I, Khalif Muhammad,Ph.d , aka Syn-Q", the writer of this blog, am, like billions of others, a Victim of, and a servant to Racism (White Supremacy) in all areas of people activity. My Ultimate Objective is to use my experiences, and observations, about what Racism (White Supremacy) is and How it works, to promote the use of The United Independent Compensatory Code by Neely Fuller as motivation for other Victims towards the elimination of Racism.
Thursday, December 05, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Time (Economics Of)
Someone (albeit a "white" person) defined "Economics" as how one operates during scarcity. Time is scarce because you never have enough of it and it goes fast at the same time. It disappears every second and you can't get it back....ever. DO YOU HEAR ME?
I want to stress the importance of time. It is more valuable than money. You can always get money. After time has made you so old that you can't even lift a dollar, someone can still lay one in your lap. But most likely, unless you have help,you won't get time to spend it. Time is the most precious commodity. It should be managed with extreme care. That means that you have to plan. From my observations most "non-white" people don't like to plan. The White Supremacists have taught huge numbers of us that planning is boring. They've convinced us that our "lives" have to be "spontaneous" and "exciting".
They teach us to be surprising, like a "secret toy surprise" in a box of crackerjacks. (You might be too young to know what I'm taking about, my female offspring are in their 20's and say they like Crunch and Munch, which messes my point up, so get some elders to explain it to you) But, guess what? the maker of the Crackerjacks, planned for you to be surprised and got your money. If you use your time constructively you can plan to be "spontaneous" and "exciting". I assure you that it will be more fun when you've planned it.
If you don't plan your time, someone else will plan it for you and you may not learn that your time was used by them until its too late. But, you have to focus on your time to even learn this. The three phases of time, past, present, and future are all important. But, the Racists (White Supremacists) teach us to only focus on the present.
Their messages are:
"Focus on the now"
"The past is the past, don't focus on it."
"You can't predict the future."
These sayings are repeated to us with different words and phrases, but the message is still the same. "Time isn't that important to niggers." That's why they came up with "CP Time". Today we talk about "CP Time" like it's something to be proud of. Mind you I am not saying that you must strive to be on time for everything (I sure as hell ain't nor plan to be). You should only be on time for what is important to you, because IT IS YOUR TIME. However, if you tell someone that you're going to be on time, be there on time or be early. Because keeping your word is almost as essential as keeping time.
By using probability one can determine the outcome of certain situations. This is what Fuller calls "Following the Logic".
You have to observe past events in order to determine, future outcomes. This is done from your present position in time.
If I got a flat tire on my car yesterday and had no spare tire to replace it, then I know that I need to get one to use now, plus a spare for the next time (the future) that I get a flat tire. It's up to me to figure out (plan) how to get those tires. If I see the value in having my car running, because its use, saves me time, then I'm not doing anything else, until I get that tire fixed and a spare tire. Most problems can be solved in this same manner. If you're really observant, you'll see how others waste their time, so that you can be prepared not to waste yours in advance.
Let's say your friend needs to get paid for his time ("get a job"). Wait...didn't you know that is what a job really is? You're contracting your time out to them for an agreed upon rate, which is usually per hour,correct?
Anyway, your friend needs money. So, that means that he needs to spend time looking for a job. Your friend tells you that Mon to Fri 9a to 5p is the most constructive time to look for work because that's when most people are conducting business. However, he stays up drinking alcohol until 2a every night. He doesn't wake up until 1230p in the afternoon, plus takes another hour to get ready, each day. Because he's out on the street looking before 5p, he still believes that he can find work. And he could. You decide to look for work too. But seeing how he misuses his time, you get up at 7a to prepare to be out on the streets looking for work by 9a. Your friend uses three and a half hours to find work. You use eight. Who increases their chances of finding work? Who planned to use their time more constructively?
You want to find ways to solve your problems at a rate that is faster than the amount of problems that come your way. This involves planning and constructive use of time.
Managing your time constructively could indirectly resist Racism (White Supremacy) because more Racist (White Supremacists) benefit from your destructive use of your time than those who benefit.
Oh no? How many benefit from your watching TV? (hint: who makes the TV shows? who makes the commercials?) How many benefit from your laboring? (at least one, plus you get paid for your time).
Check out pages 58 and 59 of the U.I.C.C./S./C. by Neely Fuller Jr., for the constructive use of your time in the area of Economics.
Stay Strong In Your Struggle To Replace White Supremacy With Justice.
I want to stress the importance of time. It is more valuable than money. You can always get money. After time has made you so old that you can't even lift a dollar, someone can still lay one in your lap. But most likely, unless you have help,you won't get time to spend it. Time is the most precious commodity. It should be managed with extreme care. That means that you have to plan. From my observations most "non-white" people don't like to plan. The White Supremacists have taught huge numbers of us that planning is boring. They've convinced us that our "lives" have to be "spontaneous" and "exciting".
They teach us to be surprising, like a "secret toy surprise" in a box of crackerjacks. (You might be too young to know what I'm taking about, my female offspring are in their 20's and say they like Crunch and Munch, which messes my point up, so get some elders to explain it to you) But, guess what? the maker of the Crackerjacks, planned for you to be surprised and got your money. If you use your time constructively you can plan to be "spontaneous" and "exciting". I assure you that it will be more fun when you've planned it.
If you don't plan your time, someone else will plan it for you and you may not learn that your time was used by them until its too late. But, you have to focus on your time to even learn this. The three phases of time, past, present, and future are all important. But, the Racists (White Supremacists) teach us to only focus on the present.
Their messages are:
Wasting time is like a dog chasing his tail |
"Focus on the now"
"The past is the past, don't focus on it."
"You can't predict the future."
These sayings are repeated to us with different words and phrases, but the message is still the same. "Time isn't that important to niggers." That's why they came up with "CP Time". Today we talk about "CP Time" like it's something to be proud of. Mind you I am not saying that you must strive to be on time for everything (I sure as hell ain't nor plan to be). You should only be on time for what is important to you, because IT IS YOUR TIME. However, if you tell someone that you're going to be on time, be there on time or be early. Because keeping your word is almost as essential as keeping time.
By using probability one can determine the outcome of certain situations. This is what Fuller calls "Following the Logic".
You have to observe past events in order to determine, future outcomes. This is done from your present position in time.
If I got a flat tire on my car yesterday and had no spare tire to replace it, then I know that I need to get one to use now, plus a spare for the next time (the future) that I get a flat tire. It's up to me to figure out (plan) how to get those tires. If I see the value in having my car running, because its use, saves me time, then I'm not doing anything else, until I get that tire fixed and a spare tire. Most problems can be solved in this same manner. If you're really observant, you'll see how others waste their time, so that you can be prepared not to waste yours in advance.
