“Maybe…[status-quo] accommodating ‘Afro stars’ are satisfied with just comfortably ‘waiting’—so long as they get theirs…
“Dr. W.E.B. DuBois recognized [America’s] cleverly induced self-absorption [because his Black students facing unprecedented late 1890’s “material” opportunities] were already sated with the illusion of America’s solitary, ‘get rich chance’ mentality…
“DuBois’ prophetic admonishment…remains clear: this chance to economically advance must be about the ‘we, not the me!’”
Trouble In Black Paradise Chapter 14: The Bible As A Weapon In The War On Gays, Page 295; and Chapter 18: Threads Of Mystery Lodged At The Seat Of Human Time, page 422.
“…black leadership…[was] sharply divided over…removing disfranchisement from ex-Confederate leaders. To permit them to return to active political participation seemed like the best way to win [white power holder’s] approval…
“But the democratic propensities of black leaders in this respect would also prove to be their undoing…”
Been In The Storm So Long Chapter Ten: Becoming A People, pg. 526.
“The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House.”
Audre Lorde; Sister Outsider, The Crossing Press Feminist Series (1984).
FEATURED IMAGE:
Rap mogul Jay-Z and National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell on August 14, 2019, celebrate signing their new deal. photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation.
Greetings revved-up readers!
Glamorously successful Blacks showing “Pied-Piper” charm lead their nationally demoralized kin to glitter—not bold “vision”—partnering supremacist weasels only ensures the continued, sinister rise of mega…
Trouble in Black Paradise.
America has been abuzz with rapper Kanye-West’s display of steadfast love and adoring respect for Trump.
Now, these disastrous and bizarre affiliations continue.
Rap mogul Jay-Z’s made a mid-August announcement that his company Roc Nation has formed a partnership with National Football League Commissioner Roger Goodell; the same NFL where exclusively white owners clearly demonstrated modern day supremacist tactics—conspiring to not hire quarterback Collin Kaepernick.
Kaep of course drew NFL vengeance by consistently kneeling during a literally worshiped U.S. national anthem.
Yet, his protest was not only against relentless systemic killings of unarmed Blacks—it also targeted another raging U.S. offense:
Afro economic disenfranchisement.
My first response is this:
Jay-Z has demeaned the absolutely valid idea of slavery reparations for today and distorted the “origins” of Radical Reconstruction’s clearly defined reparation intent—on a “massive” scale.
Rap mogul Kanye West adores and hugs his role model #45 during an October, 2018 visit to the White House, in which veteran football player Jim Brown attended. Kanye has said he just “loves” the president, feels like “Superman” wearing his MAGA hat, and that they are “brothers” because they share “dragon energy.” Kanye’s also demeaned Afro-American legacy saying he believes slavery was a “choice” and he wants the 13th Amendment (which technically ended U.S. slavery) abolished. photo: Getty Images.
The NFL deal gives the Black movement a grand slap in the face—a thing totally synonymous with slandering Black liberation “legacy.”
Blacks buzzing over this is of course most important.
Celebrity opinions in our society will obviously be given priority and placed first; some did immediately blister Jay-Z’s act—yet, defensive support from others was also sadly predictable.
And considering H.R.40 Slavery Reparations Bill finally finds renewed life—desperately seeking basic Black support—so many people waffling, being starry-eyed, or being totally conflicted here is troubling—especially since the Black populace (not rich celebrities) bears the brunt of attack.
So before delving into the back-and-forth banter too far I must first address a missing, yet glaring item:
No one is connecting today’s Slavery Reparations issue here—or even mentioning our Afro liberation “ancestors and Elders”—given their steadfast allegiance to Black people—their hard earned “insight”—their proven blueprint for how to “strategically” succeed—and their heart stopping sacrifices for all of us!
The earliest Afro slave abolitionists and reparation advocates understood (and faced) stark reality:
They knew their public was info starved and had a dire need to really understand just what essential Black social advancement (after Emancipation) even looks like; prophetically they also knew that in America’s raging, “long range” supremacist future—following guaranteed sabotage by their own era’s diabolical whites—today’s dire need would absolutely be the same.
