January 2022: “Procrastination, Suffering, and Rededication"
In the first month of 2022, I have to admit that my monthly blog production is falling victim to procrastination. Four centuries of systemic oppression provides nearly unlimited opportunities to explore and share insights about racism from colonial life to modern America. So why am I struggling?
Could it be that I have nothing new to say? After all, the seventy blogs I’ve written adds up to over 50,000 words. But the mountain of books written about slavery and racism in the U. S. – millions and millions of words - is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s so much more to uncover about the “peculiar institution” of slavery, its legacy, and the specter of racism that haunts our nation today. Besides, James Baldwin was right when he said, "Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced."
To continue facing the work before me, I’ve needed to reframe procrastination. As a wise person recently told me, procrastination is not always laziness. Procrastination is avoiding or delaying an uncomfortable experience. I must admit that writing these columns is often unpleasant. How could they not be?
The raw statistics alone turn my stomach, especially regarding the slave trade. Professors David Eltis and David Richardson estimate that between 1525 and 1866, 12.5 million Africans were forced onto ships heading to the western hemisphere, with nearly two millions dying during the dreaded “middle passage.” First person accounts, such as those from Olaudah Equiano or those gathered up and presented by Zora Neale Hurston in her book, Baracoon, drive the pain deeper.
The nearly 400,000 who landed directly on the North American mainland, and the thousands more who were worked to death in the Caribbean, suffered beyond what the imagination can convey. There was little legal recourse to blunt the physical torture, emotional abuse, and cultural dehumanization of slavery. While Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation was something to celebrate, Black Americans were still oppressed by wage-slavery, forced onto chain gangs, and terrorized by vigilantes.
After a brief period of political power during Reconstruction, Black Americans were consistently denied political power. Add to that, intergenerational economic robbery leaving Black families today with about one-tenth the wealth as white families. As the Washington Post reported, eight generations after emancipation, “the racial wealth gap is both yawning and growing….” Black aspirants to the American dream continue to face lending and real estate discrimination, and "preditory inclusions" in higher education where large educational debt make economic advancement more difficult, something many young people of all races are experiencing.
But perhaps it’s easier to process the statistics than to hear the voices of Black Americans scarred by racism. Amplifying these voices is what I try to do with my 400 Years project. I assume that reading this blog weighs you down. Maybe you choose not to read it at times, or to procrastinate reading it, because it is painful.
It can be really difficult when Black people that you respect and know personally share the crushing weight they feel. The deep, visceral, embodied oppression many experience every day through news reports and personal experience can feel overwhelming, even to white folks who observe it all from a distance.
Last year I asked four friends to support my work on this project. Yet in 2021 I’ve failed to fully engage them. Maybe I hesitate to be one more reason they, as Black Americans, have to wrestle with racism. But I know that my project is but a drop in the ocean of negativity that they must navigate.
So, I conclude that my procrastination can’t be repackaged as a sign of my concern for their well-being. They consented to be a part of this project, and it’s up to me to make it one they can manage and be proud of. So, to them, and to you, in the face of growing resistance to anti-racism activism, I promise to forge ahead with renewed commitment.
FURTHER ACTION:
1) Continue your education. Listen to Dr. Yohuru Williams explain how Martin Luther King Jr. Day offers us a time to overcome the growing pains, work through difficult discussions, and recommit to eradicate racism and ameliorate poverty everyday throughout the year. Or try an article in Forbes on allyship that touches on the importance of overlapping forms of oppression: "6 Ways To Be An Authentic Ally At Work."
2) During this upcoming Black History Month, commit to support financially one organization of your choice that works to eradicate racism and that you haven’t supported before. One good website to help you decide on that organization is Charity Navigator. You can search for ways to advance diversity, equity, inclusion and justice in many categories: black health, education, rights, and community development.
3) Explore groups focusing on systemic racism in civil and economic spheres, such as Race Forward and the Government Alliance on Race and Equity.
4) Find joy in your anti-racism work. Explore how the Institute for Health Care Improvement reframes addressing equity as a way to be more fulfilled.