Good Morning Y'all, I Love You!

Wassup y’all? Been nearly five years since I folded Not Ur Momma’s News, left cyberspace and returned to university. Got that degree about 18 months ago and I’ve been trying to find my way back to you every since. 

So, what took so long? Truth, I’ve had a hard time processing what we look like, what we appear to have become. Am I the only one appalled by the way we treat each other? Blogger posted a Father’s Day article in which he derided single mothers who celebrate Father’s Day, because even though they are ill equipped they step up and into the job. He suggested that these women should be avoided because they are broken and incapable of logical thinking. What disturbs me is not only that he made no mention of the men who have shirked their responsibility, which he didn’t, but as a supposedly enlightened man, he offered neither compassion for the brokenness nor suggestions for restoring logical thought.

While his post perfectly exemplifies the distain of self/each other we have all but completely assimilated, it is but a pimple in a aggressive rash. “Completely assimilated” ~ crucial words. We are daily becoming what we profess to hate. It takes only a difference of perspective for a “queen” to be demoted to a “bit*h” or a brother to be dismissed with a curt “ni**as ain’t sh*t.” Really? How can we demand respect when we give little? How can we demand parity when we so cavalierly decimate each other? 

Everywhere I look, somebody is question or pontificating about what African America should be doing to regain control of their communities, finances and destiny, but little is said about healing the brokenness. For 18 months, watching the pain we inflict on each other in denial of our commonalities and interdependence rendered me largely speechless and for a while hopeless. Can I ask y’all a question?

If you met a woman who had been kidnapped, raped, beaten and left for dead, would you expect her to react to and interact in the world in a logical manner? Would you judge and condemn her fractured psyche; would you demean her brokenness and confusion? What if she’d been forced to witness the murder of her mate and the stripping away of her children? Would you expect her to be whole 50 years later? Would you withhold your compassion and nurturing from her because she should be strong enough, smart enough, ________ enough to have gotten over it by now?

Okay, that’s a bunch of questions, but I’ve got a couple more. Do any of y’all recognize this woman’s experience? Could it be that she is us? When you’re out cyber-socializing today, remember this woman. Remember she is a queen (king) even if, especially if, she (he) doesn’t remember her (his) own royalty. Treat your brothers and sisters according to their birthright regardless of their behavior; retrieve your compassion and stay your judgment, because you know what they have suffered and you know how long the wounds have festered with little opportunity to heal.

Good morning y'all; I love you