Let's say your friend needs to get paid for his time ("get a job"). Wait...didn't you know that is what a job really is? You're contracting your time out to them for an agreed upon rate, which is usually per hour,correct?
Anyway, your friend needs money. So, that means that he needs to spend time looking for a job. Your friend tells you that Mon to Fri 9a to 5p is the most constructive time to look for work because that's when most people are conducting business. However, he stays up drinking alcohol until 2a every night. He doesn't wake up until 1230p in the afternoon, plus takes another hour to get ready, each day. Because he's out on the street looking before 5p, he still believes that he can find work. And he could. You decide to look for work too. But seeing how he misuses his time, you get up at 7a to prepare to be out on the streets looking for work by 9a. Your friend uses three and a half hours to find work. You use eight. Who increases their chances of finding work? Who planned to use their time more constructively?
You want to find ways to solve your problems at a rate that is faster than the amount of problems that come your way. This involves planning and constructive use of time.
Managing your time constructively could indirectly resist Racism (White Supremacy) because more Racist (White Supremacists) benefit from your destructive use of your time than those who benefit.
Oh no? How many benefit from your watching TV? (hint: who makes the TV shows? who makes the commercials?) How many benefit from your laboring? (at least one, plus you get paid for your time).
Check out pages 58 and 59 of the U.I.C.C./S./C. by Neely Fuller Jr., for the constructive use of your time in the area of Economics.
Stay Strong In Your Struggle To Replace White Supremacy With Justice.
Monday, November 11, 2013
Saturday, November 09, 2013
Egungun
One of the areas that Racism (White Supremacy) has affected us ("black" people) tremendously in, is our spiritual connection with our ancestors. The White Supremacists erased Ancestor Veneration from the minds of their captives (our enslaved ancestors) centuries ago, and not only forbid it, but used extreme deception and violence to keep this process from reaching most of us today. Many of us don't know how powerful this process can make us spiritually. I suspect that it helped to strengthen that will of those slaves who rebelled against their masters in "Haiti", "Cuba", "Brazil,", "Jamaica", and all of the other places on this side of the planet where the slaves fought for their freedom out of Greater Confinement.
"Ancestral Veneration is the belief that our bodies are containers of an energy that doesn't die after we stop breathing air. It is a belief that the spirits of our dead loved ones still exist. And committing yourself to providing them with constant happiness, love, respect, and devotion, shows them that you still care for their well-being even in the spirit realm ("heaven"). It builds on the unity of family and lineage because it establishes a legacy of inner strength that can't be messed with. Though our ancestors possess more spiritual power than they did when they were physically with us, and it can help increase the will to eliminate it, it still remains to be seen if it is powerful enough to replace white supremacy with justice. I can bare witness that our ancestors have the ability to interact and affect the existence of those still breathing, because it has happened to me"- Khalif Muhammad
The White Supremacists pay homage to their ancestors everyday and force us to do so as well. Sometimes they even dress like them to celebrate. They re-enact significant parts of their ancestors lives. These people are the ancestors of the White Supremacists. Mind you, all of the people on this planet share common ancestors from Alkabulan ("Africa"), even the White Supremacists admit that.
But, because White Supremacy exists, their ancestors are classified as "White" and have mistreated "Non-white" people (our ancestors) on the basis of skin color when they were breathing air.
That so-called color line makes a world of difference on the psyche of your mind if you're a "non-white" person in a system of White Supremacy. I mean we know that Racism (White Supremacy) drives us to drink, smoke, do drugs, kill, etc. just to try to relieve ourselves from its affects, even if it's temporary. Those things however our destructive to ourselves and others. We need something constructive to help fill the void of spiritual weakness that many of us experience from believing in the Religion of White Supremacy from birth.
These facts will reveal themselves to your mind if you admit and accept the truth (that which is). The truth is there buried under all of that spookism that the White Supremacists have taught you. I've seen "black" people get all agitated and scared when they've seen my "Egun" (ancestral shrine). They get to hollering that "You're worshiping the devil and the dead!" crap. Yet, these same ones won't hesitate to celebrate George Washington's birthday or talk about what a great person Abraham Lincoln was. Huge numbers of "black" folks see no problem with the Racists / White Supremacists having "eternal flames" lit to honor their dead. But, let them see a candle lit to honor their own dead? there's a problem. Oops, there's an exception, some of us will pile up a gang of candles out on the street were a loved one was killed (no disrespect them), but what I am talking about is this:
This is my "Egun" and having it is one of the things that keeps me sane while under the system of Racism (White Supremacy). My "Egun" are those who came before me, and whose shoulders I stand on. I wouldn't be here behaving in a constructive manner if it weren't for the things that they did to lay down the foundation. I am forever grateful to them. "Egun" is short for "Egungun' which means ancestors in the Yoruba language. It truly helps to speak to them because they listen to you!!!
I can't explain the tremendous strength of identity that comes from having one. Most people around the world have something similar and you should too. As mentioned earlier in this piece, it doesn't appear powerful enough to eliminate Racism (White Supremacy), but it can help you stay focused on eliminating it. Stay Strong In Your Struggle To Replace White Supremacy With Justice!
"Ancestral Veneration is the belief that our bodies are containers of an energy that doesn't die after we stop breathing air. It is a belief that the spirits of our dead loved ones still exist. And committing yourself to providing them with constant happiness, love, respect, and devotion, shows them that you still care for their well-being even in the spirit realm ("heaven"). It builds on the unity of family and lineage because it establishes a legacy of inner strength that can't be messed with. Though our ancestors possess more spiritual power than they did when they were physically with us, and it can help increase the will to eliminate it, it still remains to be seen if it is powerful enough to replace white supremacy with justice. I can bare witness that our ancestors have the ability to interact and affect the existence of those still breathing, because it has happened to me"- Khalif Muhammad
The White Supremacists pay homage to their ancestors everyday and force us to do so as well. Sometimes they even dress like them to celebrate. They re-enact significant parts of their ancestors lives. These people are the ancestors of the White Supremacists. Mind you, all of the people on this planet share common ancestors from Alkabulan ("Africa"), even the White Supremacists admit that.
But, because White Supremacy exists, their ancestors are classified as "White" and have mistreated "Non-white" people (our ancestors) on the basis of skin color when they were breathing air.
That so-called color line makes a world of difference on the psyche of your mind if you're a "non-white" person in a system of White Supremacy. I mean we know that Racism (White Supremacy) drives us to drink, smoke, do drugs, kill, etc. just to try to relieve ourselves from its affects, even if it's temporary. Those things however our destructive to ourselves and others. We need something constructive to help fill the void of spiritual weakness that many of us experience from believing in the Religion of White Supremacy from birth.
