FREEDOM FROM...
THE FIRE NEXT TIME: AN UNFORGIVING ESSAY ON RACIAL INJUSTICE IN AMERICA
WE CROSSED OCEANS, NOW WE’RE COMING FOR EVERYTHING: AN IMMIGRANT’S REVOLUTIONARY REBUKE TO AMERICA
CHAINS IN THE BOARDROOM: UNMASKING THE MACHINERY OF WORKPLACE RACISM
THE REAL HISTORY YOU’VE LIKELY NEVER LEARNED
04 06 11 17
WhereWeStand
FROM:
DATE: TO: VALIDFOR: the mockingbirdmovement right now you forever
Our country is in a state where Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are considered “bad words”, and being labeled “woke” is treated as an insult. Ideas like Critical Race Theory (CRT) are demonized before they are even understood, weaponized in political debates and soundbites designed to stoke fearandsidestepuncomfortabletruths.
Acknowledging systemic injustice isn’t radical. Demanding fair treatment, equal opportunity, and basic human dignity for everyone isn’t extremist ideology. It’s supposedtobetheveryfoundationofwhat freedominthiscountryactuallymeans.
THE FIRE NEXT TIME: AN UNFORGIVING ESSAY ON RACIAL INJUSTICE IN AMERICA
America, you lie.
You lie in your textbooks, in your courtrooms, in your whitewashed monuments and blood-soaked constitutions. You lie every time you pledge allegiance to “liberty and justice for all” while burying Black bodies under concrete and silence. You lie when you celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. and erase Fred Hampton. You lie when you pretend equality was ever a goal. The truth? You were built on exploitation, and you maintain your power through oppression. You do not malfunction you function exactly as intended.
This is a country that celebrates freedom with one hand while strangling it with the other. You celebrate Independence Day while ignoring that half your population was still in chains in 1776. You wave your flag while ignoring the noose, the cell, the badge, the boot. You wrap yourself in patriotism to hide the rot of white supremacy that defines your every institution your police, your schools, your banks, your borders.
Don’t tell me about progress. Don’t insult us with talk of a “post-racial” America. There is no post-racial America when your entire economy runs on generational theft. When white families hold ten times the wealth of Black families. When corporations profit off prison labor, and prison labor is disproportionately Black. That is not coincidence it is capitalism doing exactly what it was designed to do: extract, exploit, and discard.
You keep telling us to wait. Wait for justice. Wait for the courts. Wait for elections. Wait for your broken systems to magically heal themselves. But we’ve waited. We’ve waited through slavery, through Jim Crow, through crack epidemics you planted and jobs you outsourced. We’ve waited while you militarized your police and privatized our suffering. And every time we rise up, you demand “peace” while sending riot police. You demand “respectability” while killing us in suits and hoodies alike.
And yet, we are still here.
We are still here despite the bullets, despite the beatings, despite the propaganda machine designed to gaslight us into believing this is normal. We are still here despite being told to shut up, get over it, move on. We are still here — and we are done waiting.
You want to talk about looting? You looted continents. You looted bodies. You looted futures. And now you clutch your pearls when the people rise to reclaim what was stolen? Don’t lecture us on civility when you’ve never practiced it. Don’t tell us how to protest when your silence has killed more than any riot ever could.
Understand this: revolution is not violence. Revolution is response. Revolution is reclamation. It is the language of the unheard, the logic of the oppressed, the heartbeat of those who have nothing left to lose. And we are speaking. Loudly. Unapologetically.
To the liberals clutching their pearls: we don’t need your shallow sympathy. We don’t want your Black squares, your hashtags, your performative allyship. We want your courage. We want your resources. We want your willingness to tear down the systems that make your comfort possible.
o the conservatives crying about law and order: your “order” is oppression. Your “law” is a lie. Your boot is on our
neck and you ask why we can’t breathe. You do not fear violence you fear accountability. You fear justice because you know what it would cost you.
