BLACK Love
I am trying to finish reading Salvation, Black People and Love by Bell Hooks.
It has been extremely difficult for me to finish
because of the heartfelt substance that reminds me of Love’s absence within the
African American community.
Bell’s words are touching...unexpectedly impacting
my spirit. Out of nowhere, while reading on several occasions I have become
surprisingly emotional. These moments have been quite revealing - and helpful
in addressing what and who I see every single day: Myself.
That mirror reflection is my moment to address the
damages caused by my former Self-Hatred. The damages that, in all sense of the
word, are bad consequences for bad decisions. The decisions that were rooted in
the hatred of myself.
But I am not alone…
I believe it to be completely impossible for any
other group of people to fully comprehend how Love was stripped away from the
black slaves that made their way to the New World as 'cattle property'. Not
only, was the horrible ride in the gut of slave ships physically and mentally
demoralizing, the brutality of human dignity stripping perpetrated on the black
slaves by the slave masters is now a child rearing tactic incorporated and
utilized by black immediate and extended family members. The brutality is a learned
behavior that stems from living in a hell...Slavery.
Self-hatred concepts, as Hooks states, are masked.
It is living in the form of 'cautious' parenting. The type of parenting that
reminds black children of their "proper place". It is the parenting
that presents itself in the form of
communicating to black children that they cannot speak out against racial
injustice...that they must not question white authority...that in order to live
in the White world the black child must live a life of false self
, live a life of meekish pretense and the conscious denial of genuine
feelings. Bell Hooks goes on to share the psychological term used to describe
this atrocity as Soul Murder.
How does the black person simply end the self-hatred
when the oppression of black and brown people still exist? How does the black
person remove self-hatred from their actions when it is hatred that’s killing
them? (white cops shooting and killing black men)
Is not the killing of black men by the police a
reminder that they (black men) are not worthy? How does the young black girl
grow-up -while being raised to love herself - and extinguish the hatred that's
alive and dormant in the souls of her black classmates, friends and family
members?
TEARS flowing
The magnitude of the Willie Lynch plan deconstructed
the mind, body and spirit of black people - and The Fire Next Time still rages
on! Black people in various capacities remain participating zombie-like
characters...we are The Walking Dead of the 21st century.
Not only is the destruction inflicted
institutionally by the White Power Structure and by the overarching Christian
Church Body, it is a commonly practiced generational occurrence within black
families.
Bell Hooks mentions in her book the all too often
black family strategy to "break
the spirit of the wilful, creative black child in order to prepare them for
living in the world of racial apartheid."
TEARS flowing
As a child, I was told that I would "never be
nothing" by a member of my mother's church family...he claimed his remark
was intended to "motivate" me to "do something with my
life". I was also told, "I hope and pray that you don't be nothing
like your daddy. If you do you will go to prison." To this very day, May
15, 2015, at this mature age of 44 - my spirit has not healed.
My Spirit was Broken
Imagine the "Breaking of Spirits"
multiplied by thousands.
Are you able to understand the immense terror this
has caused on the Souls of Black Folk? How does one (black person) truly get
completely pass this brand of terrorism of the mind and spirit? How?!
In the collective, it has been and will continue to
be virtually impossible for black people to eradicate self-hatred from the DNA
of black lives considering the toxicity is an ingrained black family
child-rearing mechanism for MOST black families - and a present day weapon used
by the Western and European World Order in public education, the workforce,
entertainment and in almost every facet of life.
Black Love Deconstruction
Muata Nowe
Muata Nowe
