Growing Up As A People

                 Part II

I SHALL SAY IT AGAIN: THIS IS NOT ABOUT A HATRED OF WHITES/ IT'S ABOUT LEARNING TO LOVE AS BLACKS!

I hope all of well-wishers, do gooders, and liberals read this, and understand that its not all about you.  When another person decides to take a bath, it doesn't mean that you're dirty.  Or when we close the door to discuss things, or to have a catharsis--we're not always speaking about you.  But if, by chance, we as a people conduct ourselves in such a way as to predispose ourselves to exploitation, peril or constant abuse--then it is my duty (an obligation of sorts) to have a discussion in the most universal way possible: possibly the Internet--possibly Google Blogger.  In these cases, some of--or most of your people will be discussed--in relationship to the ways your people interact and do trading among our people.  We do not discuss things from the standpoint of being accusatory, but only to put "numbers and faces upon the participants," which is a necessity in identifying the members in the game--not to brow-beat the perpetrators. 

The examples I use to educate our people as to who is participating in the scene, is not my personal opinion--nor my personal sentiments--but the result of substantiated, documented chronology depicting events as they occured between the two groups and the relationships that results.  I do not call it history, because that would depict his*story, or his (or her) account of what happened; I am giving you The Truth from authentic documented sources: most of which you shall recognize from your journeys and travels through the World Wide Web.

As I said in my previous article on "Growing Up As A People Part One," "When you have mutual care and respect for one another, then things will be negotiable because of that mutual respect concerning needs and desires.  But when there's no love between you and the other person and yet you insist to be part of--hurt will only become part of the equation because you love and care for that person and they do not love you back or reciprocate those feelings."  They do not care for you or respect you--and as quietly as it is kept--by engaging in such an activity you don't love yourself or think highly of yourself either. 

Its' no good loving somebody, when they don't love you back.  As Bonnie Rait said, I can't make you love me, if you don't; I can't make your heart feel something it won't.  Right now, many of our people are on some old--Ain't no way for me to love you, if you won't let me (sung by Aretha Franklin from the  song, "Ain't No Way").  But if you ever observed Aretha Franklin's relationship with Glynn Turman (the actor), you would realise that that type of relationship usually brings tragic results, because they don't feel like you do.  

Love is a reciprocal thing; a person should treat the other person the way they want to be treated.  And when you--or in this case, "we" as a people--find out that we are not engaging in a fair exchange, then it is we who must change our behavior, since it is causing us stress, or subjecting ourselves to unwanted danger.  After all, "All the world 's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts" --taken from "As You Like It" by William Shakespeare (Act II, Scene VII).  It is just bad, when fate deals a hand, then you find out that things are not as you thought they would be: that you and your people were not playing the role you previously thought or knew that providence intended for you to be. 

At this point in our development, we must be willing to change our attitude from what we previously thought to be right, into the light of the cold, hard truth--and that in and of itself is work, because we got so accustomed to believing.  We believed with all our heart.  Sometimes it would appear that we believed in their ability to be fair, more than we believed in ourselves.  Almost like those movies where the natives' development was so arrested that the marveled over the White man's technological advancements like he was God and should be worshipped and sacrificed to, in order to appease.  The Mayans seem to use the other indigenous tribes for this purpose (sacrifice to appease the gods).  But overtop of all of that, we were already here operating within this system, we believed we could just continue on just fine, if we could be treated as equals.  And we prayed to the God they taught us about, with all we knew.  We believed it could be so.  We wanted so bad for our prayers to be honored and we could live in harmony and now--we found out it was not true.

Most of us go through a period of denial, like when a woman first finds out she has an unwanted pregnancy:  She wants to throw that pregnancy indicator against the wall, as if it caused all the trouble; Then it becomes, "Why do I have to be pregnant?  Why me?"  And this type of emotional banter and bickering will probably go on for some length of time--but then you have to face the facts: Despite the improvement in our economic status, despite the medical insurance improvements, despite being able to carry your college children on your insurance for a few more years and the change in the previous existing clause being overturned--despite unemployment wanning--72% White males and 56% White females voted against Obama finishing the job of recovery for the United States.  That many did not want Obama or believed his policies would lead us out of this crisis--a.k.a., they don't have faith in what we can achieve.