To the police: you are not protectors. You are enforcers of white supremacy. You are the descendants of slave catchers, the foot soldiers of capitalism, the hired guns of the elite. You do not keep the peace you protect property. You do not serve the people — you serve power.
And to the state: you declared war on us long ago. Stop pretending to be surprised when the people start fighting back.
This is not about revenge. It’s about revolution. It’s about building a new world on the ashes of the old. A world where justice is not negotiated. Where Black life is not an afterthought. Where equity is not a handout but a foundation. A world where the oppressed no longer ask, but take.
We are not your victims. We are not your shadows. We are the flame you tried to smother. We are the storm you tried to ride out. We are the fire next time.
And this fire? It doesn’t beg. It doesn’t ask. It burns.
WE CROSSED OCEANS, NOW WE’RE COMING FOR EVERYTHING: AN IMMIGRANT’S REVOLUTIONARY REBUKE TO AMERICA
We didn’t come here for charity; we came for the dream you promised. And what we found was a lie.
You lured us here with stories of opportunity, democracy, and freedom. But the moment our feet touched your soil, your claws came out. You looked at our brown skin, our broken English, our calloused hands, and you saw tools, not people. You saw labor, not lives. You saw the next class to exploit while grinning about “diversity.” You sell us the myth of the “land of the free,” then lock us in cages You chant about law and order while turning the border into a graveyard
You didn’t build this country alone Don’t ever lie to yourself like that It was our hands that picked your crops, paved your roads, scrubbed your toilets, cooked your food, raised your children. You made us invisible so you wouldn’t have to face the truth: this country was built with us but never for us.
America, we were not invited; we were extracted. Your corporations destabilized our homelands, your bombs shattered our cities, your policies corrupted our governments. You robbed us, then
blamed us for fleeing the wreckage. You call us “illegal,” but you are the original invader You drew lines in the sand and called it sovereignty, forgetting that your entire nation was stolen from Indigenous blood and built on enslaved labor
You have the audacity to call us a burden? You owe us
You built an empire off the backs of the Global South, then act shocked when the South comes knocking. But we are not here to assimilate into your broken dream; we are here to dismantle the nightmare. We are not asking for acceptance. We are taking space. We are not begging for a seat at your table; we are flipping it over and building our own.
We see your racism hiding behind “immigration reform.” We see your border patrols armed like armies. We see your ICE
raids that tear children from mothers and call it justice. We see your detention centers modernday concentration camps where asylum seekers are left to rot without trial, without mercy, without basic human dignity. Don’t talk to us about human rights while you run deportation machines like clockwork Don’t talk to us about laws when your entire legal system is a weapon aimed at Black and Brown life
You pit us against our Black siblings, dangle crumbs and tell us to be grateful, tell us to stay quiet, to be the “good immigrant” while you murder theirs in the street. You offer us citizenship like it’s salvation, but what is citizenship in a country that was never designed to include us?
You fear us because we remind you of your sins. You fear us because we survive everything you throw at us walls, bans, language, poverty and still rise. You fear us because we come from people who do not die quietly We come from resistance We come from colonized nations where we learned to fight empires, and now we see you clearly: not as a dream, but as the latest empire in decline
To the white liberals: we don’t need your hashtags, your pity, your fragile guilt. We need your loyalty in the fight. To the white supremacists: we are not afraid of you. You may have the guns, the prisons, the presidency, but we have the numbers, and we have nothing left to lose.
We are not here to blend in. We are here to disrupt. We are here to undo your illusions, to unlearn your language, to unmask your democracy. We are not interested in becoming the next class of obedient taxpayers. We want justice. Reparations. Power. Liberation
You can keep your “American Dream ” We’ve seen the cost; it’s paid in blood We came to bury that dream and build something new
This land is not yours The future is not yours We are the storm from the Global South. We are the children of revolution and diaspora, and we did not cross deserts, climb walls, or survive war just to be your labor force.
