|
Listen to this article here
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
White supremacist hold tiki touches at the foot of the Robert E. Lee memorial in Charlottesville, Virginia. They seemingly appear to reminisce the days of the Confederacy and the white terrorist organization the Ku Klux Klan.
By Khalil Hakim, Contributing Writer
Waterboarding can cause extreme pain; it can damage the lungs and brain and this method of torture can cause other physical injuries: broken bones due to struggling against restraints and lasting psychological damage. Adverse physical consequences can manifest themselves for months after the event, while psychological effects can last for years.
A Black Analysis
Living as a black man, in these United States, has never been easy. There are constant reminders, seen and unseen, of systemic racism.
This year we’re witnessing a white tsunami of racism, a racial hatred that seemingly empowers bigotry. Today racist people are speaking-out, acting-out and manifesting their racism in all shapes, forms, and fashions.
Every day on social media, you can best believe there are racist activities taking place. Antiblack rants by individuals who are emboldened to call you nigger, to call you a monkey, to spew hate-filled rhetoric that would make any Ku Klux Klan sympathizer blush.
Like shooting fish in a barrel, I could blame this on Trump and Trumpism. That would be too easy. Well, excuse me while I go get my gun and shoot fish in a barrel.
The election of Donald J. Trump is what I would like to call a ‘nigger moment’ for every born African American citizen. A ‘nigger moment’ is when your fame, your money, your social status cannot protect you from the realization that a significant amount of people in this country will always and forever see you as nothing more than a nigger. Every African American will experience a nigger moment individually at least once in their lifetime. But with the election of Donald J. Trump, I have come to-the-realization that, collectively as a black race, he is our nigger moment.
However, I’m not naïve enough to believe that what we’re witnessing has just started happening; the worst atrocities inflicted upon us from the moment of our capturing in Africa.
Age of Transparency
Today’s technologies allow us to view open and blatant acts of racism. Like reality TV, our actuality of racism is now displaying on every platform of social media known to man, which is where the waterboarding of racism begins.
What amazes me about the torture method of waterboarding is not the heinous act itself. It’s that the psychological effects of waterboarding can last for years. Can you imagine years later still feeling the mental anguish of the sensation of drowning inflicted upon you? In the US African Americans — due to the exposure to racism through videos on social media — are now being waterboarded with racism. We have always acknowledged the reality of racism. We have experienced it throughout our lives, with narratives extending back into the time of our ancestors MAFAA from Africa.
This waterboarding of racism in this country has come to seem like just another day in America. But there is another component of this waterboarding of racism. Yes, we see the videos; we see the blatant acts of racism. We know the hashtags.
While Black Hashtags
#askingfordirectionswhileblack
and the most infamous one of them all
But the other component of this waterboarding of racism lies in what I like to call: the big joker theory. People who play spades will understand this analogy. This component is perpetrated by those who understand the very fiber of racism in this country. It’s those individuals who recognize that there is a big joker aspect to their own racism.
The big joker aspect of racism is when white people understand that the strong arm of white supremacy is the police. Now, before your head explodes, that does not mean all cops. There are some policemen and -women that serve honorably with integrity and character. But not all, not all police. Still, these individuals understand that the big joker for any imagined our unimagined threat could be resolved in their favor by calling the police.
They know what they’re doing.
They know that calling the police is just another way of saying ‘we need to get these niggers in check’. And I believe that these individuals know and truly understand, there is a strong possibility that the person they are calling the cops on could be beaten or even killed at the hands of the police.
They know that their black-preys life could be ended without ever getting the opportunity to tell their side of the story because dead people tell no tales.
They know police officers have and unfortunately will continue to arrest, beat, and kill African Americans with impunity.
They know that this will work out in their favor, and so do we.
Black Expectations
The expectation of justice for us is like expecting not to get wet if you are outside and it’s pouring rain, and you have no umbrella.
We come to the expectation that when we see those red, white, and blue lights, it probably won’t work out in our favor.
Betty Shelby got away with murdering Terence Crutcher on live television. Her white impunity and police team backed her.
The more racist, biased, and xenophobic a society converts, the more press coverage gives to the individuals who act in discriminatory ways. So that’s why there is this unfortunate phenomenon of being waterboarded by racism in America. Waterboarding racism is nothing new in America; it is just that we all see it now. The whole world is witnessing how the social-psychological effects and how waterboard racism will affect the next generations.
#iamtired, y’all.
Khalil Hakim is a former Veteran of the US Air Force and holds a Bachelors of Science Degree in Telecommunications. Hakim also studied Theology at Phillips Theological Seminary. Hakim was the pastor of Shekinah Glory for 14 years. He is a poet and the author of the critically acclaimed novel Fade to Black. He is also the founder of 4KB Publishing as well as a Staff Writer for the Black Wall St. Times.