These facts will reveal themselves to your mind if you admit and accept the truth (that which is). The truth is there buried under all of that spookism that the White Supremacists have taught you. I've seen "black" people get all agitated and scared when they've seen my "Egun" (ancestral shrine). They get to hollering that "You're worshiping the devil and the dead!" crap. Yet, these same ones won't hesitate to celebrate George Washington's birthday or talk about what a great person Abraham Lincoln was. Huge numbers of "black" folks see no problem with the Racists / White Supremacists having "eternal flames" lit to honor their dead. But, let them see a candle lit to honor their own dead? there's a problem. Oops, there's an exception, some of us will pile up a gang of candles out on the street were a loved one was killed (no disrespect them), but what I am talking about is this:
This is my "Egun" and having it is one of the things that keeps me sane while under the system of Racism (White Supremacy). My "Egun" are those who came before me, and whose shoulders I stand on. I wouldn't be here behaving in a constructive manner if it weren't for the things that they did to lay down the foundation. I am forever grateful to them. "Egun" is short for "Egungun' which means ancestors in the Yoruba language. It truly helps to speak to them because they listen to you!!!
I can't explain the tremendous strength of identity that comes from having one. Most people around the world have something similar and you should too. As mentioned earlier in this piece, it doesn't appear powerful enough to eliminate Racism (White Supremacy), but it can help you stay focused on eliminating it. Stay Strong In Your Struggle To Replace White Supremacy With Justice!
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
The Affect of White Supremacy On My Mind
I am wrestling with the fact that I have some hesitation with eating brown chicken eggs! That's just crazy. I remember when my folks were doing the "revolutionary" stuff in the 70's and we switched from white bread to wheat bread. White flour to wheat flour. White eggs to brown eggs. But then for some reason throughout the years I ended up eating white eggs again. Now I'm so used to eating them, that when my attempted wife bought and boiled some brown eggs for us to eat, I've had all kinds of negative emotions about eating them. I know that the eggs are okay, and in fact it's been said that they're healthier. Yet here I sit, hungry, wanting to eat some boiled eggs (which I love to do) and have to psych myself out to eat the brown eggs! It really bothers me that I have these kind of feelings. I know that it's White Supremacy. I'm fighting it and will force myself to overcome this crappy idea.
Just my thoughts for today.
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
Report A Racist Suspect
Are you a Victim Of White Supremacy ("Non-white" person)?
Did a Racist Suspect recently (or in the past) mistreat you on the basis of color?
Wouldn't it be constructive if you had a source to check a "White" person out, before they mistreat you?
We need your help.
We're compiling a data base of Racist Suspects.
If you have your suspicions about certain individual "White" persons or in your opinion the "White" person is practicing Racism (White Supremacy), answer the following questions:
Who
What
When
Why
Where
How
Then, click on the link below.
Report A Racist Suspect
Happy Countering Racism!!!
Did a Racist Suspect recently (or in the past) mistreat you on the basis of color?
Wouldn't it be constructive if you had a source to check a "White" person out, before they mistreat you?
We need your help.
We're compiling a data base of Racist Suspects.
If you have your suspicions about certain individual "White" persons or in your opinion the "White" person is practicing Racism (White Supremacy), answer the following questions:
Who
What
When
Why
Where
How
Then, click on the link below.
Report A Racist Suspect
Happy Countering Racism!!!
Thursday, July 25, 2013
Mr. Neely Fuller Jr. Has His Own Website and Radio Show!!!
Mr. Fuller has a website called ProduceJustice.com and The Compensatory Concept radio show.
Please check them out.
Please check them out.
Sunday, July 21, 2013
My analysis of Remarks by the President on Trayvon Martin
I suspect that this speech was constructive.
James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
July 19, 2013
1:33 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: I wanted to
come out here, first of all, to tell you that Jay is prepared for all your
questions and is very much looking forward to the session. The second
thing is I want to let you know that over the next couple of weeks, there’s
going to obviously be a whole range of issues -- immigration, economics, et
cetera -- we'll try to arrange a fuller press conference to address your
questions.
The reason I actually wanted to come
out today is not to take questions, but to speak to an issue that obviously has
gotten a lot of attention over the course of the last week -- the issue of the
Trayvon Martin ruling. I gave a preliminary statement right after the
ruling on Sunday. But watching the debate over the course of the last
week, I thought it might be useful for me to expand on my thoughts a little
bit.
First of all, I want to make sure
that, once again, I send my thoughts and prayers, as well as Michelle’s, to the
family of Trayvon Martin, and to remark on the incredible grace and dignity
with which they’ve dealt with the entire situation. I can only imagine
what they’re going through, and it’s remarkable how they’ve handled it.
The second thing I want to say is to
reiterate what I said on Sunday, which is there’s going to be a lot of
arguments about the legal issues in the case -- I'll let all the legal analysts
and talking heads address those issues.
The judge conducted the trial in
a professional manner. The prosecution and the defense made their
arguments. The juries were properly instructed that in a case such as this
reasonable doubt was relevant, and they rendered a verdict. And once the
jury has spoken, that's how our system works. But I did want to just talk
a little bit about context and how people have responded to it and how people
are feeling.
You know, when Trayvon Martin was
first shot I said that this could have been my son. Another way of saying
that is Trayvon Martin could have been me 35 years ago. And when you
think about why, in the African American community at least, there’s a lot of
pain around what happened here, I think it’s important to recognize that the
African American community is looking at this issue through a set of
experiences and a history that doesn’t go away. (Until White Supremacy is Replaced With Justice)
There are very few African American
men in this country who haven't had the experience of being followed when they
were shopping in a department store. That includes me. There are
very few African American men who haven't had the experience of walking across
the street and hearing the locks click on the doors of cars. That happens
to me -- at least before I was a senator. There are very few African
Americans who haven't had the experience of getting on an elevator and a woman
clutching her purse nervously and holding her breath until she had a chance to
get off. That happens often.
And I don't want to exaggerate this,
but those sets of experiences inform how the African American community
interprets what happened one night in Florida. And it’s inescapable for
people to bring those experiences to bear. The African American community
is also knowledgeable that there is a history of racial disparities in the
application of our criminal laws -- everything from the death penalty to
enforcement of our drug laws. And that ends up having an impact in terms
of how people interpret the case.
Now, this isn't to say that the
African American community is naïve about the fact that African American young
men are disproportionately involved in the criminal justice system; that
they’re disproportionately both victims and perpetrators of violence. It’s
not to make excuses for that fact -- although black folks do interpret the
reasons for that in a historical context. They understand that some of
the violence that takes place in poor black neighborhoods around the country is
born out of a very violent past in this country, and that the poverty and
dysfunction that we see in those communities can be traced to a very difficult
history.
And so the fact that sometimes
that’s unacknowledged adds to the frustration. And the fact that a lot of
African American boys are painted with a broad brush and the excuse is given, well;
there are these statistics out there that show that African American boys are
more violent -- using that as an excuse to then see sons treated differently
causes pain.
