BLACK FUNERALS

I have been going to more black funerals in the last few years. Most black funerals are the same, so it’s easy to combine black funerals into one story. A person dies. Usually it was a person that was neglected by most of the people at the funeral. People come from all around to attend black funerals, like other ethnic groups. Most of these people don’t like each other. Some of the younger funeral goers don’t know their relatives. Everyone hugs each other and are excited to see old friends and family that haven’t seen in years or pretending to be excited. Black people use funerals to catch up with people they distanced themselves from. We promise to keep in touch with each other from that point on. Most of us break the promise as soon as we’re out of sight of the other funeral goers. Some people cry at funerals. I am always more sad about us, than the bodies in the caskets. I know that the energy animating the body is free, but the rest of us are still suffering. Most of us are not physically healthy and some of us are mentally unhealthy. Our conditioning is visible to everyone who can see. People stand up and tell stories about losing the dead person and how much they are going to miss that person. Some of us go to the repass after the funeral. We used to cook the food for the grieving families, but now the families provide most of the food. We crowd into the grieving family’s home to eat, drink, talk, etc. Most of us leave the grieving, tired families to clean up after us. Black funerals are becoming too much trouble and backward to continue. If you have never gone to a black funeral, you should attend one soon, because black people may stop having funerals. That’s the sense I’m getting from New York City. Timothy Conerson. READ COMPLETE BOOK OF NYC STORIES @gofundme.com/TCReader