This month marks six years since a government employee killed fellow citizen George Floyd. While his cry for breath still rings in our collective ears, his murderer may be freed by the current President residing in Public Housing and his henchmen. It means the crime he was accused of had a longer potential prison sentence than his murder.
As a child of the 1900’s, there are so many names that can join his in a list of those prejudicially attacked and murdered by the state in my memory: from the families, including children, of the MOVE organization to Rodney King to Philando Castile to Sandra Bland to Thomas Siderio. The names and images and devastation stay with us. Year after year. Generation after generation. Irrevocably burned in our very DNA.
Every black child is raised with the understanding that everything they say, do, and are represents every other black person past, present, and future. We say these things to our loved ones in the hopes that they will move through the world with their dignity and safety utmost in their minds. Fully aware of the possibility that sacrificing the former may be the only way to keep the later. A diasporic reality is that we see ourselves in every gasped breath, every pained scream, every black body laid out for display, inspection and deconstruction in the court of public opinion. They are us our family members, our friends, our children. The pain and grief and rage is always the same. And the anticipation that maybe this time, the ending will be different. As the George Floyd rebellion swept through the nation and across the globe, we hoped that maybe this time, the sacrificial blood that was shed would actually lead to lasting systemic changes. In the end, all we got is new grief and old exhaustion. And we try to forget the rage.
In our communities, we spend so much time condemning or downplaying the rage and pushing for hope and compassion. But I’d like to get to the Rage. As Anansi from American Gods said, “Angry gets shit done.” We, as a people, are often told that now isn’t the time for rage. Whenever now is. That we should put our anger aside and continue the work. But I fully believe that the anger, the rage is part of the work. Maybe an essentially vital part.
Years of setting it aside has actually damaged our bodies, look it up! And, I feel, removed us from an essential source of energy and power. Have you ever been tired and filled with rage at the same time?? Nope! Our rage is righteous and can give us the energy to keep fighting, even during the darkest of times. Where hope can flag, rage can give us purpose until we find our hope again. I fully believe that the time is coming soon to tap into our righteous anger and use it as fuel to take the lessons of the past, the ideas of the present, and begin building for the future. We should use this time of rest to plan, in person, as commUNITY, as Family, how we will use our rage. Where exactly each of us will direct our energy. And how we’ll move through the period of our ugly past spinning the block like the most toxic ex. And like the girlfriends who always have our backs, we’ll stand together and send it, finally, on its way.
By Minion, LSC's Administration Team
