We still see in black and white
We walked the same area, but lived in two different worlds. Below is an excerpt of an email exchange between one of my closest friends growing up in NY in the 1970's ...I'm proud, humbled and honored to call him friend, brother, family. He's retired military and a giant of a human. Not many people I would die for, but he's one....the others...you know who you are!
It's a long read, but in my humble opinion, worth it. Listen to what he has to say as a black man in America...the not so beautiful... (some of this is redacted to protect):
Morgan,
Congrats on the family my man! You’re kids are awesome I’m so happy for and proud of you. You and the missus have done a great job at staying together and raising the boys...no easy task!
Our childhood in NY was a true melting pot. We all hung out, slept over each other’s homes and except for certain idiots that would come around, I think we were truly oblivious to each other’s race.
I don’t remember things being particularly different for me than you guys. I had you guys as big brothers to protect me and I knew you wouldn’t let anything happen to me. All in all, we had fun. Of course I left before everyone got deeper into drugs and I’m sure as everyone got older they started to self segregate.
When I moved to LA my father lived in South Central and that was the first time I experienced segregation and was around Mostly black folks on a daily basis. Talk about culture shock! However, the most racism I ever experienced was in the Marine Corps. It is truly a good ole boy institution, but because of my upbringing in New York, I understood how to navigate the white world I found myself in. I also knew how to stand up/speak up for myself. I fared relatively well, but it wasn’t always easy.
I’m not hopeful that things will ever change in any meaningful way. The system is entrenched and designed to fuck black people. It’s everything from the police system, the prison system, the judicial system, the banking system, the educational system...the list is too long to enumerate here.
People say they want to see change but I doubt they are really willing to sacrifice and invest the vast amount of time and money to effect real change. And when I say people, I mean white people because they are the ones with all the power.
It’s going to take trillions of dollars if things are going to change. We need a massive reparations bill, and I’m not advocating sending checks to anyone. But we need massive amounts of money invested in our inner city schools, after school programs, job training for adults, real health And dental care in inner city communities. Free college for inner city kids...those are just some ideas.
The pendulum has to radically shift to benefit those who have been systematically discriminated against since the beginning of time. I doubt we as a country are willing to make the type of investment to effectuate any real change.
It’s no accident that we kill each other like savages in inner cities, it’s no accident that our infant mortality rate is comparable to 3rd world countries, that we suffer disproportionately from all types of abnormalities and are allowing covid-19 to decimate black communities.
Studies have found that the daily indignities that blacks in America suffer make us chronologically older than our actual ages. Everything from being followed in stores, pulled over at disproportionate rates by police, getting suspended at excessive rates from school, being arrested at unreasonable volumes, living in filthy inner cities that are food deserts...that and everything else compounded make us older and more susceptible to diseases, irrespective of where we fall in the socioeconomic ladder. It’s mind boggling. Even black doctors and lawyers who live in white neighborhoods and eat healthy and workout regularly die younger than their white counterparts and it’s all directly attributed to racism.
It pains me to say it but we are a failed state, an empire in decline, and if this asshole is re-elected we will not recognize our country in four more years.
We need the Peace Corps to deploy en-mass in our inner cities to teach kids to read, write, and do math. We need UN peacekeepers to monitor our elections to make our elections fair and point out the vast voter suppression that goes on every election cycle we have. We need Doctors Without Borders to deploy to inner cities to provide health care that isn’t available to us. The richest country in the world, the best economy ever, built on the backs of people who most of the country doesn’t care about. It’s not enough to march and yell. Real change will not come about that way.
Kaepernick tried kneeling in silent protest... he was vilified, blackballed, and prevented from earning a living. Even the most powerful person in the world, the president persecuted him. Now, when shit is burned to the ground, we are called savages and people don’t understand why we react that way?! It’s because People don’t pay attention until things/property are destroyed. They certainly don’t pay attention when black lives are destroyed on a daily basis by the police. They loot and burn shit because we are cornered and don’t see a way out. The very people that are supposed to protect us: the police...kill us for nothing. We get murdered in cold blood for dumb shit they would never do to white people.
I can’t tell you the fear I feel when I get pulled over or the fear I live with knowing that my nephew , who I raised, can be killed any day by any cop that pulls him over.
Politicians don’t do shit about the racist police system or voter suppression or inferior schools...the system that we have fought and died for in every war has failed us miserably and most white folks don’t care!
Even NY liberals aren’t willing to tackle the problem that we face. They may talk a good game but when push comes to shove that’s all most folks do, is talk. I personally would never loot or burn but I completely understand where that rage comes from. It’s a desperation that is impossible to completely explain or understand unless you have lived in “black” skin in the US.
And we still haven’t tackled the at home education. Parents need to stop teaching hatred and racism to their children because it’s a learned behavior.
I wholeheartedly apologize for this long diatribe. I started writing and got carried away. It’s probably somewhat incoherent and just random streams of thought. Again, sorry bro. Maybe this is a perspective you haven't heard, at least not by your brother.
Love you and miss you man.
You should think about coming back to XXX with Heidi for a vacation.
Brothers always,
XXXX