Conceived, born, raised and living black
By Daphne
Muse
I was conceived, born,
raised and now have lived as a human
being cast in black for almost seventy years. I’mo die black, too. And in my next life, I’ll be honored to
return in the black. I refuse to be
drowned in the bile of oppression and no racist savagery, pathology or steroids
of genocide will stop me from living the authenticity of who I am. Be clear that efforts to kill off an entire
race of people are bound to implode, as our blood spills all over you and the
spirits of our ancestors (and some of yours, too) haunt you in ways you don’t
even realize. The ongoing slaughter,
murder and economic lynching of my people will not make me turn against them or
stop me from seeking and working to secure the freedom that is inherent for
every being. You can kill a person, but
the energy of their spirit sometimes has a way of recharging life. Mine is constantly recharged by those whose
spirits continue to rise in power including anti-lynching activist and
journalist Delilah Beasley; Mississippi voting and civil rights activists
Fannie Lou Hamer; and, Dred Scott, buried a few miles up the road from Ferguson
in St. Louis. Scott launched a legal
battle to gain his freedom that went all the way up to the Supreme Court (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dred_Scott_v._Sandford).
Despite the high toll
and centuries of efforts to resurrect Apartheid and annihilate us, the ongoing
slaughter in the streets is not deterring people like the residents of Ferguson,
and their supporters across the country and around the world including St.
Louis native and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey. He is right up in the mix protesting the
killing of unarmed Michael Brown. I
refuse to allow the hatred of my people to diminish the love I have for my often
brutalized and brilliant people. Our DNA is historically, culturally, politically
and economically encoded on this country.
From rural roads to outer space, our innovations and inventions also
drive many aspects of everyone’s daily life.
If we’re being punished
for the election of the first known black/mixed
race president and the appointment of a black attorney general, then wake up
and smell the Melanin, because millions of us refuse to be pushed backwards off
the cliffs into the swells of oppression and racism. While bold face, refutable lies continue to
twists your tongues into contortions of sheer absurdity, ongoing efforts to revise
or erase us from history continue to implode:
Truth has both an ironic and empirical way of blooming through concrete;
and destroying documents, eradicating images and attempts to vanish reality can
have powerful blow back. We’re also
issuing a cease and desist for your racism to remain a revenue stream for municipalities,
jails and penitentiaries; that’s off the table.
Millions of us continue
working diligently to seed and harvest the awe and wonder of young people of
color, for we recognize how much more vital our country would be, as a result
of the benefit of the brilliance and creativity many of them bring to the table. I will continue to working with others to
educate and empower young black men and women to earn diplomas and advanced degrees,
so they can become skilled workers, 21st century innovators, strong
leaders and even surgeons who skillfully navigate beyond the craters of hatred embedded
in the souls of racists to save their lives. And there are those highly skilled social
justice “surgeons” conducting hatred
bypasses on a daily basis, an operation that could vastly improve the
quality of millions in America. Even in
the dust of my ashes, like millions before me, I’ll proudly align my legacy to
stand tall in the power of blackness.
Daphne Muse is a writer, social commentator and the
oldest sibling to four brothers. While
navigating the mine fields of racism and oppression, they also have lived and
celebrated the joy(s), power and brilliance of being black.
Copyright October 2014, Oakland, California
Daphne Muse
