I Am Fed Up

I am fed up.

From a cumulation of various things going on around, sometimes within me.

I am fed up, watching things transpire, knowing there’s not much going to change despite situations requiring such.

As a black male, I look around at the state of the black community in America and I am disheartened. Granted, I was born on African shores, in Lagos, Nigeria to be exact. I came here at 17, and have called this place home since then. America pretty much molded me into who I am now, yes I retain a lot of Nigerian qualities including my distinct accent, but I’d be lying if I didn’t acknowledge how much American society has played a part in who I am now.

Interestingly enough when I first came here, I could not detach myself from my Nigerian identity, often clarifying whenever I was asked that I am Nigerian, to make sure I wasn’t confused for someone who was born here. My foolishness then in thinking that the black plight is somehow different based on geography took several years to outgrow but eventually I began to realize that regardless of where we are born, we are all viewed in similar ways.

I don’t know when things began to change for me, maybe it was in school and often being a minority in class. Maybe it was my travels abroad and noticing how differently I was treated as compared to back in America. Maybe it was the political climate here, including the rise of the black lives matter movement. Regardless something awoke in me, and I have seen similar in peers who also happened to be of similar background as I am.

I live in Chicago, a city with some of the most amazing architecture on the planet. As a photographer I am often lost in the beauty of this city. It truly is a fantastic place to live in, but as a black man, Chicago also has a dangerous under belly. An extremely violent city by all accounts. Yet in living here, sometimes I feel so distanced from the actual turmoil. One knows there are certain areas not to go to, and for the most part nothing happens where I live. Knowing this, I realize that for a lot of us, because of the comfort of our lives, we are insulated from realities very different from ours. Take for instance social media, once in a while a post will go viral and people will be moved to act over some issue they were oblivious of until an image pops up on their timeline demanding action. I can name almost a dozen hashtag campaigns that start off strong but fade into nothingness with time. Yet those issues persist, without the global attention that is.

I can’t begin to imagine what it’s like to live in an area where making it through the day is not guaranteed. Sadly for some Chicagoans, that’s their reality. Knowing this, I know the stakes are high, and the political discourse on these matters are simply not good enough. As a black male I am concerned by issues that will affect me, shouldn’t I be?

From police brutality to violence in our communities. To high poverty rates and unemployment, my eventual choice for whomever I vote for will be influenced by this. I remember in 2008, the excitement I had for then senator Obama and the fantastic campaign of hope he ran. In eight years, hope fizzled out, and I saw politics for what it was. Don’t get me wrong, B.O. will go down as a great president, regardless of what certain media figures keep telling you. He came into office at a very bad period and weathered some very nasty storms. As a progressive candidate he’s helped implement some very important legislation and for the most part, the country is doing fine. Yet and I stress yet, the one group that happens to not be beneficiaries of all this, are the blacks. Travel through most states in this country, visit the worse off areas, you’ll begin to realize that they all have something in common. Black people, one of the democratic parties most reliable voting blocs, have felt the brunt of hardship for decades, heck centuries if we are being factual. Granted simply blaming one party for problems that both sides have contributed to and mostly ignored is the wrong way to go about things, but I point out the fact that we have the first black president in office and still situations seem to be worsening, including the elevation of white nationalists to prominence. It’s a sad state of things where a capably competent minority president might be followed up by one whose rise to fame was on the backs of bigots and rabble rousers.

Politicians when they get into their double speak, will tell you it takes time to see policies implemented. Yet, time is probably something blacks in America don’t have. Any more time delayed in implementing legislation to improve the lives of these communities continues to damn them.

America has lost generations simply based on how they’ve treated these communities. From the horrendous incarceration rates, to institutionalized racism and lack of opportunities for these groups. It’s not just a black thing either, minorities and people of color mostly skew towards the bottom of most economic data that measures progress in America.

Yet I ask, why aren’t we treating this like a crisis? Why do politicians pander to blacks every election cycle then disappear from their lives once they get their way?

Why do we keep supporting the architects of our misfortune without demanding and holding their feet to the fire?

I have watched as a brave young NFL player named Colin Kaepernick take a stance to highlight police brutality. I have also seen the swift take down on him and his character, sometimes by fellow blacks with a megaphone. I have watched as the concerns he raised about policing have been swept under the rug, to be replaced by faux outrage over the military. Mind you, Kaepernick has said several times his intent was never to ‘diss’ our illustrious army men, of which blacks also happen to serve and give their lives for. This incident only highlights how difficult it is to truly address the issues that face black people in America.

When you have a major political party that won’t even tackle black issues and treats them like Superman would Kryptonite and another which has for decades pandered to the community, you get a toxic situation where no progress is being made.

We’ve already seen in cities like Baltimore and Milwaukee, the taste of what a frustrated populace can do when they feel taken advantage of. Can America afford to have this spread out all over the country?

I don’t claim to have the answers. Perhaps we have reached a point where reasonable solutions don’t work anymore. That’d be a damn shame if that were the case. I do think the current course isn’t sustainable. For all the talk about uniting America and Americans, by ignoring the plight of people of color, the rhetoric appears very hollow. Both parties have a responsibility to improve the lives of their citizens.

As I think of how to conclude this, I can’t help but applaud all the individuals taking a stance. Letting their voices be heard and doing whatever it takes to elevate the plight of their people. May your efforts not be in vain.