In other words, CRT is the explanation of racism. What you heard at the school board meeting was a bunch of people who know it “ain’t gone be no fun when the rabbit gets the gun!” For years, Fort Worth along with other school districts and systems have taught, omitted history, and legally subjugated students through systemic racism and suddenly, these people are concerned about the curriculum?!? I’m not buying it.
By Dick DeMarsico, World Telegram staff photographer – This image is available from the United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs divisionunder the digital ID cph.3c26559.This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing for more information., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=1299509
The use of Dr. King’s quotes isn’t only disingenuous, it’s misinformed and weaponized misinformation. During his 2018 speech at a Dallas banquet, Dr. William J. Barber III said of Dr. King, “…be careful how you remember Dr. King. If you remember him improperly, you contribute to the demise of his legacy. He was not a human relations specialist, he wasn’t trying to get everybody to sing “Kum-By-Yah”. He never talked about love without talking about justice. He believed in nonviolence, but he didn’t believe in non-action!”
My son was told by a classmate in the first grade that because he was white, he was better than him. Where did that come from? It came from somewhere besides the classroom because my son’s first-grade teacher was a black woman. Our children for years have taken lessons learned at home to school and is the reason kids still say their grace at the breakfast and lunch tables and come to Kindergarten with a great grasp of the alphabet, their numbers, and acceptable social skills. What our children learn away from school factors into their lifelong learning experience so, whether CRT becomes a classroom curriculum or not, we cannot equivocate when allowed to face a difficult past in resolve for a better future.
Instead of using my father to criticize the #BlackLivesMatter movement, use his words and teachings to enact legislation, establish policies, and engage in practices that reflect Black lives mattering. Because, as #MLK said, “True peace is not merely the absence of tension; it is the presence of justice.”
The Reverend Bernice A. King 1/17/2021
Think about it, when did you learn about the “hidden figures” that helped put a man on the moon? You did have to learn what he said once he stepped foot on the moon though, didn’t you? What about the Tulsa Race Massacre? When did you learn about that? Sadly, many Americans only learned about the Tulsa Race Massacre and Black Wall Street at the centennial commemoration of the tragedy. The writing is on the wall, though illegibly, insists that the CIA had a role in the crack epidemic that exploded in South Central Los Angeles.
What about the MOVE Bombing in Philadelphia in 1985? These events are not common knowledge for a reason and though a CRT curriculum in schools may not name these events, it may better explain why they happened. Parents concerned that racism will be indoctrinated aren’t only colorblind as they claim, they are also tone-deaf. Racism is experienced in classrooms across the country by children as young as elementary school. Don’t believe me?
Critical Race Theory is the explanation of racism.
This is the latest in a long line of deflections by this group whose membership ebbs and flows with sociopolitical commentary. These are the same people who kept the school board up all night because they didn’t want to wear masks in schools. This is a comedic tragedy. When Colin Kaepernick knelt during the National Anthem, they claimed he was disrespecting the flag. When President Barack Obama wanted healthcare for all Americans, they coined it “Obamacare” and openly campaigned against it. When Critical Race Theory became a part of the conversation, these same people armed themselves with MLK quotes and grabbed their picket signs.
This disingenuous outrage isn’t only a deflection, it’s the projection of racism. Opponents of CRT don’t want children exposed to it because it will then make sense of why confederate flags are a part of southern heritage, why the local pastor may also be the leader of the Ku Klux Klan. CRT is not the end-all to racial reconciliation, but it shines the light on the truth many still try to hide behind. In fact, the concept of race predates the foundation of the United States as well as the practice of chattel slavery and the African backs upon which the prosperity of this country was gained.
Where were these people when Texas World Geography school textbooks listed slaves as “workers in the section covering immigration?” Where was this outrage? I’m not making a case for CRT. As many of the objectors pointed out, our schools need better focus on academics and raising the achievement level of students across the board. However, what CRT will expose is how many of these underperforming schools and students got this way. It will expose the disparities between communities, and the money they receive each year. It will explain why schools in black communities remain underfunded. It will explain much of what we know about life in America, though it can’t create the resolution that remains so far away.
