People always like to jump the gun. To quickly move from the stage of discomfort, rigorous self-examination, and plain hard work to a point where they can make themselves feel more comfortable. They do this especially when subjects or ideas come up that challenge beliefs or behaviors that they have always held close, or always adhered to. They also do this to avoid having their own hypocrisy exposed.

“Race… so now what?” How did you even reach there? It appears to me that you and so many others have not even addressed the intricacies of racism or understood the idea of race fully, yet you want to jump to the ‘now what’ stage? There are several truths that people need to face and the truths are not pretty and sugarcoated. There are no messages of peace and love and forgiveness and reconciliation there. However the majority of people (although they claim otherwise) has no interest in the truth and refuses to ruthlessly examine how they contribute daily to the system of racist oppression. They have no intention of delving head first into the history of the movement they claim to love and follow and they certainly have no intention of seeing its flaws, its inaccuracies or its perversions. The fact is, and I have seen this too many times on this board to count, that many so called Rastas on this board want nothing to do with Africa, they want nothing to do with its cultural and racial core and they certainly want nothing to do with the real roots of this movement that would certainly find their own ideas sorely lacking.

The hardest thing for people to do is look at themselves. They will try all kinds of acrobatics to avoid it. They will run and bring ‘ facts and figures’, they will post five and six articles, and they will prattle and make noise and pick fights etc just to avoid the stillness in their own minds that is deafening to them. This stillness is deafening because it is truth. It is facing yourself and your own hypocrisy and making a determined effort to ROOT IT OUT. Once you are exposed to better information from better-informed ones and then refuse to make the shift through your own arrogance or ignorance, you will not have peace.

It is a convenient excuse and distraction from many whites and many deluded blacks to say, well yes racism exists, yes slavery happened, yes colonialism happened but that is all in the past now right? We can all forget and get along right? WRONG. History is something we live with daily. Our ancestors certainly understood this as they saw time not as horizontal and linear but vertical. Our past and our futures all intersect within us and the spiritual malaise that has resulted from the effects of our bloody history with whites and near-whites has not yet been expunged. The global political and economic structure continues to benefit from the blood of the people of colour of this world, and continues to use and exploit them for their own gains. Ones can dress it up all they like: ‘Oh that is not because of racism that is just the capitalist system’, or ‘Look at how many mixed race couples we see nowadays, people are not racist as they used to be.’ Ha! Well these naïve ones may enjoy sitting and being exploited, they may be blind to the perpetuation of history but informed ones certainly are not.

People need to deal with what IS. Racism exists, cultural discrimination exists and injustice exists. People must be clear on that first and clear on the perpetrators of this system. They must make every effort to break down this system, starting with the breaking down of the mirror of this system that exists within themselves. They must be critical of history, analytical about information and look for the subtle abuses that existed and continue to exist even among the Africans that many Rastas revere, yes, even to the ranks of the King whom you call God. They must accept the initial state of discomfort; accept the pain that often comes with the shattering of all illusions; indeed they should welcome it in pursuit of the source of all truth.

There will be no jumping the gun to appease the egos of others. Forget the ‘now what’ and deal with the issue first! As far as I have seen no matter how often some on this board raise the issues, twice as many run from them and bury their heads in the sand, immediately leaping to the brotherhood stage. It is not at all surprising that most of them who display this conduct are white. This denial is a trademark of white privilege. The privilege of being comfortable, of being accepted, of having your views and your ideas made the standard, of being allowed to be the one who defines, and not the one who is defined. What we need to see is that this ruthless examination of these issues benefit all of us. There are many whites and many blacks that are stuck in this loop of history and cannot see the way out of it. Until they acknowledge Africa, the blackest of the black, the ancient of the ancients, and deal with their own conduct and integrity they will have no real freedom and no real peace.

Black people will not have these issues sidelined and railroaded! We will not be rushed to the ‘what next’ stage when we know that the ‘now’ is still with us. And we will not allow whites that choose to be in our midst to do it either.