Thursday, November 16, 2006
HR2662 MY VIEW
Usually I’m skeptical of any bill sponsored by or promoted by the Republican Party. However, when the Republican Congress blocked HR2662, a bill backed by the Anti Defamation League, I tended to agree with them. The reason was that Senator Kennedy already had a bill, S625, which, in my opinion, doesn’t go as far as HR2662. S625 added CRIMES motivated by sex, sexual orientation, and disability to a list of offenses already covered under a 1968 federal law. However, if I understand it correctly, HR2662 would make it a hate crime to make NEGATIVE COMMENTS in public against or directly to Jews, women, homosexuals, transvestites, female impersonators, persons confused about their gender, pedophiles, witches, warlocks, Satanists and anybody else that petitions to be included as a group on the list.
I believe HR2662 is more politically motivated by a special interest group and this could serious hamper open discussion of race and usher in another control lever on free speech. I think the new Democratic Congress should really let this one go, but if history is any indication, it will pass because of the strong Jewish lobby.
BTW, the word “nigger” will not be protected under HR2662 because black people themselves have made it acceptable to use the word in public discourse. It appears that this is another example of Black peoples’ internalized self destruction.
Monday, November 13, 2006
IS HE A MURTHA-FUCKER?
I was reading some of the liberal/Progressive Democratic blogs and they are happy. Pelosi will be the new House speaker and she wants Murtha to be Majority Leader. The bloggers are still happy.
I have a different take. Murtha is an imperialist. He has nothing against war or killing for a country’s “ideology,” of which religion is a part. In fact, he revels in it as long as it makes sense to him. The Iraqi War was never a mistake for most white folk, including Murtha; the problem came with the justification. Their hypocrisy came loose and for that, Europeans are punishing Bush and Co. See, in European culture, when one’s hypocrisy is exposed and can’t be ignored, they gotta go. It blows the cover of European culture’s ideological white nationalism.
But this hypocrisy is not just reserved for white Europeans. It has also infected their cousins, the Arabs. The Iraqi War is a mess, not just because the white Europeans’ are a majority of Christian imperialists, but their sister religion, Islam, is split between Sunni and Shiites. Not only are the American Christians entrenched in violence in Iraq, the Sunnis and Shiites are going at it like crazy.
So when we look at this situation under deeper cover, we see that religious ideology has a lot to do with this conflict, because which ever ideology prevails, be it Islam or Christianity, who ever owns the prevailing religious ideology, will own the country and it’s resources.
My naïve solution to solve the problem is to get rid of religion. But we all know that this solution is next to impossible for the next 1000 years or so. The reason is that both Christianity and Islam are both right. They are right about the others’ religion and this validates their position, according to them. A Muslim will say Christianity is false and they would be correct, thereby validating to their followers that Islam must be correct. The same goes for the Christians. It’s a false deductive argument. The premise is true, the inference is invalid, and therefore the conclusion is false. The logic, blank religion (others) is a false religion, but that doesn’t make blank (their) religion valid, ergo the conclusion is false.
So what’s the answer? Since we can’t get rid of religion any time soon, I’d say hold Pelosi and Murtha to a higher standard until the human species realizes that it’s putting everything on the planet in danger with its reasoning, even the priest and pundits of religion. I’d bet if the whales and dolphins could communicate with us so we could understand one another, they’d say, “You’ll some stupid muthra-fuckers.”
And if the truth be told, we've all been played by the likes of that muthra-fucker. Iraq will be divided, the oil shared among the elite warhawks and their appointed croonies and the people, as usual, are dead and/or screwed.
Thursday, November 02, 2006
AMERICA'S TEAM?
Well it's fall and the leaves are saying goodbye to their summer host. People are also asking, “Are you ready for some football?” Although for many football is a distraction from the daily hustle for the material, it's also an icon of pop culture. For example, the Dallas Cowboys have been christened, “America’s Team.” For the life of me I have no idea why, but I do question the selection. Mainly I question, why in the world does “America’s Team” have to come from the South? Given the history of the South, like its succession from the Union, Slavery, Lynching, Black Codes, Jim Crow, etc., all this has me really perplexed. Why couldn’t “America’s Team” be from a northern city like New York, Philly, or Minnesota?
If the Dallas Cowboys are a symbol of what America is about, and America chooses a symbolic team from the region of the country that has an abysmal record of patriotism, racial compassion, and "progessiveness", what does embracing that symbol tell you? (Hell, maybe if it were the Stars and Bars the question could be more easily answered by some) I know it tells me that those who truly support the Cowboys as “America’s Team” are pissed that the South lost the Civil War, Slavery ended, and they ain’t too keen on the way race relations progressed in this country.
With the above assessment, there’s something more disturbing. Why African American’s would join the cheering section for the Cowboys being “America’s Team?” I can understand that they may be from Dallas or even the South, but does that give them an excuse to ignore history? Do they place the importance of a football team's symbol above the historical struggles of their ancestors? Not being from the South, I’ll ask, is there something that was in the water when they were growing up that makes them think this way? Or even more troubling, not think about it at all?
But who am I to convince folks why America should pick a more "neutral" team as its representative? I just know this football season, as with every season since 1960, I’ll root for the Redskins to beat the Cowboys. See, I have so many reasons and no illusions why I should take that position. First, I’m from D.C. (the most northern of southern cities), second, I have Indigenous and African Blood, and third I question, why in the world would a non white person, especially one whose ancestors were enslaved, cheer on a team that symbolically represents the “colloquialisms” for the slaughter of a people for their land and belief system? All this leads me to believe we should take a hint from the falling leaves and say good-bye to the host of "America's Team," your Dallas Cowboys.
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
BLACK MAN'S INTERRACIAL ROMANCE
When I said I didn’t come by this conclusion easily, I meant that I have been involved in some serious “interracial” relationships. I even married a white woman, but I will admit that decision was not based entirely on emotions. Hell, there was even a time when white women where harder to kick than my cocaine and cigarette habit (I suppose that’s why they call coke, white lady), but I was able to rid my mind of all three, although I still have urges for the latter two.
I hope my attitude will not be interpreted as racist or even separatist. That’s not my intent because I do like many white folk. However, I’d like them better if the prevailing racial stereotypes concomitant with America’s historical and contemporary social attitudes weren’t present. And this is one reason why interracial relationships should be put on hold for blacks and whites. I say blacks and whites because other cultures suffer the ills of white supremacy too.