If you need to get caught up on where this piece takes off from, read my article about non-blacks feeling the weight of blackness in America. Yes, this is another article about the death of George Floyd and other black men and women brutalized and killed by law enforcement officers. When women were fed up with rape culture in Hollywood, they spoke up with the mantra, “time’s up.” I don’t want to hijack their movement which after many years has righted many wrongs, but I do need to borrow that energy! After watching yet another black man die at the hands of police brutality, we’re here to say the same.
The movement has been co-opted and hijacked by white people seeking fame and seeking to discredit the valiant cause. We will not be silenced! And to those wishing to deflect the conversation and responsibility of the movement by bringing up black on black crime, I have this question: Since officers can solve black on black crime so well, where’s the disconnect when one of theirs is in video committing a crime? What about the super sleuths on the force which can break up a criminal enterprise but feel so comfortable existing as part of one? Does your goodwill and integrity clock out when you clock in on the force?
To those good cops out there who are tired of getting the blame, I’m not sorry. As a law-abiding black man, this is the weight I feel when an officer speeds up behind me, hoping I have a warrant (because I can visibly see him searching on the laptop in his cruiser). I’m a good guy, I pay my taxes, give in church, love my family, and even vote in each election, why am I living under presumed guilt when An officer sees me? I don’t just want officers to see me as a just man; I actually want simply be alive after they see me.
How did we get here?
This past decade rivals one of the bloodiest in our country’s history. If not a return to the lawless days of the 60’s when black people, men in particular were hunted down by white men who never faced prosecution, it is a dangerous reprisal.
With the death of George Floyd, the world saw just how bad it is on the street for a black man. The world has again seen that the greatest terrorist in the world is a uniformed police officer. The people’s response to this? We’ve taken it to the streets! The President wants to arm the military against citizens but where in the world are my friends who took up arms and marched to the Capitol, City Hall and Governor’s mansions for a haircut?!? Where are y’all? These people don’t love the constitution, they love themselves and use loopholes in the constitution for the sole purpose of self-aggrandizement.
With all this marching and protesting going on, what will it take for cities, counties and states to take action and actually change? The remaining three officers are yet to be arrested, and cities with the same police brutality problem have made no sweeping changes. In fact, they’re committing the same crimes during the protests (we see you, Louisville). What if anything are municipalities doing? It feels like they’re just waiting for it all to just “blow over” and get back to business as usual.
Come on, man, what else does this country need to see before people in power are moved to do something? What needs to happen to spur immediate action? It’s obviously not the death of an unarmed citizen. But is it the death of an official? Officers? What is it? Obviously the death of an unarmed citizen at the hands of FOUR police officers isn’t enough? Making matters worse, George Floyd was a black man like hundreds of others before him!
What will it take?
We thought Freddie Gray would move the needle (his death was so heinous), Philando Castile? He couldn’t even get support from the NRA and adding insult to injury, the officer was acquitted! What is it all for when nothing is happening? In a letter condemning the killing of George Floyd, the major Cities Chiefs Association has juxtaposed itself against this moment in history. Law enforcement leaders have the audacity to rise to the podium and chide protesters (looters, be damned) but won’t say a word to officers or how they plan to flatten the curve of citizen deaths at the hands of their departments.
It’s laughable that police chiefs have spoken up to decry the actions of the officers in Minnesota but on that list I noticed that Fort Worth’s Chief Krause (Atatiana Jefferson) and Dallas’ Chief Hall (Botham Jean) lent their support. Oh really? Is that how it works?!? Hypocrites!! How can you condemn in the heat of the moment when you won’t rise to the moment when it’s in your house?
It’s time to start making changes. I’m tired of law enforcement brutalizing citizens of all races so I’m speaking up. Am I hated for it? Sometimes. Do I feel misunderstood by my friends? Sometimes. Do I have a higher calling to answer to? All the time! So, time is up on the tolerance bad police behavior. We are here, wherever that is for you because we are tired! The United States has erupted in protests and in solidarity with sensible citizens who will no longer sit idly by, nations all over the world have joined in. Dr. King joined others in Montgomery, Alabama yesterday (nearly 65 years ago), and we are here today; but if we are still here tomorrow, the fires of injustice will finally consume this nation! We refuse to tolerate systemic racism in law enforcement, time is up!