Now there has been 43 other presidents before him, and a good number of them served more than one term. . .  But they didn't want Obama to be amongst them.  If I am correct--recessions, depressions, recovery and prosperity come in cycles of 40-45 years.  There was a minor one in 1971, spurred on by a major inflationary spiral.  It only makes sense that it would take about ten years to recover--and yet the 72/56% would rather gamble with trying another way--than to believe that a Blackman could be the one who rescues the economy.  Despite his compassion as a "real father" of this country, the 72/56% of the White population does not want him to have the equal opportunity to save the country.  If this election scenario doesn't signal to Blacks about their honest opinion of us, on an overall, I don't know what will.  Sometimes I think they set our people up to fail, so the rest of the White Americans can go on believing what they want to believe (although this would be much more difficult to prove in a decisive manner).

When Hitler was expounding about his Aryan superiority, Jesse Owens (a Blackman) defeated his athletes in every category he competed in.  When Joe Louis challenged Max Schmeling for a rematch in 1938, very little Whites believed this Blackman could win his title back from such a formidable opponent either.  But he did it in the first round.

We kept trying to convince Whites to accept us and respect us (regardless to how many times they snub us), rather than spend the same effort on our own people striving to get Black people to believe in themselves.  Being a glutton for denial, is a self esteem issue.  A large majority of crimes against humanity are done, because people have the belief  that there was no other way that they can achieve such things.  A belief in oneself  would remedy so many of our ills in the Black communities around the country, as well as the population of Blacks around the globe.  Yet there's so much documented proof, substantiating the fact that after so many years of Whites teaching White supremacy, racism has begun to effect how the Black population in America thinks about itself.

That master/slave relationship has gotten so old; but not old enough--if we are not building businesses and hiring Blacks as part of the process.  And that won't happen until we have proper respect for each other in our respective roles--a.k.a. Some Black folks think they're slick. Try to be nice and they'll... Why are ALL my supporters looking for goods at discount? Why do you despise me even though I employed you?

Let's field these issues one at a time:

"Some Black folks think they're slick. Try to be nice and they'll..."

Are you someone who's trustworthy? Do you think you are the only one of us who are?  Now if you think you are the only one who is trustworthy, then imagine if a whole race of other people felt like you... And you still wonder why it's so tough for Blacks to stay employed?  Don't you get it?  Many Whites in America today, still have trust issues concerning Blacks; particularly the Blackman.  But if you scope the total picture--Whites really do not take any other race into their fold.  They "play all other races to the side," being politically correct and cordial--while all the time, they are preserving their inner circle for people who look exactly like them.  They even segregate between  other Whites who come from their same homeland (Europe).  Whites are masters at individualism.  Within America, Whites heavily depend on their ruling class and American social structure to secure their freedom and independence instead of their cultural heritage.  They rely on being a White who's American and entitled to certain freedoms, than they do rely on being a Englishman, German or Italian in America--for example.

If you are a Black businessperson and are having trust issues, then you should hire those of us whom you have faith in to be most reliable to you--like those from the "good side" of your own family. The most important thing here, is to start your own business and hire from within your own.  If you hire a family member, you are securing economy from within the family. The so called "good side," in this case, would represent similar values, similar morals, and a similar social system--resembling somewhat the type of law and order that every member is somewhat comfortable with. This way, instead of venturing out with a bunch of people that you don't trust, you can be the example and vanguard with people that you do.  After all, it's plain pessimism to concern yourself only with the people who haven't learned or "stepped up to the plate yet."

"Why are ALL my supporters looking for goods at discount?"

There is a large group of our people who believe that the world owes them something.  It is this fashion who insist on attempting to get goods and services from White America by using their guilt in their negotiations.  These are the same people who believe that if one of us are successful in achieving something, that he or she should share in the wealth.  The sad thing about this, is these people are also impatient--so before you can get your business up off the ground, they are looking for a hand out.  Equally as sad, when these same people come across any modicum of success, they are extremely tight-lipped and stingily --falsely expressing themselves by meager means.  Equally, we have a large group of us who subscribe to the perspective that providence puts us in circumstances that allow us to become greater than we were before the event.  And as Nina Simone said in "Mississippi Goddamn," "This is a show tune, but the show hasn't been written, yet."
Why do you despise me even though I employed you?