No matter how much I cared for, made love to, got involved with white women, in the back of their minds, I was still the cultural other and they were still white women. It showed in many ways that I chose to ignore. For example, when something appeared on T.V. that portrayed a black person in a negative light, she would look at me with linking eyes making me feel somehow unworthy and even if it was in my own mind, living in this culture promotes such aberrations. When we discussed racial issues, she just couldn’t get the essence of European culture and behavior towards non whites and she had the weight of the world to support her position. She just couldn’t understand white supremacy in its totality and at the time, neither did I. I say neither did I because I got off fucking the white skinned, white man’s woman, that image that was burned in my brain from birth.
In my humble opinion, this is why black/white interracial unions are dangerous for black culture. It trivializes the black and promotes the white. It’s just another avenue to demean the “African-ness” in black people to the point where it means nothing, has no value, therefore can be expendable. And judging from our behavior, we are true to course in expediting our own, first cultural, and perhaps later, physical expendability.
In my final analysis, the only thing that I see as a saving grace, so we won’t go the way of the Blacks in Argentina and other Central and South American countries is to separate. We should build our own cultural ideals with our own world views based on a revised historical cultural essence, then, when we are culturally strong and economically secure, intermingle with the European culture. At that point we can marry, live with, cohabitate with whites and not lose the most important thing a human being can possess, his cultural self esteem and self determination.
Sunday, September 24, 2006
MY BIO..BLOG STYLE
I decided to write my bio after seeing Star Parker’s. Hell, she’s got nothing on me.
Here goes:
I was born in Washington, D.C. around the corner from Daddy Grace’s church. I grew up in a house with an over extended family, a tin tub for baths, a coal bin for heat, and a wooden two seat out house that smelled like gassed shit 24-7. We had potatoes nearly every meal and pork shoulder on Saturdays because ham was too expensive. Despite it all, I think we were content. In school I was a smart curious student, outspoken and even then had a social conscious (At 14 years old, I remember seeing Emitt Till's body then declaring war on racist America), but didn’t excel in anything academic. I suppose I got caught up in the ghetto's non promotional educational syndrome, because there weren’t any college grads among my immediate family or aunts and uncles. But I thought I was good looking, so I chased the girls.
Thanks to assistant principal Bobby Boyd, I made it out of high school, barely, and attended Central State University for two years. I withdrew because I was beginning to mature and felt I needed to stop being a spoiled non directional negro living off my struggling mother, so I cashed in my Naval Reserve chit and went to the Vietnam War.
Vietnam changed my life forever. Not in the way it changed most young military men, it changed me because I found out who hated me more than the Southeast Asians. This was a watershed period in my life and would instill a determination and fire in me like nothing I’d experience in this lifetime. See, I refused to let those who wished to grow a colonial dick, do so at my expense. I rebelled and refused “negrodization” to the point where I was told I couldn’t reenlist and this, mind you, was during war time.
I did get married during this time and had my son. I remember that was a very proud time in my life, but also a scary one. How could a confused person like me raise a child and have family? I knew I had problems conforming to the white man’s world. Not that I wanted to kill them like they did Emitt or anything that radical, I just wanted to be a Black man with his own voice. (Something a Black woman can never completely understand) But we all know if you don’t fit their profile, they lock the door to the food, point their little white blaming finger at you knowing well you’ve been historically “conditioned” to fail under their contemporary concomitant systems of white supremacy. If one has any insight, they would know their only out as a black person, if they want to live in debt and have the "prestige" of living similar to white Americans, is to bend over and get the colonial white dick as an extra helping while pretending you are just another man in America. The alternative is to go bum or gangsta.
Gangsta it was. I robbed warehouses, sold drugs, ran women, dabbled in stolen securities, and strapped down with a 357 magnum. In my unconcious state I felt I was finally a man (even though I only had a ghetto voice) until I got my ass thrown in the penitentiary and became a field “nigger” for the all white federal bureau of prisons. But even then, I struck a small blow for my manhood, I organized a food strike when the head of the prison system was visiting and that embarrassed the warden. No one ever told I lead the strike, honor among the criminally insane I suppose.
When I was released I decided that I would not go to prison again. It was most humiliating and talk about an experience that makes you psychologically impotent. So I used what little business skill I had acquired from previous legitimate ventures and tried the import-export business. I traveled to Africa and there I realized that Black folks world wide were in serious trouble. After a few years of back and forth, this didn’t work out either and I was going on 50 years old and still no solid “normal” life. I did the only thing a black, out of work, no skills, ex felony, could do, I went back to finish college.
The only major that tweaked my curiosity was Ethnic Studies. It seemed this was what I needed to help me understand and sort all those conflicting emotions I acquired living in America under white rule. Man, was I not disappointed, this was a thrilling journey. When I graduated from Cal-State, I had cracked the door, but needed more. San Francisco State’s Masters program became my heaven and hell. It all fell into place. I understood what had happen to me, my family, my friends, my ancestors, and my people. I can only say I wish every Black person or non white person could take the journey, the one that will drive you to the depths of depression because you come away seeing so clearly.
While I was in San Francisco State, I got a job teaching believe it or not. Yes, I became a felony public school teacher. This was not a good match in the white man’s colony. A brass balled Black man with a degree in Black Studies and a history of resisting colonialism. I lasted for ten years, hiding, teaching the “unteachable,” the throw away children until they finally caught on. One day the Human Resources Manager sat me down and told me that I wasn’t the person he’d hired. I told him he was mistaken. I was let go.
So Ms. Parker ain’t got nothing on me. All she did was exercise her already preprogrammed negressness and as expected was paid and promoted by the colonial masters to show other negros of their choosing how they too can be successful if they do as they’re told and suppress their true voice (if they could ever find it) and bend over. Nothing new with her bio….
Monday, June 12, 2006
THERE'S JUST NO BALANCE..
When I was a younger man, I held out hope that the Democratic party of JFK would bring some balance to America's racial problems. Looking at the state of Black America today, it never happened. It appears no matter which one of the two political parties are in power, they always cater to America's white supremacy first and ideas of balance is just a rhetorical reality for non whites. Even in 2006, look at the largely Democrat Kos convention, do you see "balanced" participation in skin color, and god forbid, cultural attitudes?
