Tag: truth
WTF was Shea Moisture Thinking?!
Is buying a home worth it? (yes, sorta)
RE-BLOG OF THE COUCH SPORTS (TAREAU)
What blacks need to recognize under Trump (part 2)
. In fact there are far more white people who disagree with Trump, than agree with him. Hillary Clinton won the popular vote, but lost the electoral college. Now we have oodles and large assemblages of white folks who are fighting back throughout the country.
NO MORE DIET RACISM!!!! All I see on my twitter timeline is #NeverTrump and #NotMyPresident and people going mad. We need to recognize that us as Black people LOVE DIET RACISM. We love diet racism more than overt racism. Hillary is a ‘Diet Racist’, and Trump is a bold and unapologetic racist. Now that we live in an openly racist country that overwhelmingly voted Trump in the electoral college, we can stop guessing and figure out who the real racists are. White supremacy is back out in the open, and honesty is of the utmost importance. If I am facing a problem, I need to identify it and come with solutions on how to fix it. Not every white person is a racist, so I am not implying that every white person is. Now we have oodles and large assemblages of white folks who are fighting back throughout the country.
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Exhibit C:
This is happening throughout the nation. My advice to black people, stay your black ass at home. Don’t go out there protesting and getting involved with the brouhaha. Let these white people have their civil war part 2. Liberal whites vs. militant conservatives. This has already happened before, I keep telling you guys that history repeats itself. White supremacy is going to implode on itself when they realize that Trump won’t be able to do everything he said he would do: That wall won’t get built near Mexico (Obama is the expert on immigration deportation, look at Eddie’s Daydream #18 for reference), the Obama-care won’t be completely taken away {just re-branded under a different name}, Muslims probably won’t face any intense vetting beyond what’s already in place, He’ll probably have to take a few democrats, that conservatives disdain, and place them in certain positions, due to merits and qualifications. Trump will realize after intense talks with Obama for the next upcoming months, that the democratic party hasn’t been as left as he exclaimed they were. White supremacy will eventually have people taking sides and becoming angry, which will cause infighting and discord. One could imagine heated exchanges that would require DNA tests to prove true Aryan brotherhood (German blood). Italians going against Irish, against Englishmen, against Russian, etcetera. It may start off with the initial excitement and pervasiveness of hate, but hate will always turn on itself and backfire.
Blue lives matter to me also. I am not against police and I feel they should be protected at all times, but this goes to show you that conservatives do not care about blue lives as much as they say they do. Cops are being fatally wounded by white suspects in little towns throughout the United States. Cops have always had higher incidents of violence and death with caucasians in comparison to blacks, but they make up 62% of U.S. population compared to our 13% of the population. This is why we are 2.5 times as likely to be murdered, despite having lesser body counts than whites. Despite this victory appearing like a win for white supremacy, more violence and hate crimes will occur. The lower class of whites–who most liberals and wealthy conservatives disassociate themselves with–will have more interactions with police. If these cops are being assaulted by these lower class violent white criminals, they will eventually become the new “Thugs”. Police will expect to be extra vigilant around these white supremacists who have a violent jail record, display the confederate flag, nazi symbol, or KKK cross. Technology has empowered even the poorest people.If you have a cell phone, you can capture footage of these hate crimes. Wealthy minorities whose property gets defaced or vandalized, will be captured on camera and reported. Despite media not reporting these serious crimes, social media clicks and liberal outrage will cause media conglomerates to talk about these hate crimes. This is why social media is important, because we have the ability to inform and access information before the media reports it. If the Philando Castile shooting never got uploaded to Facebook live, we would’ve never heard of it, because these media companies pick and choose what stories they report.
Take the story of Larry Gordon.
This man got into a courthouse shooting , grabbed an officers gun, killed a Bailiff and chief of courthouse security. He was a child molesting rapist who got his teenage victim high off of meth, sexually assaulted her as he videotaped it and threatened violence if she didn’t comply. Here is the transcript if you want to know the details. THIS NEVER GOT REPORTED ON NATIONAL MEDIA. In fact, the article that was written about it when it first happened, was sympathetic to Larry Gordon. Nobody picked up this tragic story about two people who lost their lives in an act of terror. You wanna know what the media was putting out:
Philando Castile was mislabeled as a crip –because he had a blue shirt and blue hat–racists cropped out the white people behind him and painted him as a gangster. Castile was a cafeteria worker that practiced his 2nd amendment rights, in an open-carry state. Despite having no negative reputation and being a friendly cafeteria worker, the NRA had no comment on the situation. The media scrutinized Alton Sterling’s prison record showing his dirty past. This tactic is specifically used against black people, to make the unlawful killing justified. “He was a bad person, She deserved to get killed anyway. They should’ve complied.” They used this tactic in HBO’s series “The night of”, if you haven’t seen this show, check it out. The background of black victims gets examined, because it draws fiery debates for attention. Racial tensions between the #blacklivesmatter protesters and non-tolerant whites were being challenged. Media loved the race war, they would have one racist pundit like future Supreme Justice, Rudy Giuliani, and one person that was supportive of BLM, debate it out. The media was more concerned with creating this divisiveness between #blacklivesmatter and law enforcement. They omitted any other stories that involved non-violent shootings of whites against law enforcement. Here is an example of what I’m talking about:
We can all argue what we think, but this man was unarmed and obviously was attempting to commit suicide-by-cop. Before being shot he yelled ,”I hate my life”, but we can’t say the cops are wrong for being concerned about the safety of their lives. He walked towards them after being told not to move forward while not revealing what he had in his hands. Dylan Noble didn’t fit into the narrative the media was trying to push, so they came with another shooting that was similar but with a black woman, that involved a child.