Current Black “celebrity” moguls profoundly muddle the truer concept of that social advancement.
It’s one huge reason I’ve started writing this modern Reparations “series”—breaking it down for everyday folks who are most affected—this article being “the 5th.”
The 1st article offers my urgent motivation—partly inspired by getting the gift of U.C. Berkeley Professor Leon F. Litwack’s book Been In The Storm So Long: The Aftermath Of Slavery; this came on the heels of realizing Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Tx) had newly sponsored H.R.40.
While with San Francisco’s 49ers Colin Kaepernick (at right) and teammate Eric Reid keel during the national anthem, protesting unarmed Blacks being killed by police and rampant Black disenfranchisement. Reid’s response to Jay-Z’s NFL deal was: “These aren’t mutually exclusive. They can both happen at the same time! It looks like your goal was to make millions and millions of dollars by assisting the NFL in burying Colin’s career.” Kaep’s girldfriend Nessa on her Hot 97 radio show said: “I don’t mind you doing a business deal – but I do mind you wrapping it in social justice when you’re working with an organization that denies someone an opportunity.” On Instagram Nessa posted: “It’s typical for the NFL to buy different PR looks to cover up their dirt – that’s nothing new. But what is disgusting and disappointing is Jay-Z let them use him.” photo: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images.
I’m an Elder with 45 years training in spiritually based “alternative” education and social repair—I know a thing: greater society (Black moguls included) is still being “bamboozled!”
Bias in standard U.S. public school curriculum persists—neither Black history, nor studying slavery’s soundly entrenched force are required—their deeper ramifications missed even by most Blacks.
Discussions here, centered only on feelings, speculation, or sensation—not knowledgeable “facts”—trivialize the Black struggle. So in this series, showing the gutbucket facts about 19th Century Radical Reconstruction thoroughly being sabotaged—which absolutely floods disaster well into the 21st Century—I’m matching Professor Litwack’s stated goal:
“…to engage…[assisting the reader’s position to] see and…feel the past in ways that may be genuinely disturbing…how a study…may teach as many ironies…as it does clear lessons.”
Fleshing out Reconstruction’s key details in earlier chapters (beginners start pt. 1) reveal solid lessons that are absolute showstoppers—which clearly underscores this:
The essentials that make Jay-Z’s “deal”—and Kanye’s kid like fawning over a clearly defined, white supremacist tyrant male—so “diabolical”:
President Abraham Lincoln, General William “Tecumseh” Sherman and the white Radical Republican Senate (led by Thaddeus Stevens and Charles Sumner) knew unmistakably the catastrophic depth of wrongs slavery inflicted upon Blacks—greatly assessing centuries of damage made in America—physical, mental, material and spiritual.
Sherman met with 20 Black delegates (ex-slave Rev. Garrison Frazier being the Black populace spokesperson). Frazier made it unmistakable—exactly what Black folk’s clear intent after Emancipation was—and what could make it happen:
Designated land for total self-sufficiency is the only means to ensure uplifting the Black “race.”
Total “social equality” is the absolute goal and being beholden to whites will not achieve it—in short, whites cannot be trusted.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Rap Mogul Jay-Z yuck-it-up last August, announcing their new deal in New York at Jay-Z’s Roc Nation headquarters. The deal has the rapper in charge of both the NFL’s Music and Entertainment and Social Justice Initiatives components (where Jay-Z will choose acts for the Super Bowl, general NFL entertainment events and choose which organizations receive grants for community work). Slapping Kaep and Black legacy in the face the rap mogul justified it by saying: “…I support protest across the board. We need to bring light to the issue. I think everyone knows what the issue is — we’re done with that…We all know the issue now. OK, next!” photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Roc Nation.
