Because it never ends.
Here I was thinking that the sound of the fury that was the last four years had dissipated into the night. They who had cast curses had fled leaving only a few traces and scars that begrudgingly healed with time. A storm survived had passed. And yet, in another new beginning, the same old experiences.
When will it ever change? When will brown skin stop the sting of white words?
I thought about Fanon. Then Che. Then Galeano. Then Ida B Wells. Then Deloria Jr. Because the mind has little regard for historical chronology. Just words, sentiments relevant to feelings that explain the fears of power.
Apparently power is afraid.
Power continues in its condescendingly arrogant dismal of educational qualifications. The days, nights, weeks, months, years spent hungrily absorbing historiographies, crafting unique narratives from learned metanarratives, creating resources that are unparalleled world wide, all cast aside. Expertise is dismissed as “personal preference.” Why? Because brown. No, actually why? Because still brown.
Without reading Mumford, power blindly pushes technology in confidence of a brighter future. To ask to pause, to consider the dangerously perilous road ahead invites accusations of being a Luddite. How could one doubt the technological gods who have brought us self-driving cars (that are now wreaking havoc on the roads)? There is no room for discussion when it comes to our latest Sun God. Nonbelievers be damned.
Power is already “uncomfortable”. Well actually power is made uncomfortable by the possibility of facing uncomfortable truths. That their way might not be the best way. That their way has been no significant threat to the status quo. That their way brought only sleep for a few while the many had no choice but to stay awake. That their way was surpassed by brown skin mimicking their mannerisms while undermining their lies. It’s only still a possibility.
Because power has not read. Power has not engaged. Power has not taken the time to fully understand. Because if power had, it would not simply be about being uncomfortable.
After the meeting, the fury that would have been a usual response did not come. Power appeared pleased at the promise to be more considerate of his feelings. Even a modicum of gratitude could be mustered from beneath a tempered frown. Because one knows what power does not.
Fanon as a moment of ‘to be continued’: “I realized two things at once: I had identified the enemy and created a scandal. Overjoyed. We could now have some fun.”