“Facts are not up for debate nor the interpretation thereof as they are absolute. Otherwise, it can no longer be considered a fact.” ~Editor’s comment
Before I use the words let me define them:
Willfulness: – is showing unruly or a lack of discipline with regards to behavior.
Disingenuous: – The Latin “Ingenuus” meaning freeborn, to differentiate a roman from the slave – these masters saw themselves as noble and honorable. This noblility (ingenuus) was considered eventually changed to showing a childlike innocence. English speakers added the prefix dis to this word to make it about a lack of innocence.
My Definition
Willfully Disingenuous – An undisciplined person:
- That believes he/she is noble and a citizen in having enmity to their fellow citizen.
- That displays no innocence in ignoring or manipulating evidence to follow the lead of those who would lead them to hate.
I relayed to my republican brother after the murder of George Floyd that like many other black and brown men in the United States “I feel” that if pulled over by the cops I have a more than 50% chance of being killed. I did not tell him why I felt this nor did he ask. He said “Feelings are not facts”. My response was that he wanted me to have the same “facts” as George Floyd.
Like the untold number of black men and boys that have dealt with the enforcers of whiteness “the cops” I have had my own similar dealings with them as well. Even if the interaction is on camera this evidence is seen as sketchy (not facts) by my fellow white citizen. These citizens still remain unwilling to take the word of their fellow citizens that something is wrong here.
Why dismiss facts?
What have you got to lose to let go of the notion that your experience of the world is different from a black man who, regardless of the amount of education he has, is looked at as a target from the majority of his fellow neighbors? There is a fragility here that should be looked at.
So, to you who will not let go of this incredulity and disbelief of me and my other brown brothers and sisters, I say you are Willfully Disingenuous.
If you start to believe that something is wrong here and that your life and privileges are different from your fellow person of color (POC) and believe that it is unreasonable. Start the conversation knowing that this system was put here to separate us and you have to change this. The disenfranchised cannot change a system that has its “knee on our necks.”