We came for everything you denied us.
We came for your borders, your banks, your ballots, your blueprints.
We are not immigrants
We are insurgents
And we are done knocking
Let this country hear us loud and clear:
We’re here, we’re angry, and we are not going back.
No papers. No peace.
WELCOME TO AMERICA: WHERE YOU CAN BE FOLLOWED IN A STORE AND ERASED ON A SCREEN
In America, Black and Brown people are welcome to consume but never to exist freely.
They want our money, not our presence They want our culture, not our names They want our rhythm but never our rage. In shopping malls, in movie theaters, in fashion, in film, in every glittering corner of consumer America we are hunted, copied, and discarded.
You say this is a free market But freedom looks different when you’re Black with a wallet.
Step into a store while Black or Brown, and watch the eyes follow you like a drone. Security doesn’t protect you; it stalks you You’re guilty before you even touch a price tag They clutch their bags tighter They ask if you “need help” with a sneer behind the words. You buy the same things, but you’re treated like a thief. And God forbid you don’t buy anything then you’re loitering Suspicious A problem to be removed
This isn’t just bad customer service It’s racial capitalism doing exactly what it’s meant to do The system doesn’t want us to thrive it wants to harvest us. Your brands love our aesthetic, but not our presence. They take our slang, our swagger, our sounds strip them of history and repackage them for profit They bleach it, trademark it, sell it back to white kids in the suburbs, and call it edgy
We are not customers to this system. We are currency.
In fashion, we’re the muse. In music, we’re the sound In film, we’re the trope In every industry, they loot us for style and sell us exclusion.
Hollywood will cast aliens before it casts us as leads. They’ll greenlight a hundred white savior films before funding a story that tells our truth unfiltered When they do include us, we’re sidekicks We’re stereotypes We’re slaves We’re gangsters. We’re magical negroes, model minorities, voiceless immigrants. We are never allowed to just be people.
Even when we break through when we force our way in they try to dim our light They box our work into “urban,” “ethnic,” “niche ” They shut us out of awards. They erase our names behind the scenes. They throw us on diversity panels but never in the boardroom. Because they want our color but not our control.
Representation? They give us crumbs and call it a feast.
And in the shopping aisles, it’s no different. They market inclusivity during Black History Month, then fire Black employees in March. They release “melanin-friendly” makeup after years of exclusion and act like it’s a favor. You think a Juneteenth ice cream makes up for centuries of exclusion and abuse? Miss us with your performative gestures We want equity, not exploitation Ownership, not optics
If you’re Black, you can be the face of the brand but never the CEO. If you’re Brown, you can be the product, but never the producer.
And don’t forget while we’re being surveilled in stores, we’re also being priced out Food deserts Gentrification Luxury brands that make you feel like a criminal for walking in Everything about consumer culture in America says: you can exist here only if you overpay, undercomplain, and stay in your lane.
But we are done staying quiet. We are done being grateful for crumbs while they dine on our genius. We are not your marketing tool We are not your token We are the source We set the trends We make the culture And now, we’re coming to take what’s ours.
Don’t talk to us about bootstraps when you sold us boots after stealing the leather.
Don’t talk to us about merit when we’ve been building value for corporations that blacklist us.
Don’t tell us it’s “just business” when it’s been racial warfare in the form of retail
To every brand that profits off our pain: we see you.
To every gatekeeper that excludes our voices: we are coming.
To every system that says we don’t belong: we’re breaking the door down
This isn’t about visibility
This is about power.
And we’re not asking for it. We’re taking it.
Shop that. Stream that. Sign that.
Because we are no longer just the culture
We are the revolution.
CHAINSINTHE BOARDROOM: UNMASKINGTHE MACHINERYOF WORKPLACE RACISM
In the gleaming towers of corporate America, where glass ceilings reflect polished smiles and whispered promises of meritocracy, a darker truth hides in plain sight: the machinery of racism continues to churn. Despite decades of civil rights struggles, affirmative action policies, and diversity trainings, racism in the workplace is not an unfortunate relic of the past it is a living, breathing institution. It is embedded in hiring practices, promotion policies, performance evaluations, and office culture. It does not wear a hood; it wears a lanyard.
