- Greetings Family,
The above
comes from a Facebook conversation I had with my sister, Pam, regarding the Eddie
Griffin comment listed at the beginning of this post. Immediately following is my response to Mr. Griffin's remark. Pam then responded to me which follows my comment. However given my sister's eloquent response, I found I needed space, thus the reason for this blog. This is the first of seven parts…..
Part 1
Greetings Pam,
I had to
take blocks of your statement to address them here fully:
Pam’s take: He is not speaking against the white people
that assisted in the areas in which you mentioned. He is speaking of the fact
that we as a people are conditioned to ask the oppressor to free us.
Kioni’s
take: I agree there has been a mental “conditioning” which has been invoked
since we have been captured (and from this point on I will refer to us, the African prior to
the Emancipation as Captives not “slaves”) and brought here. In the Willie Lynch letter, he spoke of how to
subjugate the African in order to keep our people in captivity. “Problem” was, the African did not fully believe
nor truly accept the European’s edicts of inferiority-thus countless run-a-way
captives as well as “laws” and “science” that erupted to rationalize the
African’s refusal to be oppressed. Stories
of Br'er Rabbit, songs in the church, were often laden with coded messages of
either revoke, which there were many despite the European attempt to conceal
this truth by omitting it from history books, or meeting times away from the
Overseer’s presence or even confirmations when the African was planning to
leave, not to mention the endless jokes that were constantly made without
“Massah’ even knowing he was the brunt of them.
And do you really think all the food that was served the Master and his
family, guests and friend did not have something extra added to the seasonings. There is a scene in the movie “The Help” were
one of the maids, Minnie, baked her feces in a pie then brought it to the white woman who had
black balled her. Minnie watched as the white woman took the first bite with a non-nonchalant look on her face. The woman, on the other hand, marveled as her expressing conveyed her arrogance that Minnie had to humble herself to make the pie, thus re-establishing the white woman's dominance of her "uppity" black maid. It was only after the third or fourth bite, that Minnie revealed her “special” ingredient-and that was not the FIRST
time such an event happened. Yet European attitude of "superiority" KNEW, “They would NEVER do such a
thing”-and you know what they say about assuming.
Yet in spite of efforts to keep the African apart, it was against the law for two or more black people could not meet, word still got through. Case and point Nat Turner, Denmark Vesey not to mention Gabrial Posser rebellions still occurred, see Captive's Rebellions and not only here but abroad Caribbean Rebellions with the most famous being Haitian Revolution lead by Toussiant Louverture included here with a list of other Captive revolts , see Seven Famous Captive Revolts. I cite the aforementioned information to illustrate African’s never “asked” for anything including their a.k.a our freedom.
However the
“conditioning” really is the mental, spiritual and cultural genocide we were
forced to endure thus domesticating some of us into complicity i.e. the African
began to believe he/she had to prove something to our Captor. The failure of the Denmark Vesey Revolt was because a House Captive betrayed him. Also due to the success of the Willie
Lynch letter and other methods like it not to mention the “laws” used to enforce
this racial servitude, after years and years and years of this
psychological whipping it bore into our very cells withstanding every day, all day,
dust to dawn and back again, “You’re NOTHING, NO ONE, NO THING, 3/5 A MAN-chattel to be raped, sodomized and abused at the whim of the person, who
thinks he owns you-because he “brought” you. This is where the seeds of White Supremacy were planted and has
flourished into people of color buying into the consumerism, straight hair,
“fair” skin, “lean” body-when it was that black body that literal kept the
European alive.
