The Fox and the Geese

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Fox and the Geese 

Reaching out in this manner, we are finding answers--we're seeking solutions that will take us next level--that's all.

     The name of this game is, "Let's overcome this common problem," shall we?  It is not about platforming and getting people to join a group.  It is not about religious affiliations.  It's not about which social class a person belongs.  This is about elevating your awareness and thought processes, as a reader who is interested in this sort of thing.  This society in which we live amongst, is not going to stop discriminating against Blacks--just because you are Christian or Catholic.  It is not going to stop discriminating against you, because you live in a White neighborhood.  This grudge goes a long way back, and perhaps one day we will elaborate on it.  North America is a society created by a people who came from England and the rest of Europe, and Blacks are a minority within it.  And should public opinion change; as it did for the Japanese-Americans in 1940, when the Japanese sided with the Germans in World War Two (actually called the Tripartite Pact or Axis Alliance)--America took actions against the Japanese-American people, actions decided by the ruling class people of the society.  This is what is meant when government officials state that they are keeping the country safe, by protecting this society against all its'enemies; both foreign and domestic.

     It would not matter whether these Japanese people were previously friends to American Whites or not.  It did not matter if they considered themselves "American".  It would not matter whether they were patriotic to America or not.  Japan did something against American society that changed political opinion, and even though these Japanese were called Japanese-Americans, in the end, it did not matter: Their interest, rights and priviledges within America were provoked.  They were indiscriminately rounded up and put into concentration camps--completely at the mercy of the U.S. Government's opinion.  A government that was not to happy about having their ships being bombed at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese.  A society whose tolerance for non-European people--was at the end of it's rope.  The Japanese attacked American ships on American soil: that was all that mattered; not the Japanese rights as Americans!  Within Nazi Germany, a very similar thing happened--the Jews were considered enemies of the state! 

     The Jews were considered so, because Germany was made to pay most of the financial responsibility for devastation of WW II, while the Jewish merchants were not as penalized.  This caused deep seated resentment amongst Germans; which eventually led to singling the Jews out, demarcating them, putting them into concentration camps--culminating into the vast genocide of millions of Jews, known as the "Holocaust."  Because of the change in public sentiment, it didn't matter if you were part German and part Jew--usually if a German or the authorities found out, you were either hated or discriminated against.  In America, it is said: "One drop of Black blood in a White man or woman, makes that person Black."  I guess, the same type of thing goes for the Jews who lived in Germany during that time.  It didn't matter if you were part German, rich, bourgeois, or poor--in the end analysis, many who could not leave Germany were exterminated like bugs by the German government and dropped into group graves without any dignity.

      Tiger Woods went out of his way to name every type of person ever comprising his "Other than Black heritage" to say he isn't Black--but in the end analysis, he desires women which are White, overtop of all others comprising his lineage (despite the previous one taking him to the cleaners).  Just like "Mr. and Mrs. Bootblack," who lives across the street from the "Meanderers" and Grimer Wormtongue, who all earned their position lingua ala boot, and current earn enough money to live among those who don't really want them there--they claim their not Black but Brown.  Tiger takes his place amongst a growing number of Black athletes (O.J. Simpson, Charles Barkley, Doc Rivers and now Michael Jordan), who are proving to themselves they're the same as any White person--by marrying one.  Well, at least Sir Charles has said he's not a role model. . .  

     IIt seems, once these types of  Black athletes reach a certain financial bracket, they believe themselves to be eligible candidates to shed off all the pain associated with the color of their skin:  I guess to them, White equals success.  Ironically, these types of Blacks, never think that the inequality between Blacks and Whites in this country, originates from the society they are attempting to marry into--the prejudice is truly what a majority its' White members think (even those who now live right beside them).  It is prejudices of the rich and White in this country which causes the most damaging injustices towards those in which it discriminates. This  experience between Whites and Blacks in this country, also qualifies the newly born "George Jefferson-type" the ability to sense feelings of inferiority amongst other Black people--but instead of using it to help out his fellow man, he think he is truly above such things and better than Blacks who live within the grip of the treachery perpetrated by his neighbors. . . Yet history tells another story.  Nonetheless, it is amazing to me that such attitudes towards our own could be conceived by us.  We today receive the foulest treatment, as well as, the greatest scrutiny and doubt at the hands of our own people!  As well,  it is important to mention that some of these "BootBlacks" choose to become even more unconscious and cultureless, in a desperate attempt to fit in within the total White community--making their make-over complete; that is--until someone White and richer comes around and penetrates their bubble or public opinion changes: like the death of O.J. Simpson's wife mystery, The Tiger Wood's marriage fiasco, 911, or the Pirates of the Caribbean and Barbary Coast (but then again they might be too blind to see that as a concern as well).