These officers and the officer who is negotiating with her appears to be willing to talk it out in a peaceful manner, but the woman refuses to budge. She puts her 5 year old son at risk by holding a shotgun in a gun standoff. She is a veteran, who probably is skilled at using that shotgun, and extremely dangerous. At the beginning of the negotiation, she should’ve at least kept her 5 year old out of harms way. She was militant and combative, willing to lose her life, believing in some mythical black sovereignty. DO NOT FALL FOR THAT BLACK SOVEREIGNTY BULLCRAP. It is a law that does not apply to African Americans, or any citizen of the united states. The Oregon Militia are currently going through a court process that goes into depth about sovereignty. Learn the laws that actually apply to you and act accordingly. She remains hostile and violent during the entire encounter, gets killed, and her son gets shot in the incident as well. Korryn Gaines, was so stubborn she risked her own child’s life and hers. Now he is a motherless child. Korryn Gaines became another hashtag that brought on national debate. Some social justice warriors were on twitter were defending this woman, giving her martyrdom, in spite of her having a hostile attitude with policemen.
The media released footage of her inside of her car being a scofflaw with police officers. The media and press pushed this story in front, grabbed panelists who held opposing views, and created more friction between law enforcement and black people. The media lumped her in with #blacklivesmatter and shared her militant pro-black social media posts to feed into this narrative of black people vs. police. Around this time you had these militant ex-veterans Micah Xavier Johnson, the Dallas terrorist, and Gavin Eugene Long, the Baton Rouge terrorist, being placed out there in the media as BLACK PANTHERS. These two incidents sparked a lot of fear among whites. Two tragedies that were clear indicators of a race war to white nationalists. These incidents truly divided the country, because #blacklivesmatter was painted as instigators of these calamities. Many whites by default, accepted the belief that these guys were part of black lives matter, despite telling officers before their death, they were lone wolf terrorists. One black woman that was a black lives matter protester in Dallas,TX. had thanked police officers who protected her from being killed. The Gavin Long shooter had said he acted alone on a youtube video that preceded his act of terror. None of this mattered, because these officers were gone, and these murders were the impetus of a racial divide getting out of hand.
The media caused a divide between white America and black America. Black people waited for answers and prayed for convictions of unlawful murders, these white men kept walking free with white sympathy. George Zimmerman only became more emboldened. He recently was kicked out of a bar for calling a waitress a “nigger-lover”. Zimmerman is a latino man who identifies as white. There are many latinos who identify as white, this is commonplace every time the census bureau comes around. Be careful about standing up for other group’s rights, other than black. LGBTQ , would probably be the only exception in my book, if you are homosexual or have homosexual family members that fear being assaulted under a Trump regime. Many of these other minority groups identify as white behind the scenes, but wish to associate with blacks only when they feel under attack, or wish to receive the minority rights blacks fought for. Peep game, some of these minorities said nothing about Trayvon Martin or Mike Brown, but wish to leave the country NOW, because they fear they will be treated like Black people. None of these groups wish to be treated like black people, that is why they would rather leave the country.
Exhibit A:
http://www.abc12.com/content/news/Local-minority-groups-react-to-Trump-winning-400611121.html
That’s not a diss to other groups. I just am making observations. Black people have been getting called “nigger” and spit on, attacked, lynched, vandalized, and assaulted during the whole Obama administration by ‘white nationalists’. White nationalist is a code word for white supremacist. They have already been mistreating us in broad daylight, but no one payed attention. The nation was ‘fine’ because we had a friendly, affable, gregarious personality as the leader of the free world.
This incident happened in (Liberal) Manhattan Beach, CA.
Despite Dylan Roof being a terrorist, no article in the mainstream said so. He was only labeled as a shooter.