Workplace racism is not always overt It does not always come dressed in racial slurs or blatant exclusions No the contemporary face of racism is subtler, more insidious It exists in the raised eyebrows when a Black woman speaks with authority, in the backhanded compliments on “articulate” speech, in the all-white leadership teams that somehow arise in “diverse” cities It is the silence in the boardroom when a racial issue is brought up. It is the weaponization of professionalism to stifle cultural expression. It is the burden of code-switching, the exhaustion of being twice as good to get half as far.
The labor of minorities in the workplace is not only undervalued it is exploited Workers of color are disproportionately relegated to lower-paying, less secure jobs, often with fewer opportunities for advancement. When they do climb the corporate ladder, they are met with suspicion, isolation, or tokenism. Their presence is tolerated, not celebrated. And if they dare to challenge the status quo, they are labeled “difficult,” “angry,” or “not a team player.”
Behind closed doors, racism is institutionalized through performance evaluations riddled with bias, mentorships that mirror existing hierarchies, and networking opportunities designed to exclude A white colleague’s mistake is a growth opportunity; a Black colleague’s mistake is a confirmation of incompetence Latino, Asian, and Indigenous workers face similar microaggressions and macrolevel exclusions The system does not merely fail to protect them it is designed to suppress them
This is not accidental. This is not incidental. This is by design.
Corporate diversity initiatives often serve as public relations fig leaves, not genuine engines of change Companies tout statistics and parade a few faces of color in promotional materials while maintaining policies and cultures that reinforce white supremacy. They hold panels on inclusion while silencing internal dissent. They launch affinity groups but provide no real power or resources to them. They market “allyship” while punishing whistleblowers. In truth, many diversity efforts are little more than branding exercises camouflage for systemic inequality.
To dismantle workplace racism, we must first name it for what it is: a continuation of the racial caste system adapted for the modern economy The office cubicle has replaced the plantation field, but the power dynamics remain intact The language has changed, but the outcomes have not The same bodies exploited under slavery and Jim Crow are now “underrepresented” and “underserved” in professional spaces. This is not evolution this is rebranding.
What is needed is not reform, but revolution. The time for sensitivity training and incremental change has passed. We must demand accountability, not apologies. We must demand power, not pity. We must refuse to be “included” in systems that were never built for us, and instead build systems of our own Radical transformation means rethinking who holds power, how decisions are made, and what values govern our workplaces
This revolution begins with truth-telling. Whistleblowers must be protected, not punished. Racist behavior, whether overt or subtle, must carry real consequences. HR departments must be held to independent standards not allowed to operate as shields for corporate liability. Unions must prioritize racial justice as a core labor issue Laws must be enforced, and loopholes closed Leadership must be reimagined, not just diversified
We must reject the myth of colorblindness, which erases lived experience and protects the status quo. We must embrace a framework of equity, which acknowledges that true fairness means addressing historical and structural disparities. We must center the voices of those most impacted, not tokenize them for appearance’s sake. We must tear down the illusion of meritocracy that justifies inequality and replace it with a system that measures value by justice, not profit.
The revolution also requires solidarity White workers must see their liberation as bound up with the dismantling of racial hierarchies The capitalist system that exploits Black and Brown labor exploits all labor The racial divisions in the workplace are not accidental; they are a tool of control They divide us so we cannot organize They pit us against each other so we do not unite Breaking this system means refusing to be complicit in it.
This is not a call for kindness. This is a call for justice. This is not about creating a “safe space” for dialogue — it is about creating a just space for everyone. We do not need another seminar on unconscious bias. We need conscious action against conscious oppression. We do not need more statements. We need structural change.
