War on Rome…

Maura Jane Farrelly, I read your article “War on Rome” published in AEON Magazine on May 22, 2015, with great interest. I am old enough to remember the religious political machinations that accompanied the presidential campaign of Senator John F. Kennedy and as a student of Judeo-Christianity and world history and was intrigued with the breath of your piece. In the interest of a full disclosure, I completed all my sacraments in the Roman Catholic Church at the age of twelve, and remain a perennial student of the faith, therefore your comprehensive exposition relative to Catholic and Protestant history, and the current religious dynamic in electoral politics in conjunction with world events, resonated with me. In particular, your analogy relative to current popular sensibilities and perceptions concerning Islam’s abiding interests in undermining the freedoms we enjoy as citizens of the United States, with anti-Catholic bias that gained popularity during the Protestant Reformation movement, in the 15^th century, is compelling.

The history of Catholicism in the western hemisphere is in deed colorful, and the advent of the Protestant Reformation became the impetus for the “America” experiment, vis-à-vis, the separation of church and State, and representative, secular government. The growth and advancement of “Protestant America” from its founding in 1776 to the largest economic power in the world, and the hegemonic geo-political leviathan on the planet is self evident. Hence, the political concept of America’ “exceptional-ism” is a popular theme and many Americans define themselves as a free, noble and (some have said) “chosen” people. And the current bogeyman, by way of “Islam” has no connection or similitude with Christianity in general and Christian America, in particular. America was accordingly imbued with and absorbed by the Puritan Protestant ethic, and the vernacular “WASPs” (white Anglo-Saxon Protestants) represented a “super” class of Americans that remains…

The Church of England was the tip of the spare relative to the Protestant Reformation movement by way of King Henry VIII’ break with the papacy, and the establishment of the Church of England. But, English Puritan Samuel Mather in 1672 called the “manifold Apostasies, Heresies, and Schisms of the Church of Rome’ that drove the Puritans to Massachusetts in the 1620s and 30s were being mimicked by the English King. They believed that the Church of England was tainted by the remnants of Catholic theology, and they thought these, pope like relics destroyed the “freedom” people needed in order to accept salvation from God. Because Americans held onto this Puritan understanding of Catholicism for centuries, the idea that the founding of Massachusetts had been a bold bid for ‘freedom’ became an almost religious truth which continues to reverberate… But history records that people were actually executed and banished in colonial Massachusetts because they held ideas about religion that were considered dangerous…

In 1774, John Adams felt sorry for the Catholics he observed at a mass in Philadelphia: The ‘poor wretches,’ the future US president told his wife, were ‘fingering their beads chanting in Latin, yet not a word of which they understood.’ By 1960, the self-help guru Norman Vincent Peale worried that Catholic voters were theocracy-loving minions who’d put a man, the Catholic John F Kennedy, in the White House who couldn’t ‘withstand the determined efforts of the hierarchy of his church’ to meddle in US politics. So Peale (the original ‘positive thinker’) formed the National Conference of Citizens for Religious Freedom and campaigned for Richard Nixon.

“For most of US history, voters, ministers and lawmakers believed that there was something fundamentally un-American about Roman Catholics. They weren’t ‘free’ – and they couldn’t be free so long as they worshipped within the Church of Rome. Catholics were an element in US culture that had to be kept as far away as possible from the centers of political, military, economic and educational power. Letting such an intrinsically enslaved element ‘have its say’, so to speak, would constitute an existential challenge to the US, since at its core, the country was just an idea – the idea of freedom.”

Click here to read the entire piece: http://www.sound-meal.com/?p=102

Are Christians and Muslims at War???

For more than a decade, events in the Middle East have dominated American foreign policy and news media programming. Current events in the region has animated the world and portends a global conflagration that some equate with ancient bible end of days prophesy. In this context the expanding war in Middle East, North Africa and Nigeria is being positioned in some quarters as being between Christianity and Islam. In our conversation about these unfolding events we hope to generate some perspective and understanding regarding competing interests and dynamics in the region.

The impetus of this dynamic situation according to many was the “Arab Spring” which began in Tunisia in 2011, and it spread to other countries. The “Arab Spring” emerged in Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, etc. The Arab Spring in Tunisia developed into a best case scenario as democratic and economic reforms were established and the country is currently experiencing a prosperous trajectory. On the other hand the governments in other countries repressed the “Arab Spring” with dubious results. For example, in Egypt the military component re-emerged and the democratically elected president was deposed in a coup. Indigenous revolutionaries deposed the government in Yemen, and it is now called a failed state. The United States, et al, invaded Iraq and Libya deposing their respective leaders, but Arab revolutionaries in the neighborhood has successfully challenged the western geo-political design…

The “Islamic State” and ISIL are the latest incarnation of the Arab Spring revolutionaries together with the Syrian anti-government forces and Iraqi anti-American forces have taken over much of the real estate in Syria and Iraq. These extremist Sunni-Muslim forces are expending and grabbing territory in the Middle East, and are networking with other extremists in North Africa, Yemen, Somalia, and Nigeria. In the United States and the western world, this escalating Asymmetrical warfare is being portrayed as a war of Islam against America and the west by some, while others posit that it is a war between Christianity and Islam that, and that war is inevitable… Still others resist the notion of a war between Christianity and Islam, and offer nuanced assessments and analysis. Our conversation will offer context and historical perspective to this perplexing conundrum…

From the outset, we need to appreciate that the Middle East, such as the borders and countries that exist today, were determined by the British and French following WWI, with the United States playing a supportive role. Palestine was than a protectorate of the British under the Belfour Declaration and was not yet partitioned to accommodate the State of Israel. The British also established a formal supportive relationship with the House of Saud, and the Kingdom Saudi Arabia. The French controlled Syria and its contiguous lands. During WWI, the Ottoman Empire controlled much of the Middle East region, and as an ally of Germany, the Ottoman Empire lost it real estate holdings in the Middle East as America, British and French were the unequivocal victors of WWI. The famous “Lawrence of Arabia” on behalf of the British was the interlocutor that was critical to establishing the hegemony of Saud in the region. British forces and the French Foreign Legion document their colorful history in the Middle East.

In addition to the Belfour Declaration, and the establishment of Saudi Arabia’s hegemony in the region, the countries of Iraq and Iran are central to the dynamic in the Middle East that should not be understated and underestimated. Iran was formally known as the Persian Empire, while Iraq is the former Mesopotamia and both countries enjoy an ancient and consequential history of 5000 years plus. On the contrary the longevity of the United States and Europe is dwarfed by that of Persia and Mesopotamia. The significance of this distinction should not be underestimated, going forward. The contemporary boundaries and political facts on the ground in the Middle East are imposed and enforced by America and the west has existed for 100 years and the boundaries seem now to be melting down currently. The one hundred year design of the Middle East is melting down because the established allies of the western powers with its strong man rule is passé as the populations directly impacted by these autocratic and repressive rule are in revolt, and the region is virtually at war. The so-called “Islamic State” is headquartered in Syria and the traditional borders that distinguishes Syria from Iraq, is none existent as a practical matter. The fighting forces of ISIS currently hold a large swath of territory that overlaps both countries. The military forces of ISIS in Syria and Iraq are engaged in a war with reportedly a coalition of 50 odd countries under the leadership of America and the west, and they seem to be holding their own. Moreover, the ISIS brand of terrorism is being franchised as other extremist Muslim groups in other countries are pledging allegiance to the ISIS objective, and Asymmetrical warfare operatives of various strips are targeting the homelands in America and Europe.

Is ISIS at war with America and the west? Is the often referenced war between Christianity and Islam what’s up in the Middle East? Alternatively, are there other different and compelling narratives? Is there a persuasive argument beyond the western conventional geo-political wisdom?

If we extrapolate from the “Arab Spring” we observe that the indigenous populations in the respective Arab countries it is clear that there is chasm between the strong arm, monarchal ruling class and the local populations. This chasm can be characterized by economic disenfranchisement and lack of opportunities, education, and lack of a health and social service infrastructure. Hence, for the past 100 years the ruling super class of western impacted countries of the Middle East have alienated and deprived their indigenous population.  ISIS as an outgrowth of organic revolutionary forces have noted the legacy of the super ruling class and they (ISIS) are diametrically opposed to the century old ruling paradigm that is enabled and supported by America and Western powers. Specifically, the “emerging Islamic State” wants to remove America and the west from the region and to destroy their economic and geo-political hegemony. In this context the forces of ISIS are seeking to remove the Arab allies of the west from control of Middle East countries that comprise the status quo in the region.

Therefore, the primary objective of ISIS is to reclaim control of the region from despotic Arab leaders that rule target countries in the Middle East who are political clients of America and the west. Consequently, a cogent political argument can be made that the primary military objective of the so-called Islamic State is to remove and destroy the control of America and the west enjoy, by way of their client leadership on the ground. Hence, the “Islamic State” is not at war with America, et al, their objective is to control their own piece of ground. The question as to whether the “Islamic State” envisages that they are precipitating a war between Christianity and Islam is a fair question that begs exploration, and response. There are several moving parts to this question therefore we will endeavor to examine the various moving parts associated with the question. The first moving part to be examined is, to what extent does ISIS or ISIL, if you will, represent the religion of Islam? This relevant question is perhaps the most fundamental moving part.