    Living under these conditions is a very vicarious situation for Blacks  indeed; living under a race's judgment, scrutiny, etc. which are not your people.   Having to be accepted by another social group for our very survival is ludicrous for a group of people that is big enough to be a nation.  I remember when I was younger, I had two females which I really, really dug.  I dug both their sophistication--so much so--either one could have been mine.   However,  needless to say, side-line duty and "friendship" is all I got--but it wasn't from lack of trying. My persons just could not create any leeway, so I had to settle (as inferior as that may sound). Anyway, years later I bumped into one of the two--still looking good and exotic.  Now mind you--sexuality then, was not as ambiguous as it is today (nor was the tolerance). So we began to rap, but my considerations were in another place (I had a sweetheart), so I was good. Anyway, we were talking about leatherwork for commercial profit (which we both do)--when out of nowhere, this other "chick" comes stepping up to me like she was reclaiming her property! What a shock!  I never knew back then, that she was a femme for the Lesbian type.   Here I was trying to qualify back in the day (thinking I could have qualified), when there was no chance in Hell I was going to have her!

     Just think, she knew I thought I couldn't make headway because I wasn't good enough--but said nothing! This person never let on that she was concealing her desires, what she really felt,  her true intent.  There was nothing wrong with me as a guy--she has no interest in my type (being the "femme" that she is)!  I wasn't right for her and she wasn't right for me, but she didn't want me and she didn't want to let me know why. That is what is wrong with this!  She let me think something was wrong with me.  And with some people, the more you reject, the more they want you. Some figure its a challenge, and they're the right one for it!

     It is the same with trying to fit in within America: We are two different people with very different values--but being a descendant of the peoples who started a currently rich affluent society translates (many times) into a feeling of belonging to a winner or successful society. That translates into a feeling of heritage and privilege for its descendants.  Privileged people often feel they can judge the less fortunate.  The considerations of American society, is consistant with its people's way of thinking--but at the same time it is foreign to a Black way of thought.   This is very important for Black people to understand.

     Now if the American economy is somewhat consistent with the pattern of American consideration  described above--then some conformity becomes necessary for Blacks in order to survive and devise other plans for themselves as a people. That act by Black people boosts their ego.  Combine this inherent of being the descendants, with the sense of being White--and you get the sense THAT THEY FEEL THIS IS THEIR COUNTRY, PERIOD; Not a country that they share with others. . .  And since so many people are conforming to their way (even if it's only to get hired)--this gives plenty of them a feeling of arrogance and superiority. Their people were the ones who made the country by way of boldness and sacrifice of life (but not without the exploits and exploitation of others)!  They act like the treachery they did to the Native Americans was just an act of Darwinism (Survival of the Fittest).  Rarely does White America acknowledge the contribution of others to the American fabric--they just say back-handed compliments by mentioning their greatness and their industry:  Members of American society feed into this.  They believe if they behave a certain way, White Americans in places of power will let them be a part of their company or their society. The contributions of non-White Americans is always reluctantly mentioned or slowly acknowledged publicly. Suck-ups rarely get respected by the people they suck up to.  Like how many people where taught in school that the Chinese population has been here since the cowboy days and were instrumental in laying the railroad tracks which united this country from coast to coast?

