Here’s the side of being black that many white people do not understand and even hate:
We are proud people.
You enslaved us, and thought we should be satisfied with that. Didn’t you feed us? Didn’t you give us housing? Didn’t you give us jobs? Weren’t we like one of your own family?
That was not enough. You forgot that we are proud people.
You lynched us and demonized us, saying that we should be satisfied to play second fiddle, to not be too “uppity,” to peacefully answer to “boy” and “nigger.” Didn’t you love us? As long as we kept our place, weren’t you willing to keep us warm and well-fed?
That was not enough. You forgot that we are proud people.
You told us to go to “colored” schools. Inferior schools you insisted were not inferior. Weren’t you letting us read? Weren’t there some success stories? We might have to work a little harder, and tell our children to work harder, but didn’t you care? Weren’t you giving us some opportunity?
That was not enough. You forgot that we are proud people.
You said, “Not right now. Just wait. Stop marching, stop demonstrating, stop boycotting.” Weren’t you working, however slowly, on our Civil Rights? Weren’t you concerned about adjusting, slowly, so as not to disrupt the “peaceful” equilibrium in the South? Wasn’t it going to eventually all straighten itself out, if we could just be patient and accept our place in the meantime?
That was not enough. You forgot that we are proud people.
You told us that drugs were dangerous, and that’s why you imprisoned us at a rate that gave us the highest incarceration rate in the world. All we had to do is make peace with the police. Don’t say “fuck the police” — just love the blue. Weren’t they putting their lives on the line? Weren’t they trying to keep order? Weren’t they in authority? Couldn’t we just accept that they were trying, and count the casualties off as losses?
That is not enough. We are proud people.
Etc.
You see…if your plan involved black people playing second fiddle while you patronize us, don’t be surprised when it blows up in your face.
If you come to the negotiating table without preparing to be taken aback by our pride, you’re in for a rude awakening.
We’ve been doing this for a long time. 400 years of marginalization. But we know who we are, and we know where we belong, and we will not apologize for the fact that has brought us this far and will bring us farther:
We are proud people.
Don’t forget.