Black Consciousness on the 3rd Stone from the Sun: Civil Rights for Blacks Who Reside in America

Civil Rights for Blacks Who Reside in America

In a capitalist society, the only one who is going to get respect, is the person (or people) who are good at being an entrepreneur and work independently to protect their own interest. A “Yankee” in America, refers to a White Northerner who defended the Union in the Civil War. It was a phrase coined by the Southern Whites during that war. Yankees have been important players in politics. During the 1850s, the North had control over the house, they asserted their will in Congress; putting the country under control of Yankee-ism. At the time, the South generally produced the raw materials for the country: cotton, fruits, vegetables, etc., and the North; was responsible for a lot of overseas marketing of the products made from those materials. The control of Congress by the North, allowed the “Yankees” to have their way over the South; in other words, to regulate many aspects of American business in the Northern businessman way. In other words, during this arrangement, the Northern rich businessman treated the South as his inferiors. The war was fought in the South, and when the South lost the war, the Northern businessman seized the opportunity to profit from their lost [see Carpetbaggers]. So you can see very easily how a Yankee can believe that he or she is superior—even to a White businessman who is from the South. Remember, all employees rights in this country had to be rigorously fought for. Big business in the North traditionally fought against unionizing of shop workers. If the Yankee had his way, little rights would be granted to those who worked for him. You will never get the upper hand in America being under someone else’s employ and if you are advanced—it is because you are simply because you are of a greater value to the owner and the company: “But gilded or not, a cage is still a cage and a slave is still a slave” [or a sellout].

The stereotype associated with Yankee politicians is that they are White, wealthy, and attend elite colleges like Harvard University and Yale—belonging to societies like the “Skull and Crossbones.” The idea was (and still is) that the Yankee was always the one who profited first; he brought low and sold high in the stock market. When the Yankee had control of Congress (before the South seceded from the North), the North had the South paying higher tariffs to ship raw materials to the North, where the North made products from these goods. This incensed the South; so much so that it is said that the South came up with the term, “Yankee” from the Cherokee word, “eankke,” which means “coward.” In other words, the ruling on Yankee-ism is, Let the buyer beware. So the only way Blacks will gain respect from a capitalist society like America, is to develop its’ own business savvy and provide its own means of income. Any dependence upon existing capital by coming under the employ of a Western American Capitalist, is be seen as subject, under our influence, or weak. To come under the employ to a White capitalist is to bear witness to his superiority and to work under his rules (if you are to stay employed). All companies have rules and rules are to establish order. There is nothing wrong with that. However, a group of people (such as Blacks) who seek to work under the employ of another group of people (such as White or a Yankee), are seen by that group as weak. After 459 years of subjugation or living under another man’s jurisdiction, our inability to produce jobs for our own survival, is seen as weakness on the part of Blacks by American society. When you work for someone else, it only makes sense for you to be mindful concerning "which side your bread is buttered." Also, if you want to run a company—you need to start your own—or be a very important asset to the company with whom you work for (in other words you protect the company's interests).

It is amazing to hear Charles Barkley speak about how a rich man like Donald Sterling should be removed from the NBA because of how he, as an owner of an NBA team, thinks about the people in his employ [Black people], because their livelihood depends on it; then talk about being exempt from such abuse because of his financial status—while he speaks as an analyst under the employ of another rich owner—Ted Turner. It’s the same thing, Charles! If you were a guest, like Magic Johnson, I could appreciate what you said, but you are Ted Turner’s analyst and you abide by TNT rules (subject to the owner’s approval), and if you “free-style,” you might get fired. You are not free to speak your mind, Charles! As mom used to say, “If you dance to the music, you have pay to the piper.” She also spoke of autonomy as well, when she spoke: “I’m not begging and crying, I’m betting and buying.”

A lot of the reasons why more rich Blacks, do not more supportive things for their people, is they work for richer people whose interests conflict with the influential Black. Another reason is because many of these rich Blacks are not group conscious, therefore don’t feel like they have an obligation to the society in which spawned and raised them. These Blacks are merely tokens of what could be achieved individually, if you "play your cards right," but nothing concerning uplifting the people. This is Harry Belafonte’s sharp criticism of JayZ. It might be hard for you who are young [30-40 something] to see it, but Beyonce and JayZ are free-lance agents for the most part—just like many children today—whose color and people are somewhat casually considered. “I am because we are”—and your attitude towards your family and your people will be the signature as to how far your people will get in life.

Anyone who watched the movie Selma, learned that Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, refused to work for President L. B. Johnson. The reason why he refused, because as an employee, he might have gotten paid, but he would have to be silent on issues which conflict with his job, the president and the policy of the United States. King was fighting for the right to vote like everyone else, so that older Blacks could elect officials who would pass legislation to protect their interests and politics for their community.They attempted to work within the guidelines. King was a man of the people. Malcolm was our shinning prince and man of the people. They loved us enough to live in away to uplift us to dignity. All King’s other side men [Ralph Abernathy, Andrew Young, John Lewis] took the government jobs and ipso facto, stopped pushing for our Civil Rights because now (as a government employee) it was a conflict of interest. In the same manner, because it conflicted with “the system”—they betrayed the cause; and in effect changed masters yet got rewarded handsomely. These are the dynamics and paradigm of a payoff and a sellout. Fifty years later, the NAACP comes back to Washington, including all other manner of minorities—such as alternative lifestyles, feminists, etc., asking for government involvement, jobs for the poor, and hand-outs. Not entrepreneurship, training, loans and subsidizing—jobs; feed a man fish and you make him dependent, teach a man to fish, and as a fisherman, he'll feed his family for life.