      This position of judgment and discrimination gives Whites an heir of arrogance to match their sense of superiority and belief that there are no equals to them.  And at the same time, it generates a lot of feelings of inferiority and hopelessness in the minds of non-Whites, when they can't get accepted by White society: its sort of like ancient Rome and the "barbarians" clamor for Roman citizenship.  For many of us, this need to fit in is psychologically damaging (like the Native Americans and their drunkardness for being on the outside looking in)--not matching up against White society's opinions is the root of a lot of our self-loathing as Black people. It is the public opinions the Americans of European ancestry (particularly the English White Anglo-Saxon Protestant's belief of superiority), that keep us to the outside of their true social equality--while harboring inferior feelings concerning all other peoples comprising the American fabric.  It is this particular type of objectivity and socialization within American society that we must get far away from.  It is the type of social disease that rubs off on its' victims-- it's the single-most reason for our self-destructive ways and our distrustfulness of White society.  Yet we look up to the affluence of American society as successful, so if Americans shun you long enough--some Blacks will believe them; some of them will believe that they can't do without them.  And once we begin to blame ourselves for the poverty slavery placed upon us (a.k.a. blame ourselves as victims), we'll look down on everything that looks like us (or in some cases made by us).  And when some Blacks begin to "move on up", they'll begin to disassociate with being Black.  It is the same reason we Blacks demonize each other, like the English did the Huns (Germans) during World War I.

       I don't know how many times I've been with suburban Blacks, who pretend not to see the obvious "darts" being thrown by their prejudice White neighbors. . .  But then again, they might not be pretending--they might be so involved with putting on their act, that they can't see the other factors at work. After all, as with most beliefs, you see what you what to see and you hear what you want to hear!

     The dehumanizing of an opponent, is a tactic used by strategists, to get more benovelent beings to develop hatred for their fellow brethren and sisters, Black Bloods and Cripps, Red (White?) and Blue, the Blessed and the "Unblessed," Saved and Unsaved, Christian and Heathen, Black and Brown, Christian vs. Muslims, Civilized and Uncivilized, misogyny and misandry, are some of the few ways we focus on differences to keep us apart and hating one another.  When some of our suburban brothers get a little preference from some White people and move amongst the more influential--many often believe the propaganda told to them that they are so-much better and different from other Blacks.  Some refer to themselves--not as Black people--but Brown and look down at other Blacks as less fortunate.  Needless to say, there are groups of Whites who look at all Blacks as inferior--they carefully conceal it by using political correctness (diplomacy) as a camouflage; while patting themselves on the back for proving to themselves that they're more clever than Black people. . .  Trust me, my Brown/Black suburbanites--I'm not hating on you and your "accomplishments". . .  I'm just saying it's not worth selling your soul for: i.e. to live next door to someone who would like to burn a cross on your lawn for moving in to their community.  You know, they are putting out a movie on Jackie Robinson, which will show how the White community reacted to a Black man entering a sport, THEY thought he shouldn't be in.  My question is, if they spit in his face, threw; things at him and shouted out ethnic slurs--What made Blacks think that they were going to be treated fairly or think differently just because they stopped openly expressing it?  Is our need to get what affluent Whites have, so strong that we would settle for any type of humiliation White society could throw at us?

     In light of all this dysfunction, it makes me proud to say that my queen was checking out an interview with Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who stated rather humbily that he owned 15 companies that employ 75,000 minorities.  It makes me proud to know some Black millionaires get it:  That some Black athletes have enough Black Consciousness--to do what needs to be done, in reference to the condition of our people.  It feels good that they have not forgotten where they came from.  Our people on the continent never forget these things.   In fact, many of them work here and send money to their extended family and neighbors, to further their tribe.  These are the type of things we, as a people, need to re-establish.

But Why are we not liked?

Why are Blacks loathed by so many Whites? 

We were the ones enslaved. . .

     First of all, it would be presumptuous for me--a person diametrically opposed to prejudice inconsiderations--to attempt to fully elaborate on what is in the minds of those who previously enslaved us and currently loathe us--but I will attempt to extrapolate by the use of correspondence: Being objective about the whole thing, we are talking about a people who see nothing wrong with one group of people owning another group of people; Or feeling on face value, that Whites are superior to any Black--and that all Blacks should be servants to Whites.  Despite the level of veracity or truthfulness of this perspective, this is what they believe and many Whites see nothing wrong with it.  This opinion must have been common enough amongst Whites because there was enough legislation to create a society like that--and in some cases; promote those kind of conditions above so-called common sense.  And although World opinion eventually changed concerning slavery, those here in America (of European descent who believed such things), decided to keep their opinions secret (while remaining true to their beliefs).

