Title: “Build or Be Broken: Why Black Infrastructure Is Our Only Shield”Welcome to Real Talk: Politic — where truth has no filter and justice is personal. I’m your host, Hegearl, and today we’re diving deep into why the rise of state-backed racism, like ICE raids, demands urgent action from the Black community to build our infrastructure — or be broken by a system that was never built for us.”

It's my intention to add my voice in order to awaken our community.

America is showing its hand—again. Whether it’s a renewed wave of ICE raids, increased surveillance in Black and Brown neighborhoods, or the quiet but deadly defunding of our schools and hospitals, the message is clear: This system is willing to marginalize, terrorize, and dehumanize to maintain power.

ICE raids, though targeted at undocumented immigrants, set a chilling precedent. Agents have stormed workplaces, homes, and communities in the early morning hours—detaining people without warning, terrifying families, and disappearing individuals into a bureaucratic abyss. These raids often happen without due process. Many of us have watched these acts and thought, “That could be my neighbor. My coworker. My child’s classmate. Me.”

And it’s not just immigrants. These tactics are part of a larger pattern—a state-sponsored strategy to police and punish communities of color. The very same system that created Jim Crow, redlining, COINTELPRO, mass incarceration, and voter suppression is now using ICE, police militarization, and anti-protest laws to protect its hierarchy.

Black America, we’ve been here before. And it’s time we stopped reacting and started building.

We cannot rely on a system built on white supremacy to save us from white supremacy.

We need:

• Black-owned media to control our narrative
• Black-owned legal teams to defend our people
• Black community banks and credit unions to protect our wealth
• Black-led housing cooperatives to keep our people from being displaced
• Black-run health clinics and mutual aid networks that serve us, not profit margins
• Black digital infrastructure to resist surveillance and disinformation

This isn’t separatism. It’s survival. We must organize our lives around our own protection, not their approval.

There’s no time to waste. While others debate whether America is “really racist,” our people are being targeted—by ICE, by police, by poverty, by policy.

We’re not just trying to survive raids. We’re trying to build sanctuaries. Neighborhoods where children are safe. Economies where our money circulates. Schools where our history is taught. Health systems where our trauma is treated.

This is what infrastructure means.

You can’t liberate a people who depend on their oppressors for food, shelter, education, and justice.

We must own the systems that serve us. Or we will forever be at the mercy of those that don’t.

The Case for Infrastructure: Urgency Isn’t Fear, It’s Strategy:

If you're tired of watching your community be criminalized, displaced, or ignored, it’s time to build. Share this episode, talk with your family, start where you are — and most importantly, invest in Black infrastructure. Because if we don’t build it, they’ll break us. Until next time, I’m Hegearl, and this is Real Talk: Politic.”