A thing can’t be missed here—and must be emphasized—in light of Jay-Z’s brokered “deal”:
Frazier speaks of Blacks (themselves) gaining the “leverage” to uplift the entire Black race—not merely uplifting a newly freed “individual,” newly liberated Afro segments—or scoring deals that benefit wealthy Blacks who’d already “gotten over.”
Backing Frazier was the notion that yes, freed slaves themselves absolutely had “immediate” priority.
Hence, Frazier was chosen “leader” of the Reparations contingent.
Added this:
Both slaves and free Blacks had already ingeniously proven their highly adept, diversified trade skills—and survival capabilities. Thus, land taken from defeated Confederate traitors—who were absolutely subject to execution—should first be granted to freedmen families—for farming, businesses and the like.
And here’s the matter’s crux:
Breaking the white stranglehold (or, monopoly) on Black labor is a must—it can’t be compromised.
Blacks cannot be allowed back into the exclusive clutches of sadistic former slave-owners—or white supremacist run economies (in any “era”)—unmistakably pinpointing the need for a broad “national” policy.
In short, Frazier and his leadership colleagues—added Lincoln and the Senate’s Radical Republicans—were early advocates of this:
“Independent Black power.”
Yes, Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X, the Black Panthers and those they impressed got it right! Their ideal—reflecting C.E.B.I.S., the 1974 project “I” worked for, seen in pt. 2 —is taken directly from Frazier’s:
Black’s only insurance is to create vast, self-run (self-hiring) work structures—a series of alternative Afro centered, diversified product market lines (including entertainment)—and these lines “link” broad segments of “product processing” warehouses and “marketing” workplace units—all done in “Afro cooperative” fashion.
Reconstruction Priority—as it was for “freed slaves”—goes to strategically reintroducing lost labor skills to the broader, disenfranchised Black masses.
Thus, immense Black ingenuity, that’s neglected in all national corners, will be refreshed—freed from “white power” diffusion—and constraint:
Civil Rights Pioneer Diane Nash on March 7, 2015, at the 50th Anniversary of the Selma, Montgomery Voting Rights Movement and March across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The 1965 march is what became known as “Bloody Sunday” (both she and her husband James Bevel had organized the original events). Nash pulled out of the commemorative march, protesting president George W. Bush’s participation—citing that “Bush stands for Violence, War and Stollen Elections.” Nash was also a 1959 co founder of the SNCC (Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and participated in CORE’s 1961 Freedom Rides (dangerous events taking to the highways on bus’ protesting racial segregation in public transportation). Nash co spearheaded Black youth rallying to literally rescue a beleaguered early Civil Rights Movement—it soon morphed into the Black Power Movement. photo courtesy of TPM.
Skilled Black laborers thus become in-demand in what will “now” be culturally welcoming workplaces; Afro employee numbers naturally expand with successful product growth (and non-Blacks will not be excluded in hiring)—but priority again goes to socially neglected Blacks.
All would be governed under current federal auspices—refining the concept (and functioning “capability”) of capitalism—virtually rebooting white America’s economic model with a humanist (“democratic socialist”) tool—revamping the same labor structure that whites stripped of ethical behavior when promoting “professional” ruthlessness.
Afro self-help “spirit” (being the backbone) thus proceeds—in conjunction with having wide “non discriminating” outsider business networks (contracts with non-Black entrepreneurs). So, prioritizing Black labor “uplift” would continue—the very same way other ethnicities (and unapologetic “white corporate” interests) always do for their own.
It is a glowing example of Black cultural “reform possibility”—if Afro visionaries could unify behind this exact tool, which would “spiritually” shakeup the house:
“TRANSFORMATION!”
In essence modern Black systemic “initiatives” could outright dismantle that dastardly U.S. social pressure cooker I’ve defined in “pt. 1.”
Which only amplifies Jay-Z’s and Kanye’s reckless judgement—neither offer any Black “initiatives,” or insight—that come near Frazier’s “model.”
Topping it off they give a disastrous, backhanded slap—“both” miss the huge opportunity to “honor and tap” the living intellectual giants of our rich cultural legacy.
