 Respect & Love 2 All The Laborers. All The Elders That Have Been Putting In Work For Years. I Honor & Applaud U. Truly I Do. Its Largely Because Of U & Our VALLIANT ANCESTORS That I’ve Found Purpose, Understanding & So Many More Things In Life. So, I Thank U.
Critique Is One Of The Hall Marks Of Growth. Without Being Critiqued & Challenged; Stagnation Can & Normally Will Occur. Im Relatively Young, Passionate & a Lil Hood So When I Speak/Write/Communicate I Usually Come From The Heart. & As My Big Homie Chairman Fred Jr. Teaches Sometimes We Need Brutal Terms 2 Depict Brutal Realities. Imma Try 2 Be As Diplomatic & Respectfull As Possible. If I Appear A Lil Brash Or Abrasive Pardon Me; Im From Chicago :-)
THIS PHENOMENON THAT WE CALL THE MOVEMENT NEEDS NEW DIRECTION. WE NEED LESS RHETORIC & MORE RESULTS. WE NEED PRACTICALITY. WE NEED PROTOCOL. WE NEED GOALS & DEADLINES. IF U R “CONSCIOUS” AFROCENTRIC, REVOLUTIONARY, RBG, SOVEREIGN OR WHATEVER. WHAT IS YOUR GOAL 4 OUR PEOPLE??? WHAT IS YOUR PLAN??? WHAT R U WILLING 2 SACRIFICE??? WHAT IS YOUR ONE MONTH GOAL(S), 3 MONTH GOAL(S) 6 MONTH GOALS, 2 YR, 5 YR ETC.???
We Cant Just Talk No More. Fuck That, Our Babies Is Dying. Lil Girls & Boys R Getting Ravished & Raped On A REGULAR (Mentally, Sexually, Emotionally Economically & Otherwise). Crack, Pills & Heroin Is Still The Most Booming Black Bizness In Our Communities. Chief Keef, Madea, Nicki Minaj & Two Chainz Is The Primary Role Models 4 Many Of Our Youth. Many Of Them Don’t Know Shit About Garvey, George Jackson Or Even Their Own Great Grandmama. Our Economic I Q & Behavior Is Still Piss Poor. We Still Engage In Sacrilegious Spending. No Knock On Them PERSONALLY (some of them is real good people) but Homosexuality Is At A ALL TIME HIGH. Who Your Daughter Gon Marry If Half The Men Is Locked Up, Gay Or Braindead. The Medical Industry Is Doing A JOB On Us. Its So Many Ways We Are Bein Assaulted. Many Of Us Know The Problems So I Wont Belabor The Point. Just Be Clear That This, WAR IS REAL!!!
WHERE IS OUR SENSE OF URGENCY!!! WHERE IS OUR INTEGRITY & PRIDE. IS THE SURVIVAL WELFARE & SAFETY OF OUR PEOPLE NOT A TOP PRIORITY!!! Who Wants 2 Live In A Place Like This!!???!!?? THIS “Life” Don’t Seem WEIRD AS FUCK 2 YOU!!!???? YOUTH GET VIOLATED OR MURDERED 2-3 BLOCKS FROM YA CRIB & U NIGGAS GOT THE NERVE & LUXURY 2 WATCH RE-RUNS OF MARTIN!!!!????!!!! OR THE MIAMI HEAT VS THE NETS????!!!!???? Am I Tripping or Is This Shit The Twilight Zone!!???!! I Feel Like Laurence Fishborne Is School Daze WAAAAAAKKKKKKKKKE UUPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP!!!!! LETS GET ACTIVE.
THE BIG HOMIE CHAIRMAN FRED HAMPTON SR. SAID “WORK IS NOT IMPORTANT SCHOOL IS NOT IMPORTANT NOTHING IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN STOPPING FASCISM, 'CAUSE FASCISM WILL STOP US ALL.” This Has 2 Be The NEW GOSPEL!!! I’m Not Saying Quit School Or Quit Your Job. But I Wouldn’t Be Mad, If U Did. 4 Us 2 Be FREE WE GON’ NEED MORE FREE TIME. We Gon Have 2 Sacrifice Some things. U Might Have 2 Get A Room mate. We Might Have 2 Actually Live 2gether With Our Family ("DUNN DUNNN DUNNNNNN":-)) Or Close Friends 2 Free Up Money & Time So We Can ADEQUATELY ADDRESS THE AILMENTS THAT PLAGUE OUR PEOPLE. That’s What We Used 2 Do & That’s What Many SUCCESSFUL Foreigners Do. They Squad Up 6-7 in A One Bedroom. Couple Years Later They Own The WHOLE Block Literally & Lawfully. Its Called Delayed Gratification.
