Outrage: The Constitution Doesn’t Care About Black People
I think Kanye is suffering from that
middle child syndrome where he feels like he’s not getting enough attention from his parents so he does the most ridiculous stuff to get it. Like when he made the comment about
slavery being a choice a while ago. Or last week when he said that the
13th Amendment—the one that abolished slavery—
needs to be abolished. Earlier this week he was talking about meeting with Trump to talk
Chicago violence—even though Dumb Donald has been pushing
stop and frisk lately. And as an update, Ye has
deleted his social media accounts which may be best for him and us, and his membership in the Black Delegation. But let’s back up to this 13th Amendment thing. A little after making that idiotic comment, he backtracked and said that it actually needs to be amended because of the
exception clause that serves as a loophole for slavery and involuntary servitude—which is today’s prison system.
[pullquote]While we all may be over Kanye and his antics, some of the stuff he says isn’t completely off.[/pullquote] Especially about the constitution. Because last week during a visit to the
Equal Justice Initiative’s Legacy Museum, I learned that Alabama’s constitution still
upholds school segregation—despite the Supreme Court case
Brown v. Board that ruled racial segregation in schools unconstitutional. Now before anyone argues that voters shot down referendums to amend the language because of funding concerns, let’s also consider the fact that some school districts in Alabama and in several other southern states have tried and succeeded in efforts to
secede and reinforce segregation. And nationally,
housing policies still cause segregated communities that obviously lead to segregated schools. One thing was confirmed for me on that trip to Montgomery—as much as things change, they stay the same. Enslavement and oppression lives in the form of
inflated Black imprisonment. Some
White people still don’t want their kids to go to school with Black kids. And state and federal laws
protect institutional racism. This is America, 2018.
Hope: Better Educators, Better Advocates
Visiting the South has always been bittersweet to me. The visual aesthetic of the land and the southern hospitality are things you can’t really find in the midwest. But the trees often remind me of Billie Holiday’s
“Strange Fruit”. Historical landmarks make me think about the brutality of slavery and
Jim Crow. And I can’t help but wonder if I cross into the “wrong part of town,” will I be the next victim of racial hostility? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJc1wxKODBw So on top of all that, the visit our team took to the
Legacy Museum and National Memorial for Peace and Justice in Montgomery last week was tough. My friend
Vesia’s comment about the emotion behind it all hit the nail on the head. https://twitter.com/vesiawils/status/1047833602866794496 But if there is a bright side to being slapped in the face with oppression, it’s the beauty of learning about history and applying it to the work we’re doing. Because I know for a fact that
we all left Montgomery feeling empowered and more focused. https://twitter.com/mreruchie/status/1048005321577435137
Gwen Samuel,
Zach Wright and
Jason B. Allen all came back inspired, pissed off, ready to educate, ready to advocate and forever changed. I was at that point in this work where hopelessness and exhaustion were setting in. But witnessing two Black youth react to seeing the names of their ancestors who’d been lynched got me
back on track. My fight for access and opportunity for marginalized communities is for them.