A Dollar and A Dream: January 2021

Few words ring more honestly than the tweet below:

For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.
Psalms 30:5 KJVhttps://t.co/fjn6HLA5ad
— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) January 9, 2021

Y'all don't understand the words coming from my mouth, just the ones that sound good to you for the moment. While some of our schools' teachers try to mealy mouth their way out of teaching history as it is being made before our very eyes just like the ones at Conway High (save one wonderful American Government educator whom I had my sophomore year) as they simultaneously scrape the bottom of their toolboxes for "I Have a Dream..." without giving any context to Brother Martin's life in the struggle, I must reiterate these words: JOY COMETH IN THE MORNING. For all Black Americans have endured over the course of 402 years, we still hold to the fallacy that all men are created equal just like the Declaration of Independence quotes in the first Article, and sadly, it is still inaccurate at best - and at worst, Wednesday. How do I know? I've read it. I've recited it. I've written multiple essays, used it as research for past blogs, and even won a contest or two back in my wee days! In other words, I spent a lot of time trying to understand how an idea so noble can easily become such a nightmare.

This is morning, and since we're here, we might as well be joyful.

Also, as an aside, if you choose to throw up the only quote from Brother Martin that you know of - the "I Have a Dream..." as you've spent the last decade peddling hatred via birtherism, not-so-coded language, the idolatry of a man who will no longer mean much in few days and the tolerance in the name of tax cuts, you might ought to sit this one out. If you're more than OK with military force used against Black protesters and quiet as a mouse as a mostly white crowd stormed the Capitol, then you've lost agency and the right to speak of Dr. King as if your actions resemble what he tried teaching for 39 years before he was assassinated.
There are a lot of people who need to sit out Monday and watch the real ones lead. #MLKDay
— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) January 14, 2021
When joy comes in the morning, clarity is made known. Some souls will be set free, and others will cling with every ounce of being to sow dissention at every turn. See most of the men and women who won congressional seats in this past season and consider how they campaigned if you disagree with me.

But before we enter our season of joy, let us revisit the momentary anger. This is not "I'm gonna beat your butt" anger rather as acknowledging a clearly obvious observation, the United States of America has treated its written words very selectively toward Black people and as we make one step forward, it is met by with violent backlash every single time: The Civil War. Reconstruction. Wilmington. Elaine. The Tulsa Race Riots. The Sixteenth Street church bombing in Birmingham. Selma. The MOVE bombings in Philadelphia. Minneapolis. Is this the reason why white people are more than amenable with the nonviolence movement, that they could do whatever they wanted to Black people without fear of retribution or some sort of a penalty? Keep in mind that here in Arkansas, where a hate crime law does not exist on the books - and given the folks in the state Legislature, it probably will not happen since a vocal group is too busy aiming for a Stand Your Ground law that allows the judicial community to side with the so-called aggrieved Barney Fife if he murders one of us. The anger described is not just one of an individual's actions [the lone wolf idea peddled versus genetic attribution] but also a furor toward supposedly cherished systems and symbols that systematically put us behind the 8-ball.

Watch this quote float all over social media when accountability gets deflected

Joy cometh in the morning!

Our weeping is not always limited to literal wailing and falling all over the place with loud tears. We weep when we hurt, and we cry accordingly. One thing we do better than anyone else is make a way out of no way, and if no one knows the rewards of delayed gratification, it should be Black America; unfortunately, some of us still find ourselves buying our way to freedom via cars, clothes, and houses stunting short-term like a bunch of high school kids in exchange for accruing debt that enslaves us and limits flexibility, reducing what is termed by Primerica representatives the financial independence number (FIN) thereby remaining tethered to an employment situation that is less than appealing AND a continued reason to sob.

They don't value our lives, just our cheese

We weep over structures that were never intended to benefit us, and when one breaks through, then the entire board game is knocked over with game pieces strewn everywhere and Monopoly money ripped to shreds. How? Does the name OJ Simpson ring a bell? Or what happened in Georgia a couple of weeks ago? Our Blackness pays multiple tolls nearly every day for access that at best is a mere mirage of how equality is presented, seldom if ever is equity granted.

So...did Martin help integrate us into a burning house? Some days, it seems like it.

Jesus wept.
John 11:35 KJV https://t.co/bpUzoEmpti
— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) January 15, 2021

Through Him, joy comes in the morning.

When joy comes in the morning, there will be peace.

When joy comes in the morning, there will be liberty.

When joy comes in the morning, there will be rest.

When joy comes in the morning, there will be an irrefutable evidence of understanding and an undeniable comprehension.

When joy comes in the morning, there will also be a judgment rightfully dividing truth from lie - and a lot of people will finally be ashamed of themselves for perpetuating a myth for so long.

Get ready.

Joy cometh in the morning.

This is not my fight. -Black Twitter

One week into a bunch of bitches losing their shit and tearing their way through DC, I'm still minding my own black-ass business.

This is the 🇺🇸 I've always known.
— A. Cedric Armstrong (@cedteaches) January 14, 2021

If there was no other time to sit back and laugh to keep from crying, this is it.

January 6, 2021 will forever live in infamy as the day the Saltine Siege tried to reenact a scene from a movie where a mob overtakes the US Capitol. As the elected senators and congressmen save the pair in Georgia who were victorious in their runoff bids only a day earlier scurried to safety underneath desks, in offices, bunkers, and undisclosed locations, Vanilla ISIS made a mockery of the ideas outlined by the Founding Fathers breaking office glass or belaying the walls instead of simply taking the stairs with an unnecessary assist from the defeated incumbent POTUS whom they swear absolute fealty to - and the person they would bend the knee to.

I wish I was making this up.

But...this isn't my fight. Why should I care about a democracy that has only been forced within the last fifty years to give benevolent freedom to my ancestors and elders, most of whom were subjugated to the caste system some of today's so-called patriots have benefited from at every turn from the Homestead Act to the GI Bill to those low-interest home loans and the simple act of voting without risking life and limbs?

We know what happened, and I won't breathe further life into what the Coup Klutz Klan attempted. Rather, it is an indictment of two things: 1)the actual beginning of America as a nation; and 2)we still have a large swath of the nation who, like their Dear Fuhrer, has never really been told no in their mediocre lives. It would be too easily to dismiss them as Y'all Qaeda with their Yee-Yee F-150s with Rough Country six-inch lift kits and a matching 84 month payment term that won't see dirt as the mainstream media paints their plight as economic anxiety conversely to what it is: a fear of a changing nation, one that is comfortable with new voices of different shades leading the way to the future as HezBubba returns to their communities feeling more isolated, unemployed, ostracized, and rightfully ashamed for participating in an insurrection just because their desired candidate took a L.