It is clear that the “Islamic State” is comprised of Sunni-Muslim extremist a sect of Sunni Islam, and there are many other sects that constitute world Islam. Unfortunately the House of Saud, the Sunni Muslim hegemonic power in the region for the past 100 has been in a tricky relationship with the West, Israel and oil. The “Islamic State” and their military initiative is an Arab phenomenon, and their religious theology is a sect of Sunni-Islam. The ruling elite of the target countries in the region supported by the west are all Sunni Muslims. For example, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan are Sunni Muslims countries. Obviously, ISIS murders many Muslims including Sunni’s, therefore, the forces of ISIS murder Muslims, Christians and others without discrimination. Therefore, ISIS represents an extremist sect of Sunni-Islam, and Sunni Islam is but one tradition of Islam.

While Sunni-Islam is a well established sect of the religion, there exist a fundamental juxtaposition between Sunni Islam and Shea Islam. The Sunni vs. Shea juxtaposition is an ancient schism that occurred following the death of the prophet Muhammad. The controversy is based on the nature of succession which presented a dichotomy between those that held that the successor must be a blood relative and those that support the alternative position.  Hence, following the passing of Prophet Muhammad a schism in Islam occurred that divided Sunni and Shea. This dichotomy continues to animate and dominate the internal dynamic of the Islamic faith. Despite this ancient sectarian internal dynamic Islam spread throughout the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia. Moreover, in addition to the proliferation of the theology of Islam around the world, there was a concomitant conquering of territories and countries.

Interestingly enough, the growth, development a conquests by the forces of Islam occurred within the footprint of the Roman Empire which heretofore, was the occupying power in the Middle East during the period. Nevertheless, following the advent of Islam, Arab Muslims reclaimed their indigenous territory, and conquered Egypt and the country became Arabic ethnically. Also, in the 8^th century, the forces of Islam by way of North Africa (Hannibal), conquered Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and they subsequently invaded and conquered Spain and ruled it for 700 years until 1492, when Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand in conjunction with the papacy regained control of Spain.

Therefore, from the 8^th century to the 15^th century Islam and Christianity represented the powers in control of the known world, as the church and state were one in the same. As a practical matter, there was no separation between church and state in the western world at this time. Separation of church and state was ushered in following the Protestant Reformation 5 centuries ago. When Charlemagne became the Emperor of Rome in the 800’s he formally declared himself as Emperor of the “Holy Roman Empire.” During this period Christendom in the West and Islam, by way of the Arabs, North Africans and the Ottoman Empire, competing for relative economic and political domination in target countries in region of the world. Secular government and the separation between church and state occurred in Europe in the 1600’s following the Protestant Reformation. Accordingly, separation of church and state, and secular government has existed in the western world for the past 500. During this period western hegemony of the trade routs, economics and geo-political control was consolidated in the Middle East, and other pertinent regions.

Consequently, there is a relevant back story and context to the current events that are unfolding in the world today. The back story articulates the dynamic role that Christianity (Protestantism) played under the umbrella of secular western government as they pursued the economic, strategic and geo-political objectives. From the 1600’s to the present, secular governments of Western Europe and the United States emerged and the concept of separation between church and state became the standard of modern civilization along with the elective process. During the 500 intervening years the European and American constitutional paradigm coupled with global industrial development ultimately dominated international trade routes, economic, military advancement and geo-politics.

Since the Christian Reformation in the west, Protestant Europe expanded and grew exponentially and ultimately gave birth to the United States of America in 1776. At the end of the day Catholics and Protestants embraced each other under the umbrella of religious tolerance and cooperated despite their perennial rivalries for the purpose of world domination. Although the rivalries among respective European powers continued to be colorful and provocative, Europeans cooperated in order to achieve their collective economic and geo-political objectives. Also, during the intervening centuries the religion of Islam grew in popularity to the extent that both Christianity and Islam share the approximately 3 billion adherents in the world. It is important to note that Arab Muslims represents a small minority of the faithful because other ethnic groups have outpaced the growth in the Arab world by far.Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country as they outnumber all the Arab Muslims in the Gulf States put together. India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Turkey has significant Muslim populations, and according to recent reports, Islam is the fastest growing religion in Europe. In short, Islam is in fact a major religion in the world.

But the perception persists that Christianity and Islam are at war, notwithstanding myriad arguments to the contrary. The fact remains that there are compelling and persuasive arguments that are advanced on both sides of the issue. With this dichotomy in view, we will reference some points that are generally not mentioned in the framework of one position or the other. We’re going to examine the perception that there is a war between Christianity and Islam by way of exploring the origin and overlapping aspects of these two religions. There is a symbiosis and familial component that connects Christianity and Islam that must not be overlooked or made light of as we consider them. There exists a theological as well as a familial connection between Christianity and Islam because both faiths are monotheistic religions that acknowledge the same origin in the framework of their acknowledged patriarch, the Prophet Abraham.

As a matter of fact there are three religions of Abraham, Judaism, Christianity and Islam, and they represent a historical procession with Islam being the youngest of the three religions having its advent in the 7^th century by way of the Prophet Muhammad. The Quran, Islam’s holy book, acknowledges its origins in terms of the patriarch and the assertion that Moses, and Jesus are Prophets that preceded the advent of Islam. Additionally the Quran holds Mary the mother of Jesus in high esteem and the Muslim holy book also mentions the union between the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon which is also recorded in 1 Kings of the Old Testament. Hence, stories in the Quran and the Bible reference similar prophets, characters, stories, and scenarios. Moreover, while the Quran was reportedly revealed to Muhammad by God, it was the arch angel Gabriel who was the intermediary between God and Muhammad that facilitated the Quran’s revelation to Muhammad.

These various points are salient factors that confirm the fundamental connection and overlap that characterizes the unequivocal connections between Judaism, Christianity and Islam. More particularly, Abraham had two sons one was Isaac whose familial line established Christianity, and there is Ishmael, the other son of Abraham whose familial line established Islam… Consequently, if there is a war between Christianity and Islam, the founding and heritage of both religions indicate that the war is a family affair. But the family internal dynamic is rooted in Judaic theology as represented by Cain and Able, the sons of Adam and Eve. The back story relative to the religions of Abraham (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) is replete with the familial dynamic. Interestingly enough, the family dynamic is established by the findings of current science which confirms that human beings represent one race, only. This singular finding and observation by religion and science has far reaching implications as it relates to human nature, and man’s inhumanity to man… Perhaps human nature such as it is, represents the fundamental problem and not the so-called war between Christianity and Islam.

Unfortunately, the level human nature such as it is, coupled with subjective objectives associated with the promotion of revisionist religious and secular history continues to obscure salient historical facts. Much of the historical revisionism has airbrushed critical and inconvenient information out of the conventional popular narrative. But as a practical matter human nature may be the smoking gun that has compromised the truth and colored the political facts on the ground that the majority of us consume and regurgitate. Accordingly, I’m never comfortable signing on to conventional wisdom and popular narrative associated the status quo and unfolding current events in the world. It is not difficult for me to imagine the relative issues that formulate the foreign policy of America, et al, which is based on the argument of safeguarding and protecting their economic and strategic interest in the region. Therefore, I’m not surprised by the various presentations justifying the presence of the west in the region.

On the other hand, the indigenous populations in the target countries apparently have a legitimate grievance with their local rulers based on a century of repression, and economic and political disenfranchisement. The disenfranchised are challenging their rulers, who are enabled by western allies, and who are Sunni Muslims. The Islamic State is comprised of local and organic Sunni-extremists that are prepared to radically change the political facts in the ground in their respective neighborhood. In short, ISIS is Sunni-extremist Muslims and their mandate is rid their country of western assets, including the ruling Sunni Muslim super class. Hence, ISIS represents the unfolding internal dynamic within Sunni Islam in particular and world Islam in general. The United States and the western powers would be well advised not to fall into the quagmire of sectarian stiff which is the current state of Islam. Apparently, the west understands that they should not put military boots on the ground and be perceived as occupiers in foreign countries safeguarding and protecting their economic and strategic position.

It is worthy of note that the ruling super class are reluctant at best to put their army boots on the ground which may suggest that the rulers are wary of potential organic feedback which would ultimately position the ruling elite as assets of western imperialism. The religions of Abraham enjoy a very interesting history of reformation, which is well documented in Judaic and Christian history. The history of Christianity in the west in particular is based on the Protestant Reformation of the Roman Catholic Church, after about 1400 years. Subsequently, denominational Christianity has proliferated in the west, and new Protestant denominations continue to emerge. It has been about 1400 years since the advent of Islam, the most recent of the religions of Abraham, and we suspect that the current internal dynamic in Islam may ultimately lead to a fundamental reformation. Reformation is the only option to remediate the primordial schism between Sunni and Shea Islam.

