IS UNITY FORBIDDEN IN BLACK AMERICA?

There’s something deeply troubling about the world we live in today, especially when it comes to the relationships between people who, on the surface, should have every reason to understand one another. We live in an age where communication has become easier than ever before. A person can sit in one part of the world and speak instantly to someone thousands of miles away. We can exchange photographs, videos, ideas, opinions, and personal experiences in seconds. Yet, despite having all of these tools that were supposed to bring us closer together, we often seem more divided than ever. I’ve always believed in unity, and I’ve never seen that belief as something complicated. To me, unity doesn’t mean that everybody has to think the same way, vote the same way, worship the same way, or even agree on every issue. Unity simply means recognizing when we have common interests and understanding that there’s strength in cooperation. Somehow, though, even suggesting that people should come together has become controversial. The moment you encourage people to look beyond the labels that separate them, somebody is ready to argue about why unity can’t happen. That’s where I find myself asking a question that seems almost unbelievable: when did unity become the enemy? When did it become easier to hate someone we’ve never met than to have a conversation with them? When did people become so emotionally attached to the divisions around them that they began defending the very walls that keep them separated? I believe we have to take an honest look at how we got here. Division didn’t suddenly appear because human beings woke up one morning and decided that they no longer wanted to get along. Division can be encouraged, manufactured, exaggerated, and repeated until people begin to see one another through the eyes of someone else. If you can keep people focused on what separates them, you may never have to worry about what could happen if they discovered what they have in common. That’s why this conversation is bigger than one country, one group, or one label. It’s about the way we think. It’s about how easily emotions can be manipulated. It’s about the technology that has entered every part of our lives. It’s about the images we’ve been taught to believe, the history we’ve been told to forget, and the question of whether we can ever rise above the divisions that have been placed in front of us. DIVISION HAS ALWAYS BEEN A POWERFUL WEAPON Throughout history, powerful people and institutions have understood something very simple: a divided population is easier to manage than a united one. When people are fighting among themselves, they have less time to examine the forces affecting their lives. When communities become suspicious of one another, cooperation becomes difficult. When every disagreement turns into a permanent battle, the people involved can become so distracted that they forget the original problems they were supposed to solve. We’ve seen this happen repeatedly throughout history. Organizations have been weakened by internal conflict. Movements have been damaged by mistrust. People have been encouraged to turn against one another, sometimes because of real disagreements and sometimes because those disagreements were deliberately magnified. Rumors, fear, jealousy, ambition, and ego can all be used to weaken a group from within. The danger is that once people become consumed by internal conflict, they may no longer recognize how much energy they’re spending fighting one another while larger forces continue operating without interruption. Years ago, creating that kind of confusion required a great deal of effort. People had to physically infiltrate organizations, gather information, spread rumors, and create distrust face to face. Today, much of that can happen through a screen. We live in a world where millions of people willingly share their thoughts, emotions, fears, relationships, arguments, locations, photographs, and personal information every single day. What once required physical proximity can now happen through technology that most of us carry in our pockets. I’m not saying that every piece of technology was created for the purpose of controlling us. That would be too simple of an explanation for a much more complicated world. But I am saying that we’ve become extremely comfortable with systems that we barely understand. We often accept convenience without thinking about what we’re giving away in exchange. Our phones have become extensions of our bodies. We wake up and reach for them. We check them before going to sleep. We use them to communicate, manage money, share memories, conduct business, find directions, watch entertainment, and express our deepest emotions. The same device that connects us to the people we love can also collect enormous amounts of information about how we live. The question we should ask isn’t whether technology is good or bad. The real question is whether we understand the power of the tools we use. If a system knows what makes you angry, it can continue showing you things that make you angry. If it knows what you fear, it can repeatedly place that fear in front of you. If it knows what makes you feel superior, insecure, jealous, or rejected, those emotions can become part of the information used to keep your attention. And attention has become one of the most valuable commodities in the modern world. SOCIAL MEDIA DIDN’T CREATE EVERY PROBLEM, BUT IT LEARNED HOW TO PROFIT FROM THEM Social media didn’t invent human disagreement. Families argued before there were smartphones. Communities had internal conflicts before there was the internet. People had prejudices, jealousies, and misunderstandings long before anyone could post a video online. But social media created something different: a worldwide stage where conflict can be amplified, rewarded, and repeated around the clock. The most extreme voices often receive the greatest attention. The calm explanation can get buried beneath the loud accusation. A thoughtful conversation may attract little interest while an insulting video spreads across the internet within hours. People quickly learn what gets attention, and once attention becomes connected to money, influence, or popularity, the temptation to become more outrageous becomes even stronger. That’s how we end up living in a world where a short video clip can convince people that they understand an entire group of people. Someone says something offensive, and suddenly millions of viewers are encouraged to believe that the person represents an entire culture, country, nationality, or community. Before long, people who have never met one another are carrying hatred based on an algorithmically delivered image. We have to become smarter than that. Not every disagreement deserves a war. Not every offensive person represents millions of others. Not every viral video contains the full story. Yet, we’re constantly being pushed to react before we think. We’re encouraged to choose a side immediately, defend it aggressively, and treat anyone who sees things differently as an enemy. That emotional environment is perfect for division because once people become addicted to outrage, they begin looking for new reasons to be angry. Every day requires a new target. Every disagreement needs a villain. Every conversation becomes a competition. And while people are spending hours fighting strangers online, the larger issues affecting their lives continue quietly in the background. THE PROBLEM WITH THINKING TOO SMALL One of the things that troubles me most is how easily we allow geography to erase our sense of connection. A person can move from one location to another and somehow be treated as though they’ve become an entirely different human being. Think about your own family. If one of your brothers moved to another state, would he stop being your brother? If your sister moved across the country, would she suddenly become unrelated to you? If members of your fami… Get full access to LanceScurvX at www.lancescurvx.com/subscribe