A black man lynched(hung) in N.C., but ruled a suicide. He openly dated a white woman, and was hung in the middle of a trailer park.
http://www.cnn.com/2014/12/15/justice/north-carolina-lennon-lacy/
More hangings of black men:
http://rollingout.com/2015/03/21/5-horrific-modern-day-lynchings-blacks-america/
While us black folks were praising Obama and saying we live in a colorblind society like this poem i was vehemently against,
We were “YASSSING” and making memes. These white supremacists were linking up to take back this country. And they did, they made noise the whole eight years and we ignored it and said, thats only a few isolated incidents. Thats just the internet, racism doesn’t exist we are one America.
I also failed to mention the countless court cases of white men evading murder charges and jail for the unlawful killings of black men like Freddie Gray. The murdering of our children like Tamir Rice and Tyre King. This has always been the America we lived in, just more heightened and obvious. Don’t take this information as a diss, but recognize that we have ALWAYS been catching hell. Just be more aware of your surroundings and focus on reality instead of symbolisms.
Side Note: If Trump gets impeached, then you will have Mike Pence who is staunchly against homosexuality as the President. I think I will take Trump. Part 3 coming soon.
What have you done for the black community? {Solution #2, Unity} Part one (1 of 2)
Five black people walk into a bar. I will give them a name and a brief description. Its Friday afternoon after work, and election day is coming up. They all have different opinions, some things they agree on, but on more important issues they differ. Story is completely fictitious.
Jeff, a 33 year old White Bartender, who doesn’t wish to be aligned with any political party. He identifies as an independent, but rarely votes at all.
Rashad, a 45 year old Black man, who is pro-black and votes democrat 90 percent of the time. He identifies as Democrat, sternly against Trump, loves Barack Obama, and has a tattoo of the hashtag black lives matter.
Leena: a 40 year old black woman, who is a Black feminist, votes democrat 100 percent of the time, loves Roxane Gay, LGBTQ social justice warrior, black lives matter activist and hates alpha males.
Darnell: a 54 year old black man, who identifies himself as a republican, votes Republican 100 percent of the time, loves Trump, disagrees with #blacklivesmatter, thinks when Trump says Make America Great Again, he is speaking about being a Christian nation.
Joanne: a 32 year old bi-racial black woman, who identifies herself as independent, considers herself to be undecided on who to vote for. She voted for Obama last election, and has mixed feelings on where the country is headed.
Malachi: a 35 year old black man, doesn’t vote at all, only votes when propositions are introduced, but doesn’t trust in the 2 party system. He is what many black people would label as “conscious” or ‘hotep’, but doesn’t consider himself anything but for black people.
Disclaimer: PICTURES ARE NOT MINE. STORY IS FICTIONAL. FOR EDUCATIONAL USE ONLY
Jeff: “So Rashad, What can I get for you tonight?”
Rashad:”Henny on the rocks”
**making drink**
**Leena pulls up and grabs a seat. Takes coat off and gestures to Jeff.**
Jeff: “Hey there, what can I get for you?”
Leena:”Ketel One with O.J.”
**makes drink**
Rashad: “Jeff, I know this is a personal question, but what the hell, who are you voting for this election?”
Jeff: (titter) “You know’ I usually don’t talk politics on the job, I’m neutral. I won’t answer political questions on the job, but I don’t mind asking them. Who are you voting for?”
Rashad:”I’m with her.”
Jeff: “Hillary? Why?”
Rashad: “She ain’t Trump!”(in a boisterous, and unapologetic tone)
Leena: ** laughing in agreement** “I know that’s right, sir!”
Rashad: “Ain’t that right, sista?”
Jeff: “And what about you?” (looking at Leena)
Leena: “Hillary all day. Not only because she isn’t Trump, She isn’t as divisive and racist as Trump. Trump is the KKK, I just don’t want to vote for that as president of the greatest country in the world. Hillary knows that Black Lives Matter, she is willing to listen to issues that Black women go through. We need a woman in office because we are past the days of men being in control. We need a woman to run this country! and the time is now.”
Rashad:”I agree with you sista. I am in support of Black Lives Matter, also.”
** Joanne pulls up to the bar and beckons Jeff for a drink**
Joanne:”Yes, I would like a gin and tonic on the rocks. Tanqueray, please. TNT.”
Rashad: “And what do you think about the Wikileaks stuff sista? You know the crap they are blaming Hillary for? the emails?”
Leena: “It’s complete nonsense. The media and Trump supporters are making it a big deal. Hilary apologized and they found nothing that could put her in prison. What’s the big fricking deal? She made an honest mistake, move the hell on.The Feds are Trump supporters anyhow!”
**Joanne overhears conversation and interrupts**
Joanne:”Not to interrupt, but yes it is kind of a big deal. She sabotaged Bernie Sanders and caused distrust between democrats. A lot of us felt betrayed that she divided the party and sabotaged the DNC. I was a Bernie Sanders supporter, and refuse to support Hillary.”
Rashad: “Wait a minute. So you are voting Trump? That doesn’t make any sense.”
