My Words Of Specificity For My Good Friend Cnulan - Safe Communities

My good friend cnulan asked me the followinng question regarding my standard 6 point framework for Black community progression.

Please be so kind as to hold forth on the specific reference architecture and internal processes you're advocating that poor folks in America adopt in order to better thrive in America.and you gave me a bunch of high-level objectives. Surely you can do better than that? Pick one, any one, and spell out the "how to" of the process you have in mind, comparing and contrasting the way it's done in your idealized community with the way it's currently not done in your demonized community. Tell us what the gamma defectives on whom you relentlessly heap your scorn are failing to do and give us your prescriptive detail for their doing it better. Thanks.[/

This is why cnulan is my friend. He challenges me more than he does his ideological friends. I am glad that he gave me the opportunity to respond to his question. It is a great question.

Before I go into detail - I must challenge you on your use of "poor people"/"poor communities". Once you commit to such a definition for a people then you also begin to accept their actions as being that of poor and/or you begin to treat them as poor and thus inherently INFERIOR.

I will chose the topic of "Safe Streets So That The People Can Create Community Connections"

The argument that I make here is that a "safe community" is the fundamental building block for a people to craft a community that is functional and synergistic in action ,thought and enforcements from their people.

We only need to point to the time when "A Black man had no rights that a White man need respect" to see the damage that one's arbitrary choices to ignore and then attack the Black community upon a whim proved dealy and destructive to this same community.

This it is clear that the Black community has a vested interest in producing an environment where certain threats are removed from the daily conduct of life, thus allowing the masses within to pursue their "life, liberity and happiness".

My criticism of the the faction that I call the "Black Quasi-Socialist Progressive-Fundamentalist Racism Chasers" is that in their pursuit against their EXTERNAL enemies - they have allowed the 'internal cancers' to feed upon the community, absent the same outrage that was shown when WHITE FOLKS molested us, intimidated us and crafted a system in which those who were guilty were effectively protected by the masses within.

Thus, my good friend cnulan - I would say that the most critical first step that must be taken for the "poor communities" that you speak of to accept my high level prescription and "operationalize" them is for them to TAKE OWNERSHIP of the general state of their community and ENFORCE their own concept of "The Law" within.

Too frequently there are references to "the law" as made in city hall or the state legislature. As the theory goes - these laws and, more importantly the CONSEQUENCES there in are being imposed upon the community rather than accepted by them as just and necessary.

On the other extreme is the presence of "Street Justice". If someone does something to "your people" the response is to strike back at them by your own hand, no involvement by the "authorities" to render justice. All this does is fan the flames of VIOLENCE and retribution leading to a net violent community as a result.

One of the motivations for the "Stop Snitching" phenomenon is that the thug operatives and many other elements have chosen the rules of the street above the rules of law and order as expressed from the system. Think about it - the criminal element within the Black community is engaging in destructive and illegal conspiracies that ultimately harm our community. When one of these operatives performs an assault upon another member who is "in the game".....and takes out several other innocent people in the process there is a need for JUSTICE as rendered by "the system". Thus we have the situation where a "citizen victim" is also a "criminal operative" that has also brought other innocent members of the community down with them. Having avoided the agents of law and order for the duration of his time spent in the game he is not inclined to "SNITCH" to them when members of his family or community are victims, in need of justice.

cnulan - Martin Luther King Jr, Malcolm X, Marcus Garvey, Booker T Washington WEB Dubois and so many other of the champions of JUSTICE for Black people are crying profusely as they look down upon the condition of our people in these "poor communities" that you refer to. After bloody decades in which they fought for a FAIR hearing for Black people within this American justice system - the operatives in power today within our communities have thrown a collective middle finger at all of their works that have come with much bloodshed and mental anguish.

So to directly answer you challenge - it is imperative for these "poor communities" to have a spirit of ownership and projection of rules of order UPON THEIR OWN PEOPLE as the primary means of expressing a higher order standard of living WITHIN.