     So given this state of mind, you can just imagine how these people felt about the Emancipation Proclamation: Many of them were highly upset.  It would be as though you purchased a electric saw or a robot to do your chores, and the government said, "You cannot own one of these anymore within the United States--you will have to surrender that item and we will not reimburse you!"  Most of us would be incensed!  And to add insult to injury, once the Reconstruction period came, many Whites got upset about the rapid progress Blacks were making concerning society, politics, education, and civil rights.

1866 Civil Rights Act    ***

14 Stat. 27-30, April 9, 1866 A.D.

CHAP. XXXI.
An Act to protect all Persons in the United States in their Civil Rights, and furnish the Means of their Vindication.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That all persons born in the United States and not subject to any foreign power, excluding Indians not taxed, are hereby declared to be citizens of the United States; and such citizens, of every race and color, without regard to any previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall have the same right, in every State and Territory in the United States, to make and enforce contracts, to sue, be parties, and give evidence, to inherit, purchase, lease, sell, hold, and convey real and personal property, and to full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property, as is enjoyed by white citizens, and shall be subject to like punishment, pains, and penalties, and to none other, any law, statute, ordinance, regulation, or custom, to the contrary notwithstanding.

For a full list of rights during Reconstruction click here

      See, in 1784 the thirteen original colonies were a confederation, united by a treaty called the Articles of Confederation, and controlled by a single entity called Congress; which needed nine states approval to ratify a decision as an entity--while continuing to recognize the sovereignty of each state to regulate most of its' inner workings.   These Articles of Confederation eventually became the Constitution of the United States, but Congress nor the States were regulated then as they are today.   The Northern 

states had wrestled the balance of power within Congress and often used that power to realize their ambitions--while often being unfair to the South in tariffs, legislation, rules and regulations--trampling over the sovereignty of the Southern states to run their affairs. It was said that unfair federal legislation was enriching the North at the Southerner's expense.   In 1860-1861, the  secession ensued, leading to the Civil War--one of the most bloodiest lost of population this nation has ever known. 

     After the smoke cleared from the Civil War, the South was in shambles (since it was primarily fought on Southern soil.  The primary engine for producing cotton (Black People), were set free.  Cotton gins were destroyed.  The use of free human labor to produce a lot of labor in the South was now gone and most of the South was bankrupt, as a result of the devastation and expense of war.  The North came down to the Southern lands like vultures, buying up lands cheap, taking over businesses that could no longer stay afloat--basically taking further advantage of the South's bad predicament.  Suddenly, a group of people who were accustomed to having people serve them (i.e. the Southern slave owner) for free and do all their menial labor--under the Emancipation Proclamation and Reconstruction were starting public schools, running for office, making laws, starting Black areas.  Of course, many of us had to go back to the "dog that bit us" to work, but the conditions were a little bit different.  

     Now imagine how the previous slave-owners and other Southerns must have felt.  These opportunistic Northerners (called Carpetbaggers) were stealing their land.  People who they considered inferior to them, were making substantial gains, with acts like the 1866 Civil Rights Act were protecting their new rights as citizens.  Most of the South's eight million Whites were not slave owners and over a third of the eight million were illiterate.  These Whites saw these free Blacks as unwelcome competitors and viable contestants--for the hatred and resentment they held for the union, Abraham Lincoln, and anything non-Confederate.  When the Radical Republicans took charge over Lincoln and the moderate Andrew Johnson (during the election of 1866), they removed a lot of the Confederate power from office and enfranchised Black freedmen.  During Reconstruction, the U.S. military had to be called in to protect the Black voters, enforce the Civil Rights Act of 1866, and support these Republican reconstructed states against the insurgency of angered Whites.

     This proved to be too much of a herculean task for the military, against those determined to win back the world they were accustomed to.  So obviously the numbers of Whites not in favor of giving Blacks equal rights within White society, outnumbered the ones which were--in the South.  Either that, or the Whites in the military were unwilling to put their life on the line for those persons in Black skin: A statement which doesn't exactly suggest that Blacks are viewed as their brothers and sisters or equals either.   And in 1874, when Dixie Democrats rose back to power in the house, this act allowed Southern politicians to create laws to reverse gains by Southern Blacks and put Blacks back into slavery-like conditions--like the Pig Laws and Vagrancy Statues (otherwise known as the Black Codes).  These acts alone should let my readership know how the populace really felt--especially since these sentiments come at a time when people did not worry about being politically correct.  Up above, in the underscored portion of the 1866 Civil Rights Act, is the sentence which made present day slavery legal: "Except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted"--slavery within prisons. 

