Seizing the Moment – While Black Lives Do Matter

By Mildred Robertson

My 30-something-year-old son has been active in the protests in San Diego, California triggered by the George Floyd murder. He has marched, he has been tear-gassed and clubbed by police, and he is frustrated. While his passion for immediate social change is still red-hot, he wants to know the end game. He wants to know what will happen when the marching stops.

His first response when he took to the streets is that it appeared that no one was in charge. It was a knee-jerk response from a group of young people overcome by the brutality they have witnessed over the course of their young lives. And they are outraged.

You see, while America’s duplicity is familiar to me…a near Septuagenarian, many youths, both black and white, have been sheltered from the race hatred that bubbles just beneath the surface of American society. America has never addressed the festering sore of slavery and its incumbent racial animus.

It is, perhaps, the fault of our generation who witnessed the transformative 60’s and experienced the benefit of a society where we could walk on the sidewalk and not have to step to the side to let a white person pass…or when we got to move outside the redlines…or when we were able to drink from whatever water fountain we chose. It all felt like progress. It WAS progress.

Our school systems white-washed the history of slavery and Jim Crow, and many of us, traumatized by the brutality of racism ignored it, striving instead to achieve the American promise of peace and prosperity. At least those of us who could. But far too many of our people were trapped in the dysfunctional strata of our society where they faced substandard schools, inferior housing, inadequate healthcare, food deserts, and over-policing.

While young people like my son were not unaware of racism…of course, I had “the talk” with him about policing…It had not touched many of them on a daily basis as it had those who were less fortunate. But this current administration has ripped the scab from our barely healing racial strife to expose the ugly hatred nurtured by white Americans who blamed their failures on our successes. Blacks who have not been able to dig themselves from the poverty into which they were grandfathered under the oppressive systems of slavery and Jim Crow were viewed as lazy, criminal, and not entitled to the American Dream. Those who became successful and moved up in society were viewed as interlopers who stole the Dream from deserving white citizens.

But polite society barely acknowledges this reality. You see, we work in integrated workplaces. Our friendships are many times interracial. We go out to clubs and share a drink after work, or have an occasional social dinner meeting.  We even sometimes worship together. Our lives have become intersectional.

But it is not where our lives meet that causes problems. It is when we walk out of the hospital and take off our lab coats, when we leave the bank and change from our Brooks Brother’s suits to our jogging pants and hoodies, when we come home from the fire station or the police station and put on our casual clothes. When we look like all the other black folk in the world…That is when the problems start--when we become the threat.

When we are walking to the corner store like Trayvon Martin, or lying in bed like Breona Taylor, playing in the park like Tamir Rice or driving our car like Sandra Bland; the threat is real. But it is we ourselves who are threatened.

Though touted as the land of fairness and equality; America, since its inception, has always had a strange taste for violence. From the slaughter of native Americans, to the brutalization of slaves, to the ruthless marauding of Black communities throughout reconstruction, to the viciousness of the attack on civil rights activists, to the inhumane policing in Black communities that have resulted in the death of thousands of folks like George Floyd. Blood lust has been a part of the White American nature.  Yet White folks clutch their pearls when a young protestor, angry over these 400 years of injustice, raises his or her fist and possibly throws a brick.  It is this disconsonance that has caused many White Americans, not only to see but acknowledge their duplicity.

And now, with eyes open, many White Americans are persuadable. Many can acknowledge the shame of slavery, the burden of servitude, discrimination and racism on the Black community and the disparities that are rooted in them.

Unfortunately for George Floyd, it was his televised execution that caused many White Americans to see. But his death has created a moment. A moment when Black Lives do actually matter. The moment will be fleeting, so we must seize it now to create the change we need in order for America to be great for the FIRST time.

America on Fire! Black Lives Matter

 By Mildred Robertson

It has happened again. Police officers have publicly executed an unarmed black man. On May 25, 2020, Officer Derek Chauvin nonchalantly pressed his knee into the neck of George Floyd as he pleaded for air…his life. Ultimately he pleaded for his deceased mother, knowing, I believe, that he would soon meet her. Chauvin and three other officers, without care or emotion, watched the life seep out of George Floyd over an alleged $20 crime, while a crowd of onlookers begged the officers to give him relief. First Minnesota, and then America exploded.