I believe we are at the point where America must seriously deal with its conveniently ignored domestic racial issues because its international "racial" position demands it. We've reached the point of no return. When and if the progressive democrats get into office, they must stop leaving issues of Black, Brown and Yellow America to so called "minority leaders" who only parrot and get paid. They have no real power or cultural insight to really solve America's racial/cultural problems. The ugly truth is they have been educated by their neo colonial European leaders as part of the problem.
What is the answer? I have no definite clue. I just know there's no balance and doubt within a historical context, if there ever can be. Maybe the answer for White America is the road it appears to be taking today, rid the country of its "color/cultural problem" through different avenues of assimilation, prison, drugs, Aids, homosexuality, suicide/mentacide, etc., then tie it to capitalism which benefits all segments of the populace, even the shrinking "new negro" middle income class. Unfortunately doing this, as opposed to implementing concrete balance or legislating tougher programs like reparations, seems to be more appealing to the masses. As it is, I can see that the new generations of young non-white men are in far greater danger than I during JFK's time.
In my limited view, this is also serious for the white middle class. We all have to live here, we just can't move ourselves or money around like the elite. If America becomes a gang infested, inter war torn, dog eat dog racial hell hole, all people of serious good will must work together and solve the problems (without the religious right or their counterparts hypocritical idiocy) and perhaps use those tougher programs, if necessary. There seems to be a direct correlation between our Black population culturally dying and America, at approximately the same rate, falling into disarray. All this while the racist are still practicing white supremacy and our liberal Progressives-Democrats are behind the scenes mostly being closet supporters.
Maybe, just maybe, Jefferson and Lincoln were right and Europeans and Africans must come to some basic truisms about themselves. One being, Blacks and Whites can't co-exist while keeping their Natural cultural essence, it's too appositional. IF this is the case, then the aspirations of the JFK generation were misguided and we need a new course in the new millennium. We either need to separate or totally amalgamate. Of the two, separation is less difficult and makes more sense because amalgamation means genocide of both cultures and I believe the one with the power will never allow such, as well they should'nt. After all, cultural is not an idea that's subjected to a dialectic, but balance most certainly is.
Tuesday, May 02, 2006
LET'S WRAP IN THE RED, WHITE & BLUE TOO
Above is the opening by line in a May 2, Associated Press article. Further down, the article mentions how these illegal immigrants have some economic clout. "This country needs us. We are the strong arms that do all the tough jobs," said Donna Maria Mostache, a 43-year-old cook and illegal immigrant.”
I wonder if all the African Americans in East Oakland, Richmond, North Philadelphia, S.E. D.C., and from all the "other side" of the tracks pour out into the streets, wrap themselves in a wave of red, white, and blue, would that be enough to get us paid for when we were the “strong arms that did all the tough jobs?” Would we get paid for all the free slave labor we supplied “this country,” for over 400 years, making it the land of milk and honey for the “illegal immigrants?”
I realize the prevailing attitude in America is, what have you done for us lately, but those African Americans in the “hood” would have a hard time answering that question today because we’ve been too busy fending off the residual effects of white supremacy and the lost service and construction jobs to “illegal immigrants.” (See the black men out of work statistics and the increase in drug dealing)
I also know that the American way is hard work equals reward and that if you want to work, you can find a job. I’m sure, but would it pay enough to support a family or self respect? Psychologically, as a historically unpaid slave laborer whose ancestors started in such a deep hole, would one be able to mentally sustain near slave wages today? One popular retort is, why not get an education? I often ask, would the system of white supremacy support a 90% black educated work force? What if you are "too black?" What would all the displaced white folks do?
There is a segment of the African American population that is economically doing as well as many whites, and this is commendable. They are the police, the managers, bus drivers, the school teachers, etc. Most are in limiting positions, many as “gatekeepers,” hardly decision makers or entrepreneurs. Further, when riding the metro of any major city, you’ll not see black men in any numbers coming or going to work (Take this informal survey); they are on the corner or in jail. Many of their former jobs are being done for less money by “illegal immigrants.” This has reached the point where now so many are “mental” or drugged out; they can’t hold a job, broken.
What’s the answer? I have none that would gather a consensus. I could only come up with reparations. Pay monetary reparations to those African Americans who wish to leave and make a life elsewhere. America should settle the score of its ancestor’s greed. Those blacks who want to stay, figure out some tax or other economic scheme that will compensate them. Those who are in prison and can’t shake the criminal stigma, keep them locked away. Look, this is mostly about economic control. America is about business, I'm sure they understand that one problem should be fixed before you tackle another, that is, IF this is viewed as a problem. If so, do the right thing with America's "former" enslaved, then if America wishes, make “illegal immigrants” legal and pay them what you will (unlike our black ancestors), to be “the strong arms that do the tough jobs.” Con mucho gusto.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
LIVING WITH WHITE RULE
First, we have the overt white racist who insists that black folks are only needed in a limited way, if at all, in America. They let it be known that “this is a white man's country” and blacks are a burden who collect welfare or other social services. Black’s can’t be patriots within the scope of their idea of patriotism, like they say, “This is a white man’s country.”
Then we have the conservative white whose values have some hollowed meaning dating back to the days of the covered wagon. They preach that blacks should pick themselves up by their bootstraps and to do anything less is unacceptable, lazy, and un-American. They never seriously address historical and contemporary reasons why blacks in general are in such poor social-economic shape. They are quick to point out how their ancestors came from “humble” beginnings, as if the system of white supremacy never existed. They truly believe that affirmative action for whites was, and is not, a reality.
Next, we have the liberal white. They and the next group are the most hypocritical. They subscribe to ideals such as multiculturalism and diversity, but do nothing to challenge the fundamental ideas of white supremacy. For example, they write commentary about the ills and inequality of the society, but don’t allow voice to non whites who seek fundamental changes in the way America does business. If an Afrocentric attempts to introduce ideas of Egypt being an African civilization in the public schools, the liberals will encourage the conservatives and racist to attack him as un-American or racist. However, they will openly admit whites committed genocide against the Native Americans, because it changes nothing.
The progressive white is the most interesting. They are the true intelligentsia of the white establishment. They seek change, but only from one group of whites to the next, them. They want “integration,” but on their terms. They will support black issues as long as it doesn’t conflict with their policy. One of their greatest weapons is to ignore challenge, but appear to settle issues “diplomatically and intellectually.” They, in most instances, set the agenda for the liberals.
