More on Sister Souljah

Those of you who are of a certain age likely had post-traumatic flashbacks when I dropped some Sister Souljah a couple of days back. In 1992 then-Arkansas governor Bill Clinton kicked his presidential campaign into high gear by putting Sister Souljah on blast over some comments she had made in the Washington Post. At a campaign appearance Clinton spoke thusly: “If you took the words ‘white’ and ‘black’ and reversed them, you might think David Duke was giving that speech.”

The original comment from the Washington Post: “I mean, if black people kill black people every day, why not have a week and kill white people?” No one in white America heard–or wanted to hear–her actual point: Why is it that one instance of a black person killing a white person should matter more than black people killing black people every day?

These comments came on the heels of Sister Souljah’s album 360 Degrees of Power, which came out in the aftermath of the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. The album contains a provocative track (not that the rest of the album isn’t provocative–it is) entitled “Slavery’s Back in Effect”, which deals with the hypothetical of a future racist president reinstating slavery because black Americans are deemed not to have risen to an acceptable level of productivity, and is especially relevant today in Donald Trump’s America.

Clinton’s comments may have been true on the surface, yet they fail to take into account a reality which is as obvious as the nose on your face: 400 years of race-motivated violence and injustice perpetrated against black Americans by white supremacist America. This casts a pall over any claim of moral equivalence between antiracists and white supremacist segregationists.

White Americans: You do not get to police how black Americans respond to the pain of racial injustice. You do not get to police what constitutes an acceptable or an unacceptable response. Just shut up and listen.

George Floyd Was Not a Martyr

It was exactly one year ago today that George Floyd was murdered by Minneapolis police. The incident went viral on Youtube, sparking protests in cities nationwide and prompting a racial reckoning.

Some have taken to saying that George Floyd was a martyr.

That is not true.

It is true that some good has come of it. The officers responsible have been brought to justice, and there is at least something of a discussion happening around reforming some of the most unjust aspects of policing and law enforcement. Many large and prominent corporations pledged a renewed commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Many Americans who had previously ignored the centuries-old legacy of systemic racial injustice in America were caught, largely by circumstance, in a place where they just could not look away. There has been much frustration as well. The forces of evil and racism in America have doubled down on their efforts to uphold and advance America’s racist legacy by passing harsh new voter suppression measures in many states, deliberately calculated to reduce black participation in future elections by disproportionately targeting those voters and communities, and by outright banning Critical Race Theory and The 1619 Project which tell the truth about many of the more unseemly aspects of America’s history. And much of the supposed support shown to black America by corporations and individuals on social media in the wake of George Floyd has by this point proven to be largely performative.

But was George Floyd a martyr? No.

He did no willingly give his life for the sake of racial progress. It was taken from him. He had no say in the matter.

George Floyd should be alive right now. We should not know his name.

Same goes for Breonna Taylor. And Ahmaud Arbery. And Rayshaud Brooks. And Philando Castile. And Michael Brown. And Trayvon Martin. Shall I continue?

Yet here we are.

If you really want to honor George Floyd, then don’t call him a martyr. Instead, lament that our world is such a place where Floyd and so many others had no choice but to die. Commit to doing your part to change things, and then do it. This is more than just reading a couple of antiracist books or putting a BLM sign in your yard or a BLM badge on your Instagram, though these things may have value if they are serving to put your heart in a posture of “I’m available for this work, and when the time comes, I’m ready to fucking go”. Otherwise, it’s all just performative bullshit and we could do without it.

For my part, I still feel as if all I can do from where I sit is just sit here and write angry blog posts. But if that’s all I can do, then I will keep them coming.

Sister Souljah on God

My God is a powerful Black God.
The true God is powerful. He is love but most of all He is justice.
When the true God is confronted with injustice He fights with wisdom, strength, force, and power, and He wins.
God is always more powerful than the Devil and all who do the work of the Devil.
God is greater than white supremacy. He is good and good always conquers evil.
If God is on your side you cannot lose, and if you are losing you have not truly found God.
He is within you, and in your quiet time you must talk to Him and he will give you the power because my God is a powerful God.