We’re Here Because We’re Tired
And you know, my friends, there comes a time when people get tired of being trampled over by the iron feet of oppression. There comes a time, my friends, when people get tired of being plunged across the abyss of humiliation, where they experience the bleakness of nagging despair. There comes a time when people get tired of being pushed out of the glittering sunlight of life’s July and left standing amid the piercing chill of an alpine November. There comes a time.
We are here, we are here this evening because we’re tired now. And I want to say that we are not here advocating violence. We have never done that. I want it to be known throughout Montgomery and throughout this nation that we are Christian people. We believe in the Christian religion. We believe in the teachings of Jesus. The only weapon that we have in our hands this evening is the weapon of protest. That’s all.
And certainly, certainly, this is the glory of America, with all of its faults. This is the glory of our democracy. If we were incarcerated behind the iron curtains of a Communistic nation we couldn’t do this. If we were dropped in the dungeon of a totalitarian regime we couldn’t do this. But the great glory of American democracy is the right to protest for right.
The Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Montgomery, Alabama, 1955
Kirk Franklin performs at the 50th GMA Dove Awards
Last night on the telecast of the 50th GMA Dove Awards, a portion of Kirk Franklin’s award acceptance was edited and omitted part of his speech, to the chagrin of many in the gospel community. Namely, RCA Inspiration SVP and GM, Phil Thornton took issue with the omission and called out GMA and TBN in a series of tweets. The controversy comes on the heels of what was an otherwise iconic night of celebration.
The Gospel Music Association replied with an explanation that many speeches were cut in the interest of time and that there was no malice behind the omission of a portion of Franklin’s speech. They also hoped to air the speech in its entirety, soon.
“A young girl by the name of Atatiana Jefferson was shot and killed in her home by a policeman and I am just asking that we send up prayers for her family and for his, and asking that we send up prayers for that 8-year-old little boy that saw that tragedy,”
As stated by Phil Thornton, the issue is not in the editing itself, rather it is the content chosen to be omitted. While it’s easy to be upset with the Gospel Music Association and the Trinity Broadcasting Network, there remains a more prevalent persistence that demands our attention and action. Black and white Christians have very different experiences in America. While many white Christians still enjoy the many, even unintentional benefits of white privilege, many blacks in America are still subject to the fact that America’s greatest sin is its unrepentant, native sin.
Because we are monotheistic but not monolithic, we suffer chasms within the faith community. We can seemingly all agree on certain political points the bible supports, or do we? Entitlement benefits, morality in the white house and international diplomacy are all issues believers invoke scripture to support or refute. Police brutality is an issue many evangelicals don’t seem to feel the need to address. For this reason, a deep divide has persisted within our communities. But the DOVE Awards is not apolitical, not in the least. One of the show’s sponsors this year is My Faith Votes, an association committed to galvanizing the faith community to take part in each election. So, if police brutality is a political issue, it’s not a political issue the GMA cares to engage its base to take action against.
I’m not sure what the culprit is, whether it’s racism, apathy or a trivialization of the pain that persists in our community. Blacks today at large still face systemic racism and the fight for equality and equity in shared spaces rages on, even within the church. Black and white communities in the Kingdom still exist separate and apart from each other; and with that issue seemingly at the heart of the cutting room omission, I decided to share this essay.
The cacophony of cognitive dissonance is drowning out the sound of racial harmony in the Gospel/Christian music community
We don’t get to “shut up and sing gospel music…” when something affects our community, we are expected to say something. In fact, it’s a good idea that when you see something, you say something, right? In most cases, this is true. While we’re working vehemently to interpret scripture and its meaning for all members of Christ’s family, some issues are clear cut, er…black and white.
When Kirk Franklin graces the stage at Lipscomb University to speak during the LIVE taping of the Dove Awards, you can prepare to be amused and challenged. Franklin has mastered the art of universal communication and whether using self-deprecating humor or scripture, he reaches the listening audience in a way that only he can.
Over the years, his time at the microphone has matched his heart, sharing his hopes for racial unity and even taking a moment to pray. This year, at the 50th GMA Dove Awards was no different and Franklin took time to share what was on his heart about the tragic killing of Atatiana Jefferson here in our hometown of Fort Worth, Texas.
Miss Jefferson died at the hands of a police officer, Aaron Dean who has since resigned from the force and is now facing charges. Franklin has openly shared his heart about the shooting on his social media channel and for those closely following him, the speech at the DOVE Awards came as no surprise.