U might Have 2 Sacrifice Getting that 40 inch Flat Screen Propaganda Machine Put That 500 Hunid Toward Community Efforts. In Fact It Should Be Criminal & Viewed As Insane 4 A Cat 2 Buy A Flat Screen & We Know We Got Family(Our People) That’s Literally Aint Ate A Meal In 4 Days & They Not Fasting.
I Could Go On 4ever But Let Me Touch on 2 More Points & A Few Pragmatic Solutions.
One Of The Things That Sparked Me 2 Write Some Of These Ideas Was A Thought My Big Homie Gave Me Bout 2 Years Back. He Critiqued Brothers & Sistas That Annually Organize Dozens & Often Hundreds Of People & Consequently 100’s Of Thousands Of Dollars 2 Go On Excursions 2 Afrika Namely Egypt, KMT; 2 Go Site Seeing for 7-14 Days. Travel Is Key; Broadening Our Perspective Is Of The Utmost Importance. But In All Humility Is Spending 100’s Of Thousands Of Dollars Every Year & Sometimes Several Times In One Year 2 Look @ Pyramids & Ride Camels The Most Optimal Investment Of Our Time & Resources!!????!!? Can That Same Money been Used 2 Build An Amos Wilson Academy In Angola. A Ella Baker Elementary School In Eritrea. Could It Have Been Used 2 Start A Fred Hamptom High School On The Westside Of Chi Or Elsewhere.
Could We Have Stayed Home & Looked @ Pyramids On Youtube & Sent That Money 2 Build A Dr. Sebi Health Clinic In Zimbabwee (4 Yall That Don’t Know Dr. Sebi Is A Bro. That Has Proved B4 The US Courts To Have Cured AIDS, Sickle Cell, Diabetes & A Host Of Other Ailments That We Suffer From)
In My Attempts 2 Be Balanced & Diplomatic can We At Least Do Both. Can We Say In Order 2 Go On Tour We Have 2 At Least Put That Same Money, We Was Gon Put On Our “Afrocentric” Vacation 2 Build A School In Afrika, America Or Elsewhere. & Each Tour Group That We Have, Can Proudly Say That The Tour Group Of 2007 Built A School In Kenya. The Such & Such Tour Group Of 2011 Set Up Several Communal Cooperative Biznesses In Ghana etc. Don’t That Make Sense!!! We Gotta Build With Brick & Mortar. We Can’t (As A Whole) Continue 2 Be As Dr. A Wilson Calls Counterfeit Nationalists.
2 Close It Up 4 Now, We Have 2 Put Greater Demands On Ourselves & Our Leadership/Lecturers. If We Look @ Our Hoods & Our Condition World wide, Right Now, Anybody With A Ounce Of Sense & Realism Can Clearly C We Falling Short Like A Muthafucka!!! The Teachers & Leaders, like the moes say, Got Real Good Diction, Radiant Sounding Rhetoric But Lil Results. Some Of Our Teachers Who I Highly Honor & Respect Been Saying We Need Our Own Schools For Over 20-30 Years & Most Of Them Though They Have Good Jobs @ White Universities & Got At Least 1000 People In The Country That Listen & Believe In Them HAVEN’T BUILT A SCHOOL YET!!!! As Marvin Gaye Say “Aint That Peculiar???” 2 The Few That Have Let It Be Known. & Instead Of Teaching Another Lecture About KMT Or Our Oppression Teach A Lecture About How 2 Start Our Own Schools Not Just Theoretically But Offer Step By Step Instruction On That.
We Need Step By Step Nitty Gritty Knowledge. We Have Plenty “Feel Good” Speeches & Its Twin The “Gloom & Doom” Speeches. We Need Tangible Nitty Gritty; “This Is How We Gon Come Up” Information. In The Streets A lot Of The Wise (“gang”) Chiefs (That Usually Get Locked Up Or Killed) Teach Their Young Members That We Don’t Need A Whole Lot More Shooters & Killers We Need More Teachers, Lawyers, Doctors etc. Same Equation I Say 4 The Black/Moorish Power Movement. We Don’t Need Too Many More Ancient Egyptian Historians & Spiritual Monks We Saturated With That All Ready. We Need Divine DOULAS, MIDWIVES & Natural Wholistic Birthing Centers. (Lets Be Real How Many Revolutionary, "The White Man Is The Devil," Queen Afua Sacred Woman Reading Sistas & Brothers Delivered Their Beautifull Baby In The Devil’s Hospital???)
