For me to quit on black people means that I have grown completely tired of our excuses and repulsed by our justifications for our condition. It also means that I am sacrificing my Fight the Power mentality. Removing it from my thought process completely so that I can have some Peace.After all these years of standing in the Pro Blackness of American discourse I have decided to sacrifice what my soul pushes in the forefront of my ideology so that I can finally sleep.
I am here at this place. This moment. Like so many: Tired and Defeated. Taken down by my brothers and sisters; and not beat-up by the White Power Structure. It is us (the black man and woman) who has lost a fighter. A soldier.
If only we could have collectively moved in that direction of taking responsibility. As our ancestors did.
Warren Balentine, Radio Talk Show Host, said today:
"I will no long jump down the white man's neck when there is a so called injustice perpetrated on black people...I certainly understand that there are countless injustices that black men and women face. I am tired of us getting all excited when a white person does something to us - but yet we do nothing when we continue with the injustices we inflict on each other...Where are the marches when we kill each other?
So many have taken this stance before. And, the subject matter is a continuous pathetic conversation. Actually, I am tired of writing and talking about it because no matter what is said we do not do anything to better our situations...collectively.
Warren also continued with this:
"In one zip code area in Chicago that has nothing but black people as residents the lottery totals (ticket purchases) for a year was 24 million dollars!" This is the same area that has record foreclosure rates and high unemployment. With the money spent on tickets countless homes could have been saved and there could have been job training programs implemented."
Winning the lottery is our means of escape...?
What say you?
The Black Rebel is putting on his black face. Ready and willing to be what I am not.
-The Black Rebel
What say you?
The Black Rebel is putting on his black face. Ready and willing to be what I am not.
-The Black Rebel
Reader Response:
ReplyDeleteThe only way the money would have been diverted is if it was taken out like taxes. ;-) What is a shaky, vague ground is the endless rallying cries for job training programs.
America is most significantly a consumer culture, which is a reason--one of many, I might add--why the citizens are hurting today. With that said, since America no longer manufactures or produces the majority of its goods, what are we to train these people to?
We have to start being more explicit in what we mean by job training. In other words, we need a real plan of action--one that benefits more than squandering resources on the lottery. One from which we can see the tangible benefits. Not one that leaves us trained, yet unemployed.
Warren brings up a good point, though. The last few decades have seen us in "temporary" uproars (which are quickly hushed by the likes of Sharpton and Jesse) when caucasian folks do something, yet virtually silent when it's a member of our group. We can't have it both ways. When do we find our balls, backbone, whatever, and act accordingly?
Again, I have to go back to Amos Wilson's quotes--"white people do what they do to us because they can," and "the thing black people most need to overcome is their cowardice."
Like Warren, I've grown tired of the one-sided defense system myself.
-NAY
The Black Rebel responds to NAY:
ReplyDeleteYou pose a good question. Stats do support your exertion. The face of employment in America is changing drastically. Some jobs have been and/or will be totally eliminated from the workforce. I was in Ellijay, GA this past weekend. I am not certain of what was the employment threshold up there. I do know I saw countless what looked to be former manufacturing warehouses.
I must say that I have given up on black folk to some degree. I will work with youth - but I said the hell with these black men and women who had an opportunity and another opportunity to get it right - but failed to do so because of stupidity. We all have issues. We should not allow them to impede progress. We have to stay focused. Unfortunately, many of us have taken the easy easy road.
Every time a white cop shoots a black man I get heated. I get heated when a brotha kills another brotha too. A year ago I decided when in conversation about what the white man has done to immediately preface what the black man is not doing. I moved away from that. I will no longer:
Two weeks ago down here in lovely black Atlanta a brotha killed a black female as she sat in her car in her drive way. She was the mother of 4.
So, I am quitting on Black folk...well, the adults I am!
-The Black Rebel
Reader NAY responds to The Black Rebel:
ReplyDeleteI feel the same way. Our work takes us heavily into the community and it took in-our-face incidents to come to the conclusion that there is little-to-nothing we can do for the adults. The children are our only hope, if the adults don't f*** them up too badly.
The dude who shot the sista deserves a similar fate. It doesn't matter who the instigator is, wrong is wrong. But, again, most of us would rather crawl into a hole than admit that and have to come out swinging at black folks, too. We love that we've been APPOINTED leaders to rally against european injustices. The victim mentality is so well established, it operates on its own, as long as the culprit is not black.
-NAY
The Black Rebel Responds to NAY:
ReplyDeleteWhen they finally captured the fools who gun downed Vernon Forest I heard several black folk on a radio talk show with sympathy for the ones who pulled the triggers. Some black callers had the audacity to blame "the system" on what happened to Vernon. As if this "system" was pulling the trigger. Those brothas who killed Vernon and the brotha who killed the young mother was faced with a decision before pulling the trigger. They decided to be cold blooded killers. No system was involved. But, you have those who continue to BLAME the white man for our animalistic foolishness. These bkack people are detrimental voices in the black community. No voice of personal responsibility is projected in the forefornt!
-The Black Rebel
Reader Responds:
ReplyDeleteAfricans,
I need to weigh in on this conservation. There is a great distinction between the "white man" and the capitalist system which is ultimately pulling the purse strings. Capitalist interests are what control the world and thus shapes the dominate ideology which guides all of our actions. As we begin to speak about those Africans that kill one another, or those Africans who participate in illicit behavior, let’s turn our attention to Africans whose primary purpose is to make money. We all know them, they go to college to make gobs and gobs of cash to try and wash off their Africanness. Or how about that African government official (Mobutu) who had a floating Central bank (and subsequently was responsible for the death of Lumumba), or lets now turn our attention to that African man or women who's believes that the way out of the hood/poverty is to sell pharmaceutical products to the community.