Joanne: “I never said that. I am voting for the green party candidate, Jill Stein.”
Leena: (laughing in a dismissive manner) “A vote for Jill Stein, is a vote for Trump. Even my 10 year old knows that. By the way, are your friends voting for DEEZ NUTS. I mean this is ridiculous.”
Joanne: “Good Luck on believing in a proven liar. She is Donald Trump in a pantsuit! I refuse to vote for less of two evils, I’m voting Stein!”
**Darnell overhears conversation, politely jumps in**
Darnell: “Hey what’s wrong with Trump. He may be misunderstood, but he is going to bring this country back to greatness.”
Rashad: “I’m sorry, What’s there not to understand about Trump: Housing discrimination against blacks, the terrible situation with the central park 5, his unreleased footage of him saying racial slurs on NBC, his grabbing pussy remark, what else?”
Leena: “His toxic misogyny, his negative talk about women’s appearance, the irony of him being against immigrants despite being married to one, refusing to denounce violent racists holding him up as a symbol of white supremacy..What else do you need to know? Oh, and he hates blacks.”
Darnell: “He doesn’t hate blacks. He has Ben Carson as one of his advisers.”
Rashad: “Ben Carson is an Uncle Tom, and anyone voting for him that is black is a Tom, too. If the shoe fits, Oh well.”
Leena:**clapping hands laughing** “Yass!”
Darnell: “Ben Carson is a successful Brain surgeon, that has wrote books about lifting himself up from the bottom. He has come from the ghetto, and has risen his way up from nothing, into a presidential candidate. Be careful who you call a Tom.I am a Black Man who has a mind of his own. They used to call Booker T. Washington a Uncle Tom, also. You guys have no clue what a Uncle Tom is! Hillary and the Obama administration are the real problem. The democratic party wants to keep black people poor and desperate. They love having Blacks begging them. By doing this, they keep Black people in their clutches. ‘Here is more welfare and section 8 for the gang bangers and criminals’, but where does that money come from. It comes from the republican’s check. You liberals love all of these handouts, but never think about where it comes from!”
Rashad: “Go back to being a house negro, Mr. Uncle Tom! the white folk don’t love you any more than the supposed gang banger. They will use your name as the token black friend to claim they aren’t racist. As soon as you leave the country golf club, they are making all kinds of racial remarks about your ‘Clarence Thomas’ ass.”
Leena:** sips orange juice and vodka while smirking in agreement**
Darnell: “Hey, I notice a Black Lives Matter tattoo on your arm, Where was black lives matter in Chicago with all the black on black crime happening over there?”
Rashad: “I don’t know, the same place ALL LIVES MATTER were, when Tamir Rice died. Or when Black people were slaves.”
Leena: “Yass! Exactly”
Malachi:** Orders a shot of 151 proof rum, downs it in one blink**
Jeff: “Whoa, easy there.”
Malachi: “I can handle it. What’s good ya’ll , the hell ya’ll yelling about?”
Rashad: “everything”
Darnell: “These guys just don’t get it. They are voting Hillary (pointing at Rashad and Leena) and I’m voting Trump. They want the same lies that Obama preached about in 2008, pre-election.”
Malachi:”And what about you?” (looking at Joanne the green party voter)
Joanne:” I’m tired of the ‘less of two evil’ bullshit. I’m voting for Jill Stein. I used to be a Sanders supporter, but after wikileaks, I am not voting for either. What about you?”
Malachi: “I refuse to vote period. It is a waste of time. Especially for blacks, because it is a rigged system”
**cacophony of disagreement from all sides**
Leena: “This is the problem with black men, ya’ll don’t take shit seriously. Our ancestors died so we can vote, and your silly ass over here not using what little power you do have to exercise your rights.”
Rashad:” You can’t say you don’t vote, and then complain when shit goes bad. You have to pick a side, whether you like it or not”
Joanne:” I’m voting for Jill Stein as a protest vote, but I understand where you are coming from.”
Darnell: “what you said is ignorant on all levels of rationality. The system is rigged? were you saying that when Obama became president in 2008? The system isn’t rigged, you just are looking for an excuse not to vote.”
Malachi: “Okay, Leena, the problem isn’t with black men, the problem is a system of white supremacy. Black men and women are going to jail in droves and these are laws that the Clinton’s put in place to make that happen. You guys are so giddy about voting for Hillary, forgetting that she called black men super-predators, and supported the laws her husband implemented to gain conservative votes for re-election. Black people didn’t die so we can vote, they died to give us the opportunity and right to vote!”
Leena: “Just like a Black man, avoiding responsibility for your actions. Always finding excuses for everything.”
Malachi: “What’s your deal with the black man, did you forget about Bill Clinton’s sister souljah moment? You probably was one of the black folks who didn’t believe Barack Obama could be president until whites started getting behind him. You must’ve forgot about the snide remarks the Clinton’s made against Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign.”
