by Jennifer Roberts

As I opened my eyes this morning, I thanked God for another day of life.  My very next thought was, “How will we respond to the continued attacks against our people?”  These thoughts are not new to me.  Daily, my mind is filled with questions, ideas and strategies about how we, as Black people, respond to the vile attacks that continue to be launched against us and how we can prepare for future attacks that are inevitable.  I frequently think about how we must overcome false beliefs about ourselves that have been recycled over many generations and are very effective at keeping us in bondage.  Before we can do anything lasting, we must choose to believe in our own greatness and the collective power that we possess as a people. 

When I reflect on the unthinkable crimes against humanity that my ancestors endured in this country during their 245-year legalized enslavement followed by another nearly 100 years of Jim Crow, I think about their collective belief system about themselves or if there was even such a thing.  There were Black people who believed deeply in freedom, equality and equity even though they’d never seen it.  They believed that life could and should be better for themselves and their descendants and fought even unto death to make freedom a reality.  There were other Black people who believed that their condition was just the way that it was and that they were powerless to change it and so they endured.  And still, there were others who convinced themselves that their condition was not just but that it was tolerable and even some who believed that if they could just be a good enough Black person or get close enough to Whiteness that their lives and the lives of their children would improve.

What we choose to believe about ourselves and about other people can make all the difference in how we show up and how we respond to life.  I submit that if more enslaved people believed that they could be free and acted on that belief that we would have more examples like Nat Turner, Harriett Tubman, Henry “Box” Brown,” Frederick Douglass and William and Ellen Craft.  I am in no way purporting that self and collective liberation are easy to attain as I do not believe that is true but what is often more difficult than the work itself is choosing to change our minds about what we believe.   I am submitting that the action of self and collective liberation begins with what we choose to believe about who we are and what we can achieve together. 

The United States, as a country, continues to show Black people exactly who it is and what it values.  As we continue to celebrate national gains such as electing the first Black president, the first Black first lady and first family, the first Black vice president the first Black, female Supreme Court justice, we must look at all of these advancements against the backdrop of American History as it relates to Black people and ask ourselves the question, “How have these recent gains directly and generationally benefited Black people directly?”  As good as it feels to see these highly, qualified Black people in power (and it does feel good), how has their service directly supported and benefited Black Americans, not to the exclusion of other Americans, but to the inclusion and well-being of Black people?  And what happens when power transfers, they retire, or they pass away?    What is the legacy?  How does the progress continue?

While we are celebrating these symbolic victories, the centuries old, well organized, assault against Black people rages on like a wildfire in every part of the United States.  Most of the well-connected racists aren’t attacking with whips, shackles, white hoods and fiery crosses like their ancestors did.  Today’s enemies wear business suits and bobs, drive carpool and coach soccer teams.  They are working overtime to implement policies and change laws that best serve their own selfish agendas.  They are running for school board positions, serving on PTO boards alongside Black people, teaching our children in classrooms, registering their children for the same college prep class we are registering our students for and sitting behind us in the kiss and ride line at local schools.  Their children are organizing hangouts with our children and vice versa. They are our neighbors, co-workers and fellow parishioners.  They volunteer alongside us at the local food bank and get manicures and pedicures at the same nail salons.  Many of them have gotten very good at community camouflage and flying below the radar.  We often don’t know what individuals honestly believe about Black people.  But guess what?  What they believe doesn’t matter nearly as much as what believe about ourselves.  Our belief system needs to be our primary focus followed by meaningful action that reflects our beliefs and propels our people toward greatness.

The DNA that courses through the veins of racists from the not-so-distant past is the same DNA running through the veins of today’s racists.  This is not new.  We should not be surprised at the Supreme Court’s decision to gut affirmative action as it relates to race-based admissions.  Nor should we be surprised at the Florida Department of Education’s latest push of the boundary lines as it relates to the revision of middle school standards that say, “Slaves developed skills that could be applied to their personal benefit.”  Tomorrow it will be some other distraction.  We can either exhaust ourselves by playing an unending and fruitless game of Whack a Mole or we can respond strategically by choosing to actively care for, educate and protect Black people.  It really is that simple. 

As refreshing as it would be for the United States to prioritize the wellbeing of Black collectively, it is not interested.  It never has been interested.  No one is coming to save us.  We need to launch and sustain micro-movements all over this nation that directly support and benefit Black people.  If Black people in homes, places of worship, social organizations and communities across the nation would act on the belief that we must teach our children the truth about us, the ripple effect would be felt across the country, and it would send the message that we are more than capable of telling our own stories and shaping our own lives.

I am grateful for Vice President Kamala Harris’ immediate, public remarks regarding Florida’s new standards but now what is our response?  Her remarks were a moment; we need a sustained movement that puts the success of Black people at the center.  We can and must do this work ourselves.

Black people, we must stop being paralyzed by these assaults, stop reacting with rants that quickly fizzle out and start taking meaningful action to counter them.  Bullies keep attacking easy targets and Black people have proven to be an easy target for the leaders of the United States and their loyal followers.   The Florida Department of Education’s latest assault is a classic bully move.  So what is our response?  Ignoring the assault is pointless.  Hoping the bully will just disappear is wishful thinking.  We must respond by choosing to go in a different direction.  We must stop depending on and begging the racist systems of the United States to protect and serve us and start investing in ourselves and building our own systems.  We must stop depending on our abuser to provide for us and to protect us.  How many black eyes and bloody lips do we need before we choose to leave?  We can do this.  We’ve done it before and must do it again.   

We must believe in the strength of our collective power. We must invest human and financial resources into our own success.  We must support our own businesses and develop our own networks.  We must encourage, trust and support one another.  We must reject the narrative that we cannot work together and that we are crabs in a barrel pulling each other down instead of lifting as we climb.  We must write and sing a new song.  Our lives depend on it.

I was recently listening to an interview with entrepreneur and actress Issa Rae.  Full disclosure:  I do not watch most of Issa Rae’s programming because of the excessive profanity but I fully support the significant gains that she has made in Black ownership, production, representation and her unapologetic love for Black people.  Like Tyler Perry did and said, Issa Rae saw what was and chose to go in a different direction.  In the same vein, I lift entrepreneur and filmmaker, Ava DuVernay, who did not attend film school and did not pick up a camera until she was 32, for using the resources that were available to build what she desired to see and believed was possible including an online database of qualified Black crew members.  I, in no way, intend to make this work sound easy.  It is not easy but it is possible.

In the book of Exodus, when God chose Moses to free His people from bondage in Egypt, Moses made excuses for why he wasn’t the man for that assignment.  Like Moses, you may not feel called or qualified to respond to the call that is on our community? Moses didn’t feel like he has the right words or the resources to liberate God’s people.  He didn’t what to say and feared how he would sound if he spoke.  God asked Moses,  “What do you have in your hand?”  In this pivotal moment, God is asking Black people, “What do you have in your hand.” We must choose to believe that we are called to liberate our people and that we already have what it takes to be victorious. 

I implore you to look at the tools and resources that you have available to you in your family and in your community.  Pray that God, the great multiplier, will connect you with other likeminded people to increase your efforts.  Will you build a school?  Will you build a bank?  Will you build a center for youth?  Will you teach financial literacy classes?  Will you run for a political office? Will your sponsor an entrepreneurship summer camp?   Will you provide support for those who are doing the building?  We need all of those roles to be filled.  There is a place for you in the liberation of our people.  This moment will one day become history.  It demands a response.  How will you answer the call?

(Jennifer Roberts is a Prince William County resident and founder of Conversations In the Community.)