WE NEED MORE (4 Lack of A Better Word) VISUAL ARTISTS, MEDIA PEOPLE THAT CAN CREATE QUALITY, WONDERFULL, SOULFULL, BREATH-TAKING FILMS, MOVIES, TV SHOW, CARTOONS etc (We Love Kirikou But We Should Have 100’s or 1000’s of Cartoons Like Kirikou 4 Our Babies 2 Watch, Enjoy & Most Importantly Be Edified By)
WE NEED BUSINESS MEN/WOMAN, ECONOMISTS & MARKETING SPEICALISTS. THOSE WHO CAN CREATE INDUSTRIES & VIABLE EMPLOYMENT 4 OTHERS. Businessmen That Can Ensure That Our Scholars Don’t Have to Work @ White Universities. That Our Youth have Greater Economic options Than Bootleg Dvds, crack, pills & loud. That Our Elder Warriors Aint Got 2 Live In Nursing Homes. Economists That Make Sure That Our Political Prisoners Who Put In Work & Do Double Digits Behind Them Walls Don’t Have 2 Be Homeless or Not Even Be Able 2 Afford A FUCKING Bus Pass. (Smh shit is krazy these is real stories)
WE NEED AMAZING COUNSELORS THAT’S WILLING 2 POST UP ON THE CORNER & OFFER EMOTIONAL, SPIRITUAL & PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALING RIGHT ON THE BLOCK.
WE NEED CONSCIOUS/REVOLUTIONARY COMEDIANS & ARTISTS THAT CAN TEACH IN A CREATIVE, LIGHT HEARTED & FUN MANNER.
LAST QUICK POINT IMMA REITERATE IS THAT WE NEED GOALS, PROTOCOL, DEADLINES & RESULTS. ESPECIALLY SHORT TERM TANGIBLE GOALS (&/or long term goals with measurable short terms goal interladen throughout). Again Whenever A Lecturer Or Teacher Comes In Town We Have 2 Respectfully Drill Her/Him & Ask What R The One Month Goals, 3 Month, 6 Month Goals Etc.??? What Do U Need 2 Accomplish Those Goals??? What CONSISTENT Programs Not Events But PROGRAMS Do U Have 4 The People??? Whats Your Plan 4 Our Folks Locked Up??? What’s Your Plan 4 The Babies, Whats Ya Plan 4 Adolescents??? Whats Your Healhcare Plan??? (Please Don’t Say Obama Care :-)) Whats Your Public Safety Plan??? Whats Your Economic Plan??? Whats Your Plan 4 The Homeless & Kids In Foster Care??? How Much Time Do U Spend Volunteering in The Community A Week??? How Much Or What Percentage of Your Income Do U Spend On The Movement A Week etc???
& 2 The Teachers & Lecturers Do The Same Thang. Let These Cats Know, This Aint Church. We Aint Just Preaching 2 The Choir. THINGS R REQUIRED OF U!!! Take Inventory Of Who’s in The Meeting. What R Their Abilities & Skills??? What R Their Passions & Desires??? & After Evaluating That Have Some where, some program or initiatives 4 Them 2 Apply These Attributes & Ideals. Allot Some Time In Your Lecture 4 Inventory Assessment. Like the Big Homie Kwame Toure Said, “ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE, ORGANIZE.” Around Practical & Tangible Issues. Give Cats Assignments, Demand More Of Yourself & Our People. It's Too Many Cats With They Fist Pumped & Talking Bout Hotep & Habari Gani 4 us Not 2 Be Waaaaaaaaaaaay Further Along Than We R.
ITS TIME 4 A NEW PARADIGM. “THE NEW MATHEMATICS IS PRAGMATICS” THE BALLS IS IN OUR COURT WE GOTTA PUT THE WORK IN!!! LOVE YALL. RESPECT!!!
 By: Yumii, Contributor
Being a black punk is like a weird fuckin feeling. To be more specific, it’s like weird as hell. It’s weird when you are at a show that some of your white friends invited you to, but you really can’t tell if some of the bands on the bill are white power. It’s weird as fuck when you are at a white power punk show but the only reason they don’t fuck you up is because you are punk first, which magically erases your color. It’s weird being black and alone in a place where
the freedom to be racist and fucked up is granted without a thought. It’s also weird when the so-called colorless black punks feel like they have to be more fucked up than the whites in order to prove themselves to be more punk.
