In life, I try to avoid being around negative ignorant people who are too set in their ways to be enlightened. Sadly, I buck up on these people every day on social media. I spent a lot of time observing these people but not engaging with them as I don’t have the patience. I learned a lot and from this, I’ve compiled a list of 5 things that will continue to divide black people in 2016.
Blame the single mums
All the bad things that befall black people seem to require that we blame someone in the community. Usually, it’s absentee dads or single mothers. If we are to believe the hype, then only good things come out of a two-parent family. When blaming single mums nobody seems to consider the circumstances that led to them being single in the first place, you know things like death, rape, abuse and general life stuff. We just gotta blame all the single mums.
This leads on to the next point…
Catching the gay
The idea that being gay can be taught, caught or bought is mind-numbingly insane and yet… People are still being indoctrinated into believing that being gay is the work of the devil or anything else rather than believing that people are just born that way. I have observed many debates that blame television for black boys being gay. Some claim that there is a conspiracy to turn our children gay to weaken our race.
Many others claim that the absence of a father and a weak single mother is the root cause. None of them wants to acknowledge the reality that some people are just born different and that being gay isn’t the latest fashion accessory.
Then there’s the conspiracy theory that claims that our successful black actors have only been allowed to rise after being inducted into Hollyweird by either taking a role where they have had to kiss a man or wear a dress or commit a homosexual act in private so that the powers that be have something to hold over them later. Providing they agree to be emasculated in some way they will be given their rising star.
The ignorance is mind-numbing.
If Bill Cosby was white
This one is hard to swallow. Bill Cosby stands accused of sexually assaulting 50 or more women. The fact that so many women have recounted similar stories about the actor should indicate that there is no smoke without fire. Sadly, black people really want to hold on to Cosby’s shining star and perpetuating conspiracy theories and obfuscating the issue.
The majority of sexual assaults are not reported to the police (an average of 68% of assaults in the last five years were not reported). And with the backlash from people who confuse Cosby the actor with Cliff Huxtable the character, it makes you wonder how many victims will stay silent in 2016. Some people believe Cosby should be left alone because he’s an old man now.
Are these the same people who would ignore a child who told them that uncle Charlie was molesting them? It makes you wonder. People are creating memes about how white people have gotten away with the same thing or worse instead of having honest discussions about how we hide these dark secrets to protect our black men.
In 2016 there may well be another black celebrity that will divide our opinions but we really need to learn to look beyond the icon to the real person behind. I do believe that he should have his day in court just like R Kelly did but rape apologists are the worst.
Lying to each other
I’m all for empowering our people to get to a certain point but one thing I won’t do is lie about it to get someone to take the next step. In the past we’ve been given the Willie Lynch letter and the origins of Black Friday lies, in 2015 the first black president of America has been doing the rounds a lot.
Some of us are so eager to believe what we see on YouTube or read on Facebook that we don’t take the time to do our own research. For the sake of our own individual empowerment it behoves us to research and fact check before we spread any information that looks too good to be true.
The Church
The church has a lot to answer for when it comes to dividing us but in the end, we are really to blame. Not because of what we believe in or don’t believe in but because many of us seek to ram our beliefs down other people’s throats. When you try to take away a person’s belief system without offering something more solid and believable in its place you make them cling even harder to that system.
Many people who claim to be Christians lack the love and humanity that we think should be synonymous with Christianity. The church indoctrinates people to believe that people who aren’t in the church are lost. People who don’t believe in a white Jesus mock the fact that black people aren’t ‘woke’ and are therefore lost too.
What we should be doing is finding a common ground, it already exists, it’s called humanity. From there all things are possible, even unity!
I once believed that black unity was possible but now I don’t because despite our melanin we are human beings first and foremost and we don’t all want, need or require the same things. It keeps us interesting I suppose.
Happy New Year!
