Truth will alw
ays be truth regardless of lack of understanding, disbelief or ignorance. Hard truths add credibility rather than diluting the message.
February is here. No need to start Black History by talking about slavery. We need to change the narratives. We need to look at our own histories and tell our own stories. As long as the lions have no historians, it will be the exploits of the hunter that will be celebrated, rather than the bravery of the lions (Chinua Achebe) . However, if our story is to be told then it must be told in one accord. Black people have been suffering so long, and so hard, that a lot of us despite our profession of faith in the Almighty have psychologically checked out of the struggle. We have marched! We have protested! We have rebelled ( quasi temper tantrum)! but there was never a revolution for change. There was not even a reformation. Reformation says “that we are going to fix the institutions that we got, although they are not perfect, let us make it work for Black people”. Sadly, there is not enough love among ourselves to do what is right, before something wrong happens.
Black people are not reformists nor revolutionaries, just plain reactionaries. The only time we stand up is when the white folks make us upset. And if the only time we will do something for ourselves is when the enemy provokes us , then the enemy controls our destiny. One of the biggest challenges we face as Black people is not what the white folks did to us , but what we repeatedly do to each other. Yes, Swallow or just Go, Call me a name or cry out in Shame but we are each other’s biggest and worst critics. We are the quickest to bring each other down, find each other’s faults and nit-pick at a sister until she has nothing left, nothing left to give. We call strong women female dogs and accuse weaker women of riding somebody else’s coattails. We tell a big sister to put down her burger and criticize a skinny woman for not picking one up. We ride the loud mouth woman for talking too much and torment the quiet woman for needing to talk up for herself. Far too often I am left pondering since we all share a common thread (whether you want to admit it or not) is there something about ourselves that we do not like? What has happened to us that we cannot seem to get along or unify to support one another? Everybody seems to be out for self while other groups unite against us. Nobody else has to bring us down because we trample on the spirits of each other daily.
WE fight over countries of origin, accents, religion, social media opinion and skin color. Division was never our culture , it was taught to us , which shows that Black people are good retainers. The solution is SIMPLE but not EASY : UNLEARN THE HATE LEARN EMPATHY & CHOOSE UNITY. The topic of decolonization is an exercise in futility . You can no more decolonize a culture than you can unrape a victim of sexual assault. The term “decolonization” has become a buzzword for a vast range of issues, sometimes losing its original, specific meaning and becoming an all-encompassing concept that lacks analytical focus.
We do not have to agree on everything but we must respect each other, remembering that division among us weakens while unity strengthens. A united front allows for stronger advocacy on issues like social justice, education, and healthcare, making it easier to fight against the systemic inequalities so prevalent in Quebec.
If we are to be our own historians and tell our (hi) story while travelling the road toward discovery and fulfillment we must stop, and reset our historical GPS as approaching signs signal a dead – end ahead, and if it is set to avoid all chance encounters with stragglers on the road lest we be misidentified by our commonalities, we will forever run into ourselves., allowing the story to be told by the hunter.