It’s a weird feeling when people always assume you, in all of your blackness, know exactly who the fuck the “Bad Brains” are, as if they are the only black punk band to exist on the face of the fuckin earth. It’s a weird feeling when you start a band and the only permissible comparison allowed is the “Bad Brains”. It’s weird when you get shows in small towns that have nooses hanging in their back woods and you actually try and debate whether or not to go because you might reach someone with your music LOL... I dare you to imagine being a black punk at an HBCU (historically black college/university). It’s beyond weird. It’s dangerous at times. To many people, you are a walking target for harassment or beatdown. It’s a fucked up feeling when you put on shows at said black university and at the start of your set the moment you turn on your distortion, more than half of them storm out cursing and shit. Imagine trying to figure out if all the other kids there with “misfits” shirts actually listen to them. It’s weird when you are in the skinhead life and can’t tell until waaaay later that some of your “S.H.A.R.P” white skin friends are actually fence-walking closet fucks who side with Nazis on the low and call you all the jigs and niggers when they are drunk…but they still LOVE reggae, ska, and black women.
It’s weird when you see a black skinhead and he’s a fuckin Nazi ready to whoop your ass with his white Aryan brotherhood friends. It’s fucking weird when some black skinhead/punk’s politics are so fucking Left-Wing they are actually fascist and Right-Wing as fuck.
Now imagine how weird it feels being black in an all Latino punk scene trying to relate and understand their struggles in comparison to your own, It’s a weird feeling when even some of them don’t accept you. Imagine your passion and your fight being suppressed by a dominant majority of people surrounding you, you are forced to take on their fight and their politics. I always got the weird feeling when they talked about immigration and deportation they weren’t talking about my family from Africa or the folks from the West Indies. I also get the weirds when white opinion is forced upon you, “preventing” you from killing the vibe with your black reality. It’s weird to see other black punks/goths around and at shows and not actually meet them until a whole year goes by. It’s really fuckin weird when they tell you they don’t see color which means they never saw your ass in the first place. It’s weird to actually realize the reason most of the other black kids won’t talk to you is because of the whole colorblind bullshit scenario, or more likely, they have absorbed white stereotypes about you and themselves. I admit some stereotypes are better than others, but it’s fuckin weird when you are always getting hit on because the other person wants to know what it’s like….
It’s weird going to goth parties and realizing there’s just a sprinkle of black people in that genre and wondering why, but deep down you already know why. It sucks when you meet other black punks and they stand you up for their white friends. It’s weird when you have to defend being black and proud from other black punks and skins who only see it as reverse racism.
It’s weird when you realize all the bands people ever big up are always all white bands. For a lot of people the only "safe" black rock are made up of only bands that have some white membership. It’s weird when black rockers make lists of the sexiest rockers on earth and there is no drop of color anywhere.
It sucks when black people can’t see the beauty in being black. It’s sad when you realize that a lot of people would rather date white racists in their subculture than other black people or other people of color. It’s sad that some even allow themselves to be dehumanized and dehumanize others just to fit a rock n roll/hipster/ whatever white subculture image is popular at the moment. Sometimes it’s weird to see black rockers Legit Worship white artist when there were black artists who originated that particular style. It’s weird when you take another black punk out of their scene and bring them to your all black neighborhood in which they are somewhat scared to go in because of all the stories they heard from white people in their scene.
It’s whatever though, if you’re punk, goth, skin or whatever the fuck it is and you’re willing to endure the bullshit, well there you go, be exactly who you are. Whatever, it’s time to build! Fuck all this white supremacists bullshit. We’ve been conditioned beyond conditioning. If you are in this rock shit you deal with the supremacist ideology directly.
Time to build!
It is my opinion that America is within a state of chaos and will continue into a further chaotic descent until America admits it's racist foundation and denounce those individuals who perpetuated the institution of slavery, rape, warfare, colonization, theft and Genocide against people and nations of color from the time of the inception of this nation to the very present, as illustrated by the industrial prison complex and unjust warfare against nations of color. Chaos clearly manifest itself within the social disorganization that has rendered many of America's inner cities virtually inhabitable. The perpetual state of chaos that has become customary within our day to day living has disproportionately rendered individuals now subscribing to the ascribed status of minority, lacking political and economic power, amongst the poorest, most unhealthy, and lacking funding and access to adequate formal education. This perpetual state of chaos most blatantly manifest itself within the deterioration of the family structure within communities historically victimized by America's racist agenda which has historically been fueled by America's political mandates.
