SPORT ACTIVISM: The First Step, White People, in Your Anti-racist ...

SPORT ACTIVISM: The First Step, White People, in Your Anti-racist ...: The First Step, White People, in Your Anti-racist Efforts The acknowledgment of support, public statements, marching against racial vio...

SPORT ACTIVISM: Anti-White Supremacy Agenda

SPORT ACTIVISM: Anti-White Supremacy Agenda: A Call for an Anti-White Supremacy Agenda        The frustration and horror for me, as I watch the killing of George Floyd, is watching Dere...

SPORT ACTIVISM: I Am Beyond “THE DIALOGUE ON RACE"

SPORT ACTIVISM: I Am Beyond “THE DIALOGUE ON RACE": I am beyond the dialogue on race, Another knee on my neck,  more tear-gas in my face? I’m in the streets now, Marching, protesting, rioting,...

I Am Beyond “THE DIALOGUE ON RACE"

I am beyond the dialogue on race,

Another knee on my neck, 

more tear-gas in my face?

I’m in the streets now,

Marching, protesting, rioting,

burning down your symbols of death, 

tearing down your generals of hate.

It’s a bit too late, too much hate, and too much rage in me; 

 Just can’t see how.

 

I am beyond the dialogue on race,

Must I plead another case?

Flee while being chased

I’m beyond the dialogue.

Giving you another chance to monologue; 

Can’t take another sympathetic prologue;

Definitely not another protracted epilogue.

 

I am beyond the dialogue on race,

Besides, WTF is there to talk about anyway at this stage?

You know what the problem is, 

YOU even know the answer, 

YOU know what to say,

YOU know why I have so much rage.

The only thing I care to hear is the economic reparations, compensation for the exploitation –

For 246 years of unpaid labor during enslavement;

Over 90 years in a system of sharecropping.

 

Can we talk?

Do you really really, like for real, want to end institutional systems of oppression?

Do you really have the spirit of the slave abolitionist to undo yourselves from yourselves and your privilege?

 

If not, I’m beyond the dialogue on race,

Too late for the Blah di Blah Blah! 

I’m done.

Di Blah, Blah! 

      Crispy

Di Blah, Blah! 

I’m Out!

 

 

My Muse

I think “we,” a particular population of Black people, are in a different space than most non-Black people on the topic of race and racial injustices. I am not claiming this to be the consensus, but I am confident that with the recent occurrences of white-on-Black murders, dialogues are a bit too late, or should I say, a bit too passé. Since our sojourn in this country, we have been on-and-off in this discussion phase: pleading our case for freedom, for equity, for equality, for Civil Rights, for human rights, for breath, for life, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, having discussions about antiracism, diversity, and inclusion are helpful and necessary on some levels and for some groups. But, for me, I am beyond the dialogue on race – the conversation. Besides, what exactly is there to discuss further? We are being terrorized, choked, and gunned down on camera – by white supremacists with badges. Aren’t the protests, vandalism, the defamation of statues and symbols representing hate evidence enough to inform you that we are tired of talking about race. Why is it that every time a tragedy like George Floyd occurs, it sparks non-black people to want to have a dialogue on race? You suddenly feel moved to have a national debate on race, now that another white supremacist exposes his infection. What has the previous dialoguing produced? A few token concessions, cosmetic changes in the name of diversity and inclusion, or some amusements in the form of titles, programs, or holidays to quiet the masses. Has there been actual progress in disrupting and disbanding the power of white supremacy? No more dialogue is needed; just a diagnosis and a prescription – virus of white supremacy is the diagnosis, remove it by any means necessary is the prescription.

How long will this nation continue this pattern of watching black people die or tolerating other social injustices?  How long will we get to the point where these injustices provoke anger and protest, sometimes riotously levels, and then, those in positions of power and influence decide it is time to have a dialogue on race or social injustices?

Listen, regarding the diagnosis, I am thoroughly convinced that in the case of racism, non-black people, white people specifically, know who and “where” the racist are; in any given context or space: in corporations, in educational institutions, or their subdivisions. They know which neighbor, friend, or family member is infected with the hate virus, which associate or partner is under the spell and delusion of white supremacy. You have been in conversations with them. They have been at your potlucks, dinner parties, and you shared a room with them at conferences or when you were on vacation. Sadly enough, most non-Black people know a Derek Chauvin, and most Black people know this about you. Thus, if we must begin a dialogue, although I am beyond “the dialogue,” let us start with you revealing the white supremacists among you and the infection within you. While I have your attention, let me insert the uncomfortable question into the conversation. Do you know what it means to be white and growing up in a time and “country” designed specifically for you? The world is your oyster is indeed an accurate description of what outsiders see of you. To add to this oyster experience, this privilege or racial endowment is ingrained in the psyche of non-black people and institutionalized in various ways of life; therefore, it has been perpetual for hundreds of years. Some have coined it whiteness, white privilege, etc., but to me, it is a virus or infectious disease that has contaminated millions from birth. Finally, may the spirit of abolitionism possess you into real protest and action to destroy white supremacy.

Billy Hawkins, Ph.D.