The Man Within Me: A Singular Perspective of the Collective African-American Struggle

A man has been abducted from his home, and is displaced into a foreign land. He is stripped of all ties to his home; and is forced into a language, a religion, and a law to abide by. He is also forced to labor for his kidnapper. This labor is excruciating, and takes a toll on him physically, mentally, and spiritually. He labors for so long that he builds wealth for the kidnapper and others in the land, with nothing to show for himself. He tried many times to escape. He tried to run away, he tried to articulate his struggles to the masses, he even tried to kill his kidnapper. These attempts only led to worse punishment. It wasn't until outside forces realized this situation was wrong, and joined him in the fight to achieve freedom. This achieved freedom is worth celebrating, but his struggle doesn't stop there.

Upon freedom, he is set out into the world. He has no remembrance of life before the kidnapping. All he knows is this foreign land, and the struggle he has endured. Now, his best option is to try to make it in this foreign land. There's a problem though. The people of this land do not accept him. They refuse to associate with him, and regard him as inferior. They refuse to eat with him, refuse to go to school with him, and even refuse to use the same bathroom as him. How can he succeed in a society that doesn't allow him to participate? He is forced on his own. He is able to do some amazing things on his own. He starts successful businesses, creates beautiful art, and is even able to invent. There's a problem though. Anytime he builds a business, creates a piece, or invents; his work is destroyed, stolen, and he never receives due credit. He realizes he's in a lose-lose situation. Things must change.

He begins to organize, and advocate for his fair treatment. This organization is pivotal, but he still faces internal struggles. Part of him wants to continue to fight for equality in this land, and part of him wants to go back to the land he was abducted from. Nonetheless, he expressed his struggle to the world. He's been mistreated, excluded from society, and disconnected from his history. This land he made wealthy has treated him like anything but human. He was even forced to fight for this land in war, knowing that they treated him like an enemy. It was important for his story to reach a wide audience. The word is spread, and his story becomes a highly publicized issue. Others join him in the fight for equal treatment in this land, this land which ought to be considered his home after all these years. This battle for equal treatment is hard-fought. It takes protests, arrests, and even deaths for him to receive the rights of a human being. It's a slow process, but eventually the government of this land prohibits discrimination against this man. Another step in the right direction, but it doesn't stop there.

Although it's now unlawful to discriminate against him, he still faces injustice. It turns out that the hate against him is engrained in the society. The society has painted him as a villain, someone to be feared. He now faces an institutional struggle. It's hard for him to attain a job, find quality housing, and receive proper education. It seems that the law wasn't able to rewire the perception of him among citizens of the land. He realizes he is still not accepted. He has to find an alternative way to survive. This causes him to fall into all sorts of traps. One of his biggest traps was drugs. Drugs led him to multiple arrests, and nearly destroyed him internally. This continued mistreatment led to frustration, which he sometimes expressed through violence. Although the government now called for his equal treatment, this was still a dark period for him. He had to develop consciousness, and learn to love himself despite all the madness he faced. This included looking back on his struggle, finding some peace within himself, and building off the great contributions to society that he never received credit for. Things have improved from this period, but the struggle continues.

The man still lives today. He lives with anxiety that the pattern of his history will repeat itself. He lives with curiosity of who he was before the kidnapping. He lives with pressures of society that try to box him in. He lives with an education system that tries to marginalize his contributions to society. He lives with those that try to disregard his struggle, and encourage him to simply move on. He lives with those that tell him to leave the land he helped build, and go back to the land he was abducted from. He lives with the scars and internal struggles of his journey. Most importantly, he lives. He lives in my ancestors. He lives in my family. He lives in me.