Many Americans have what most would call privilege: the ability to own, the ability to say, the ability to do. It’s something that we often take advantage of to obtain more for ourselves versus using it to help those who have no avenue to it. This allows individuals to ignore and bypass certain hardships that have no direct affect on them. So through media, social and otherwise, this idea of privilege has spread a thorough misunderstanding about what it means to be an American; a citizen of this country… We claim to understand that fair is not equal, yet we’re all under the same roof trying (or not trying, for that matter) to coexist. This is impossible because we refuse to grasp this concept:
We were born with rights and they are given to us through laws. They are legally binding.
Then there is privilege. Not synonymous with “rights”, it has no legal junction and therefore should be dismissible by law. Despite this actuality, it has taken precedence.
When there is no privilege attached to ones name or life, there is an immediate separation between those who deserve and those that serve.
This has led to the power struggle and the outright allowance of celebrated mistreatment of people that we see today.
So what am I getting at? The same topic that society has been arguing over for centuries: race. Yes, there are plenty of other topics and situations in which privilege is a factor in misrepresentation, misappropriation, and miseducation, but the idea of race has singled-handedly set the tone of operation for many systems that have been built. Many people with skin like mine (black) lack this idealistic, American privilege. Or, we have to jump through hoops and battle it out with mediocre, fault-finding, trust-fund brats to cite that the very FACT that this country was built on the backs of our ancestors should be the sole reason for our being deserving of it. Yet here we are fighting to obtain what legally belongs to us (rights) before we can even relay the message of “Remember when you overpowered and enslaved us, killed our men, impregnated our women, freed us to fight in YOUR war, killed us when we fought back, appropriated our culture for your financial benefit, then killed us just for existing?” in order to have access to something greater.
This has many entitled Americans – that also happen to not be black – thinking that they can control the way we demand our rights, answers to our questions, and change. According to them, we can’t show too much aggression in the fight because that’s intimidating and the American people don’t like that type of thuggery. Yet we know that we can’t be too quiet because people will forget that the revolution has to commence on our terms in order to bring about a true change; not an “Ok, we gave you a black president so sit down and ignore the fact that we are killing your black men, women, and children at an alarming rate because we can” change. The terrible thing is these “elite” individuals write the laws, convict (ha) and free the criminals, wear blue uniforms, carry guns, narrate the media, build businesses, control the money, and have a following that promotes their doctrine in groupthink unison. This keeps them fixated on their one-sided ideologies alongside their closed ears, flagrant language, gold badges, wooden gavels, business suits, and large bank accounts.
Knowing this, we must fight their privilege with ours. The revolution that is taking place will begin to flourish when we, the people, use our privilege and influence, no matter how big or small, to shed light on our tough realities. When we stop turning a blind eye to what is happening and speak out against it, when we stop searching for a leader to first pave the way, when we realize that the time is NOW, we will see how much power we have to ignite the flame to true freedom.
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