     The practice of the newly elected Southerns and their henchmen (circa 1874), was to create incredulous legislation designed to ensnare Black men and to hold them in prison for labor camp under bogus charges. . . [Sound familiar, in light of recent activities?]  Once incarcerated, the local authorities (or crooked lawmen) would rent out the services of the prisoners to private labor and mining companies--a frequent practice often used by Southern states; only with Blacks they found ways to perpetuate the sentence, allow cruel and unusual punishment; maybe even death!   So once a Blackman became incarcerated down South (during Reconstruction period: 1866-1877), you were in a system which was worst than slavery, because in slavery, a slave owner would not often think of destroying his investment--but under this "Slavery By Another Name," a Black man could be killed, worked to death, maimed or crippled and the company would just get another Black from the lot.

     So here we see a society (a.k.a. White people) that has a dilemma, concerning another group of people: a.k.a Black people--which they originally took from their indigenous environment and forced them to work for them for free.  Some were for it, others were not.  Some were active towards the eradication of such ideas (abolitionist like Frederick Douglass, John Brown, Harriet Tubman, and William Lloyd Garrison), and others who were not like most of the rural South.  Some had to be persuaded like Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson: But Emancipation would not have taken place, for us as a people, without persons within White society--who held positions of power--believing something was morally wrong with human bondage and forced servitude.

    This is a very precarious position for Black people to continue to be in.   Waiting on someone to do something for us, instead of providing ways for ourselves.  Relying and depending on the kindness and benevolence of others--other than yourself.  It was Frederick Douglass who believed, if Blacks would serve in the Civil War-- union Whites would admire their bravery and allow them access to their society; after freeing them in the South and reconstructing the land.  Lincoln may have freed the slaves, but he did not give any government assistance in starting out.  Later on, when the Radical Republicans attempted to get the military to protect Black interests and civil rights, in the light of White Southern insurgency, again that support was short lived.   The first Civil Rights Act of 1866 failed Blacks, Southern Whites regained power over southern legislature and surrounded us with new slavery by way of prison, through the instituting of the Black Code and Jim Crow Laws (separate but equal laws practiced in the North and South as segregated, hotels, restrooms, restaurants, hospitals, etc.). 

     The Jim Crow segregated Laws were in effect from 1876 until 1965, until they were forced into revised legislation like the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Voting Rights Act of 1965, and Brown vs. The Board of Education, by the 1960's Black Power Movements, Civil Rights Activism, and progressive groups, like the Hippies, etc.  That is a long time for slave-like conditions to be practiced by Whites on Blacks!   The fact that there was protest, and people were hurt, suggests that most White people were not for social equality or justice.  Just the idea that between the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, there was almost 100 years of  job, union, racial discrimination, segregation, inequality, and bigotry--suggests that American Whites are not very good in treating others as they would like to be treated.  This also suggests that Whites have to be forced to change--through protest, violence or fear:  They will not elevate to proper social equality levels or take care of social injustices on their own--and are very quick to revert back--if some social event occurs or their mood swings (as demonstrated by Gov. George Wallace and President John F. Kennedy under the school desegregation act in Alabama).   I don't think that these are good social conditions to be living under as Black people.

     We are allowing ourselves to be part of their madness, instead of establishing our own.  Establishing our own is what Marcus Garvey did, when he created the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).  Being Self sufficient is what Dr. A.C. Jackson did, when he established Black Wall Street in the Greenwood neighborhood in Tulsa, Oklahoma and the Goins and Carrier families did in the Rosewood section of Levy County, Florida in1923.  Educating ourselves is what Booker T. Washington did by the establishment of Tuskegee Institute (later Tuskegee University) in the town of Tuskegee, part of Macon County, Alabama; featuring the school's resident teacher and great agricultural scientist, George Washington Carver and home of Rosa Parks, Civil Rights Activist.  He evolved the idea from attending Hampton Institute (University), a Black and Native American university established by Black and White leaders of the American Mission Association after the Civil War, for the education of newly Black freemen, located in Hampton, Virginia.   Doing for Self, is what Father Divine and Elijah Muhammad did for their respective societies who recognize that segregation has always existed whenever the White man encounters other non-White people--his history and our chronology shows this.  Throughout world recordings of these event, I think all these "first world" people got it.

