The Black American: Time to Redefine Business as Usual

What has staying home for these past few months revealed to me?  What has been made really clear is that, as a Black man here in America, nothing has changed. Covid-19 has merely reinforced the information that being Black means you are more likely to be a target. If we are not being “hunted” by racist people, we are being tangled up in racist systems or at the center of despair representing the highest percentages of chronic diseases, which now includes Covid-19. It has been a challenge to be a Black American to say the least. So as we put out the call for things to “normalize”, there are some things we should consider.

There is this underlying magma beneath our feet that continues to surface-based upon our condition as being Black in America. Everyone thought that the Obama administration would take the pressure off it, only to recognize many of our fellow Americans hold limited perceptions’ in accepting how someone Black could possibly lead this country in any type of effective way. Despite Obama demonstrating a content of character that far exceeded many of his White predecessors, fear and ignorance chose to cast away the “content of character’ in exchange for a “cartoon of character” and that’s how  Donald Trump became the 45th President. The two leaders are as different as night and day.  

As a result of this fear-based decision, the state of affairs has not only worsened in our country but in countries all over the world.   For the past several years there has been nothing but confusion in the U.S. Government, a result of Trump’s disruptive, helter-skelter form of governmental leadership. We have been vulnerable for some time to say the least, and I think many of us poised for some form of attack or another, but very few would have predicted the form in which it has come. Now, as we live in the reality of Covid-19 it has revealed our predicaments. 

In the beginning, Blacks thought that they would get a break from this virus. Perhaps it was retribution specially delivered by God to the “White Americans” for choosing such a hateful leader. I mean after all considering the corrupt impeachment hearings, the porn star payoffs, and Russian collusion scandals, it appeared that it would take an “Act of God” or the second coming of Christ to remove a  man of this corrupt nature from office. Then something all too familiar happened, the news started talking about how this virus was affecting Black people in greater percentages. Once again, the Black American was getting launched into the limelight for all the wrong reasons.

The United States is one of the “greatest” countries in the world yet is still grapples with encompassing all of its citizens in the identity of “American”. We are all Americans and we should all have access to the rights and services that being an American affords you. 

The reality currently being revealed proves that this is not the case. The less amongst us will be the ones who will catch the brunt of this virus; 50% or greater of the dead bodies around the country from COVID-19 are those from Black and Brown communities. That is pretty disheartening, but unfortunately no longer shocking to me. 

This took me to a thought. In addressing the injustices of this virus, this country allotted 5 trillion dollars to rescue the current conditions of its citizens,  but did it rescue its citizens, or did it rescue its economy?  Meaning did it value its people more than money or money more than people?

After all when its Black citizens, through no fault of our own, were being traumatized by the “white fear virus” whose deadly outcomes continue to run unchecked in our country for centuries, there has still been no economic relief fund. Why should one sector of American trauma be treated differently than another? Certainly, by now 1 trillion dollars could have been as easily conjured as seemingly the current relief funds were, and by now have made significant reparations to the Black community. Through the weeks of sitting still, the question I have arrived to is ‘what’s going to be different when I come out of this lockdown?’ 

For me coming out of this, and the whole notion of reopening is that I do not want to go back to the “business as usual,” where the conditions that were previously set forth before the virus arrived mean that Blacks are represented as the “lesser.” Are we as Black people willing to continue to accept this condition? I for one am sick and tired of this victim stance. And I am sick and tired of having my voice being interpreted through people who lack the grit to engage change. Those who tried to use justification and rationalization to substantiate why they should stay in a victim position.  The  “ SOS”, same old shit, will occur as long as you allow it to. I think it is time for Black people to stand and claim their rights as Americans.  Now is the time for a change. We have seen the emperor naked, wearing no clothes but apparently carrying buckets of money. We should be as feverish in our search for the antidote to the “white fear virus”, which has run rampant for far too long,  as we are in search of the cure of Covid-19. Otherwise, as the world searches for a way to get things “back to normal” pardon me if I go another direction.