What was surprising, disappointing and even disparaging was the omission of a portion of Franklin’s speech on the edited, televised version of the awards show- to the dismay of many in the gospel community. This omission was seen as more than a cutting room floor decision, but part of a greater problem faced when the gospel and Christian music communities converge.
Instead of harmony and reconciliation, the cacophony of cognitive dissonance further widens the racial divide. When one side can’t see what is impacting the other side, we can never bond together and work to solve each other’s problems- together. In truth, the fact that there are other sides when we are supposedly on the same side (the Kingdom of God) is a problem, within itself. Franklin has called not only for racial unity, but for love to increase. Love from the law enforcement community that will reach citizens and love from citizens to reach and impact the law enforcement community. Because so much time is spent apart in their respective microcosms, many gospel and Christian music artists rarely interact apart from the DOVE Awards.
No Sleeping Allowed, Church. The “WOKE” Movement Should Be No Stranger to Sunday Morning
But when issues are raised in our shared spaces, don’t we then have the onus of at least trying to help? This again begs the question raised in Luke 10:29, “who is my neighbor?” For many, the issue of distance is the source of the dissonance. We often find ourselves pleading for help ad nauseam because our brothers and sisters in the Kingdom can’t feel our pain. “I can’t hear you because that’s not my experience!” Perhaps the source of the dissonance is distance to those in need, “I know nothing about that issue and don’t know how to help!” Sadly, the most painful source of the dissonance is the neighbor you tell about your problem. Because they don’t see you as their neighbor, they ascribe no ownership of the problem, nor can they see any potential for their investment in the solution.
But if it ails one, it ails all…this is our belief as Christians, isn’t it?! Isn’t this why we send money and missionaries to third world countries? Isn’t this why we setup ministries in impoverished communities? The question today isn’t about who our neighbor is, the question today is about who the neighbor we’re willing to help is. The issue of police brutality has suddenly become political, though for years, it has been an extension of the plight of black and brown people in America.
Blacks were infamously brutalized in the south during the Jim Crow era and though now decades removed from the horrors of Jim Crow laws and policy, blacks still face many of the derivatives of oppression in official capacity. This often materializes in police brutality in minority communities. What’s worse is that though citizens are brutalized in white communities as well, there’s not as much outrage. This blanket sentiment is applied when the black community, inclusive of its gospel music makers speak up to raise their voices. Victim blaming is acceptable and many have yet to see the problem minorities yet face with police in their community.
Why? You’d have to spend years peeling back the layers of society to even begin to try and understand this phenomenon. Blacks who speak out against police brutality are actually speaking out for a cause that benefits everyone in the room when spoken in mixed audiences. Political alignment has muted voices in what would otherwise be open and shut arguments for God’s idea of justice and as His children. It behooves us to re-consider the allegiances the don’t align with Kingdom principles.
As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Galatians 6:10
Amid all the backlash, there have been calls to boycott the DOVE Awards, TBN and any other entity that sides with any effort to silence any voice speaking truth to power. Trouble is, this ideology is so pervasive that it’s much bigger than the Gospel Music Association, Trinity Broadcasting, evangelicals, Southern Baptists, and our other neighbors who are content to turn a blind eye to the plight of their family in Christ.
DONALD TRUMP, OMAROSA AND WHITE VENGEANCE: WHAT DOES HISTORY TELL US?
By Legrand H. Clegg II
“That dog,” “Crazed, crying lowlife,” “The dumbest man on television,” “Low I.Q.” This is just a small sample of the negative comments that President Donald J. Trump has made about prominent African Americans. During the week of August 12, 2018, the President used the first two statements to describe his former White House aide, Omarosa Manigault-Newman, whose new tell-all book about Trump’s administration has triggered a national firestorm. Weeks earlier he called CNN anchor, Don Lemon, “[T]he dumbest man on television,” questioned the intelligence of basketball star LeBron James and repeatedly stated that Congresswoman Maxine Waters of California has a “low I.Q.”
While the President has also singled out a number of White people for malicious criticism, his attacks on Black people have contributed to longstanding stereotypes of African Americans and reinforce the racism of his base. Why would the most powerful man in the world use his bully pulpit to target Black people the way he has? By now it should be clear to everyone that the President, just as most other White people, harbors a deeply ingrained sense of racism toward Black people and, unlike most other White leaders, has chosen not to mask it.
