once & for all: pointing out “black-on-black crime” is gaslighting

Ooookay! I think I am officially done with this bullshit.

By Lightning Pill, AFROPUNK Contributor

John Minchillo/AP

What they aren’t grasping is that 1) pointing out people’s flaws is not going to make yours any less visible and 2) for years, black people have been working on getting rid of that, so their talk about “black-on-black crime” is NOT valid, since very few of them are even interested in trying to stop the anyone including the cops FROM doing anything about these poor kids and adults and 3) seriously, check their stats on how often they kill themselves (pun not intended) before they bring this up.

Normally, what comes directly after this would be anger. After trying to turn the tables and not finding it working, the last thing they ever want to do is act like children, anytime they don’t get their way. They showed themselves when Kaepernick kneeled in retaliation of the National Anthem’s seedy history (especially a member of Francis Scott Key), they showed themselves posting multiple pictures and spraying every bit of property having to do with the KKK, they showed themselves by suggesting that the most desirable skin due to science has been white, they showed themselves when they decided that wearing dreads was no longer appropriate for school OR for working at your job and…need I remind you just how unimportant Brangelina’s divorce is? Now, buildings are getting sprayed by people looking to be in the KKK, people are on Instagram and Facebook talking mess, …it’s a bloodbath waiting to happen.

From the jump, we have asked white people to do the following: bring police to justice, stick up for and/or respect their fellow black acquaintances, and to cool it with the racism, which these days sticks out like a sore thumb. Don’t shoot a black man who isn’t armed, and act chickenshit and peaceful when you get into a shootout with someone that is lighter in skin tone than we are! We have asked people to stop killing us or stop making us think that one of us could be the next hashtag! But instead of coming to some sort of understanding, Twitter is going to gain another hashtag (as I’m typing this, Tawon Boyd is the latest victim), and we will wind up finding new reasons not to trust not only the police, but other people who don’t share our color.

We can’t afford to do that. We live in this world together, whether we like it or not. But who should we convince with that fact: us or them? And what are the odds that they will actually listen this time? No clue. I just know that it’s obvious these people aren’t going to listen worth shit. If they did, they would know that pointing out someone else’s crimes is NOT going to cleanse you of your own evil. It just makes you look even worse, feel even worse, and make people hate you so much more than you intended.

Then again, what sociopath really cares about any of that?

*Lightning Pill, Boston’s 93rd favorite polymath. I write songs, compose music in various genres, make beats on occasion, write articles for IHeartNoise and Afropunk, write poetry, edit and direct videos, and drop science that most people would rather not hear. Oh yeah, I’m also an Aspie. Very important information. You can reach him @ www.twitter.com/LightningPill or visit his Afropunk website. His Soundcloud can be found here and his main Bandcamp found here. Also here for the new agers.