So again we
did not “ask” for this, this is, was and still being done to us through a system
now call Institutionalized Racism that is so insidious it has got Eddie Griffin
citing the "commentary on the 60's" when we DID fight back a.k.a marched, actin like it did not mean a thing, no thing like we were and in some circles today, still thought of. White
Supremacy smiled that day with Mr. Griffin's verbiage, not doubt feeling, our work here-done-brainwashing complete because this
Captive, Mr. Griffin, does not even realize the black bodies that died hanging
from trees, burned beyond recognition, provided him the catalyst to stand stage
which he now uses to disrespect our Ancestor’s, some of which are at the bottom
of the sea, to quipped, “When black people get mad they start singing and
dancing”. To which I answer him, “Negro
please!”
 |
| Captive's Revolt from Howard Zinn's, "A People's History of the United States" |
Part 2 tomorrow...
Blessings of Peace,
Kioni
Here's some off the "singing" that went along with the marching Mr. Griffin quipped about. Mahalia Jackson's, "How I Got Over"
Further reading:
Denmark Vesey
Harriett Tubman
American Uprising
The Great African Slave Revolt of 1825
Black Rebellion: Eyewitness Accounts of Major slave Revolts
A People's History of the United States
Power Systems
Here's some off the "singing" that went along with the marching Mr. Griffin quipped about. Mahalia Jackson's, "How I Got Over"
Further reading:
Denmark Vesey
Harriett Tubman
American Uprising
The Great African Slave Revolt of 1825
Black Rebellion: Eyewitness Accounts of Major slave Revolts
A People's History of the United States
Power Systems
Kioni, your article is very insightful and informative. I agreed with you 100% up until we got back to Eddie Griffin. The thing that makes this difficult is that we are simply working from a brief comment that has not been completely explained. It actually goes much deeper than what is seen on the surface, as Mr. Griffin did thoroughly explain himself during the stand up special in which this except was pulled.
ReplyDeleteIt may surprise you to know that Mr. Griffin is actually very conscious and in tune with his African Heritage. I have posted a link on my Facebook page for you to view when you have the time. It may surprise you how real and raw Mr. Griffin actually spits knowledge while skillfully intermingling a few relevant jokes. I hope you take a look at the link, as I did not want to disrespect your blog with his colorful stand-up.
With that said, I must respectfully disagree with your statement that Mr. Griffin is unaware of the African sacrifice during the civil rights struggle. The so-called right to (limited) freedom of speech was implemented in the United States Constitution long before people marched in the streets during the 60's....
The whole point, without disrespecting those who suffered and died, is that marching ultimately resulted in the guarantee of certain rights for others, i.e. the civil rights act of 1964 http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/civil-rights-act/ ...
The reason we do not include others is to prevent their wants and needs from superseding our own. For instance, Racial discrimination was no longer the main focus. The cause then began to include gender, religion, sexual orientation, and so on. It is not a bad thing that these and other rights were included, however, we as a people do not have any legislation on the books as it refers to displaced African people.
From that point on, it became clear that the only way displaced African people could obtain any sort of rights or freedoms, we must include others in our cause so they can share in our spoils. This is to keep us separate, as you've mentioned so eloquently. We must remain separate in order for the structure of superiority to hold firm.
People also tend to hail the 13th amendment to the Constitution as pro African freedom. Sadly, this is not so, as it has been interpreted over the years to have abolished slavery. The 13th Amendment only abolishes privatized slavery, i.e. people cannot have personal slaves. This law in fact places the right to implement slave labor as punishment and is solely regulated by the U.S. congress. This is the reason so many African males are funneled through the prison system.
In referring back to segregation, it is my belief that segregation would not have been a bad thing if it had been handled properly, as Black Wall Street or Little Africa had proven. We need to support our own, manage our own, and protect our own in order to thrive as a people. We would embrace our culture instead of desperately seeking approval from the white man.
I do not believe that Eddie Griffin was disrespectful in his comment. I do agree that we need to get angry and make our presence felt. While we marched, they did not fear us because we did not fight back. We were openly displaying non-violent resistance, yet were still met with violence. I am more partial to Malcolm X in that we must defend ourselves and our loved ones "by any means necessary."
I will close here, because I know my thoughts are kind of all over the place lol. Thank you for providing a forum to express our thoughts....
Much love Kioni and I will be back soon.....