THOUGHTS ABOUT WHITE FEAR OF BLACK MEN

THOUGHTS ABOUT WHITE FEAR OF BLACK MEN – another view It is true that an idea repeated often enough will eventually be accepted as fact. I have the habit of examining any idea supported too often by too many people: particularly when the idea is repeated with the same words in the same context. It’s become almost fashionable to justify the killing of an unarmed black man out of a justifiable fear – that fear is assumed to be both rational and legal. Some voices of authority have gone so far as to state that the white fear in rooted in the injustice heaped upon black people by whites and that the specter of a black man is seen as an avenging demon. I have found nothing remotely close to facts to support this assertion. I have another view of why unarmed blacks are killed by whites – the killings are driven not by fear but impunity. Not too long ago the killing, by torture and lynching, of black people was a public event; a spectacle attended by jubilant crowds of white families – men women and children. Jubilation has not suddenly turned to fear in the American culture. However, jubilation has been replaced by a conscious disregard for black life; there is a conscious regard for white life. That regard is intensified when a person is white and young – that disregard remains the same for black people whether old or young. A citizen’s call to police for suspected mischief by a black person is approached as fact – the same call to police for suspected mischief by a white person is approached for verification. Verification is a must before lethal force is used against a white suspect. Verification is subjective when a black is suspect. Black life does not share the same conscious regard as white life. www.adolphusward.net

THOUGHTS ABOUT MISSED MOMENTS OF LIFE

THOUGHTS ABOUT MISSED MOMENTS OF BLACK-LIFE – millions of lives billions of moments This thought has come to me in many forms so I’ll attempt to give it coherence in this post. What I want to focus on is those moments missed while struggling to stay alive. The American government has robbed black folk of more than their labor pride heritage culture freewill family-hood spirituality and self but has also prevented them from experiencing those moments that could have enriched and given purpose to their lives. Following my four years plus of service in the Marine Corp my Father arranged for me to be hired at a large steel manufacturing company in Milwaukee, a company he would retire from after more than thirty years. I’d never been inside dad’s workplace while growing up and it was fascinating to me. Starting out I was a GOFOR, you know, go for this go for that. I worked my way up to assistant press operator; huge machine as tall as a three story building that shaped steel into frames for trucks automobiles and farm equipment – including siloes; during WW-II the company manufactured bombs tanks and other war material. I went to the company’s welding school to learn rod and gas for line work. Line welding is a blend of humans and machines producing parts at a high rate of speed – this is piecework: more parts meant more money. Each person on the line pushes the other to go faster. Repetition gave me and the other workers rote memory – meaning we didn’t have to use a lot of brain power to do the job. That was particularly true of me. I planned my development and that of my family while working on that line. Now I’ll give a morbid twist to my story. A slaver sells me to the company, the company puts me to work on the line for no money, the company hires a driver with a whip whose job is to make me produce lots of parts all day every day into the night, the company allows me to stay in a shack with my wife and kids but the company attends to their needs – they look to the company for everything. I can’t protect my family, I can’t buy my kids candy, I can’t give my wife flowers, I can’t have time for romance, I can’t walk in a park, watch the leaves fall, watch a sunset, speak my mind, I can’t choose to live and at the same time stay alive. We owe it to our ancestors to mend our broken lives – to heal the pathology (sickness) that still plagues us. www.adolphusward.net

THOUGHTS ABOUT LIFE

THOUGHTS ABOUT LIFE – through my eyes and mirror Sunday is my day for assessing what I said I’d do or continue working on, and what I actually did. Lately some weeks my DO STUFF sucks – perhaps its age as in older age. Even though my mind says do my ass says fuck-it. This past week was a fuck-it week. I really don’t know how to do nothing, even when I’m doing nothing. Meaning, when I’m not doing what I said I’d do I’m always doing something; it’s just not what I said I’d do. I said at the beginning of the past week, or more like the past few weeks, I’d work on my memoire and continue work on merging my three novels into one book. I also said I’d do more preliminary work on getting more jobs in film and telephone. Instead of this DO STUFF I’ve been following local and world news events, reading books, sitting in coffee shops and drinking cappuccinos with soy – before my recent heart attack I would drink double espressos. I call what I’ve been doing CREATIVE AVOIDANCE. I haven’t added my voice to those in visual and social media defending or attacking the actions of our President. I frankly don’t think I’m able to add or take away anything significant. I do think some of his actions intentionally divide the country along racial line – in that sense he is a racist. I think we do need to keep close watch on white race haters in order to protect black people, families, and neighborhoods from harm. I also think we need to join hands with black elected officials and black think tanks in fighting to repeal or block the enactment of laws that harm black people. Some black African countries (peoples) are moving to confiscate land and take back control of their natural resources from former white colonizers. More black Americans should come to realize that slavery and discrimination based on race has a value that can be interpreted in dollars, land, and other resources. Black American must come to realize that America owes black people an enormous debt that must be paid. REPARATIONS is not just an empty word it describes actions to be taken to heal the harm, the injustice, done to a people – making them whole and not remain broken. www.adolphusward.net