This Week's Opening Thought: April 17, 2023
TW: Anti-Blackness, gun violence, white supremacist terrorism.
This week's opening thought: They're attempting to murder little Black boys because they had the wrong address.
They're shooting to kill through their front doors when they see little Black boys on their doorsteps. They have no hesitation when it comes to taking the lives of little Black boys, little Black boys who rang their doorbell by mistake because they had the wrong address.
They're aiming their guns at the heads of little Black boys who show up at their front doors with no hesitation, little Black boys who rang their doorbell by mistake, hoping to pick up their siblings.
They're stepping outside their homes and standing over the bodies of little Black boys they've wounded with no hesitation in front of their homes by shooting them through the front door, little Black boys hoping to pick up their siblings, little Black boys who had the wrong address.
They're stepping outside to finish off little Black boys who show up at their front doors with no hesitation, little Black boys who had the wrong address and rang their doorbell by mistake, hoping to pick up their siblings.
They're willing to leave little Black boys who had the wrong address to die on their front porches, aiming at their prone Black bodies and intending to end their lives as they lay on the pavement, hoping to take the lives of little Black boys who had the wrong address.
The neighbors in the neighborhood where little Black boys have the wrong address are more than willing not to help little Black boys who have the wrong address as they pull their severely injured bodies door to door, looking for someone, anyone, in the neighborhood to help them. Little Black boys are left crawling, bleeding from gunshots driven by the hatred of someone's white neighbor, watching as the neighbors of the person who tried to kill them refuse to help them.
Little Black boys who have the wrong address, who ring the wrong doorbell, hoping to pick up their siblings, lose their innocence and any faith in humanity they had in their souls because they now know how the world views them.
Little Black boys hoping to pick up their siblings but have the wrong address learn well before adulthood that white people who try to murder them get to sleep in their beds feeling justified in their actions and often facing no repercussions for their hatred-fueled actions.
Little Black boys with the wrong address learn that their existence means they will never get the justice they deserve because their lives don't matter to those with power, positionality, and a lack of melanin.
But the United States doesn't have a gun or anti-Blackness problem.
The United States doesn't have a white supremacist terrorism problem.
Everything's fine.
Everything's working as intended, right white people?
The Black people who work for you, with you, are working as intended today, right? I mean, it's Monday. They should be working for you and with you with smiles on their faces, right?
Everything's fine.
Everything's working as intended.
The Black people who work for you, with you, aren't physically laying in a pool of blood, clinging to life, looking for help. They're physically present at work, as intended, right? Sure. They're physically present.
But their souls aren't.
Their minds aren't.
In many respects, their bodies aren't present either. How could they be?
Black lives in the United States are inherently us ringing the doorbell and having the wrong address because it has always been the wrong address for Africans and their descendants still enslaved on unceded land.
They're attempting to murder little Black boys with the wrong address. Sometimes they murder the body, but they always murder our souls, hope, joy, and belief that we deserve to live.
But everything's fine.
Everything's working as intended.
To my Black people: take care of yourselves and your family and friends, even when your workplaces decide spreadsheets matter more than your body and soul. You matter, even if the world says otherwise.