Monday, September 7, 2015

Making #BlackLivesMatter













 
I've watched the #BlacklivesMatter debate with great interest, in no small measure because the Race War many privately discuss has become very public lately.

I've also watched the counter-narrative building momentum from the political Right and police as the movement is labelled a violently anti-cop one. For brothers promoting respect for ourselves and-where rights aren't violated-the law, these two developments provide an opportunity to double down on making Black lives truly matter.

Conservatives accuse #BlackLivesMatter of selective outrage, overlooking the daily flood of inner city death in favor of less frequent police shootings. One fine point about this observation is no matter how loudly White-and sometimes Black conservatives in the Fox News wing scream it, it'll be dismissed as background noise from the enemy.

Brothers with an SWS ( Security Within SELF ) mindset are used to standing in the No Man's Land between the Right and Left over highly charged racial issues.

This is our unique contribution to the debate. We add a strident call for personal responsibility in violence prevention from Black people and public accountability regarding bias based brutality from blue professionals.

Ominous clouds are forming this election cycle as #BlacklivesMatter and loaded terms like "  hate group " and " terrorists " are used in the same heated breathe. Such verbiage ups the proverbial ante and SWS-minded brothers nationwide should contact local #BlackLivesMatter groups and advise them on potentially dire consequences of allowing violent rhetoric at their events.

Making Black lives matter is why SWS-minded brothers hit the streets providing free security and mentoring to communities desperately needing both services.

This role, one I call being " respect representatives " gains new urgency as battle lines are drawn and sides become increasingly shrill. The ante is upped after each march where harsh words are hurled toward police and especially after highly publicized ambushes.


We must make Black Lives Matter, no matter the color nor credentialing of assailants and shouldn't allow legitimate concerns to be spun by anyone for narrow political or racial purposes.

If we don't make our lives matter, then who is supposed to? Only we can protect and mentor ourselves, regardless of how others treat us.

As we struggle to hold others accountable, we must equally struggle to hold ourselves responsible, too.

Nadra Enzi aka Cap Black, a respect rep for decades in the Hostage Hood & its events. Free Security Activist. SWS: Security Within SELF organization founder. 504 214-3082.

Nadra Enzi PO BOX 58822, New Orleans, LA. 70158. 

Free Will Offerings accepted at:
http://www.gofundme.com./swsbros

1 comment:

  1. Nadra, your work particularly with SWS has always been exceptional as a model for how people of color in America should police themselves in their own communities and with towards promoting positive police-community relations. There are too few community leaders like yourself and too much pain and strife in our communities with a lack of voices of reason. Leadership training in the hood is sorely needed, and voices of reason among conservatives are also.

    ReplyDelete