Just as America denounced and fought against the atrocities committed by the likes of Adolph Hitler, standing in solidarity with the global Jewish community and the establishment of a Jewish state, America must stand in opposition to the proliferation of the mythology surrounding her conception and those forefathers who committed atrocities far worst than anything Hitler could have ever conceived. Only when America begins to silence those voices that has historically drowned out the cries, pleas, bargains, negotiations and even threats made by the likes of Fannie Lou Hamer,W.E.B. Dubois, Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, A Phillip Randolph, Elijah Muhammad, Carter G. Woodson, Angela Davis, and any other voice that has fought to extinguish the fire of the lie of white supremacy, may the notion of community then exist.
In preponderance of the notion of chaos, it is vital to express the lens by which I am defining the term. William Julius Wilson often speaks of the levels of social disorganization existing within urban communities, especially African-American communities. For the sake of this paper, I equate chaos to Wilson's notion of social disorganization. Social organization or a lack thereof, refers to the control individuals have over their own community, bringing into fruition common goals and aspirations shared within that community. Wilson argues that there has been a break down in social organization within impoverished areas suffering from a lack of economic opportunity. This chaotic lack of social organization, has fostered a climate giving birth to crime, gang violence, drug trafficking, and an increase in black male incarceration leading to a fundamental breakdown within the family structure. (Wilson,1996).
The chaotic state of our existence is further illustrated by the industrial prison complex, and the number of black men entangled within. In February of 2010, Michelle Alexander wrote an article in the Huffington Post which shares a title with her book, “The New Jim Crow”. In this article Michelle Alexander stated the fact, “There are more African Americans under correctional control today, in prison or jail, on probation or parole than were enslaved in 1850, a decade before the Civil War began” (Alexander,2010). Not only does the incarceration of young black men affect the man himself, it also affects his family in so many negative ways. The criminalization of young black men has withered away a vast amount of the potential political and social energy of the last 2 generations. Before we can once again ask our men to stand as the heads of their households, affirming freedom in the face of injustice, we must first ensure our men are free in the most fundamental sense of the term. We must ensure the next generation of young black men are released from the bondage of unjust incarceration and political persecution. In the event incarceration is warranted, we must be willing and able to facilitate proper rehabilitation, confronting criminal elements utilizing a holistic scope, addressing both societal and personal contributing factors leading to deviance. We must demand justice within all of the legal arenas, from the beat on the street to main street where judicial appointees claim their seat. Only after we have stopped the unjust lost of so many black men into the grips of the industrial prison complex, can we begin to address the many pervasive ills that are affecting the community today.
If we are to ever truly achieve such a notion of community as a product of social organization, it is pertinent to define what such a notion would look like if ever manifested in a tangible way. We have all heard Martin Luther King's “I have a dream” speech, King's speech invoked images of children walking hand in hand together without any inhibition caused by racial stratification. Beyond King's simple imagery of child's play, throughout his short life he spoke of the total empowerment of the Negro people. King's speech to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Atlanta, Georgia on August 16th, 1967, “where do we go from here”, he spoke of the 40 million poor black people existing within America suffering within the grips of capitalism, demanding a restructuring of America's economic institutions. King spoke beyond Karl Marx and Marx's short sighted understanding of Communism and human nature, which he critiqued for a failure to consider the individual human existing as a product of distinctions or variations amongst individuals. King proclaimed that America must be reborn again. Within the Christian tradition, to be reborn is to be absolved from a sinful nature based upon an admission of guilt and a sincere request for forgiveness. King said we must move beyond myths of white power, and myths of black power and rest upon a bed of human power.
What is this necessary power King spoke of? In the speech known as King on Black Power, King laid out sources of potential power existing within the black community that has been utilized at a very marginal rate. King referenced the African American labor pool, which at the time served as 20% of the total work force, in comparison to African American's at the time being 10% of the total population. King referenced the consumerism of the African-American community, and how powerful the African American choice of where to spend money, or where not to spend money was. We boar witness to this power in the many economic boycotts enacted throughout the south in direct opposition to Jim Crow and Segregation, which was a legally sanctioned method of separation, barring black and white interactions within the public sphere.
King also referenced the homogeneity of the black political consciousness, and the inherent ability African-American's possessed to mobilize against the myth of white supremacy. When such political mobilization is utilized to elect candidates operating out of love, with the best interest of the African American community in mind, the potential power existing within the African-American communities, especially in the urban north, would have displayed it's democratic potential. In no way was king advocating the exaltation of black power, as a product of diminishing the power of other groups, but he felt that increased black power was and an increase of human power as a collective. King warned that these sources of power must be utilized to promote the notion of community within America.
King's Black power speech failed to consider the latent effects of the post industrial era and how this cultural and economic shift would create a culture lag within African American communities, relegating potential black power near null and void. Many of King's suggestions were contingent upon America's moral fortitude, and a willingness to rectify moral wrongs in the face of mounting pressure. In response, King's love filled mind was met by a hate filled bullet, ascending him into the realm of martyrdom.