Jay-Z of all people—first and foremost—should have convened a modern-day Black Council of Elders:
The Jessie Jackson’s, Diane Nash’s, Bobby Seale’s, Angela Davis’, Rep. John Conyers’, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee’s, Cornell West’s, Maxine Waters’, Michael Eric Dyson’s, Iyanla Vanzant’s, Rev. William Barber’s, Eddie Glaud, Jr.’s, etc…or even the Congressional Black Congress itself—not to mention the Black advocate player being targeted by NFL supremacy:
Colin Kaepernick himself!
Given this critical issue—that impacts our entire Black America—Jay-Z appears not interested in such a vital link—the very connection that would bring a deeper understanding to the “bigger picture.”
Instead, he appears more anxious to assist “white power’s” age-old pattern of song-and-dance—while lending a self-serving hand to the NFL’s “cover up.”
Yes, Lincoln—pushed by white Senate Radicals Stevens and Sumner—had agreed with ex slave Frazier’s contingent; Sherman signed Special Field Order No. 15 issuing land designation into law; it was Reparation “action”—to make mega production potential accessible to the country’s broader Black masses—it did actually happen (the “mule idea” came later).
But like today’s Trump (killing previous president Obama’s policies) the incoming supremacist President Andrew Johnson did honor the disgust of Southern moguls—giving high esteem to their being “terrified” of Black economic power.
Johnson killed Sherman’s deal—returning mega profiting Black bodies (with crushed spirits) back into white power’s exclusive hands—punishing “protest resistance”—eerily similar to what Goodell did to “Kaep.”
Robert Smalls was a highly skilled slave pilot, charged with operating the Planter, a Confederate military transport ship. In 1862 when white officers left the vessel in his charge Smalls successfully piloted it out of Charleston Harbor, picked up his and the other slave crewmen’s families, then fooled Confederate check points into allowing him to sail all into open water towards the Union’s clutches—gaining freedom for everyone. 1868 Reconstruction’s opportunity had Smalls serving in both of South Carolina’s legislative houses and the U.S. House of Representatives for three decades. In 1895 Smalls, who had collected reliable statistics (over that prior thirty years) presented a shocking accusation: “Since [emancipation and the Reconstruction era began, at least] 53,000 Negroes have been killed in the South.” Modern estimates had hugely underestimated the number of Blacks assassinated by whites (with assessment basically limited to between 1877 and 1968) and those calculated numbers covering 91 years amounted to a drastically lower 4,000 slaughtered souls. Stock/Photo.
Kaepernick “stepped out”—brazenly reproaching unbridled systemic murder and disenfranchisement of Black people—kneeling his “protest statement” during the revered national anthem.
As rage increased against police murdering unarmed community members other Black players trickled in:
Probing their “collective” clout—testing the protest waters—and their “economic power.”
But, when Goodell slammed the shutdown hammer in “disgust,” clearly confronting Afro defiance—calling the cause a farce—threatening repercussions—most Black players complied. It diffused that Black “power” clout.
Players retreated In droves to resume their places—standing without question during the anthem. It was comparable to deflated servants slinking back to the fields.
Except, these were grossly paid entertainment servants—slinking behind the shield of their own big money privilege—not back to labor positions where, as stated earlier, it is average frontline Blacks who take the bulk of racism’s heat.
The tragedy of strict Afro “class separation” exploding after Reconstruction—weeding the Black privileged from the outcast—set today’s “divide-and-conquer” stage:
Again: sadistic white power control got “expert,” wide-ranging Afro trade skill totally gutted. Black bodies were summarily trapped in the fields. The result meant Black labor expansion remained stunted—right into our century.
It’s the very reason that today countless Central American working class males are seen bustling in industry and home level construction sites—but only scant images of Blacks—add females in general; its why Black “bodies” flood sports, now overwhelming the NFL, the NBA, Baseball; and more substantially infiltrate gymnastics; getting a toehold in tennis, golf, etc…
It’s also why Andrew Johnson is Trump’s MAGA “hero.”
