Forgive the past, but don’t forget its consequences

Forgive the past, but don’t forget its consequences

Yep. I bet you’re one of the ones who was laughing at Rodney
King when he said, "Can’t we all just get along?" That statement
has become a big joke. One mortgage company even went so far as to
say, "Can’t we all just get a loan?"

And I’m not gonna act like I wasn’t one of the many brothers who
clowned Rodney King after he said that. But if you really look
through the intellectual microscope we each possess and truly
analyze that statement, you’ll see what a profound statement it
was. And I call it a statement instead of a rhetorical question
because that’s what it is. It’s a statement about the way things
are.

Look around you. You have in-fighting amongst Asians. Latinos
and Mexicans seem to be trippin’ on each other. Black folks are
trippin’ off of who’s a sell-out and who’s not. White folks are
trippin’ because don’t nobody like them after the way they’ve
treated everybody and then, none of these ethnic groups likes each
other.

Of course, from these UCLA students living in their imagined
utopia I’ll get some letters that say we exist in love and harmony,
and that we all get along. But I’m talking about the real world,
the world that extends past Wilshire and Westwood. The world that
extends past your ethnic coalition or group.

I’m talking about a world where interracial love is condemned. A
world where KKK membership is constantly on the increase. A world
where in Venice, blacks and Mexicans shoot each other on sight …
for no reason. A world where Koreans shoot blacks and because of
that, some of us laughed when O-Dog lit up those two Korean store
owners in Menace II Society. I’m talking about a world in which
hate is the norm and love is becoming an aberration.

We have to look the truth dead in the eye and call its form out
when we see it. And as I stare into truth’s eyes, it tells me that
no one is getting along. And although I may have laughed at first,
I can hear the passion and urgency in Rodney King’s voice as he
utters that statement that rose up from the depths of his soul and
manifested itself in verbal form. A statement that was borne on the
inside, but released from the confines of his mind so we could all
take heed to what he was saying.

Even after being severely beaten, Rodney King only wanted us to
love one another. He didn’t talk about the justice in Reginald
Denny’s beating. He didn’t go on a rampage accusing everyone in the
world of being racist. He pleaded for love, just like another
King.

And now it seems that we all laugh at Dr. King’s dream. We laugh
at his vision. We know that it’s not possible for all of us to go
skipping down the riverbanks singing "My Country ‘Tis of Thee." We
know that if you go walking hand in hand with a member of another
race in the wrong ‘hood you’re liable to get shot.

But today I just want to say, don’t let King’s vision die
because you feel as if it’s an impossibility. I know you’ve been
through something. I know my people have been through something. I
know Latinos have been through something. And lest I forget, I know
indigenous peoples have been through so much more than many of us
are willing to admit.

And even though I know it seems we’ve all experienced our
tribulations at the hands of whites, they’ve gone through a little
something too. And once we’ve realized the fact that all of us have
struggled, we can forgive and work on progressing.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want to walk through the
door of the 21st century carrying a whole lot of burdens. And I’m
not telling any of you to forget what has happened to your
people.

I’m never going to forget slavery and how my people were treated
as beasts. I won’t forget the terrorism waged against churches in
the 1960s that in one incident killed four little girls. I won’t
forget about how the FBI crushed the Black Panther movement and
squeezed the life out of Dr. King.

I won’t forget … but I will forgive. Because I have no other
choice. What else can I do? I know I will always remember Emmett
Till and Medgar Evers, but am I going to let what happened to them
stand in the way of me loving my fellow man? Then what? I’m no
better than him.

As I often tell my homies, I’m down with whoever’s down with me.
Just because you’re black doesn’t mean you love me. Just because
you’re white doesn’t mean you don’t love me. Of course, you’re
asking Aaron what he means when he speaks of "love."

I’m not saying you gotta hug and kiss me when you see me,
although if you’re a cute sister, that’ll be all right. All I’m
saying is, we have to stop fighting along these racial lines and we
have to start judging people as individuals.

Hey, it might be all a class thing anyway. And then we would all
have been fighting each other for nothing, when we should’ve been
fighting the stingy, greedy owners of the means of production. But
that’s just my sociology 157 class talking.

I don’t like preaching because it just makes you look like
you’ve got all the answers. But listen. Aaron doesn’t have all the
answers. No one person has all the answers. But if we pull our
minds and resources, perhaps we can generate some more answers than
we’ve already come up with by ourselves.

Perhaps through Black-Korean alliances we can do something about
the tension in South Central. Perhaps through a Mexican-Black
coalition, we can talk to the young brothers and vatos in Venice
and keep them from shooting each other. I only named a couple that
involve my people and our immediate problems. You address the needs
of your people as you see fit.

Lil ‘X’ is not dead. Although I haven’t been called that since
12th grade, I remember how Malcolm X wrote of his trip to Mecca and
how he saw people from all ethnic and national backgrounds coming
together under a common cause.

He realized how nonsensical all this fighting is. He didn’t
ignore it because believe me, back in the day, even up until now,
white folks were doing some things to blacks that would make anyone
want to start a race war. But war breeds more war, until you’re
caught up in an inescapable throng of violence and you die a
pointless death at the hands of someone who may have wanted to love
you all along.

So Lil ‘X’ is back. But this time, as we go forward into the
21st century, let’s try to just chill and help one another. Instead
of trippin’ so hard off of affirmative action as being unfair, go
to inner-city high schools and tutor or mentor some students so
that instead of running off at the mouth like a broken tap, you can
at least say you’ve done something to address the problem of
inadequate inner-city schooling, and then we can all listen to what
you have to say.

We only have a short time to be here. Don’t waste it. Thanks to
Tyne O’Brien for a beautiful letter, and a shout out to Malaika and
my parents, who on sheer determination and perseverance made me
what I am today. Peace.

Howard is a third-year anthropology student. His columns appear
on alternate Wednesdays.