The Sunni and Shea dichotomy also has an ethnic and culture dynamic in that Sunni Muslims in the Middle East are predominantly Arab, while the Shea Muslims in the region are Persian. In this context Sunni Muslims (Arabs) in Saudi Arabia and Shea Muslims (Persian) Iran are the two toughest big boys in the neighborhood and at the end of the day the toughest big boys in the neighborhood must work out the future.

…The Race Conversation! Fooly-Fooly…

University of Oklahoma is the latest venue wherein egregious and horrifying race based pejoratives eclipsed other events of the day. A racist song was being sung on a bus in coral fashion by members of a popular national Greek Fraternity SAE. Two leaders of the bigoted assemblage were abruptly expelled by the university president, and the fraternity house was closed down and shuttered for the immediate future. This most recent episode comes on the heels of myriad incidences around the country of blatant racism and bigoted behavior directed against African Americans by way of the N-word.

Many in the African American community make the observation that incidents of racism and racial profiling has spiked since the election of President Barack Obama in 2008. There is much irony in that popular observation because the impact of Obama’s election inspired some to suggest that America may be entering a post racial period. The post racial America idea enjoyed a brief birth however… Apparently, the established race based sensibilities associated with “majority” group psychology is being disguised as partisan politics, the results are public spectacles that ultimately betray the integrity and poor vision of political leadership, and portrays racism in the public square under the surface.

In addition, political correctness continues to be the order of the day and remediation ideas such as promoting racial tolerance, racial diversity, racial equality, and engaging in a so-called “real” conversation about race is a popular mantra. Interestingly enough the “race” conversation has been engaged and race continues to be a popular topic in formal and informal quarters and all demographics. The race based paradigm, particularly in America is ubiquitous, pervasive, pernicious, sublime and sophisticated therefore, the much touted race conversation, when it occurs, is a circular conversation without resolution or ending. This writer asserts that the race conversation and the other popular remediation techniques and ideas are, fooly-fooly…

The race conversation and other ideas of tolerance etc. will continue to generate an inconsequential circular conversation that never goes beneath the surface. The fundamental problem associated with remediating and resolving the conventional race base paradigm is to begin the process with truth, and move beyond the traditional myth. Our considered judgment is that the truth about race is too radical; therefore, in order to resolve the race dilemma, virtually everything needs to be made brand new… Hence, our suspicion is that as opposed to rewriting popular history and reordering the philosophical thrust of the systems and institutions that constitute America, the relevant parties are inclined to stonewall the status quo.

Resolving the race dilemma must begin with the truth, and no credible conversation regarding race can be undertaken with starting with the truth. Accordingly, the truth is that multiple races are a mythological social construct that was conceived of to achieve subjective outcomes, which has become outdated. This conclusion is confirmed by current scientific evidence which totally discredits and debunks the tradition race paradigm. The unequivocal evidence is that there is only one race of human beings in the world today, and everyone can trace their origin to the same woman who lived in East Africa thousands of years ago. We have been deceived and continue to be so, by the race myth as the race dichotomy exists as crystallized consciousness in the popular imagination.

But as a practical political matter there seems to be a concerted effort to continue and promote the race question, vis-à-vis, racial tolerance, racial diversity, racial equality etc., which perpetuates divide and rule. But the racial incident at Oklahoma University with the SAE Fraternity is only the tip of the iceberg, as the race problem on campus is fundamental and insidious with sublime attributes that keep it moving forward… Moreover, the continuation of the race based philosophical and psychological edge enjoyed by the “majority” community is self perpetuating by way of the sophisticated education system and human nature.

As a mater of fact, referring to “all races” and “equality among the races” perpetuates the conventional myth, and is an obfuscation of the scientific truth. There is no such thing as “all races” and the politically correct “racial equality” because there is only ONE race of human beings. Unfortunately, the level of “human nature” such as it is, has a proclivity for establishing the “other” and the perennial divide and rule preoccupation, seems to overwhelm some. Nevertheless, it is well noted that science and religion are in agreement that there is but one human family of a single origin.
At some point, hopefully in the near future, modern society will generate a critical mass from the grassroots growing upward and publicaly assert the scientific facts associated with the race phantom. A grave error was established in the past that codified the mythical multiracial social construct that has stratified America and indeed the world. It cannot be overstated how pervasive, ubiquitous, insidious, sublime, sophisticated endemic the race paradigm is…

The fact that the most recent racist event occurred among the national Greek Fraternity SAE based at the University of Oklahoma is an interesting sidebar worthy of further examination. Greek Fraternities have generated a colorful and sorted history of race based bigotry over the decades, with virtual impunity. Many of the allegations are horrific bordering on criminality in some instances. There have been various calls for the investigation of Greek Fraternities because of what is alleged to be a cultural problem among the Greeks in many college and university fraternities.

The sidebar pertinent to the current allegations surrounding the SAE Fraternity and others perhaps points to the original intent of the Greek Fraternities and their very nature. The Greco-Roman historical narrative is the cornerstone of Western civilization and the matrix for the concept of “manifest destiny” and the papal “doctrine of discovery.” The current design of the nation states of the world such as it is, can be argued is a consequence of western cultural imperialism, and hegemonic geo-political status quo.

Moreover, Greek culture and mythology represents the launching point of western civilization which is exemplified by Greek fraternities and sororities that perpetuate and carry forth the Greco-Roman tradition. While Greek culture and mythology validates and establishes western civilization and society, the associated narrative is revisionist history, and fails to offer a comprehensive story. The famous Greek historian Homer, among others spoke graphically and with great reverence in his classic work, “The Iliad” as to the fact he (Homer) credited much of his learning and education to the Egyptians. In addition, Homer was explicit when he referenced Ethiopia as “Punt” the land where God and his people reside.

Obviously, race based discrimination, bigotry and hate was not an operative component during the storied times of ancient Greece. Somehow, revisionism associated with the popular Greco-Roman history has advanced the mythology of multiple races and the “master narrative” continues to animate some in the process of higher education… Perhaps going forward there needs to be diversity in fraternal organizations in terms of Greeks and Egyptians…

Religion and Science Controversy 90 Percent Settled…

The ancient controversy between religion and science regarding the origin of the human race is essentially settled, and there is only about a 10 percent of the controversy that remains. We will explore the nature of the 10 percent that remains, but the essential dichotomy between views are reconciled by way of current science… All of us are familiar with the Adam and Even in the Garden of Eden story… Whether you are a believer or not, you are familiar with the biblical story that includes the sibling rivalry of Cain & Able, and the birth of the human family.

Current scientific evidence confirms this ancient story, and resources like National Geographic TV documentary “In Search of Eve” has archeological evidence and traced the migration patterns that have over millennia that positioned human beings in virtually every corner of the earth. The evidence confirms that every human being on the face of the earth today in the 21^st century come from a single origin, vis-à-vis, a woman in the region of East Africa.

The public has been accordingly informed regarding these findings on public television among other special event airing therefore, the subject of race is often discussed during informal conversations. But the profundity of these scientific findings has not been translated into the perennial “race” question, or the popular “race” conversation, etc., into the public discourse. Consequently, a superfluous circular conversation is a popular exercise which asserts that all “races” are equal, so forth and so on.

The nature of this public conversation on “race” by way of media, news articles, educators, politicians (elected & unelected) amounts to an obfuscation of the truth and facts about “race.”Public conversations, institutions and professional organizations and everyone else continues to represent that human beings are comprised of different “races.”

Statements such as, there is no difference between the “races” and we don’t discriminate based on “race” are popular refrains articulated in various quarters. Moreover, we know educational institutions, employment opportunities and scenarios, housing, politics, healthcare, etc, etc, etc, are all organized and operated based on the “race” dynamic.

But we also know that current science affirms that there is only one race of human beings and we all can trace our ancestry to the same woman, in East Africa. Therefore, any credible conversation about “race” going forward must discuss “race” in the context of current science and debunk the traditional exposition…. ACCORDINGLY, RACE IS A SOCIAL CONTRUCT CONTRIVED TO ACHIEVE SUBJECTIVE OUTCOMES.

MODERN SCIENCE HAS AFFIRMED AND CONFIRMED THAT THERE IN ONLY ONE RACE OF HUMAN BEINGS. THEREFORE, THE WORLD IS ULTIMATELY CONFRONTED WITH A FUNDAMENTAL CONTRADICTION. THE FUNDAMENTAL CONTRADICTION IS BASED ON THE FACT THAT THE WORLD HAS BEEN GENERALLY ORGANIZED AND STRATIFIED AROUND THE CONCEPT OF MULTIPLE RACES WHICH HAS BEEN SCIENTIFICALLY DISCREDITED…

Science in the 1600s, the “age of enlightenment” advanced the idea of multiple races based on a hierarchal distinction that positioned the “black” race at the bottom and the white race at the top, with yellow, red and brown people in relative scenarios. The scholarship that characterized the “age of enlightenment” codified the race paradigm and etched it in stone, as definitive evidence that there are multiple races of human beings.

