What's on Your Minds Wednesdays

You've heard my thoughts...now it's time to share yours! What's on Your Minds Wednesday is a chance for you to do just that--let me know what's on your minds!

What's on Your Minds Wednesdays

It's your turn to speak your mind! Whether you have been personally affected by the division in the black community, know someone who has or have experienced similar prejudice as a member of another minority group, I want to hear your story.

The Willie Lynch Letter

Have you ever heard of the Willie Lynch Letter? I hadn't heard of it until I was around 35 years old. A portion of the letter is as follows. Let me know what you think. Is this an excuse for our continued ignorance against each other?

[Beginning of the Willie Lynch Letter]

 

Greetings,

Gentlemen I greet you here on the bank of the James River in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twelve. First, I shall thank you, the gentlemen of the Colony of Virginia, for bringing me here. I am here to help you solve some of your problems with slaves. Your invitation reached me on my modest plantation in the West Indies, where I have experimented with some of the newest, and still the oldest, methods for control of slaves. Ancient Rome would envy us if my program is implemented. As our boat sailed south on the James River, named for our illustrious King, whose version of the Bible we cherish, I saw enough to know that your problem is not unique. While Rome used cords of wood as crosses for standing human bodies along its highways in great numbers, you are here using the tree and the rope on occasions. I caught the whiff of a dead slave hanging from a tree, a couple miles back. You are not only losing valuable stock by hangings, you are having uprisings, and slaves are running away, your crops are sometimes left in the fields too long for maximum profit, you suffer occasional fires, and your animals are killed. Gentlemen, you know what your problems are; I do not need to elaborate. I am not here to enumerate your problems; I am here to introduce you to a method of solving them. In my bag here, I HAVE A FULL PROOF METHOD FOR CONTROLLING YOUR BLACK SLAVES. I guarantee every one of you that, if installed correctly, IT WILL CONTROL THE SLAVES FOR AT LEAST 300 HUNDREDS YEARS. My method is simple. Any member of your family or your overseer can use it. I HAVE OUTLINED A NUMBER OF DIFFERENCES AMONG THE SLAVES; AND I TAKE THESE DIFFERENCES AND MAKE THEM BIGGER. I USE FEAR, DISTRUST AND ENVY FOR CONTROL PURPOSES. These methods have worked on my modest plantation in the West Indies and it will work throughout the South. Take this simple little list of differences and think about them. On top of my list is “AGE,” but it’s there only because it starts with an “a.” The second is “COLOR” or shade. There is INTELLIGENCE, SIZE, SEX, SIZES OF PLANTATIONS, STATUS on plantations, ATTITUDE of owners, whether the slaves live in the valley, on a hill, East, West, North, South, have fine hair, course hair, or is tall or short. Now that you have a list of differences, I shall give you an outline of action, but before that, I shall assure you that DISTRUST IS STRONGER THAN TRUST AND ENVY STRONGER THAN ADULATION, RESPECT OR ADMIRATION. The Black slaves after receiving this indoctrination shall carry on and will become self-refueling and self-generating for HUNDREDS of years, maybe THOUSANDS. Don’t forget, you must pitch the OLD black male vs. the YOUNG black male, and the YOUNG black male against the OLD black male. You must use the DARK skin slaves vs. the LIGHT skin slaves, and the LIGHT skin slaves vs. the DARK skin slaves. You must use the FEMALE vs. the MALE, and the MALE vs. the FEMALE. You must also have white servants and overseers [who] distrust all Blacks. But it is NECESSARY THAT YOUR SLAVES TRUST AND DEPEND ON US. THEY MUST LOVE, RESPECT AND TRUST ONLY US. Gentlemen, these kits are your keys to control. Use them. Have your wives and children use them, never miss an opportunity. IF USED INTENSELY FOR ONE YEAR, THE SLAVES THEMSELVES WILL REMAIN PERPETUALLY DISTRUSTFUL. Thank you gentlemen.”

Blackie

My oh my, how many times have I heard that word “Blackie”?  Along with tar baby, purple, ashy, Ms. Night, grease monkey and any other negative words someone could conjure up about my skin tone to try and cut me down. The words came from my own family, and other associates from the black community, which really hurt. It was a tough pill to swallow because I and many other dark-skinned children weren’t shown any value from most adults in my community, simply because our skin was dark. This attitude trickled down to their children, and one could then understand why the children acted that way. Just like African Americans always complain about the white man teaching their children racism toward us, we do a pretty good job ourselves of causing division in our own community by making such stark differences in light or dark skin. Each time I think of that fact, even as I’m writing this, I continue to be puzzled. How in the world could we allow ourselves to be bamboozled, to the point that we carry this nonsense on for hundreds of years? In my opinion, it is one of the primary reasons our community has not come together like so many other races have. We will sell each other out in a minute, to get ahead in this country. What do you think?

 

Open Forum Wednesdays

Yes, it's that time again! Tell me what's on your mind. How has this all-too-common issue impacted your life? Were you on both sides of the issue...a reformed color-struck person? What made you see the light?

Open Forum Wednesdays

Tell me what's on your mind... What are your experiences? How has this issue impacted your life? Were you ever on the other end of the issue...being color struck yourself?

Open Forum

Today is an open forum. I would like to hear from you. Tell me some of your stories about the dark-skin, light-skin issue. I would like to hear from people who have had hurtful things said to them about their skin color. Then, on the flip side, I would like to hear from the people who may have said some hurtful things and why.

The "N" Word, Revisited

I teach a business course and have two men in my class. I had my husband bring in some of our mouth-watering, homemade pizza to surprise my group. We had been having deep discussions about race (my entire class is African American), and the fact that I'm in an interracial marriage never came up. My husband delivered the pizza, and they saw him for the first time. 

Later, toward the end of class, one student asked if the word "nigger" ever came up in my house. I explained that I use the word almost every day, and that didn't seem to sit well with him. The student asked what I would do if my husband ever called me a nigger. I replied that it would definately cause some problems. The student then wanted to know why I used it if I didn't want him to. I explained that I use it as a term of endearment, and don't see it as a problem. The student seemed a little perturbed; but do I care? NO! 

Do you think the word "nigger" should be given so much power, or should it be a word that is freely used within our own race?

Painful Names

I recently struck up a conversation with a beautiful sister on the bus I ride home, who is also a rich dark chocolate. We began to share stories of being called names like "grease monkey," "tar baby" and "blacky," just to name a few, by black boys growing up. We spoke about the pain it caused us, and the self esteem issues we both experienced. Her accuser, however, ended up asking her to the prom several years after the name calling started. She, of course, rejected his offer, which made me very happy to hear.

What do you all think about her rejection? Should she have gone to the prom with him?