       We have got to learn more of that lesson.  I just hope it won't take a holocaust like Nazi, Germany to cause our unification and self reliance--as opposed to this vicariousness that we seem to prefer; over top of  trusting in our own enterprising.

But So What has Changed?

     The issue of civil rights and being included within the American fabric was a noble experiment conducted by Frederick Douglass and "fellow" abolitionist Harriet Tubman.  They gave their lives in dedication for the advancement of Black people in America.   They both thought by being assisted by 5% of the Whites which believed in the abolitionist cause.  That the rest of the population of Whites in America could be made to change their minds about their opinion of Blacks in America.  They believed if Blacks participated in the Civil War this would convince Union Whites that Blacks were fellow men and women--and not subhuman.  On several occasions, Frederick Douglass solicited assistance from President Lincoln to further his abolitionist cause.  As a result of their collaborations Frederick Douglass later became United States Ambassador to Haiti.  Harriet Tubman conducted the Underground Railroad and even served in the Union army as a spy in Southern territories.  They are both considered Civil Rights Activists.  

     I don't believe wholly in that cause.  The Civil Rights Movement has gotten us some advances (I am thankful to my ancestors for their efforts), but it has never tackled the real issue.  You can't make someone love you or treat you as an equal, if they are determined not to.  While Affirmative Action has gotten us jobs with higher pay, as well as, putting legislation into effect--laws are only effective if people abide by them.  When the people and the ones enforcing the law disagree, those laws will be worked around--creating a toothless tiger.  I think waiting for White America to develop a conscience and a sense of fairness, has handicapped Black people and arrested our development, as an entity.  It has tricked us and made us devisive and indecisive about our direction.

     Factual proof of this, is that Black people in this country have never been sure about how they wanted to tackle these inequalities in American society.   In between the Civil Rights Acts of 1866 and 1965, there has been several Black Power groups that emerged on the scene, but even the largest ones--the Civil Rights Movement with people like Dr. Martin Luther King and the NAACP--never mounted more than 30-40% of the Black population (in terms of active, card carrying members).  Most Blacks were passively in support of such groups.  It wasn't until the Harlem Renaissance was established, that we even had a united way in which to identify ourselves.  We even called ourselves, nigger, negro, and colored--and those were names Whites called us!  It was the artist and writers who belonged to the Harlem Renaissance that defined what being Black is.  It also defined being a sell-out, wanna be, and a parasite, snake and pariah to the Black community.  Civil Rights for Black people in White America is an optical illusion--it's token concessions--it is never true social equality.  Malcolm X never believed in fighting for civil rights, when the human rights for Blacks had not been established in the minds of White America--but I am getting ahead of my persons. . .

    We have been here in America since 1555, 458 years ago (the United States as a union is still less than a two hundred years old--we've been here almost five hundred years).  The White forefathers of this country wrote us into their Constitution as being three-fifths of a man, to be consider as livestock, for the purpose of counting property and three-fifths of a man for population consideration as part of the delegation for representation in the House of Representatives.  This is what Whites generally thought of us then.  Our people have fought in the Civil War.  We fought in all of their wars since then.  On paper, we are said to be citizens after the Civil War, expressed in the 1866 Civil Rights Act--but that is just what it was--an act.  Reconstruction was to protect our rights as freemen, the Radical Republicans sent the U.S. military to protect our rights in the South against White Southern insurgencies--only to have the army vacate the position, as the hostilities escalated.  Maybe they were unwilling to lose their lives for their newly considered Black brothers and sisters (Christian or not).