But there’s an Afro fly in white power’s kill the slavery “compensation” ointment:
Reparation “validity”—technically—couldn’t be removed from documented history.
Ironically U.S. whites, so boastfully elevating America as the “world’s best,” wish to confirm this by also being seen as the world’s “most benevolent”—but, there’s a catch:
The vivid image of having an entire segment of citizenry being inhumanely victimized—on such an unmatched, national and global genocidal scale—without the appearance of it being rectified (hence, the issue of Reparations)—after a catastrophic Civil War—kills the idea that America actually has a “moral conscious.”
This bares huge implication!
White patriotic “ego”—super bloating its own claim to towering benevolence—ironically became an exploitable item for future Black advocates:
Today, that boastful, over bloated ego is now “moral arsenal” for the John Conyers’ and Sheila Jackson Lee’s—willing to reject McConnell’s “patriotic shame” card—and fight for America to rectify this wrong.
Southern whites, wasting no time to prove the criticalness of their having a “benevolent image,” stood in the warm ashes of Reconstruction—then nailed their scantly altered chattel policies back into place—but coated in “morally correct” imagery:
“Jim Crow” laws that enforced “Sharecropping” and the illusion of “Separate-But-Equal.”
Pinckney Benton Stewart Pinchback was born free in 1837, one of five children between former slave Eliza Stewart and her master William Pinchback (who had freed, then married Eliza). Reconstruction found Pinchback elected a Louisiana Republican Senator in 1868. In 1872 he briefly became Governor there (America’s first Black Governor) but Reconstruction’s demise ended Pinchbacks national legislative career; frustrated he moved his family to New Orleans and became key in Southern University’s 1880 founding. In 1921 P.B.S. Pinchback died in Washington, D.C. at age 84, being buried at New Orleans’ Metairie (a former “all white”) Cemetary. Of note 1920’s Harlem Renaissance poet Jean Toomer was Pinchback’s maternal grandson. photo: the Library of Congress.
And they didn’t stop there:
White capitalist prowess crafted new ways to profit from Emancipation—with slave spinoff industries—Prison Industrial Complexes rising foremost as lucrative, multipurpose facilities.
Dr. W.E.B. DuBois—himself rising at the end of the 19th Century—passed along our Elder’s key prophetic voice with rare Harvard education force!
DuBois’ solidly shaped “Black consciousness” soundly energized his barreling Pan-African liberation charge that shouted from the rafters:
White political “shrewdness” is long range!
Ex slave Frederick Douglass had preceded DuBois to see it’s glaring long range core:
He cringed in 1877 watching “white politic” literally unravel Radical Reconstruction progress; left heartbroken when expansive campaigns killed the last Black Congressional and Senate positions (no Black would be elected Senator again until Mass. Rep. William Brooke, III in 1967).
Yet, a visionary Douglass remained both alarmed and undeterred by its nonstop unraveling of vulnerable Black civilian minds and dignities; he steadily “chipped away” at white politics’ demoralizing focus—the “psychology” of what whites still thoroughly drilled into Blacks:
A legacy of subservient slave mentality that killed the spirit to “up-rise and unite.”
Douglass waged an uphill battle.
Slave ideology was reconfigured and disguised within an aspirational merit called “proper manners”—its adopted form made it tantalizingly natural for Blacks to freely contain “themselves”—locked-in by these daily devices:
Well-groomed light skinned “house slaves” pitted against savagely debilitated dark skinned “field hands”; the creation of “Mammies” (bold, moralizing Black women defending white “principled” treachery over their exploited kin); Uncle Toms (Black men betraying their own, “selling-out” to protect white social maliciousness—to save their own skins).
Steady, powerful, white politic focus solidified the strategy of Afro “class separation”—strengthening divide-and-conquer—to snake thru Black generations.