Cities all over the country…the world…have erupted in response to this latest case of brutality. Some have erupted into flame; a flame fueled by Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and Philandro Castille and Sandra Bland, and Mike Brown and… Unfortunately there is not enough space in this blog for me to name all those black men and women who have been murdered at the hands of those who were supposed to protect and serve them.

This last injustice, however, this public execution of George Floyd has touched a nerve that has not been exposed since the bombing of an Atlanta church which snuffed out the lives of four innocent little girls. Floyd’s death appears to be the final straw that has made the burden of racism and social injustice too much for many Americans to bear.  Numerous leaders across this nation have said that things must change for justice to be served.

The unbridled passion erupting all over this nation has resulted in weeks of sometimes violent protests, fueled by rogue peace officers pursing anything but peace.   Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey urged for, not the dissipation of passion, but a redirected anger focused on creating real concrete changes to systemic racism. “I’m not asking for patience…I am asking you to take that energy that has consumed our country…that either can destroy us or build us up, and use it not to destroy our neighborhoods,  but to destroy systemic racist…all of the things that make it difficult when a life like George Floyd’s is taken… to get justice.”

Unfortunately, however, the truth is that history does not provide us hope that the officers, though charged, will receive the justice they so richly deserve.  Nor do the atrocities endured by peaceful protesters bode well for a swift resolution to conflicts inherent when America reawakens to systemic injustice. 

This conflict is not about burned out main street, or looting. It is not about property. The rioting and looting is a distraction. The fact is Derek Chauvin and the police officers with him clearly killed Floyd. It is a fact that they were not immediately arrested and charged with murder. It is a fact that three of the officers walked free for weeks before even receiving charges. The recent deaths of Ahmaud Abery, Breonna Taylor and ultimately, George Floyd demonstrate that America’s claim to civility is hollow.

White Americans need to attest to the fact that the policing system in our country is broken. They must admit that police militarization in communities of color is real. They must acknowledge that race plays an out-sized role in lives of black folk and other minorities throughout this country. That would be civil.

All lives matter, but right now it is black lives that are under attack. Until the sacrifice of black bodies on the streets of America is finally deemed actionable…until police officers learn that their violent policing of black communities is criminal…until violators are held accountable, fiery convictions will rage on.

Without justice, there will be no peace.

Covid-19 Tests America’s True Nature

By Mildred Robertson

The Corona Virus is like an angry mother who has told humanity, “That’s it. I’ve had enough. Go to your room.” Or is it more like God has tired of our antics and decided that the planet needed a break from us. The earth needs to breathe. The streams need to run clear. The rest of earth’s creatures need to, at least momentarily, reclaim their habitat. This pandemic has resulted in a lesson for those who choose to receive instruction. It has revealed our inner nature and magnified both our humanity and our savagery.

For the past month, the entire world has slowed down. We’ve figured out how to worship and work remotely. Mothers and fathers are actually interacting with their kids. Family dinners are being cooked in the kitchen rather than being passed through a service window. We have had the time to work on unfinished projects, read our favorite books and binge watch our favorite T.V. shows. And yes, we have had the opportunity to lounge in our PJ’s and forgo makeup and haircuts.

We have seen the best of humanity as nurses, doctors and other health-care staff placed themselves in harm’s way to work tirelessly to provide care and comfort to the hundreds of thousands who have been stricken with Covid-19. We see athletes and celebrities step up to provide support for those who cannot meet this challenge alone. Food banks and churches across the country have tried to help fill the gap for families who cannot afford to buy food.  Essential workers at grocery stores, restaurants and supply stores brave the perils of this deadly disease to ensure we can keep our cupboards stocked and take care of other essentials necessary to sustain a comfortable living condition.

But then we must also acknowledge the savagery experienced by minorities who suffer harsher consequences when they break quarantine than do their white counterparts. Armed gunmen and hissing protesters terrorize our state houses to try to force an end to the very quarantine designed to save their lives. Minorities are overwhelmingly represented in the numbers of those catching and dying from Covid-19. While many blame this disparity on pre-existing conditions in the minority community, (a conversation that requires its own separate discussion), some health-care workers attest to the fact that minorities lives are not valued in the same way as majority culture patients, and may not be receiving quality, compassionate care.

