Is Desegregation The Black Community’s Problem?

There’s been a sort of spiritual awakening within the Black community where many are seeking knowledge that will bring them closer to their roots. For some, the culture was not completely lost or gentrified but instead was passed down through generations. In the early 2000s, you would have been considered Neo-Soul if you were on your Erykah Badu, Goapele or India Arie wave. These days, it’s becoming increasingly popular and pretty much the norm to see both women and men embracing practices that stem from African Spirituality. Whether it’s wearing natural hairstyles, using healing crystals, meditation, trying to eat more natural foods, incorporating healthier lifestyle practices or being pro-black advocates regarding business and societal matters. It makes you wonder, if the collective is focusing on all Black everything then why are we still maintaining a position to include ourselves in a society that continues to prove it wasn’t meant for “us”?

It seems the Black community is often divided on what is truly best for us a whole. Looking back in time, the viewpoints of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, and Huey Newton accurately reflect the current climate and differing opinions we all share. On one hand, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to want to be treated fairly with just laws, equal rights and access to fair quality of life. On the other hand, at what point do we stop asking permission, protesting and proving our worth to only keep being disappointed in the mistreatment and injustices people of color experience daily? If the main goal was to be free, why do we remain committed to anything that doesn’t promote, support, advance and protect ourselves? 

The current political climate in the United States is proof that in spite of all of the advances humankind is capable of, hate intolerance and the sense of superiority some people feel are incurable. What would it look like to work together and build our own version of “Wakanda”? In what ways could we advance and exist in peace if we became self-sufficient as a community and financially secure enough to govern ourselves? Would we need to be totally separated from all other races and cultures? Probably not, but what if it were possible to create our own sense of paradise?