Rape, Riot, Robbery, Rap
We, Black people, have sailed the horrific waves of the Atlantic and conquered the sea. We labored in the cotton fields and conquered the land. We fought a bloody war against Jim Crow and conquered legality. Our ancestors outswam the insatiable Atlantic waves that hungered for them. Our great great great grandparents fought the many evils of slavery. Our great grandparents marched over segregation. And today, we fight history. There is a saying, “[He] who controls the past; controls the future; [he] who controls the present; controls the past.” Throughout history the Black man has been followed by four ominous words—rape, robbery, rap, riot. These words have shaped the way the world sees Black men and how he sees himself. As with strokes of a paintbrush, Amerika has painted us as rapists, known as menacing animals who lack self-control. The second stroke of the brush is robbery; we are painted as indolent and habitual breakers of the 8th commandment. The third stroke overlooks our myriad artistic contributions to instead depict us as only capable of producing one category of art, rap. This craft is then denigrated as unintelligible and denigrates our art as ingenuous and monotonous by reducing it to one category. Lastly, Amerika portrays Black men as uneducated and only communicates with violent language by painting us as rioters. Rape, robbery, rap, and riot aren’t, merely, four words; rather, these are four strokes used to paint an execrable image of the Black man.
Rape, robbery, rap, and riot aren’t, merely, four words; rather, these are four strokes used to paint an execrable image of the Black man.
After eons of Black excellence, it seems as if we have yet to overcome decades of degradation that have slandered us, our women, and our culture. Amerika has replaced Black men’s identity with speculative caricatures. As a Black man myself, I have lived inside this monster (Amerika) and I know its guts. But, there is a way for us to conquer history. The need is radical and change is imminent. In order to reform the way the world looks at us, we ought to reform the way we look at ourselves. We hear stories of how our ancestors were kings and queens and how the Sun never set on their empires in Africa. We hear stories of how Black men and women built pyramids, civilizations, and Sphinxes so magnificent that men today believe it was the work of another life form. And while these achievements are sources of great pride, we don’t have to look back that far for motivation.
In order to reform the way the world looks at us, we ought to reform the way we look at ourselves.
Frederick Douglass taught us that our ability to intellectually approach systematic issues makes our work eternal. Our words and ideas go places that, we, physically, may never go. This we learn from a man who was born as a slave. He educated himself and set an example of what it means to be reasonable. We can build upon his work to reform how we think about our current issues. There will be no changes towards our future unless we make our ideas palpable for all ethnic groups to grasp. This language, however, must not be passive, rather as he states, “It is not light that we need, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.” We must use our intellect to speak a reasonable language, so that all can empathize with our plight.
Martin Luther King, Jr, showed us how to theoretically and practically pursue righteousness. Righteousness in the sense of how we, humans, love one another. Again, he left an example for us to follow, not merely, books for us to read. He identified the evils of our society—poverty, racism, and war. He shined light on the darkness, and he carried his torch of righteousness into the thick of the darkness. Be aware brothers, this kind of dedication is a path with no return. Dr. King asks, “Will we march only to the music of time, or will we risk criticism and abuse, [and] march to the soul saving music of eternity?” What we strive for is bigger than us. Our actions have eternal consequences. Righteousness must be the beat to which we dance.
Malcom X gave us a swagger that demands respect. He reminded us of our history. He reminded us of the prestige that our Black skin carries. To be Black is to be more valuable than land, more cherished than air, and more beautiful than nature. Pro-Black isn’t racism, but a conscious love of ourselves in a society that abhors the night sky. If we don’t respect ourselves and our women, how can we expect/ask strangers to do the same? Respect must not be something done only for show, but done in the confines of our homes, so that we can play how we practice. As he once said, “A race of people is like an individual man; until it uses its own talent, takes pride in its own history, expresses its own culture, affirms its own selfhood, it can never fulfill itself.” We must prune a kind of respect for ourselves that demands the ears of men to listen.
Harriet Tubman led the revolution. She is the quintessential revolutionary. Revolutions are radical and institute drastic changes that alter life. No real social change can be made without a revolution. She led the race in which the wind is always at our face and the hounds are always at our heels. Her footprints lead to freedom of the mind and soul. Today, however, only the respectable, reasonable, and righteous are strong enough to put their hand to the plow of revolution and not turn away. As she once said, “We can only die but once.” Brothers, would you prefer it be in your bed of comfort or on the battlefield of change?
No real social change can be made without a revolution.
Strokes used throughout history have not been used to paint positive images of Black men. Propaganda has placed yokes around our necks that keep us from calling out and chains around our ankles that keep us from running free. Dr. King once said, “Men aren’t made by history, but are makers of history.” If we idly sit back, we will never be able to see the beauty of change that awaits us. Time destroys doctrines by proving them untrue, but time isn’t something we should wait on for change. We should be using time—every second of every minute of every hour—to radically prune forms of racism, injustice, and inequities from our society. We have nothing to prove to the world, but must seek to prove to our ancestors, our founders, and our parents that we are grateful for their toil. Our ancestors sought this, and their actions materialized into our inimitable fraternity, which will never be erased from history! Brothers, let us not be satisfied just being nominal men. We must set the standard of what it means to be reasonable, righteous, revolutionary, and respectable. If our lights don’t shine in our hearts we will, inevitably, remain in the shadow of death and the burden of stigma will be passed on to our legacies—but!— only over our dead bodies!
“Use me, God. Show me how to take who I am, who I want to be, and what I can do, and use it for a purpose greater than myself.”