Joanne: “Yeah, I remember that. It was heated, it was a shocker that he even chose her as Secretary of state.”
Malachi: “Rashad, no, I have every right to complain if I don’t vote, because I wasn’t dumb enough to elect a candidate I thought would be a messiah. If you vote and that person falls short, YOU have no right to complain, because you put them in office with a full vote of confidence.”
Rashad: “You sound crazy right now, Bruh. That made no sense.” (Laughs)
Malachi: “Bottom line is, I don’t have to pick a side. Life goes on.”
Darnell: “Keep on believing that lie, you must be uneducated.”
Malachi:”Darnell, what do you mean that politics can’t be rigged? Did you forget about the Bush/ Gore Florida voting scandal. I am not saying it is one head honcho who calls shots and decides who becomes president.”
Darnell:” That’s exactly what you are saying!!”
Malachi:” Let me finish!, I’m saying that people who are in the upper class that are among the 1% , who control most of the wealth in the world, have money to create change. Each politician is funded by these corporate entities. If one candidate is in danger of losing, the corporations then hop on the leading candidate’s coat tail to get laws implemented. I am saying it makes no difference who is president, if money runs politics, and politics create laws. Money therefore creates bills that get signed into law.”
Darnell: “So why do we vote then, smart-ass?”
Malachi: “To give Americans the illusion of us actually having a choice. The differences between two candidates aren’t as stark as the media propagandizes.”
Darnell: “So what about the the Supreme court and Judges? Is that rigged also. If we have a liberal President choosing a liberal Supreme Justice, that impacts Americans as well, doesn’t it?”
Malachi: “It doesn’t matter who they choose. You just had Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who white liberals prop up as a goddess, make disparaging remarks about Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee, but not saying anything about the issue he is kneeling for.”
Darnell: “Yeah, that guy Kaepernick is an imbecile. He is a waste of a human being, how dare him disrespect this country and the military that protects it.”
Malachi:”An imbecile for taking a stance against police brutality? For not standing for a country that doesn’t respect lower class African Americans? This is all happening under a black democratic president. I am here nor there, but that goes to show you that white supremacy always wins.”
Darnell: “White supremacy? Yeah the white supremacy is the reason gang bangers keep killing each other more than cops kill them, and yet they want to blame cops? Come on!”
Malachi:” You just equated Cops with criminals. Cops aren’t criminals and they are here to protect the community. Criminals get sent to jail for their crimes, rogue policemen get paid leave and gofundme pages.”
Darnell: “This is sad, that you don’t see how incredibly foolish you sound.”
Malachi: “My point about the president picking a Supreme Judge to impact America is that nothing changes. The issues that exist now, will continue to exist 30 years from now. As long as the candidates need blue-collar union’s election support, they won’t condemn their actions. They will use code words to appear contrite, but won’t do anything.”
Rashad:”Once again, you sound dumb right now. She already said she is behind police reform.”
Malachi: “I sound dumb. Do you know what police reform is?.. It basically means that they will give police more money to train more cops and buy more guns. The problem isn’t police training, they are extremely proficient at their jobs, it is the bad cops who give law enforcement a bad rep. The true problem is all-white juries that can’t help but think the black victim was responsible for his or her death. If you can get away with unlawful lynching without punishment, there will be no impetus to create change. Department of Justice is already doing police reform. They just awarded 20 billion dollars to law enforcement. Hillary refuses to use the word racial profiling, and adeptly says ‘implicit bias’. That word is not by mistake, to say police racial profile would draw ire from the national police union. Nothing is gonna change for black people if she becomes president. Just like nothing changed for blacks when Obama became president.”
(PART 2 coming soon)
We Aren’t living in a Post-Racial society! Part One (rant)
The issue I have with race in America, is that we cannot act as if race is not an issue because we may not face the same injustices. We are so inundated with the idea of individuality and responsibility, that we lost focus on the ugly realities of racism. Forgetting an issue and glossing over it, is not the same as getting rid of it. If you are diagnosed with a disease, and refuse to treat it, than you must either get on board with solutions, or suffer the dire effects. As Blacks, we need to figure out a salient process of making things happen. The reasons I am here nor there about these presidential candidates, is that they have no incentive to help the black community.
What is good wordpress family? It has been a minute since I have last posted. As for me I am still going through my dilemma that I previously spoke about. More importantly, there have been many issues that have been impacting the African American community. With the recent technology of body cameras and phone cameras, America is starting to see the racial ugliness that has been taboo come to the frontline. I could post on and on about the senseless killings that have been happening in the Black community, you can see these atrocities in graphic detail on Shaun King’s timeline.
