Drowning In A Sea of Hatred


The North American African is drowning in a sea of hatred. For centuries he has lived in a hostile environment, much of the negativity caused by the simple color of his skin, not to mention the jealousy and envy caused by his physical, sexual, mental and spiritual powers, especially the fact that he has survived the most wicked, shameful treatment ever delivered upon human beings, not only being subjected to naked slavery, but the post-slavery terror and trauma, down to today’s subtle racism practiced from the dirty South to such bastions of liberalism as Berkeley, California and New York City.

Not only is the hatred external, such as that experienced on the job and other institutions, including the disparities in health care, education, and financial affairs, such as the suffering he received from the sub-prime loan scams, but perhaps the most damaging is that internalized hatred that is exercised upon his psyche which he in turn practices upon those around him that he should, in the natural world, love and cherish. It is seen in male/female relations with partner violence and verbal abuse, for even when couples love each other they are so filled with hatred they cannot express love and tenderness, thus their language is filled with negative pronouncements and aggressiveness. In short, they simply don’t know how to talk with each except in the language of anger and rage. Any tenderness is short lived, perhaps only in the love bed, but after the climax, they are enemies on the battlefield once again, back to the business of plummeting each other as in the movie Mr. and Mrs. Smith.

In social relations, such as on the street, there is today little eye contact, in fact, there is an attempt to avoid any physical contact because people go about their daily round in a state of rage, about to explode for the slightest reason, and reasons are everywhere, such as road rage, or incidents caused by drunkenness at the night club, or even at the supermarket because a clerk treats the person with hostility, and the clerk need not be white, but they can be Arab, African, Asian, or Latino, but the black is treated as a hostile subject to be watched, followed and disrespected for the most minor infraction of propriety such as opening an item after paying for it but one clerk is ignorant of the fact.

While the North American African is treated with scorn, yes, even by his African and Caribbean brothers who often refer to him as “black American,” he reserves the most scorn for himself since he is his own worse enemy. If he would only respect himself, he would find others would respect him as well. If he would stop treating his woman as bitch and ho, would not the world? If he would stop treating his brother as an untrustworthy motherfucker, would not the world? If he would put himself in the position to exploit his resources, his labor, his money, his talents, there would be no room for others outside his community to do so. Thus he is at once the problem and solution.
When you demand self respect, will not others respect you? When you love yourself, will you not find that others will love you—and they will love you because they know they cannot approach you in any other manner except in the name of love. If they do, the response will surely be, “Don’t come at me like that.”

Thus, it is time for us to transform the sea of hatred into the sea of love, by first transforming ourselves, our thoughts, language and actions. As the Buddhist teach, “Wisdom is knowledge plus the right action.” In the dope game, we used to demand the dope dealer “show us love,” i.e. give us a generous amount of dope. Shall we not demand the same in all our interactions between ourselves first, then with outsiders, for it is silly for us to expect others to love us when we don’t love ourselves. We want to protest and march about the police killing us, but when we kill each other there is little or no protest. This reveals the abject hatred we harbor for self, for how can we expect others such as the police to respect us when we have nothing but raw hatred for each other. Often it is only when we are taken down to the dungeon that we are ready to show love for each other, yes, in jail and prison we suddenly see the need for brotherhood and sisterhood, since now it is clear who the enemy is and that we must be watchful of everyone, especially those of other ethnic groups who are practicing brotherhood. The black gangs have found the pseudo-love they have for each other is no match for the high sense of brotherhood of the Latino gangs from Mexico and Central America. The black brothers are being attacked and overwhelmed because their unity cannot compare with the Latinos. The brothers are realizing they must be ever watchful of the group because lack of vigilance will cause them to be bum rushed at any moment, any time of day, thus they must show love for each other. Did not Elijah say we must force black unity, i.e., black love? And so it is!

We cannot unite with others until we are united. You want to sit at the table of unity with others when you are a fractured community, and the world knows this and not only laughs at you but takes advantage of your disunity, and then you are surprised, shocked and disillusioned once again. As a community, you have no agenda for Obama, but you want to react each time some external group is able to make him support their agenda.
Either play politics or get out of the kitchen. Do you think politics is for nice people, for boy and girl scouts, no, it is a filthy, funky game, and the strong shall win, the unified shall win. Don't cry crocodile tears if and when you see Obama is beholden to others while you have not made your demands as a nation of 40 million clear to him. If you don't demand nothing, you get nothing. Frederick Douglass told us this: Power concedes nothing without a demand. Show some love and unity for yourself and maybe things will turn out in your favor. Say what you want and stand firm, just as the Israeli lobby is doing, and the women shall do, and Latinos and others.

But how can you demand from Obama what you don't demand from yourself. You have no consensus on freedom--you have a thousand versions of freedom. Back in the day the Black Panthers had ten points, the Muslims had ten points--but what are your ten points at this hour, ten points to Freedom. You must first have a plan in order to navigate yourselves out of the sea of hatred into the sea of love, otherwise you shall drown.
--Marvin X
8.8.08
www.marvinxwrites.blogspot.com