The last group I’d call Americans, who happen to be white. They comprise about one-half of 0.01% of 240,000,000 whites. These people fight their own indoctrination into white supremacy. They speak with verve and honesty against racism and discrimination. They are dedicated to true equality and have no objections to incorporating meaningful dialogue from anyone who can make this country a better place. They are not “color blind,” nor hypocritical. They will address the systematic evils of white supremacy, and if possible, change it.
This is the mine field blacks must wade through living with white rule in America. Can you imagine dealing with the whimsical mix and match of white attitudes? With all these various signals, is there any wonder why blacks can’t, “get it together?”
YES, I DID IT!
This investigation is not to make excuses. I broke the law more than once, but concomitantly, is that all there is to being a felon, breaking the law and getting caught? Does that make you a bad person for the rest of your life?
As with most things in America, the criminal justice system is racist. When I was a young black man, this didn’t resonate with me because usually youth are not deep thinkers. I couldn’t deconstruct what the essence of this system was intended to do to blacks, nor did I have anyone to do it for me. It was hidden. However today, it’s clear. (For this essay, I will use young black men as my example, but to different degrees this system affects all non whites and is limiting in economic ways, to poor whites.)
Young black men, because of historical reasons, are usually born poor in America. As in any former colonial system where the descendants of the colonial masters are still in power, the descendants of the colonized are relegated to a systematic “minority” status. There are several means to maintain this status, with the criminal justice system being a primary mechanism. It’s role must be functional, but also concealed as much as possible.
How does it work? Space does not allow for finite details, but I will try to present an overview. Young men across the board are aggressive and desire power. In a material society, this aggression and need for power is translated into possessions. If you are poor, acquisition and power are difficult, if you are black, even more so. This difficulty which translates into nihilism is disseminated through historical and contemporary cultural symbols, such as family environment, media, and formal education. Without a historical and economic support structure to guide and include young blacks, anger, disrespect and frustration becomes the motivating factor for behavior. Prudent decision making is stifled.
As a consequence, young black men try to take the road they conclude is of least resistance, for instance, they may pursue sports or the hip hop culture. If not successful, (or in some cases if they are successful), they often become dispirited with their social/economic status and having no historical cultural foundation of their own, strike out at the “majority culture” by breaking their laws.
When they are caught, if the first offence is not serious or seen as potentially harmful to the “larger public,” the young black man is shown “leniency.” Those who run this system understand that the social conditions of young black men, as described above, will more than likely return them to the system.
Showing “leniency” in this manner, hides the real intent of the system. It makes others think the system is fair and just, when it is not. For example, when in the system, the disparity in sentencing for blacks, the guidelines for offenses committed by racial groups, and the availability of personal contacts and money, all put young blacks at a disadvantage. Even the public perception of who is a criminal works against blacks.
The American system in general is constructed to limit black competition for jobs and resources. However, the prison industrial complex has been found to increase jobs and resources for whites through prison industries and related services. The increased prison population translates into revenue for poor white communities, making black bodies again profitable, similar to enslavement. (social commentary).
As with my case, carrying the label of “felon” for life also decreases the opportunity to compete. The stigma alone gives people who wish to maintain the system of white supremacy and covert/overt racism, the opportunity to dismiss and discriminate against you without conscious. The system therefore remains safe from blacks (or other "minorities") making any meaningful impact on or altering its inner workings. Young black men continue to be angry, disrespected, and frustrated while still being incarcerated in large numbers. When released they continue to carry the stigma of felon and the criminal justice system continues to be encouraging. The system allows people, both black and white, to say without conviction, it works.
I wrote this with the hope that some young black person will read it and realize how their life is being "set up" for failure, if they are not aware and careful. Although people say, "You have a choice to not break the law," and they are 100% correct, but they should also understand; what you don't know, really don't know, can hurt you. "Set ups" are meant to blindside the unsuspecting.
In the latest case, Tate had faced 10 to 30 years in prison on charges of violating his probation by having a gun and robbing a pizza delivery man last year.
The judge on Thursday let him withdraw his guilty plea in the May 2005 robbery but still sentenced him on the gun charge. The robbery trial is set for Sept. 18.
Even defense attorney H. Dohn Williams didn't understand why Tate would want to go to trial on the robbery charge, given that a conviction could bring a life sentence in addition to the 30 years for the probation violation.
Tate could have simply received 30 years total for both charges under the deal.
"He continues to get bad advice from meddling third parties," Williams said outside court.
Williams said Tate's mother, Florida Highway Patrol trooper Kathleen Grossett-Tate, has told him he could win an appeal on the probation violation conviction, win his robbery case and leave jail in a year. She left court without commenting.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Brave New World...Maybe?
If we look at the bible as basically a flawed history book, we don’t know if or when the first world was destroyed (maybe by earthquake or wind), but we do know the next world was done in by water. Now, if we are living in the third civilization, then it’s predicted to be done in by fire. Remember, we knew this long ago before we invented the nuclear bomb.
But what do we stupid humans do? We continue to build more deadly weapons while most unfailingly continue to embrace our primitive animal instincts of xenophobia, greed, and power for control. We also continue to be at odds with Nature and insist that we are not animals, while remaining fixed on the evolutionary scale. Point and case, many doubt evolutionary phenomenon.
Now we face the prospect of an escalated war with our abundant "fiery" nuclear weapons and none of the major players involved are really thinking about the past civilizations outcomes. But even more frightening for us humans is, perhaps the power of the Universe’s reincarnation machine is tired of our stupidity. This time when we do our destruction act, there will probably be no reincarnation. Maybe we’ll scorch the planet so badly that we’ll destroy the human DNA print to the point of no return. Consequently, this will be Nature’s way of trying another organism to take our place.
Something to think about, huh? Hell, I stay up at night concerned about stuff like this. But for the real players in this game, I think they'd better consider some of this stuff very seriously.
Monday, April 17, 2006
THESE EYES
I could also imagine how demoralizing and frightening this must have been for our white brethren being in the presence of such physical domination. It would seem so because each year, with each white sport commentator, there was always a white hope. Max Schmeling, Jake Lamotta, Frank Gifford, Jerry Quarry, John Havlicek, all good, but not quite up to the task, no matter the hype.
