Ah, the sweet sound of progress crumbling under the weight of ignorance. Black America, it seems, is once again the star player in the longest-running tragicomedy—“Let’s See How Far They’ve Come and Tear It All Down.” Spoiler alert: the show never ends, and the house always wins.
Let’s talk about the infrastructure that’s under attack. You know, the stuff Black folks built brick by brick while dodging systemic tripwires and outright sabotage. It’s not just roads and bridges we’re talking about—although, if you’ve ever tried driving through potholes that double as portals to the center of the Earth, you’d know infrastructure hits differently when you’re Black. No, this is about the schools, businesses, and cultural institutions painstakingly constructed against the odds, like a Jenga tower in a hurricane. And now, shockingly, there are people actively trying to pull the blocks out.
The Schools
Nothing screams “We care about your future” quite like underfunded schools and sanitized textbooks. Remember when they wanted to teach kids that slavery was actually just a really bad internship? “You’ll get paid in exposure, Kunta. Just stick it out for a few centuries.” Meanwhile, critical race theory—a concept most critics couldn’t spell, let alone define—is painted as the boogeyman, as though acknowledging racism might give kids ideas like, I don’t know, stopping racism. But sure, let’s keep teaching about George Washington’s dental struggles while glossing over how he owned real live human beings. That’ll prepare the youth.
The Businesses
Ah, Black Wall Street. Not the app, but the thriving financial epicenter that was burned to the ground in Tulsa because—plot twist—racists didn’t like competition (with their women or progress). Did I say that out loud? Don’t care. Fast forward to today, and the cycle continues. Black-owned businesses are expected to thrive on vibes and hashtags while being denied loans faster than you can say “disproportionate rejection rate.” Oh, but when we do succeed? Suddenly, it’s all, “Why do they need a Black Expo? Isn’t that racist against white businesses?” Sure, Karen. Because your cupcake shop really needed reparations for losing the PTA bake sale.
The Culture
Let’s talk about Black culture, which, fun fact, is America’s most exported product. Everyone loves the music, the style, the slang—until, of course, they remember where it came from. At that point, it’s a race to repackage it, slap a TikTok trend on it, and pretend it emerged from the cultural vacuum of the suburbs. Meanwhile, efforts to preserve Black history—museums, films, and, you know, facts—are being labeled as divisive. Divisive? It’s not a team sport, Chad. There’s no “I” in history, but there sure as hell is a “us.”
The Solutions
So how do we fight back? Well, for starters, let’s stop playing defense. Every time someone says, “Why don’t we have a White History Month?” remind them they just misspelled ‘January through December.’ Invest in Black businesses, fund Black schools, and support Black artists—because nobody’s going to do it for us. And when someone tries to whitewash history, hand them a copy of “The 1619 Project” and tell them it’s the prequel to “Hamilton.” And then maybe a copy of “Straight Jackin'” because that’s one of my faves as well.
Lastly, vote like your life depends on it—because, spoiler, it does. We should be using a Rated System, but that’s a discussion for another day. There’s a reason voter suppression efforts target Black communities like heat-seeking missiles. They’re terrified of what happens when we show up. And if they’re not afraid, we’re not trying hard enough.
So that’s what’s up, Black America, under siege but never out of options. We’ve been here before, and we’ll be here again. Just remember: the infrastructure they’re trying to destroy? We built it once. We can build it again.
But next time, maybe install some big ass bear traps.