Miss Me With The #Hashtag Revolution

      Normally on this blog, I try to keep everything basically lighthearted. But I gotta take a pause for the cause and address something. Ever since Trayvon Martin, I am usually quiet publicly on the subject of race relations. Honestly, this dates all the way back to Hurricane Katrina and the horrendous handling of that situation that led to the loss of countless lives. But as they say, those that ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat that self same history. Which brings me to the Mike Brown situation and the Ferguson "riots". I put riots in quotation marks because, anytime people of color tend to stand up and refuse to knuckle under to the system of oppression that subjugates them, it's categorized as a riot. As I watch this situation play itself out, I find myself consumed with the same thoughts I had after the Trayvon Martin murder and the George Zimmerman trial. What are those thoughts? Simply put: F*#k the Hashtag Revolution and the Hashtag Revolutionaries.

What's the Hashtag Revolution?

     When I refer to the hashtag revolution, what I am referring to is people who see injustice and oppression, consciously recognize that this injustice affects their people and community, and then limit their form of protest to social media. For those of you who are unclear what I mean, allow me to elaborate. When Trayvon Martin was killed and the Zimmerman trial began, I remember that I could not step outside my house without coming into contact with a Black person who went out their way to tell me how outraged they were. I thought to myself "America should be really careful with how they handle this." I thought in the face of all this outrage and public outcries for justice, if the system doesn't give us justice, then the people might go take it. Then at some point, someone came up with the idea of going on social media, and everyone changing their profile pic to themselves wearing a hoodie, symbolizing a form of silent protest and support for his family. Almost overnight, damn near everyone I know was rocking the hoodie profile pic. And I thought, wow, in the face of all this organized social media based protest, the legal system has no choice but to give us the justice we want.
     However, after the trial, and Zimmerman going free, I realized how wrong I was. There was no justice. There was no uprising or some form of further protest. Everyone seemed to take the attitude of, Hey, We tried to effect change with the profile pic and nothing happened. I waited to see what would happen in the wake of the Zimmerman trial. Surely this man couldn't go unpunished. If he did, what does that say about our justice system? But more that even that, what does it say about us if we allow it to happen? Last, time I saw Zimmerman, he was signing autographs at a promotional appearance. I'm going to let that sink in for a sec. He was signing....autographs.

   Now, Ferguson

      And now we have the situation in Ferguson. When the Mike Brown killing happened, and the social upheaval in Ferguson kicked off, all of a sudden my timeline was flooded with pictures of people on their knees with their hands in the air as a show of protest of the situation. Every Uncle Tom Attention Whore So Called Wannabe Black Leader came out the woodwork to put their two cents in and grab some of that good CNN shine. Including this guy.

Now understand this. I don't condone violence. This is not my way of saying Let's go get the guns, and start the revolution. What I am saying is this. Social Media is a tool. You can organize and kickstart a protest with it. But social media isn't the platform for revolution. Nobody is changing the real world through Facebook. You actually got to get out there and get your hands dirty. When America shows you that African American life has no value, and you protest by changing your profile pic, and everything remains status quo, what is the next move? What is the next form our revolution will take when lawmakers and politicians and politicians allow the Police Officers (Overseers) operate in our community with impunity and no reciprocity? What do we do when the myriad of Facebook posts amount to zero community change? Start posting on Twitter?

    Understand, police gunning down young black men in this country is not a new thing. The new part about it is it's happening in a digital age where the world is now a smaller place. Years ago, if something like this happened in Ferguson, you had to be in the same region as Ferguson to know what was going on when it happened. Now we live in an era where I can get real time updates from anywhere on the planet. But the racist policing of the African American community isn't a new idea. The gunning down of Black men isn't some new trending topic. This has been going on for a long long time. Don't believe me, ask Malcom X. And as you listen to the excerpt, think about how some of these same issues, and same problems still exist today and then ask yourself the question, what's your protest worth. I'm angry too, brothers and sisters. I'm outraged as well. I want to do something about it as well. Just miss me with the weak ass hashtag revolution.

One final thought:

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.