This one is the most infamous and nefarious of all the games, and it goes by several names: The Blame Somebody Else Game or If It Wasn't For You, You Think You're Better Than Me, Schmeil, and I Hate them "N"word.  All of them have behind them, the license to ill.  In The Blame Somebody Else Game/ If It Wasn't For You, the person finds someone with the right disposition, which allows them to say "If he wasn't doing what he/or she is doing, I would be able to do so much more."  In You Think You're Better Than Me, the perpetrator claims to know what the other person is thinking and labels that person as repressive or controlling--after which the person proceeds to "strike back" by taking things from that person or defacing their property--of course, after receiving public sentiments.  The Schmeil, or mess maker searches for the patient and lovable "do-gooder" in the crowd, then proceed to feign innocence while making a mess of Mr. or Ms. Lovable's things.  Of course, when the victim loses composure, the Schmeil quickly responds, "See I told you, that person is not as good as you thought they were."

The person who plays I Hate them "N"word, is a little harder to explain, but is "the crux of the biscuit" for our article.  It usually starts out with a resourceful person, who at some point performs an act that gains him/or her favor.  Figuring they are onto something, they search for the things that appeal to the upper class--regardless of whether they like it or not.  In Dr. Buzzard's Savannah Band's song, "Cherchez La Femme," the lyric reads, "He'll tell you a lie with a Colgate smile, love you one second and hate you the next--oh, ain't it crazy."  They begin to "hobb-knob" and change their appearance (slicking back their hair, etc.), molding and shaping themselves in the affluent image--to appease their "new Gods." The are masters at the chit-chat and politically correct verbiage--while all the while, belittling his own people--muttering underneath his breath, "I Hate them "N"word."  If you want more knowledge on this phenomena, see "A Soldier's Story" as a film (playwright Charles Fuller, a Philadelphia native wrote it, along with ZooMan and the Sign). 

All of these people mentioned above are notorious for transferring their responsibility for their shortcomings to others.  In this way, they never have to change because it's always someone else's fault; there's always someone supposedly holding them back or making them look bad.  In a word, defenestration  or in this case throwing someone under the bus: a.k.a., "I'm not ok, and nor is anyone else."  Let's recognize them for what they are: Camouflaged self-hatred and lack of proper self-esteem.  These self-esteem issues are impeding our progress as a people.  The way I see it is that we need to give ourselves a big hug and embrace our diversity, instead of the back-bitting and trying to be something that you're not.  We have to learn to work with what we got and accentuate the positive aspects.

HOME ECONOMICS

I grew up in a former predominantly Jewish community. By the time my persons was ten, there was very few Jews left in the area. They had moved up north and to surrounding suburban areas, but they kept their stores and services within the now predominately Black neighborhoods.  Now there wasn't as many Black stores in my particular part of the neighborhood, as there were in the accompanying neighborhood on the other side of the bridge--so we would often buy clothes, perishables, various food items, and other stuff from the Jewish merchants who lived outside of our communities.

Now parents, here's a jewel for you: Never underestimate what a child sees and understands by what they can articulate--because fears and lack of vocabulary skills can often impede what children are able to tell you.  I recall as a young teenager, while working as a porter in an apartment complex--that these Jewish people, who had cars and are well capable of shopping wherever they want--would only shop in their Jewish mini malls and their stores on the Main Line (despite lower prices elsewhere). As a 'youngin' (young person) we were dumbfounded.

But as I got older, I was able to recall what I observed in my youth--but with an older and keener mind.  I began to realize by these Jewish people spending money within their own community, amongst their own merchants--they were preserving the wealth of their community by redistributing it several times--assuring better services within their own areas.  When we bought items from the Jewish merchants who had stores within our community, he was able to bring in new wealth to his neighboring Jewish community.  It was here, where he paid his taxes and bought items from merchants who looked like him.  The city then fixed up his areas because of the wealth and taxes regenerated, even opened up malls and business centers in those Jewish areas because of the money potential they represented.  Yet that very same act left us in an impoverished state because of the lack of recirculating our income within our communities.  Remember this story, please!