IN THIS INTELLECTUAL FRAMEWORK, THE NEGRO WAS BORN…. A VULNERABLE BEAST OF BURDEN….

This is the general overview regarding the black experience in Africa and the “new world” beginning in the 1500s, and the race based paradigm is the conventional narrative that perpetuates the historical race myth… But the historical myth began to fracture in the 1960s as the myth of the NEGRO RACE evaporated during the black political consciousness movement.

ALTHOUGH THE NEGRO IS DEAD AS A RACE, THE RACE BASED PARADIGM PERSISTS BY WAY OF SOPHISTICATED AND SUBLIME SCENARIOS, THAT HAVE REINFORCED CENTURIES OLD STRUCTURES AND CONVENTIONAL SENSIBILITIES.

Ultimately, we will rely on the fidelity of current science and observe that world institutions and sensibilities are oriented toward the race paradigm. In this way we can understand what race is. And what race is not…

WE MIGHT NOT BE ABLE TO ELIMINATE THE RACE MOTIF, BUT WE CAN PUT IT IN THE PROPER PERSPECTIVE. ALTHOUGH THE RACE EQUATION HAS A HEADSTART OF CENTURIES, WE CAN ENSURE THAT IT WILL AMOUNT TO … NO-THING.

The race social construct is pervasive and ubiquitous because it permeates virtually all echelons of our modern society. We human beings have totally absorbed and assimilated the race social contract to the extent that it has crystallized into our consciousness. Therefore we inadvertently think in racial terms, and conventional wisdom, which only reinforces the deception…

THAT’S RIGHT, WE HAVE BEEN DECEIVED…

The scope of the deception is difficult to put your hands around, but time is longer than twine therefore, competing narratives will emerge that will help to broaden the various historical accounts of human and world events as formulated and advanced by the military victors through history.

Consequently, history such as it is… Amount to an account of HIS-STORY, LITERALLY.

But because time is longer than twine, it is only a matter of time before other historical narratives emerge that compliment popular historical accounts, adding to them in the context of generating a holistic account of human events.

Saturday I watched a CNN news program… The news report stated that a police department was using the criminal mug shots of black men for target practice, and as a result the police department was accused of racism because of that act. The police department responded to the allegation of racism by denying it, and making the point that they also use the mug shots of other “races” therefore theirs was not an act of racism, because they use all “races.”

The news announcer went on to editorialize with her colleague asserting that the act of using the mug shots of blacks may be controversial but, it can’t be racism because blacks are not the only race whose picture they use.

DO YOU SEE WHAT IS GOING ON HERE???  THEY ARE PERPETUATING THIS RACE HISTORICAL MYTH IN A VERY CASUAL AND MATTER OF FACT WAY… and too many engage this circular conversation on race…

DON’T THEY HAVE ACCESS TO THE LATEST SCIENTIFIC NEWS… ALL OF WE IS ONE…

The multiple race myth will continue to be asserted because virtually all of the systems and institutions are structured and organized, based on the multiple race paradigm. These systems won’t be changed because they are proven to be insufficient or in error.

Although current science has debunked and discredited the multiple race idea, with definitive evidence, we would be delusional to expect that substantive change will occur, going forward.  The “race” conversation and the “race” question will remain a hot button and political wedge issue, but the public conversation will also continue to be circular with no resolution. But there are people like yours truly, who will present the disposition of current science and inject the empirical perspective into the public discussion.

I am under no delusions about the prospect of corrective action being undertaken by the relevant parties. And apart from raising the findings of current science during relevant forums, everyone else would be well advised not to overestimate any prospect of corrective action by relevant authorities in general.

POPULAR AMERICAN HISTORY WILL NOT BE REWRITTEN… THE CURRICULUM IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS WILL NOT BE OVERHAULED GOING FORWARD.  IT IS, WHAT IT IS…

MY OVERALL POINT IS THAT WE NEED TO KNOW WHAT RACE IS, AND WHAT RACE IS NOT… AND BE ABLE TO REFERENCE THE PROOF

But my larger point is that we need to rethink what we think… We need to think based on current and relevant information… We can become what we think. And we are currently, what we think…

As a practical matter the race baggage that we carry is most severe, burdensome, and insidious because it permeates most things and invisible, subliminal and profound scenario are in place that automatically maintain the status quo. TO BE CONTINUED…

There are no racial minorities in the world!!! This morning I received a link from a colleague that is relevant to the piece… http://l.facebook.com/l/YAQGUMCqNAQGryUBF0CwqsuBUOUJpmax8-GwWxzpjLOWkJQ/youtu.be/azWJPHypAeg

 

 

NIGERIA II…

During the spring of 2014, I penned a piece entitled “Bring the Girls Home” referring to the more than 200 girls kidnapped from their school by Boko  Haram, the Nigeria based extremist-Muslim military cult. This horrific, egregious and willful act of brutality and barbarity executed by proponents of a perverted ideology they connect with Islam caused me to reflect on my visit to Nigeria in October of 2001. I arrived one month following the infamous 9/11 incident that raised the Twin Towers in New York City and killed thousands of people. During the two months that my visit embodied the northeastern region of Nigeria began to erupt as Boko Haram began attacking Christians and churches, burning communities and killing residents with unspeakable barbarity. I was there as a professional consulting on a faith based HIV/AIDS project focused on education, and counseling in at risk communities. The project “SAC-AIDS” featured a unique interface between health care professionals and institutions in Nigeria and the United States. Apart from the usual project development scenarios, I was profoundly impacted by the general dysfunction of the largely binary (rich or poor) society that characterizes Nigeria. And profound political corruption is the categorical characterization in terms of how the government and politics operates. The experience was everlasting therefore I felt an emotional connection to the abducted students and with their bewildered and suffering parents, when I first learned the dreadful news. If I were to describe my visit to Nigeria in a few words, it would be a dramatic lesson in street justice…

I spent eight weeks in Nigeria, traveling between Lagos (the big city), and Abuja, the newly constructed capital of the most populace African country. As soon as we deplaned in Nigeria and moved to the baggage claim area, the language problem confronted me and I could immediately appreciate that it would be a major challenge for me to exit the airport to the parking lot. I essentially followed the crowed to the baggage claim and waited for my suitcase. Fortunately my contact arrived as my bag swung around the carousel and he instructed me to follow him outside to the parking lot, and not to respond or react to anyone if I’m approached. When we reached the parking lot four other dudes joined in and escorted us. Two were on my left, front and back, while the other two were similarly situated on my right side. Despite being flanked by obvious strong arms on each side, with a self-confident looking big dude in front riding point, I could see aggression on the faces of some people we pasted or obliquely encountered them. It was obvious that a strident body language was an important component of how you need to comport yourself in Nigeria. Nigeria is not tourist friendly by any stretch of the imagination, I concluded immediately, and without the strong arms surrounding me it would have been quit a challenge to reach the parking lot and exit the area without the four buffers, lead by my point man.

I want to share some of my experiences on the ground in country, as it is relevant to the unfolding events in Nigeria wherein thousands of people are being slaughtered in a most brutal fashion, and hundreds of young girls continue to be kidnapped. And the perpetrators of this chaos and mayhem continue with impunity and without any meaningful resistance from the government and military. I was actually waiting for a break in the case, based on pronouncements of President Jonathan that he was negotiating the release of the girls with Boko Haram, before I wrote a second article on my observations and experiences in country. I am not persuaded that there will be any prospect of justice for the relevant people in this matter, and the situation is exponentially worse since last spring. But signs of Nigeria degenerating into a free fall were emerging thirteen plus years ago, in my view, and the cancer has metastasized, and it may be too late for radical corrective surgery.

However, my project met with success on one level, but failed to complete the second phase dealing with marketing on the ground. Programmatically the project was a success as we were able to secure the support of the First Lady of Nigeria, Mrs. Stella Obasenjo, which was helpful to getting sponsorships. But the project was designed to be launched with a major concert that featured international entertainers. The names of the various artists that were positioned to participate were impressive and the proposed venue, in Port Harcourt, Nigeria was on board with the concept. However, in the final analysis the project was aborted because major security issues emerged based on the fact of the escalating back and forth scenario between Muslims and Christians that was sporadic but escalating. Therefore, project outcome amounted to six of one, and half a dozen of the other.

I enjoy extensive contacts in South Africa and Ethiopia, but had never visited Nigeria or developed contacts in any other West African country. Therefore I was looking forward to the visit and to be able note comparisons between southern, eastern and western Africa. But Nigeria proved to be comparatively unique, and the political, economic and social facts on the ground, brought to mind the “jungle” metaphor relatively speaking. However, the fact remains that the law of the jungle pervades on the ground on one hand, and governments response and responsibility is dubious and inept at best on the other hand. Government agencies and institutions do not work well, such as the police department, and electrical blackouts are a daily occurrence requiring the purchase of generators for those that can afford the expense. Moreover there is no social network infrastructure to assist poor families and children.