As long as we work for others, we will be dependent upon others. As long as we don't work on our self-esteem and self hatred and distrust of each other; we will believe in the propaganda and lies and that flaw will continue to have us fight and kill one another; like the Native Americans of old. There was a reason why no two tribesmen were chosen to be delivered on the same slave ship, same location, same plantation. Tribalism is an old form of self-hatred among Blacks; based upon loyalty to one's tribe and the belief that your system is undeniably the best—making all others lesser. By stripping us of everything including our language, cultural recall was obliterated. By parading around with the only cultural left, the European colonist subliminally caused us to imitate his. As he prospered from our labor and skills, he became wealthy as a nation, causing the rest of the world to be jealous; and a longing from us to be a part of. As long as we petitioned to be a part of, he held ultimate control over us by virtue of his decision—yet in his own constitution [United States Constitution] he claims that the right we are seeking is endowed by the Creator Himself as an "inalienable right." He cannot grant that to us, because he does not possess it; but he can deny us true citizenship to his country which we fought to gain the rights to. Slavery in America destroyed our claim to being different tribes, it bounded us together by its common experience; it subjected us all to the same unjust treatment according to the color of our skin; it wrote in its' constitution that we were inferior—3/5s of a White man—to be exact. It instituted bigotry upon us, until many of us tried to escape it by being compliant—but that didn't work; we tried to be "yes men" and "tokens" but that didn't work because whenever "the man" got angry, he'd turn the token into a "straw man," and use him for example. The token may believe he is "free and accepted," but the colonialists have no equals. If he pays your salary and you are in his employ, he controls you by the source of sustaining your livelihood.

The token Black is chosen because he poses no threat to those who weld power. When their employer saw that their Black employee was a good worker and said and did what he or she thought was the right thing, they would usually grant these Blacks more opportunities than the other Blacks. The reason was simple: It allowed the employer to claim that he practices affirmative action by advancing a more pliable, less disagreeable, docile Black. Many token Blacks called this, "Making it." By making it, he or she means that they think the other influential Whites accept them as equals; especially if they could live in areas that are nice and have more White neighbors. Usually they had to be well versed in the colonizers ways, and prefer their culture above their own. Usually these Blacks would do so, because they had a negative self-image they were trying to distance themselves from concerning their own people. They call themselves things like "brown" instead of Black, because they think they are different and also to disassociate with the things American Whites dislike about Blacks; aka self-hatred. This can get as deep as changing ones, hair, changing one's skin and getting cosmetic surgery to remove those Black traits. The token Black serves as a symbol to other Blacks that they could have this too, if one was willing to make the "right changes and adjustments." Dr. Martin Luther King was not pushing for that, he was pushing for equal rights and social reform amongst Whites—the results of which is what we are experiencing today. You may look at those P-Diddy, Snoop Dogg, commercials or take the JayZ and Beyoncé public appearances and the social acceptance of young Whites as a barometer that things are changing concerning social equality—then come the Trayvon Martin travesty and the police murders in Ferguson, as well as the Donald Sterling incident or the John Mayer so-call "verbal mistake," and experience what's in the hearts of many. Best we can get from America is a somewhat "politically correct situation"—America will never look fully admit its' deeds, so that reform Blacks are hoping for will never get here.

Malcolm X realized this and made it known in numerous speeches. The Honorable Marcus Garvey knew it before Malcolm and his father, and advocated a sense of belonging to a "Mother Africa," wherever a Black may find themselves. This belonging is called "diaspora." That sense of diaspora must serve to make us concerned about ourselves as a whole. It must take precedence above our petty differences and individual goals: What good is riches, if you are not able to enjoy it in truly free environment? We maybe free to express ourselves among ourselves, but America restricts even our touchdown celebrations. We cannot live up to another man's standards—it must be liberty and justice for all; and we must practice proper love, human and civil rights among ourselves before we can see the change we are looking for. I am not trying to get other people to love me more than I love myself or my people. It's called, "A Love for Ourselves," not "coercion." It's called, "Do For Self," not "I gotta get mine, you gotta get yours."

If we continue to kill each other for insignificant reasons, we lower the standards of our worth to ourselves and to others who live in America. In America, the search to find the killer of a Black person and bring him to justice, is not the same due diligence as the search for a White, and that's an actual fact. Yes, we have to work at changing our image of ourselves, to ourselves; and it must start with us. And please—STOP REPEATING THAT RIDICULOUS LINE: "YOU DON'T SEE COLOR."

Thank you for your consideration,