I just had an epiphany. I realized that we spend so much time focused on the stresses of our daily lives, our families/relationships, jobs, and for a select few of us, our activism, that we rarely get a chance to appreciate the little things we take for granted that keep us going. When I sat down and took time to think of those invaluable things that make my life continue to function, the first thing that came to my mind is the Western Judeo-Christian/European political, economic, and social experience of the last 500+ years, that for the sake of brevity, I will refer to going forward as simply the great White experience, or TGWE. For just one moment, I want all the African people on the planet – all 900 million of you scattered and suffering in over 120 countries worldwide, and all our Indigenous (that means Native American, Chicano, Mexican, Puerto Rican, etc.) people, Asian sisters and brothers, Arabs, and all other people of color to consider something. For all of us there is one question we never ask that we should ask ourselves daily. What the hell would us poor lost souls on the planet be without TGWE? I mean, according to what we all learned in TGWE schools, they invented/created all the major forms of technology that have advanced the world in areas of communication, travel, medicine, and overall human development. I know that in recent years some ungrateful people have tried to make an issue out of this by suggesting that many of those contributions were made by us, but since the White power structure is in charge, I think it’s safer if we just believe them. Besides, it’s less contentious that way. Plus, for centuries they’ve been telling us how grateful we should be to them for all they have done for us and instead of just stopping, taking a deep breath, and acknowledging their greatness, all we do is disagree, argue, and create counter positions. I mean, they were kind enough to come directly to the places we lived – like Africa, Asia, North, Central, South America, and Australia. And when they got there they went over and beyond the call of duty by taking time out of their busy schedules to completely and totally civilize us. They even made things easier by killing or incarcerating all the ones who refused to cooperate, thus leaving only those of us conscious enough to understand how lucky we are. Since that all happened there’s little question that our lives have been nothing short of outstanding. They took our primitive Gods and gave us Jesus – in their image – so that generations of our youth wouldn’t be confused about who they were and who they should worship. Then they wiped out our worthless histories and gave us their model to pattern our lives after. Who needs the ancient civilizations of Mali, Timbuktu, Songhai, Ethiopia, and Kermit, not to mention China, Japan, and the civilizations of the Incas, Mayans, Plains Natives, and Aztecs, when we have the Kings of the Roundtable in Europe and the Greeks and Romans? The European civilizations are obviously more relevant and important. That’s the only explanation for why we still wear those feudal European names like Gomez and Johnson, Jackson and Smith, right? What more could we have asked for?
I realize there are some of us who disagree with all of that, but I don’t know why. Clearly, if you look at history – the meticulous way TGWE presents it, Europe is the center of world civilization and therefore it’s essential that our children learn only about European culture, norms, and styles. In fact, anything non-European such as African or Indigenous languages
and names is certainly inferior, a waste of time, and downright embarrassing when compared to the advanced culture and civilization of White people. So stop arguing with them about Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. So what if we had some trouble during those times. We get to eat turkey and BBQ on those dates now, so what’s the problem? Let bygone by bygones.
These wonderful White people were so focused and committed that they didn’t just come to our places and steal us away to come here, a generous and outstandingly humane thing to do in its own right, but they made the additional sacrifice of staying in our homelands to properly educate us and stop us from destroying each other. They even put systems in place to organize us like the passbook systems in South Africa, and Rwanda, caste system in India, reservation system in this country, or the complete corralling of the Palestinian people in their national homeland. Just think for a moment what Africa and the Americas would be like if TGWE had never made contact? Me, I’d be banished to some warm comfortable setting in West Africa, probably with strong math skills – since those ancient African societies were central to developing many of the math
concepts utilized today. I would also probably live in a society with some humanist and egalitarian principles, but that’s a waste of time to think about because I wouldn’t have Oprah, or Michael Jordan, or LeBron James. No Tiger or Kanye or Beyoncé? I mean, even an idiot would have sense enough to see the immediate value in trading an African identity, a strong sense of community, and self-determination for Lil Wayne – right?
Finally, we have to thank TGWE for creating a society today where people’s history can just be erased without a trace. I’m serious! We can function right now in 2013 and just forget all about whatever negative stuff happened before now.
So when our White sisters, brothers, and even many of us, act like there isn’t a problem now, and there never has been a problem that needs to be seen as a blessing and not an irritant. I know many of us feel that the comforts of this society are produced on the backs of poor people and countries, but you can’t prove that! Besides, if that was true, why won’t you do anything to change it? All the poor people seem to be primarily interested in integrating into TGWE, not challenging it.
So, come on people of color, practice learning how to do this. We owe it to TGWE to evolve and stop being negative all the time. We’re bringing people down. If nothing else, TGWE has taught us that we as individuals have complete control over our destiny. If we just make the right choices in life, we will enjoy all the fruits that society has to offer. We know this is true because TGWE has preached this to us for centuries, arguing that TGWE has produced this wonderful society that is blessed by God and that all the struggling places in the world – meaning where we come from – are suffering because they aren’t as blessed as TGWE. If that isn’t true what else explains why the White countries are rich and we are on the bottom of every place we exist?