I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with those Jewish stores to be in the Black communities.  Far from it.  In America, under the rules of capitalism, there's free enterprise.  This is the way the White man built his government and this is the way that he runs it.  If all of us disagree, we would only be 20% of the American public in the wilderness of North America which does, making it a minority issue.  If we put it to the table for reform, maybe the idea may gain a 10% boost, from other groups, but that wouldn't be enough to modify the course of action of the nation.  No one put a gun to our heads when Blacks go shopping.  We had the option to buy from whomever we want within our community.  These Jewish merchants represent the traders who had to ignore many of the stereotypes concerning Blacks, while exercising appropriate diplomacy with their Black customers, in order to take advantage of the buying opportunity.  And they were very successful at it.  They sent their children to law school from the money generated from their business.  Some of their children became doctors.  There were plenty of merchants who attempted to do so, and were unable to deal with the social conditions that Blacks presented during the1960's and 1970's--in the innercities of places like Philadelphia--particularly after Dr. Martin Luther King had been assasinated. . .  I am not criticizing these merchants for taking advantage of the opportunity, nor criticising the quality of the product or services rendered here. 

What I am saying is, when given the same opportunity within their respectable communities, the Jewish people (many of whom used to live in our neighborhoods) opted to buy from only Jewish merchants within their new location--rather than spend outside of their sphere of  influence.  Many times, these purchases were done with Jewish merchants within their communities  at considerably higher prices than their competitors--I might add.  But these people did so, to strengthen their community and we should take hints quick and learn from this wisdom--because in Philadelphia, we Blacks live in the same ghettos the Jews were able to free themselves from--and of course sell their houses to you.

 This is an important lesson for us as Black people, to learn from.  We have to stop flocking to areas outside our community, simply because it is cheaper, or the decor is better, because in the end we are giving our money back to the people we work for to earn it from--as opposed to recirculating that money within our own Black communities.  It would be different if they lived amongst you, but they don't. . .   They wouldn't flock to your business, if the reverse were true.  It's not solely, prejudice which would prompt the act-- it's a bad business practice.  Support your own people.  I know we can be gruff sometimes, but we are trying. . .  Just going through growing pains. . .   Learn to purchase as much as you can amongst your own people,  so we can all grow and prosper from each other.  We owe it to ourselves.

   

On the one hand, if you think about it, the institution of chattel slavery, sold children the way one does a cow, dog, pig or bull.  This does set up a condition wherein, the children of the children of the first indentured servants--who were made-slaves for life, would never know any other culture besides servitude to the White man.  So it should not come as a surprise why we have so much dysfunction--concerning family and the sense of ourselves--as a people.  While on the opposite hand, the White man, who's culture was steadily advancing--owes that advancement in part, to the lot which were bound to serve Whites for life.  That's got to mess up the psyche of Blacks, some. . .  But we Blacks must be the ones who remedy it.

REPAIRING THE DAMAGE DONE

This is not another one of those, "The White Man Did It"-- episodes.  This is a chronological flashback to where these difficulties originated, in order to observe all the elements in their infancy, for the purpose of locating our own implications in this travesty.  I am less concerned about pointing out to White America as to what it did wrong, as I am pointing out to Black America--what happened and why we need to do things differently.  Having Whites acknowledge and repair problems in race relations, is something outside our control--not relying on the unreliable is something that we can control and remedy.  As one writer/activist and comedian (Dick Gregory) puts it, "These are things that we need to change, while this brother and sister are on their way to the White House."