But now, when I look through these eyes that had witnessed such splendid African American male potency, they reveal a different tale. Age and living not only took its toll on me, but in a large degree the pride of black manhood. I no longer see the images of those magnificent athletes. What I see is black self-degradation and a systematic removal of American blacks from athletics. This is all happening in conjunction with the feminizing of Black males in the media and general public. Our warriors have gone because their images have gone.
Concomitantly, our young men have become scavengers. They prey on the weak of their own community while the new ideal of manhood is the blond blue eyed “buffed” soldier, “Sir, Yes sir.” Since it appears black men have succumb to the pressures of white supremacy and racism, is it just a matter of time before their complete transition to oblivion? Will the names of Joe Louis, Sugar Ray, Jim Brown and the others repose in African American museums like the testimonials to Sitting Bull, Geronimo, and Crazy Horse?
With rare exception, when I watch young black men in action, never mind the venue, these eyes see them junking their souls for glitter. Yo dawg, it’ hard out here for a pimp when he tryin to get this money for da rent “you ain’t knowin”…
Friday, April 14, 2006
TMB (TEXT ME BACK)
So what? Why is that even important to mention? I’ll tell you why. A while back a friend of mine told me that I should use my full name instead of the universally accepted “nickname.” They said it allows other people to recognize you, your human being-ness, instead of just being a quick thought. One would write hello William, instead of hi Bill. Those extra syllables takes time to spell out. It allows for recognition of my being, it makes me more of a person instead of coming from some cookie-cutter quick fix mold.
Today, we can have an entire conversation on a 2X2 inch screen. We can really show how much we care and have the time for those we profess to care about and love. HI. HRU? WRUD? AYEC GBTM WAN2TLK F2F AEAP B4N G2R ILU. Yeah, that makes one feel real important and loved. But over time, like everything else in this insipid rushed culture, we become desensitized and it just goes into the cool, hip, “normal” bin.
Now this may seem trivial to most, but it’s just another sign of where we are going. In twenty years don’t look back and blame some “big brother” or anyone else but ourselves for the world we inherit, if we inherit one at all. When we wake up in a rushed, no touching, cold, sterile, prozac world, just look back on today. Remember that we could have made the choice to take the time to write. We could’ve taken the time to recognize and touch one another with words and deeds; to recognized our human-ness. But hey TMWFI TNSTAAFL :-<>
Friday, January 27, 2006
THE HUGEST MISTAKE WESTERN MAN HAS MADE THIS MILLENNIUM
The problem, as I see it, is not that these countries are allowing hypocrisy to rule the day, but because the average person looking at the world from some "third world" enclave can see the duplicity. The pretense has been pulled off and the emperor stands before his subjects naked covered in oil while the whispers start in the streets. Even our own troops, who are fighting and dying in Iraqi to bring “democracy,” will be affected by this revelation in ways yet imaginable. Selected double standard democracy will not do. A democracy that’s dictated by the West for the political purposes of the west will only bring disaster to the west when exposed as a means to their hegemony.
Yes Houston, we have a problem and the eagle got its wings clipped. Unless the bird of freedom can now land and allow itself to heal, there’s no telling where this foolishness will end. Unless the Western ideal can adopt a new flavor of legitimacy by making sincere efforts to walk the earth instead of looking down upon it as puppet master, it ain’t gonna be safe for anyone. It is possible with this reaction to Hamas the whole world will now try to extinguish the muted lights of democracy that sprung up over the last several hundred years, then what will the West do? We don’t have that many troops.
Wednesday, January 04, 2006
109th Congress and Republican Nationalism
It is also possible race and class is a necessary catalyst. What do I mean by that? A simple answer would be that both race and class are needed to support our systems of capitalism and politics. Few folks, both “liberal” or “conservative” will own up to this fact. For example, the Republican Party is overwhelmingly white therefore it is perceived to protect white interest. If they are ideologically in disfavor with a majority of voters, they can do three things. One, enjoy positive media propaganda from republican media outlets, two, use their republican business contacts to influence elections outcomes and three, appeal to their fundamentalist white republican Christian base. If these practices are called into question nothing really happens because they control avenues of capital and information. See white people are reluctant to break from the party that is perceived to protect their interest and side with “minorities“, two, the media “back pages,” ignores or “spins” the incidents and three, the republican party protects god and the power of the church and America is basically a white "Christian nation." This is why they are essentially nationalistic with race as the glue that holds it together.
A working definition of nationalism is, “the doctrine that nations should act independently (rather than collectively) to attain their goals.” The republican party has become a “nation” within a “nation” and it is obvious that they fit the remainder of the definition. The democrats can’t breathe in congress and G.W. does what he wants with impunity.
America, if it cares to look, will have a first hand glimpse of what republican nationalism can and can’t achieve. Corruption and division it can, unity it can’t. “Republican nationalism” isolates forces that offers checks and balances to the one sided goals of corporate interest and religious tyranny. It can stifle progressive movements and foster national nihilism. It can bring greed to a new low and promote cultural arrogance. It is not healthy for the country, and we will see what America is made of in the 110th Congress.
Sunday, July 24, 2005
FAITH OR SURVIVAL?
In the antebellum period the church was useful as an organizing tool, apparatus for the dissemination of information, and educational facility. The focus of Black church folk was the abolishment of enslavement, a very noble cause. The underlying impetus for this cause was “faith.”
Black people went to church, prayed, sang, and then went downstairs to plot, plan and learn. They had purpose and this purpose became a unify force to end enslavement for all blacks. I believe this was the major reason whites opposed the black church. Some say teaching Blacks to read was the issue, I say it could have been, but for a slave, it would make sense that if they could read, they could follow written instructions and be more productive. I believe whites were afraid of the church becoming something other than a pacifying social institution as they intended and that’s why they opposed Black becoming Christians.
Today the church is just the opposite. It became what whites had intended it to be. The focus of the church today is on “faith,” not as an underlying impetus for change or amelioration, but as the main character in our lives that can’t formulate our own particular world view. When you feed faith to a group of people who have been systematically deprived of the riches of the land, you feed them a belief without a plan to change their condition. That’s why I believe Black folks have studiedly gone downhill after the civil rights movement, no group goal. The goal of the civil rights movement, similar to the abolition of enslavement in the antebellum, was integration into the main stream society. The church again played a major role. The people went to church on Sunday and after church went into the basement to plan for Monday. Again this was a unifying force and “faith” again was the underlying impetus.