And most damaging of all is the behavior of wealthy Blacks buying into white politic:
Rigidly embracing representational white male power—celebrating its model for “ethics” that’s wrapped in a Christian banner of righteous brotherhood—and being solidly dedicated to “gangster styled” economic machines.
The very thing Kanye West and Jay-Z have done—riding on the “gangsta’ worship” side of hip-hop culture.
Let’s not overlook exactly which “Christian banner of righteous brotherhood” America flies here—that which whites expertly used to so obliterate the slave’s self-esteem.
Well tested—snuffing out the Afro loyalty spark at the heart of Black spiritual “charge”—to make Black self-sabotage and self-containment so morally tantalizing—for the “long haul”:
It is Europe’s “radicalized” colonial Christianity.
In his book “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass—An American Slave,” Douglass warns us:
“What I have said…against religion I mean strictly…the slaveholding religion of this land…with no possible reference to Christianity proper…
“…for between the Christianity of this land, and the Christianity of Christ, I recognize the widest possible difference—so wide, that to receive the one as good, pure, and holy, is of necessity to reject the other as bad, corrupt, and wicked…
“To be the friend of one, is of necessity to be the enemy of the other.”
Audre Lorde (1934-1992) was a poet, esseyist and nonfiction writer, who as a pioneer open Black lesbian in the 1970’s set her radical voice blazing on behalf of America’s ultimate disenfranchised sectors. In the 19th century “suffrage” tradition Lorde’s 20th century “social activist” pen and feminist speaking force unapologetically addressed issues of race, sexuality and gender identification, confronting and shaking up status-quo rules. Asked to speak at a white mainstream feminist event in the early 1980’s Lorde confronted white feminist racism and exclusivity, writing “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle The Master’s House.” This biting chastisement of the white feminist movement for using white male standards (as models for women’s liberation) also exposed the pitfalls of Black leadership using white patriarchal standards (as models for Black liberation); showing that white patriarchy models designed for superiority, exclusion and oppression cannot and will not deconstruct a sexist and supremacist system—only duplicate and reinforce it. Stock/Photo.
Douglass knew the “psychological war” against Blacks was burned onto the wall:
His risky declaration—quickly getting a price put on his head—called-out a deviously implanted enemy—the same ideological force that 174 years later I identify as “radicalized” Christianity.
And Douglass astutely deciphered white psychology’s chilling, religious “Afro reform” intent.
He keenly observed slavery’s many sources that inflicted injury—then Douglass distinctly characterized the damage each “weaponized source” produced. Ultimately emphasized is why an utmost priority for slaveowners went beyond “physically” breaking slaves down.
Whites knew that psychology must be used to thoroughly annihilate “this” pesky roadblock:
The slave’s knowledge of Black Civilization Greatness!
Vital Afro lineage connection was being replaced with the actual “worship” of Anglo people—an oppressive social design was being systematically “blessed” as Holy. God’s new commandment for Blacks was to “stay out of white folks’ business!”
Douglass was aghast—being both astounded and relieved that he’d miraculously escaped yet another crushing physical transformation:
The molding of Blacks into distorted, servant class beings—a process meant to wreak generational havoc indefinitely.
Expanded insight also had Douglass seeing the profound resilience and power at Afro-spiritual cores—what I call in my own book unshakable Afro-spiritual “DNA”:
How that “DNA” both sustained and restored tormented Blacks—a deep sense of self-love there not able to be totally extinguished—its living reservoir that today preserves the “essence of humanity” for all civilization…
How it is tapped by whites in so many ways and thru so many social devices to salvage their own “core,” that’s corrupted by racism.
U.C. Berkeley scholar Litwack represents those “value tapping” whites.
Been In The Storm So Long vividly reveals how the love of self and culture was exceptionally preserved—by Reconstruction’s freedom fighters.
The heirs of these resistors emerged all thru history, preserving that fire into modern times—still tasked with fighting Douglass’ uphill battle.