We are entering an age of resurgent racism, especially as manifested by widespread police abuse of African Americans and the blatant bigotry of the alt-right, neo-Nazis, the Ku Klux Klan and other White supremacist organizations. In our response to this growing peril we, as Black people, should pause, gather our wits about us and calmly evaluate the true nature of White racism toward us.
From such analysis, we will find that today, as in the past, we are not just facing racial prejudice and intolerance but, rather, a deep-seated, visceral, robotic loathing of Black people by Whites on a global scale that appears to defy all logic, has persisted over the centuries and is gaining renewed momentum during the Age of Trump.
In modern, symbolic parlance, racism appears to be “in the White man’s DNA”. In our historical bewilderment over this behavior, we have appealed to the White collective with demonstrations, protests, petitions, prayer vigils, etc.; none of which has led to a genuine cessation of racism on the part of the White establishment or masses.
I believe that a pivotal cause of racism is a sense of vengeance against Black people. This behavior has deep historical roots that were clear to Europeans and their descendants five hundred years ago. However, today this sentiment has morphed into a subconscious reflex that has been refined, reinforced and perpetuated by every social institution in the Western World (especially the American media in its manipulation of the minds of the White masses) over the past half of a millennium; to the point where the collective White opinion of Blacks is on “auto pilot” – with few people currently concerned about or aware of the true origin and meaning of this mass hypnosis.
To understand White racism, which I call vengeance, toward Black people we must step outside of our modern context into the broad sweep of history and study an ancient and medieval world that was largely dominated by Black Africans – the parents of the human family.
For at least three thousand years Black Pharaohs and generals raided, invaded, conquered, dominated, colonized, oppressed, civilized and enslaved various European populations.
The story of the Moors i.e. , Black Africans and Negroid Arabs of the Islamic faith, who conquered and ruled most of the Iberian peninsula (Spain and Portugal) between 711 A.D. and 1492 A.D., is the most recent, longstanding and notable of the recorded periods of African domination of White populations.
In the words of historian Edward Scobie, the Moors provided for “not only Portugal and Spain, but the rest of emerging Europe a powerful economic, scientific, artistic, [and] political impulse; an impulse which led to European domination of the world.” Nevertheless, during Black rule the indigenous Spanish launched several wars of liberation against the Moors that finally resulted in King Ferdinand’s and Queen Isabella’s ascension to the throne in 1492. (Some Black scholars contend that the Spanish bull fight and bull run are symbolic reenactments of the medieval Spanish / Moorish wars and the ultimate expulsion of the Black conquerors from the Iberian peninsula.)
The Spanish were so resentful of Moorish occupation, domination and influence that, after they regained power, they wiped out much of Moorish culture. “At the beginning of the Colombian Era, [ 1492]” wrote historian Jan Carew, “thousands of books that the Moors had collected over centuries – priceless masterpieces that their geographers, scientists, poets, historians and philosophers had written, and tomes their scholars had translated- were committed to bonfires by Priests of the Holy Inquisition.”
The Spanish and Portuguese also expelled over three million Moors (killing fifty thousand in one day in 1570), and sought to expunge their memory. The latter continues today as White historians write volumes about the Middle Ages with only scant reference to Europe’s indebtedness to its Moorish benefactors.
After their banishment from Spain and Portugal, the Moors spread over Europe incurring the wrath of many of their White host countries. For example, writing in old English in 1596, Queen Elizabeth called for the “diverse blackamoors to be sent forth from the land [England].” The Moors were also stereotyped and demeaned as black devils in medieval European literature. Furthermore, Black pirates, who had dominated the Mediterranean for centuries and sold millions of Whites into slavery in North Africa, were driven from power.
After the defeat of the Moors by the Spanish and Portuguese, these Europeans gradually began trading with West Africans – first in commodities and then in slaves and prisoners of war. This eventually devolved into the now notorious, centuries-long slave-trade involving the transport of Africans across the Atlantic to the New World and their enslavement in the Americas.
