As a Black man I’ve learned that pray and prey are homonyms, words that sound like one another but have different meanings: to pray means to make an appeal or request to God for help; a prey is weak and defenseless always vulnerable of being attacked by a predator.
From my perspective and Black men’s historical
experience in America we have been
taught theologically to ‘pray’ to a
white Jesus for Christian salvation while at the same time we’ve been politically
subjugated and economically exploited victims - ‘prey’
of predatory white male supremacy.
Historically, white predatory barbarism viewed us as prey to the extent during slavery in Florida Black babies were taken and fed - 'used as bait' to capture huge alligators for gator skin.
Historically, white predatory barbarism viewed us as prey to the extent during slavery in Florida Black babies were taken and fed - 'used as bait' to capture huge alligators for gator skin.
So as Black men the only thing we can do is pray? When
has praying alone ever stopped white
men from preying on Black men, never! Travon Martin was preyed upon stalked and murdered for 'walking while Black' by George Zimmerman in Florida. Black prayers for justice did stop Zimmerman from being found not guilty of all charges!
What Black men must realize is that pray and prey are homonym sides of the oppressed coin that mean the same in the sense of one side influencing the other. As long as Black men have no power to protect ourselves then the only thing we can do is pray.
What Black males need is a strong action prayer of stop being prey, because prayer without self-reliance and self-defense is for Black men to remain prey! As Marcus Garvey stated: “God does not give people positions or jobs or good conditions such as they desire; they must do that for themselves. God does not build cities, nor towns, nor nations, nor homes, nor factories; men and people do that and all those who want must work for themselves and pray to God to give them strength to do it. God Almighty created each and every one of use for a place in the world, and for the least of us to think that we were created only to be what we are and not what we can make ourselves, is to impute an improper motive to the Creator for creating us.”
What Black men must realize is that pray and prey are homonym sides of the oppressed coin that mean the same in the sense of one side influencing the other. As long as Black men have no power to protect ourselves then the only thing we can do is pray.
What Black males need is a strong action prayer of stop being prey, because prayer without self-reliance and self-defense is for Black men to remain prey! As Marcus Garvey stated: “God does not give people positions or jobs or good conditions such as they desire; they must do that for themselves. God does not build cities, nor towns, nor nations, nor homes, nor factories; men and people do that and all those who want must work for themselves and pray to God to give them strength to do it. God Almighty created each and every one of use for a place in the world, and for the least of us to think that we were created only to be what we are and not what we can make ourselves, is to impute an improper motive to the Creator for creating us.”
1 comment:
Brother your analysis of prey and pray is right on point, as Black men we've forgotten the old Black saying regarding white haters - " I trust in God but I must load my shotgun first!" - Cinque Kofi Kinaya
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