So, in the glittery illusion of 21st Century “progress” aspiring Black laborers themselves fight—but, basically to get lucky!
Disenfranchised people pray that they’ll fall through a U.S. economy’s cracks.
Even though the likes of Rev. Frazier, Ida B. Wells, Henry McNeal Turner, Harriet Tubman, Martin Delany, Sojourner Truth, Robert Smalls, Rev. Ulysses Houston and DuBois battled so that Blacks in our times would not suffer what still inevitably became this:
Well qualified folks alter “self-images” to satisfy white values for treasured white corporate jobs (then find there’s little, or no other Black presence); they bite tongues amid racist situations (and attacks) to keep those jobs; they remain stringently pitted against one another—but still act proud to become the first Black this’ and that’s (in age-old major industries)…
Today’s demoralizing list is endless.
Jay-Z and Kanye ignoring these modern scenarios—allowing kindred to fall through cracks under the illusion of progress—soundly obliterates Black “vision!”
Susan B. Anthony (1820-1906) at left with Elizabeth Cady Stanton (1815-1902). Anthony is arguably America’s most famous “radical” pioneer women’s suffrage activist, campaigning for total equality and the women’s right to vote—getting arrested often. Born into a Quaker family who were staunch abolitionists Susan’s early fierce campaigns for Black social equality set her blueprint for feminist strategy. The family hosted such notables as Frederick Douglass and William Lloyd Garrison. Her brothers Daniel Read and Jacob Merritt Anthony were rigorous abolitionists in their own right. Elizabeth Cady Stanton had set a “radical feminist” stage preceding Anthony and they became lifelong activist companions and friends. Both women had died before the 19th amendment’s passage in 1920 (giving women the right to vote) but it was named the “Susan B. Anthony Amendment,” honoring her legacy. Stock/Photo.
Here’s a poetic analogy:
I use recent category 5 hurricane Dorian—which settled over the Bahamas for 2 days of concentrated destruction:
Another hurricane—known as “white supremacy”—has settled Afro containment genocide, Native ethnic cleansing and barbarous underclass economic piracy over America—for 500 years and counting.
Ravaging everything enclosed in its “pressure cooker” state, unbridled ferocity continues to spinoff the entire “free world’s” most debilitating elements (shoddy healthcare, the most inhumane prison system, underpaid job forces, divisive civic propaganda, rampant racism, sexism and homophobia, etc…)—maintaining hot water turbulence built over centuries.
Supremacy’s wide “hypnotic eye” seeks to lull its victims—fooling them with glittery hopes—taunting desperate “escapees” to sell-out for “self-interest” relief—an irresistible reward for joining the corrupt flow of its grand, swirling altruistic machine!
Modern liberation voices (like Malcolm X, Dr. King, Shirley Chisholm, Barbara Jordan, Bayard Rustin, Harry Hay, Audre Lorde, Noam Chomsky, Dolores Huerta, and the like) joined ancestral forecasters (like Robert Smalls, Henry McNeal Turner, Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells; Susan B. Anthony, William Lloyd Garrison, and the like) putting dents in those deadly winds.
All hoped to gain momentum for “everyone’s progress” (not select achievers falling through white power cracks) as they passed their shrewd baton—to us!
But supremacy’s mighty hurricane is intelligently settled—its patient forces able to wait out valiant resistance efforts—struggles eventually turn weary.
Citizens (Blacks being hit the worse) soon succumb to what forecasters call “hurricane fatigue” (a mixture of steady storm hits and near misses, causing people to make terrible risks—drop their guards—try and “ride out” impossible situations—and merely hope for the best).
“White Supremacist Hurricane Fatigue” is diabolical:
Causing weary Blacks to lose a once unshakable foundation for cultural allegiance; it dulls vision for “collective” Afro advancement; and obliterates the importance placed on recipes for building resilient, Black independent economic structures.
Killed are key strategies set by our ancestors—to withstand and escape the storm.
And these critical facts:
America—locked in dedicated “white supremacy”—robbed both the heirs of “slaves” and of “free Blacks.”