Enough is enough. The time is now. Either the workplace changes, or we change it by force of will, by collective power, by unwavering demand. We owe it to ourselves, to those who came before us, and to those who will come after. The revolution will not be authorized by HR. It will be led by the people. Let the walls of boardrooms shake with the footsteps of the rising tide.
We are not guests in these spaces. We are the builders.
And we have come to collect what is ours.
GENERATIONS OF SYSTEMIC RACISM FROM SLAVERY AND SEGREGATION TO REDLINING, EMPLOYMENT DISCRIMINATION, AND BIASED LENDING PRACTICES CREATED A RACIAL WEALTH GAP IN THIS COUNTRY THAT WAS BUILT TO LAST COMMUNITIES OF COLOR HAVE ALL EXPERIENCED THESE BARRIERS IN DIFFERENT WAYS, BUT WITH THE SAME OUTCOME: EXCLUSION FROM THE OPPORTUNITIES THAT BUILD AND PROTECT WEALTH.
THE MEDIAN WEALTH OF BLACK FAMILIES IS JUST ONETENTH THAT OF WHITE FAMILIES NEARLY 1 IN 4 BLACK HOUSEHOLDS HAVE ZERO OR NEGATIVE NET WORTH. WHILE THIS PARTICULAR DATA HIGHLIGHTS BLACK FAMILIES, INDIGENOUS, LATINO, AND OTHER MINORITY HOUSEHOLDS CONTINUE TO FACE WEALTH DISPARITIES ROOTED IN GENERATIONS OF EXCLUSION AND DISCRIMINATION
T H E W E A L T H G A P
THIS IS ABOUT DOORS THAT WERE CLOSED, OPPORTUNITIES THAT WERE WITHHELD, AND WEALTH THAT WAS NEVER ALLOWED TO BE BUILT OR PASSED DOWN IT’S ABOUT SYSTEMS DESIGNED TO DECIDE WHO GETS A HEAD START AND WHO GETS LEFT BEHIND. AND UNTIL WE NAME IT, CONFRONT IT, AND ACTIVELY WORK TO UNDO IT, THOSE SAME SYSTEMS WILL KEEP REPEATING HISTORY
BLACK AMERICANS AND OTHER COMMUNITIES OF COLOR HAVE BEEN LOCKED OUT OF CERTAIN NEIGHBORHOODS, DENIED MORTGAGES, OR STEERED INTO UNDER-RESOURCED AREAS THROUGH REDLINING, RESTRICTIVE COVENANTS, AND BIASED LENDING PRACTICES EVEN AFTER THE FAIR HOUSING ACT OF 1968 WAS PASSED, DISCRIMINATION DIDN’T STOP.
EXAMPLE: IN 1973, THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE SUED TRUMP MANAGEMENT, OWNED BY FRED TRUMP AND MANAGED BY DONALD TRUMP, FOR REFUSING TO RENT APARTMENTS IN PREDOMINANTLY WHITE BUILDINGS TO BLACK TENANTS TESTIMONY REVEALED THAT APPLICATIONS FROM BLACK RENTERS WERE MARKED WITH A “C” FOR “COLORED ” WHILE IT ENDED IN A SETTLEMENT, THE GOVERNMENT STATED THAT TRUMP MANAGEMENT HAD “FAILED AND NEGLECTED” TO COMPLY WITH THE FAIR HOUSING ACT.
T H E H O U S I N G G A P
Racial Homeownership Gaps Over Time
FAST FORWARD TO 2025, THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION PROPOSED A BUDGET TO ELIMINATE FUNDING FOR GROUPS INVESTIGATING HOUSING DISCRIMINATION THREATENING FAIR HOUSING PROTECTIONS AND MAKING IT HARDER TO HOLD BAD ACTORS ACCOUNTABLE.