I was intimidated by the police officers soon after I arrived because they all carry machine guns, and their body language I perceived as menacing. When my contact was pulled over by a police officer for speeding I sat in the passenger seat as stiff as a board, biting my teeth, as my man became irate and began cursing at the officer. I was stunned speechless and couldn’t tell him to cool-out before he existed the car staggering, and talking out of side of his mouth as though what spoke was truthful and correct. I was petrified as he stumbled to the officer as though he was bullet proof. I was riveted and couldn’t take my eyes off the machine and the cop. It was about 3 or 4 AM and nobody was on the highway but us, I was scared stiff, as never before. He came back in the car after a few minutes and we sped off just reckless as before we were stopped. On the next day he informed me that he hit the police officer off with a 20 US dollar bill, and that the chances of us getting shot by him were zero. I was still shaken by the experience.

Having been raised in New York City, I comport myself with a “healthy paranoia” when interacting with police officers therefore, the unfolding scenario being instigated by my guy was utterly unsettling. But this introductory episode with officers of the law proved to be my first real culture shock. If a similar situation had occurred in New York City he would have been arrested right away, and he wouldn’t have been unscathed when he arrived at the police precinct… But in Nigeria the underpaid police force is 100 percent black and so is the population, which is a complete inversion from the police and community demographic in Harlem, and other black communities in the United States. Moreover, there is a culture of police bribery which is how business in general is done in country…

The next occasion wherein I observed interactions between police officers and the local population was during my visit to Abuja, capital of Nigeria. What I found striking in Abuja from the outset, was that everything as for as the eye could see looked relatively new, and very impressive. We traveled from Lagos by car to the capital where one of my associates operated a small business that facilitates business transactions with the United States and United Kingdom, particularly. His office is located on the second floor of a two story commercial building that covers about one square block with a rectangular construction. The office was located in the front portion of the edifice somewhat recessed and located across from government buildings and separated by a six lane road. A parking lot was situated in the muddle of the cubic construction and a colorful fruit and produce outdoor market dominated the front pedestrian area, which also accommodated other entrepreneurial and service outlets. I found the optics of the local business interaction and commerce engaging as well as entertaining. But some observations were informative, educational in addition to being culturally shocking.

While observing the marketplace from my second floor porch perspective one afternoon, I noticed a man navigating and negotiating his way across road, dodging traffic with great dexterity. When he reached the sidewalk he came directly to the fruit stands and helped himself to some fruit than immediately took-off running. It seemed as though half of the other vendors stopped their work and joined in chase after the thief. He rounded the corner while a virtual mob of people were hot on his tail. I was curious enough to go down to the street and follow the crowed to observe the out come. When I arrived around the corner the man was encircled by the crowd and he was being beaten by three people as others were highly animated and yelling in their common vernacular. The police had already arrived but they seemed to be controlling the encirclement as opposed to being directly involved to stop the beating and arrest the man. But what I anticipated happening never occurred but rather, when the man was almost unconscious and a bloody spectacle the men stopped beating him and the police than called for an ambulance. They never intervened to stop the man from getting beaten.

The first 18 years of my life was spent in the South Bronx, New York and in that environment I learned what street justice means, but the level of street justice that I witnessed in Nigeria was unimaginable to witness in living color. The parkway in central Lagos is usually jammed with traffic and intermittent groupings of markets and vendors that pepper the roadside are typical. Donkey carts transporting various goods and products help to keep the traffic at a slow curl. I was not surprised when we could do no better than creep along in the middle of traffic. But when traffic came to an abrupt halt and a great mob of people crossed the parkway in a mad rush in front of us, followed by a contingent of police officers, it got my attention as well as my partners. He blurted out an expletive than pulled over to the side of the road and stopped to observe the developments. I was happy he did because my curiosity got the best of me when I saw the police behind the mob. I was exiting the car at the same time as my friend did, and I followed him through the crowd. Smoke was billowing, thick, blue and smelled like sweat noxious burning rubber. When we reached the perimeter of the circular crowd I could see a person on his knees, screaming and rolling around with a burning tire around his neck and another around his legs. I was horrified, shocked and had to throw-up my lunch. I was so shaken up and weak that I had to be helped back to the car, I was uncomfortable for a couple of days thereafter.

I learned later that the victim had shot and killed and robbed a cab driver as he stopped in front of the market area. When the robber exited the cab some people in the market began chasing him as he ran across the parkway. They ultimately caught up with the man and began beating him with sticks and stones in a mob rule atmosphere. When three policemen attempted to intervene the mob turned on the police officers and intimidated them. Ultimately the police officers backed off and became crowd controller and spectators to the unfolding events. I watched the coverage of the incident on the evening news and they showed the chard remains of the man being removed. Needless to say, street justice at this level was a dramatic revelation to me, and it established unforgettable memories.

The sum of my eight week experience in Nigeria, thirteen plus years ago, enables me to understand to some extent, unfolding events in Nigeria and Africa in general. Consequently, the present and foreseeable future in Nigeria and the African continent is precarious. It was obvious then, there was an insidious and malignant disease lurking in local politics, the local economic elite and global macro-economic interests. On balance, the people and the environment continue to be brutally and wantonly victimized. As today’s news reports that more than 2000 people were massacred in a single event by Boko Haram, it is obvious that Nigeria is on the border of a failed state and is currently the free fall of civil war. Nigeria’s nefarious international reputation as a country of sophisticated economic and political corruption is renowned and well deserved. But conventional economic and political crime and corruption can not be compared or associated with the diabolical nature and utter barbarity of Boko Haram, with their abominable masquerade presented in a pernicious Islamic deception.

Nigeria is unique and replete with irony, but as a practical matter the state of Nigeria, is to a large extent mirrored in many other emerging democracies and developing economies on the continent of Africa. Nigeria has always been the most populace African country but, it was only recently that Nigeria emerged as the largest African economy, finally exceeding South Africa. Although 6 of the 10 fastest growing economies in the world are in Africa, the respective governments need to move beyond the post colonial legacy of political and economic corruption. Although African countries have removed the occupation of their colonial masters by armed revolution, indigenous leadership has essentially mimicked the absolute rule characteristic of the colonial paradigm. Unfortunately, there are no obvious signs that Nigeria is on the road to stabilization and recovery in the foreseeable future. The current government seems completely inept to effectively deal with the manifold problems that indicate Nigeria is currently beyond the category of a civilized society.

Nigeria continues to standout among the most corrupt governments on the continent of Africa. When I was there the Vice President of Nigeria was ultimately identified as the source of the one hundred thousand dollars found the freezer of a member of the US House of Representatives. The US Congressman was successfully prosecuted for corruption in this matter, but the essential facts in the matter are apparently esoteric, and unknown to the general public. The current president of the country has not departed from the political legacy of poor leadership, but he may have compounded his problem with his sublime level of buffoonery…

The presidential election in Nigeria is weeks away therefore it remains to be seen how presidential politics and the ultimately outcome will impact the unfolding crisis. Although President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration has proven to be totally inept by any standard, he is seeking re-election… Despite being completely hopeless and apparently untruthful, in the face of the widespread lawlessness, murders and abductions of by Boko Haram, the president somehow believes that he should be re-elected. At one point the president represented that he was negotiating with Boko Haram, and that the girls were going to be released soon. That representation turned out to be a complete fabrication as the exploits of the military-terrorist has escalated to the odious and diabolical slaughter of thousands of innocents. The ineffectualness of the Nigerian military to contain Boko Haram or successfully defend against their advances or to protect the people from Boko Haram demonstrates the unequivocal failure of the Jonathan administration. And his patent failure to effectively govern, coupled with the black western type formal hat which he wears everywhere, outdoors as well as indoors and at formal international assemblages distinguishes him as a parody…

Boko Haram continues to assert their violent rejection of western influence in Nigeria and the thrust of their military advances, murders, and burnings are designed and implemented to eliminate and destroy western influences, and to rid the country of Christian infidels. In view of Boko Haram’s war against western influences in the country, the fact that President Jonathan sports a western styled black fedora hat may be viewed as an albatross around his neck… But he has resorted to wearing a more conventional hat on the campaign trail. Campaigning for re-elect to the presidency wearing his black fedora is obviously the wrong political tactic, but the change may be too late to bring him success. But on the other hand should he win re-election, what would that say about the Nigerian electorate, assuming it is a free and fair election. I am certainly curious about the immediate political future of the largest African economy.

Notwithstanding who ultimately wins the presidency, Nigeria will remain a basket case for the foreseeable future. Hence, the grim reality on the ground in terms of the basic health and welfare of the people going forward, as the super class and political elite wrestle for political control and to be economic interlocutor for western interests. In addition to the general plight of the people, the toxicity of the environment may have already crossed the Rubicon. Decades of a virtually unregulated hydro-carbon industry has contaminated the water and land to the extent that the potential of developing a sustainable fishing industry or agriculture industry are decades away, if remediation was started now.