My suggestion is that we get with the program and embrace TGWE 100%. If we do we can enjoy more of the fruits that it has to offer like overextended debt, excessive stress, and pandemic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and dementia. We can also fully experience what it means to live in complete fear and violence all the time. Women can become commodities, and we can be shot on sight for simply existing. Hey –I know. We’re already experiencing all of those things, but according to proponents of TGWE, if we just stop resisting and embrace their system all the way, our problems would be diminished significantly. Maybe what they are saying is if we completely surrender we can just put ourselves in the position to be totally wiped out! Could it be that’s the best we can hope for? At least the pain would end? Or, maybe there’s something else? Maybe there are really alternative views to TGWE that have more validity? Could that be possible? No, because if it was, it would be on CNN and MSNBC. I mean, it’s not even on BET or Telemundo and it would certainly be on those channels if that was true –right? I guess I don’t really know for sure. This stuff is just way to complex. White people should just continue doing what they’re doing. Keep walking around like you don’t see us – and our suffering. Keep telling us that everything good that has happened to us is your doing and everything bad is ours. People of color should just keep trying to fit in like that square peg in the round hole. Me…I’m just not going to worry about it. Springs almost here and the NBA playoffs are about to start. More LeBron! You see, I got more important things to do than worry about this stuff.
I realize there are some of us who disagree with all of that, but I don’t know why. Clearly, if you look at history – the meticulous way TGWE presents it, Europe is the center of world civilization and therefore it’s essential that our children learn only about European culture, norms, and styles. In fact, anything non-European such as African or Indigenous languages
and names is certainly inferior, a waste of time, and downright embarrassing when compared to the advanced culture and civilization of White people. So stop arguing with them about Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. So what if we had some trouble during those times. We get to eat turkey and BBQ on those dates now, so what’s the problem? Let bygone by bygones.
These wonderful White people were so focused and committed that they didn’t just come to our places and steal us away to come here, a generous and outstandingly humane thing to do in its own right, but they made the additional sacrifice of staying in our homelands to properly educate us and stop us from destroying each other. They even put systems in place to organize us like the passbook systems in South Africa, and Rwanda, caste system in India, reservation system in this country, or the complete corralling of the Palestinian people in their national homeland. Just think for a moment what Africa and the Americas would be like if TGWE had never made contact? Me, I’d be banished to some warm comfortable setting in West Africa, probably with strong math skills – since those ancient African societies were central to developing many of the math
concepts utilized today. I would also probably live in a society with some humanist and egalitarian principles, but that’s a waste of time to think about because I wouldn’t have Oprah, or Michael Jordan, or LeBron James. No Tiger or Kanye or Beyoncé? I mean, even an idiot would have sense enough to see the immediate value in trading an African identity, a strong sense of community, and self-determination for Lil Wayne – right?
Finally, we have to thank TGWE for creating a society today where people’s history can just be erased without a trace. I’m serious! We can function right now in 2013 and just forget all about whatever negative stuff happened before now.
So when our White sisters, brothers, and even many of us, act like there isn’t a problem now, and there never has been a problem that needs to be seen as a blessing and not an irritant. I know many of us feel that the comforts of this society are produced on the backs of poor people and countries, but you can’t prove that! Besides, if that was true, why won’t you do anything to change it? All the poor people seem to be primarily interested in integrating into TGWE, not challenging it.
So, come on people of color, practice learning how to do this. We owe it to TGWE to evolve and stop being negative all the time. We’re bringing people down. If nothing else, TGWE has taught us that we as individuals have complete control over our destiny. If we just make the right choices in life, we will enjoy all the fruits that society has to offer. We know this is true because TGWE has preached this to us for centuries, arguing that TGWE has produced this wonderful society that is blessed by God and that all the struggling places in the world – meaning where we come from – are suffering because they aren’t as blessed as TGWE. If that isn’t true what else explains why the White countries are rich and we are on the bottom of every place we exist?
My suggestion is that we get with the program and embrace TGWE 100%. If we do we can enjoy more of the fruits that it has to offer like overextended debt, excessive stress, and pandemic diseases like diabetes, hypertension, cancer, and dementia. We can also fully experience what it means to live in complete fear and violence all the time. Women can become commodities, and we can be shot on sight for simply existing. Hey –I know. We’re already experiencing all of those things, but according to proponents of TGWE, if we just stop resisting and embrace their system all the way, our problems would be diminished significantly. Maybe what they are saying is if we completely surrender we can just put ourselves in the position to be totally wiped out! Could it be that’s the best we can hope for? At least the pain would end? Or, maybe there’s something else? Maybe there are really alternative views to TGWE that have more validity? Could that be possible? No, because if it was, it would be on CNN and MSNBC. I mean, it’s not even on BET or Telemundo and it would certainly be on those channels if that was true –right? I guess I don’t really know for sure. This stuff is just way to complex. White people should just continue doing what they’re doing. Keep walking around like you don’t see us – and our suffering. Keep telling us that everything good that has happened to us is your doing and everything bad is ours. People of color should just keep trying to fit in like that square peg in the round hole. Me…I’m just not going to worry about it. Springs almost here and the NBA playoffs are about to start. More LeBron! You see, I got more important things to do than worry about this stuff.
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