"I say bluntly that you have had a generation of Africans that actually believe that you can negotiate, negotiate, negotiate and eventually get some kind of independence.  But you are getting a new generation that has been growing right now, that are beginning to think with their own minds, and see that you can't negotiate up on freedom now a days.  If something is yours by right, then fight for it or shut up.  If you can't fight for it, then forget it."    --Gary Bartz NTU Troop: The Warrior's Song

   

We are all in human form and therefore subject to having inclinations.  Actually, I expect a little preference for your own--because it is your society--but not to the point of your people acting superior to me.  I realise that while the ball is in your court, I have to play by your rules.  Every person visiting a foreign land, knows of this.  But no man is greater or less than me in my eyes.  When you are visiting foreign lands, the same rules apply.  But when issues get pass simple politics, there are embassies to negotiate between countries.  Here lies one of the problems: the Black man in America is like a people without a country: There are no major business or lobbyist of trading interests to negotiate for him: he has no embassy nor sovereignty in America.  He is un-repatriated formerly oppressed and repressed with only his former servitude to this country to define his worth to America.

It is important for us to recognize that we are as visitors to this country until we become economically sound, and have a sense of nationality and diaspora.  When I speak of diaspora, I speak of one people around the globe and a sense of belonging to those people.  When I speak of chronology, I speak of the events and actions of our people, which should indicate to you what we have and can achieve once more.  I speak to you of the lessons we should take from the things that we've been through, and what should be expected of us.  I get so tired of my people who learn chronology, only to use as bragging rites.  I have no time for that.  I use chronology to recapture my culture and tradition.  I use it to learn of my people's capability.  I use it to figure where we veered off at.  But most of all, I use it to extract the underlying significance of what I went through, so I can determine which way I should go.  The main purpose of knowledge and sciences is to make accurate calculations and projections.

I always interview and update myself on the policies of the company I keep, so I can make sure that we are still on the same page and headed in the same or similar directions.  I am secure within the company that I keep because we are all talking of a united Black people and not talking about just fitting in and staying under the scrutiny and judgment of a people who don't love us.  And it's alright, if they don't. We can just be cordial and fair to each other.  They have that right to construct their world anyway they want and so do I.  Me and my people are building communities with the right thoughts in our conscious realms.

Instead of convincing America of how much Blacks are worth to American society, why don't we reinvest these efforts in ourselves?  The more responsibilities I have the more responsible I realize I should be.  Thus, the purpose for these writings. But those are rules I govern my persons by, and this is not an attempt to force them on others.  I don't get paid for this, outside of the love you have for me and I for you.  So if these words sound true, make sure they are and govern yourself by what you know to be true.   I listed some of our areas to tackle and in writings to come, there shall be more.  Let's get to work!

Peace and Blessings, 

C. Be'erla Hai-roi Myers

Significant Summaries

 

 

Significant Summaries

     One of the greatest things this country did for our development, was to have a period of segregation.  Besides its evils, Jim Crow Segregation laid bare the position Westerners had towards the newly freed Black population.  Sharing the world the Blacks helped to build, was not the idea of the descendants of the colonists.  This forced us into a condition wherein we had to work with each other in order to survive, because we could not depend on mainstream America.  The option of being with the White man simply was not there.  Racism was en vogue in this country for many, many years.  There was a general outlook that Blacks were inferior to Whites and were only good for menial labor for the whites; which prompted the action from indentured servitude (slavery based upon indebtedness worked off over a period of time), to slavery based upon one's skin (American racial slavery which was aimed directly towards blacks) to last for the rest of Black people's lives--including their progeny.  This lasted up until the Union was taking a beating from the confederate forces and allowed Blacks to enter the war in order to gain momentum during the American Civil War against the south.  This was a position that was lobbied by Frederick Douglass to President Lincoln, in the hopes of gaining more civil rights and citizenship as Americans.   As a result of the success of the war Lincoln proclaimed all enslaved Blacks were freed (Emancipation Proclamation).  This process took a couple of years (from 1863 to 1865), first freeing Blacks in the Confederate South (Rebel South) and then the Union North.  When the Black man was finally emancipated in 1863-65, he was not given money nor land for his years in servitude to this country--he was just released.  Many of us had to go back to the same White people who once owned them as property, to seek employment as a free man.  Whatever Blacks in America could scrounge up, in way of existence,was what most Whites felt was equal to Blacks position within American society.