And then there is the government. Congress came together to pass much needed legislation to supplement the income of those impacted by closures due to the pandemic. Many state and local officials have risen to the occasion, implementing policies and procedures designed to safeguard the public against this deadly disease. They have done so with very little help from the federal government. In fact, this administration’s bungling attempt to spearhead the fight against Covid-19 has resulted in confusion, inadequate supply chains, overpriced supplies, and state and federal agencies competing against one another for scarce resources needed to contain the outbreak. In most instances the Trump administration has worked counter to the successful management of this pandemic.

This marks the first time in our history when facing such devastating peril, that the Commander-in Chief has failed to appeal to the American public to come together to collectively face the threat. Instead Trump has lied about when his administration learned of the deadly pandemic, and the steps they were taking to contain it. He has contradicted the advice of scientist who have cautioned us on the need for social distancing and other practices necessary to fight the virus, and has advised the public to self-medicate or use untested therapies to treat Covid-19. He has publicly assailed journalists who have questioned his actions regarding combating the virus as well as nurses and others who have pointed out that the necessary resources for them to fight the disease are in short supply. He has failed to marshal business and industry to form a uniform strategy to develop testing and vaccines necessary to defeat this virus. The fact that America’s rate of infection and death toll is the highest in the world can be directly attributed to his lack of vision and leadership.

Historically, adversity has brought out the best in American citizens. But this pandemic has proven atypical because of the atypical person occupying the White House. While I have not been a supporter of all of the presidents who have served in my lifetime, from Eisenhower to the present, there are none whom I believe did not want the best for this country as a whole—none but the current president. His narcissistic, sociopathic personality will not allow him that kind of concern.  Because of him, many Americans cannot hear the voices of their better Angels. Because of him, his cult-like followers choose savagery over humanity.

Because of Trump this pandemic has been allowed to break us. Only time will tell if America can look inside herself and find that inner strength that has glued us together throughout our struggles. Only time will tell when we will overcome this pandemic, and whether humanity will reign victorious in the end.

Covid-19 and Religion: The Devil’s in the Details

By Mildred Robertson

Churches and Synagogues across the nation have closed their doors, trying to keep out Covid-19. Well, most of them have. But there are some religious zealots who declare that the Lord will deliver them from this rampant disease and refuse to shut the doors to the temple. That sounds valiant…devout…holy, right?

The problem is, God apparently does not view this supposedly pious act the same way the zealots do. Many of the churches that refused to adhere to social distancing are experiencing rising cases of Covid-19 among their memberships; and many of those attendees have died.

Although I do not profess to be a bible scholar, religious teachings I have received throughout my life tell me that God does not do for us what we can do for ourselves. It is a sensible act to practice social distancing during a highly contagious epidemic. Where faith and religion come into it is that when we have done all that we can to protect ourselves, God steps in to do the rest. He protects us as we go to the grocery store, or the pharmacy or to deliver food to a shut-in neighbor. Those are the kinds of instances where he inserts his grace and mercy in our lives.

While I find it unfortunate and sometimes disquieting to have been cut off from my religious fellowship for the last several weeks, I have also seen an amazing spread of the Word in places that it has seldom been. My Facebook feed, once filled with hateful memes about political rivals is now filled with folks singing their favorite hymns and quoting their favorite scriptures.

As a child, when I found myself faced with adversity in life, my mother would tell me that everything would be alright, because what the Devil meant to defeat me, God meant for my good. Instead of attending one Sunday worship service, now I can listen to my pastor, and the pastor of the church where I grew up as a child. I can listen to the sermon preached by my cousin in Ohio or my nephew in Mississippi. While this epidemic has raced across the face of the world wreaking havoc, it has caused an equally sweeping transmission of the Word of God across the country.

 I recently spoke to a friend whose wife decided to teach her Sunday school class online. What had been a class of 20 has since become a class of hundreds. That kind of spread has been replicated all over the internet. It is as though someone has thrown a brick in the middle of flaming embers, only to disperse them out to inflame a wider area.

That is not to say that this is an ideal situation. Neither does it imply that this manner of worship should become our new normal. But it is important to remember that it is not good to tempt God. We know that he is all powerful and that he can deliver us from Covid-19. But we should not be so vain as to expect him to manipulate the laws of nature to prove our piety. Our actions during this pandemic may be judged by man, but also, I believe, by God. The devil truly is in the details of how and why we make the decisions we make during this trying time.

Donald Trump's Trouble with Covid-19

By Mildred Robertson

Donald Trump has a successful formula he uses to defeat his adversaries. He taunts. He misinforms. He intimidates. He gaslights. He fear-mongers and he name calls.  These tactics have worked against his republican and democrat opponents, the media and various individuals and ethnic groups. But Trump has a problem. You see, Covid-19 doesn't care about any of these tactics. 