When the integration fight was won, the church, with all due respects, took the credit. However in this play there were other organizations that white folks couldn’t recognize as important that played even greater roles, if not equally important ones as the church and the NAACP. Organizations like the Black Panthers, The Young Lords, N.O. I., U.S., SNCC, and other “people’s liberation movements,” reminded America of other, not so kinder and gentler possibilities as non-violence.
However with the church in the forefront, they now had the responsibility to implement the next step in Black advancement. However they had a major problem. The next step would be Black liberation and that would mean a break with or major fight with their new integrated Christian brethren. That would mean that Jesus’ tenets of, we are all brothers, turn the other cheek, ideals of love for your fellow man, men are not different, we need to work together, would come into conflict. Liberation demanded nothing less than parity on all levels and this should have been the last great battle.
Since the church was now stuck, they had no choice but the make “faith” it’s primary impetus because that’s all they had left. They had no cause to plan for, no fight against real injustice, just the obvious racism and no education program that was historically our own. Integration was the goal and integration they got. So on Sunday’s after church, instead of retiring to the basement to plan for our next great Black movement, liberation, they held bible study and planned for church fundraising committees one of which is to build a bigger and better church for the group as a symbol of their “success” and importance.
At this stage of Black advancement, or lack thereof, in America the church is virtually useless. My beloved cousin said it well. She goes to church on Sunday to hear her preacher because he’s an excellent speaker. He gives her “hope” which is synonymous with “faith.” He doesn’t give her any viable plan to help pull Black folks together so we can eventually take care of our own, take care of our grandchildren or the 50% unemployed in New York. No plan, just beautiful words of faith to give her and each member some individual hope.
Let me clarify something for those who think I’m being racist or separatist. Let it be known that I firmly believe that Black total liberation is good for the country. This country needs an injection of new ideas and a new spirituality. I believe that if our minds were truly liberated, the church after Sunday’s service would retire to the basement and make plans for a better America, not on faith, but as in the past, on Black folk’s collective work, planning, education and creation of their own legitimate world view.
Monday, May 16, 2005
IS IT ON BULL OR JUST BULL?
Author Harry Frankfurt just wrote a book called "On Bull." From what I’ve gathered the 67-page book is about hypocrisy in the American culture. Although it focused more on American popular culture, I’m sure it applied to both almost equally. With that in mind, I was wondering:
Perhaps someone can clear something up for me. I am seriously confused about the difference between white supremacy and the crying out by "good" white people against U.S. imperialism. My major confusion starts when I look at history. The overwhelming majority of people who did things in the world of note (according to his-story) are all white people, both the "good" ones and the "bad" ones, however I must admit, they were mostly men. For example, the Caesars (except for one), the kings and queens of Europe, the so-called “great” generals, Alexander, Constantine, Hitler, Patton, the inventors, Guggenheim, Di Vince, Galileo, the religious icons, the Popes, (except for two), Martin Luther, Billy Graham, the “explorers” Columbus, Magellan, De Leon, etc. etc., etc. Further, when I look at all the heads of state of the most powerful countries in the world today, they are again white men, (except for their one token).
I wonder why in the last two thousand years or so why hasn't a non-white country produced a great world leader? Why in the last two thousand years or so hasn't anyone but white people (except their token) controlled the world resources, created and presently sit on the so-called, G-7/8 of the world richest nations? Why is it that they control the “world” bank, the "International"Monetary Fund, and the greatest weaponry in the world, while screaming to high heaven if a non-white country wants to build them? Why is it that the great majority of the countries controlled by whites (except their token and in the age of Islam) waged wars/conquest/saviorships and "exploration/exploitation" outside their state boundaries? Why was the focus on most countries that had no history of a relationship with whites, only resources?
Given the history of white skinned peoples, what separates world imperialism/conquest/saviors from world white supremacy? I see nothing, do you? What’s more telling is why don’t they admit the truth as to their goals and intentions? I remember a saying from a movie I once saw, it was “The Usual Suspects.” The one line that resonated with me was, “The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to convince people he didn’t exist.”
I would appreciate any clarification of the difference between U.S. imperialism and world wide white supremacy under U.S. leadership because maybe this is one major issue of B.S. that On Bull needed to address, if the sincere white people of the world want to have a more just one. See in my "unimportant" non-European mind, you can't really fix a problem until those working on it know the scope of the problem and are able to confront it in its entirety.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
IS THE DOWN LOW REALLY LOW DOWN?
This took me back nine years to my Ethnic Studies graduate power point presentation. We had to address a problem in our community and focus on the resultant issues directly affecting the Black Community. My friend Anthony and I chose to do one on how homosexuality affected Black families. Predictably since we attended San Francisco State University, this was also received with a jaundice eye.
The point we were making with this presentation was that the foundation of the Black Community, the family, was under attack. See our idea of family, from an African perspective, which I believe is Nature’s perspective, is the "old fashioned" one of a male and a female procreating. Not some type of “artificial” conception be it in a test tube or insemination. My premise for this being “natural” is that nothing else in nature, except white Europeans, creates "artificial life" and presents this creation as a “universal” trait of man. Frankenstein was not black, yellow or brown.
Of course our presentation caught the attention of our Dean who happened to be “gay.” It appears it also made our African-centered professor upset because the dean was his friend and colleague. Needless to say, I would pay for that later.
The motivation for our choice has historical significance for the Black Community. Briefly, many Africans on the continent believe, in spite of European inspired protest, that homosexuality is NOT an African cultural tradition. However if one studies the history of the Scythians, Greeks, Romans, and other early European cultures, they find Europeans can’t make such claims. Put this in context with the many other cultural ideas that Europeans have presented to the world as “universal” ideas, I tend to believe the Africans.
With that said, we look at the contemporary events in the Black Community. We see that our prisons are crammed with young black men. We see that they are sexually assaulted as a sort of rights of passage by other black men who have been programmed to destroy things black. You see that economically, young black men are coerced into homosexuality because they have no idea of their ancestral spirit which could allow them to repeal this economic-psychological onslaught. You also see young black men in corporate white America accepting homosexuality as showing they are no threat to the white system. Finally, you see young black men going through an educational/social system that strips them of their Black cultural manhood, which in turn opens the door for all kinds of concepts.
