3 Things Black People Wish White People Understood

In Europe we regularly see some films and news clips that portray American culture, giving us the impression that there is still a big problem with the attitude of white Americans opposite black people.

The Writer Erin a writer on Tarot, Soul, Spirituality, Culture, and Mytho-tainment, believes that

Living in America is a very interesting conundrum. On one hand, it is a free country, the land of opportunity, and a melting pot of cultures and perspectives.

We may have the idea that it is a free country, but see that it is not so free for many coloured people, and that lots of Americans think their own individual freedom goes above the freedom of others.
The article writer admits also that the U.S.A. is often a painful place for people of colour. She writes

For black people in particular, it’s a place where our ancestors traumas have carried over into our present.

We agree that here in blue Smurf country (Belgium) by football- or soccer fans we also do find a lot of racists, though lots of soccer players over here are dark-skinned. More than once they get banana peels and awful language thrown at them. But in the U.S.A. it seems to go much further:

Systemic racism, like inequalities in housing, banking, education, and healthcare are serious aspects of our trauma.

says the American coloured writer. She continues

But another, that we don’t think is quite understood enough, is our experience with not being heard and with having our pain disregarded by people who are simply too uncomfortable to listen.

In many countries that is a big problem, that the majority does not want to know and does not listen to sounds which should alarm them, indicating that there is racism around them.

We disagree with Secrets of HIV-Aids Journal where Secretsofaidsebolafacts writes

Belgium and American journalists for decades have the delight to support the lies, deceptions, and crimes of their governments, politically and medically, but now they are finding it uncomfortable because an African journalist is in their mist exposing their crimes. {Belgium and America have something in common, the killing and disfiguring of black people}

Already many decades, several Flemish writers in Belgium talked about bad conditions for African people in Belgium as well as in the colonies. After World War II we regularly got to read stories of what had happened in the previous centuries by certain people who used the colonies for their own financial gain at the human cost. That writer of the article says he is already living in Belgium for twenty years and want his readers to believe that

no one hears of a killing of a black man, doesn’t mean that everything is normal in the country.

His idea of black people to

wake up each morning to see statues and streets named after the lunatic King Leopold II, whose relatives, the royal family, together with the Belgian government feel comfortable about it.

gives a distorted view of how black people manage to cope or have difficulties with the previous history of colonisation, which for sure is not such a good one, but it is ridiculous to do away with that history. Denying what happened in the past, taking away all the statues of the previous colonisers would fade away that important part of Belgium history. It would be the same bad thing if we would take away the statues of all historical figures who did something wrong, and as such would have all the street nameplates that remind us of Napoleon, Ferdinand Foch, Pinochet, Marshal Bugeaud, Bertrand Clauzel, Reagan, Nixon, Adolfo Calero, Arturo Cruz and Alfonso Robelo, and other human rights violators, Spanish and Austrian king, princes and rulers.

According to history, the Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, killed over 6 million Jews. The shame Hitler brought to Germany, forced the country’s leaders to change the name of the streets after him, moreover, everything relating to Hilter was banned.

writes Secretsofaidsebolafacts who continues denying the fact that in the last 2 decades many street names in Belgium, have been changed because the officials no longer considered it appropriate to display the name of a controversial figure on street signs or in public squares.

Belgian National Leopold II monument in Brussels

That is not the case in Belgium, a country that planned to destroy Congo and the people for losing its colony. The Belgian government and the royal family are happy that the big statue of Leopold II riding on a horse is not easy for demonstrators to pull down but they will pull it down, unfortunately, that time will be too late.

Belgian Congo, former colony (coextensive with the present-day Democratic Republic of the Congo) in Africa, ruled by Belgium from 1908 until 1960.

He also goes a bridge too far in claiming that Belgium’s aim was to destroy Congo. That was not the case at all. Several police and business leaders may not have been shy about exploiting the local population, but on the other hand there were many more people who really wanted to make a positive contribution, albeit sometimes with a wrongly coloured vision, and who did a wonderful job without humiliating or abusing the coloured people.

In the article of The Writer Erin, is expressed the hope to summarize 3 things that black people wishes white people understood.

If well meaning white people wonder why

“we can’t just all come together and get along”,

the writer does hope that her article may be a great place to start. She writes

And truthfully, most black people are angered when faced with these issues because we think white people should understand this innately.

However, everyone hasn’t walked in our shoes and everyone doesn’t understand the world from our point of view.

Don’t get me wrong, I am aware that all black people don’t share these views. All black Americans aren’t ancestors of slaves. And all blacks haven’t been culturalized in our communities.

But I can say that there are general overarching beliefs and themes and for the most part, these feelings and beliefs are patterns in the black American psyche.

Please continue reading the articles:

1. 3 Things Black People Wish White People Understood
2. Belgium and America have something in common, the killing and disfiguring of black people

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Preceding

From Guestwriters 2016 in review

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Additional reading

1. Martin Luther King’s Dream Today (Our world) = Martin Luther King’s Dream Today (Some view on the world)
2. Arson attack carried out on Stevenage Central Mosque (Our world) = Arson attack carried out on Stevenage Central Mosque (Some view on the world)
3. Speciesism and racism (Our world) = Speciesism and racism (Some view on the world)
4. Rome mobilisation to say no to fascism and racism (Our world) = Rome mobilisation to say no to fascism and racism (Some view on the world)
5. Apartheid or Apartness #2 Up to 2nd part 20th Century
6. Trump going over the top bringing a blasphemous act (Our world) = Trump going over the top bringing a blasphemous act
7. Don’t Envy the World (Our world) = Don’t Envy the World (Some view on the world)
8. Actions to be a reflection of openness of heart (Our world) = Actions to be a reflection of openness of heart (Some view on the world)
9. “Black lives matter!” a statement of proclamation (Our world) = “Black lives matter!” a statement of proclamation (Some view on the world)

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