Kenny Hardin, Salisbury City Councilman
♦ Thank you to my friend, Sherri Goodlett Coffee Brown, for the 2nd picture that motivated these random thoughts. (below)
I wish Black people would stop being afraid to be Black in public and on purpose. I wish Black people would stop apologizing for the atrocities and indignities perpetrated against them. I wish everyone understood loving your culture and your community and fighting for justice, equity and growth for it doesn’t mean you care less about any others. I wish people would stop equating the passion in that quest as being angry.
I wish Black people would stop feeling like they have to prove how passive and non threatening they can be just to exist in mainstream America. I wish Black people would stop telling me to stop being authentically Black because I’m messing it up for them. I wish Black people would stop feeling like if they lift their voice and speak out, somehow there will be repercussions from mainstream society.
I wish Black people would stop laughing at Nigger jokes and other racial humor so as to feel included, a part of the Team and a Team player. I don’t want or need to be on that kind of Team.
I wish Black people would be upset that we don’t have enough Black businesses here in Salisbury for the State to even generate a statistic. I wish Black people were getting some of the economic development money available. Kudos to the Chamber of Commerce for starting a Minority Business Council recently within the Chamber. I had a great conversation with the Executive Director a few months ago and this was a discussion topic. She and a few other Business leaders like The Hospital President and Ed Norvell get it and don’t engage in patronizing lip service.
I wish Black Churches would care less about tithes and offerings and more about actually helping the Black community. We shouldn’t have 10-12 churches in one Community and still have the problems we do. I wish Black Pastors and other misguided so called Christian folk would stop saying just leave everything in God’s hands and actually do something significant and substantial. If you need an example, talk to Pastor Timothy Lamont Bates.
I wish Black people would stop blaming White people for all the problems occurring in the Black community. Yes, Slavery was bad but, that excuse and blaming current racism as a trading not to try has played out. I wish Black people would stop waiting to be rescued and begging others outside the community. Build your own table and invite others to eat at yours.
I wish Black people would control the economics and politics of their community and not allow the history and heritage to be erased. I wish these young boys would understand the value of life and not be so quick to extinguish one at the end of a gun.
I wish Black people who think they’ve succeeded would quit shitting on those still trying. I wish Black people would stop viewing an invite to the Country Club for lunch as progress. If I stab you with a knife and pull it a 1/4 of the way out, is that progress I should be thankful for?
I wish Black people would vote. 2600 registered voters on the West End and only 213 voted last November. Damn
I wish Black people would stop singing We Shall Overcome and push harder for the fierce urgency of now while singing Fight the Power. I wish White people would stop acting as if memorizing the words to the Negro National Anthem is impressive.
I wish White people would stop acting like they really care about improving the Black condition in public but in private try to subvert positive efforts like a County Commissioner, the YMCA Director and a lady at the United Way did.
I wish White people would stop initiating and engaging me in conversations about race and racism, get upset when I don’t respond with a feel good Kum-by- ya response, and then publicly complain that I talk too much about racism like that jackass Scott Maddox wrote in the paper.
I wish White people would get more upset about racism instead of being angry at the people who it impacts and comment on it. I wish rich people would stop sharing their opinion on people who live in Poverty. I wish people who are not suffering from other societal ills would stop judging and criticizing people who do. I wish people would stop showing mouse pad courage and offering opinions and solutions, but never actually come out and get involved.
I wish Black and White people would stop telling me who to interact with and who to be loyal to. I base my loyalty on those who’ve been the same way and straight up with me. I find it oddly funny that people have criticized my working with Gangs and my friendship with Kenneth Muhammad, Craig Pierce and the owner of the Rowan Free Press. So many hypocrites swear they never read the “piece of garbage rag”, but seem to know and call me every time something is published with my name on it.
I have a lot of Easter wishes.
