In my opinion, one of the reasons for the senseless cycle of violence being perpetrated by my brothers could be traced back hundreds of years. In 1712, Willie Lynch, a slave owner from the West Indies, spoke to a large crowd of slave owners on the bank of the James River in the English Colony of Virginia. Lynch was invited there to teach his fellow slave owners how to control their slaves.
“I have a fool-proof method for controlling your black slaves,” Lynch told the crowd that wanted to stop their slaves from running away and being disobedient. “I guarantee everyone of you that if installed correctly, it will control the slave for at least 300 years. My method is simple, any member of your family or your overseers can use it.
His method was to instill “fear, distrust and envy for control purposes,” by pitting the slaves against one another. The old against the young; dark skin against light skin; male against female; the “house nigger” against the “field nigger”; etc. Lynch claimed that “after receiving this indoctrination” black slaves will carry on and will become self-feuding and self-generating for hundreds of years, maybe thousands. This cycle of fear and distrust has endured for over 150 years after the so-called Emancipation Proclamation in 1863.
Yes, it’s obvious and plain to see that some of my brothers simply don’t care about one another, and it will always be hard to consider your brother as your brother or a friend or non-threat when you have him permanently embedded in the “nigger” category.
I believe that to be a major cause of the violence because you can do anything to a “nigger” without having any sympathy or compassion for him or his family.
“I’m going to kill that nigger.”
“I’m going to rob that nigger.”
“I’m going to beat that nigger’s ass.”
“I’m going to enslave that nigger.”
“I’m going to put that nigger in jail for a 100 years.”
If you repeat the above, you’ll find that it rolls off the tongue naturally because you can do anything to a nigger. Any skinhead, racist or member of the Ku Klux Klan can verify that to be a fact.
“I’m going to kill that brother.”
“I’m going to rob that brother.”
“I’m going to beat that brother’s ass.”
“I’m going to enslave that brother.”
“I’m going to put that brother in jail for a 100 years.”
Simply by replacing nigger with brother, you’ll find, upon repeating it, it doesn’t sound or feel right because it’s unnatural. You cannot do harm to your brother, his family or community without feeling bad about it.
Blacks are no longer suffering and struggling to survive in the slave quarters. The slave quarter have been replaced with economic and financially depraved communities where some of my brothers are still suffering, struggling and living like crabs in a barrel – fighting over whatever little crumbs they could get their hands on.
The slave quarters are gone but the same hopelessness and despair that existed on the plantation still runs deep in some of my brother’s hearts – handed down from generation to generation. When an over-abundance of addictive drugs are added to this explosive mix, with the super availability to guns, assault weapons and other instruments of war, it’s the perfect recipe for the chaos and violence my brothers are unnaturally committing against each other.
What is a solution to stop or at least curtail violence?
I possessed an uncaring, sour soul throughout my teenage years. I really didn’t care about nothing or no one that wasn’t very close to me because I didn’t even love or care about myself. So I truly understand what some of my brothers are going through, and I immensely sympathize with them, but they have to wake up and realize (much like I did on Death Row) that their brothers are not their enemies and are not “niggers.”
They must break the Willie Lynch mental bondage that’s been handed down from generation to generation. Once the fear of each other is eliminated and trust is established, I’m positive my brothers will end the violence and join us in our fight for a proper share of the American pie for our community – better jobs, better housing, better schools, better health care, etc., like other communities possess and fight for.
When my brothers begin to love themselves first, and then their brothers, they will begin to share and spread that love by fighting for each other and not against one another. Once that is accomplished, I would love to see my brothers stampeding to the polls in mass numbers because real men vote.
Mr . Arthur Ashe once said: “Tell me who you love, and I’ll tell you who you are.” I’m praying that my brothers find the love.
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