SOCIAL COMMENTARY - "Pro-Black"; What It Is To Me

by M Jvlian Simmons 

"Shit, grit, and mother-wit." -Ralph Ellison "Invisible Man"

WHAT IT IS?! - There's always a disconnect of union whenever someone uses the term "Pro-Black, Black Pride", or even most recently, "Black Lives Matter" with non-people of color.

To many of them, it infers anti-ism, and is often met with counters like "well, if we started a "pro-White, White Pride, or White Lives Matter" campaigns; that would be taken as racist!"

And while there's a part of me that agrees, there's another part of me that knows exactly why we have become a people having (at least for now) "special needs".

Much in the way that "a mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child", such is the way 'MammAmerica' should feel toward the American Black diaspora during the iffy development of our own ultimate identity away from Africa. 

We BEEN sayin' tho.

Mama knows.

 If you can imagine adopting an abused/neglected (via slavery, butchery of a people, and sub-par education/withheld opportunities) child in the midst of your other natural children who have no similar issues, you would also remember that this child will need a slightly different curve, or 'mode of care' to get back to square one, and develop properly like the rest of the children. 

And to think that one can press on as a connected family without considering nor allowing some concession for the recurring issues of its adopted and formerly abused members is simply cruel, like when some parents expect their toddler to be able to just walk as fast/long as an adult can. 

So by the same "mother-wit", how happy should 'MammAmerica' be, when her Black child has come to meltdown? If she's any kind of good mom, she wouldn't be very happy at all just now.

"PRIVILEGE" is thinking something isn't a problem, just because its not a problem FOR YOU.

As a former LD (Learning Disorder) teacher, and an elder sibling to adopted Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) kids of a Federal foster care system who, by the way, are Caucasian, my parents and I have had to deal with this dynamic almost daily, only in a more obvious scenario, as they're no less intelligent than "regular" students, yet is the depth of their teaching curriculum, and accessibility to proper and extensive resource that would make the difference for them proving themselves either a functional-to-brilliant addition to, or an invalid to society.

Not only did they have to take special classes, but so did we. We had to understand that abuse takes years, and even decades-to-generations to work through, that there are certain symptoms that manifest into PTSD-like traits, and that you can't even address certain issues as you would an unaffected person, lest you risk triggering an episode.

These were children whose prior sexual, and physical abuse yielded to, by then, their daily drawing of each other's blood since they were as young as two years old through violent fighting, biting, pulling out one's own hair and bones from out of their sockets, and even putting their own head through walls, and eventually burning down our home over even the mildest of scoldings.

They've had the police come to remand them, take them into custody until they can get to the hospital for proper medical/psychological treatment.

We've gone through "necessary takedown" procedures where they've actually had to be tackled, because in some instances, they both have, and will just run out in the street into traffic if they feel threatened, or made too anxious by or about any person or situation.

Our training clued us in on the type of trauma that they go through is a "survival mode" mindstate where they'd quite literally would rather DIE than to come under anyone's authority, so one must remember what kind of authority they were under before being in your current care. 

My sister, Erica, (on Right) among other family, c2000.

We saw it for the first time, as a very real thing.

This meant concessions had to be made, relationships with law enforcement had to be fostered so they knew our situation at the local precinct(s), school(s), and hospital ward(s), what to do when one of the kids eventually had an 'episode'.

These are truly sweet and loveable children, tween-aged mind you, having the mentality of a 7-9 yr old, but hardwired to "fight or flee" furiously when challenged to keep pace with the usual unaffected world, at least until most recently, whereas being allowed to flourish in a loving home, with a strong spiritual Foundation, well-rounded active life, and having several additional teams/resources in place has made all the difference in their world since for them (to which I commend my parents for their undying commitment to them).

Which is another thing, that we are a Black family raising two white children, which is almost a mythological phenomenon in itself, whereas white families get patted on the back quite regularly in this society for adopting Black and other races of children, yet I've yet to see a single newscast, clip, nor a sliver of available assistance in our case.

Matter of fact, my stepfather was nearly arrested when he, a gentleman of his early 60s, went shopping with the children, then in their tweens, and put my sister's 'looks-so-real' baby doll in the trunk of the car, as not to lose, nor have it be mistaken for merchandise.
The police promptly met them a few minutes later inside the store to escort him out, and to their car to investigate, to which, embarrassingly enough was 'nothing'; and no apology they even gave.

And we're not the only ones, by a long shot, still raising the more obvious 'kids of America' under pain of racial profiling/persecution.

