Dealing with Black-on-Black Conflict in the Movement
Black-on-Black Conflict in the Movement ~ Look, here is what I can tell you from experience. Anyone who has time to be running around spreading accusations about other people who are actually out on the battlefield, putting in work, cannot possibly be putting in the work themselves. Period!
It totally amazes me how there are people who have made a career out of trashing others. I was just asked to weigh in on a certain person. My response was that I don’t openly speak ill of those who are trying to make a difference. If I don’t agree with something, I go to them or their camp, and what I find is that I get a better understanding of the person and where they are at. This is because I go in with the lucid understanding of the fact that I am far from perfect — struggling daily with my fallibilities as a black man.
When you go behind someone’s back to share their fallibilities without first speaking to them about it, you expose your true motives — even if you don’t recognize them yourself.
Black-on-Black Conflict in the Movement
Allow me to be clear, I am not speaking about any one person in particular, but the person that asked me about a specific person sent me a link where a person has literally set up an entire page to trash a specific person. One thing I can tell you is that you can never build anything if you are constantly in the mode of tearing things down. The destructive mentality cannot build. It can be used to destroy the enemy, but it can never be used to elevate those on the positive side of the equation.
What this person is actually doing is using the name of the person that they are trashing to drive traffic to their monetized site, which generates revenue. Like I said, making a career out of trashing others.
We would accomplish so much more if we stood with one another, held one another accountable and challenged one another to be better men and women.
I don’t have to like you, or agree with your philosophies to support your work, all I have to do is believe that you are sincere about helping our people, and I will do the best I can do to make you successful. I will not co-sign your wrong, but I will not tear you town in the public spotlight.
Don’t get me wrong, there are some people who are in the spotlight that have done some stuff that simply didn’t make sense to me, but I look at the big picture. How does me going after them in the public eye impact the potential for unity among our people. It doesn’t, it creates division along the lines of supporters for all individuals involves.
At the same time, people reserve the right to have opinions, and they have the right to express them openly, if they so choose; however, it would be more beneficial to evaluate how much open conflict will hurt the mission. If you are seriously concerned about a person’s behavior, contact them and express your concerns clearly and be willing to listen to their perspective. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace, Ph.D.