Here's what I realized yesterday: it is the lie of "we"ll do better next time" that lies (no pun there) at the heart of the refusal to pay reparations or do reparative justice in America.
Let me explain.
When an inequity is laid bare, power brokers have two choices: address it and make the person who has been robbed whole, or not. When the latter choice is made, as it so often is, in an effort to blunt the edge of their moral laziness (torpitude?) power brokers may say that the organization/system recognizes its lapse, and promises to "Do better next time". But that's bullshit, straight no chaser bullshiggety. "The next time" the organization or system will shaft the oppressed in some new way, that is all.
Do not be fooled. The system of oppression does change, yes, but only minutely for the better. Mostly it changes for the slyer, the slicker, the more deceptive at oppression. The system tweaks its levers of oppression frequently, but never with a view to doing away with those levers entirely. Oh no! The goal is to lower the temperature on the boiling pot just enough that the frog forgets he is dying and remains in the water. There is no intention to turn off the heat. Nor is the intention that the frog should survive, far less thrive.
Promises of changed behavior in the future are nonsense. Do not believe them.
Here's the other thing: those promises are themselves a form of oppression. They, more than the original inequity, are how racial inequality is entrenched. By saying, "It's too late to fix this now, let's move on and do better next time", powerholders ensured that the people of Rosewood, FL and Seneca Village, NY for example never saw redress. Emmett Till's people; George Stinney's people; the hundreds of thousands who fled the south leaving everything behind, never saw redress. None of us ever sees redress. Not one. Because we are not worthy of being made whole.
We are massacred and robbed and left to start over with zero paid to us for our injury. We are daily robbed of wages, promotions, recognition, ideas, genius, and we never see redress. Why? Because we are not worthy of being made whole.
Organizations commit (with fingers crossed behind backs) that "next time" they wil do better, but in truth that's probably not going to happen. We don't deserve it, so supremacy believes, ergo, it ain't happening. And that "next time" the organization will likely do a different harm, resist the truth of that harm, and finally, make no effort to address it claiming it'll do better the next "next time". And the bether next next time never comes either. It's not supposed to. Consider the frog: it's still in hot water, its death is still scheduled if delayed.
African pepple, Native people, Hispanic people, are perpetually awaiting the "better next time" outcomes. This is why on a system-wide level, reparative work is never done and progress is not possible. Until the pain of the harm inflicted is felt by they who have inflicted it; until punishment is meted out, hear me well, there can be no learning, there can be no better next time. Pavlov and B. F. Skinner understood that changing behavior demanded a punishment/reward system to be effective. Consequences lead to change. America doesn't do consequences. And she doesn't do apologies either. (Ask Barack Obama).
There is no punishment in America and so there will never be any change. Changed behavior has to be rewarded for it to stick but America rewards oppression. Why the hell would we give it up?
Let me explain.
When an inequity is laid bare, power brokers have two choices: address it and make the person who has been robbed whole, or not. When the latter choice is made, as it so often is, in an effort to blunt the edge of their moral laziness (torpitude?) power brokers may say that the organization/system recognizes its lapse, and promises to "Do better next time". But that's bullshit, straight no chaser bullshiggety. "The next time" the organization or system will shaft the oppressed in some new way, that is all.
Do not be fooled. The system of oppression does change, yes, but only minutely for the better. Mostly it changes for the slyer, the slicker, the more deceptive at oppression. The system tweaks its levers of oppression frequently, but never with a view to doing away with those levers entirely. Oh no! The goal is to lower the temperature on the boiling pot just enough that the frog forgets he is dying and remains in the water. There is no intention to turn off the heat. Nor is the intention that the frog should survive, far less thrive.
Promises of changed behavior in the future are nonsense. Do not believe them.
Here's the other thing: those promises are themselves a form of oppression. They, more than the original inequity, are how racial inequality is entrenched. By saying, "It's too late to fix this now, let's move on and do better next time", powerholders ensured that the people of Rosewood, FL and Seneca Village, NY for example never saw redress. Emmett Till's people; George Stinney's people; the hundreds of thousands who fled the south leaving everything behind, never saw redress. None of us ever sees redress. Not one. Because we are not worthy of being made whole.
We are massacred and robbed and left to start over with zero paid to us for our injury. We are daily robbed of wages, promotions, recognition, ideas, genius, and we never see redress. Why? Because we are not worthy of being made whole.
Organizations commit (with fingers crossed behind backs) that "next time" they wil do better, but in truth that's probably not going to happen. We don't deserve it, so supremacy believes, ergo, it ain't happening. And that "next time" the organization will likely do a different harm, resist the truth of that harm, and finally, make no effort to address it claiming it'll do better the next "next time". And the bether next next time never comes either. It's not supposed to. Consider the frog: it's still in hot water, its death is still scheduled if delayed.
African pepple, Native people, Hispanic people, are perpetually awaiting the "better next time" outcomes. This is why on a system-wide level, reparative work is never done and progress is not possible. Until the pain of the harm inflicted is felt by they who have inflicted it; until punishment is meted out, hear me well, there can be no learning, there can be no better next time. Pavlov and B. F. Skinner understood that changing behavior demanded a punishment/reward system to be effective. Consequences lead to change. America doesn't do consequences. And she doesn't do apologies either. (Ask Barack Obama).
There is no punishment in America and so there will never be any change. Changed behavior has to be rewarded for it to stick but America rewards oppression. Why the hell would we give it up?
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