This kind of harassment is tha child of ignorance and hatred. Unnecessarily following, questioning, or calling tha cops on anyone can create a potentially dangerous situation. Not everyone is going to pull out a phone and start recording. There are people capable of going from calm to pissed off before their antagonist can dial 911, but even if tha person being harassed keeps their cool they are put in the ominous position of having to explain themselves to law enforcement. what tha fuck. Tha videos may be new, but this behavior isn’t. Black bodies have been monitored and surveilled since tha first slave ships dropped anchor. Tha moment Black bodies are “out of place” our patriotic friends spring into action. Their fear and unarticulated assumptions create drama where none exists. I know people who are policing themselves. I know people who have decided that eating at certain restaurants or shopping in some malls isn’t worth risking a potential confrontation. This is psychologically exhausting and emotionally damaging people.
We don’t have to be prisoners to this madness. Self-exploration, self-awareness, and ultimately, self-knowledge is our way out. Finding yourself doesn’t mean you won’t be victimized by racism, but it can keep you from internalizing tha experience. We should be upset by racist behavior, we should confront racists tropes, but we shouldn’t allow tha mania of others to limit our freedom. We can train our minds and strengthen our spirits. Plato thought there were three components to tha soul: tha logical, tha spirited, and tha appetite; Sigmund Freud lectured about tha three parts of tha personality: tha id, tha ego, and tha superego; Frantz Fanon wrote extensively about de-colonializing
tha mind; Tha Nation of Gods and Earths have been teaching about self-actualization since tha 60’s. There’s a lot of information across a variety of disciplines readily available for anyone serious about overcoming the psychological effects of trauma. What works for me (if it is working) may not work for you. I’ve found that fighting tha urge to reject objectification helped me understand the way people look at me and how I react to their reactions. I think of myself as an object, a subject, and an agent. This allows me to focus on tha things I can control. I define my personal trinity in terms of me, myself, and I.
We are constantly objectified: all of us. Every interaction we have starts with a look that attempts to understand us or place us in a category. At any given time, we have a number of character traits projected onto us. Those initial judgments are part of lyfe; they will always be there, but we don’t define us. We will never know freedom if we don’t find a way around social stigma. One can be bound without physical shackles. Our challenge is to diminish tha power judgment holds over us while simultaneously elevating our self-worth. Tha phobias and “isms” plaguing our society flourish because of intellectual laziness. Ignorance and hatred aren’t going anywhere, but we have to remember that tha hateful and ignorant aren’t tha majority. We can’t fall into tha trap of trying to refute every negative stereotype about Blackness. Ultimately, tha most important judgment we face lives on tha other side of our mirror.
