[Bgs-list] Forward for Charles Baker

[Aaron N Martin]

From: Charles Baker <charleshbaker at gmail.com<mailto:charleshbaker at gmail.com>>
Date: Wed, Sep 2, 2020, 15:47
Subject: Bryant brought up young people being tired of waiting for justice & freedom today...
To: <bgs-list at mailhost.ces.clemson.edu<mailto:bgs-list at mailhost.ces.clemson.edu>>


Check out this speech written by an 11 year old black girl as her valedictory speech from elementary school. Why should an eleven year old in 2020 have to give such a speech?

What Black Lives Matter means to an 11-year-old (Jolia Bossette)
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.youtube.com_watch-3Fv-3Dmuy5zpqslRc&d=DwIGaQ&c=Ngd-ta5yRYsqeUsEDgxhcqsYYY1Xs5ogLxWPA_2Wlc4&r=nncgU5jkTeoSu22T8M41tqRu3Swd6rFgoTl_6gia6-8jHfsmNOOsV9nCWFnXCxi3&m=jP19L3JSH-sTXgkpiNdND-gpImb2ogWDY6sGbC59J3Y&s=HZd4cx9J5253pWbbmXdd9HYok9ZNfQyX374HQhgSIi4&e= 

I found out about it on this episode of Today Explained for kids:
The Island of Explained: A Summer of Protest https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=https-3A__www.stitcher.com_podcast_vox_today-2Dexplained_e_77312384&d=DwIGaQ&c=Ngd-ta5yRYsqeUsEDgxhcqsYYY1Xs5ogLxWPA_2Wlc4&r=nncgU5jkTeoSu22T8M41tqRu3Swd6rFgoTl_6gia6-8jHfsmNOOsV9nCWFnXCxi3&m=jP19L3JSH-sTXgkpiNdND-gpImb2ogWDY6sGbC59J3Y&s=otH5xgVL3dNXsEAO8Ed1DolxLI7X1y6myJqBFeXa_D4&e= 

It also reminded me of a passage I often quote to our fellow white citizen's from MLKs Letter From a Birmingham Jail.

I must make two honest confessions to you, my Christian and Jewish brothers. First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I sometimes wonder if many of us black folks who have gotten the education, the jobs, the homes, etc. have become like the white moderates to whom King is preaching. King while committed to non-violence, King was getting more and more radical...then they killed him. Fred Hampton was young and radical, and they killed him.

I don't know what the solution is, but it really feels like trying to operate in this system built on slavery, genocide and a racialized caste system will only, to paraphrase the great Langston Hughes, cause more dreams to be deferred.

I feel more and more like playing the game laid before us is a losing proposition as "the house always wins." We need to turn over the gaming table, or burn down the casino and start over. But as I noted on the call today, there are not enough of us "so called Black" people to do that on our own in this country. And the 1% and above will largely fight us every step of the way because it is in their financial interest to keep the 99% squabbling amongst ourselves.

End of rant. Sorry so long.



Charles H. Baker
864.990.1297
“Don’t be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn’t do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn’t know what you know today.” — Malcolm X

Sent from my iPhone
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