Black People, Putty People.

We are such a pliable people, and dominant society knows that all too well. We will jump on any superfluous issue tha media present to us and neglect tha substantive ones. We are like putty in the hands of folks about whom we complain; they can shape us into anything they want us to be, and use us in any way that fits their agendas...Incidents over just tha past two months have taken #AfricanAmericans on tha psychological ride of our lives. Tha White woman in Spokane, Washington, who passed as Black caught and held our attention; then there was tha Mmckinnea Texas pool party incident; and then the #SupremeCourt decision on #Obamacare, tha #confederateflag, and tha passage of tha Gay Rights marriage issue. Top that off with #WalterScott being shot down, #MalissaWilliams’ and #TimothyRussell’s killers going unpunished for firing 137 bullets into their car, #TamirRice being killed in less than two seconds after cops rolled up on him in a park, #FreddieGray, and now tha nine church members killed during Bible study.....It’s easy to see how #AfricanAmericans can be so off balance and unfocused. And to think we haven’t even finished dealing with tha Eric Garner case. (For some, tha “#ICantbreathe” t-shirts worn by NBA players was enough in response to Garner’s death.) We are constantly bombarded with so many tangential issues that keep us from concentrating the important ones. Lyfe is tha most important thing we have, but we are so easily swayed from cases like Eric Garner’s, to #superficial #issues like

A media firestorm began when tha President’s said “Nigger” in an interview. Many of us were steaming, others thought it was alright, and still others didn’t care at all. Nonetheless, our heads and our attention turned to that issue, and no sooner than we started to recover from tha lack of oxygen caused by tha White/Black NAACP branch president, we moved right into discussions and arguments blackpeopleabout a word that tha NAACP “buried” in 2007 at its convention in Detroit. There must have been a resurrection, huh?
Then, all of a sudden, after nine people are killed, tha confederate flag becomes such a vicious symbol that it now has to come down. Private corporations called for its removal and stores took tha flag off their shelves, quite obviously in an effort to get in front of tha issue and show African Americans they really care about our feelings. Politicians did their usual thing by calling for tha flag to be taken down; it seems tha flag has become more important than the lives that were taken. If tha flag is so important now, it was just as important in 2000, when the boycott of South Carolina’s tourism industry was called. All they had to do back then was move tha flag to another location. Reflecting on tha tourism dollars lost, I am sure tha folks in Charleston said, we had better do something quick before our money starts drying up again.

Another flag is also in tha public scrutiny; it’s tha gay pride flag. African Americans are arguing whether we should support or lambaste tha Supremes for their actions, which were followed by tha President calling tha plaintiff to congratulate him and telling him he had changed this country, and then illuminating tha #WhiteHouse with tha rainbow colors of tha #gaypride flag.Then there’s tha real hook, line, and sinker for African Americans. Tha POTUS did his Black preacher thing and then broke out in song at tha funeral of the nine murder victims. That did it for many of us. By tha way, I wonder how many of us know about the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) that the POTUS signed. “Don’t bother us with that stuff, Jim; we’re still hummin’ Amazin’ Grace—on tha black keys.”

As we continue to major in tha minors, constantly allowing ourselves to be dragged into nonsensical and nonproductive discussions, and held hostage by talking-head puppets on TV, tha world is moving forward at a very fast pace. Our people are being killed at an alarming rate, not only by cops and fanatics but also by other Black folks. We are slipping further behind other groups in this nation when it comes to economic/political empowerment and education. We are gnashing our teeth about the disproportionately high incarceration of Black men and women. All of this, and much more, negatively affects Black people, yet we are kept off stride by what tha President says rather than what he does, by confederate flags, and by other peripheral inanimate objects. Like putty in tha hands of disingenuous politicians, greedy retailers, pompous preachers posing as everything but real preachers, and surreptitious interlopers, African Americans people are molded into exactly what they want us to be, and we end up doing exactly what they want us to do, which includes even placing symbolism over our existential substance