I've been busy writing two romance books at the same time and have not been adding to my blog in a timely manner because of it. I also took time out to give an interview to MrsBookmark over at "SMART GIRLS LOVE SCI FI AND PARANORMAL ROMANCE" that I'm positive has a few heads spinning. I also needed time away from the internet. Blame headlines about turmoil and death in Africa, the Middle East, (which is Africa), Ukraine and here in the U. S. I'm fatigued. And pissed. And sad. This killing in general has to stop! And in particular, this sport of beating and/or killing Blacks in the U. S. by the police and others "scared" by our simple existence and moved to heinous actions by believing the manufactured myth that they are "losing their God-given right to rule" like in the "good ole days." Phew! That was a run-on sentence, was it not? I have not seen such brutality since I was a kid. Hell, if the nuts are going to get all Old Skool, then go hard with the nostalgia and bring back water canons and dogs. Ah. Bull Connor would be so proud. Yes, I said sport because it's open carry for some and open season on Black bodies just because.
Please, I know all ethnic groups who kill, do so mainly within their own group. So don't start mumbling about Black-on-Black crime to me. You see no one writes scads of columns on White-on-White crime, Latino-on-Latino crime, fill in the ethnicity on fill in the ethnicity crime. But we know that's happening too. Besides, news outlets reporting on Black-on-Black crime could not care less. It's filler for the news feed. If it bleeds, it leads! It fans the flames of "Look, see how they treat each other!" That's all it's about. The concern is nil. New gory story? Bring it on! I thought long and hard, about whether or not, I, who pen romance books, should even utter a word on the current racial tensions in Ferguson, MO or in the States period. I'm no journalist but neither are some of the talking heads with microphones. It could be bad for book sales and a downer and I could turn off potential readers of my books by being seen as a writer with a "political grudge." But you know what? I've rarely taken the safe route in my life. Why start now? I've never separated my life into sections to please others. I'm grown. And I'll still be standing if readers become angry at what I'm going to reveal.
I am a person of a certain age who thought by now that this racial garbage in the States would have dried up and blown away by the time I was grown. But I was wrong. It hasn't. That insidious plant has been lovingly watered in secret, has thrived in darkness and ignorance, and has put out more strong roots. UGH! First of all, I am tired of hearing those, who possess privilege and a degree of control, say that those who are not in control love pulling the race card. First of all, there is no such thing as the friggin race card! There are only a**holes who when they feel their privileged positions threatened, scream "race card being pulled!" whenever a minority calls them on their racist ish.
A lot has changed but so much more needs to. If anything racial divide has gotten worse in the good ole U S of A since Mr. Obama won the office TWICE. Let's face it. The Old Guard and folks who think like them, have not recovered since Tall, Dark and Brilliant was vetted for the position of Prez. They then went totally ape-shit when he won. How dare he! They'd been in charge for centuries and felt that power was slipping away from them. Even those who'd, unconsciously, been sipping from the fountain of privilege and who have been benefiting from the established power dynamic are peeved. That is the main reason you get the likes of the Tea Party, the Birthers, Congress (mostly The House), militarized police departments and reckless gun laws. Authority that flaunts its displeasure with the poor and the pigmented. Just new masks on the same old fearful faces.
How old you ask? This is where I make it personal.and put a face on these so-called random exceptions to the rule. Let me state for the record: These displays of aggression are not random! This crap goes way back to the Jim Crow era, which in some historians' eyes, was WORSE than slavery. Blows the mind. The only consolation a slave had, if you can call it a consolation, was that as PROPERTY they were assets to their owners. And no other White man was to mess with another White man's PROPERTY lest there be repercussions. So that warped code of honor kept the mega-crazy in check. Having to pay out money for an offense if caught ALWAYS makes a person think twice. Anyway, after slavery, Jim Crow was established to still exert control over, and to continue to terrify, a now free-to-roam colored population which now had to be PAID wages for their labor. No longer slaves but not free really. After the Civil War, there was only a tiny window of what-could-have-been for Black people called the Reconstruction period. Many established thriving towns, full of businesses fueled by the crafts they'd honed in slavery. Self sufficient, these little settlements with skilled master craftsmen became competition. And became scenes of carnage inflicted by vigilantes and "peacekeepers" angered at seeing Negroes living like human beings. Ku Klux Klan anyone? Also, another benevolent organization known as the NRA sprang up. Co-incidence?
This kind of ugliness is what drew me to write romance involving different ethnicities. Lord, we need more love. Fast! Well. this is a long post, so I'll speak more on this in Pt.2 and tie in how my family's brushes with the law were examples of the RULE.
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