Once we dissect all of the problems that face our community and all of the individuals who have and continue to make decisions that negatively effect our community, families and people lets ask ourselves WHY? Well the answer is very simple, we are driven to make these decisions based on our ideology (a set of ideas and principles that guide our actions and behaviors) This ideology is based in capitalist principles that promotes survival of the fittest, (thus we can kill who we want to survive), rampant individualism (this is why so many of us are trying to make the big bucks to individually prosper forgetting that our people are suffering), and free market (this absurd thought that as ordinary people we actually have a positive relationship to the world market or the mode of production). If you don’t think that you=2 0are guided by capitalist ideology, ask yourself, “Where did I get the notion that money equated to happiness?, When did I begin to determine that in order to be successful I had to go to college and get a job?, When did you begin to worry about your own personal economic stability and forget that the people (all of humanity in general but Africans in particular) are suffering?
I have attached a piece by the All-African Peoples Revolutionary Party of which I am a member and some reading by Ahmed Sekou Toure the first president of Guinea (X Culture and Life) which speaks about the importance of ideology and culture.
-MF
The Black Rebel Responds to MF:
ReplyDeleteYou have said a lot. It is on point...but some of us still make the decision to kill, rob, and rape our very own people. No matter what has been done to black people via a capitalistic society you and many others made a decision to live righteously. Right? Those of us who mean their fellow brotha/sista no good are just as guilty as the capitalistic system that stomps people. Black people are victims of this brutally system...however, we continue with our very own foolishness. Therefore, WE are responsible also.
Why in world can't we just admit it:
Black people are idiots...
Not you. Not me. But, collectively we are viewed as idiots. I actually understand the logic behind why most of the world believe we are idiots. Look at what we do to each other all under the banner of I AM/WAS OPPRESSED. CAPITALISM HAS ME ACTING THIS WAY.
Just asinine.
We da only people of color yelling this crap!
Just dumb!
-The Black Rebel
MF responds to The Black Rebel:
ReplyDeleteI want to ensure that I am clear!! I am by no means blaming capitalism for the fact that we make decisions that are counter revolutionary and hinder our own personal and collective development. What i am suggesting is that when we look at the decisions that Africans make, we look at them from an individual and collective perspective. Not all Africans are down for Africa or African people. As a matter of fact the face of Capitalism now is laced with your Boy Obama who certainly is not "the white man".
We are collectively viewed as individuals, who are more interested with their own well-being then that of our community. We are not alone, many people around the world are governed by the same ideology and make that same bad decisions. just look at "foolishness" that goes on in the Barrio's where you have rival Latino and Asian gangs killing one another? Why are they making the same decisions as we are? Is their DNA also somehow corrupted, if you don't believe me slide on down to Oakland, or LA where they are killing each other just as we are!! Or how about those white folks who are making decisions in the Midwest, who are killing each other, using meth and beating their wives? And lets not act like folks that are white are not making bad decisions, because I can name at least 5 of my cousins that are white that are making bad decisions, beating folks up, using drugs, selling drugs, going to prison and running with gangs that are killing folks. i say all this to point out that our bad decisions are definitely BAD, but at some point we have to realize that this whole thing is connected and when we begin to a) change our ideology, b) unify and c) fight for our rights to live then we will stop making these decisions that harm others because we will hopefully be living in a different society. One that is not driven by capital but by humanity.
Capitalists benefit from the chaos in our community in particular and humanity in general. When they is happening they can hoodwink us, take our resouces and make a killing off our backs!! We have to stand up to these bastards and this begins by changing our ideology. We could give out guns, but with our present state we would be shooting each other!!
Lastly, if Africans are the only ones doing horrible things to one another, how do we explain that man in Cali that kidnapped that little girl and help her captive for 19 years and fathered two of her children?
-MF
The Black Rebel Responds to MF:
ReplyDeleteI certainly understand what you're conveying. I just do not have anymore patience for the excuses we (the fellas on the block) present. NONE.
And, to be clear: I do not care about what Jimmy Bob and Asian Tommy are doing to their people.
Anyway, stop with this convenient input. We all know that black people kill each other wholesale. White, Asian, and Hispanics people are not the ones among the "alarming stats". You know this.
One white man kidnaps a white girl and keeps her for years...Really? That's all you can present.
How about the 9yr old who was killed last year by a stray bullet from the gun of a black fool? How about those black fools who shot a woman in the head and beat her 1yr old child?
I will NEVER again present what a white person has done in a discussion until we as a people make decision to stop destroying ourselves.
We are the problem. Nothing and no one else is anymore. The seeds of self-hatred were planted. Continue to be - but we a re faced with a decision to do right or wrong. We have chosen WRONG for too long!
We are an embarrassment when thinking of what our ancestors had to endure for us to even sit behind this white man's desk. Just pathetic.
What will I do to help? Raise my son the right way. Continue to work in human service. Mentor. That's it. Does this move mean I am selling out? Nope. Just reliquishing a faded hope. Forgetting a useless dream.
I am QUITTING ON BLACK PEOPLE. No more tears from me. I advise each of us reading to remove our hearts that are filled with hope to do the same. We have had too many opportunities to get it right.
Sounds like one of our revered leaders is getting sick and tired too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiEKS5iPtDs
Bpayne
MF Responds to The Black Rebel:
ReplyDeletethe problem is that you should not have been presenting white people as the problem in the first place!! the problem is capitalism!! it is not one group of people!!