I think the African American
community is also not naïve in understanding that, statistically, somebody like
Trayvon Martin was statistically more likely to be shot by a peer than he was
by somebody else. So folks understand the challenges that exist for
African American boys.
But they get frustrated, I think, if they feel
that there’s no context for it and that context is being denied. And that all
contributes I think to a sense that if a white male teen was involved in the
same kind of scenario, that, from top to bottom, both the outcome and the
aftermath might have been different.
Now, the question for me at least,
and I think for a lot of folks, is where do we take this? How do we learn
some lessons from this and move in a positive direction? I think it’s
understandable that there have been demonstrations and vigils and protests, and
some of that stuff is just going to have to work its way through, as long as it
remains nonviolent. If I see any violence, then I will remind folks that
that dishonors what happened to Trayvon Martin and his family. But beyond
protests or vigils, the question is, are there some concrete things that we
might be able to do.
I know that Eric Holder is reviewing
what happened down there, but I think it’s important for people to have some
clear expectations here. Traditionally, these are issues of state and
local government, the criminal code. And law enforcement is traditionally
done at the state and local levels, not at the federal levels.
That doesn’t mean, though, that as a
nation we can’t do some things that I think would be productive. So let
me just give a couple of specifics that I’m still bouncing around with my
staff, so we’re not rolling out some five-point plan, but some areas where I
think all of us could potentially focus.
Number one, precisely because law
enforcement is often determined at the state and local level, I think it would
be productive for the Justice Department, governors, mayors to work with law
enforcement about training at the state and local levels in order to reduce the
kind of mistrust in the system that sometimes currently exists.
When I was in Illinois, I passed
racial profiling legislation, and it actually did just two simple things.
One, it collected data on traffic stops and the race of the person who was stopped.
But the other thing was it resourced us training police departments across the
state on how to think about potential racial bias and ways to further
professionalize what they were doing.
And initially, the police
departments across the state were resistant, but actually they came to
recognize that if it was done in a fair, straightforward way that it would
allow them to do their jobs better and communities would have more confidence
in them and, in turn, be more helpful in applying the law. And obviously,
law enforcement has got a very tough job.
So that’s one area where I think
there are a lot of resources and best practices that could be brought to bear
if state and local governments are receptive. And I think a lot of them
would be. And let's figure out are there ways for us to push out that
kind of training.
Along the same lines, I think it
would be useful for us to examine some state and local laws to see if it -- if
they are designed in such a way that they may encourage the kinds of altercations
and confrontations and tragedies that we saw in the Florida case, rather than
diffuse potential altercations. (This is a message to the Effective Number, who must start examining "state" and "local" laws and taking action enough to sway public ["White" folks] opinion towards making sure that these laws get changed. Racist Suspects have been using them against "Black" males heavily. See here)
I know that there's been commentary
about the fact that the "stand your ground" laws in Florida were not
used as a defense in the case. On the other hand, if we're sending a
message as a society in our communities that someone who is armed potentially
has the right to use those firearms even if there's a way for them to exit from
a situation, is that really going to be contributing to the kind of peace and
security and order that we'd like to see?
And for those who resist that idea
that we should think about something like these "stand your ground"
laws, I'd just ask people to consider, if Trayvon Martin was of age and armed,
could he have stood his ground on that sidewalk? And do we actually think
that he would have been justified in shooting Mr. Zimmerman who had followed
him in a car because he felt threatened? And if the answer to that
question is at least ambiguous, then it seems to me that we might want to
examine those kinds of laws.
Number three -- and this is a
long-term project -- we need to spend some time in thinking about how do we
bolster and reinforce our African American boys. And this is something
that Michelle and I talk a lot about. There are a lot of kids out there
who need help who are getting a lot of negative reinforcement. And is
there more that we can do to give them the sense that their country cares about
them and values them and is willing to invest in them? (Get your organizations ready for the resources that will come your way if your involved in helping young "Black" males.)
I'm not naïve about the prospects of
some grand, new federal program. I'm not sure that that’s what we're
talking about here. But I do recognize that as President, I've got some
convening power, and there are a lot of good programs that are being done across
the country on this front. And for us to be able to gather together
business leaders and local elected officials and clergy and celebrities and
athletes, and figure out how are we doing a better job helping young African
American men feel that they're a full part of this society and that they've got
pathways and avenues to succeed -- I think that would be a pretty good outcome
from what was obviously a tragic situation. And we're going to spend some
time working on that and thinking about that.
And then, finally, I think it's
going to be important for all of us to do some soul-searching. There has
been talk about should we convene a conversation on race. I haven't seen
that be particularly productive when politicians try to organize conversations.
They end up being stilted and politicized, and folks are locked into the
positions they already have. On the other hand, in families and churches
and workplaces, there's the possibility that people are a little bit more
honest, and at least you ask yourself your own questions about, am I wringing
as much bias out of myself as I can? Am I judging people as much as I
can, based on not the color of their skin, but the content of their
character? That would, I think, be an appropriate exercise in the wake of
this tragedy. (A truly open and honest discussion about the so-called "race" issue, must be had and should continue until the system of White Supremacy is eliminated.)
And let me just leave you with a
final thought that, as difficult and challenging as this whole episode has been
for a lot of people, I don’t want us to lose sight that things are getting
better. Each successive generation seems to be making progress in
changing attitudes when it comes to race. It doesn’t mean we’re in a
post-racial society. It doesn’t mean that racism is eliminated. But
when I talk to Malia and Sasha, and I listen to their friends and I seem them
interact, they’re better than we are -- they’re better than we were -- on these
issues. And that’s true in every community that I’ve visited all across
the country.
And so we have to be vigilant and we
have to work on these issues. And those of us in authority should be doing
everything we can to encourage the better angels of our nature, as opposed to
using these episodes to heighten divisions. But we should also have
confidence that kids these days, I think, have more sense than we did back
then, and certainly more than our parents did or our grandparents did; and that
along this long, difficult journey, we’re becoming a more perfect union -- not
a perfect union, but a more perfect union.
Thank you, guys.
His words sounded constructive and were definitely soothing to the hearts and minds of huge numbers of people (and yet painful to others), I hope that they are the prelude to some serious steps towards solving the problems that "Black" folks have inherited from Racism (White Supremacy). Right now, Obama's got nothing to loose. There is no more re-selection for him. He could come out and talk about Racism (White Supremacy) every single day, and there wouldn't be a damn thing that anyone could do about it. If he did that, he'd be the boldest, baddest, greatest, "leader" that ever lived..... Just by using his words. I could be incorrect.
