo

Why This Weekend Is a Cry for Help

Featuring Nessa, Antonio, and Shari

By Jocelin LeigePublished 7 years ago 10 min read
Like

This past weekend has really pushed folks' limits on racial identity and racial hate. With the death of Heather Heyer and others being literally targeted by the white supremacist and neo-Nazis, you'd think those saying racism came about when Mr. Obama was president would wake the f**** up. (Get better soon, Deandre Harris). This problem has been going on for far too long.

The worst thing to come out of all of this was seeing someone actually get hurt. If we have gotten rid of the Confederate monuments a long time ago and made the Confederacy flags all illegal, we wouldn't have this problem. My honest opinion is that this just got way out of hand.

There are a lot of people out there that don't understand why we are upset. They can't see why this is a really big deal for us. And I honestly truly feel like we are literally at the end of our rope with this problem. Once we can move forward together and make everything equal the way it should be I believe we can move forward with our own ways and build something brighter, bigger, and stronger.

Well, this is all I have to say right now. I'm not the only one that has a say in this. So, I hope you guys will enjoy different perspectives from different people and different areas. Take the time to read how we all feel.

Q: Tell me what bothers you the most about what was and is still happening today.

Nessa:

What bothers me the most is that white supremacism is still a thing. People of color have contributed so much to developments and advancements throughout history, so how is anyone still believing that POC are lesser? How are POC still less employable? Less trustworthy? Less desirable? Less valuable? At the same time, why are these extremists – YES, THEY ARE EXTREMISTS – not being held accountable? They’re breaking laws, aren’t they? Or does the law not give a crap if you’re white?

Shari:

I guess the biggest thing that is bothersome about all of this is that this is damn near the same fight that my grand parents and parents had to fight.

And what really rubs me like a cheese grater is the fact that these "allies" don't seem to understand that. This isn't new, the only difference is that it used to be kept under wraps. I guess a good thing that has come out of it is now people are showing you their true colors and now we don't have to sit back and guess.

Antonio:

Where do we even start with this? You basically had a sizable chunk of White America, yet again, showing their whole ass for inanity to the shock of no one, back on the 12th of this month.

Unless you count the parallels of these (mostly) frail ego white dudes marching with tiki torches to the KKK from decades earlier, there’s not much of a difference. Same bigots, new decade.

I think what bothered me the most outside the unbridled audacity of these slags to march about how they’re the ones being oppressed and that they’re somehow superior to other races, ethnicities, and faiths is that many of them looked really pampered and below average.

Not only that, but most of the cretins had the intention to intimidate and cause havoc and harm, which they pretty much accomplished since one of their ilk maimed people and managed to kill an innocent.

Then again, those notions right there seem to be enough for them to be indignant and prove that much hasn’t changed since the Civil Rights Movement of the 50s and 60s. Speaking of that….

Q: Does it really feel like we are going backwards and not exactly where we need to be?

Nessa:

Absolutely feels backwards, and still has a long way to go. I’m not gonna lie, I thought that maybe America was starting to move forward when I found out Obama won the presidency years ago.

I was knocked back down to Earth when I saw all the violent comments and protests against him and against POC in general. With Trump – and everything he stands for – being elected into office, there is no denying that we’ve actually moved farther from the goal of eradicating racism, among other things.

Shari:

Yes! This is the very thing that we were afraid of back in November. We were told, "You have nothing to worry about" and that, "You will be just fine." We weren't fine then and we damn sure aren't fine now.

I will say that when I was younger I was naive to a lot of the microaggressions and even aggression, that changed a long time ago. However, there was also a time that I thought things were getting a little bit better. I had hope. I wanted to believe. I'm not so sure I can say the same thing with much convincing today.

Antonio:

It doesn’t feel like we moved very much forward to begin with. Considering that my mother, her siblings, and my grandparents were alive and served an active part during Desegregation, it’s a not very surprising travesty seeing this amount of blatant animosity and anti-intellectualism coming from white people, who are the main ones who like to declare how more cultured they are than everyone else, but are so unwelcoming to other groups of people while simultaneously taking advantage of them.

My grandfather and his white partner did not risk being lynched by many of these charlatans’ relatives, traveling out into the boonies to try and help enroll their children in school for this hatred to still be continuing full force today.

Q: What do you feel we should do to move forward?

Nessa:

Hold people accountable, with the justice system backing us up. We have far too many cases of white people getting away with a slap on the wrist for crimes they committed simply because they’re white. Education is also necessary, but far too often POC are expected to patiently educate over and over again.

The education system needs to step in and do their part and not erase the unpleasant things that white folk have done. POC also need to stop worshipping white people (this is something people in the Philippines seem to keep doing, totally disregarding that we were colonized by them and that’s a big messy story for another day).

Would it be possible to also boot Trump? That would help a lot, I think. Hold him accountable for his BS, too.