Nonetheless, it isn't about 'us/our needs', but rather about those children's unique needs, and how we deal with having to supply those needs, so that they can stand a chance at functioning better, more like myself (who never went through any 'prolonged' abuse), and most every one else in society does/can.

IS IT "ME"?! ..'cos it sure doesn't LOOK like me; Ijs.

In this dynamic, one must also remember that most other races/nationalities here in America have a pretty decent-to-good 'situation', as they can get a well-paying job, have opportunities readily available to them, gov't incentives for starting businesses, can go visit homeland/travel the world, visually invisible to police, etc., while we mostly (plus a few others like the Croatian for example, and other foreign refugees) simply do/can not.

There's hardly any world travel, nor "friends with a lakehouse" somewhere you can retreat to on a sweltering Summer day; there's only your low-paying hourly job, the block, and whatever knowledge can be gleaned from media/resources we all use, or may have access to (if you can afford it, that is). 

It must be nice.

Why do you think it a stereotype that "black people can't swim"? 

Its because of a lack of accessible resource, not some genetic disposition.

If we COULD get to a lakehouse or a community swimming pool every now and again (or weren't violently shooed away from them, when we DID show up), then more of us WOULD know how to swim. Such as is with other seemingly race-specific shortcomings (ie., Blacks only labor, never manage/own, materialistic, over-sexed, lazy, etc.).

And for the record, I CAN swim, thank you.

Now, this "Pro-Black-ism" we keep referring to isn't about squashing the rights and accomplishments of other peoples (being 'anti-'), but rather a personal "rooting for oneself" to be on par with all others that surrounds us, who might I add, have been doing the same, likewise, for themselves.

Hasidic Pride

No one condemns the Jew for taking pride in their heritage, and focusing their interests on edifying their community/nation, lest we forget about Hitler's atrocities against them, being forced out of their own homelands against the pain of death by extermination, and their Promised Land having been commandeered for so long.

 Shall we"never forget".

Looks like Korean Pride to me!

When the South Koreans banded together over here to make a life for themselves in America from Communist North Korea, nobody complained when all these new salons, and restaurants popped up in the 1970s-80s, and now (tho most won't want to admit it) they are a business force to be reckoned with over here.


 
We're no different by way of having to escape oppression's grip, but unlike others, we must shake multiple generations-worth of abusive crap out of our own mentalities, and from others concerning what we are (or are not) capable of.

 
Here are some examples of the cross-generational physical and mental abuse of The Black American dispora. Consider its effects still in-play on the modern Black psyche (and I'm being VERY modest here):

Inhumane treatment of Black humans as "product/livestock"

We had no say in our identity.

Perpetuating "product/livestock" treatment.   Modern perpetuation of satirical identity.

Just to name a few.

 

So, when you hear someone saying something like "pro-Black" or using slogans like "Black Lives Matter", its usually to call attention to our own lack of situation, and implying a focus on what needs to happen so that we, just like the rest of our Europeans, Asian, Jewish, East Indian 'sibling' here, can perhaps develop as they do/have done for more than a few generations now.


There's still so much to do, as we take steps every generation to rejoin our families, finish our educations, discover new ways to explore entrepreneurship, and take more of a personal stake in the development of our own statehood, and in other areas where we can restore our dignity as a growing people.

RUSTLING YOUR JIMMIES - Sorry if you don't like the sound/idea of it (the term), but until we're outta the woods (namely, by way of better and more accurate education, reintroduction of the Black man in history books as rightfully one of the chief architects of this world alongside other races, the reunion of the Black "nuclear" family, restoration of our mental, physical, fiscal/economic, and even legal states in greater society, enjoy the same privileged as all others in America, eliminate the negative stigma associated with the colors black and brown, etc.) we'll continue our focus there, amongst our issues at hand, and we'll do so on our own terms. 

But that's just one Black man's opinion.

There's plenty of White people with Black Soul.

 

Black American family proudly celebrates heritage in ceremony.

Mama Obama

Black Pride Millennial youth

Even some white college professors deny Blacks in Egypt. smh

Black Pride class in the 1970s.

Black activism: Getting OURSELVES straight.

Black 1970s' pre-Millennial youth

Let's get it together, people!

I would if I could, but I ain't 'cos I can't.

WHITE PEOPLE, its not about YOU, its about curing our OWN self-loathing.

Please feel free to comment; tell us how you feel about such issues, like and share!

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