#bet2016

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So here's the deal.  A few weekends ago, the BET awards aired on pretty much every Viacom owned cable channel, and yes, that includes Nickelodeon. The predominate highlight was the riveting acceptance speech from Jesse Williams after being honored with the 2016 humanitarian award. Now, I'll spare the over loaded Jesse Williams bandwagon as I do not watch Grey’s Anatomy (sorry Shonda) and would be hard pressed to name anything else that he has starred in. But, to say that I am enamored with the message behind his speech, impressed with the fervor of the delivery and downright inspired by his call to arms is a drastic understatement. I mean it gave me the chills, the goose pimples, the sweaty palms, it did it all, and I could go on and on about that speech but there is nothing else that I can add that hasn't already been addressed, dissected, scrutinized, and subsequently praised. It was magic. Melanin Magic. Period. And apparently, Justin Timberlake felt the same way when he tweeted shortly after “@ijessiewilliams tho? #inspired #bet2016”. Well, the good folks over in black twitter fired up those ever so aggressive Twitter fingers, aimed at JT, and fired off a barrage of tweets that basically called for an end to the singers appropriation of the black culture, and while they were at it and for good measure, demanded an apology for the “wardrobe malfunction” involving Janet Jackson during their Super Bowl performance. To which Justin responds “oh you sweet soul. The more you realize we are the same, the more of a conversation we can have. Bye”.

Now initially, I got into my fan girl feelings and took defense to my second favorite white boy (y'all better stop sleeping on Matt Mcgorry) . I thought to myself, we loved Justin when he rocked them cornrows in *Nsync (I did anyway I won't speak for the rest of y'all). We pointed him out and said that white boy got some soul in him and he’s from Memphis. We danced all night long to his music produced By Timbaland. We sang his hits featuring T.I, The clips, Beyoncé, Will.I.Am, Missy Elliot, Jay-Z, Snoop Dog, and countless other black artists. So why are we only now getting on him? What did he say in that little tweet that isn't a reflection of what he has said and done in the past? Even more so, where was inaccuracy in his statement? We are the same. He's no better than me because he's white and I'm no better because my body produces melanin (which if they haven't told y'all already is the fountain of youth, so you can stop looking for it in your fancy labs.). We are the same. And what we want is to be treated the same because we ARE the same. Right?

 And that's when I realized. We aren't. And that by saying that we are the same in these tumultuous days and especially while someone is raising awareness of a consistent injustice, insinuates that our oppression doesn't exist. And let's not forget above all else that that was not even the point of Jesse’s speech to begin with. But I digress. The bottom line is this. Justin just became that guy in the overly abused example that everyone uses to defend the black lives matter movement. He came to the cancer rally and screamed “but what about the AIDS victims?” Yes we are the same Justin, but no, that's not what the topic of conversation is in this moment. If I'm talking about pears, don't come into my conversation talking about bananas just because there’s is a correlation. Talk about the pears or wait your turn to talk about the bananas. It's simple. If Jesse Williams is talking about how we need to (AS A PEOPLE if I should be so bold to add) band together in solidarity for our black women and ourselves, and raise awareness of the injustices happening every single day to black men, then that is not and I will repeat is NOT the time for you to jump in and start singing kumbaya around the campfire and chatting about how we are so much the same and the world is such a great place because we are equals. In our essence, in our core, and in factuality, yes sis, we are the same. In theory we are the same. But in reality, in the here and now of a system literally designed to profit off of the labor of Africans and African Americans, we are not. And that is where Justin dropped the ball. He didn't recognize the disparity between what is theory and what is practiced. He wasn't wrong in his statement; he just didn't paint the entire picture. And when you sit down and think about it that is the problem. Because what is the rate of unarmed white men being killed in America? What is the rate of death-by-cop of white males in America? Now please take your statistics and compare and contrast that to the statistics of black Americans in the same situation. It's nothing short of alarming. It's nothing to be swept under the rug. And it leans nowhere near the “same” category that you keep forcing down our throats. So when you insist that were the same in these situations, the data speaks to a different fact. A fact that you have now covered with a blindfold for whatever selfish reasons you needed to. See what you don't realize is this. We no longer need you (white America) to celebrate our sameness.  We have found our lane and we are celebrating ourselves now. But what we (black America) do want is for you to respect our differences. Don't see dark skin and be compelled to pull your gun out and shoot us. Don't see dark skin and feel a fear that is strong enough to negatively feed your ignorance and cause harm to myself and my family. Don't see dark skin and feel that you are within any right to treat me any less than you would treat the next white face you passed on the street, or pass me up for that promotion, or even for a modicum of a moment insult or underestimate my intelligence. I don't care if you don't understand my magic and as a result possess an irrational fear that you don’t have the wherewithal to just simply pick up a book and read, just a little bit. I have to stress this. I don't need you to celebrate our sameness. I need you to respect our differences.