The Truth Shall Set You Free: Rest In Peace George Floyd

I wanted to wait until I was less er...upset about stuff, to write this post but then every time I turn around, something else has happened to pile on my upset. I came to the reluctant conclusion that I'm gonna be upset for a while. So while I wallow in it, I might as well share the pain.

So.

I was reading about Native Americans Before Colonization in preparation for this post because I wanted to start at the beginning. What I read was further upsetting to me not so much for the wilful destruction of a whole continent of people - that is old knowledge which I am used to - but its description in the telling. 

There is a soft turning away from all the truly awful things colonizers did to wrest the land from its owners. No mention of blankets infected with smallpox given as gifts. Oh no, just that the Natives got diseases from the settlers which killed them in large numbers.

And that is a common theme when Colonizers are describing their actions. The fact that Derek Chauvin had his foot in George Floyd's neck and kept it there for nine minutes, killing him, has authorities performing acrobatics not to call it what it is. 

Murder. 

Meanwhile, white Americans continue to be shocked and saddened that such a thing can happen in the utopia they live in. It's 'unprecedented' they say. We don't understand how this can happen. As if they didn't execute a 14-year-old boy for allegedly murdering two white girls in 1944 to name just one example.

Anyway, let us go back to the beginning, to how this America started. First, by clearing the land of its native inhabitants using disease, war and alcohol. To this day the descendants of those inhabitants live in reservations. It's their land, the whole of it, but they're still herded together and told, yeah, you can have that little bit for yourselves but that's it. Right now, they have the highest rate of infection of COVID-19 and no resources. 

But wait, that's not all. 

So after clearing the land of its original inhabitants, what did the colonizer do? He kidnapped Africans from their homes, put them in chains and brought them to America to work the land. They stole land, and couldn't even be bothered to work it themselves. No. They stole other people from their homelands, to come and work it for them.

On July 4th, 1776, the colonizers declared independence from their mother country. They said to England, "Nah, we don't want you supervising us as we oppress these other peoples. We want the freedom to do it ourselves."

And they still celebrate this day as if it was truly Independence of a country, making a fair bit of hullabaloo about it, calling themselves the greatest nation on earth and other utter bullshit pronouncements. All to cover up the fact that all they did was transfer the title from one colonizer to another. Or rather, the mother colonizer transferred title to their migrants. "America" is not independent. It's still colonized. That's why y'all have a "special relationship" with the UK.

The wabeberu are still very much in charge.

Unlike other places that were given political independence even though economically, the colonizers still hold tight to the purse strings, for America, it's different. Maybe the closest example of what America is, is what South Africa used to be under apartheid. The difference is that the South Africans were official about their policies and the Boers were not in the majority, while Americans kept changing the name of the game from Slavery to Jim Crow to MAGA. Whatever it's called, what it is, involves keeping minorities as lesser than.  Perpetuating the narrative that white is truly some sort of might.

Now.

Let's talk about how it's all coming down.

Do you believe in Karma? The ancestors? Curses? I truly believe that with their actions, continuously and without remorse, the colonizers of America have brought curses upon themselves. Not just because both Native Americans and West Africans have a long history of magic/voodoo and the ancestors are very active in their lives. But the land itself was bound to rebel sometime. It's taken a long time. Nearly five hundred years. But the chickens, they are coming home to roost.

The supreme irony is that the colonizers are the architects of their own destruction in the person of Donald Trump. You see, because of their actions, little white children go to sleep every night and have nightmares about uprising. About the people, they have oppressed for generations rising up and killing them all. 

That fear is what rules their days. 

It informs all of their actions. 

And that fear led them to elect that madman Donald, just because America had elected before him, it's first 'Black' president.

Now they did that because they thought Donald Trump was going to cement the destruction of minorities and for sure, he's made some half-assed attempts. There are still children in cages. ICE continues to deport anyone of brown or black skin. 

But the people who are most hurt by his policies, are the very people who voted for him. America has on its hands a dictator similar to Idi Amin who is controlled by the Russians. They are aiding Russia to destroy them, just to continue to perpetuate white supremacy. 

It's poetic I tell you. 

Only the universe could come up with this shit.

And the universe is in on it, for sure. It has come in and swept the land. In the same way that colonizers brought illness to the natives, the earth has brought illness to America. The two countries with the highest death rates for this virus; the US and then the UK. And it is because of years of inbreeding, racists breeding racists, teaching each other that they are some sort of superior species who will always have other people to take the blows for them. The Africans, the Asians, the minorities...

Well, and it's true that American minorities are hard hit because they are poor, they are the essential workers and they are the most neglected by health care. But that is bringing another thing to the fore and that is the sheer third world nature of American society. 

Everything has been exposed. All the flaws. There's nowhere to hide anymore. There's no one that can believe the lies when the truth is right there for everyone to see. 

Blue Lives don't Matter, they Murder. 

No, that Black Man did not Do Something to cause his death. 

It's not about Following the Law.

There are Two Americas.

And so now, even the white people who would have feigned ignorance and acted obtusely are forced to deal with everything. 

Racism. 

Oppression. 

Capitalism. 

The dumbing down of America. 

The fact that America has never been great. 

They are forced to face the truth at last.

And once the truth is faced, it sets you free.

If George Floyd had to die on that tarmac, calling his mama, let it not be for nothing. It's time to break the curse.

