Black People : Police at the Black History Month Program

[river]

Yesterday brotha oldsoul told us that all whites are the police. That seemed like a bold statement yet I knew it is true. It really came home just how true a statement it is last night when the Kiwanis club asked me to do something for BHM.

Two regular policemen attend this club and they sometimes bring in reinforcements. They don't wear blue uniforms. Their only badge is the colorlessness of their skin. They smile at me. They always say hello and they're really glad to see me. So how do I know they are the police?

I know by the frantic fear in the eyes of the Black members when I suggest that maybe things in New Orleans didn't go down quite the way the media said they did. They were eyes that had seen the blood burning moon and did not want to see it ever again. I know they are police by the emphatic tone the Blacks take when they are saying things that will reassure the whites that all is well and we will continue to be docile church-goers (though they know I don't go to church anymore and they stopped asking me to lead the prayer) I know they are police because what's going on with my people in Africa and in the prisons of Amerikkka is never discussed. Going by their smiles I would think such atrocities don't exist.

So I wasn't really looking forward to a Black History program in front of the police. As I thought of the things I could not say I felt like a monkey about to perform tricks before an amused audience. I talked about the Harlem Renaissance and recited a poem from God's Trombones. They loved it but all the time I was thinking if I could--if I could I sho-o-olly would--I'd stand right up on the rock--I'd stand right where Moses stood. Yes I would..

 

[torch]

Why were the police there...to make sure our brothers and sisters dont "get out of line" with the truth? Malcolm X said "they use to come with a growl and a bite, now they come with a growl and smile but it still has the same effect"

 

[river]

Why were the police there...to make sure our brothers and sisters dont "get out of line" with the truth? Malcolm X said "they use to come with a growl and a bite, now they come with a growl and smile but it still has the same effect"

That is exactly right. Black History Month is so that we can share and learn about our-story and ancestors--Sankofa. White people do not need to be there at all. When they are present Black History is all about the first black person to do this and the first black person to do that--innocuous stuff to make them feel good and safe. Only when we are alone do we learn about how they abuse us in prison, how our present condition is do to the actions of the KKK burning our businesses and driving Black elected officials out of town. That part of Black history is so important that they want us to forget it. No we won't.

 

[KWABENA]

White people do not need to be there at all. When they are present Black History is all about the first black person to do this and the first black person to do that--innocuous stuff to make them feel good and safe. Only when we are alone do we learn about how they abuse us in prison, how our present condition is do to the actions of the KKK burning our businesses and driving Black elected officials out of town.

...THESE are the reasons why I always appreciate(d) Dr. Khallid Muhammad - he does not try to make "massa" feel good when he speaks. At the Black Holocaust Conference back in the 90s' (Howard University), he got to the White Photographers so bad, that they got up and left themselves!

KD