Things are starting to feel like the 1960’s all over again, with tensions flaring over Trump vs. Hilary Clinton, police brutality, racial tensions are becoming the norm on social media. If you follow some of the trending hashtags on twitter, you can easily see the ocean of internet trolls making racially insensitive remarks. For some people, it has even costed them their job. I am on neither candidate’s side. Whoever wins the election, wins the election. There has been deception on both sides of the politics game. Fear-mongering has become rampant throughout both sides of the media. There seems to be this tacit implication that Hilary Clinton has the poor black vote, the converse can be said about Trump, easily winning the poor white vote below the bible belt. Donald Trump is an overt racist, and Hilary Clinton will do anything to gain a vote. Im still reminded of the super-predator remark that was aimed at young black men in the early 1990’s.
I have been reading books like crazy about African-American history and I am finally “woke” to the injustices that happens to my race as a whole. I cannot 100 percent say that I am behind the “BLACK LIVES MATTER” movement as well. The whole movement is great as a vehicle to get the message out, but I feel that digital hashtag protests are not the solution. I have read the mission statement from the original website, and there is a lot of intersectionality going on. If you choose to fight for a cause, it should mirror the civil rights movement. The civil rights movement stood up for injustices that made it to the supreme court and caused incredible changes. BLM is a movement that is strategically flawed. When a non-black person hears “BLACK LIVES MATTER”, they immediately digest the meaning as saying their lives matter less. This title automatically causes a person of a different race to become defensive. The naming of the movement is wrong, if you wish to have laws change in the courtroom. Imagine if the civil rights movement chose to go by a moniker such as “STOP KILLING BLACKS!”. I am quite certain that circumstances may have turned out different. While I support the families of victims who suffer from police brutality, I cannot support a movement that only feels a keyboard will cause change.
So, what are the solutions Eddie? To be honest, there are no solutions, this is a process. Solutions happen overnight, processes take time. Racism is insidious and exists in every human being, whether you admit to it or not. How we respond to these emotions and stereotypes, makes a huge difference. Racism is a quagmire that will exist as long as humans exist. Stopping racism is like trying to stop dishonesty. There is no qualitative approach that will make it change. Movies and T.V shows, continue to show Blacks in an inferior state. If most black men you see on television are either rappers, athletes, or actors portraying drug dealers and slaves – what will you automatically perceive the obnoxious black kid, wearing a hoodie with sagging pants as? How will you view the dark skinned black man with a lean muscular build, dreadlocks and tattoos as? You aren’t technically racist if you hold these thoughts in your mind, but rarely in public spaces would you vocally admit these things, because that would be deemed “politically incorrect”, it is nevertheless true. The fear of black men has existed since slave insurrections of the past. To rationalize these claims, many right-wing advocates will easily point to the ill-savagery of black on black crime. Which would be asinine to deny, however, Black on Black crime is an issue that police can’t resolve themselves. This is the rapist blaming the rape-victim for being sexually promiscuous. Not the act of rape itself. The protests have always happened in black neighborhoods. Go to any funeral of any victim of these senseless gang-related or happenstance crimes, there will be a pastor or bishop screaming at the pulpit for the “young brothers and sisters to get saved, and get their act together, come to Jesus, while the lord has blessed you with another day”. How many mothers, fathers, uncle’s, aunt’s, and strong upstanding black people who told their kids how to conduct themselves when police approach the vehicle? How many black mothers and fathers told their kids not to hang around with “those boys and that crowd, cause I’ve heard about them”? What are the working class citizen black families to do, once their child is a victim of violence? Jump in between the bullets of the murderer and victim, while being 11 miles away at their second job? This is an impossible and unrealistic feat. Being poor in a poverty stricken community, you will confront a reality of desperation and violence. In any country, city, or community where you find poverty, you will find violence, it is synonymous. Blacks are among the poorest race in the nation. Another retort to black on black crime is what about before it existed? Before black on black crime, there were justifiable lynchings of black men who tried to own businesses, accidentally gaze at a white woman, or loiter past 9 p.m. in sundown towns. There were people who looked at Emmett Till and said, “that boy should’ve never whistled at no white woman.” And the justifications for police executions in broad daylight on camera, still happen to this day.