He can call Covid-19 the "Chinese" virus. Covid-19 doesn't care. It soldiers on, increasing it's daily body count. He can lie about its spread, but Covid-19 continues it march across the continental USA, taking the lives of those it pleases.  He can blame the lack of preparedness for this epidemic on previous administrations, but Covid-19's accelerating spread continues to highlight the Trump administration's lack of strategy and leadership in the fight to stop its onslaught. He can have doctors, nurses and government officials fired who point out that vulnerable populations are being left without support in the fight against the disease, but Covid-19 continues to swallow up those vulnerable communities. 

As of this publication more than 300,000 have been infected and close to 8,000 have died. You see, Covid-19 just doesn't care. But more importantly, this disease has made it evident to Americans from coast to coast that neither does Donald Trump.

While experts warned him months ago of the deadly threat this disease held for our nation, he did nothing. When the disease finally made its way to our shores he promised that it would quickly go from 15 infected to zero in a matter of weeks. When the disease began to spread, he did nothing and called it a hoax created by democrats. He held daily press briefings to replace the now-impossible political rallies and gave the American people misinformation. Finally, when the daily death count soared, he declared himself a "War President" and his administration began to make meager attempts to combat the fast-paced disease. It has been too little too late. 

Even though he has capitulated to the experts, agreeing that Covid-19 represents a national threat, he has still failed to marshal national resources to combat the epidemic. He says, instead, that it is the responsibility of state government to safeguard its citizens. 

This epidemic has made it startlingly clear that there is a vacuum in leadership in the White House.  Covid-19 illustrates the folly of republicans who elected a buffoon as president in order to prop up big business, capture the Supreme Court and pack conservative judges in federal courts across the country. They could accept his ineptitude as long as they got what they wanted. But then Covid-19 came along. The problem with Covid-19 is, it doesn't care about politics. It doesn't care about Donald Trump's aspirations, and it doesn't care about the hundreds of thousands of lives it will snuff out. 

Donald Trump's trouble with Covid-19 is that it makes it clear that America needs a president who cares. Covid-19 shows us that Donald Trump is not the one. 

What White People Don’t Know About the Black Vote

By Mildred Robertson

This blog was first published in March 2020 before the November election.  As we approach the November 2024 election, I think it might be wise to revisit this topic. Though the name of the adversary may have changed, the facts have not.

We have folk such as " Charlamagne Tha God" (What a pompous, blasphemous handle) attacking Biden with little regard for what damage the alternative would do to our community. But I am confident that the ancestors will rise up again in us, and blacks across the nation will do what is necessary to survive, and perhaps thrive. Defeating Biden is defeating ourselves...and we are not likely to do that unless those who purport to be leaders tell us to slash the master's throat and die rather than sing songs that point us to freedom. 

So. It seems the “Bernie Bros” think that Black voters have somehow been “mamified;” voting for the safe candidate rather than their revolutionary leader. They say we voted against our own self-interest when we overwhelmingly supported Biden over Sanders. 

The audacity it takes for any White American to assume he or she understands the motivation of Black folks when it comes to the idea of revolution is laughable and demonstrates why, perhaps, there is a disconnect between Black voters and the Sanders campaign.

You may not understand our struggles or our journey. But it is necessary that in 2020 those who want or need our support respect our perspective. It appears to me that Bernie and his supporters are unable to see our view.

Since the first enslaved African set foot on the shores of this stolen continent, we have had to weigh what it would take for us to survive. Our choices seldom included a totally positive outcome. We learned that revolution does not always have to be loud. Sometimes it is subtle.  So we learned how to be subtly defiant, and thus survive.

We learned how to work in the big house, smile at the master and tuck morsels of food away for our loved ones. We learned how to hoe in the fields all day and still find time to toil a small plot of land to provide a few extra bits to our starvation diet. We learned how to take the guts of a hog and the feet of chicken and turn it into a delicacy. We learned how to endure rape, and then bear the children of our oppressors; loving our children still. We learned how to say “yas suh massa” while, unbeknownst to our tormentors, we sang songs that told a slave when it was safe to “get on board” the freedom train, or “wade in the water” to elude slave hunters and their dogs.