King's legacy, alongside the philosophy of Elijah Muhammad and the Nation of Islam gave birth to the black power movement as embodied by Stokely Carmichael. In a speech delivered at the 1966 Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee conference, Carmichael asserted that America is unable to profess and confess her sinful, racist history because such a confession would serve as a condemnation of self, therefore those individuals who have suffered at the hands of America's racist history must profess that condemnation in the most public and blatant way for all to notice. Carmichael explained how the myth of white supremacy has permeated every facets of existence from the church to the schoolyard. The myth of white supremacy can only be defeated by the installation of black power. Carmichael defined Power as the ability to make ones acts legitimate. Black power has historically been diminished because black's have waited for whites to affirm our language and oppress our flesh. If integration is to exist it must be a 2 way street where whites integrate into black culture as blacks simultaneously integrate into white culture.
Unfortunately, America did not adhere to Carmichael's idea of integration. We live within a time where segregated schools are considered the norm and in many instances worst than the rates of segregation that existed during the Jim Crow Era. According to Gary Orfield and his article entitled, “Reviving the Goal of an Integrated Society: A 21st Century Challenge” which was apart ofThe Civil Rights Project commissioned by UCLA in January 2009,
“Schools in the United States are more segregated today than they have been in more than four decades. Millions of non-white students are locked into “dropout factory” high schools, where huge percentages do not graduate, and few are well prepared for college or a future in the US economy”
Although some may be shocked by the levels of segregation existing within the public school system, it is a direct consequence of the failures of integration. To seek further integration into America's so-called majority society, at the expense of African-American culture, without a mutual reciprocation of integration between whites and blacks, the struggle of our ancestors will be in vain, and in direct contradiction to the definition Carmichael laid out for integration.
We must no longer adhere to the unwritten rule, “when in america, do as white people do.” African Americans and all people of color globally, must reject any so-called leader that will denounce a perspective of truth based upon the experiences of people of color. A prime example of such a denouncement occurred in President Obama's pursuit of America's highest office. Obama attended Trinity Church under the direction of the American war hero, Rev. Jeremiah Wright for many years, and as a product of this affiliation President Obama garnered support and relationships that are inherent without the network of black churches. When footage surfaced of Rev. Wright speaking within a biblical context as to America's fate for its unrepentant acts against nations and individuals of color, reserving God's damnation for such wicked acts, in a political move, Obama denounced Rev. Wright, comparing him to Obama's own elderly White grandmother who at times manifest her racist attitudes in a subconscious way. Obama's rejection of Rev. Jeremiah Wright affirmed and justified the conservative assault on the black church. The Obama and Rev. Wright controversy is the greatest example on the largest scale of the cost of non reciprocated integration, and America's inability and unwillingness to profess, confess and repent for her sins against people of color. Obama's success, and his entire body of work came down to his allegiance to America's racist “black people, get over it” mentality over his allegiance to the very institution that paved the way for his nomination, the black church.
The way Obama handled the Rev. Wright issue was a great political move, and it gained him the White House, yet far too often the black middle class is willing to step away from the masses of the black community, in exchange for a mediocre plight within the margins of white society. Marcus Garvey said, “there is no future for a people who deny their past”. Garvey also said, “any leadership that teaches you to depend upon another race is a leadership that will enslave you.” A mutual reciprocation of integration must be the product of a general understanding, without diminishing the significants of the present ramifications of the lie of white supremacy, that an atrocity like no other was systematically committed against people of color in the establishment of western society, and the establishment of capitalism.
Because nothing is born out of spontaneity there must be some regards for historical wrongs and necessary reparations must be instituted to rectify such wrongs. The government, which is comprised of the people, owe it to those persons who were historically considered less than a natural person, adequate infrastructural development, appropriate education, and measures to prevent further blatant discriminatory practices. An investment in infrastructure development will create/ jobs suitable for individuals lacking a post industrial era education, which will also serve to remedy the ill effects of joblessness. If jobs are created in conjunction with a climate instilling pride within community development, as a product of an agenda specifically catering to the needs of such communities, we will see a strengthening of the family bonds which must be the foundation of community.
The article, “The hidden cost of being African American”, clearly lays out the economic devastation that African- American's have endured. So often we hear individuals say “African-American's must get over slavery and Jim Crow”, yet, we rarely hear any condemnation for the generational accumulation of wealth that still exist as a product of the blood, sweat, and tears of our African/American ancestors euro-centric text books often refer to as slaves. As long as America and the western world circulate currency, and pass down resources and acquisitions that were initially acquired as blood money, from the work of African-Americans, the call for reparations is in order and completely justified.