Multi-national corporations, various mineral extraction industries, and the military industrial complex are the current beneficiaries of Nigeria’s status quo. And the ultimate political outcome of the presidency will not be relevant to the economic and geo-political interests and objectives of the former colonial masters that monopolized the economy of the country by remote control. Moreover, instability in the country, such as it is, may provide an optimal scenario for the advancement of the objectives of the existential western forces. Ever since the Berlin Conference of 1884, wherein Africa was partitioned into 50 countries and divided up between the European colonial masters, the raw materials extracted from the country, particularly oil, provided for the economic wealth and industrial development in the West. The respective boundaries of the Africa’s 50 countries were determined at the Berlin Conference, as different ethnic groups, cultures and people were cobbled together, and divided between Britain, France, Germany , Portugal, Italy, etc. But since the 1960s by way of arm struggle, revolution and bloodshed, one by one the independence movements of African countries removed the occupation of the European masters.

At the end of the day, Africans gained political control of their respective countries, and for the five decades hence, the indigenous political leaders have failed to establish a stable and sustainable economy and government process. Similar to the African American civil rights leadership following the successes of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act’s respectfully, the African leadership following the success of their independence movements became fascinated, if not preoccupied with the intoxication and perceived power associated with political and government leadership. Concomitantly, the former colonial powers retained the economic controls associated with the resource wealth of the countries and open access to the land in order to continue with mineral extraction operations. Therefore, the emerging free market democracies have little if any control of there mineral and economic resources requiring the indigenous governments and politics to be relegated to the largess of multi-nationals and military industrialists.

As the largest economy in Africa, and the most populace country, Nigeria to some extent represents a template for others countries on the continent. But the unfolding barbarity and wanton killings by Boko Haram, the extremist-Muslim terrorists in the region are positioning Nigeria to be a failed state. Therefore, other regional states must be supportive of the Nigerian military offensive against Boko Haram, because the Nigerian people are not being protected from the ravages of the extremist-Muslim terrorists. At this point a regional military coalition is the way forward in order to halt the territorial advances of Boko Haram. Also, it must be understood what the limitations are regarding destroying Boko Haram. While a western African military coalition can bring the territorial advances to a stop, the military is not capable of defeating the perverse ideology that they assert as Islam, which mimics and associated with the war underway by ISIL and the Islamic state. A worst case scenario seems to be unfolding and Nigeria may at the end of the day be the lead domino to fall in West Africa. We will continue to follow events as they unfold…

BLACK GOP ENGAGES BLACK DEMOCRATS POLITICAL CONFUSION…

The escalating black American political controversy that is orbiting President Barack Obama’s leadership style is now raging, following the remarks by comedian Steve Harvey that Cornel West and Tavis Smiley are “Uncle Toms.”

Specifically, Harvey was critiquing the Poverty Tour organized by Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, as well as their vociferous criticism of the president’s leadership, as it relates to the needs of the poor in particular.

Referencing Tavis’ suggestion that the president should sit down with him and West for two or three days to discuss poverty in America, Harvey said, “Who in the hell got two or three days to sit down with your ass?  I ain’t got time to sit down with your monkey behind for two are three days, let alone the President if the United States.  We got three wars going on the economy is crashing, and we going to sit with Tavis’ ass for three days?”  Harvey also alluded to a more sinister motive for the West, Smiley Poverty Tour asking, “Where are you getting the money for the buses?”

The black political rift began many months ago when Tavis Smiley and Al Sharpton traded political barbs on their respective radio shows, and it quickly escalated into a public confrontation on the radio airways.  The rift between the two men centered on a critique by Smiley that Sharpton was carry water for president Obama, and was letting him (the president) off the hook concerning advancing the “black agenda.”  Sharpton responded in kind to Smiley’s political critique, and the controversy quickly became politically airborne.

Enter Cornel West, a political confidant of Tavis Smiley, who is a controversial intellectual/political figure in his own right. The Smiley versus Sharpton political rift was taken to another level when Professor West took issue with Sharpton’s relationship with Obama, during a panel discussion on a popular MSNBC television talk show that ultimately deteriorated into a public TV spectacle.

Professor Boyce Watkins, founder of YourBlackWorld.com, entered the political fray following the MSNBC political spectacle, and positioned himself as a moderating voice, but was clearly espousing the Sharpton narrative and criticized Smiley’s point of view.  Interestingly enough, Watkins simultaneously seemed to modulate his political attack relative to West.

More recently, in the context of Steve Harvey’s critical political analysis of the West, Smiley Poverty Tour, Prof. Watkins delivered a political broadside attack against Harvey, among others.  Watkins said, “He (Harvey) ended his rant by saying that he spotted an Uncle Tom driving a bus and then Harvey accused Cornel West and Tavis Smiley of being “poverty pimps.”

Watkins continued, “While listening to Harvey, I could not help but get the impression that he’s concluding that by speaking on behalf of the poor, and challenging political leadership to modify economic policies, you are pimping the poor rather than helping them.  I guess that would make me a poverty pimp too, so perhaps I’d better just remain silent.”

“Steve Harvey is doing a good job of campaigning for President Obama. Harvey was recently invited to President Obama’s birthday party, putting him squarely in the camp of Black public figures that have been recruited by the White House to help discredit anyone who speaks ill of the Obama Administration. Rather than asking whether or not Smiley and West’s issues are relevant, Harvey, Tom Joyner and others know that it’s easier to simply smear the credibility of the messengers.  In American politics, character assassinations are typically preferred rather than actually dealing with the issue itself, Watkins concluded.”

This sophomoric serial political saga would be laughable if it were not a pathetic treatise on the state of black political leadership going forward.  The advent of black celebrity political leadership has infused infotainment, comedy and political sensationalism into the realm of serious political discourse and it compromises the legitimate political aspirations of the masses of black folk.

These competing black political leadership neophytes are in the process of squandering the political capital and opportunities associated with ascension of the first black American to the presidency of the United States.  Apparently, the unelected neo black political leadership is attempting to engage president Obama into a political accountability scenario.  However, they had no meaningful role in the making of the first black American president, other than the popularity contest of the general election, and an Amen…

As this writer recalls, candidate Senator Barack Obama defied the conventional political wisdom of the black civil rights leadership orthodoxy, both elected and unelected, and ultimately prevailed in a very contentious party presidential primary process.  Having won his party’s nomination with only esoteric black political support, coupled with his personal political sensibilities, presidential candidate Obama gave the multitudes of black Americans the opportunity to vote for him in the general election popularity contest.

Now, some notable and well placed prominent black political leader aspirants are attempting to corral the president into an agenda for black Americans and the poor.  What and whose “black agenda” are they speaking of?  The black civil rights agenda, or are they talking about the black political power agenda?  Likewise, what agenda for the poor are they referencing (White, Black, Latino, Asian etc), and have they advanced any written policy recommendations?  Or is it simply political rhetoric?

The president as well as the congress, respond, react to, and are animated by, “political power relationship groups” or individuals that represent respective political power relationship groups.  Real-time hardball electoral politics is not personality driven!  This writer suspects that none of the above mentioned prominent black Americans represent a real-time political power relationship group.  It appears as though the individuals that are engaged in this politically superfluous controversy are prominent within their respective genre.  And in some cases they are informally organized in disparate black groupings competing against each other for the ear of the president, fifteen minutes of political fame and an illusion of power.

The last time that this writer checked, there was no definitive black civil rights agenda, nor is there a cohesive political power group organized and raising money for the purpose of advancing that specific political agenda.  Likewise, there is no definitive black political power agenda in place with organized advocates raising funds to move that agenda.  There are only ad hoc political formulations with short life spans.  Therefore, what black agenda are they espousing that the president can address?

On the other hand, what political interest group is raising money, organizing and lobbying on behalf of poor people?  Are any of these vociferous advocates for black and poor folk engaged in any activities on the Hill, advancing policy positions on behalf of their target group?  Are they engaged in voter education and registration activities during and between elections?  Or is it only an exercise in black rap?

Some in the black community advance an argument that ninety-five plus percent of the black community voted for Obama in the general election, therefore the president must address the needs of his principal constituency.  Accordingly, the president must address our political demands!  Well, making political demands, and speaking truth to power without, organization, strategy, tactics and a budget for achieving specific short and long-range objectives is political power 101.  When all the pieces to the political power puzzle are in place, very little needs to be said on radio and television talk shows, or other intelligence gathering forums.

Relevant links:

 

Harvey Interview:

http://yourblackworld.com/2011/08/16/dr-boyce-speaks-in-nyc-about-pres-obama-smiley-and-west/

MSNBC, BLACK AGENDA DISINFORMATION?

The ongoing black political saga in America was animated to greater heights in this 2012 election season by a controversy that was ignited on cable TV with the glib tongues and quick political wits of Professor Cornel West and Rev. Al Sharpton, on a recent MSNBC Show hosted by Ed Schultz.  The clash of these popular political Titans is the latest rendition and spectacle of the internal debate that has been percolating beneath the political correct surface, since the election of President Barack Obama.

