“The Trojan Horse”

Warning: This post is going to be very different from any post I’ve ever written. I normally don’t speak on these topics but I feel as an African-American journalist, my opinion should be heard. I may say some things you don’t agree with, but I ask that you listen with an open mind. We were born with two ears and one mouth for a reason. Hear me out and this may change the world.

The current state of this country is fucked up.It’s been almost 6 months since the beginning of this pandemic and no one has the slightest clue of what’s going on. Everyday there’s a new report that contradicts the previous reports. There are cities, literally, burning to the ground because of the lack of compassion towards people of color that extend back to way before our great grandparents where born. There are people who put their hand on the Bible and “solemnly swore to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States (& our local communities)” with the “best of their ability” but in recent years have done the complete opposite.

When Odysseus ordered his men to build the trojan horse and present it to the people of Troy at the end of the trojan war, he sent a message saying it was an offering to the goddess, Athena. They thought that it was a reward for persevering all those years in battle and brought it inside of their city. What they didn’t know is that it wasn’t a gift for Athena & that Odysseus and his troops double backed during the middle of the night. While the people of Troy slept, soldiers that were hidden inside the belly of the horse unlocked the gates to the city. Mayhem broke out and almost everybody died.

As wild as that story is, there are various versions of the Trojan Horse happening right now in front of our faces and we (as an entire country) are falling for the fucking okey doke. We see positive movements like #BlackLivesMatter that are pushing for equality in everyday walks of life, but the name has been hijacked by people who have no interest in helping the cause, they just want to monetize from it. We have people who ride around our communities & intentionally seek to dismantle an already broken community. It’s to the point now that the “leader of the free world”, leads us further away from unity and closer to destruction.

In 1981, Adam Osbourne created the laptop. 39 years later, almost all of technology from the iPhone to the Apple Watch could all lowkey be a mini-laptop. The “Osbourne 1” was the prototype to a piece of equipment that has shaped the course of the next few generations. Now imagine if he said, “man, I wish there was a way I could create a mobile computer that didn’t weigh a ton” but didn’t act on that thought. We would probably still have pen pals.

The point I’m trying to make is this: he saw a need for portable computers & instead of complaining that nobody has created one, he put his energy behind his idea. Instead of whining about it, he actually put action behind his words and changed the world. WE COULD DO THE SAME! Instead of arguing with each other about skin color, we could put the past behind us and band together as a whole. Because I have this weird feeling that the pot is being intentionally stirred right now for another race war to happen.

The Trojan Horses of today come through one-sided media coverage. Playing off your fears and your emotions, paid to tell different versions of the same story to fit their audience. Turning each other against each other. Using these stories to continue to aggravate an already agitated situation by day in and day out displaying absurd images of police brutality. These stories could easily be tailored to band people together but instead, they cause more division.

The sad part about all of this, is that once each side has had enough and decide to take to the streets (more than what’s happening now), the Red White and Blue will be called to our cities & towns and it won’t matter what skin color you are, if you are out of line, you will be handled accordingly. Some people are in a trance, thinking that calling the military to your city is a good idea until there’s real martial law and there’s no “essential workers”, it’s straight lock down and we will definitely find out where that multi-million dollar budget goes.

This is why it is important that we put all this bullshit behind us. The real betrayal is coming from the very people you think are here to protect you. Instead of relying on government officials to bail us out, we need to bail ourselves out & it starts at home. Racism is a learned behaviour. What you teach your kids about other ethnic groups shapes their perception of how they see people that don’t look like them. Instead of teaching hate for other races, or teaching supremacy and ignorance, we should teach love and compassion.

As the picture above states, betrayal never comes from your enemies. It comes from the people that know the most about you. They know your weaknesses, they know what buttons to push to cause civil unrest and right now, they are pushing the hell out of them. All that to say this, as a country, we need to do better. We need to show more compassion to one another. We can’t change what happened but if we return to the likes of MLK, JFK and all others who died tried to unify the world, I promise we would be in a better state.

When I think about the world I want my son to witness (and I’m sure you want your sons, daughters, nieces, nephews to as well), I envision the goodness this world has to offer. That is only possible by putting our differences aside, respecting one another and joining together to change the course of the forthcoming generations. We need to teach our children how to love each other. The best way to show compassion to others is by action. Action puts your intentions on a specific purpose and once you’ve figure out what that reason is, you will chase it relentlessly. When we put our energy towards understanding each others story and moving forward with love, I believe the world will return back to peace. I believe in order for things to go back to “normal”, we need to get rid of the darkness by becoming the light.

“… It ought to to be possible, in short, for every American to enjoy the privileges of being American without regard to his race or his color.” — John F. Kennedy

• SB