The Invisible Black Woman

Hey, y’all! Are you just joining? Welcome to the part of the interwebs where it’s always sunny yet breezy, the air smells of the ocean, the sand beneath your feet is just the right temperature for you to walk barefoot, and a fresh coconut is never too far from reach…

Let me quickly get you up to speed. Saturday I wrote a thing. That thing took off and it led me to reflect on other things. I thought I’d share those on with you. Here’s a list of all the previous things:

• Thing 1: “…for all us to eat”
• Thing 2: The reason is because
• Thing 3: Let your “you” flag fly
• Thing 4: The power of one
• Thing 5: An attitude of gratitude

And now, thing 6: practice what you preach

I realize I lost some folk calling people who stay silent accomplices. I think it’s important for me to make the distinction here between an innocent and a silent bystander. Here’s an analogy to set the two apart. You’re at the bank and someone decides to rob it, and they’re not exactly doing so politely or with a piece of paper they slip to the teller. For the sake of this illustration and to keep things PG, let’s just say intervening will cause you bodily harm. So rather than play the hero, you choose to comply. Most of us would. It’s the same reason that not everyone works in a profession where they voluntarily place themselves in danger every day. We not talking bout dat here.

Accomplices are those who know what they’re seeing is flat-out wrong, will come talk to you about it after the fact, but won’t say or do anything more. Sure, one could argue there’s a danger to speaking out. You could risk a whole lot by speaking out. I’m not going to win an argument with anyone who sees this situation as equally dangerous. Honestly, that’s not who this is for.

This is for those of you who felt those two sentences I posted in the depths of your spirit because you have been there before. You know all too well the pain, the disappointment, the anguish you felt when you were called everything but a child of God, disparaged, treated unfairly, and those who claimed to be your biggest cheerleaders or supporters said nothing. If you were the betrayed, the unfairly and wrongly accused, I want you to never forget how that felt. A time will come when you will be in the position to speak up and come to the aid of someone else. Remember what it felt like and be for that person what you wished those others would have been for you. Channel all of that past betrayal and hurt into righteous indignation on behalf of someone else. It won’t change the harm you experienced, but you can be for them the person you wish you’d had when it mattered most.

Otherwise, can you truly be outraged for not receiving what you’re not willing to give yourself?

That’s all I got for thing 6. Thing 7, same time and same station tomorrow. G’nite!