And Another Thing...

When my sisters and I were growing up, my mother used to give us lectures about men. She told us that once a man gets into your pants, that's it. You'll never see him again. She told us to expect men to attempt to break your heart. Expect them to treat you badly. Have your own money and your own shit because even if you're married to a man, he'll give you the bare minimum and expect you to perform miracles with it. Do not even think about getting married unless you have your own shit. (well she didn't say shit, she said money but you get my meanin').

So growing up I had all these notions embedded in my mind and when I met a guy, I expected him to 1) Try his best to get in my pants. 2) Leave as soon as he managed to get in my pants.
Now for number one, my mother was right on the money. Haven't met a guy who didn't try to get in my pants. I never used to think about it though, the automatic answer was no. In my teens and twenties, it got kind of ridiculous because of the sheer volume.There was no chance to even think about it, the answer was just no because 'I know what you're after.'
Now for the ones who did get in my pants, I totally expected them to not call the next day. Like, to this day, I'm still surprised when they do call. (And they all call). That message was so ingrained. What experience taught me was that no, a guy would not fail to call after he'd had some. He'd keep coming back as long as you let him. Which does not mean he's after anything serious or sincere. He just wants to have sex. For a long time, I suffered cognitive dissonance because I didn't understand why these men were not sticking to the script. It took a while for the understanding to take root. To think that my mother might have been wrong about something.

When I got pregnant, I expected that my baby daddy would also follow the script. Claim it wasn't his, accuse me of sleeping around, like in the movies right? I was cynical from the jump when it came to relationships. The fact that he didn't say those things just made me frown with puzzlement. The fact that he blew hot and cold from one day to the next was just confusing.
I am still on the topic of #metoo by the way. That was just a bit of background to provide context. Just like The Swamp is Full of Mystery and In the Shadow of the Styx provide context for Child of Destiny even as they are complete stories on their own.
I have a son, and I teach him to listen if a girl says no. To listen and back the motherfucking hell off. However...
Y'all people with girl children need to teach them what my mother taught me. Never go to a guy's house unless you want to find yourself fighting him off. (Did my mom teach me that one or did I learn it by experience? I guess we'll never know). Always know how you're getting home if you go out with a guy. Learn to say no early and loudly.
Loudly.
Scream if you can.
Scratch, bite and kick him in the nuts if he still can't hear.

Again, did I learn this by experience or at my mother's knee? Doesn't matter. You can learn it from me.
Now that the scene is set, let's see how our menfolk are doing...
The thing with menfolk though, is that they talk a good game don't they? Take the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. for instance. Yesterday was his birthday and my timeline was chock full of quotes from him. And I was just trying to reconcile this guy talking about being judged for the content of your character with the man who habitually cheated on his wife. And I wondered to myself, is it compartmentalizing? You're a pastor, you're all about integrity, but you're also all about infidelity. Which is the real you?
Bob Marley talking about One Love and sharing his single bed and he's busy fathering children left and right with random women.
And their wives.
Their wives are left behind to pick up the pieces, preserve the legacies, keep his good name alive; when all the while, he was fucking around behind your back. I just don't get it.
Is that little thing between their legs so powerful that they are literally led around by their dicks? Have you seen that drawing where a guy's balls are his brains?

Because I gotta tell you, not even as a woman but as a control freak, if something controlled me that much to the extent that it overrides my so-called morals, my integrity, my way of life...I'd cut it off. No one part of your body should have so much power over you.
As I was doing my morning (okay afternoon) walk today I was listening to some 4:44 and there's this song where Hov talks about his dad being a preacher on Sunday and something else during the week. Something opposite of what he was preaching. And it not only taught Hov about hypocrisy and paying lip service to things, it also led him to study other religions which helped him in self-discovery. And he mused on what a blessing and a curse pain is.
And here you have evidence that men can be deeply thoughtful and maybe also self-aware. It is possible. Which just contributes more to the question of why.
Why do you have all these deep and meaningful thoughts on one day and fail to live up to them for the rest of time? I'm not just talking about making a mistake. I'm talking about making the mistake over and over until it's a way of life.
Reminds me also of Tupac, talking on one hand about women's empowerment and on the other about seeing the same ho in all these videos.

He was a wise one though.

Which leads me to women and ho's.
We're in the age where ho's no longer exist, aren't we? Whatever behavior men display, it's totally and 100% their fault.
The truth is, that Hov didn't have to go looking for Becky, she probably pursued him. MLK probably had the so-called church women congregating around him and ready to do whatever he wanted. Same with Bob Marley. The Karueches of the world are quite willing to get ahead on their backs. So how is a man, a powerful man with women throwing themselves at him day and night (see Aziz Ansari) supposed to tell that, no, this one isn't like the others.
I'll tell you how.
See above.
Say no loudly and continuously.
Scream if you have to.
Kick his balls if you must.
Make him hear you.

Doesn't mean he still won't try to force you. But don't make it ambiguous. Did she want it, didn't she want it?
I saw somewhere on twitter that there is now a contract that you can sign giving your consent for sexual intercourse. They should add a checklist of do's and don'ts so that you can check off whatever you're not willing to do and what you are. Everyone signs, it's all nice and legal.
Of course, that takes the romance away from dating. And women, we are so contrary, will probably get annoyed that they have to sign contracts instead of being wined and dined and wooed.
Right?
I don't understand women much either.