While still lying in bed Wednesday morning, I received a text message from one my best friends saying, “Good morning. So once again slaughtered in the street”. She was referring to the news that Alton Sterling was shot six times in Baton Rouge Louisiana by police. Upon hearing this not so shocking news, the words “F–k your breath” resonated in my soul. 

Last year Eric Harris, an unarmed black man was gunned down by police. As he lay face down struggling to breathe, a white officer responded with three simple words, “F–k your breath”. Eric Harris died a few hours later. Every time I hear that a black man or woman has lost their life after having an encounter with law enforcement, I remember the words “F–k your breath”. Why do those words come to mind? Ultimately, those words are the enduring message to America’s black populace. Those words comprise the paradigm, framework, and ideology of black oppression and subjugation in America.

In three simple words, one member of law enforcement spilled the proverbial beans and told the world what America really thinks and has always thought of its black citizens. These words have successfully undergirded every system of black oppression and subjugation in America. From chattel slavery and Jim Crow in the south to the urban ghetto and mass incarceration in the north. The message being conveyed is, “F–k your breath”.

Every trip along the transatlantic slave trade route (F—k your breath),  every middle passage journey (F—k your breath), every sale on the auction block (F—k your breath), every child sold from his mother (F—k your breath), every husband sold from his wife (F—k your breath), every whip and beating (F—k your breath), every branding (F—k your breath), every rape (F—k your breath), the 3/5ths compromise (F—k your breath), the Dred Scott decision (F—k your breath), every lynching (F—k your breath), the burning of Black wall street (F—k your breath) every whites only sign (F—k your breath), every housing project (F—k your breath), every black man who finds a life of imprisonment from the three strike rule (F—k your breath), every Trayvon Martin (F—k your breath), every Mike Brown (F—k your breath), and every Sandra Bland (F—k your breath). From 1619 to 2016, the enduring message to the black man is “F–k your breath”. A message devoid of any human compassion or moral conscience by those who speak such words; and a message meant to utterly defeat the souls of those the message was intended for. 

Instinct says to go on a tirade, denigrating the officers who commit such heinous acts, to rant and rave, casting reproach on the justice system which creates an environment ripe for such inhumanity, and lastly, instinct says to appeal to the conscience of this nation to finally realize that black lives do indeed matter. But that would be completely foolhardy. In other words, to go that route would be irresponsible, reckless and thoughtlessly bold. But that begs the question, “why?”

The paradigm of black oppression and its subsequent systems, institutions, laws and social and culture framework are very intricate and subtle. Ironically, one cannot change a system by changing said system. Despite the changes that occur to the system and within the system, the system will always find a way to do what it was intended to do. That is why Dr. King said, “I fear I may have integrated my people into a burning building”. He realized that the systems of black oppression will achieve the goal of black oppression despite the illusion of progress made during the Civil Rights Movement. Any attempts we make to change the system via marching, protests, and getting our people to Washington to turn bills into laws will be futile. The paradigm of black oppression and subjugation will always meet its end goal; to convey the message, “F–k your breath”. 

If we are seeking true freedom, we must transcend the paradigm of black oppression and stop seeking restitution, justice, and equality from a system whose sole purpose is to keepthose attributes from reach. We must stop begging for acceptance from without and seek it from within. The Black Panther Party’s survival programs are the hallmark of transcending the systems of oppression. Self-love, self-acceptance, and  economic self-sufficiency are the key. Has asking the oppressor politely to stop saying, “F–k your breath” or even making demands that this stop been a success? 

Harry Truman said, “if you can’t convince them, confuse them”. This has proven to be one of the most subtle and successful tactics of racism and its subjugation of blacks. There have always been those who have refused to hear, believe and act in such a way when the system said, “F–k your breath”. Nat Turner, Denmark Vessey, Harriet Tubman and countless others who ran towards freedom were unconvinced that they deserved a life any less than the ones afforded to their white counterparts. They fought, bled, and died countering “f–k your breath” with “the wretched of the earth will be free”* But for those blacks who weren’t convinced one way or the other, confusion was in order. 

And confusion morphed itself into none other than a black president. This act more than any other has left most of us bewildered as to where we stand as black people in America. We have a Barack Obama but we also have an Eric Garner, LaQuwan McDonald, Sandra Bland and the nearly 100 other blacks killed by police in 2015. How can this be? Is America the place where you can be anything you want, even the commander in chief of the United States of America?Or is it the place where you are 5 times more likely to be killed by police? Is the intrinsic racism of this nation to blame or are our own shortcomings as a people to blame for our impoverished state? We are more confused than ever. Dr. Cornel West explains, “The ascendency of Barack Obama could easily dampen Black prophetic fire…ironically, the incredible excitement of the Obama campaign could produce a new sleepwalking in Black America in the name of the Obama success”. 

8 years of Obama will never overshadow 244 years of chattel slavery, 85 years of Sharecropping, 77 years of Jim Crow nor 3,446 lynchings. How dare we allow 8 years to somehow rectify facing the drudgery and dehumanization of slavery, the extreme injustice and segregation of Jim Crow and the destruction and hopelessness found in the urban ghettos in the cities across this country with limited life chances, choices and access to the available resources in society. May we forever hear the echo of the last words Eric Harris heard, “F–k your breath” to propel us out of the comatose state of complacency and propel us to forever sever ties with the system that seeks our perpetual bondage. May we begin to see things as they really are and not how we wish them to be. We can no longer bury our heads in the sand and pretend we live in a post racial, color blind, meritocracy. Dr. King’s dream is nothing more than a real life nightmare. The truth hurts. But it will heal if you let it. The painful truth is, “f–k your breath” is the enduring message for those who skin is as tar and with kinks in their hair. But the healing comes upon realization that the very breath they fight so hard to extinguish, is the very breath they wish they had. 

* quote from Ericka Huggins