Reference to a previous iteration of this contemporary black political saga is relevant to the West vs. Sharpton argument because the previous political attack on Sharpton was levied by TV host Tavis Smiley during a popular radio talk show.  A political nexus occurs, as Smiley and West are publically and programmatically the best of friends.  Moreover, both Smiley and West have respectively, challenged Sharpton’s apparently cozy relationship with President Obama, as inimical to holding the president accountable to the illusive “black agenda.”

The vociferous MSNBC debate on the “black agenda” by West and Sharpton is getting mixed reviews in the black community.  Some in the black community say that “those two heavy brothers shouldn’t argue in public like that because it portrays the black community as divided politically.” In another black political quarter they hold, “the political debate on the black agenda going forward is a healthy development and should be encouraged.”

The “black agenda” is a perennial political debate in the black community at all levels but unfortunately when it is discussed in the public by members of the celebrity leadership and anointed leaders in media forums the black agenda is ill defined, and synonymous with the civil rights agenda, and civil rights leadership.  There is a political dichotomy between the “black agenda” and the “civil rights agenda” that has roots in contemporary political history and has an application in 21^st century black American politics.  Unfortunately, the designated black American political leadership has not articulated the texture that is black internal politics and thereby, may be unwittingly promoting political disinformation along with MSNBC.

Dr. Boyce Watkins, a neo-African American public voice, is quoted on his blog post entitled “Cornel West, Al Sharpton Argue About President Obama.”  Boyce said, “I knew the conversation would be volatile, and I was concerned about the imagery of two black men going to war on MSNBC.  Ed Schultz was the MSNBC host of “A Stronger America:  The Black Agenda, a show that allowed a few voices to air their perspective on what a black agenda should look like in the age of Obama.”

“As I expected,” Boyce continued, “the argument came to a predictable boiling point.  Consistent with the views of his close colleague, Tavis Smiley, Cornel West fought hard to short-circuit the partnership between President Obama and Rev. Al Sharpton.  Al Sharpton, a man not known to back down from anyone, defended his position well and also challenged those who sit in their ivory tower and talk without taking action.”

Dr. Boyce, a confidant of Rev. Sharpton continued, “I watched the entire exchange shaking my head, primarily because I knew that such a fight was simply inevitable.  As I wrote on the Huffington Post a couple of weeks ago, the Obama Presidency has created a divide among black public figures that I pray will not cripple our community.”

Unfortunately the episodic public political debate relative to the “black agenda” is seen in binary, black and white optics, while at the grassroots level the saga of the black agenda going forward is in living color and has an eclectic political diversity.  However, as the comments of Dr. Boyce highlights some blacks’ belief that varying political positions articulated in the public by black public figures is perceived as potentially crippling the black community.

Although the issue concerning the nature of the black agenda in the age of Obama is a relevant and significant subject in need of a broad based public political discourse, we consumers of popular TV media are only exposed to black celebrity political leadership with a myopic or circular political discourse…

Gary James, chairman of the National Black Grand Old Party (GOP BRAND) said, “Mainstream media always rounds up the usual suspects to discuss the important issues relating to the black community, such as the black agenda in the age of President Obama.  Consequently, the substance of these engagements and exchanges tends to be politically sophomoric, parochial, generating much heat, but shedding little light and understanding going forward.”

“Interestingly enough, none of the anointed black American leaders tapped by MSNBC to discuss, explore and define the “black agenda” offered a contemporary context wherein the notion of a black political agenda resides…   James continued, “The black agenda is separate and distinct from the civil rights agenda.  Accordingly, the black agenda and the civil rights agenda are not interchangeable as the spokespeople for Ed Schultz have represented.”

According to James, the black agenda was methodically eclipsed by the civil rights agenda during the 1960’s and 70’s in the context of a sophisticated political disinformation campaign to marginalize emerging black power politics and its “militant” community based advocates.  The era of Obama demonstrates that black America has entered the post civil rights period.  Hence, the dormant black political agenda of the civil rights period is emerging.

James concluded, “In the future I hope that mainstream media reaches out for black American political input beyond the usual designated leadership suspects.  Should they need some help going forward I was be happy to offer a list of potential participants.” Reference the relevant links:

 

Race Based Political Hustle?

The latest race based debacle has captured the imagination of the media, respective political players, and virtually all segments of the American population, as well as some in the international community.  The abounding media spectacle has virtually overshadowed many critical foreign and domestic policy issues, and sparked a board conversation concerning “race,” while feeding the incendiary allegations of racism and reverse racism across the political spectrum.

Inspired by the preemptive firing of a mid-level employee of the US Department of Agriculture, Mrs. Shirley Sherrod, the ensuing political debates, conversations and media coverage has again raised the prospect of a teachable moment relative to race in America.  The “Sherrod episode” was ignited by a political duel based on charges of alleged racism between the emerging Tea Party movement and the NAACP, a century old civil rights organization.

The NAACP President made a public announcement of a resolution calling on the Tea Party leadership to denounce the “racist elements” within their movement.  The resolution was directed to persons who brandished at Tea Party rallies, political posters, signage and rhetoric linking President Obama with the likes of Hitler, Carl Marx and Lenin, as well as portraying the President as an “uncle Tom.”

For their part, the members of the Tea Party, in response to the NAACP’s public admonition for the Tea Party to call out its racist elements, leveled accusations against the NAACP’s leadership for alleged acts of racism and reverse discrimination.  Subsequently, a political tit for tat between the two organizations was enjoined.

The Tea Party (conservative) vs. the NAACP’s (liberal) political conflagration was crystallized by an edited video tape engineered by a conservative blogger, was positioned to inflame the political wedge issue of “race” as bate for the Obama administration.  The Obama administration and the NAACP took that bate and Mrs. Sherrod was summarily fired by her boss, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the NAACP vociferously announced its support for Mrs. Sherrod’s firing from her employment.

The controversial firing of Mrs. Sherrod was exacerbated when the doctored tape was viewed in its entirety.  The tape was ultimately exposed as a political butchering job orchestrated by the conservative blogger hit man, in the first instance.  As a consequence of the political expose Mrs. Sherrod received across the board apologies from the NAACP, the Obama administration among others, and was offered her job back or another position, if she so desired.

In the wake of this unsuccessful political hatchet job, Mrs. Sherrod has become a media celebrity and was feted around the media circuit as a glowing example of racial sensitivity and personal growth relative to the race issue, that she deservedly represents.  Hence, the “race” conversation remains a predominant subject of the media among others, and the much touted teachable moment continues to be a hot topic engaging the usual political and civil rights suspects.

Interestingly enough, the plethora of media coverage and vociferous rhetoric between competing political positions is generating a substantial amount of heat, but very little light in the context of the teachable moment.  Thus far the apparent teachable moment is being squandered by partisan arguments that only attempt to advance respective political perspectives.  These race based political juxtapositions only serve to demonstrate how allegations of racism are hustled by competing interests from all quarters, whether substantiated or not, particularly during electoral political seasons.

Needless to say, the intellectual integrity of the race conversation has been thoroughly compromised in the balance, leaving the public at large completely disillusioned concerning the fact of race.  The media as well as the typical political hucksters, both conservative and liberal, are all culpable for undermining the intelligence of the American people.

In the media’s zeal for higher ratings and in the quest by the Tea Party, NAACP, among others for political brownie points, they continue to hoodwink the public, by hustling intellectually outdated information, regarding race.  At some point the teachable moment relative to the race conversation must be based on 21^st century scientific data and academic scholarship.

However, the NAACP and others who are sustained by the civil rights industry continue to engage in race based politics.  Policies and political minority juxtapositions that serve to sustain their position are the only issues under discussion.  The NAACP’s victorious and glorious legacy of advancing America and the African American community during the dark history of the 19^th and 20^th century is laudable.  The NAACP integrity remains essentially unquestioned as a stalwart entity that helped to deliver the virtues of the America experiment to all Americans.

However, the critical political needs of Black American’s are no longer relevant to the orthodox civil rights agenda, vis-à-vis, its race based and partisan political sensibilities.  Yet, kudos extended to the NAACP and the respective leaders of the storied civil rights movement, for their achievements are appropriate.  But now, Black America requires a new political paradigm going forward, in the context of a coherent and politically sophisticated Black agenda…  The contemporary NAACP has effectively positioned itself to address the advancement of “all people of color” which is inimical to the particular needs of Black Americans in the quest to be politically and economically competitive in the 21^st century’s global community.

On the other hand, the Tea Party movement has positioned itself as a political conservative initiative, but masquerades its race based politics in policies, and positions, with political buzz words and hot button wedge issues that are abhorrent to most Black folk.  By way of the “modern conservative” movement, special interest groups have effectively hijacked the Republican Party base and articulate a revisionist Republican history, in order to reposition the party of President Lincoln.  However, the Grand Old Party (GOP) in fact has no organic conservative roots associated with its founding.  The founding of the GOP was based on progressive eclecticism, and served as a cornerstone of the victorious civil rights advances that characterized African American communities successes of the 19^th century.  The political achievements of African American’s during the first civil rights period, remains unparalleled in comparison with the modern civil rights movement of the 1950s and 60s.