As mentioned before, the above “pressures” on the Black man reaches into the very core of our cultural survival, the black family. For me, many of our cultural interactions with European culture are a form of imposed consensual cultural genocide, one that this society chooses to see as benign or non- threatening. Another reason is that the white community can take the homosexuality hit. They don’t need as many “male” bodies to protect their supremacy or foster their cultural legitimacy. They have their technology holding the hordes at bay. However Blacks are faced, on a global level, with high levels of imprisonment, economic depravation, disease, proportional drug addiction, historical ignorance, fear, and mistrust. Now we have an AIDS attack on our entire weakened community mobilized by one of our greatest drives, sex, supposedly the black man’s salvation.
So I ask, Is the Down Low really Low Down? I would say emphatically yes. I’ve never experienced sex with a man, but there must be something to it since it is so popular. But in my mind, that’s not what makes it “low down.” What makes it low down is that it has the potential to spreads AIDS to innocent people, wrecking havoc in our community. Even more realistically, it gives our women the disease, possibly passing it on to our children. Another mention is that the “down low” further exacerbates our communal problem because in many instances because of lack, it forces our women into homosexuality.
My final analysis is that if our young men want to lay with other men, leave our women alone. (Given the circumstances, I am sorry to say if our women can’t find a black man, try a man from another culture.) Gay black men don’t need to prove their lost “manhood” to anyone, if by consent, it’s gone. Finally, I wish our young men would stop raping other young men in prison. These are sicknesses that must be stopped if we are to get back to sanity. In fact, I wish my professors weren’t so hard on us nine years ago when the down low was further down.
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
LET'S DANCE.
Now, with nearly 140,000 U.S. troops in Iraq two years after the fall of Baghdad, along with commitments in Afghanistan and for the global war on terrorism, many Pentagon officials admit that the bloody insurgency in Iraq has tempered that vision of what the U.S. military can and cannot do."-from Truthout..
This is insanity but accepted as a "sane" rationale. I remember when I was teenager and would go to house parties. We'd all be in the basement fast and slow dancing. The rhythms would emanate from every young body in the room and it looked like a universal communion based in natural rhythms. Later, I would go home and watch TV. I would tune into "American Bandstand" to look at the white kids dance. I saw uncoordinated bodies that begged to find some continuity with nature and the universe. I would see little white feet hopping around and bodies doing something I just didn't understand instead of sliding and gliding like those basement dancers to the sounds of ancestral memories.
Today I watch the grandsons and granddaughters of those basement dancers. To me they look like mechanical windmills in some bizarre dance with some phantom impulses coming from who knows where. They sometimes hop around and contort their bodies in jerks and synchronous motions like some spastic child crying for attention. And they enjoy it thinking they have pushed dancing to another level.
By now I'm sure you are probably asking what in the hell does this have to do with war plans, global terrorist and the "Bush Doctrine." It has a great deal to do with them. Just like the Bush Doctrine is in place to bring "western continuity" to the world, so were the dancers on American Bandstand with regard to dancing. They knew that they looked and probably felt strange as well as out of place when watching the basement dancers, so they began to change the idea of what is rhythm. The Bush Doctrine attempts to do the same thing, change the idea of cultural sovereignty.
The ideas of capitalism, western democracy, religions, laws and political systems don't/didn't fit most cultures whose history was steeped in some form of cultural socialism (dance). That would make the Bush Doctrine's dancers "hoppers" on the world stage instead of sliders and gliders in tune with the majority of the world's cultural rhythms. Those European cultural ideologist, like the ones on the Bush Doctrine's "American Bandstand," throughout history couldn't learn to synchronize with nature, so they changed the essence of human rhythm and natural synchronization. It took them centuries as witnessed by the invasions of Scythia, Greece, Rome, Crusaders, England, France, Germany, etc., etc., etc.,. on the "rhythmic" dancers of the world.
Believe it or not, I can understand the need for the hoppers of the world to change the dance, to bring another idea of rhythm to the world. What I don't understand is why does the world allow it to happen? What is it that prevents the world from understand that "hopping" is not in tune with nature's rhythm, but with some dance from someplace even I don't understand? Why does the world keep trying to understand this spastic drummer and adopt their style? Why doesn't the world just ignore their paternalistic desire to mechanize nature and let them keep trying to learn the glide and slide?
The answers are complex, but the primary reason is the world doesn't understand why they only learned to hop instead of slide and glide. The world just can't understand that the hopper's drummer never fully developed the depth or ability to drum, however he did understand how to hit the damm thing and make "big" noises.
The kids today have no idea the importance of dancing to universal rhythms. The world has no idea of how important it is to evolve their culture from their ancestral memory. The world has no idea how important it is to learn to dance with different styles, but the same rhythms?
Saturday, April 16, 2005
Road to Techno-Speak
America sends its children off to school each morning with the hope that they will someday evolve into this well rounded human being. A human being that will not only be self sufficient, but hopefully make some meaningful contribution towards the welfare of humankind. If that’s the parent’s goal, then its best to keep them home.
Education today is not a human centered endeavor, therefore; when the mold is being shaped in schools it becomes truncated. I say this because post-secondary education has devolved into three basic categories. Math, Science and Special Education.
The “special interest” in society, mostly business interest, have decided that technology and capitalism are society's saviors. They feel the science of technology is needed to attempt to solve problems like global warming and environmental pollution that doing business has caused. Business also emphasizes science to try to curtail fears of disease and dying while pharmaceutical companies rake gigantic profits. Math is needed to maintain the ideals of capitalism and world-wide supremacy through the use of technology and its concomitant idea of progress. Society then needs the combination of the two to create weapons of mass destruction/control and also expand itself to places like Mars.
The third prong, special education, is for those children who had no particular interest in Math or Science. They usually find technology basically boring, unless it has entertainment value. They are the children that didn’t make the math-science cut in the early grades and tracked into a kind of social anonymity. They are mostly those “right brain” children, the ones who like to talk, have music jumping around in their heads and dream. A great many of the children “No Child Left Behind,” is leaving behind.
The marriage between academia and business with ideas of “world leadership” as its bride’s maid, creates a milieu of “societal darlings” that fit the capitalist script. Special Education children are left looking inside. With the nature of humans needing some type of recognition, not to mention financial rewards, in a society that creates anonymity, allows buying into the techno-scientific culture very easy. The focus, rewards, and accolades goes to those who can best memorized texts and regurgitate them hopefully with a different spin. Creativity in the realm of human development becomes obfuscated. People become limited in their desire to have eclectic “human-centered” conversations because they are programmed to indulge in and appreciate techno-speak. Interpersonal relationships are often carried out in the ambiguity of chat rooms and cyber space. One can even go to war or have sex while participating in the ultimate human degradations of killing or sexual objectification while on line.
