1390

Having been raised in the Deep South, I have been exposed to almost the same amount of racism as my father, and most likely both grandfathers. Of course, there is a sense of healing that permeates through the beautiful countryside of live Oaks and towering Pine Trees. People of all colors go about their daily lives, speaking to one another, working, and living side by side. And even though, I live there, I understand not just four decades prior that my home was the site of beatings, lynchings, cross burnings, and pain. Lots of pain.

 

One hundred- and thirty-years prior Slavery existed. People were sold. Families were destroyed. Rights were taken. And fortunes were made off the sweat of a self-replicating workforce.

 

Yet.

 

My Deep South reached out as an old man seeking redemption. And as his memory fades. Before he forgets his transgressions, he leans towards amends. There is healing. There is a sense of community. There is a kinship in the food, worship, and football. There is kinship in work, and laughter, love, and even woe.

 

There are not so good days. There are frankly bad memories that still float around and remind people of color. We are not quite there yet. And I will not repeat Dr. King’s words because his plan succeeded for the basic equality to vote and eat in the same restaurants. To swim in the same pools and breathe the same air.  I feel we were left in an economic and cultural spin cycle. But that’s another blog post.

 

And as that old man settles in for his long nap.  The racist dog whistles have emerged being tweeted on every corner. Setting those men and women on edge who are only trying to live. 

And the year is 2020.

 

  

Scrolling through the comments on Yahoo, I try to get an understanding of what people think. And for the most part, Yahoo commenters have a united sense of justice. They complain about taxes. They respond in angry unison to some child being baked alive in a car. They chide the lunacy of political effects on public health. And then they blame the “1390” for any crime where the person of color is involved.

 

Wait, I would wonder what is 1390 was until I would see it more and more. And then, it was more like wink, wink nod, nod the "1390."

 

Initially, I would roll past these comments, and then suddenly I realized “1390” had a sinister texture to it. So, with my Google-fu. And with the thickest of skin found this number was to suggest that African Americans (who make up fifteen percent of the US population) were responsible for ninety percent of the crimes (in the US). I had to bust out laughing. Because that’s “hold my beer math.”

 

And really who the fu*k came up with that math?

 

And how bad to is your hate for an entire population of people that you forget that there are over three hundred million people in the United States? And close to forty percent of them are minorities. And if the so-called thirteen percent of the population was doing crime at the ninety percent level. I as an African American Man would have to be doing assaults, robberies, and murders part-time. In addition to my full-time job. Along with my wife, brothers, father, and children. African Americans would be a collective ball of insanity.

 

That means Supreme Court Judge Clarence Thomas would have to do his part by driving a getaway car. Along with other African Americans who would have to stop singing, creating vaccines, writing Swift Programs, teaching, and nursing people back to health. Our three- and four-year-olds would do stick-ups and break right before naps and juice time. 

 

Our African American Veterans would have to leave their positions in Iraq and Afghanistan, just to commit property crimes. Even our African Americans who are completely disconnected from their own culture would have to do break-ins. 

 

Those African Americans on vents and in hospice would have to perform credit card scams and assaults after pain management but before the funeral home.

 

Yet. It has been shown that you cannot fight lunacy with a rational stick. 

 

You have to use a friggen laser cannon. 

 

So, to all of the people scoffing at any crime where the alleged perpetrator is African American and throw out the term “1390” Stop it. If my entire community decided to make this number true. You would not be able to leave the house. It makes you look stupid. And hopefully feel stupid.

 

“Vale”