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My heart weeps for the soul of this nation, for the families whose children are being murdered because they are black.
I was once told that I have a soft spot for black men. I do. I understand that what we see playing out today is a resurgence of what took place years ago during slavery. We often wish survivors of abuse and rape forget what they experienced and say - because it was so long ago- well, so was slavery and here we are seeing it played out in a different way.
The thing is trauma in any form if unhealed can be transmitted from one generation to the next. So yes, I recognize the burden of the black man, the pain that's unhealed flowing through their veins(black women too). And no, this is not an excuse, but a realization that they(black men) don't need to be demonized because they feel it and don't know why.
Now add poverty, exposure to violence in their communities, domestic violence in the homes, school systems that suspend them, gangs that welcome them, making mistakes and being told -you're just like your no good... or he needs to be in special Ed, shut the.. up, go sit somewhere, you're so stupid, you will never change, you're not qualified because you did time, being abandoned by moms who no longer want them because the dad left.
I'm talking about descendants of men who when they try to defend their families during slavery were killed, men who had to hear, watch their women being raped by the master, men who were groomed to sell out the other based on the complexion of their skin, black men who were misdiagnosed as slaves with a mental illness when they tried to run away.
Do you seriously think our black men are healed from the historical harm passed down transgenerationally?
Do you still want to think that we should keep giving up on our black men?
Can we acknowledge that we all don't know how to handle the feelings of not enough without understanding why?
Can we begin to value our black lives as a community?
Can we acknowledge that hate and trauma are real?
Lastly, while we fight for justice, can we heal?
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