Before departing for the trip I'd pick up a copy of Augusten Burrough's Possible Side Effects from Borders Books which, along with Michelle Sewell's anthology Growing Up Girl and Tim Wise's White Like Me I had planned to read while travelling or when I'd have some down time in South Boston. Wise and Burroughs are two of my favorite writers. When searching for Burroughs' book at Borders, before leaving, whose name nor book title I could not recall, I could not help but reflect on a conversation that I had had almost a week before when on Friday evening of 9 June that Stan would join me for a quick bite at Dakota Cowgirls during which time he expressed that he had always been impressed with the power of my photography saying further that had it not been for the struggles that I had expereinced, perhaps, my photography and writings would not be so powerful.
When he said what he said It brought to mind so many conversations that I had had with so many white folks about 'my struggles' that were in sharp contrast to their experiences and, for the most, had been created, orchestrated and manipuilated by them. I would respond, '... imagine what and who I could be and the kind of photography and writing I would be sharing with the world if my life had not about risin' above the oppression, reacting to the lies and rebounding from the many struggles, that had been created, specifically, for me ...'
What attracts me to Burroughs is that my writing style is not unlike his. But, as a black man, I can't even begin to get there. Because, as a black man, I must spend every moment of my black life, risin' above the oppression.
When at the Juneteenth Celebration keynote speaker Dr. Ralph Reavis, President of Virgnina University of Lynchburg, would began by saying that people ask "Why are you always talking about he past?" I would reflect on conversations that I had had with many whites and some blacks, that I refer as 'house negroes' who had asked the exact same question of me when I had confronted them about the racism and oppression that they had displayed towards me.
The event also featured two essay winners from a contest sponsored by the Wind Beneath the Wings organization. When the high school winner, a young black male named Craig Keyes, would present his essay which spoke on issues and concerns that he felt the commuinity and society were not addressing that imnpacted the lives of young blacks the crowd would applaud in agreement. And when Walter Potts would congradulate the young black man for his inspiring and powerful essay, saying to the crowd that, apparently, these young folks know just how to articulate what they need and what should be done, but the problem is more that 'We don't listen to them!'.
Though I was busy taking pictures, I thought to myself, '... young black man, while they will applaud you now, you will come to realize, that even though they know and hear every word that you say they will always do just the opposite of what you suggest. You will come realize, my black brother, that it is not that they are not listening to you, but, in fact, that they are. And once they know what you need or where plan to go they will go behind and in front of you dismanteling everything that you do or say! All the while pretending not to understand why or to what you say, yet, listening to every word ...