it is exposing the chasm existing between american black folk and african black folk.
it is just as bad in the 'human attrocities' in terms of number killed as iraq was prior to u.s. invasion, yet the u.s. government is content to let the shit continue...i wonder why?
it is alleviating the guilt many white folk feel over the shitty treatment they've shown to american black folk over the history of the existence of the united states.
it was featured on e.r. last night, given more media exposure in that hour than in the three nightly network news broadcasts COMBINED (ten minutes...COMBINED.)
it needs george clooney and other celeb types before the general public becomes aware of the fact that:- between 200,000-400,000 people have been killed
- more than 250,000 people have been displaced, which is the nice term for "scared the fuck out of their houses and made to run for their lives or risk being murdered where they stand"
to put this in perspective:
- the population in the cities of san francisco, ca; washington, dc; boston, mass; or atlanta, ga would all be slaughtered or displaced.
- the population in the states of alaska, vermont, or wyoming would all be annihilated or forced to flee their homes.
- every fan who attended a washington redskins home game in the year 2005 would be killed or forced from their abodes.
- if 'hurricane genocide' had hit new orleans, nobody would have survived. not.a.one. there'd be no need for relief efforts, search and rescue efforts, or funds for assisting the citizens in rebuilding their lives cuz there'd be no citizens left.
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i'm not here to preach or judge. in fact, i didn't learn about the crisis in darfur until recently, so i'm damn sure not gonna throw stones at you.
but the fact that i didn't know about this when i live in a country that prides itself on its 'freedom afforded all folk here', its 'knowledgeable and compassionate citizens', its 'honest and thorough media coverage', is unacceptable and only goes further to prove just how important it is for us as individuals to actively educate ourselves about the world around us. it means not just accepting what we see on the nightly news as the extent of what's going on outside of u.s. boarders. it means not limiting ourselves to the information from the newspapers tossed onto our doorstep or broadcasted from local channels. it means being hopeful yet cynical, because the world is one where hope exists, even in the face of soul-shattering reality.
it means questioning all sources of information, recognizing the personal agenda of the people putting out that information, finding out who has the most to gain with the exposure of that information. it means actively aligning yourself with organizations that most closely reflect your personal beliefs and being an active member of those organizations. or it could mean forming your own damn organization and making it the most badass organization ever.
i went online last week trying to find out where the protest rally in atlanta was being held. imagine my surprise when i looked at the list and saw no atlanta rally or any rally in cities with a large black population other than washington d.c. and new york city, new york.
no atlanta. no detroit. no houston. no los angeles. no cleveland.
no atlanta? what kind of shit is THAT? what kind of fucking black mecca is this anyway? so i ended up watching it on c-span, every now and again shaking my head with disgust at the atrocities as depicted from the podium or throwing my hands up in frustration at the lack of u.s. government involvement detailed by the speakers. when the camera panned the crowd, i was disappointed to see only sporadic dots of brown faces. now don't get me wrong, i appreciate the white folk who took time out of their busy lives to attend those rallies, but the situation in darfur is an in-house problem in the black community. we should have fucking REPRESENTED up in that piece. those are our fucking ROOTS being yanked from the ground and strangled in darfur.
was it because of lack of knowledge? that's a strong possibility, cuz my black ass wasn't there cuz i had no idea about the damn rallies until the previous thursday (the rallies took place that sunday). and yeah, i know american blacks got our own issues. i know socioeconomic inequality has created a sense of powerless among alot of us and has made it difficult if not impossible for many of us to focus on anything other than our own problems. for real though...there are alot of us who have the time but choose to do nothing with it. many of us who think we have no power to change the world are shorting ourselves. we do have that power, but we gotta believe that shit before it becomes true.
ain't no sugarcoating this shit here. this ain't about american blacks and african blacks. this is just about black, period. this is about our family living in africa being fucking wiped off the face of the planet. when we see their faces, we see a reflection of our own. babies whose features resemble those of the seeds unfurled from our very own wombs, women with faces lined in the same worry pattern as our mothers and sisters and aunts, men who wear an onyx sheen to their skin and an inherent distrust in their heart as a result of the deliberately placed obstacles preventing them from taking care of their families....just like the brothas in america.folk, this ain't the moment for wishing you could do more cuz wishing don't change shit. this ain't the moment to sympathize and offer tisks as opposed to time cuz sympathy is about as effective as oxygen molecules in water to a diver immersed without an oxygen tank.
this is the time to just do the damn thing.
so do it.
(okay, so maybe i preached just a little, but part of the motivation behind this was to motivate my own ass up to do something more)
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