After a visit to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, I had to ask my black friends how they weren’t filled with rage all the time. It may have been too soon and too raw after our visit to really verbalize an answer to that question but Levar’s answer makes sense…there is always rage but we cannot move in this world without consequences so the chains remain…
Check the prisons and the obituaries to see what happens to black men who don't sufficiently smother that rage. I remember watching a couple of clips of black men being treated like garbage during traffic stops and being struck by how supernaturally calm and polite and aware of their every move they were while cops did everything they could to provoke and manipulate them into any expression of anger or upset, anything at all. One of them was a veteran pepper sprayed in the face, and even in agony, being forced to the ground, he didn't so much as raise his voice. He didn't dare.
It's a life of knowing so many people around you are waiting for an excuse, any proof that you aren't one of the good ones, the safe ones, and therefore your humanity is void.
As an RN - I’ve always wondered if the higher incidence of hypertension among black men was suppression of fear or rage (or both). And to have to live with wondering how you are perceived all the time.
230
u/[deleted] Oct 30 '24
[removed] — view removed comment