Sister Grandmothers, 6/1/2020 What’s Next, by Judith Hamer
I believe it’s time for a radical rethinking of our future. I propose that California secede from the US and become a haven for black United States citizens. The new country will guarantee equitable access to education, jobs, health care and housing, and freedom from outright abuse (killing of unarmed black men) and freedom from micro aggressions such as being followed around in expensive women’s clothing stores or being complimented on your ability to speak “good” English.
This move is not without precedent. Remember the Civil War? More recently in the 1960s the Nation of Islam (Black Muslims) proposed taking over one of the southern states – Alabama? Georgia? – as a refuge for the Nation. (Not even they wanted Mississippi.) I imagine that the southern state was chosen because of its already large black population. It certainly seemed more appealing than Chicago, where the Nation was founded, with its winter weather and short growing season. But why would a despised minority select a state bordered by other regions that wish to destroy them? Seems like an Israeli death wish to me.
California has several advantages, the first of which is its extensive sea coast, visually appealing, agriculturally productive, a reliable escape route. Eventually an earthquake will sunder the state from its existing eastern borders – an island nation has obvious geographic advantages. Neither the U.S. or California would regret that separation. Except perhaps for NYC, the rest of the U.S. thinks California is far too progressive. They just started a fund that will provide health care for illegal immigrants during the virus pandemic. Imagine the humanity! We Californians will keep the probability of physical separation in the forefront of our minds; perhaps in the future we’ll be able to speed up its inevitable occurrence.
California will not be a segregated country per se. Those whites who already live there will have to take an Anti-racist test in order to remain; those who want to come in, white or black, will have to take the same test. It will be Pass / Fail so that getting a 90% for you overachievers will make you no better off than someone who gets a 70%. However, if you fail you will have to go to a reeducation camp in California or go to back to one of the United States that believes in racial hierarchies – hatred and denigration and deprivation of the “other” – and acts on those beliefs.
I expect, however, that out-migration from the country of California will exceed in-migration since whites will fear the decline of their property values – you know how black people can ruin the neighborhood. They will also fear for their safety. The Central Park Karens and the Barbecue Beckys – are you up to date on your twitter memes? – as well as the Miss Annes that my grandparents stepped off the North Carolina sidewalks for – will flee California in an effort to hold onto their white privilege. They won’t realize until it’s too late that they’ll have to find a different and less identifiable group to be better than. By then the California borders will have closed.
California will prosper as a country since we will keep our main sources of income. Silicon Valley will remain productive; those employees can work from anywhere and their climate is great. We’ll nationalize the U.S .Navy in San Diego; where else can you find climate as good as that and practice war games under cloudless skies? Certainly not in Hampton Roads, Va. The agricultural base in the valley has to stay put; they have the richest soil in our now existing US.
Our family will thrive. Sister Cario will be closer to China where her language skills will be valuable for foreign relations – although not as close as Sarah Palin was to Russia whose land mass she could see from her back porch. Tim will implement his plan, developed 10 years ago, for converting waste water to potable water. Christopher’s skills as a scholar in world-wide slavery will be in demand as schools begin to teach fact based history. His wife, Hilary, an expert on women in film, will thrive in Hollywood – what place could be better for her? Michael Brown will prosper among the Silicon Valley techies and the LA arts scene. Daughter Fern will put her pharma knowledge to work as health care becomes a top priority, and there’ll be lots of opportunities for her husband, Michael, to design solar powered buildings. Daughter Jill’s legal and logical skills will be in high demand as the country forms a new, anti-racist constitution. I will document the before and after stories of our three generations. Daughter Kim already has a foothold In LA and can show us the ropes once we pass the CA anti-racist test.
Best of all, we will not have to wonder if the young men in our family will be lynched: Miles and Jackson, Cario’s grandsons; Langston and Ezra, my grandsons, will be as free from fear as your white boys are now in the U.S. We’ll go west and never look back.