Last night I dreamed I was in Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

Instead of ghouls clawing their way out of graves, I saw White people dragging their asses around wailing, “I never knew I had White Privilege! I didn’t know that structural racism continues to segregate Black communities of access to opportunity!”

Or that it blocks upward mobility by making it more difficult for Black people to secure quality education, jobs, housing, healthcare, and equal treatment in the criminal justice system!”

Talk about creepy. But, then I remembered;

It’s close to midnight and something evil’s lurkin’ in the dark
Under the moonlight, you see a sight that almost stops your heart
You try to scream but terror takes the sound before you make it
You start to freeze as horror looks you right between the eyes,

You’re paralyzed

‘Cause this is thriller, thriller night
And no one’s gonna save you from the beast about to strike
You know it’s thriller, thriller night
You’re fighting for your life inside a killer, thriller tonight.

Stop Being Stupid!

What dreamland have White people been living in?

Undoubtedly, not the same as mine.

First, didn’t they ever wonder why so many Black people live out most of their lives in prison? Or that a White high school drop-out has an easier time buying a house than a Black college-educated person? Or, did they consider that the majority of the men and now women who get to become astronauts or Silicon Valley computer workers are either White or Asian?

Second, I’m not surprised but, they didn’t realize that Black people have had to work twice as hard at everything they have ever accomplished? And, for the White people I know, tell me, did nobody tell you that stuff?

Is that why some of you are walking around like the living dead? Oh, geez guys, I’m sorry. It must be scary to think that so much of what you are privy and have accomplished is due to White skin privilege.

Wake the hell up?

So now that you’re “woke” whatcha’ gonna’ do about it?

What are you willing to give up?

First, do not!

😱Ask a Black person to explain racism to you.   Moreover, find books, Youtube videos, or articles, especially those written by other White folks to explain it to you. Like Mary Poppins sang in a “Spoon Full of Sugar,” hearing it from another White person will make the reality go down smoother. And, don’t try to be slick and say, “I’m just asking for a little advice.” This post is about all the insight I will ever offer.

 

Educate yourself. 

Educate your fellow White people. 

Use your White privilege to benefit Black people’s progress.

And, especially for Progressives, stop hiding your wealth. 

Note: Peggy McIntosh’s “White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack is a start. 

Was this in your history books?

It sure wasn’t in mine.

Lies & Purposeful Omissions

The dilemma we find ourselves in.

Minding our damn business, and then the horror begins.

Racy Taylor, who at 24 years old, was “walking home from a church service on a September summer evening in 1944, when she was kidnapped, gang-raped, and left blindfolded on the side of a road by six white men.

According to reports, the men were armed and threatened to kill her if she told anyone about the attack. The young, married mother did inform authorities, however, in the height of the Jim Crow Era. They never were charged or spent a night in jail.

White Moms & Dads are so privileged.

They don’t have to educate their children to be aware of systemic racism for their

daily physical protection. 

George Stinney could easily be my son and now my Grandson. Racey, my Granddaughter. The line-up of kids killed by the police could have been them too.  Why did it take George Floyd to get his neck crushed on the ground for this monumental explosion of “I once was blind but, now I see”?

By the way, Rosa Parks did more than refuse to sit down in the back of the bus. The NAACP in Alabama took Racy’s case, and the investigator tasked with leading the case was Rosa Parks — nearly 11 years before Parks’ historic refusal to get up her seat on a Montgomery city bus.

Selective Tuning-in.

That in and of itself is one of the benefits of White Privilege. You get to pick and choose what to be “woke” about.  I had to know, or my kid would be dead, and even after I killed his childhood telling him over and over, he could still be shot in the head or incarcerated just because he was a Black boy. And, even as he is a grown man, I worry.

Gotta’ Own the World!

What’s wrong with this picture?

The famed black-and-red calfskin jacket that Michael Jackson wore in the classic Thriller video sold at auction for USD 1.8 million Darren Julien, president and chief executive of Julien’s Auctions in Beverly Hills. Milton Verret, a commodities trader from Austin, Texas, bought it.  Jackson wore during the filming of the 1983 Thriller video.

OK, don’t feel bad for the rest of your life.

Maybe it’s not too late.

Black folks know White folks better than they know themselves. We had to know to survive in a racist country.  Of course, if you just woke up to your White privilege, don’t despair. You are not alone.   Some of the most racist and disrespectful comments I’ve received have come from the mouths of other “people of color.”.  Too often, from people I had loved and fought for.  That hurt goes deep because I trusted them.

So Remember, 

Just a spoonful of sugar helps White Supremacy go down
Supremacy go down-wown
Supremacy go down
Just a spoonful of sugar helps White Supremacy go down
In a most delightful way.”

 

 

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