The issue I have with race in America, is that we cannot act as if race is not an issue because we may not face the same injustices. We are so inundated with the idea of individuality and responsibility, that we lost focus on the ugly realities of racism. Forgetting an issue and glossing over it, is not the same as getting rid of it. If you are diagnosed with a disease, and refuse to treat it, than you must either get on board with solutions, or suffer the dire effects. As Blacks, we need to figure out a salient process of making things happen. The reasons I am here nor there about these presidential candidates, is that they have no incentive to help the black community. Mass incarceration is real, jail recidivism, police brutality, predatory loans, poverty, lack of home ownership, lack of businesses within our community, lack of black support of black businesses, lack of business loans, weak and fluctuating job employment, and inferior educational standards are issues that all need to be addressed. If black people keep voting for candidates who can do a popular dance move, rather than implement laws that will immediately impact African Americans, what is the point of voting. Yes, we should vote for local figures in our community, vote on laws and measures that may impact our community, but the voting out of fear, has no merit in my books. There has to be an incentive for a candidate to wish to do something for the said community. The LGBTQ community are making enormous strides and are forming super-pac’s to make sure change happens. The Latino community has done the same. The black elite aren’t concerned with the black issues enough to stick together and form a super-pac that will help the less fortunate. They may tweet, or even publicly declare how they will sit down with police officers and have dialogue, some may even tell the black community that we need to “fix” our selves before receiving help, but most of them are invested in retaining the wealth they have earned. Many of them will blame the same communities they come from as victims of their own destruction. Many of their non-black friends will tell them, “look at you man, you are a prime example of someone who started from nothing, and made something happen. You are an example of America and how far we have come.”, buying into this, they easily forget where they come from, and the tactic of using tokenism to hide the hideous realities of black America.
Being Color-Blind is Wrong!
This is a viral video that is becoming popular on the internet. Every one who wants to emanate social justice and civil rights are sharing and re-tweeting this romanticized video of peace and lily-flowers. Some Utopian fantasy land, where humans are cars, and biases aren’t formed.
Let’s start off with the “Pro’s” of being color-blind. The origin of this argument is from a Dr. Martin Luther King speech where he stated:
“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”
Martin Luther King
I will get to more of that later, the purpose of this is to let you know where this argument stems from. So, a society of this sort would be free of hatred and every one would get along with no judgement made. A world of this sort would have to contain no religions, to eliminate any possibility of racial superiority or acrimony towards homosexuality. Religion would have to be nearly outlawed. The elimination of one religion would cause other religions to suffer as well. Since the society is without bias, the law would have to be fair. Therefore, all religions would be banished. This would be a society that couldn’t vote for presidential candidates. The flawed psyche of human biases would be eliminated. A blind verbal and written test would be conducted by a machine that would choose a President, solely off of merits. Private companies would have to be complicit with this new law. The argument for equal pay would be eliminated, because companies would have no voting system, and could only conduct blind interviews to select candidates. A blind verbal and written test would have to be conducted by a machine, that uses scores as an indicator of position choice.There would be no two party political system. Cops could not harass a Black person, or anyone without solid evidence. Without bias, there is no possibility of suspicion. More crimes would have to be solved, than prevented.
So far: No gender discrimination, no racism, no two party system. No religions.The society would overthrow democracy for meritocracy. Sounds good doesn’t it.
Here is the negative:
The color-blind thinking is the same intellect of Whites during the Jim-Crow era. White folks, were not bad or terrible people. They sincerely believed that Black folks were too inferior as a race to participate in politics or attend the same schools. Whites feared that many black people were simply “not ready” to be accepted as full citizens. The pressure of keeping up would be too overwhelming for the Negro. This is what is called “spiritual and intellectual blindness”. Conversely, this is what Martin Luther King Jr. feared moreover than racial hostility:
“This tragic blindness is also found in racial segregation, the not-too-distant cousin of slavery. Some of the most vigorous defenders of segregation are sincere in their beliefs and earnest in their motives. Although some men are segregationists merely for reasons of political expediency and political gain, not all of the resistance to integration is the rear-guard of professional bigots. Some people feel that their attempt to preserve segregation is best for themselves, their children, and their nation. Many are good church people, anchored in the religious faith of their mothers and fathers. . . . What a tragedy! Millions of Negroes have been crucified by conscientious blindness. . . . Jesus was right about those men who crucified him. They knew not what they did. They were inflicted by a terrible blindness”
Martin Luther King Jr., Strength to Love (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963), 45–48
MLK stated this over 52 years ago and can be applied to some of the racial blindness that pervades our society today. Especially with the “#AllLivesMatter movement. The conscientious blindness of the colorblind cult, becomes a ploy to mitigate or hinder the #blacklivesmatter movement. In other words, overlook all of the racial injustices being committed, and focus solely on the individual. This hypothesis can be further traced back to Booker T. Washington, who believed that a man was responsible for his own decisions. Character could always overcome circumstance.
“Character, not circumstances, makes the man.”
Booker T. Washington
If you are poor, it is ultimately your fault. You should be capable of overcoming any obstacle with surrounding yourself with better company. Pull up your pants and get a job Black folks. Figure out a way to succeed despite racial disparities. A colorblind society promotes this type of thinking. The individual is more important than the situation he is in.
I happen to be part of the W.E.B DuBois camp. DuBois, believed that we needed to stand up against racial inequality and address civil injustices, not ignore the wrinkles of the law.
If there is anybody in this land who thoroughly believes that the meek shall inherit the earth they have not often let their presence be known.
