The violence that plagues our community right now is a result of the whole ‘love thy enemy’ philosophy. They only way to love thy enemy is to ‘hate thy self.’ We are absorbing the violence and hostility that others have generated within our children. We have deified a man who told us to allow others to spit on us, beat our women, bomb our churches, and murder our children in cold blood.
We were told that we gained all that we have by showing unconditional love in the face of unyielding hate and violence. This is not true, we did not gain civil rights and social equality through passive resistance and love, but it is a powerful myth that we must exposed (we didn’t gain it at all, but that is another discussion). All oppressed populations that fail to end their oppression or focus their rage against the true source of their oppression end up cannibalizing themselves. Those who seek to end Black on Black violence without greater social transformation will fail, or worse, doom us to being passive in the face of crippling poverty and oppression. Those who are denied adequate resources, who are abused, and uneducated will lash out; we must train and guide that righteous anger or it will consume us.
Allow me to state (before the cult of non-violence starts attacking me) that; I have no problem with anti-violence and non-violence, I’m both; what I am not is anti-self defense and anti-justice. I will defend my self/family/community at all cost and I will seek justice when I am wronged.
