There’s a viral epidemic sweeping throughout the black race; a cancerous disease killing the souls and the dignities of everyone that comes into contact with it. This infection isn’t AIDS or Cancer, but it may be the leading cause of African American internal deaths.
This sickness has many disguises, names, and monikers, but the most common and readily referable name is RACISM. When I say racism the average black person readily assumes I am talking about our ongoing "struggle" and fight against oppression from "the white man". Yet, the racism I feel is the most dangerous and is the true cancer to our race, is the racism present within the very race itself. "Black on Black crime." This isn’t just a term given to a case of an African American killing, stealing, or hurting of another African American. "Black on Black Crime" is truly a program that has been instilled and conditioned into our minds since our ancestors arrived on the slave ships.
When you’re conditioning your hair, you do this so your hair can become soft and manageable. The black race has become so soft and so manageable that our bodies have reached a point where our natural securities are down and have become vulnerable for viral infiltration. Spanning from bright skinned versus dark skinned to pureblooded Africans versus their American counter parts, this infection has corrupted the state of mind of a majority in this minority and its getting worse.
Ironically the African river known as "deNILE (denial)", and denial runs heavily throughout the minds of the American negro when inter-race racism is the topic of discussion. I still say Racism in the African American, the Black community is alive, it is an infection and it is spreading.
Inter-race racism is a sickness, let’s call those infected "the sick".
Playing "doctor" to "the sick" I understand you must have patience with your patients, but many sick people don’t notice that they’re coughing up contempt for their brother, or sneezing out self-hatred for themselves. Being the doctor you must tell your patients of their medical condition, this often causes their fever to increase. The increased fever triggers denial, which usually causes blindness. Blind now to their sickness, their racist ways continue. When "the sick" reach this point, an internal death may occur, and from internal death there’s no coming back.
"Black Americans are lazy, self centered, and are all alike!" My parents live in the state of Georgia where many cultures and races all blend together in one area. A growing population in Georgia is that of the African immigrants. For some reason many Africans that have moved to America, move here with prejudgments that the black people in America are beneath them. From being a real estate agent to just living in Georgia, my mother’s experiences, being a Black American interacting with our "pure blooded" brothers and sisters, have not been positive.
"African Americans are sick". She says these words not in contempt but in frustration. Early symptoms of the disease clearly present in these people have been noted through past evidence gathered by my mother. On the job, she has come into contact with possible clients from Africa who refuses to hire her. These people go as far as requesting an African real estate agent to sell them their house, feeling that the Black American agent won’t get the job done effectively.
At her church, she has come in contact with women who won’t allow their children to become friends or even play with anyone who isn’t African. The burning sensation left present after close contact with the disease isn’t seen more blatantly, or felt more personally until she feels it in her own home.
But about 3 years ago my parents became mentors to a troubled boy who moved from Africa to America, and over the years helped him build a positive relationship with his family and others. Our families became "close friends" and a "bond was formed". For once my mother felt relieved that not all Africans were the same. Unfortunately this relief was short lived, as an unexpected outbreak would occur.
"She’s pretty for a dark girl". Most if not all of the people struck with this disease don’t even know they have it. You really don’t know you have it until you get tested and are brave enough to realize your results. The disease doesn’t hit anymore personal until you’ve realized yourself that you may show symptoms. It all starts in the brain, sometimes it can be easily spotted in what one may say: "I will date girls no darker than this paper bag," but even earlier symptoms are easily recognized by viewing ones actions.
My name is Martin A. Bradford, and I was once infected. My god-brother John and I never noticed how sick we were. I would mainly, and John would only, date fair complexion girls. Some would argue that it might have been our type or taste (though I believe that at times it can go deeper than that). A person’s skin tone shouldn’t determine your attraction to them, but due to television, magazines, and environmental and peer related conditioning, a standard has been set. In the black community the bright skinned, longhaired type has always been valued.
Dating back to the times of slavery when these women would be chosen to be the slave master’s mistress. From the Great Depression era when most of these women would pass as white, to the hip hop era where these women are all you see in videos and on television, these women have been a corner stone of ideal for decades. It’s all mental, because if the darker complexion women would have been chosen instead, then things would have been the other way around and still just as sick.
People try to argue the validation of the authenticity of this disease. Feeling that misunderstanding and paranoia is all that is present in those who make claims that the inter-race racism epidemic is indeed true. "All a part of their imaginations." As the personal experiences of many grow, and the truths surface, the false security of those who refuse to open their eyes to reality become breached.
The sick can’t help the sick, and we can’t even begin to fight against "oppression" from "the white man" if we have oppression within our own ranks. What makes the black race beautiful is the many faces, the many shades, and the many textures present within it. No matter if you’re from Africa, America, France, or Australia, people of color are all related and are connected into the same race. We’re brothers and sisters whether light skinned or dark.
This disease has left many dark skinned people feeling less, light skinned feeling superior, Black Americans feeling resentful, and African immigrants feeling alienated. By letting this epidemic continue, the infection can become fatal. You, as the individual may not physically die, but the culture as a whole will eventually become terminally ill and self-destruct. The self-destruction will come from the lack of forward progression for the race as a whole, and the outbreak of this racism parasite will feed and grow until we become what we’ve been fighting against. With the proper treatment those infected can become cured. If the "sick" never get tested as in testing themselves, and proceed to read and react to their results, then the infection will spread and the inevitable will occur.