America's ability to profess and confess her sinful nature, dispensing reparations, is dependent upon her ability to operate from a moral perspective. Carmichael understood America lacked the moral conscience and ability to operate out of morality, therefore she will never be able to evolve into a community with respect to all of her individual parts. Although America's ability to exist as a community is unlikely, like Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, Stokely Carmichael and W.E.B. Dubois I feel there is still an opportunity for a greater community to exist beyond the bounds of America. I feel that the displaced African Diaspora, specifically those Africans displaced as a product of slavery from the continent of Africa into the Western World have an opportunity, and must unite as survivors of the Western slave trade. Just as America's Jewish community advocate on behalf of Israel, and invest financially into the further establishment of Israel, African Americans should invest in nations such as Barbados, and the entire Caribbean diaspora, who in many ways are indistinguishable from the African- American community. Such an investment does not have to entail conflict as seen between Jewish settlers and Palestinian inhabitants. If African Americans invest in Caribbean tourism as a spiritual and historical retreat, with complete admiration for the sovereignty of these nations and the commonalities of our shared ancestry, such an investment can occur without resembling european colonization.
Over the course of Dubois' 95 years upon this earth, he left a vast wealth of knowledge and insight into his gatherings and perceptions pertaining to many issues, especially race, class and society. Dubois' struggle was for the advancement of colored people defeating the grips of racism, as described by the establishment of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Dubois reached out to individuals suffering within the margins of oppression throughout the globe. In Dubois' Souls of white folk, he wonders aloud, as to the power structure of the white man and his audacity to impose his oppressive and imperialistic will, not solely upon the American Negro, but brutally on the backs of the Japanese, the Chinese, Latin Americans, the West Indies, etc. Dubois understood that beyond the racial restraints existed two classes, the majority nonwhite world and the white world. Dubois understood that the struggle at its most fundamental bases was the struggle between these 2 distinct groups in a clash for power. Through militarization, the white world acquired power through means such as the division of African Soil and enslavement. Dubois became a siren, an advocate for social organization as a product of knowledge and mobilization of those individuals cast aside and oppressed under white male domination.
Dubois' life ended in Ghana with him creating and developing bonds in a Pan-African establishment of community. If only Dubois and Garvey could have found a mutual respect earlier in life, the unification between Africans existing within the Western Diaspora would have created a community beyond the bounds of America. In my travels to Barbados while speaking with a Christ Church local police officer, he said something I will never forget, “Barbados has the fertile soil, but long ago the white man took all of our seeds, you must bring them back.” Until Africans existing within the western Diaspora unite as the moral conscience of the western world, community within America will never exist.
Bibliography
-Wilson, Williams J. 1996. When Work Disappears: The World of the New Urban Poor. New
York, NY: Vintage Books.
-Alexander, Michelle,The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness (The New Press, New York 2010)
-W.E.B. Dubois, The Souls of Black Folk 3rd edition (Cambridge: University Press, 1903).
-Gary Orfield, “Reviving the Goal of an Integrated Society: A 21st Century Challenge,” The Civil Rights Project, UCLA, January 2009,
-The Hidden Cost of Being African American: How Wealth Perpetuates Inequality. New York: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Although arguments can be made in an attempt to define Dubois as either a functionalist or an interactionist, this paper will express those qualities which makes him primarily a conflict theorist with regards to race, class, and society . In Kornblum's and Julian's 2009 book, Social Problems, the two men lay out clear and concise descriptions of the 3 brands of social theories as they relate to social problems. The 3 categorizations are Functionalist, Conflict theorist, and the interactionist. The gentlemen described the functionalist as one who views society as a living organism comprised of interrelated basic elements, where all parts of the whole work in conjunction, maintaining the whole. In the functionalist school of thought deviance is described as any disruption of the unified whole, also referred to as the “system”. Functionalist believe that a social problem or deviance is the product of a failure of a set social expectation, which renders the presumed norms obsolete, creating a state of normlessness.
Kornblum and Julian also describes the foundation of the interactionist theorist, which holds that deviance or a social problem is subjectively ascribed based upon how society responds to an issue. The interactionist remedy deviance by reforming the presumed deviant through increased interactions with the accepted norms of behavior. Finally, Kornblum and Julian describes the conflict theorist as one who views society as being plagued by rifts due to inequalities in relation to culture, religion, ethnicity, gender and age along with other stratifications that cause societal division. Conflict theorist regard social problems or deviance as the product of conflicting societal values, and in order to resolve such issues the groups with opposing values must clash. Conflict theorist seek to establish strong social movements amongst those marginalized, at which point they engage the opposition in search of mutual accommodations. Based upon Korblum's definition of the conflict theorist, this essay will explain why Dubois was primarily a conflict theorist.