Stay Strong In The Struggle To Replace White Supremacy With Justice
His words sounded constructive and were definitely soothing to the hearts and minds of huge numbers of people (and yet painful to others), I hope that they are the prelude to some serious steps towards solving the problems that "Black" folks have inherited from Racism (White Supremacy). Right now, Obama's got nothing to loose. There is no more re-selection for him. He could come out and talk about Racism (White Supremacy) every single day, and there wouldn't be a damn thing that anyone could do about it. If he did that, he'd be the boldest, baddest, greatest, "leader" that ever lived..... Just by using his words. I could be incorrect.
Stay Strong In The Struggle To Replace White Supremacy With Justice
Friday, July 19, 2013
Some Things To Show You
Trayvon Martin Homicide Photo is within the below Video.
It just occurred to me the other day that Obama can never be selected again, because the law allows him to be president no more than twice and he is now in his second term, so he doesn't have to worry about what the "White" folks think anymore. We ( my "mom" and "wife") were just saying that Obama could come out and talk about the Trayvon Martin Case. He could now speak freely about Racism (White Supremacy) how it has victimize us. Did you know that he can't be impeached for using his mouth to tell the truth about our being victims of racism?
Impeachment - The Law
The removal of the President from office was provided for by the founders of the United States in the Constitution. Article II of the Constitution focuses specifically on the executive branch of the government, how the President is selected, the duties of the President, and the term of office. The last section of Article II, Section 4, deals specifically with the grounds for impeachment:The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.That's it - nothing more. The process is spelled out in Article 1, Sections 2 and 3 of the Constitution, but there is no further elaboration on reasons for the impeachment of a President.
source:www.superkids.com
Imagine if he came out tomorrow with Jeremiah Wright on his right side!!! Imagine if with Jeremiah by his side he said "I only said what I said about Rev. Wright, to get to this point in my presidency! Wouldn't that be tight! Hell (at the risk of facing possible assassination attempts) he could have a lot of influence on the world, just be using his words carefully in the below video. Obama just became my president today. Check it!!!
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Why No Justice For Trayvon Martin?
Trayvon Martin August 2011 |
The first thing to recognize is that this case was about "Race". As long as the system of Racism (White Supremacy) exists everything is either directly or indirectly tied to the so-called Race issue.
The second thing is to acknowledge that we are Victims Of Racism and we are NOT FREE, in this system of injustice. As long as this system exists, if you are a "Non-white" person YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY SUSPICIOUS no matter what. And, if you are a "Black" person, you are MORE SUSPICIOUS THAN ANY OTHER "Non-white" person.
Example- Let's say that there are five people in a room. One "White" person, one "Yellow" person, one "Red" person, one "Brown" person, and one "Black" person. If something comes up missing everyone, who didn't take it, will suspect that the "Black" person took it. (Even "Black" people suspect other "Black" people whenever a crime is committed.) Those same people wouldn't think that the "White" person did it. If the "White" person was the only person in the room at the time of the theft, they'd come up with excuses that justified the "White" person doing it.
Why?
Because the Racists have trained the majority of this planet to suspect that the "Black" person is always guilty. All eyes are on us.
This is were Counter Racist logic earns its keep, because it helps to bring balance by putting "White" people under suspicion too. That is the only way to resolve the "Race" issue.
Counter Racist Logic is about behaving in a manner that gets everyone in the room to say, "Nope. it wasn't the "Black" person this time."
I agree with Mr. Fuller when he said that "Black" people should develop a culture of not committing any crimes, except the one, which the Racists call "panhandling"( more on that later).
Imagine if we developed a culture of not committing crimes as though it was the new style. You know how we love to be in style. If we made it the new style and kept it that way for a long period of time, maybe the day would come when no one would believe that "Black" folks could commit any crimes. I could be incorrect.
Stay Strong In The Struggle To Replace White Supremacy With Justice
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
"Political Education Neglected" by Carter G Woodson
I am posting this in response to the recent Supreme Court Decision to End the Voters Rights Act.
Chapter 9
pp.83 to 95
The Mis-Education of the Negro
by Carter G Woodson
First Published in 1933
"If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one."
SOME time ago when Congressman Oscar De Priest was distributing by thousands copies of the Constitution of the United States certain wiseacres were disposed to make fun of it. What purpose would such an act serve? These critics, however, probably did not know that thousands and thousands of Negro children in this country are not permitted to use school books in which are printed the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are mentioned in their history as figures in politics rather than as expounders of liberty and freedom. These youths are not permitted to learn that Jefferson believed that government should derive its power from the consent of the governed.
Not long ago a measure was introduced in a certain State Legislature to have the Constitution of the United States thus printed in school histories, but when the bill was about to pass it was killed by some one who made the point that it would never do to have Negroes study the Constitution of the United States. If the Negroes were granted the opportunity to peruse this document, they might learn to contend for the rights therein guaranteed; and no Negro teacher who gives attention to such matters of the government is tolerated in those backward districts. The teaching of government or the lack of such instruction, then, must be made to conform to the policy of "keeping the Negro in his place."
In like manner, the teaching of history in the Negro area has had its political significance. Starting out after the Civil War, the opponents of freedom and social justice decided to work out a program which would enslave the Negroes' mind inasmuch as the freedom of body had to be conceded. It was well understood that if by the teaching of history the white man could be further assured of his superiority and the Negro could be made to feel that he had always been a failure and that the subjection of his will to some other race is necessary the freedman, then, would still be a slave. If you can control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his action. "When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one. This program, so popular immediately after the Civil War, was not new, but after this upheaval, its execution received a new stimulus. Histories written elsewhere for the former slave area were discarded, and new treatments of local and national history in conformity with the recrudescent propaganda were produced to give whites and blacks the biased point of view of the development of the nation and the relations of the races. Special treatments of the Reconstruction period were produced in apparently scientific form by propagandists who went into the first graduate schools of the East to learn modern historiography about half a century ago. Having the stamp of science, the thought of these polemics was accepted in all seats of learning. These rewriters of history fearlessly contended that slavery was a benevolent institution; the masters loved their slaves and treated them humanely; the abolitionists meddled with the institution which the masters eventually would have modified; the Civil War brought about by "fanatics" like William Lloyd Garrison and John Brown was unnecessary; it was a mistake to make the Negro a citizen, for he merely became worse off by incurring the displeasure of the master class that will never tolerate him as an equal; and the Negro must live in this country in a state of recognized inferiority.
Some of these theories may seem foolish, but historians even in the North have been won to this point of view. They ignore the recent works of Miss Elizabeth Donnan, Mrs. H. T. Catterall, and Dr. Frederic Bancroft, who have spent years investigating slavery and slavetrading. These are scientific productions with the stamp of the best scholarship in America, treatises produced from such genuine documents as the court records of the slaveholding section itself, and these authors have rendered the public a valuable service in removing the whitewash which pseudo-historians have been giving to slavery and slaveholders for more than a century.