When the tables were turned and the Portuguese and Spanish began enslaving Africans, whom they called Moors, the longstanding European hatred and resentment toward their Black adversaries – dating back at least three thousand years and culminating with the European exploits of General Hannibal of Carthage and later the Moors – transformed into a form of racism that Carew states “was adopted by all of the European colonies who came in the wake of the Spanish, and would endure throughout the Columbus era,” and still persists today.
I theorize that the deep-seated, visceral racism that White people in the United States (including President Trump in his attacks against Omarosa and other African Americans) and elsewhere (e.g., Europe, Latin America, Australia, etc.) manifest toward Black people today is rooted in a subconscious drive toward vengeance against their former Black conquerors and slave-masters. This deeply internalized White antipathy has proven itself to be virtually impervious to change in the face of Black appeals and agitation. Therefore, I humbly suggest that we, African Americans, cease appealing to the collective White conscience for change and, instead, utilize our vast consumer power to withhold our financial patronage (boycott) in wise and strategic ways; just as our revered leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., did with the Montgomery Bus Boycott of the 1950’s that led to the end of segregation in public transportation and the ultimate success of the Civil Rights Movement.
Legrand H. Clegg II is the city attorney emeritus for Compton, California, president of the Western Region of the Association for the Study of Classical African Civilizations, and producer of the documentary “When Black Men Ruled the World.” He may be contacted at legrandclegg44@gmail.com or at his Long Beach, CA, law office at 562-624-2857 or at his new website at www.thesiriuspeople.com
We’re inside the fifth week of the 2017 NFL season and we’ve somehow forgotten about how Colin Kaepernick’s silent protest began. Worst yet, it seems that the narrative has been successfully hijacked by the fake patriots rampant in white America. Let’s be clear, police brutality is not a white nor black issue. It’s an American issue, but blacks are attacked and killed by police in more disparate numbers than others. That’s the reason Colin Kaepernick took a knee last year.
Fast-forward to this season, he’s an unemployed quarterback with no return to the field in his imminent future. Kaep’s friends and colleagues continue in solidarity by taking a knee or raising a fist during the national anthem before games. Kaep also took issue with one of the stanzas of the poem which was later converted to a poem and ultimately adopted as this nation’s anthem of representation.
What began as an initiative to draw attention to a cause has been hijacked by those that are unwilling to see change. That’s the nice way to call them racists. Worse than being accused of being a racist is stripping away this nation’s legacy of democracy. The NFL is paid for its patriotic demonstration before games but teams and NFL brass seemingly have the latitude to force players and coaches to stand during the national anthem.
Protest deflectors have risen with so much rancor that they in turn have boycotted the NFL for actually supporting and not punishing protesters. Weird how that works, isn’t it? But wouldn’t it make more sense to actually work to end what is the cause of the problem in the first place? If we could unite for the cause of ending or at least curtailing unchecked police brutality, the need for protesting would actually go away. Just weeks ago, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made news by kneeling with his players before the game against the Arizona Cardinals. Jones again made news this week by successfully deflecting his Cowboy’s abismal start to the season by threatening to bench any player not standing for the anthem.
What has been lost on nearly every American is the fact that the poem was written during the war of 1812 in which slaves fought on both sides of the war. Slaves fought with Britain to overthrow the budding country and ultimately win their freedom. Apologists for Key suggest that those were the slaves referenced in that stanza. Still, when the constitution was drafted and later signed into law, it held the premise that “…all men are created equal…” except the slaves kept by the signers.
From its inception, this country has been flawed. Furthermore, this country has never atoned for what will ever be known as the greatest human rights atrocity in history. Ill treatment of blacks continued as the nation progressed, too. Many have never heard of Black Wall Street in Tulsa,Oklahoma. But events like the destruction of the Greenwood suburb of Tulsa wiped out a thriving economic center of black America in the south. To this date, nothing like it exists, a credit to the pervasive systemic racism that maligns every functioning system in America.
So, when “privileged” athletes who are millionaires decided to shed light on a cause, it’s commendable. In fact, protest is the real “American Way”. We may not have these United States of America without some level of protest. When citizens disagree with policy, they can protest. We still have that right. When citizens took aim at corporate greed, they did so with the Occupy Wall Street movement. The movement wasn’t perfect and while it physically didn’t last long, the conversation has. It was even a part of the 2016 Presidential race and became a talking point for candidates in the primaries and the official vote that ushered in the Presidency of Donald Trump. The Boston Tea Party? Another form of Protest. In fact, in its 2011 Top 10 American Protest Movements, Time Magazine listed it first.