If the claims about there being a present strong legacy of "conservative racism" that thwarts a Black man from moving forward no matter how hard he tries cnulan, AT LEAST you and your Progressive-Fundamentalist brotheren who dominate our community could make sure that the people THEMSELVES are not taking on the role of the "conservative blocker" that destroys the dreams of Black people.

The milieu of the "progressive" has been to FIGHT AGAINST THE OUTSIDE THREAT as a means of obtaining increased rights for the masses within. This has also served as a "UNIFYING FORCE WITHIN" the community as they are always one step behind the antics of the oppressor who has gamed them. cnulan - the second major tenant for these communities to REFORM themselves into the present from a COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT perspective - will be for them to retire these old and tired antics which play upon the people's emotions and resentment but which are ultimately hollow. Presently even when "the adversary" moves away and thus has access to the community to do his dirty work via a local interstate he is STILL the primary threat for the community, regardless of what the actual statics indicate. It is time to EXPRESS THE GOALS OF THE COMMUNITY CENTRALLY THROUGH THE PEOPLE THEMSELVES!!! No more SCAPE GOATS as the centerpiece!

We must also force a retirement of certain RIDICULOUS concepts that only serve to mentally nullify the Negro into believing that "he did not pull the trigger". Certain progressive operatives have come up with the concept of "derivative behavior" to describe why "the Black man shot the other Black guy in the head on the 6 o'clock news". As the story goes - the reason why the one Black guy acted out is because the legacy of Slavery, Jim Crow and racial oppression - regardless of the fact that he was born in 1973. It is imperative, cnulan, that the individuals in the community and the voices that speak for it take a bias toward ACCOUNTABILITY rather than psychobable that tends to shift the reason for the transgression upon SOCIETY as a whole and more specifically White Folks/Capitalism/The United States.

It must be noted that just as the assailant is a "victim of slavery" so too is his VICTIM. This victim has the misfortune of being force to live right next door to thugs who DON'T GIVE A DAMN. This proximity to this threat (you know that Black progressives "cast no judgment" and accept everyone without malice) is a threat in and of itself. The iron bars over the windows in some communities are not placed there to make sure their children don't sneak out of the house at night.

cnulan - I give you permission to say "That Negro pulled the trigger, killed the person and he deserves the death penalty". No need to make this into an old Richard Prior skit.

Lastly, cnulan, the third major concept that I wish to express to you is: PEOPLE WITH SOCIALIST TENDENCIES SHOULD BE THE FIRST TO PRACTICE THEM WITHIN THEIR OWN COMMUNITY WITH THEIR OWN RESOURCES!!!

Why is it that some people only look to establish a system of confiscation and redistribution when they are the key beneficiaries of such? When there is need and desolation among their own communities this is the last concept that we are inclined to hear. This is an anathema to all that is known about successful socialism. I practice socialism at home under my roof and within my immediate family. I have written checks to needed relatives knowing that I would never see the money again, regardless of their promises. As long as I convert this "loan" to a "grant" in my own mind - I can deal with the fact that their pride at the time won't allow them to admit that they ain't giving me my money back. In addition - confrontation is averted because I rationalize in my own mind that I will never see this money again thus I don't feel the need to go after them later or hold it over their head.

cnulan - there are so many opportunities for these "poor communities" that you speak of to practice the very SOCIALISM that they show a preference for at the voting booth when they stand to gain from the ascension of progressive-fundamentalists and Marxists. Think of all of the "unemployed" souls walking within and prone to do mischief. Ironically the progressive seeks to have the greater society to demonstrate the WORTH of these people via public policy. In truth, cnulan, it is their community and the people themselves who need to express the value of these people by soliciting their assistance in resolving the problems that are abundant at the community level.

Cnulan - it is time for you and other progressives to make use of your own theory which says "money is not everything" as the pretext of asking more of the people in the community to engage in community service without the demand for PAY which the community cannot afford WHEN IT IS THE COMMUNITY THAT STANDS TO BENEFIT FROM THEIR EFFORTS WITHIN.