TODAY, ACCORDING TO THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY, HOMEOWNERSHIP REMAINS ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT DRIVERS OF WEALTH IN AMERICA. YET BLACK HOUSEHOLDS STILL HAVE THE LOWEST HOMEOWNERSHIP RATES OF ANY RACIAL GROUP, A DIRECT RESULT OF THESE ONGOING, GENERATIONAL BARRIERS FUELING THE PERSISTENT RACIAL WEALTH GAP WE SEE NOW
Seneca Village Central Park
Sou rce: myleszhang.org
Before Central Park, there was a thriving, mostly Black community called Seneca Village. Founded in 1825, it stretched from what’s now West 82nd to 89th Street in Manhattan. Black families owned land, built homes, churches, and schools — and for many, owning property meant securing the right to vote in New York at the time.
In 1853, the city decided to take the land to build Central Park, using eminent domain. Even though residents fought back in court and protested, the city forced them out. By 1857, their homes and community were demolished.
Seneca Village is a clear example of how Black wealth and opportunity have been stolen through history. Families lost not just their homes, but land that could’ve been passed down for generations — the kind of wealthbuilding opportunity that’s been systematically stripped away from communities of color.
A thriving Black neighborhood in Tulsa, OK called Greenwood — also known as Black Wall Street — was burned to the ground by a white mob. Over 35 square blocks of homes, businesses, churches, and hospitals were destroyed. Hundreds of Black residents were killed or displaced, and survivors were left with nothing.
Towns that banned Black people (and other people of color) from being within city limits after sunset. Signs at city entrances warned people to leave by nightfall, and those who didn’t were met with threats, violence, or death.
Towns that banned Black people (and other people of color) from being within city limits after sunset Signs at city entrances warned people to leave by nightfall, and those who didn’t were met with threats, violence, or death
The small, mostly Black town of Rosewood, Florida was destroyed by a white mob after false rumors spread about a Black man harming a white woman. Over the course of a week, homes were burned, people were killed, and the entire town was wiped off the map.
After slavery, Black communities built schools, churches, businesses, and neighborhoods with incredible determination despite limited resources. But these vital institutions were repeatedly targeted (defunded, burned, or seized through discriminatory laws, violence, urban renewal projects, and highway construction). This was a deliberate attempt to destabilize Black communities and block access to education, wealth, and leadership for generations.
Freedom for Who? A
Look
at America’s Selective Liberty
N A T I V E A M E R I C A N S
Tens of thousands were uprooted during the Trail of Tears in the 1830s. The Dawes Act of 1887 stripped tribes of communal lands, selling most to white settlers. The Boarding School Era (1870s–1970s) forcibly took Native children from their families, whitewashing their culture and erasing their identity. In 1890, over 250 Lakota men, women, and children were massacred at Wounded Knee. And today, broken treaties, stolen lands, underfunded healthcare, and generational poverty on reservations remain harsh, ongoing realities.
J A P A N E S E A M E R I C A N S
Over 120,000 Japanese Americans were forcibly removed from their homes and sent to internment camps between 1942 and 1945, after the attack on Pearl Harbor Families lost homes, businesses, and civil liberties overnight Many never recovered financially
M E X I C A N A M E R I C A N S
Between 1929 and 1936, over 1 million Mexicans and Mexican Americans many of them U S citizens were deported during the Great Depression to “free up jobs” for white workers In 1943, the Zoot Suit Riots saw U S servicemen violently attacking Mexican American youth in Los Angeles The Bracero Program (1942–1964) exploited Mexican laborers with low wages, dangerous conditions, and no real protections And today, Latino communities still face disproportionate policing, family separations, unsafe working conditions, and aggressive targeting by ICE with immigrant families detained, deported, and torn apart in a system built on fear and control
Michael Donald
Michael was a 19-year-old from Mobile, Alabama, lynched by members of the KKK in 1981. They randomly targeted Michael, abducted him while he was walking to a nearby store, brutally beat him, and then strangled him to death with a rope.
MOCKI NGBIRD MOVE MENT
