The Revolution Pt. 1 - Back To Normal

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Full Show Notes:

Let me tell you something, Black people are in no hurry to get back to normal. We don’t carry a deep nostalgia for things or times.  There is only so much black people miss and reminiscence about. There is very little that we’re sentimental about or homesick for. For us back to normal is bullshit.

Back to normal is black people being targeted, killed, violated, wrongfully-imprisioned. Back to normal also means black people going back to being unseen, misunderstood, disrespected, dismissed, patronized, and under-estimated. And I am not just talking about black people that are harassed by police or racist people. I am saying that back to normal for ME on a regular day means going back to being unseen or misunderstood, disrespected, dismissed, patronized, or under-estimated in some way between leaving this apartment in the morning and coming back home at evening.

For black people back to normal is us being asked questions we aren’t being paid to answer about all sorts of things! Racism, our hair, our culture and our pop-culture. Back to normal is black people being asked questions we aren’t being paid to answer like, What should I do? What should we do next? How can we help? You know big, vague, philosophical questions. And guess what a lot of us answer those questions, and most of those times our advice is not taken. So, you ask...we answer...you don’t do it... and we don’t we get paid for it.

Back to normal is black people having to be: put together, nice, calculated, strategic, all-knowing, and friendly, and happy, quiet, magical, dope, chill, so cool… All so we can can stay safe! So that we can stay alive and out of prison. So that we can get jobs, keep jobs and get promoted. So we can take walks in Central Park, so we can jog, so we can ride the subway, so we can drive our cars, so we can eat, and sleep and read books.

A lot of y’all know me cuz this podcast is just getting off the ground so I want you picture something. Picture my mother holding me in her arms, I’m a newborn baby. And what she’s thinking about is what can I name my child so she can get a job later in life. THAT is back to normal for a lot, not all, but a lot of black people, naming their children in ways that please others and invite opportunities.

So why am I saying this? Because I want everyone (not just white people), to understand how important it is for us NOT to go back to normal.

Now what that future is….well, we don’t know because we aren’t there yet. But collectively as a community of humans on this planet we have to be OKAY with walking together forward into new territory. We have to be okay with being uncomfortable for longer than 5 days (and I say that to all of you that are not affected by racism but are already exhausted by the revolution). This is not going to be solved tomorrow.

I’ll tell you right now July 4th is going to be very awkward, to say the least. And if that is at all shocking news to you, What do you mean the 4th of July is going to be awkward? I urge you to talk to someone in your life (that is not black) but understands what I mean because under no circumstances should you be celebrating your freedom this Independence day. Now Juneteenth may well be the turn-up this year so you can get hype for that, but depending who you are you will have to stay in your lane on 6/19 as well. So ask all the questions before you start celebrating this summer. :)
 
What I am saying to you is, we don’t want things going back to normal. We want to embrace this moment and make it count. Opportunities like this don’t come around all the time. And you may think I am being morbid when I say this but something good can come out of Covid-19.  My mother would say, the Lord works in mysterious ways, but...