It’s time for the Black community to “Cancel” protesting/marching and here is why.
For as far as I can remember and have researched, protesting and marching has been the staple for demanding justice and equality for the black community. Anytime an incident has occurred that involves the black community which has racial undertones, right on cue, we take to the streets with our signs, banners, and chants. “Say their name”, “No Justice, No Peace”, or the infamous “This is what democracy looks like”. The concept that protest is the voice of the unheard, really rings hollow. These protest usually last for about 4–5 days, and as someone who use to participate in this form of activism I cannot tell you how many times I have seen other advocacy groups use the energy of the protest to make their voices heard for their causes above ours. We allow the media to take our pain and frustration and turn it in to must-see tv, and we eat it up. We start looting, rioting and destroying our own neighborhoods and property, and for what exactly? Change? Justice? A Revolution? None of the above-mentioned happens, however what we are left with is the aftermath of the events, and our beloved communities looking more war torn than before. At some point we must ask ourselves, “Do we really think this is effective or efficient?” I say emphatically, HELL NO!!!
Black trauma protest are a never-ending cycle of wash, rinse, repeat and it is high time that we as Black people realize that this can not continue to be the way forward. We must resist the temptation to go to the streets and give the white media what they want, black trauma porn for tv ratings. Not one single march/protest in this country has brought about justice for any of the black victims of police brutality, nor has it resulted in one single piece of legislation being passed for reform. Yes, you just read what I wrote, protesting and marching are ineffective. Dancing in front of the police is nothing more than a minstrel show, might as well put on tap shoes and black face, because that is essentially what we look like. Have you ever stop to think why white people are so quick to want to change the narrative about why we are protesting to the events that are happening at the protest, it’s because white people look at us as these violent creatures that need to be tamed and it is the police’s job to “crack the whip” on us. We give them the proverbial out to change the narrative rather them confronting the problem head on. It is the same reason why they are quick to talk about the gun violence in Chicago and not about the conditions that created economic disparities and perpetuate the violence we see today.
We must also address these “Actor-vist” that making millions of dollars off of black death and do nothing for the grieving families. We must stop allowing all these so called actor-vist, the Al Sharpton, BLM and the attorneys to merely show up for the cameras, rile up the crowds, get you arrested, leaving your community to clean up the mess. We should be demanding a stop to protesting, electing instead to use the two most powerful things that we have at our disposal, our black dollars, and our black vote. One requires financial discipline, the latter requires a fundamental truth and reconciliation with the Democratic party. We should identify all the major corporations and businesses who claim they support our causes, demand them to speak up advocate for us not just publicly but in their private conversations, and if they refuse we should stop patronizing them. Instead of marching around like our ancestors during 1940s-1970s, we show up to City Council meetings, townhalls and events and tell these politicians if they don’t change the policies then they will be voted out. What if we finally stop letting the media and all these blue check bootlick on social media to coerce us into the notion of “voting blue no matter who”. How has that worked out for us? It seems these politicians only care about our votes, that is why they are silent and don’t legislate on our behalf. We should look at how the AAPI community rallied together behind the #stopasianhate campaign. Sure, there we a few protests, not merely the magnitude of one of our protest, and yet they took their concerns directly to their legislators and lobbied for policy. The result was a congressional hearing and an executive action within Biden’s first 100 days. We all should be on the phones, calling Senator Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema offices demanding they support HR 7120, the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act. Where is the congressional hearing on banning qualified immunity for police, what about police reform and funding? Oh that right, earlier this week, the Biden Administration decided it no longer was needed. Their reasoning, civil right leaders did not think that should be the focus. Let me get this straight, black leaders who do not live in the communities they swear they are fighting for are making decisions for the black community, and right on cue another young black man was killed by the police. President Biden’s response to Daunte Wright’s murder focused more on the rioting and looting than the young man who was gun down.
So I say to the tribe, stop all the buck dancing, twerking, marching and protesting and let’s get some actual legislation that will change our communities. Our civil rights organization have been reduced to nothing more than useless, for-profit entities with no real effect of change. That was evident back in December, when President Biden chastised them like little petulant kids. It is also the reason his administration like every previous one has done absolutely nothing for the black community. We don't have the luxury of waiting to see, what they are going to do, that hasn't yielded us anything in the past and it damn sure isn't producing results in the present. Our ability to vote has not yielded the results that Dr. King fought for, we are nothing more than a captured electorate for Democrats. 60 years of being able to get 90% of the black vote and we don't have anything to show for it. We need to stop accepting crumbs as a measure for progress, we need the whole damn loaf.
Aren’t we tired of doing the same thing, expecting a different result? If so, we can change that. The lack of policies that we get are the direct by-product of the politics we have yet to demand. That doesn’t happen in the streets, it happens at city hall, the state capitol and in Washington, DC, we need to be “where the money resides”.
Peace and Love,
Unapologetically Blakk
