I just finished doing my Buddhist prayer. I chant Nam Myoho Renge Kyo, which is the title of the Lotus Sutra in Sanskrit (Nam) and Japanese.
In the TikTok video below, a young woman shows a video of two black women being arrested during a large protest this May Day weekend. The captions on the video essentially say: “See, two black women went out and protested with mostly white people, and in that whole big crowd, they alone — the only black people — got arrested.”
As I said, I just finished my prayer. And what came to my mind while I was doing it was this: What if this is all a setup? What if getting the word out to black people on social media to stay home and not protest is a way to keep us from doing it?
I get it. I heard the “Don’t go out and protest” warning. I went along with it during the “Hands Off” protests in April. It makes sense, right? Because when black people go out and protest, we get beaten more than anyone else. We’ve been hosed. We’ve been gassed. We have dogs sic’d on us.
All that happened during the Civil Rights Movement and movements that came after it — most recently, the Black Lives Matter movement that surged after police officer Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020.
But do you know what else happened during the Civil Rights Movement? We got rights. After George Floyd’s murder, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives were implemented in government agencies, corporations, and universities around the country — the same initiatives Trump began outlawing as soon as he was sworn in. When we win, there we always be backlash. We have to accept that reality and fight even harder when it happens.
I don’t want violence; nobody does. But what if this whole telling black people not to go outside thing is similar to telling us not to vote because our vote won’t matter, or it doesn’t matter who wins because there is no difference between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, or the country isn’t ready for a woman president?
During the Civil Rights Movement, it’s true; people put their lives on the line. They died. So that we could do what? So that we could vote. And guess what happened in these last several elections, including the one that just got us Trump again? Black people didn’t vote. Not like we needed to, especially not our young people. If enough black people had voted for Harris, Trump wouldn’t be president.
So what if “Don’t go out there; be safe” is just a ploy?
Because, to paraphrase what Kamala Harris said while campaigning, historically, when black people fight, we win.
I hadn’t planned on thinking this. But it just came out as I was chanting Nam Myoho Renge Kyo. What if this “Stay home” stuff is intended to keep black people quiet so that we go down without a fight?
This TikToker says blacks shouldn't protest. After her video, in mine, I explain why I disagree: Trump’s army — including uber-armed white supremacist militants — is coming after black people whether we fight now or not. When it all goes down, they will knock our doors in to get to us if we don’t stop them.
This isn’t the time to hold back. It's time to fight harder.
In this video, I describe how, during slavery in the United States, slavers beat enslaved people in front of their families and friends to keep them too scared to escape.
Free Lotus Sutra Study Guide
I’ve practiced Nichiren Buddhism for 38 years. During this time, I’ve lived Nichiren’s words: “Without practice and study, there can be no Buddhism.” I’ve created a Lotus Sutra study guide. It has sutra chapters and concepts in it that Nichiren emphasized.
Download the study guide here.
Nam Myoho Renge Kyo
“Devotion to the Wonderful Law of the Lotus Flower Teaching of the Buddha”
Hear Deva Pramal, Mitten, and Manose chanting
Quotes are from The Lotus Sutra and Its Opening and Closing Chapters, Translated by Burton Watson (2009) and The Writings of Nichiren Daishonin, Vol 1. Free online versions of both, and the Soka Gakkai Dictionary of Buddhism, are at NichirenLibrary.org.
Connect
lotussutrabuddhism@substack.comlotussutrabuddhism@substack.com
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