Virginia Apologizes for Slavery

WHOOHOOO!!! Pass the peas, Virginia decided to officially apologize for her role in slavery, after one of it's delegates publically stated that African-Americans should get over slavery. I think it would have had a more sincere meaning if A). it wouldn't have come after the politically incorrect and insensitive remarks made by 80 year old Delegate Frank Hargrove and B). there was a financial disposition attached to it. Oh yeah, and they threw in a shot out to the Native Americans too (since they were in such an apologetic mood, I guess they decided to kill two birds).

Frankly, no pun intended, I couldn't give a rats ass about an apology. I lump it in the category with all those treaties with Native Americans that you didn't mean either. More importantly, to me at least, is that you recognize the unfair economic advantage that white Americans experienced during those times and fairly compensate the African-American nation that resides within the borders of the USA. Am I talking reparations? No, I'm talking Just Compensation. Share the wealth. The price that the continent of Africa suffered, and her people who were brought here and severed from all that they knew; beaten, brutalized, and murdered unmercifully, deserves more than a mia culpa apology from one tiny state in the union.

Do I think Just Compensation will ever happen? No. Power and money usually isn't ceded without a firm and steady twisting of the arm of sorts. And America knows that African-Americans aren't in the mental position to do any long-termed mental arm twisting. We may shout, jump up and down, and march around carrying signs and singing "We shall overcome," but we aren't going to voluntarily do anything that takes us out of our comfort zone. She knows that if the Bloods and the Crips ever stopped killing each long enough to see that historically, the federal government has always had it out for them, she might have a larger problem on her hands than she thought possible. Those guys are seasoned killers, and they almost pulled it off after the Rodney King beating, but weak minds are easily distracted and it wasn't long before they were back murdering one another in the streets of Los Angeles.

It was once believed that America's greatest fear was the Black man. Even I thought that to be the case. I was always reminded of that when I walked down the street and witnessed white women clutching their purses tighter or lock their car doors when I walked by. But then I realized that America doesn't fear the Black man. She doesn't fear the physically imposing and strong Black males you see during professional football games either. It wasn't until I began going back to the gym on a regular basis and commiting myself to physical strength conditioning that I began realizing what she really feared: A Black man whose mind and body are equally strong. Not only does he possess the physical ability to destroy you, he has the mental capacity to out manuever you as well. That is why the image of the Black male lacking scholastical aptitude is extremely important to perpetuate, and early on in his developmental stages. I can remember having the ability to read and write at a very young age-well before I attended school. But by the 4th grade, I was somehow put in a remedial reading class. By the time I reached high school, I was failing classes and barely attending classes at all. Eventually, I dropped out, took my G.E.D. and joined the USAF. I remember scoring extremely high on the G.E.D. and the lady administering the test asking me why I wasn't finishing school. It was obvious I had the knowledge. I filed that conversation away in the back of my mind because it was to become extremely useful as I dealt with the stigma of failing high school. I would always remember the words of that woman. Those words I carried with me when, for the first time in my life, I walked across a stage an accepted a diploma-my Bachelor of Science degree in Business Management.

As long as Black women continue to, unknowingly, continue the cycle of Willie Lynch and retard the mental abilities of Black men, America knows she has nothing to fear. She will never have to worry about a collective race of people standing together and demanding more than just a token apology; demanding an equal place at the table of the civilized. As long as we've got MTV, BET, and a populace whose measured collective average intelligence rises no higher than G.E.D., she won't be cutting checks anytime soon.

RCP