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Reflections in a Time of Grief, Protest, and Change

Reflection by TJ Martin, Lead Housing Case Manager

I heard someone say that “society” is a contract among a group of people who agree to abide by common morals, rules, and laws.  The contract is only as good as the people who choose to uphold it. There is a real problem when this contract is ripped to shreds every day by those who hold the power in their hands. You cannot promote racism, injustice, and oppression and still expect the oppressed to keep their end of the contract.

Society has always had it’s knee on the neck of the black race since the foundation of this “Great America.” It has systematically taken our breath for centuries. It has caused asphyxiation economically, educationally, morally and socially. There are moments when it feels as though the knee has lifted and change has come, but then you quickly realized that it was only repositioning.

It is ironic that when the oppressed start to emulate their oppressor then all of a sudden they are labeled animals, uncivilized, intolerant etc. This is the hypocrisy of the oppressor, “to do as I say, not as I do.“ My personal belief is that power respects power. In other words, power submits to power.

Here is the example. When an individual is the ultimate authority and is able to control by force the “have-nots,” with the pen but more importantly by weapons, he is less likely to negotiate and compromise. But when the have-nots rise up and is able to match power with power, seeing how neither side really wants to be a casualty, then that individual is more likely to sit at the table and hear what’s being said.

Please understand I am not promoting violence, but this is a call to be able to stand with authority. 

Reflection by James Alexander, Housing Case Manager

Truthfully, I do not feel inclined to personally call on the sympathy or empathy of the dominant society regarding the long-standing tradition of race-based atrocities practiced in this nation. I have no interest in explaining our plight, campaigning for integration or sharing my personal emotions around the issue with those outside of my community.

With that being said, I would never discourage anyone from studying - as willful ignorance is a problem the world over.  Here is a short list of resources that have been made available over the last 100 years or so that do a good job of addressing the culture which sustains the United States and our varied responses to said culture. Some I have read/viewed, some were recommended to me by a Black Woman I know who is more well-read than I am.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa by Walter Rodney (1972)

What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? by Frederick Douglass (1852)

The Mis-Education of the Negro by Carter G. Woodson (1933)

Dark Matters: On the Surveillance of Blackness by Simone Brown (2015)

Reclaiming Our Space: How Black Feminists Are Changing the World from the Tweets to the Streets by Feminista Jones (2019)

Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements by Charlene Carruthers (2018)

The Grapevine: A discussion-based YouTube series hosted by Ashley Akunna