I write this with a heavy heart, but also with a spirit of courage, determination and purpose. The horror of our world is too much to bear at times. The magnitude of the George Floyd movement that has gone global represents my truth and what I live with everyday – fear that my son will lose his life to senseless violence. Since the day he was born, I knew my son would have a very different experience in the world. I knew that life would be rather unfair to him. I knew that I had to teach him different principles than I taught my daughter. I knew that everyday I would live in fear that he would be misunderstood. So if you are looking for this to be a positive, politically correct blog post, I suggest you close the page now. If anyone remembers my Friday Frankness posts, then you know full well what to expect if you choose to continue to read.

Riots and Looting

I do not condone the violent riots nor the looting that we see on the news. However, I understand where it comes from and why it is taking place. When we tried to peacefully kneel, there was issue with that and harsh repercussions to our livelihoods. There is no such thing as peacefully demonstrating for us. Martin Luther King’s legacy was all about peacefully working towards change, and he too, senselessly lost his life for it. When we march or when our activists visit the White House, it falls on deaf ears. All of you worried about only the aspect of businesses being burned down or saying that black neighborhoods are being destroyed are looking only at the surface level, and the superficiality of what is taking place and frankly, you are a fool. You know full well money talks the loudest in these situations.

Do you not realize that most of these people who are rioting and looting have nothing to lose to begin with? Ask yourself why they have nothing to lose and don’t sugarcoat it either. Stop saying that black people have the same opportunities as white people. Stop saying that they should not destroy their own neighborhoods when most of these neighborhoods have been subjected to gentrification anyway. The aggressiveness displayed in these riots is triggered by years and years and years of the mistreatment of the black man. How many black men have to die before we start to evoke change? How many times do we have to be shocked by the brutality that our black men face everyday that all too often costs them their lives? The riots and looting are a reaction based on the fact that it is the ONLY time we get any form of justice – and that justice is not even really the justice that should take place. We had to riot with Rodney King to get a small measure of justice, but you know what happened, after the initial outrage died down, things returned to just as they have been for centuries.

Now this is to my black brothers and sisters, and again, if you are sensitive or easily offended, get off of my blog. STOP crying out, acting a fool, posting on social media and basically just running your mouth and never putting any action behind it. Stop forgetting and quickly going back to being complacent. I am so very sick of you loud mouths who talk the talk but never walk the walk. I would rather you simply shut the hell up and just go continue to live in your bubble since we cannot expect much else from you except a freaking Facebook post or maybe a day of you so called participating in a pointless blackout. Remember that YOU are the problem just as much as these bigots and racists we face everyday. Remember that they are all able to divide us so easily because WE allow them to divide to us. Remember that it should not just be this week, this month or even the next few months that you show outrage, it should be a lifestyle change. You should constantly and I do mean CONSTANTLY be advocating for all our black brothers and sisters.

I am so very tired of this cycle. I am so tired of fearing for my son. I am so tired of watching many of my black brothers and sisters whine and complain without action. I am just tired!!! I say it proudly and without fear of any repercussions of this posts – should something happen to my son ever, best believe it will not be the Mara Prose you have come to know and love and admire – it will be an enraged black mother and whatever happens from that rage, so be it. It would have been irresponsible of me not to use my platform to speak out against this and you will continue to see the efforts I put towards change. I am teaching my son how to stand for something by standing for something. I am teaching the world to lead by example and action, and not just hide behind a freaking computer screen being a keyboard coward.

United we stand, divided we fall,

Mara Prose

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