     Next came the Jim Crow Segregation, in which Whites generally agreed that Blacks are not equal to Whites and therefore are not entitled to the same rights or facilities in their country.  The Klan was planted firmly in the rural south and they did not believe in the two races mixing.  Some of these attitudes were reflected within American law (therefore making some of this racism institutionalized.  "For colored only" signs were posted all about the United States.  Blacks were not allowed to share the same hotels, bars or public places with Whites.   Most of our people knew not "to go there" with White people: meaning that Black had a place and up into the Civil Rights and Black Power Movements, Blacks tolerated this position.
In their world, Whites felt they were free to have their way with any other, but they would lynch a Black man for just making eye contact with White woman, during those times.  This is part of what became known as the "Separate but Equal Clause" within American society during the time.  The Klan was the vigil-ante element to segregation, but the United States Government had laws to reinforce the separation of the races.  Racism was, at one point, an institutionalized phenomena within the United States. This was something most Whites wanted.  It took local and international pressure to force the government to act, but that alone will never change the minds of the people-- just their outward behavior.  During those times, we could only rely on ourselves to take of our own needs and that was not necessarily a bad thing.
     Society created the conditions and Blacks in America responded to them.  Reliance was the product and a "loose unity" was the outcome: Take the Negro League for example:  Who do you think owned the stadiums?  Who owned the teams?  What color were the players?  What color were the people who took the photos of the teams?  Who owned the concession stands?  Who supplied the stands with product?  How about transportation?  You get my point?  A Black enterprise which supported other associated Black businesses, which worked, in part, because there was no option available.  It had to work or our people would not have had a Negro League.  And we believed we could do it, therefore it was done.  Wow!
     Did the members in the Negro League make as much money as the members in America's Major League Baseball teams?  Well, probably not.  But then, the option wasn't there for them to be on those teams or the possibility to generate that type of capital -- the numbers nor the economics were there for this to be so.  Yet they existed just the same.  Did the Negro League ever play the MLB?  Yes, several times and the Negro League came out on top.  Wow, a Black institution that was responsible for employing Blacks, for Blacks and a high caliber league to boot!  So what happened to the Negro League?
     It would seem that we did for self because we had to.  There was no other options available to us.  I often wondered why the success of this business didn't offer more promise to our people back then, but the chronology is what it is.  When our backs were against the wall, we put our minds to it and created something wonderful.  But I don't think our people fully appreciated or understood the significance of what we do, because when the option comes to be a part of the pale man's program-- our people often abandoned what we are doing for a place in their world.   Such long periods of segregation in this Western society called America makes it fairly obvious that many White Americans do not have a high opinion of Blacks.  I think when our people look at the accomplishments the colonist had already achieved, they wanted in on this too and were not willing to wait; they could do something comparable.  I don't think so-called "African tribal conflict" had anything to do with it, since familiarity with things of Central Asian origin was several generations removed.

     Is it that we think what Whites had was better?  It is obvious that we have "Child in the candy shop" syndrome.  This is a syndrome where a child may have candy, but when he or she passes the candy shop, they see much greater possibilities and suddenly what they have looks relatively insignificant.  Look at how many Blacks go to Black colleges as opposed to Whites who go to Black colleges.  Amazing!   Once a chance comes to work in a candy store, many of our people finds himself or herself almost totally discarding negotiating the terms of their employment-- intoxicated from the possibilities of the "candy treasures" that awaits him or her.  Sad but true, many Black music artist will tell you, they were so happy to be signed to a major label-- they didn't see the raw deal the fine print represented.  We know what happened to the Native Americans-- why do we not think that the same theft and genocide would not await us as well?  They say that plagiarism is a modified form of flattery. If so, then the Black man should be flattered about what he has done in Hip Hop, all forms of music, sports and entertainment.  Chuck Berry sued the Beatles and the Beach Boys and won monetary awards for plagiarism.  Paul McCartney literally stole Little Richard's "primal scream."   But short of the Beatles acknowledgement of the originators of Rock & Roll, Whites seem only to give "back-handed compliments" and reluctant praise.  I could only guess because those who can turn a profit off of our ignorance, really don't want us to know how great we are-- no more than a pimp wants a prostitute to know that without her exploits he will make 'no dough."     Rhythm and Blues is such a highly transitional medium.  The life duration on a hit record in this form of music is six months.    If you do not have another hit in your arsenal, you will be a has been in six months.  This alone shows how dispensable our music is to us-- or how appreciated it is despite it's greatness.  It becomes oldies in less than two years!  Not classic, oldies!  You will never see such a thing in Rock & Roll or Country music.  And despite it's ethnicity, it is disproportionately White producers, Black talent.  This happened all over the music industry and the entertainment industry as well.  It seemed, being accepted into the mainstream of American society is more important, than establishing and taking care of our own needs as a nation of people within a nation constantly treats us as second class citizens.  Many people always seem to always go after the things that are not worth having.  As they say,  "The grass always looks greener on the other side."