We learned how to walk among hordes of snapping dogs, water hoses and hate-filled southerners to get an education. We learned to stand our ground when marauding psychopaths filled the night with burning crosses, and the trees with corpses of brown bodies.

We learned to sit at the back of the room, and still get an education. And yes, we learned to balance what we MUST have with what we want or need.

What we must do right now is remove Donald Trump from the White House.

I’ve never been a Bernie fan. But that is neither here nor there. If I thought for one minute that Bernie had a better chance of beating Trump than Joe Biden, I would vote for him in a heartbeat. And if chance would have it that he becomes the Democratic candidate, I will rush to the voting booth to cast my vote for him. And the majority of my brothers and sisters will do the same.

But I believe that what has happened here, as has been practiced by African Americans for 401 years, is that collectively we searched for the path toward survival. That path led us to select Joe Biden as the candidate who could best help us reach that goal.

You see, Donald Trump’s presidency holds a threat for all Americans, but for us the threat is magnified. Whether it is jobs, healthcare, climate change, social or environmental justice, the threat to our community is always greater than that of the average white American.

If you examine the range of 2020 Democratic candidates, the field was deep and wide. The credentials of many were impressive. But do not doubt that each of the candidates had baggage. None were perfect. And none will ever be. That includes Bernie. While vocalizing many policies that would help the Black community, I have yet to see his success in getting similar policies enacted.

Joe Biden is a known commodity in the Black community. He has a track record that, while not unblemished, indicates that we will survive and perhaps thrive under his leadership. After weighing the various threats to our collective survival, Black voters decided it was time to sing “get on board,” and they boarded with Joe. While White liberals may disagree with this choice, it is necessary that they respect it if we are to have a working relationship.

Winnowing the Field: Democrats Struggle for Focus

By Mildred Robertson

As this nation faces one of the most defining moments of its relatively young existence, Democrats are faced with a choice that may determine America’s future path. Enamored with our legacy of democracy, freedom and equality; America stands on the verge of losing all three. Just this past week we watched as our Senate bowed down to the whims of an aspiring tyrant when they chose to acquit him of impeachment charges brought by the House. When Trump stated that he could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody dead without consequence, many viewed that statement as ludicrous. But he and his republican cohorts have in fact stood in the hallowed halls of our nation’s capital and slaughtered our constitution.

Up to now, many Americans have taken our freedom for granted, and think that it will always stand. It is our prayer that it will; but it will take more than prayer to maintain the hard-fought freedoms won by our fore-fathers. Because of the nature of our democracy, it is imperative that we, the people, agree and stand on one accord as to the rule of law. We are finding that all it takes for our system to break down is to put someone in power who refuses to play by those rules. If we are to save our union, we must take back the White House and both chambers of Congress.

It is clear that the democrats must fight this battle alone, because our republican counterparts seem to be deaf, dumb and blind to the danger we face as a nation. If they were to look more closely, they would see that it is not about party; but about country. Trump is destroying the entire foundation of this unique experiment called democracy. But it appears that the majority of republicans cannot see.

Because of their lack of vision, it is even more imperative that democrats select their presidential candidate with clear eyes. We must lay aside all of our usual bickering and focus on what is best for the body.

I was devastated when Kamala Harris and Corey Booker dropped out of the race. I wish we still had the diversity of choices we had when this race began. I am not excited about billionaires buying their way into the primary. I am not sure that a gay man or a woman can overcome this nation’s prejudice to be judged on the merits of his or her platform rather than some other social or religious criteria. I am struggling to make my personal choice for who democrats should nominate as our standard bearer. But this I see clearly…those of us who want to bring back sanity to our government must embrace the will of the majority and fight for whomever is nominated as though he or she was our first choice.

In worship service on Sunday, the speaker spoke these decisive words that might prove to be insightful to us as we search for an answer:  “Pray as if everything depends on God, and work like everything depends on you.”   I believe that is what we must do right now as we search for strategies to reclaim our democracy. We must look to our fellow Americans to make the choices that will turn this nation around; but we must work as though the victory is not possible unless it is achieved by our own personal hand.

And, in fact, victory is not possible without our individual commitment to fight. We must face every obstacle…from an overly robust field of candidates, to gerrymandered voting districts, to voter purges, to voter apathy; all must be conquered if our union is to survive. The first step to that survival is for each individual person of conscience to focus on a collective victory and not a personal one. Each of us must make a decision based upon the greater good. It is the only way we will survive.