What will it take for black people in this country to ultimately achieve liberation? If I were able to answer this question, I would be a very wealthy man. In truth, this query is not exclusive to this website. The issue of black people achieving equality & equity despite the oppression of the institution is one that is brought up among our people in various venues. From cocktail parties to churches, workshops to barbershops, the issue of how our people overcome is longstanding and without resolution.
The answers to this question are varied to say the least. For some, liberation can never happen while connected to this empire; that financial, educational & occupational separation is the only way to get there. Others would suggest that liberation for the African American can only be achieved by presenting ourselves to the establishment as academic equals; that our oppressors will have no choice to change the way it deals with us once they see we are just as intelligent as they are. Some think that changing the function of this empire through legislation is the only way our people can truly be free while others believe that this country has no interest in treating our people equitably and must be forced to do so through protest, disruption & occupation. There are even those (including the writer of this article) who believe that the liberation of our people is not connected to one set practice but to all of these options operating in concert with each other.
As we attempt to address the apparatus that persecute our people, there is an additional assignment that the African living in America must be willing to consider: The dual nature of our oppression. It is not only the case that persons of color have to deal with an empire standing against them but we also have to deal with the deep, damaging, detrimental effects that the empire has had on us. As we ponder the possibilities of progress and dare to dream of the divine destiny we deserve as children of God, it is important that we be honest about what personal ills currently constrain our community.
It is a problematic practice for black people in this country to pretend that the way in which presently exist is perfect for the place we desire to be. The reality is that we have very real issues amongst ourselves that must be addressed if we are to truly live out the liberation we desire & before we address them we must be brave enough to acknowledge them.
To do this, to engage in transparent dialogue about our demons, is a uniquely difficult practice for us. What makes this challenging for many African Americans is that they find themselves being measured against a standard of perfection & expected to conduct ourselves in a uneven type of respectability in order to been seen cultural contemporaries. Blackness (in all of its ideations) is regularly bogged down by the pressure to be acceptable in the face of whiteness. This being the case, the moment we say that we have issues within our own community, those outside of our community (those for whom black progress is not a priority) use those issues to suggest that black people are undeserving of equal treatment & justify prolonging our progress.
Despite this inconvenience, Black people in this country must not only be willing to face the truth of what our past & present experience has been with the American empire but also be willing to address the truth of what we have allowed ourselves to become. Our ills stand against us at the same time the “isms” of the institution do & we must not allow our pride prevent us from facing the ugly, uncomfortable realities of our present condition. Failing to speak to these problems will turn our liberation into lamentation; the “promise land” will only exacerbate the issues that we were not willing to deal with before we got there.
Racism has a real effect on the Black community but so does the distrust many of us display towards one another. The prison industrial complex does deep damage to the Black family structure but so does our support of propaganda that devalues the power of domestic partnership. The empire operates in a way that makes it difficult for African Americans to build and acquire wealth but so do our daily decisions about where we spend our money. Black women are objectified by the culture, in general, but also by members of the community she comes out of.
In my own existence, I have to consistently consider how my decisions affect the struggle I profess to be committed to. Does what I listen to, buy, support, & condone push our people towards liberating living or promote a sense of comfortable enslavement for our people?
Now to be clear, these are issues that we are acquired honestly; habits the social landscape in America has cursed us with. But just because America may have given it to us does not mean that we are required to keep it. Our living “in” this country does not require us to be “of” this country. To understand this biblical concept is to embrace the double sided nature of our struggle, the duality of our oppression. And, if we sincerely desire progress for our people, our collective push towards liberation must start with a critique of the internal as well as the external. Either we are serious about improving our social station in this country or have silently decided to stay where we are.
My compassion and commitment to my people forces me to have moments conviction when I have quietly betrayed my people. That conviction constantly pushes me toward change. Are we committed and compassionate enough about one another to correct the complications in our own community while addressing the issues outside of it? Or is the duality of our oppression too much for us to defeat? I pray we figure it out before it is too late.
