I’m sorry to have to inform you that the black race as a whole is weak. Individually you might be strong, smart, conscious, trustworthy, have all the attributes of a good person, but as whole? Weak. What makes us weak? Our fear of the white man consciously or unconsciously. We won’t even identify who in conversations, we say them and they when we are truly talking about the white men and women in power in this country, our oppressor. Then we ask that oppressor for hand outs, mercy and fairness and to include us. What else makes us weak? Our wants for shinny things and drugs and to want to be entertained instead of taught. Having high knowledge of small hustles and being dumb to the big ones. Mishandling our money when we finally get some. We have endurance, we can take a beating physically or psychologically and get back up. We also have the supreme gift of knowing how to suffer comfortably. I know a few of you are saying “we are not weak we were kings and queens” we were and white folks enslaved some of those kings and queens.
How many of you think you know how white people look at or feel about black people? About 15 or 16 years ago I was in a cell block with this white guy that was getting kkk type of literature in the mail “against his will” let him tell it. I asked him to let me read some of it. It started off with our lord and savoir. It talked about life and death and purgatory and some kind of activity in heaven, astrology, it even talk about the science of nutrition. Then it said because we (white people) own the laws is the reason black people are no longer slaves. Blacks freedom comes from whites. Their jobs and education comes from us, desegregation comes from us, we tell them where and how to protest, we make laws and policies. Don’t monopolise or price gouge, we control businesses, we control the TV and radio air waves, whites dominate the armed forces, Pentagon, CIA, FBI, IRS, all branches of the government. You follow our rules and you follow our unwritten rules. This is our country and everybody knows and everybody shows it by the labels they put on themselves: African american, Native american, Mexican american and when all of you refer to us white people we are just americans.
That’s what it said. How far is that from the truth? I’m not sure how many white people feel like that but do you think all the ones that do live in trailer parks? No. Their prison guards, judges, lawyers, prosecutors, police, mayors and senators. People you look up to and call on for help and vote for. Did you think racism died with Martin Luther King. I know it is a lot of black people around that believe racism don’t exist anymore or that it don’t exist to the degree that I say it does. It’s that thinking that is being maintained by fear and ignorance. If racism don’t exist its no battle to fight. Fear of a confrontation makes those people see things the way they want to and not the way they are. Plus they feel alright doing nothing.
We should be seriously agitated at the mentality of our people. Some think their lives has no value or meaning, some feel defenceless against injustice, starved minds and bodies addicted to drugs, only being remembered for getting killed or going to prison, and living up to stereotypes. Look at the things we teach and learn from each, the things we say to each other, the things we believe and accept. Our true enemy is our misguided thinking and our self-defeating attitudes.
Shawn Williams
DOC #374-023