After Emancipation every available Afro communal segment strode to “join ranks”—Blacks came together in unprecedented “NATIONAL BLACK CONVENTIONS”—owning their responsibility to uplift everyone—to leave no child behind.
And a clear thing undermines “Moscow” Mitch McConnell’s blatant cover-up:
Today’s white heirs of “the North’s, the West’s and any Confederate” soil, absolutely enjoy the mountainous spoils of sabotaged Black Reconstruction—a thing predicted by multicultural progressives trusting their own ancestral “senses.”
White politic is a supremacist fabric and its cunning, dogged leadership cannot be trusted!
In this light the actions of Afro moguls Jay-Z and Kanye West show they wish to be part of that supremacist hurricane—joining “it”—not their ancestral forces.
Young mogul rapper Lil Wayne was discovered by rapper Birdman in 1995 (both now embroiled in a multimillion dollar lawsuit); it rescued Wayne at age 12 from a notoriously violent, poverty stricken New Orleans housing project. Wayne, courting extremist, white patriarchal narcissism to ignore his “roots,” literally boasts of being disconnected from Afro ancestral legacy and the plight of Black people. In a Linsey Davis interview on Nightline Wayne’s response when asked about Black Lives Matter was, “… I am a young black rich motherfucker. I’m a nigga. I don’t know what you mean, man. Don’t come at me with that dumb ass shit, ma’am. My life matter…especially to my bitches. I don’t feel connected to a damn thing that ain’t got nothin’ to do with me.” And in a previous Fox Sports 1 interview by Skip Bayless Wayne said he didn’t believe racism exists because, “…I have white fans!” Blacks though, still help keep his concerts sold out. photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images.
But, here’s a question:
With these mogul’s milking a white controlled “pop” culture’s “façade” of inclusion—while still boasting that they maintain Black “Hip-hop” ferocity (somewhat like white politic wishing to appear “benevolent”)—could their own inner spark of Afro-spiritual “DNA” actually prevail?
We do know this:
Atlanta born Kanye’s father was an ex Black Panther (turned into an Afro pioneering, “prestigious” Atlanta Journal-Constitution photographer—but, who then converted into a Christian counselor); his mother being a professor of English (and chair of Chicago State University’s English Dept.). It afforded West a privileged, globetrotting life—”status” that almost damned his credibility as a rapper.
Brooklyn born Jay-Z came straight-outta-the hard-pressed “hood” projects—gangster and thug life “power” literally worshiped in “hoods” across America (that rocketed Black-on-Black crime). He helped launch Kanye’s “star”—all while Gangsta Rap’s triumphant music takeover exploded—the very vehicle (and ideology) sending both to “mogul status.”
Thug life is the total antithesis—the extreme “opposite”—of honoring Afro-spiritual “DNA”:
The essence of “spirituality” sets the soul of Afro loyalty—which drives integrity filled life.
And yes, Black populations themselves—weighted by legacies of needless death and social mayhem—while still drastically seeking transformational “uplift”—have the absolute “duty” to detect and hold sellout Afro moguls accountable!
Whether it be entertainers—or whomever—penalties must hit where it may only get their attention:
At the polls and in the pocket books.
So, what causes the Kanye’s, Jay-Z’s, Dennis Rodman’s, Lil Wayne’s, etc…to make flagrant sellout decisions?
What really moves them to adore white supremacist, dictatorship “values”—instead of backing those who clearly risk all that glitter and high-living glory to promote Black justice—like a steadfast Colin Kaepernick?
My Old School movement has a name for it:
“Oppression Sickness.”
But another social justice warrior and scholarly veteran coined the perfect term—she is Dr. Joy DeGruy and she calls it:
“Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome.”
Keep it here readers!
The breaking-it-down heat is about to rise!
“And what is it that America has failed to hear? …that the plight of the Negro poor has worsened…that the promises of freedom and justice have not been met…
Adilifu Fundi 