How Do You Fight What You Can't See? [Part I]

Hello all. Don't really have a direction in this post but it is something that has been on my mind so I figure I'll work on this post for a couple of days to get my thoughts out and see if I come to any type of conclusion.

If you are unaware, I am biracial. On top of that I come from a lower socioeconomic neighborhood and family tree. And when I say that I mean both of my parents income when they were together still did not reach six figures. Now that they are divorced and paying college tuition, times get tough from time to time.

Being faced with both of these barriers I was faced with a lot growing up, and not a lot in a sense where I couldn't make it by with what was provided me -problems are all relative to what you know- but I definitely overcame many obstacles to get to where I am now.

But in overcoming those obstacles I let some things sink in throughout. You know, the obstacles that are the hardest to overcome. The ones that don't come in from a direct decision but from observations. Of these, insecurities, inferiority complexes, many psychological issues, and false understandings which were never directly debunked to me.

I believe this is how things such as class-ism and racism continue to stay so strong in the minds of people. Of course they began with the utmost of ignorance, but through that ignorance stereotypes were born and raised. As time continued, and systematic racism continued, stereotypes spread faster than people could. I'll digress for the time being.

As I've stated in an earlier blog, I've been reading a book called Brainwashed by Tom Burrell. I'm not going to go in depth on the book but it is a book that challenges the Black Inferiority complex. This is the belief that black people are not as intelligent, sexual beasts, violent/loud, etc. (you know the stereotypical thoughts of black people that was established during the implementation of slavery and held onto ever since). This book has made me think of many things, though.

Coming from a place where many people have these thoughts that they are inferior, I decided that although the BI complex is a great burden there is an even greater complex that allows class-ism to be just as influential, if not greater. It is true many black men and women get hit with the double whammy, but (seeing how my white family is not much better off) poorer white people are not far ahead.

The belief that these rich people and people in these positions of power deserve it because of what they have done is sometimes ridiculous. This false "majority" who continues to make laws and rules which work for them is a wash. The fact that I watched my dad for the better part of my life work 12-15 hour days, make almost nothing due to his salary, and then lose his job while the CEO shut down the company and took the money they wanted to be good is ridiculous. Tell me who deserves what? I digress, the universe comes around for everyone. That's a fact.

So one thing that has been on my mind for a while is, how do you fight these things? Personally and as a society? And above that, how do you get people to see that there is something wrong with this system when they're comfortable with it?

Why are black people fine with living in "the hood" and why are other people fine pretending like the nation is perfect. How is it possible to spread knowledge about the wrong doing of the "majority" when the actual majority fails to realize the power they have?

Then when people finally get to a position where they can tell of the evil, they get written off as being crazy or killed. So who is actually willing to ride for the cause when their life is the sacrifice for the greater good?

These are questions that people have had for years, but somehow in this new generation we stopped fighting. We became complacent. We left the work of our grandparents and parents at the door, while we chill in the house.

This is really just a rant, whatever, but what will it take to rally people? And not just for long enough to allow America to write it off, but enough to make an actual change. To put all of these "false prophets" [See last post] in their place. Whether they be politicians, pastors preaching in the name of the Devil, teachers teaching their history, or people in the media spreading the lies of the nation to the masses.

I have many questions but no answers. I figured I would start with a blog, ta da, but above putting my perspective into words, how do you foster change in an age where being complacent is praised and being a revolutionary is terrorism. If I recall correctly, this nation was based on a revolution. And there have been several since which have shaped this country.

How do we begin one in our generation? How do we take the country away from the old ways of thinking and implement change? After all, the technology age is forcing everyone to adapt faster in every aspect. Consumer goods, business practices, even dating is different everyday. Yet we still abide by the same rules and regulations that our grandparents did. IT'S A NEW DAY!!

As soon as people begin to wake up change can be made, but people continue to sleep walk through these times because they are "comfortable." But one day, that comfort will be all fucked up and everyone will be wondering what happened.

Our government is out of date. When milk spoils you replace it. When a player on an NBA team gets too old and tired, he is traded or released if he refuses to retire. We see this common theme in every aspect of life, yet are comfortable with it in the government and ways of thinking about people and classifying people. COME ON MAN!!

I guess the base of my questions is a list of why's and how's. So as you can see this is a Part I, because I haven't thought of any answers that I can formulate right now but I will come back and post on this topic later with my solution, which I'm sure will be very entertaining.

Until then just the final questions that I'll be thinking about:

How do we get rid of things that are rooted into our nation (i.e. institutionalized racism)?

How do we get people to see that the nation is no longer a nation of the people/persuade people to take a stand?

How do we expose this "majority" and empower the people?

How do we fight the things that we cannot see?

Just my thoughts.

-Marcus J.

P.S. I don't know if people can follow this one, so as always feel free to leave comments and questions.