     So why do Blacks want to deal with such disagreeable people?   I don't know, if I was in their position, that I would take my chances with those people, whose attitudes I had already seen in action.  This is despite the money potential of being successful in the White man's world wouId bring.  I just wouldn't trust in them or their practices with non-White people.

     Then again, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the highly successful Black Wall Street in Tulsa was burned to the ground due to the local White population being envious and jealous of the more influential Blacks of the area.  We live in different times, it almost seems inconceivable that we went through so much open hostility in those days.  Judging how many Whites are on medication today for Anxiety, manic depression, etc. -- knowing that they were not where they are today medically-- open expressions of hostility of those types in those days must have been a lot to deal with.  Our ancestors were probably seeking the peaceful route, thinking they can't win in the White man's courts.  After all, in this case the Black man (and Woman) were playing "an away game" (are not the people running the country or the ruling class).

     Now most of you reading this who live outside the United States may find it hard to believe that Blacks in America tolerated this treatment for so long.  As well, some of the youth inside this country might believe you and your contemporaries would have handled that situation differently.  I would say in both cases, you have no idea of the mindset our ancestors were up against.  Part of the problem for today's youth is that 1865 is too far removed for you.  A person who is 55 now, probably has parents who are 79-85 now.  This would place their birth in the 1920's to 1933.  If their parents were twenty when they had them, then the above persons grandparents would be born in 1900 to 1913.  So his or her  twice great parents would have been slaves but they would have all lived under segregation rules and a segregated "colored only/Whites only" society.  Now while this phenomena might be hard to visualize and feel, most of our young to mid adults have witnessed things that had to do with Apartheid-- where 85% of the indigenous population were forced to live on 15% of the land (and they were forced to be migratory on that 15%).  This militaristic society with its strong racist sentiments was in full effect from 1948 up until 1994-- with a White supremacy and military force similar to Nazi Germany.  That is a very tough mindset to have to try and change or fight against, especially in their country!

     If you are twenty-eight or older, you had the perfect opportunity to watch mad men and women in their finest insane ideology -- man's inhumanity to his fellow man: White Supremacy rhetoric.  It was called Apartheid.  Pieter Willem Botha, commonly known as P.W, Botha, was the prime minister and then state president of South Africa during Apartheid.  In September 1989, Willem de Klerk replaced then president P.W. Botha when he was forced to step down after an apparent stroke. Willem de Klerk, is best known for engineering the end of apartheid, South Africa's racial segregation policy, and supporting the transformation of South Africa into a multi-racial democracy by entering into the negotiations that resulted in all citizens, including the country's black majority, having equal voting and other rights. It happened in your time. However, most of you would have missed the opportunity because of your conditioning.  You were probably looking at where you are located instead of the fact that you are both Black people who lived with people who discriminated against you.  Or maybe, due to your conditioning, you too believe that our ancestors were backwards, primitive and savage creatures with bones coming out of the nose and plates used to stretch our lips like those racist cartoons we use to watch as humor.  Maybe this was the way you began to hate things 

African (Central Asian), as Cecil Rhodes, the De Beers, and the Rothschild's carted the minerals and diamonds from our Central Asian shores, without a ounce of protest from you.  More politically conscious Whites did more things to end Apartheid than you. 

