by Judy M McCutcheon
“You all are sons of slaves.” Those were the words said to me by my African friend.
He said that to me at a time in my life when I would have burned your house down and walk away in my stilettos smoking a cigarette. So, I don’t have to explain the type of argument that ensued. You see, I was offended that he thought he was better than me. This is the type of “dis-ease” that has plagued the black community for centuries. We believe that we are better than the next Black person based on several imagined reasons, but the biggest culprit is – “shades of black.” As an impressionable young girl, I would often hear about the plight of the Black American, and my thoughts were always, “why don’t they get over it already, slavery was so long ago.” I would also engage in discussions, where I would proudly announce that I was not a slave, nor were my parents or grandparents, so why do I need to take on that fight. Writing this and thinking about my blissful ignorance at the time is making me tired. Sadly, many black people feel the same way today. Growing up in Trinidad and Tobago, the most I knew about racism was what existed between Blacks and Indians.
Here I am half a century later, and the race conversation is more intense than ever. Whole cities are burning, and protests are being held all over the world in support of Black lives. When I see some of the comments from black people, I cringe because I know now that we have lost our place. When I hear Black people saying yes, we get your point now go back to work; I know that we have not only lost our place, but we do not have a full understanding of the issues. And that’s because we do not have a thorough understanding of who we are. I believe that the only way we could get a comprehensive understanding of the current problems is to learn our history. This article is by no means a history lesson, but it is meant to help you take a more in-depth look into your history so that you can get intimate with who you are and why these issues are still poignant.
So here are my thoughts on why I think that the Black Lives Matter movement is relevant now and will always be relevant. Black People, whether African American, Afro-Caribbean, or Black anywhere in the world, are the only ones who have been taken forcibly from their homeland. We have been stripped of our names, our religions, and our culture. We are the only ones whose history has been erased as if we never existed before slavery. We are the only ones who have been forced to take on a new identity, new culture, new religion. Which African you know with the surname Jack? Yet that is my surname. There has been a systemic consciousness to divide us so that they can conquer us. And we have bought into it lock, stock, and barrel. If we took an honest look at our collective selves, you would see what I’m talking about.
Have you heard about the Blue Vein Society or the Brown Paper Bag test? These ridiculous ideas were perpetuated by lighter-skinned Black people to keep the darker-skinned black people out of schools, universities, and social clubs. The issue of lighter and darker skin exists right within our families. What about our shopping habits? How many of us consciously support black businesses or Black women-owned businesses? Black women experience a special kind of “hell” within our communities. There seems to be a kind of antipathy towards us working together and supporting each other. I can tell you I’ve gotten lots of love and support from other Black women, but I got a “beating” from them as well. Even in death, we get the shitty end of the stick.
I understand that the murder of George Floyd was the straw that broke the camel’s back. But what about all the other female straws that were piled onto the camel’s back? What about Breonna Taylor and all the other Black women who died due to police brutality? My chant is for us to get our collective acts together. I am asking all of us collectively to clean our proverbial houses. Look within and see where there are prejudices and biases towards each other and remove it. Let us ensure that this #BlackLivesMatter movement is the movement that brings us together and dismantles systemic racism.
Therefore, if we are going to hold the White community to a standard, which we should, then we as Black people need to hold ourselves to that same standard. Don’t tell me that I could call you “Nigga” or “Nigger” and it’s okay coming from me. Respect is respect, and if it is an offensive word, then I refuse to accept it from anyone Black or White. We need to take the log out of our eyes before we seek to chastise others for the same things we are doing. For too long we have been wilfully and consciously treated us as non-humans, please let us not perpetuate that within our community. I was doing some research and found a game that was popular at fairgrounds as early as 1880, and as recently as the 1950s called “hit the nigger baby.” This is one of the most unsettling and offensive parts of America’s history. This is the vilest act to date that I’ve seen from White people. So, I’m sorry, we won’t go away. The protests won’t stop until you stop. This article is a plea to my Black Community. I am asking that we do some introspection so that the necessary healing can take place. We must move past all the indoctrinations of separatism that have plagued us for centuries. #AllShadesofBlackLivesMatter.
©All Rights Reserved.
Judy McCutcheon is a partner in the firm Go Blue Inc, a Human Development Company. www.goblueinc.net
As a black Caribbean woman, I’m taking away introspection from this story. A case of “he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” We must first know our history to understand how important it is NOT to perpetuate the ills that our ancestors were forced to endure; Hit the nigger baby? What part of calling my black brother or sister nigger should be ok yet offensive when a non-black person espouses the same? Not withstanding the dire need to end systemic racism and overhaul a badly broken judicial system; of course we are far behind on fundamental reform but we have plenty work today in demanding we show up ready for our inhouse collective overhaul in our thinking and our actions in preparedness for a battle against those powers that ascribe to hate and are very comfortable seeing us oppressed and proverbially enslaved. An exceptional food for thought piece Judy. We have plenty work to do!! Well written…
You are most likely offended because you are one of the people she refers to in this column, Sorry not Sorry. Be sure to do your research so you don’t look like an ignoramus next time. AND fyi, your comment not only makes you out to be a racist, but a homophobic halfwit. SMH sitting behind a screen and typing nonsense is so easy these days, but next time try saying it to the people you listed faces and see what happens then.