Years later, those protests signify American progress and are heralded as turning points in American history, seldom viewed with the optics of opposition! If history has proven nothing else, it’s proven that opposition nor deflection can withstand steadfast movement. The truth about the deflection is that it’s simply more convenient to fault the protesters for something than to actually take a serious look at their cause. Meanwhile, police killings and brutality have continued while many of those taking issue with flag disrespect remain mum on the issue at hand.
So to that I say again: “When they deflect, re-direct!” We can’t be drawn offsides by disrespect, dismissiveness or dissension of what ails other American citizens. We won’t bow to corporate bullying in order to save face or preserve convenience. This is high time for disruption, it’s the American way!
*I’d written this piece a few weeks ago but hadn’t really decided to share it for a number of reasons. After watching Terence Crutcher be gunned down in cold blood this week because the officer felt threatened while he was on the ground, I feel this is appropriate.*
There’s a lot being said about Colin Kaepernick and his protest which has led to a new movement in America. I’ll share my position as succinctly as possible. No need for a long, drawn out thesis to substantiate what I’m about to say, I’m going just say it:
White people are not better than everyone else! They’re not better than me, not better than you…or anyone else for that matter! There is NO supreme race, and if there were there’s no way it would be white people. The centuries long subjugation of non-whites must come to an end!
There, I said it. But let’s unpack what all that means:
Whether you’re free to admit it or not, you’ve more than likely bought into the lie of white supremacy. It’s been in our textbooks, on the news each night and woven subconsciously into the fabric of this otherwise great country.
‘White Is Right’ is Dead Wrong I’d have to go back too far into history to trace the inception of this phenomenon and the ensuing shift in world culture from Africa to Europe. Instead, let’s deal with this…in 2016, people still believe and endorse the malignant mantra that ‘white is right’. In church, at school, at work and even at home. Thus us bolstered by the fallacy that declares ‘white’ a supreme race.
In 1936, at Hitler’s Olympics in Berlin, he claimed that his athletes were the best and couldn’t be beat. Jesse Owens and Ralphe Metcalfe had other plans however and shuttered Hitler and his buffoonery right there on the track in both the 100 and 4×100 meter races.
In 2007 while on a gospel music tour I visited the current Olympic Stadium in Berlin. While there, I took in the history of the building. So much history there, I shall never forget it.
This is the track, in the distance you can see the bell tower.
The renovated Olympic stadium, now host to many sports and other major events.
A closer shot of the stands and the bell tower.
Full list of winners at the 1936 Games
There you see Jesse Owens’ 100M win and the US 4×100 team on the list of winners.
Your slip is showing…
White supremacy is no longer shrouded in white, red or purple hoods in clandestine gatherings in the woods. The fallacy of white supremacy has become a part of the fabric of America and to reject it rips at the seams of Lady Liberty’s robe. This is why America can’t settle its debt. America is indebted to Africans, Native Americans and their respective descendants whose blood is in the soil and foundation of each building erected.
What Is White Supremacy?
White supremacy is what white supremacy does. It asserts that white is the best. Somehow, even Jesus who was born nowhere near Europe is white. Maybe Mary was middle-eastern but that whole Holy Spirit ‘overshadowing’ thing…maybe that means that God is white, too.
As with white supremacy, it’s also time to denounce any salvific ascription to white culture and the non-black race overall.
White supremacy says that black people can’t build anything so ‘let’s destroy Tulsa’s Black Wall Street‘. White supremacy says that blacks can’t handle money so Bank of America denied both jobs and disenfranchised homebuyers. Not to be outdone, Fifths & Thirds banks manipulated auto loan interest rates for black and latino buyers. Speaking of banks, what’s with the absence of bank branches in favor or predatory payday lenders and pawn shops in the inner city?
White supremacy purports that black men are vicious rapists and murderers so they bludgeon a 14 year old Emmett Till for allegedly whistling at a white woman…who fabricated the account and never faced charges. White supremacy as strong as it is, is an unconscionable, fear based principle that says “if we don’t stop them, they will do whatever they put their minds to!” It continues because of the fear of retaliation.
