Derek Chauvin had just been found guilty on all counts, with sentencing to come. I texted the above message to a group chat with some friends.
I had been waiting with held breath alongside (over some airwaves) these friends for an hour that’d felt like eternity in an eye-blink. And I was relieved and slightly more hopeful about many things after hearing the verdict. I felt gratitude. But even then, I recognized that this might just be an outlier. We still have so many beloved dead and living to secure accountability for and FROM.
This verdict isn’t justice, to borrow…
If only any Black person, child or adult, got to be this naïve so far into their double digits-numbers. Or naïve into their double digit-years at all. . . .
I tried to comment on the video but Youtube wouldn’t let me. Dunno what’s going on there, but . . . sus AF.
Here’s what I tried to leave:
Mike, they know who Breonna Taylor is. They know Cori Bush is NOT Breonna Taylor. But all Black folks look alike and there’s no real difference between us, soooooo. . . .
That’s the point. That’s ALWAYS the point, much…
Where’s the lie, though? Probably in the same place as all the “hope and change.”
That strike should’ve happened. I have never more firmly believed that (NEO-)LIBERALISM is the truest enemy of PROGRESSIVES. A far quieter and more deadly one than any Conservatism — or any weird-ass, Ayn Rand-style Libertarianism.
More shenanigans in my favorite and most frequent forum.
I stumbled across the response screen-capped below, whilst trawling the comments section of an article on Very Smart Brothas (part of Theroot.com), titled:
“Yeah, It’s Time to Bury the Cutesy ‘Karen’ Nickname for Dangerous White Women.”
This is America
Don’t catch you workin’ now
Don’t catch you workin’ now
Look what I’m doin’ now
This is America (Woo)
Don’t catch you deliverin’ now
Don’t catch you deliverin’ now
Look what I’m leavin’ nowThis is America (Skrrt, skrrt, woo) Don’t catch you breathin’ now (Ayy) Look how I’m drivin’ now White Privilege be killin’ now (Woo) Yeah, this is America (Woo, ayy) Chads in my area (Word, my area) I got the gate code (Ayy…
THAT. Seriously:
— “Disposable Teens,” Marilyn Manson, Holy Wood (In the Shadow of the Valley of Death)
But, mostly . . . THIS:
Cued up to 11:28, though the whole show is, as always, worth listening to. But from 11:30 to 24:26, guest host Q brings truth to power. And with such clarity and force, he got motherfuckers up in here, like:
To My Voting Friends: On the REAL? I’m Not Angry at YOU.
I’m really not. I’m not angry or trolling. I APPRECIATE YOU, I do. And your passion and hope. Your determination and sincerity. I might think it’s mislead and misdirected, but I’m not angry at YOU for trying in the only way maybe any of us might know to make it better. I’m angry at where we’ve left ourselves (current and past “we”s) and I haven’t forgotten that truth. Nor will I let systemic evil eclipse that fact again. …
“You’ve got to remember that these are just simple farmers. These are people of the land. The common clay of the new West. You know… morons.” — Jim, Blazing Saddles (1974)
Eh, more like . . . “This is America.” But, really, it’s the same principle from different, not uncomplimentary angles.
In the first six-ish minutes of the Benjamin Dixon show, I found someone who — despite having differing philosophies and methodologies than mine . . . vastly different — has encapsulated my long, terribly difficult process to figure out where I land on any political spectrum.
I’mma tell it. I’mma say the quiet part out loud — the part older generations of Black folks are TIRED of saying out loud because no one listens, not even younger Black people. Or, as them Grown Folks might say:
“Can’t tell white people nothin’. Can’t tell young people nothin’.” Or, if you’re a fan of fables and analogies:
. . . just a beetle with opinions and an internet connection. You’ve been warned.