     Southern "gentlemen" regained the sovereignty of the South and attempted to "put Negroes back in their places."  This was done in the South, through creating a series of laws through Southern legislature (the Black Code Laws), designed to ensnare the Blackman back into slavery conditions; by incarcerating him--and enrolling him in the Southern "legal slave system" for being uppity and not knowing his place in White society; having "no respect for the law. " Needless to say, the first Civil Rights Act of 1866 (an act designed to protect certain rights for the newly freed Blackman) failed to be properly enforced by White America.  Law enforcement often did not want to get entangled in issues related to protecting Black people.  Poor Whites felt like they were competing for some of the same jobs as Blacks, and felt no White should be denied a job for any Black; despite being handicapped through slavery experience [There are some Whites who feel this same way about Affirmative Action or Native American casinos].  The South attempted to reestablish the "old order" through a series of laws.  The Jim Crow Laws came after the Pig and Vagrant Laws of the Black Code Laws.  The Jim Crow Laws lasted from 1876 to 1965, basically attempting to undue whatever the first Civil Rights Act and Reconstruction attempted to give Blacks (challenged only by the Civil Rights Act of 1965).  When we worked together we did make strides (like the related businesses generated through the establishment of Negro League Baseball), but as you can see--through the White man's laws from state to state--we were still being treated as inferior and unequal right up to 1965.
     
Since then, there have been millions made by a number of Blacks in Sports and Entertainment industry (which is mainly run by Whites--often facilitated through Jewish agencies), but that wealth has not culminated into a lot of businesses where Blacks may seek local employment.  Too many of these successful Blacks think too single-minded, as opposed to group conscious.  Others are too concerned about hurting the White community who gave them the opportunity.  And yet, so many of us, are not even looking for an alternative to seeking government employment or working for corporations and smaller businesses owned by Whites; which once again, puts our people under the scrutiny and opinion of others--other than our own people.  We are playing their game, by their rules; doing it their way.  It's no wonder they feel superior; they regulate it.  This is what makes what Magic Johnson is doing--so great; for it opens the door for Blacks to work for someone who shows he is one of your own who understands and that begins to open the door on self-reliance with common interests.

     Self esteem is defined as the belief and confidence in ones own ability and value--but if you are constantly being evaluated by those who have a low opinion of Black people in general--where will that put your self-esteem?  One will start to question: "Why is he/she so hard on me?"  "Nothing I ever do, seems good enough. . . "  "Is it them or is it me?"  "How much am I worth. . . and to who?"  How many self esteem issues for Black people could we say, may be linked (or attributed) to the racism and bigotry  in America?  

     People who get paid more, can do more--but once again, if you have to go to a White business to seek employment--it's not unnatural for him to prefer someone who looks like him; unless he sees something different.  This is one of the reasons affirmative action was created, but just like the less-advantaged Southerners mentioned concerning Reconstruction, some Whites resent these quotas made for Blacks like they resent the working class having to shoulder public assistance: But that is more like "blaming the victim" for his social condition rather than he who has caused it to happen.

     Some say better education is the key, but to have better education, your parents need better paying jobs--or a single parent that is a frugal genius: capable of sacrificing and doing without enough to send a child to a good school--but it is a vicious circle: You need money to have a better education and without having a better education you cannot make the money necessary.  But don't forget, even if he had the money and went to a good school--if the he is Black, he may still come under that scrutiny we talked about earlier; and/or not get the job; unless he can go to an alternative employer who is conscious of his complications, and is one of his kind who hires his own.  But face it, for many we are still working for the rich, which makes us all servants with not enough money--using credit cards to get by--like slaves. 

     Today, as Black men in America, we find many of our own women not being very supportive.  A lot of our women may be thinking, "If he doesn't make x,y, and z--then he can't be with me."  Question: Are you making, "x,y,z?"  What are you bringing to the table?  Maybe if you pull your resources together, you could have "x,y,z."  But, if you are looking to put sex on the table and expecting to be sported--then the word prostitution comes to mind.  If you make "x,y, and z" but you are looking for a guy who makes more, so you can broaden your horizons--what do you have (besides sex) that could make him interested in you?  The truth of the matter is, he may be so well off--that he has more options than you and might not be reliable or worthy of your kind of devotion.  But just like with our need to provide Black businesses that our own people can seek different types of employment from, the key here is being group conscious about a positive destiny and future for our families and our people.  And if you are already thinking like that, then that is the first major step in Black Consciousness and Self reliance. 


Peace and Blessings, 






C. Be'erla Hai-roi Myers