Weird dream and black history month

I fell asleep last night after watching an episode of Hearbeat from 2003 in which there was bank robbery and a bag full of cash retrieved from a train station locker. My dream just before I woke up at 7am was about recovering a bag of cash and running away with two buddies in a convertible. The money just flew out of the bag unto the road. We went back to find it, but by the time we got back, all was picked up apparently mostly by Asian men with travel suitcases. There was some gold jewelry in the bag as well that we lost as well somehow.

I watched a few TVO docs back to back just now: I am not your Negro, What are you? and What is democracy. James Baldwin and Cornel West are some of my favourite people that speak truth to (white) power. Last night, before Heartbeat, and a few nights before, I watched segments of Reconstruction: America After The Civil War on PBS/WNED. I was surprised to find that African Americans experienced some political power and prosperity for a few decades after the US Civil War, but Jim Crow clawed back most of that progress in a rotten deal between the ruling factions of the time. Very sad. Also, today's What is Democracy highlighted a salient fact about the birth of democracy in Athens: it was preceded by riots.

Here are Mr Baldwin's powerful closing remarks from more than 50 years ago yet so tragically topical still:

YOU CANNOT LYNCH ME
AND KEEP ME IN GHETTOS
WITHOUT BECOMING
SOMETHING MONSTROUS YOURSELVES.
AND FURTHERMORE, YOU GIVE ME
A TERRIFYING ADVANTAGE.
YOU NEVER HAD TO LOOK AT ME.
I HAD TO LOOK AT YOU.
I KNOW MORE ABOUT YOU
THAN YOU KNOW ABOUT ME.
NOT EVERYTHING THAT IS FACED
CAN BE CHANGED,
BUT NOTHING CAN BE CHANGED
UNTIL IT IS FACED.

HISTORY IS NOT THE PAST.
IT IS THE PRESENT.
WE CARRY OUR HISTORY WITH US.
WE ARE OUR HISTORY.
IF WE PRETEND OTHERWISE,
WE LITERALLY ARE CRIMINALS.
I ATTEST TO THIS.
THE WORLD IS NOT WHITE.
IT NEVER WAS WHITE,
CANNOT BE WHITE.
WHITE IS A METAPHOR FOR POWER,
AND THAT IS SIMPLY A WAY OF DESCRIBING CHASE MANHATTAN BANK.

I CAN'T BE A PESSIMIST,
BECAUSE I'M ALIVE.
TO BE A PESSIMIST MEANS
YOU HAVE AGREED THAT HUMAN LIFE
IS AN ACADEMIC MATTER,
SO I'M FORCED TO BE AN OPTIMIST.
I AM FORCED TO BELIEVE
THAT WE CAN SURVIVE
WHATEVER WE MUST SURVIVE.
BUT... ..THE NEGRO IN THIS COUNTRY... ..THE FUTURE OF THE NEGRO
IN THIS COUNTRY... ..IS PRECISELY AS BRIGHT
OR AS DARK AS THE FUTURE
OF THE COUNTRY.
IT IS ENTIRELY UP TO
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
AND OUR REPRESENTATIVES.
IT IS ENTIRELY UP TO
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE
WHETHER OR NOT THEY ARE GOING
TO FACE AND DEAL WITH
AND EMBRACE THE STRANGER
THEY HAVE MALIGNED SO LONG.
WHAT WHITE PEOPLE HAVE TO DO
IS TRY TO FIND OUT,
IN THEIR OWN HEARTS,
WHY IT WAS NECESSARY
TO HAVE A "NIGGER."
IN THE FIRST PLACE,
BECAUSE I'M NOT A NIGGER,
I'M A MAN.
BUT IF YOU THINK I'M A NIGGER,
IT MEANS YOU NEED HIM.
THE QUESTION YOU'VE GOT TO
ASK YOURSELF,
THE WHITE POPULATION OF THIS
COUNTRY HAS GOT TO ASK ITSELF,
NORTH AND SOUTH,
BECAUSE IT'S ONE COUNTRY,
AND FOR THE NEGRO,
THERE IS NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
THE NORTH AND THE SOUTH...
IT'S JUST A DIFFERENCE
IN THE WAY THEY CASTRATE YOU,
BUT THE FACT OF THE CASTRATION
IS AMERICAN FACT.
IF I'M NOT THE NIGGER HERE
AND YOU INVENTED HIM,
YOU THE WHITE PEOPLE
INVENTED HIM,
THEN YOU'VE GOT TO FIND OUT WHY.
AND THE FUTURE OF THE COUNTRY
DEPENDS ON THAT,
WHETHER OR NOT IT'S ABLE
TO ASK THAT QUESTION.

As the credits rolled, "THE BLACKER THE BERRY" by KENDRICK LAMAR was played in stark juxtaposition to Mr Baldwin's words.