In the preparation of Negroes, many of whom teach in the South, these biased Northern historians even convert them to such a faith. A few years ago the author happened to listen to a conversation of Negro lawyers in one of our Southern cities, in which they unanimously conceded practically every contention set forth in this program of propaganda. They denounced, therefore, all reconstructionists who advocated equality and justice for all. These Negroes had the biased point of view of the rewriters like Claude Bowers and had never been directed to the real history of that drama as set forth by A. A. Taylor, Francis B. Simkins and Robert H. Woodly of the new Southern school of thought. These Negro critics were especially hard on Negroes of our day who engage in agitation for actual democracy. Negroes themselves in certain parts join with the whites, then, in keeping out of the schools teachers who may be hold enough to teach the truth as it is. They usually say the races here are getting along amicably now, and we do not want these peaceful relations disturbed by the teaching of new political thought.
What they mean to say with respect to the peaceful relation of the races, then, is that the Negroes have been terrorized to the extent that they are afraid even to discuss political matters publicly. There must be no exposition of the principles of government in the schools, and this must not be done in public among Negroes with a view to stimulating political activity. Negroes engaged in other spheres in such communities finally come to the point of accepting silence on these matters as a fixed policy. Knowing that action to the contrary means mob rule which may destroy the peace and property of the community, they constitute themselves a sort of a vigilant committee to direct their fellows accordingly.
A few years ago a rather youthful looking high school principal in one of the large cities was unceremoniously dismissed because he said jocosely to the president of the board of education, in reply to his remark about his youthful bearing, "I am old enough to vote." "Horrors!" said the infuriated official. "Put him out. We brought him here to teach these Negroes how to work, and here he is thinking about voting," A few prominent Negroes of the place muttered a little, but they did nothing effective to correct this injustice.
In certain parts, therefore, the Negroes under such terrorism have ceased to think of political matters as their sphere. Where such things come into the teaching in more advanced work they are presented as matters of concern to a particular element rather than as functions in which all citizens may participate. The result is that Negroes grow up without knowledge of political matters which should concern all elements. To prevent the Negroes from learning too much about these things the whites in the schools are sometimes neglected also, but the latter have the opportunity to learn by contact, close observation, and actual participation in the affairs of government.
Negroes in certain parts, then, have all but abandoned voting even at points where it might be allowed. In some cases not as many as two thousand Negroes vote in a whole state. By special legislation providing for literacy tests and the payment of taxes their number of voters has been reduced to a negligible quantity, and the few who can thus function do not do so because they are often counted out when they have the deciding vote.
-----------------------------The Reason For The Voters Rights Act of 1965------------------------------------
The tests established for the restriction of suffrage were not intended to stimulate political education but to eliminate the Negro vote by subterfuge. Negroes presenting themselves for registration are asked to do the all but impossible thing of expounding parts of the Constitution which have baffled high courts; but whites are asked simple questions which almost any illiterate man can answer. In this way the Negroes, however intelligent, are turned down; and all ignorant whites are permitted to vote. These laws, then, have retarded rather than stimulated the political education of both races. Such knowledge is apparently useless for Negroes and unnecessary for the whites, for the Negroes do not immediately profit by having it and the whites may function as citizens without it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The effect of such a one-sided system is decidedly bad. One does not realize it until he talks with men and women of these districts, who because of the denial of these privileges have lost interest in political matters. A book agent working in the plantation area of Mississippi tested the knowledge of Negroes of these matters by asking them questions about the local and State government. He discovered that they knew practically nothing in this sphere. It was difficult to find any who knew who was president of the United States. One meets teachers, physicians, and ministers who do not know the ordinary operations of courts, the functions of the counsel, jury or judge, unless such knowledge has come by the bitter experience of having been imposed upon by some tribunal of injustice. Some of the "educated" Negroes do not pay attention to such important matters as "the assessment of property and the collection of taxes, and they do not inform themselves as to how these things are worked out. An influential Negro in the South, then, is one who has nothing to do or say about politics and advises others to follow the same course.
The elimination of the Negro from politics, then, has been most unfortunate. The whites may have profited thereby temporarily, but they showed very little foresight. How the whites can expect to make of the Negroes better citizens by leading them to think that they should have no part in the government of this country is a mystery. To keep a man above vagabondage and crime he needs among other things the stimulus of patriotism, but how can a man be patriotic when the effect of his education is to the contrary?
What little chance the Negro has to learn by participation in politics in most parts of the South is unfortunately restricted now to corruption. The usual stir about electing delegates to the National Republican Convention from the Southern States and the customary combat the Negroes have with Lily-white corruptionists are about all the political matters which claim their attention in the Lower South. Neither the white nor the black faction, as a rule, makes any effort to restore suffrage to Negroes. The objective is merely the control of delegates and Federal patronage for the financial considerations involved. To do this they resort to numerous contests culminating in closing hotels and bolting doors for secret meetings.
Since this is the only activity in which Negroes can participate they have learned to look upon it as honorable. Large numbers of Negroes become excited over the contest and give much publicity to it on the rostrum and in the press as a matter of great importance. The methods of these corruptionists of both races, however, should be condemned as a disgrace to the state and nation.
Instead of doing something to get rid of this ilk, however, we find the "highly educated" Negroes trying to plunge also into the mire. One of the most discouraging aspects in Negro life recently observed was that of a presidential campaign. Prominent Negroes connected with three of our leading institutions of learning temporarily abandoned their work to round up Negro votes for one of the candidates. The objective, of course, was to control the few ordinary jobs which are allotted to Negro politicians for their campaign services. When the successful candidate had been inaugurated, however, he carefully ignored them in the make-up of the personnel of his administration and treated Negroes in general with contempt. When you think of the fact that the Negroes who are being thus used are supposedly the most reputable Negro leaders and our most highly educated men you have to wonder whether the Negro has made any progress since Emancipation. The only consolation one can get out of it is that they may not represent the whole race.
In the North the Negroes have a better chance to acquire knowledge of political matters of the simple kind, but the bosses do not think it is advisable to enlighten them thoroughly. Negroes in parts are employed in campaigns, but they are not supposed to discuss such issues of the day as free trade, tariff for protection, the World Court, and the League of Nations [currently called the United Nations]. These Negro workers are supposed to tell their people how one politician seeking office has appointed more Negro messengers or charwomen in the service than the other or how the grandfather of the candidate stood with Lincoln and Grant through their ordeal and thus brought the race into its own. Another important task of these Negroes thus employed is also to abuse the opposing party, showing how hostile it has been to the Negro while the highly favorable party was doing so much for the race.