Yep, there’s more! White supremacy tells you to be offended when called a “nigger”. The epithet has a hurtful past but I have given no single person or group the power to subjugate anything about me. Furthermore, the epithet is a by-product of an idiot’s attempt at emphatic speech that I refuse to dignify with a response, not even a violent one.
Believe it or not, at the root of white supremacy is envy
Oh you think blacks can only run and jump better than their non-white counterparts? Look around the world, what hasn’t been affected by black genius? Time is winding down rather swiftly and the truth is being unearthed.
This is why the black mind is the most challenged and black creativity and genius the most usurped. There’s a saying that those who don’t know their history are doomed to repeat it. Conversely, those who don’t know their history are also doomed to accept it as presented!
White supremacy has for years put black thought on trial, having to make a case for its innate greatness to minds devoid of that level or capacity of understanding. Though on trial, we have yet to make the case for criminals and suspect of color, who also deserve a fair trail and a jury of their actual ‘peers’.
The “chief cornerstone” is the same stone the builders rejected. What do you have without a cornerstone besides a badly built building. Everything built on white supremacy is on its last legs.
JB said it best I’m black and I’m proud. I’m also American and proud. In fact, I’ve never felt more American than when I was in Europe and was hated as an “American” and not an “African-American” or a second class citizen or whatever that is. It never felt so good to be hated! There was also a time while in Japan after making a wrong turn into a business we were met with shouts of: “Japanese Only!” What that means, I still don’t know but I’ll chalk it up to my American pedigree and grab a map next time.
Speaking of pedigree, I’m ignorant of my family history beyond my great-grandparents. I mean, where did my great-grandfather’s grandfather come from? Did he fall out the sky as a grown man one day? Did the stork deliver him to us? I say this in jest but for most black people in America, we know that somebody we’re related to was a slave, just about. My generation’s grandparents didn’t have it so well, either. Black babies were given incorrect names and birthdays. Can you imagine arguing with a 70+ year old when their actual birth date is? They know, even though their birth certificate reflects otherwise. I know this case to be true for at least two people in my family.
The United States won’t engage in reparations for the families of African slaves but pay ouf heftily to Jews and even Native Americans. Here’s a fair deal…if you won’t give up 40 acres and a mule to the families of those slaves, do us all a solid and help us trace our families’ origins.
I mean, who was on those ships that made it over? We haven’t even begun to delve into the tremendous loss of life on the seas *(moment of silence)*
As long as this country refuses to rectify its original sin of slavery and the multitude of injustices that continue, I hereby refuse any reverence or adherence to this country as a perceived great nation. I should be proud to be a citizen here, because…I was born here? What about my ancestors who weren’t born here, but bled and died here?
When the United States Government issued an apology for slavery, it was done so with all talks of reparations taken off the table. That was the bargaining point…AND our representatives voted in favor of it! Such a shame and with that truth, this country still has made no atonement for the slavery that built this country.
It is evil and its systems are flawed. You don’t have to endorse white supremacy for it to have been your benefactor. That’s simply called white privilege. Blacks don’t get commensurate jail sentences for petty crimes, get to wrestle with officers who are unlawfully detaining them, engage in open carry or any other glaring inconsistent privileges only seemingly betrothed to non-blacks.
Blacks are still searching for answers to Sojourner Truth’s question: “Ain’t I A Woman”? by asking “Aren’t We Americans?” Failure to weave the progeny of slaves into the fabric of this country has sealed its fate.
Because you gave not liberty, you have chosen death. Death to America’s greatness and the perceived supremacy of those lacking the magnanimous gift of melanin.
*We’ve been somewhat unsuccessful burying the word “nigger” but for all intents and purposes, this article is going to help expose and finally bury the lie of white supremacy.*
This essay may initially appear to be laced with hate speech and work as a divisive instrument of liberal propoganda. At least, I think that’s what detractors will say. I’m hoping to at least get Fox News to hate it so much that they read at least a portion of it on air. I can dream, can’t I?!? It’s not hate speech and of course I don’t hate non-blacks. I love all of God’s people. What I do despise is any system that seeks to continue to break the backs and will of people anywhere. In America, I can’t show any love before I first express my hate toward the evil system driving the country and its many influences.