W.E.B DuBois
We have been indoctrinated by cloudy pictures of motivational quotes, and catchy YouTube videos of poetry. Barack Obama and Oprah Winfrey are touted as examples of an equal opportunity country. If Michael Jordan can become a billionaire, why can’t you. These are examples of “Black exceptional-ism” . These are anomalies, which are not fully representative of the entire African-American group. Injustices still exist in America. To ignore the differences in each other is insidious at best. A black child who grows up in an inner-city in Baltimore,MD. does not have the same opportunity as a wealthy kid in Beverly Hills,CA. Real estate is a clear indicator of racial segregation. The higher price of the home, the higher the income, the better ranking of the local schools. Due to earning higher amounts of income, these homeowners actively donate and fund-raise for these schools. With the extra income, the school has perks that poorer schools cannot compete with. While many Blacks have financially earned more, so have Whites. Statistics show that Blacks are still behind Whites:
This article was intended to show the guileful nature of a color-blind society. I am not intending to invoke a feeling of White guilt. I am a staunch believer in racial progress. I believe we can accept each other’s singularities, and collectively march towards a better future. What I am not behind is a society that wishes to ignore each others differences, and play pretend while social inequities are in play. We have made some racial progress in America, by overwhelmingly voting for a Black President, twice. We just haven’t made it to a point where we can ignore both the present and past. I am a Black man, you are (your ethnicity), you have a culture or history that you should be proud of. I am proud to be a Black man based on the fact that my ancestors endured true racial monstrosities that dwarfs the issues I face as an African-American man today. My ancestors fought slavery and jim crow laws so I could enjoy a better life. I will never ignore that, and neither should you. Be proud of your family heritage, and what your grandfathers stood for. Be proactive for the next generation of offspring, so they will enjoy a better life also. Don’t ignore history, embrace it and grow.
Let’s pretend you are Black: Ty’Qwonne Blacksten (Part one) of short series
What the F**k is this about! Who is Ty’Qwonne Blacksten?
Yes, you are imagining you look like this and your name is Ty’Qwonne Blacksten… Any coincidences are completely incidental, For fictional purposes only.
Let’s pretend you were born Ty’qwonne Blacksten. You just so happened to be black in a middle-to-lower class income household. You are 17 years old, do not commit any crimes. You like playing video games, smoking weed and flirting with girls. You are not in a gang – though your neighborhood is gang-infested – and you attend the local public high school. You have no tattoos, no idea what you wanna be when you grow up, you just are enjoying your youth. You stay with your mom and grandmother. Your father is not home because he isn’t a good father. He is in jail because he was at the wrong place, at the wrong time.
The Backstory of Dad
Your father was charged as an accomplice to a murder that his best friend committed. As your father was driving home from work, he recognized one of his childhood friends in distress. Your father picked his friend (killer) up, because he(killer) claimed that he was evading some enemies that were chasing him. Being the loyal friend your father is, he helps his friend(killer) escape to a safe location. The father doesn’t know that his friend killed someone. He doesn’t know that his friend committed a crime. The cops search and spot your fathers vehicle, and off to prison he went. Your father had a job as a warehouse laborer. He was a blue-collar man that loved his family and helped young kids get off the street on your block. He was not the stereotypical felon. In your neighborhood, there is an implicit oath that forbids “snitching” or being an informant. This violation is punishable up to death. If your father told on his friend and pleaded innocent, he would place his household in danger. The prosecutor tells your father that either he co-operates, plead guilty, or face 25 years to life in prison. Your family has no savings account for cash. Mom is a postal worker with benefits; a great job, but far from rich. She has no money to hire a decent lawyer, so Dad is stuck with a public defender, who currently is handling 183 cases at one time. The public defender tells him to take a deal because the odds of beating the case are dire. Your father accepts a 10 year bid, and has been locked up since you were 13 years old. You still talk to your Dad and visit when you can, but the stress of everything is getting to you. You are now the man of the house. Mom has incrementally placed more responsibility on you. You have a part-time job at the local Subway restaurant, but the money is slow.
School is no better. You stay in a city called Troose. In Troose there are several gangs.
—-The gangs break down as follows—-
45th Ballstone Boyz (Bloods)- Bulls hats, Red and Black
Hyde St Hustla Crips- Houston Astros hats- Blue and Orange
Aspey Street Mafia Brim Gang- (Bloods)- Burgundy and White (Alabama Roll Tide)
Troose XIII (Mexican Gang)- Silver and Black – Raider Hats
Mezza St Murder Mob- (All races- Biggest gang in Troose) Black and Orange
As you can imagine, this is not an easy place to live. Part two coming soon!
If you wish to get more content like and this and enjoy this short-series, follow me on wordpress, like , comment, and follow on twitter
or periscope:@eddiestarblog
Eddie Star Blog 