The course of these bosses has been interesting. At first the white man used the Negro leader by giving him a drink occasionally. The next step was to give him sufficient money to set up drinks in the name of the white candidate. When drinking at the expense of the candidate became too common the politicians fell back on the distribution of funds in small amounts. When this finally proved to be insufficient, however, the politicians had to go a bit further and provide Jim Crow jobs in certain backrooms with the understanding that the functions of the so-called office would be merely nominal and the incumbents would have no close contact with white people. In this stage the Negroes find themselves today.
The undesirable aspect of the affair is that the Negro in spite of the changes from one method of approach to that of another is never brought into the inner circle of the party with which he is affiliated. He is always kept on the outside and is used as a means to an end. To obtain the meager consideration which he receives the Negro must work clandestinely through the back door. It has been unnecessary for the white man to change this procedure, for until recent years he has generally found it possible to satisfy the majority of Negroes with the few political positions earmarked as "Negro jobs" and to crush those who clamor for more recognition.
It is unfortunate, too, that such a large number of Negroes do not know any better than to stake their whole fortune on politics. History does not show that any race, especially a minority group, has ever solved an important problem by relying altogether on one thing, certainly not by parking its political strength on one side of the fence because of empty promises. There are Negroes who know better, but such thinkers are kept in the background by the traducers of the race to prevent the enlightenment of the masses. The misleading politicians are the only persons through whom the traducers act with respect to the Negro, and there are always a sufficient number of mentally undeveloped voters who will supply them a large following.
Even the few Negroes who are elected to office are often similarly uninformed and show a lack of vision. They have given little attention to the weighty problems of the nation; and in the legislative bodies to which they are elected, they restrict themselves as a rule to matters of special concern to the Negroes themselves, such as lynching, segregation and disfranchisement, which they have well learned by experience. This indicates a step backwards, for the Negroes who sat in Congress and in the State Legislatures during the Reconstruction worked for the enactment of measures of concern to all elements of the population regardless of color. Historians have not yet forgot what those Negro statesmen did in advocating public education, internal improvements, labor arbitration, the tariff, and the merchant marine.
Chapter 9
pp.83 to 95
The Mis-Education of the Negro
by Carter G Woodson
First Published in 1933
"If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one."
SOME time ago when Congressman Oscar De Priest was distributing by thousands copies of the Constitution of the United States certain wiseacres were disposed to make fun of it. What purpose would such an act serve? These critics, however, probably did not know that thousands and thousands of Negro children in this country are not permitted to use school books in which are printed the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States. Thomas Jefferson and James Madison are mentioned in their history as figures in politics rather than as expounders of liberty and freedom. These youths are not permitted to learn that Jefferson believed that government should derive its power from the consent of the governed.
Not long ago a measure was introduced in a certain State Legislature to have the Constitution of the United States thus printed in school histories, but when the bill was about to pass it was killed by some one who made the point that it would never do to have Negroes study the Constitution of the United States. If the Negroes were granted the opportunity to peruse this document, they might learn to contend for the rights therein guaranteed; and no Negro teacher who gives attention to such matters of the government is tolerated in those backward districts. The teaching of government or the lack of such instruction, then, must be made to conform to the policy of "keeping the Negro in his place."
In like manner, the teaching of history in the Negro area has had its political significance. Starting out after the Civil War, the opponents of freedom and social justice decided to work out a program which would enslave the Negroes' mind inasmuch as the freedom of body had to be conceded. It was well understood that if by the teaching of history the white man could be further assured of his superiority and the Negro could be made to feel that he had always been a failure and that the subjection of his will to some other race is necessary the freedman, then, would still be a slave. If you can control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his action. "When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel that he is inferior, you do not have to compel him to accept an inferior status, for he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one. This program, so popular immediately after the Civil War, was not new, but after this upheaval, its execution received a new stimulus. Histories written elsewhere for the former slave area were discarded, and new treatments of local and national history in conformity with the recrudescent propaganda were produced to give whites and blacks the biased point of view of the development of the nation and the relations of the races. Special treatments of the Reconstruction period were produced in apparently scientific form by propagandists who went into the first graduate schools of the East to learn modern historiography about half a century ago. Having the stamp of science, the thought of these polemics was accepted in all seats of learning. These rewriters of history fearlessly contended that slavery was a benevolent institution; the masters loved their slaves and treated them humanely; the abolitionists meddled with the institution which the masters eventually would have modified; the Civil War brought about by "fanatics" like William Lloyd Garrison and John Brown was unnecessary; it was a mistake to make the Negro a citizen, for he merely became worse off by incurring the displeasure of the master class that will never tolerate him as an equal; and the Negro must live in this country in a state of recognized inferiority.
Some of these theories may seem foolish, but historians even in the North have been won to this point of view. They ignore the recent works of Miss Elizabeth Donnan, Mrs. H. T. Catterall, and Dr. Frederic Bancroft, who have spent years investigating slavery and slavetrading. These are scientific productions with the stamp of the best scholarship in America, treatises produced from such genuine documents as the court records of the slaveholding section itself, and these authors have rendered the public a valuable service in removing the whitewash which pseudo-historians have been giving to slavery and slaveholders for more than a century.
In the preparation of Negroes, many of whom teach in the South, these biased Northern historians even convert them to such a faith. A few years ago the author happened to listen to a conversation of Negro lawyers in one of our Southern cities, in which they unanimously conceded practically every contention set forth in this program of propaganda. They denounced, therefore, all reconstructionists who advocated equality and justice for all. These Negroes had the biased point of view of the rewriters like Claude Bowers and had never been directed to the real history of that drama as set forth by A. A. Taylor, Francis B. Simkins and Robert H. Woodly of the new Southern school of thought. These Negro critics were especially hard on Negroes of our day who engage in agitation for actual democracy. Negroes themselves in certain parts join with the whites, then, in keeping out of the schools teachers who may be hold enough to teach the truth as it is. They usually say the races here are getting along amicably now, and we do not want these peaceful relations disturbed by the teaching of new political thought.
What they mean to say with respect to the peaceful relation of the races, then, is that the Negroes have been terrorized to the extent that they are afraid even to discuss political matters publicly. There must be no exposition of the principles of government in the schools, and this must not be done in public among Negroes with a view to stimulating political activity. Negroes engaged in other spheres in such communities finally come to the point of accepting silence on these matters as a fixed policy. Knowing that action to the contrary means mob rule which may destroy the peace and property of the community, they constitute themselves a sort of a vigilant committee to direct their fellows accordingly.
A few years ago a rather youthful looking high school principal in one of the large cities was unceremoniously dismissed because he said jocosely to the president of the board of education, in reply to his remark about his youthful bearing, "I am old enough to vote." "Horrors!" said the infuriated official. "Put him out. We brought him here to teach these Negroes how to work, and here he is thinking about voting," A few prominent Negroes of the place muttered a little, but they did nothing effective to correct this injustice.
