Sayrie: Sounding the alarm
Watershed Voice’s Aundrea Sayrie writes, “Black History Month is celebratory of Black achievement and existence, yes, but it is equally meant to continually sound the alarm on discrimination, and a means of advocating for justice. Applied pressure on the neck of oppression and erasure, a vehicle to ensure the truth isn’t lost in the footnotes of history.”
You can listen to Aundrea perform this piece via the SoundCloud player at the top of the article.
Chronic disregard for truth and culture is nothing new but whitewashing a halftime show is a new low. I mean really, is embracing and celebrating a different culture for a few moments that unpalatable?
“I like American music.” What’s more American than the Super Bowl? Than the melting pot of diversity that is a distinct characteristic of American culture? Wild.
It’s not just that either. The headlines: raiding, kidnapping, displacing, protesting, boycotting, the brutality, racial profiling, the killing. The silent witnesses, the complicit ones, and the justifications that are loud and wrong.
When did the removal of criminal immigrants expand to include the elderly, the feeble, the pregnant, and children? Babies, being kept in cages? How do you justify that?
Exhausting. Familiar. We’ve seen it all before. This is Black History.
Boycotting is Black History.
Protesting is Black History.
Racial profiling/brutality/killing is Black History.
Black History Month is celebratory of Black achievement and existence, yes, but it is equally meant to continually sound the alarm on discrimination, and a means of advocating for justice. Applied pressure on the neck of oppression and erasure, a vehicle to ensure the truth isn’t lost in the footnotes of history.
Seriously, my heart grieves for the lost people. The undocumented horrors taking place within a purposely broken ambiguous system. Unconstitutional. Daily, ICE agents exhibit bully behavior disguised as law enforcement. Dishonorable.
Like their king.
Exhaustion is Black pain being ignored, rewritten, and profitable, non-stop, living and watching it, in parallel to our Brown brothers and sisters. Things will not be different until we all grasp that it is “We the People vs. the Powers that Be.”
With communication and trust this could have all been avoided. But the division is too real. Right down to the Super Bowl halftime show…
I’ve seen enough.
What was it Kendrick said?
“Turn the TV off.”
A native of Phoenix, Arizona, Aundrea Sayrie is a firm believer in the power of words, faith and a strong spirit. Her greatest desire is to encourage those around her to discover and honor their truth, and to passionately live on purpose.
Any views or opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Watershed Voice staff or its board of directors.
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