The conservative movement in the Republican Party had its ignominious birth during the early 1960s and it was based on the fact that African Americans, by way of the modern civil rights movement (20^th century) successfully infiltrated the Democratic Party of the Jim Crow era.  As a consequence the Southern Democratic conservatives for the most part, infiltrated the Republican Party and rendered it conservative during the early 1960s.  Hence, the conservative wing of the Republican Party was and continues to be a race based phenomenon that has positioned the GOP accordingly.

Moreover, America was born with the birth defect of “race” based inferiority and discrimination.  Unfortunately, racial dichotomies are a part of the fabric of the American political and social sensibility.  But the notion of race and the idea of multi-racialism is a delusion as a matter of fact.  Race as a distinguishing factor among human beings is a false and contrived construct that was designed and imposed to achieve social, economic and political objectives on behalf of the white ruling elite.  The political page relative to the multi-racial delusion must be turned, in order to end this infamous and bygone era.

Fortunately, the advances of science has totally and unequivocally discredited race as a factor that distinguishes human beings.  This writer remains confounded as to why the teachable moment regarding the race conversation is not based on current scientific data and scholarship.  However, he remains hopeful that at some point, hopefully in the near future, the fourth estate (media) will rise to the occasion, step up to the plate and disclose facts that will stop the race based political hustle…

Apparently, the prevailing political leadership in both parties and their respective operatives are too vested in minority based political juxtapositions to turn the corner on race motivated electoral politics.  Perhaps we the people must raise the intellectual quality of the race conversation beyond the partisan rhetorical political diatribe…  Maybe we the people will ultimately have to raise the political, social consciousness going forward.

Gary James is a former civil rights staff organizer in New York City, under the leadership of the late Dr. George Wiley, President of the National Welfare Rights Organization, (NWRO) from 1966-70.  James is a freelance writer, author, political analyst, and consultant.  For more information visit: garyJjames.com

 

Controversy Continues Among Black People and Leaders…

Should there be a “black agenda” in America? And if the answer to that question is ‘yes,’ what is the black agenda?

These are the questions that black leaders and black people have been discussing more and more since President Obama took office.  Reverend Al Sharpton hosted a leadership summit addressing this very issue.   Recently, a group of black leaders got together on an MSNBC special to talk about this issue in more detail.   And many will remember the on-air argument that Tavis Smiley and Rev. Sharpton had a few months ago about this topic.

Tavis believes that Obama isn’t doing enough.   Sharpton believes that Obama need not ‘ballyhoo’ a black agenda.   Most agree, though, that something needs to be done.

With a 16.5% unemployment rate (compared to 9.7% for white Americans), an education system that is under serving black children, higher than average rates of death from diseases like breast cancer, and continued social issues, it is hard to disagree that there is need for some kind of targeted and focused approach to dealing with the issues that affect  African-American.   But many are divided on whether or not the president is doing enough for black people, whether or not it’s incumbent on him to do anything at all, and what should or shouldn’t be done.

 

When Racism Masquerades as Something Else…

This article originally appeared in the December 2009 issue of Aspenia, the Italian journal published by the Aspen Foundation Italy.

Don’t let the virulent hatred of Obama’s presidency – veiled in “policy differences” – fool you. Just ask someone raised around bigotry. Carlos Dews  is an author, a professor of English literature, and chairman of the Department of English Language and Literature at John Cabot University in Rome.

” ‘The nigger show.”

I first heard this expression used to describe the Obama administration during a visit to my hometown in East Texas during the early summer of 2009.   I understood what the epithet meant: Our minds are made up, the president lacks legitimacy, and there is nothing he can do that we will support. I was  not surprised to hear such a phrase.

I grew up in the 1960s during the ragged end of the Jim Crow era, where many of the books in my school library were stamped Colored School, meaning they had been brought to the white school when the town was forced to integrate the public school system. I recall my parents had instructed me, before my first day of elementary school, not to sit in a chair where a black child had sat. And I remember my sister joked that her yearbook, when it appeared at the end of her first year of integrated high school, was in “black and white.”

The outward signs of racism of my home state have now disappeared, but racial hatred remains. My father and his friends still use the word nigger to refer to all black people, and the people of my hometown don’t hesitate to spout their racist rhetoric to my face, assuming I agree with them. I hold my tongue for the sake of having continued access to this kind of  truth. I learned long ago how not to accept the hatred I was being taught and how to survive not having done so. More recently, I realized that I also learned another lesson: how to recognize racism when it masquerades as something else.

More than 40 years after my first experiences with racism, I am thousands of miles away in Rome, but surrounded by ghosts. Last year, I received a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts for a community program called the  Big Read, which sponsors activities to encourage communities to come together to read and discuss a single book. I chose Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, in part because I thought that some of the most salient issues in the novel – racism, classism, xenophobia, the Jim Crow era – were perhaps relevant to an increasingly diverse, contemporary Italy.

That there is racism in Italy is obvious to anyone who pays attention to current affairs. In fact, during the first week of the Big Read Rome, a story in one of Italy’s national newspapers detailed the experience of a  Nigerian woman being called sporca nera (essentially, dirty nigger) by two women she asked to stop smoking on a Roman bus.

But I never imagined that consideration of the novel would prove so relevant to a country that had just elected its first black president. Ironically, until the election of Barack Obama, my discussions of racism in the United States seemed historical. I felt that with the passage of the civil rights legislation of the mid-1960s, the country had turned a corner,  that the slow evaporation of overt racism was perhaps inevitable. Now, my personal experience of Southern racism feels current and all too familiar. A  news story about the Big Read that appeared in La Repubblica on Sept. 20 (unaware that my grant was awarded during the Bush  administration),  presciently brought Rome, Obama, To Kill a Mockingbird, and racism together in its headline: “Obama brings antiracist book to Rome.”

Jimmy Carter was lambasted for having recently explained that the vehemence with which many Americans resist Obama’s presidency is an expression of racism. Carter was accused of fanning the flames of racial misunderstanding by labeling as “racist” what on the surface could be perceived as legitimate policy differences. Like Carter, as a white Southern man, I can see beyond the seemingly legitimate rhetoric to discern what is festering behind much of the opposition to Obama and to his administration’s policy initiatives. I also have access, via the racist world from which I came, direct confirmation of the racial hatred toward Obama.

The veiled racism I sense in the United States today is couched, in public discourse at least, in terms that allow for plausible deniability of racist intent. And those who resist any policy initiative from the Obama administration engage in a scorched-earth policy that reminds me of the self-centered white flight, the abandonment of public schools, and the proliferation of private schools, that followed the 1954 Brown v. Board of  Education decision to desegregate public schools. The very people, like my own rural, working-class family back in East Texas, who stand to gain from  the efforts of the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress are,  because of their racism, willing to oppose policies that would benefit them  the most. Their racism outweighs their own self-interest.

Unfortunately, racists in the United States have learned one valuable lesson since the 1960s: They cannot express their racism directly. In public, they must veil their racial hatred behind policy differences. This obfuscation makes direct confrontation difficult. Anyone pointing out their racist motivations runs the risk of unfairly playing “the race card.” But I know what members of my family mean when they say – as so many said during the town hall meetings in August – that they “want their country back.” They want it back, safely, in the hands of someone like them, a white person.  They feel that a black man has no right to be the president of their country.

During a phone conversation a few weeks after Obama’s election, my father lamented that he and my mother might have to stop visiting the casinos in Shreveport, La.: Given Obama’s election, “the niggers are already walking around like they own the place. They won’t even give up their seats for white women anymore. I don’t know what we’re going to do with ’em.”

My students often ask me how I managed to avoid accepting the lesson in racism offered by my family. From the time I was 4 or 5 years old – roughly the same age as Scout Finch, the narrator of To Kill a Mockingbird – I recall knowing that I didn’t agree with racism. More important, my paternal grandmother provided me with the encouragement that I could ignore what I  was being taught. She provided me with the courage to resist.

My grandmother hoped that my father and his father represented the last  generations of the type of Southern man that had shaped her life – virulently racist, prone to violence, proud of their ignorance, and self-defeatingly stubborn. It was a type of Southern man that she hoped and prayed I could avoid becoming.

However, my father and his father were not the last of their kind; their  racial hatred has been passed on. My grandmother, if she were alive, would recognize the same tendencies among many of the people who shout down politicians and bring guns to public rallies. She would also see how the only change they have made is to replace overt racist epithets with more euphemistic language.

Rather than seeing my home state and its racist attitudes, slowly, over time, pulled in the direction of more acceptance the country as a whole has become more like the South, the racial or cultural equivalent of what is called the Walmartization of American retail.

It might be easy to see literature as impotent in the face of the persistence and adaptability of racism. But I continue to believe in the transformative potential of literature and its ability to provide an alternative view of the world. And for children who are not lucky enough to have grandmothers like mine, I believe that books like To Kill a Mockingbird can provide inoculation against the virus that is racism.