Over the course of Dubois' 95 years upon this earth, he left a vast wealth of knowledge and insight into his gatherings and perceptions pertaining to many issues, especially race, class and society. Although Dubois' struggle was for the advancement of colored people defeating the grips of racism, as described by the establishment of the NAACP, his struggle was truly a human struggle beyond the bounds of race. In conformity with Korblum's description of a conflict theorist, Dubois reached out to individuals suffering within the margins of oppression throughout the globe. In Dubois' Souls of white folk, he wonders aloud (with his type writer of course), as to the power structure of the white man and his audacity to impose his oppressive and imperialistic will, not solely upon the American Negro, but brutally on the backs of the Japanese, the Chinese, Latin Americans, the West Indies, etc. Dubois understood that beyond the racial restraints existed two classes, the majority nonwhite world and the white world. Dubois understood that the struggle at its most fundamental bases was the struggle between these 2 distinct groups in a clash for power. If only we could escape the present culmination of history, race would be of no consequence beyond the physical exterior, as deep as the flesh. Through militarization the white world acquired power through means such as the division of African Soil and enslavement. Dubois became a siren, an advocate for social organization as a product of knowledge and mobilization of those individuals cast aside and oppressed under white male domination.
The key attribute for a conflict theorist is conflict. Although Dubois did not advocate armed resistance in the most radical sense, his brand of conflict took place within academia and politics. Dubois recognized that the historical narrative was rewritten to sustain the concept of white supremacy, exalting all that is white as right. In Dubois' “conservation of Race”, he speaks of his book “The Negro” which explains the “Negros” influence on the establishment of civilizations throughout the globe, including the likes of what we now call Egypt. Dubois' studies and writings was in direct opposition to the dominating American/ Western value system which placed the value of whiteness above all else. This enlightenment sparked generations of great intellects, individuals who acted as a vanguard, inspiring mobilization of individuals such as the likes of Martin Luther King Jr.
Beyond academia Dubois established the NAACP, an organization designed to meet oppression in all of its manifestations head on. The establishment of the NAACP is an example of the establishment of a strong social movement designed to conflict with the oppressive power structure, preparing a platform and a mass voice for individuals suffering under the yolk of a racist society. The NAACP is a respected united front, which engages individuals and institutions opposed to equality, in search of a remedy. Today the NAACP is still a vital cornerstone in the advancement of not just colored people but all people. The NAACP addresses legal issues, provides scholastic funding, disaster relief, and an array of resources to individuals within the margins.
According to the New York times article, dated August 28th 1963, the day after Dubois Died, with the heading “WEB Du Bois Dies in Ghana”,
“As a sociologist, educator and writer, he frequently disagreed not only with whites but with members of his own race. Early in his career, he challenged the philosophy of Booker T. Washington. Dr. Du Bois was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, but later broke with the organization under conditions of bitterness.”
This excerpt expresses Dubois' conflict theorist mindset, to oppose notions opposed to what he perceived to be proper value principles. Dubois was the embodiment to standing up against injustice and remain standing until change comes about in a mutually beneficial manner.
Young brother have we fulfilled Martin’s dream? No we have not come close to the fulfillment of Martin's dream. Martin's speech was given in response to economic as well as political inequalities within America. Fact is...economic inequality in many areas have gotten worst, the issue of class has yet to be answered, and it is widely accepted that the truest struggle amongst mankind is between the proletariat and bourgeoisie rather than a racial struggle. Martin's dream spoke directly to international conflict, last I checked, the Palestinian -Israeli conflict is stooping to new lows, and I do not mean that in a good way. Black male incarceration is at all time highs, many of which classified as non violent drug offenses, which directly correlates to unemployment and poor education. Martin spoke of the creation of employment opportunity, unemployment in african as well as latino communities are at all time highs. Inequality in education is at it's worst. Until enrolling at Depaul University this year, in Chicago I have never shared a classroom with a white student, I have never lived next door to a white person, and that is a common theme on the south, north and west sides of Chicago. It is great that Obama is our new president, but it is worst that there is only one African American in the Senate. The issue is about class and always have been about class, not white and black....not white and black...not white and black. We must begin to view Martin's philosophy in its entirety and not nit-pick what's convenient for our own personal solace.
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