As I mentioned earlier, anyone with insight needn’t ask why. However even with insight, I still ask why. I ask why parents send their children off to molding factories known as schools without understanding there total implications. I ask why parents can’t grasp that society is getting worst, and making the connection that creative human interactions through a varied curriculum are all but overlooked in schools in favor of the push for math and science geniuses. But given the rash of violence in schools, it seems that gun toting has become a substitute for creative interaction. Why can’t parents figure out that no matter how much math and science their children learn or become techno savvy, it is basically useless because education must be for the life’s amelioration, not its alienation.
Education should be well rounded to include and have equal appreciation in our society for the arts, legitimate open social sciences, cultural and physical education. Each must share a universal prestige placing math and science in the venue of students who have that aptitude and placing the arts, social sciences, cultural and physical education in the venue of students with those aptitudes. I believe this will also lessen the need for “special education” classes. I would further suspect that if society doesn’t abandon this very slippery slope towards almost total technological dependence, it will experience simultaneous human interpersonal erosion. I think American society or any society can’t afford such and should really examine its sacred cow education by starting at the beginning.
Saturday, April 09, 2005
My European Origin Theory
One theory on the origin of the European: The story that Africans migrated to Europe then due to climatic change mutated from black people to white people due to a vitamin “D” deficiency for me is suspect. I challenge this theory because of the following: This “migration” supposedly took place approximately 40,000 years ago. It would then follow that this “mutation” had to postdate 40,000 years ago. Upon investigation, I found that there are two types of mutations which would directly affect this occurrence, 1. Germinal (A cell from which other cells are derived, especially a dividing cell in the embryonic neural tube) and 2. Somatic (Any cell of a plant or an animal other than a germ cell. Also called body cell). Mutations due to a vitamin deficiency would be classified as Somatic Mutations.
Somatic means that the mutation takes place in the body and not in the sexual cells (Germinal) and ends when the host dies and is not passed on to the next generation.
“Whatever the effect, the ultimate fate of that somatic mutation is to disappear when the cell in which it occurred, or its owner, dies. Germline mutations, in contrast, will be found in every cell descended from the zygote to which that mutant gamete contributed. If an adult is successfully produced, every one of its cells will contain the mutation. Included among these will be the next generation of gametes, so if the owner is able to become a parent, that mutation will pass down to yet another generation.” http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/M/Mutations.html
Somatic mutations need time to evolve and 40,000 years is not enough time for this type of mutation to occur in a body cell without the aid of some type of out side phenomena. Therefore, within this given time any vitamin deficiency would be unable to affect the cells of the body turning them from black to white.
“The effect of natural selection on gene frequencies can be quantified. Let us assume a population containing36% homozygous dominants (AA)48% heterozygotes (Aa) and*16% homozygous recessives (aa)*The gene frequencies in this population arep = 0.6 and q = 0.4The heterozygotes are just as successful at reproducing themselves as the homozygous dominants, but the homozygous recessives are only 80% as successful. That is, for every 100 AA (or Aa) individuals that reproduce successfully only 80 of the aa individuals succeed in doing so. The fitness (w) of the recessive phenotype is thus 80% or 0.8."
What does that mean? I would say one very early migration of the African, perhaps Neanderthal, became isolated during one of the many glacial periods. Due to limited female and nutritional resources, they had to revert to inter-breeding. This inbreeding over time caused a permanent mutation in their germinal cells, thus passing this mutation into their somatic cells. Evolution allowed the mutation of the Y chromosome to change those things that were least needed in the colder climates, one being Melanin, creating the mm gene pool in the Neanderthal.
During another warming period, another migration out of Africa traveled to Europe. (Grimaldi?) They also became a victim of a glacial cooling period and due to limited female and nutritional resources, inter-bred with the Neanderthal and also bred among them selves creating the mutation from mm to pm genes in the Y chromosome. This perhaps caused a permanent mutation in their germinal cells to pm genes. The small “p” gene affected mostly phenotype. Melanin was no longer dominate because of climatic conditions.
I would further assume about 8,000 years ago a third migration left Africa and migrated to Europe. During this period due to both early exploration and later conquest, interbreeding took place and introduced into the gene pool of Europe the “Pm” gene. I would surmise because of new technology at the time, which allowed for faster insemination of genes into the population, at least 36% of the modern day Europeans carry this gene.
My conclusions for the origin of the European are as follows:
(mm) (16%) Carrying chromosomes this gene in Y chromosomes.
(pm) (48%) Carrying chromosome of this gene in Y chromosomes. (affecting mostly Phenotype)
(Pm) (36%) Carrying chromosome of this gene in Y chromosones. (reintroduction of Melanin on a very limited scale.)
This is only MY theory and really needs further investigation.
References:
http://www.ndsu.nodak.edu/instruct/mcclean/plsc431/mutation/mutation2.htm
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/M/Mutations.html
http://users.rcn.com/jkimball.ma.ultranet/BiologyPages/H/Hardy_Weinberg.html#Calculating_the_Effect_of_Natural_Selection_on_Gene_Frequencies
http://www.raceandhistory.com/Science/europeanmen.htm
“Interbreeding was a mainstay of human evolution well before 100,000 years ago, Templeton contends. The evolutionary trees that he devised indicate that four nuclear DNA sites first arose approximately 600,000 years ago, he says. Of the remaining six DNA regions in his study, four of them appeared between 500,000 and 200,000 years ago. A major migration of people from Africa to Asia occurred between 840,000 and 420,000 years ago, Templeton estimates. A second large out-of-Africa migration followed at around 100,000 years ago. If that event had resulted in the replacement of non-African groups, it would have erased genetic evidence of the older expansion, he asserts, "This new analysis is complicated, but it makes the most sense of any genetic study of evolution that I've seen," comments anthropologist John H. Relethford of the State University of New York at Oneonta. He agrees with Templeton that human origins lie mostly but not completely in Africa and that dispersed populations interbred.”
http://www.phschool.com/science/science_news/articles/dna_diaspora.html