Slavery Created A Very Warped Thing (And Freedom Means You Can Decide To Keep On Kicking It Or Not)

Dear P.J. Media, 

 Only the most stupid, naive, or evil white person could write this about a black life:

"To make it look like one person endured so many nightmare moments is a stretch."

One reason I love black people is because I know we - individually and collectively - have "endured so many nightmare moments". That's no "stretch". It's not your world. I was just reminded today how you and your friends loathed Disco, remember? How do you think that made black Americans feel? Especially when we were right? We were trying to do something and you stood in our way. That's part of it. Let me tell you guys something:

In good ol' sunny California, I saw my first fresh dead body before I'd reached the third grade. My foster sister was raped by 9 guys. My best friend's father was shot dead, by his brother-in-law, before our eyes during a 3 year-old's Birthday party (The brother-in-law got six years, and then moved in with his widowed sister, upon release.) I'll stop there, but my question is simple:

Was I just lucky?

I don't know many other black people who can say, as a lot of whites can, their childhoods were O.K.. My white friends had horses and planes (I was bussed to North Hollywood) and they had good jobs, if they had to work. My black friends were unemployed, in a "city" with only one supermarket, and forced to kneel for an hour in upside-down shoebox tops containing a layer of rice. One of my foster fathers sustained multiple blows to the head, in a ball-peen hammer attack. His head ended up with deep craters in it, he couldn't be left alone, and he called me "Henry" for the rest of his days. He had to be cared for. He was the breadwinner. His house took in kids like me. I once counted 13 kids in there. I know what American poverty is in the modern era.

I'm no racist. I'm a conservative atheist and I've been in a state of shock and amazement, pretty much, from the age of two. I've always been aware. What's happened to me, personally, is mind boggling. What's happened, and is happening, to black people is almost incomprehensible. The lack of understanding and empathy can be galling. Mayhem has been unleashed on this people and the best this country can do is scream, "What about us?" I can't fathom it. 

I'm just one black person, but I can tell you unequivocally, "nightmare moments" are mostly what this country's blessed black people with. The Indians, too - don't get me started on the Indians. FUCK.

 WE ARE MORE-THAN-FAMILIAR. 

I won't venture to say most, but most know the depths of Hell, that can constitute everyday American life, I'm talking about. That's why Tawana Brawley thought she could get away with her bullshit, and few blacks questioned O.J., or Trayvon's shooting. With or without white folks, it's still life in America, for us. Consider Rodney King's experience. I can tell you names you're familiar with all day. How many millions don't you know? A lot. Right here, right now. As I write this. Don't forget, many whites in the North and the South didn't see a problem with black life when slavery was in full effect.

I don't think enough can really grasp what it's like now,...