Opinion: We Have Become Like Our Oppressors: A Juneteenth Reflection

By Linda Banks

Finally. Slavery ended. Bondage ended. Family separations ended. Free labor ended. Or did it?

We often reflect on how far we have come and how far we have to go. Intellectual slavery persists. Our new master appears to be $Green. The marriage rate is down and the divorce rate is up. Prison labor has replaced slave labor.  There is so much more to say about the plight of African Americans in the United States of America. That would be an apt reflection.

This reflection is about the spirit of community that we have allowed to slip through our fingers. Where is the neighborhood support that used to keep us all clothed and fed, without judgment? In Toni Morrison’s The Bluest Eye, everybody got a piece of the watermelon when it was broken open. No one grabbed all they could and hoarded what they couldn’t eat. Everyone grabbed just enough for them to enjoy and left the rest for someone else.

I look around our communities in Prince George’s County and remember how we took pride in being the wealthiest African American county in the U.S. We enjoyed the independence of  predominantly Black community leaders in our executive, legislative and judicial branches of government. But that memory is fading.

We have become like our oppressors. We have created “haves and have-nots” communities. We have separated ourselves by the side of the gate we live on. We have done to each other what others used to do to all of us. We use our official positions to show favoritism to our personal friends and political allies. Some Divine 9 Greek organizations who have charged themselves with uplifting the whole community have become like private clubs who only uplift members of their own community. “Who you know” has always been a part of political and business culture, but now it appears to supersede every other consideration such that the unqualified but connected person consistently surpasses the qualified but independent person.

We all see it happening right in front of our eyes, but who will stand against it?  Who will say enough is enough?  Who is the one who will stand against the back room deals before they become public?  Will we ever set ourselves free to be better than we’ve ever been allowed to be?

We have become like our oppressors. Singular careers outweigh the needs of our community, our seniors, our children, and our future. Unqualified donors are awarded six-figure jobs that are funded by the people’s exorbitant taxes and the experienced applicant suffers. Money is moved to support pet projects as a path to reelection and our community suffers. Mothers seeking child support in the court system are treated like second-class citizens and our children suffer. We have become like our oppressors. Who will stand against it?

Today, the “we’ll walk hand in hand” lyric should first be imagined as a brown hand holding a brown hand. The shade of the hand or where the hand lives should not matter.  We must learn to walk hand in hand with each other before we can walk hand in hand with anyone else.  It has been said that you can’t love someone else if you don’t first love yourself.  We have to love ourselves enough to stand against our own oppressive practices that have crept into our communities.

We have become like our oppressors. We must right the ship and become one community, all on the same side of the gate, with only one applicable standard and with the goals of helping all of us to be our very best and prodding each other towards loving accountability.  We don’t have to be like our oppressors.  We can be better than that. But who will stand against it?

Linda Banks lives in Prince George’s County and is an attorney for the federal government and is ordained minister.