Shari:

We as a community need to continue to band together. The other side is already crumbling and they are trying their best to make us do the same. We have the power in number, endurance, and money. The younger generations aren't sure of it because of the state of the economy that is presented to us, my generation knows it and is working to pull together, but the older generations, from what I've seen, are stuck in an old system that does not work and that is watching out for themselves and trying to get the approval of the other side instead of coming together.

It's ironic because they know the power of the Civil Rights Movement and the original Black Panther Party. However, they have become the "pray about it" generation instead of the "get sh*t done*" generation.

Antonio:

Start holding more people accountable. Seriously, what the hell is the point of having a legislative and judicial branch if they keep failing to do right by most black Americans in the U.S., whose ancestors who were forcibly brought to the U.S. over 200 years ago?

Not even just us, but other POC are suffering due to injustices against them as well, or even being complicit to what’s being done to my people because they’re not being treated as harshly, acting—as I’ve seen one person put—as a “buffer race” in most cases.

Also, as I’ve said many times elsewhere, I feel it should be a requirement for high schoolers to take sociology, world/U.S. history, psychology, literature, and ethnic studies for them to graduate, along with a serious overhaul of the U.S. educational system.

I think it would alleviate much of the vitriol we have seen come from mostly white people when it comes to other groups of people and their cultures.

Would it be possible to boot Trump? (I nicked this from my girl Vanessa, hehe.)

Yes! 'Cause his punk ass has been the main perpetrator of this nonsense, along with most of the Republicans in positions of power in the U.S. All they asses need to get got and thrown into a viper pit to serve as an example of what advocating racism gets you.

Q: Any fears that you see coming towards us as a country?

Nessa:

One of the things I fear may happen is that there’ll be more bloodshed. It’s bad enough as it is, but could continue to get worse. The neo-Nazis and white supremacists are emboldened by Trump’s rhetoric, so if he keeps going and isn’t held accountable, it really looks like they’ll only grow more outwardly violent.

Keep in mind that if they’re lashing out now, it’s nothing new; they were already violent, they just needed “approval” from someone in an authoritative position. What better “approval” for racist, violent behavior than your country’s leader encouraging it with his words and actions?

Shari:

Nope. We saw this coming. We have already prepared ourselves for it. Everybody in my circle of friends, both in the US and outside of it, have already begin to make preparations to either get out or sit with popcorn and tea to watch it all burn.

It is, however, harder for those of us with kids, nieces, nephews, and in my case, godchildren. We want them to be safe, so we will do what we need to do to make sure that they are.

Antonio:

This asinine lil' “rally” and others like that will keep emboldening these extremists to cause more chaos and mayhem because they want to be given a pass for their mediocrity compared to other people.

If unqualified ingrates like Drumpf keep enabling this type of behavior, the systemic racism will never be resolved and the violence will worsen. Speaking of that, special prosecutor Robert Mueller needs to speed up those judicial proceedings on Russia.

(Nah, I ain’t forget about that. Nail that bastard!)

Q: What advice do you have for those that are white that should understand more about as a whole?

Nessa:

The world does not revolve around you. Step out of your comfort zone, actually TRY to learn more about POC history and culture, don’t just rely on your token POC friend to educate you. It gets exhausting to keep educating people who don’t seem to learn. Make a sincere effort to learn what they’re upset about, don’t put words into their mouths. Don’t assume that POC are lashing out for no reason, dig deeper and you’ll find that most of the time, it’s actually a self-defense tactic.

Shari:

FUCKING READ AND LISTEN! I'm tired of trying to teach them about what's going on. It's to the point where I just copy and paste because it is the same questions with the same answers from everyone. It is not our part to educate them, we've been doing it now for over 150 years. If they truly wanted to know, they would at least read.

Antonio:

POC do not exist for your pleasure or entertainment. You generic bologna, snotty nose bastards are not the center of the God damn universe, and even if you were, your asses aren’t even nearly special as you like to pretend yourselves to be.

When people are actively telling you you’re screwing up, stop with the pearl clutching and being appalled that someone isn’t putting up with your BS. Ya’ll also really need to do better with calling out your racist ass counterparts; that’s the other issue that needs to be dealt with. You all always want POC to take responsibility for our degenerates, so ya’ll stop being lazy and hypocritical and do the same. And before I forget, Drumpf can go f**k himself with the rustiest of spoons.

Thanks for reading folks! We will be back again next week. This blog will post only on a weekly basis since, you know, we have lives. Keep up with us and share our work. Once again thanks for reading!

activismopinion
Like

About the Creator

Jocelin Leige

Welcome all! I hope we can share and learn from one another through this blog segment. Thanks for having Tea with us!

Reader insights

Be the first to share your insights about this piece.

How does it work?

Add your insights

Comments

There are no comments for this story

Be the first to respond and start the conversation.

Sign in to comment

    Find us on social media

    Miscellaneous links

    • Explore
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Support

    © 2024 Creatd, Inc. All Rights Reserved.