In certain parts, therefore, the Negroes under such terrorism have ceased to think of political matters as their sphere. Where such things come into the teaching in more advanced work they are presented as matters of concern to a particular element rather than as functions in which all citizens may participate. The result is that Negroes grow up without knowledge of political matters which should concern all elements. To prevent the Negroes from learning too much about these things the whites in the schools are sometimes neglected also, but the latter have the opportunity to learn by contact, close observation, and actual participation in the affairs of government.
Negroes in certain parts, then, have all but abandoned voting even at points where it might be allowed. In some cases not as many as two thousand Negroes vote in a whole state. By special legislation providing for literacy tests and the payment of taxes their number of voters has been reduced to a negligible quantity, and the few who can thus function do not do so because they are often counted out when they have the deciding vote.
-----------------------------The Reason For The Voters Rights Act of 1965------------------------------------
The tests established for the restriction of suffrage were not intended to stimulate political education but to eliminate the Negro vote by subterfuge. Negroes presenting themselves for registration are asked to do the all but impossible thing of expounding parts of the Constitution which have baffled high courts; but whites are asked simple questions which almost any illiterate man can answer. In this way the Negroes, however intelligent, are turned down; and all ignorant whites are permitted to vote. These laws, then, have retarded rather than stimulated the political education of both races. Such knowledge is apparently useless for Negroes and unnecessary for the whites, for the Negroes do not immediately profit by having it and the whites may function as citizens without it.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The effect of such a one-sided system is decidedly bad. One does not realize it until he talks with men and women of these districts, who because of the denial of these privileges have lost interest in political matters. A book agent working in the plantation area of Mississippi tested the knowledge of Negroes of these matters by asking them questions about the local and State government. He discovered that they knew practically nothing in this sphere. It was difficult to find any who knew who was president of the United States. One meets teachers, physicians, and ministers who do not know the ordinary operations of courts, the functions of the counsel, jury or judge, unless such knowledge has come by the bitter experience of having been imposed upon by some tribunal of injustice. Some of the "educated" Negroes do not pay attention to such important matters as "the assessment of property and the collection of taxes, and they do not inform themselves as to how these things are worked out. An influential Negro in the South, then, is one who has nothing to do or say about politics and advises others to follow the same course.
The elimination of the Negro from politics, then, has been most unfortunate. The whites may have profited thereby temporarily, but they showed very little foresight. How the whites can expect to make of the Negroes better citizens by leading them to think that they should have no part in the government of this country is a mystery. To keep a man above vagabondage and crime he needs among other things the stimulus of patriotism, but how can a man be patriotic when the effect of his education is to the contrary?
What little chance the Negro has to learn by participation in politics in most parts of the South is unfortunately restricted now to corruption. The usual stir about electing delegates to the National Republican Convention from the Southern States and the customary combat the Negroes have with Lily-white corruptionists are about all the political matters which claim their attention in the Lower South. Neither the white nor the black faction, as a rule, makes any effort to restore suffrage to Negroes. The objective is merely the control of delegates and Federal patronage for the financial considerations involved. To do this they resort to numerous contests culminating in closing hotels and bolting doors for secret meetings.
Since this is the only activity in which Negroes can participate they have learned to look upon it as honorable. Large numbers of Negroes become excited over the contest and give much publicity to it on the rostrum and in the press as a matter of great importance. The methods of these corruptionists of both races, however, should be condemned as a disgrace to the state and nation.
Instead of doing something to get rid of this ilk, however, we find the "highly educated" Negroes trying to plunge also into the mire. One of the most discouraging aspects in Negro life recently observed was that of a presidential campaign. Prominent Negroes connected with three of our leading institutions of learning temporarily abandoned their work to round up Negro votes for one of the candidates. The objective, of course, was to control the few ordinary jobs which are allotted to Negro politicians for their campaign services. When the successful candidate had been inaugurated, however, he carefully ignored them in the make-up of the personnel of his administration and treated Negroes in general with contempt. When you think of the fact that the Negroes who are being thus used are supposedly the most reputable Negro leaders and our most highly educated men you have to wonder whether the Negro has made any progress since Emancipation. The only consolation one can get out of it is that they may not represent the whole race.
In the North the Negroes have a better chance to acquire knowledge of political matters of the simple kind, but the bosses do not think it is advisable to enlighten them thoroughly. Negroes in parts are employed in campaigns, but they are not supposed to discuss such issues of the day as free trade, tariff for protection, the World Court, and the League of Nations [currently called the United Nations]. These Negro workers are supposed to tell their people how one politician seeking office has appointed more Negro messengers or charwomen in the service than the other or how the grandfather of the candidate stood with Lincoln and Grant through their ordeal and thus brought the race into its own. Another important task of these Negroes thus employed is also to abuse the opposing party, showing how hostile it has been to the Negro while the highly favorable party was doing so much for the race.
The course of these bosses has been interesting. At first the white man used the Negro leader by giving him a drink occasionally. The next step was to give him sufficient money to set up drinks in the name of the white candidate. When drinking at the expense of the candidate became too common the politicians fell back on the distribution of funds in small amounts. When this finally proved to be insufficient, however, the politicians had to go a bit further and provide Jim Crow jobs in certain backrooms with the understanding that the functions of the so-called office would be merely nominal and the incumbents would have no close contact with white people. In this stage the Negroes find themselves today.
The undesirable aspect of the affair is that the Negro in spite of the changes from one method of approach to that of another is never brought into the inner circle of the party with which he is affiliated. He is always kept on the outside and is used as a means to an end. To obtain the meager consideration which he receives the Negro must work clandestinely through the back door. It has been unnecessary for the white man to change this procedure, for until recent years he has generally found it possible to satisfy the majority of Negroes with the few political positions earmarked as "Negro jobs" and to crush those who clamor for more recognition.
It is unfortunate, too, that such a large number of Negroes do not know any better than to stake their whole fortune on politics. History does not show that any race, especially a minority group, has ever solved an important problem by relying altogether on one thing, certainly not by parking its political strength on one side of the fence because of empty promises. There are Negroes who know better, but such thinkers are kept in the background by the traducers of the race to prevent the enlightenment of the masses. The misleading politicians are the only persons through whom the traducers act with respect to the Negro, and there are always a sufficient number of mentally undeveloped voters who will supply them a large following.
Even the few Negroes who are elected to office are often similarly uninformed and show a lack of vision. They have given little attention to the weighty problems of the nation; and in the legislative bodies to which they are elected, they restrict themselves as a rule to matters of special concern to the Negroes themselves, such as lynching, segregation and disfranchisement, which they have well learned by experience. This indicates a step backwards, for the Negroes who sat in Congress and in the State Legislatures during the Reconstruction worked for the enactment of measures of concern to all elements of the population regardless of color. Historians have not yet forgot what those Negro statesmen did in advocating public education, internal improvements, labor arbitration, the tariff, and the merchant marine.
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