Black people, and women in particular, get the message loud and clear. The hostile actions of the current regime have exhibited downright hatred toward almost everyone who doesn’t look, talk, act, think, worship and live like them. Since D-Day of January 20 there has been a chainsaw approach by the foreign-born non-melanated, unelected multi-billionaire along with his young adult minions, to enact government “efficiency.” The rapid-fire and wholesale destruction of the government including departments, agencies, programs, funding, websites and services that have mentioned people of color or benefited people who genuinely need support has come across as cruel, indiscriminate and unnecessary. In fact, some workers who were recklessly let go were asked to return because the people who “fired” them didn’t even understand the importance of their jobs. Other fired workers were ordered to be rehired due to the chaotic and nonsensical way they were let go.
The South African immigrant who has frequently shown up to the White House with his nursery school-aged son draped around his shoulders has shown no regard for the lives and communities that he is destroying. He and the rest of the posse really don’t seem to care about the hundreds of thousands of people affected by gleeful slashing of livelihoods. If they succeed in cutting all in their path, people will die. Children will go hungry. Students will have a harder time affording school. Millions will lose health care. It will be more difficult to afford housing and groceries. Pain and suffering and hardship will manifest in many other ways with the pummeling pace of cruelty inflicted every day. But, the already wealthy will save taxes and gain more wealth at the expense of the neediest.
In addition to the myriad ways the regime has decimated people’s livelihoods, in their determination to rid the country of DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion of anyone who isn’t a straight, able-bodied, mayonnaise-shade male) they have created an extensive list of words that should no longer be used in government documents, deleted links to information about Black and Hispanic people and women from websites like that of Arlington Cemetery, banned books and demanded that topics not be discussed in classrooms. It seems that they couldn’t wait to get rid of murals and flags and holidays that recognize and affirm the existence of almost half the population. Nothing else needs to be done to help those under attack understand that the crew in charge of the White House and many federal departments and major businesses consider millions of Americans to be “waste.” The carpetbombing of insults and threats in what can be classified as emotional and financial abuse leaves no doubt.
Meanwhile, the non-melanated male-dominated multi-billionaire-owned corporate media propaganda machines want people to believe that (Brown) immigrants are causing all of our problems with crime and drugs, while the band of digital thieves seem at the ready to pilfer the United States Treasury. Too many GOP leaders are apparently so afraid that they won’t get reelected that they aren’t trying to check the high-tech smash-and-grab crime spree. Meanwhile, Democrat leaders are busy engaging in haphazard resistance, while some courts are barely holding up guardrails against a deluge of law-breaking activity. While too many politicians are trying to please their corporate constituents, and corporate leaders are trying to please their shareholders, everyday working folks who were bamboozled into believing elected officials represented the people who voted for them are left to fend for themselves.
It seems like every minute of every day there’s more news about efforts and strategies to erase contributions, perspectives, experiences and needs of Black and other marginalized people from the American story. The federal workforce, which is over 18 percent Black, received emails demanding that they report to the foreign-born, multi-billion-dollar-government-contract-receiving person as if he is the supervisor of over two million federal government employees. He demands that workers return to their offices while he apparently doesn’t even have an office. And while there are promises that “waste” be cut, the person occupying the White House flew (on taxpayer dollars) to the Super Bowl, the Daytona 500, then enjoyed his “southern White House” in Florida while South Carolina burned.
The 47th president promised to be a disruptor. He was right. Through his monsoon of executive orders he cynically flooded the system and overwhelmed people’s capacity to process everything. He launched an emotional and financial war against millions of Americans. The media’s limited capacity to cover the never-ending onslaught was part of the strategy to keep everyone confused and on the defense. And most institutions are not able to respond as quickly as the regime is shaking things up.
While he rids the country of as much “DEI” as he can find, he is reinstituting barriers for people who have historically competed from an uneven playing field. This paves the way for more mediocre men who look like him to secure positions at the top. In addition, he is reinforcing the disappointing reality that Black people, especially women, need to be careful about who we trust to be genuine and committed allies versus those who are temporary, navel-gazing, self-congratulatory allies. The election results revealed that some non-melanated women and Brown immigrants who benefited from the struggles and movements led and supported by Black women were comfortable stepping on us while taking advantage of opportunities gained by our sacrifice.
Under this current assault, Black people will use whatever resources we have to further our self-preservation. We are compiling and referencing lists of Black-owned businesses so we can support organizations and companies that have a vested interest in us and our communities. We are becoming more deliberate about paying attention to and shopping at other businesses that are steadfast in their commitment to diversity and see us as an integral part of their business and not temporary window-dressing to discard at the first shifts in political wind. We are boycotting businesses that have shown a higher deference to their shareholders’ cowardice than they have to their commitment to people of color, women and other historically marginalized groups.
For the last 160 years, Black people have gone through waves of the federal government being for us, against us, for us, and back. Most of us have heard stories from every generation of our families and are tired of the games and half-hearted attempts to treat us as if we are flavor of the month, then not. This latest hostile wave will force those who voted for the qualified woman to not fall for the okey doke again whenever the political tide changes and we are once again courted to help improve the bottom line.
We. Are. Done. #WeDone. We don’t need outside permission to recognize and use our talents. We will create better infrastructures within our own communities that won’t rely on half-hearted, surface-level, support from non-authentic extractors of our genius. After this regime rampages through every crevice of our society to remove every remnant of our contributions and existence, they will still not achieve their goal of erasing or demoralizing us. We will always create. We will always innovate. We will always love, appreciate and celebrate ourselves. And they can stay mad.