     And for you outside this country, you are suffering from geography and not true allegiance to us as a people -- whether indigenous or not.  This phenomena places you as a removed observer, rather than someone who would take the time necessary to do the research in order to get a clear mental picture -- culturally, as well as, spiritually.  Googling racism in the United States, lynchings, equal education under the John F. Kennedy administration -- as well as, articles and speeches by P.W. Botha and Frederik de Klerk on subjects dealing with the issues of trying to be a ruling class in somebody else's land might help you see the factors more clearly confronting Blacks in America and Blacks in South Africa during the Apartheid era.  But by all means, get involved!

     What I am saying is that nothing came from the racist elements within South Africa or America to end segregation or discrimination.  They had not evolved past the point where they could look at all humanity through non-prejudice eyes.  Segregation and its long chronological series of events are indicative of what was preferred in both lands before the rest of the world pointed out to these lands just how ignorant and evil these ideologies are and made pressure on these countries to abolish the acts.  But these actions did not abolish the ideas in the true believers minds.  We Blacks today, see-between-the-lines, concerning the covert racist acts of our White so-called fellow Americans and Afrikaners.  But they are forced to hide their intent so out of decorum.  They want to appear civilized and cosmopolitan.  But at one point, both countries were ruled by people with this segregated point of view and the majority of White people seem to go along with it.  Sure the elements were there amongst Whites for social change within both countries, but we know by the chronicles of both lands-- it just wasn't enough.  It was outside political pressure that caused both countries to change their discriminatory practices -- not the evolution of mainstream society as a people who wanted social change.

     Yet, because things appear different (that is despite the undercurrent of second class citizenship and past sentiments from the majority of Whites), we Blacks in both countries are supposed to prefer mainstream above doing for ourselves and relying on mainly that.  Given the chronology of both countries, I say that proposition is fool-hardy.  It is our lives that lie in the balance and it is our lives we are fighting for.  We would not even be having discussions on equal rights if we were all the same people.  We are asking another group of people to be fair, hoping they will see it within their hearts to accept us.  I know that despite having a White ruling class that we have a democratic voting process for legislation and change, but if you put up signs and order the police to enforce them-- it still falls back on the ruling class people to obey them. Because If they, as a people don't, there is no way to enforce those laws without major rebellion.  

     It is obvious to me, that as a group of people, Blacks expect too much of White people.  We are the first to acknowledge that we are the first people and that all cultures originate from Central Asia and the Cradle of Civilization, yet we expect them to change to do right, when what they have shown you chronologically that they are content to live with what they did in order to get what they got-- until forced to do otherwise.  These are the same people who made 97 treaties with the Native Americans and did not honor an one of them.  Basically, it is quite natural for where they are humanistically speaking.  If we were the dominate culture in American society, getting our rights would not even be an issue, because the laws would have sprung from our natural way of thinking.  This way of trying to convince another culture which doesn't have your same world view, to conceive things or execute things the way we want them-- is folly.  Why, even striving for fair, is a stretch at best.  There are too many points in their history to prove otherwise.  This is not a unfair assessment, this is the truth.

     Being here is a love affair you will never be successful at.  Loving somebody is never any good until somebody loves you back.  When you are being used and you can hardly make a living off of what you acquire, the relationship is unequal.  When the life of your people falls into the hands of another people, it is bondage.  When you do not teach your child to provide a way for themselves and not rely on others, their future is uncertain.  When you will not devise a way in which the future of your progeny can be in their hands, you are a poor parent.   But when your children can love the people they are; when the children can form allegiances to each other; when they can cooperate and assist each other through interrelated businesses and labor; when they can trade amongst each other and live within a community which embraces its people and establishes its own laws amongst each other -- this is the beginning of real power and real nationhood!

     Now we must be about the work of removing previous notions and establishing productive ones for our social interactions.  Just because you are learning to love and appreciate your own people, does not mean that you hate or don't love others.  Quite the contrary.  I had a White person of Quaker upbringing, who taught me a lot about being an artist and being self-reliant and responsible.  When he heard these thoughts coming from me, he thought I abandoned him or suddenly hated White people.  I told him, he has always been fair to me and he taught me a lot about humanity, but White people should not and cannot govern the future of Blacks in this country-- we should.  That's where we take over -- in the re-education and cultivation of us as a people who are self-reliant and concern towards the future of Black people all over the world!

Love, Peace, and Happiness Black family
(where ever you are),