“Therefore, if we are going to hold the White community to a standard, which we should, then we as Black people need to hold ourselves to that same standard.” I think the writer means well but this statement is highly offensive. I am too harsh; it is common among sisters and brothers who have not felt the sting of inequality or been teargassed, harassed, roughed up or stopped and frisked or even felt the urge to join a protest to opine about issues of race as though its a conversation to be had over wine and cheese. The quoted statement which is at the start of this comment presumes that what prevails now is a “White Community” against “The Black Community”. This is an unfortunate misunderstanding of the Moment. That is decidedly not the Moment we are in. The Black Lives Movement does not arrive moribund or stillborn. It is the most recent demonstration of the human rights struggle by Black People in America since they were stolen from their homes and sold into chattel slavery. It is a modern day freedom movement. The movement that has galvanised the world so that here in little Grenada we staged a peaceful protest at the gates of the US Embassy is not because we oppose the White Community. We are in the throes probably for the first time since the mid-16th Century with a hugely sensitized global awareness that White Supremacy and its attendant ideologies which had stripped black people of their basis human rights have no place among people of goodwill. This explains why New Zealand and Australia have huge protest movement. Just as in 1970 in those two countries far removed from the United States but where people of color are 10x likely to be arrested for suspicion of crime. The conduct of the policeman in Minneapolis symbolized more than police brutality. We have been fighting that war in Brooklyn, Los Angles, Oakland, New Jersey for decades. I’ve had my share of arrests with sisters and brothers of all radical backgrounds when we sat on bridges, blocked traffic or just massed in front of police stations because we just could not stomach yet another police killing of a black man, woman, boy or girl – anymore. In the Moment Now we see (thank God for cell phone video) how police officers protect each other with the expectation that they will ALWAYS be protected. This has proven now to be a false expectation because the Floyd murder – the casual brutal callousness of it being exposed to the world was too much – for everyone. Especially for many many White Americans who have ALWAYS been our partners in the ongoing freedom struggle. Vocal White Americans have been in the minority until now. So no, Blacks are not struggling against whites in this Moment. We must be clear about this and I am taking this time to educate those of us who live in the Caribbean to grasp the significance of this Moment. Most of us who live in this part of the world and just visit the United States or have never lived there except vicariously through television news, tv dramas and movies CANNOT understand that country and its deeply ingrained racial animus to Black people. We who live here do not know that Black veterans of WW2 were denied the same benefits that White veterans received; we do not understand that the Black household with college educated members earn LESS than White households whose members only graduated High School; we do not understand that neighborhoods where the taxes are highest have the best schools which means that the homes where Blacks predominate and pay the lowest taxes CANNOT have good schools. So we sit back here and say naively that Blacks are not doing enough. This is a Moment we should take here in the region to educate ourselves about the deep historical alliances between Caribbean people and African Americans and that the largest organization against racism the world has ever seen was Garvey’s UNIA – made up mainly of Grenadian, Jamaican, Barbadian and Trinidadian residents of Harlem in the early 1920s. The Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s paled by comparison but Caribbean people were right there in the leadership. the Moment now is multi-ethnic multi-racial multi-identity and cross-border. Corporate bodies are looking inward and we can be cynical and say they are looking at their bottom line or could it be that it is morally untenable to support White Supremacy and the world is ‘woke to that reality? Any why not? The current pandemic shows that Earth is a very small place where a sneeze in China can indeed cause pneumonia in Grenada. So too is the clear image of countless images of vicious murder by state actors that continues to be unpunished. So this is not about the trite use of bad language (indeed calling a black man a Negro is extremely more offensive as we do with regularity in the Caribbean than a Black Man calling another Black Man “My Nigger” as a term of affection) and the cultural scholars may well educate us to the fact that cultural norms are offensive only to those outside a specific culture (In Japan it is a heresy to show another individual the bottom of your shoe as Westerners who cross their legs discover). This is a Moment where the world is on a path to Reset from racial injustices (not without a huge struggle) and social and economic practices as a result of the Covid-19. Equally deep reflection and sanguine thought is required as people of all races and background contemplate the future coming toward us.
Jerry , I am grateful for for comments but I think you’ve missed the jest of the article. This article is about the black community banding together to make this work. It’s about us looking Inward so that we Could see clearly.
Interesting Reading. I’m Hoping that this article will be distributed and shared far and wide as possible. I will also suggest that we address this matter and share with our broadcasters and politicians seemingly that they adjust their thoughts and are committed to the ongoing struggle of our prestigious Black people.
Thanks for this brilliant /commentary.
Best regards
Francis Joseph
Well said Judy. Just last week I heard a black woman educated, in a prominent position in government boasting about her grandson’ blue eyes as though it was a trophy. On introduction her grandson to me she did not talk about his intelligence, his level of maturity his agility so far, she was proud of his blue eyes and white skin. I think I died a bit inside.
Black Lives Matter Movement is a joke, run by Lesbians, Homos and Whites pretending to be Black.
I thought you said knowing your history is the key to understanding. Yet you insist Black people are the only people who were slaves. Okaaaaaay!
What planet are you on? Who is it you think runs the Black Lives Matter movement? Do you even know who co-founded this movement? And, where are you reading that Judy said black people are the only people who were slaves? I’m not finding that anywhere. So, please stop your lying, deception and propaganda. And, go get educated on the facts.
She did not say black people were the only people who were slaves, read it again.
What an excellent piece. I acknowledged every work and thoroughly enjoyed reading this article. In short we need to look inward. Thank Judy.