There you have it cnulan - I gave you actionable points. This is likely not what you wanted to hear - because it does not contain enough blame for the system - but this is indeed what YOU NEED TO HEAR.

In summary

1) Take ownership of the community - let the community's laws be "The Law". As long as the standards are high there is little risk of running awry of the laws belonging to the state which is causing so many to be incarcerated

2) Promote a milieu of INDIVIDUAL responsibility where everyone is clear on what they need to do to move the ball forward.

3) Employ SOCIALISM as locally as possible. The need is for precision "Friends and Family Plans" rather than NATIONAL plans that ensnare people who ultimately don't have your interests in mind.

The Unifying Theory On Progressivism

A few weeks ago I viewed a few documentaries about Albert Einstein. After having published the world renouned "theory of relativity" to explain events in the macro universe his work was not finished. Still to be addressed was a "UNIFYING THEORY" regarding how the behavior of subatomic particles could be expalined. At the subatomic level - the physics of predictability within the greater universe was shattered as these particles failed to behave as expected. Einstein laid on his death bed working to craft one single mathematical equation that could unite these two planes of physics. He died, pen in hand, having failed to bound these two relms of understanding.

Having been inspired by what I saw within Einstein's travails I will now set out to craft my own "Unifying Theory" as I attempt to unite the two major hemisphere that impact man. These are "the part that culture plays" upon the person versus that which the system of government works to provide resources, social justice and opportunity to him.  In addition, these two hemispheres are divided vertically and thus into quadrants. On the one side of the verticle axis is that which the individual expects to and from those who he is immediately responsible for versus the views that he imposes upon the greater society who are his national brothers.

Domain Of Care & Concern 

Domain Of Societal Architecture, Resources & Rules

Unified Theory

I learned in church today that we should "lover our neighbors as we love our own".   In the Christian teachings of today this is typically thought of in regards to resource sharing.  If you care about the hunger that your own child experiences - be sure to care that your neighbor's child is hungry as well.  I have no problem with this - this is how it should be.

Interestingly enough, however, just as I noted in the words of Miya Angelou that money given to charity by businesses for the sake of a tax write off is not CHARITY - so too is it the case that those who strive for new GOVERNMENT policies that foribly take money from the rich and give it to the poor should not be seen as charitable spirits either, despite the popular belief as such.

Seemingly absent from the notion of "treat your neighbor as your own" is the subject of ADVICE AND GUIDANCE.  Today's parlance is more like "give me your money and mind your business if you are to prove that you indeed care for me".

As I debate certain people who attempt to deny that I have any particularly unique pathway toward success, they often bring up the story of their dual state.  On the one hand they point to the fact that as a Progressive their views are counter to mind and yet they have children who are wildly successful in school, that they have great personal wealth and that their marriage is intact.   The key point that I seek to rebut them with is the fact that while it is true that THEY manage the affairs of their own family correctly because they seek to demand nothing but the best from their own.........they don't express that same notion of "treat your neighbor as you treat your own" when they work to INFERIORIZE the victims that they seek to draw attention to as society's forgotten bunch.  

In truth some of these very same people are incapable of asking the very same level of quality, commitment and outcomes from their neighbors as they constantly ask from their own kind.  For some reason it appears that if these people are asked to be the primary contributors to their own salvation and transformation they might break in the process.  For some reason they simply can't extend these very same structures that were used to propel their own toward success upon these neighbors who they claim to be committed to helping.

Thus relating to our quadrants - this person shows a basic disconnect between the CULTURE that they seek to enforce upon their own kind in the quandrant of "Cultural Influence Upon Your Loved Ones" (Quadrant II) as compared to the quadrant labled "Cultural Influence Upon The Common Man"(Quadrant I).   Similarly where as they, in their pride and dignity would not dare allow their own loved ones to fall into the quadrant of "Government Social Contract Influence Upon Loved Ones" (Quadrant III), they have no problem allowing those who they SHOULD BE loving like they love their own to fall into "Government Social Contract with the Common Man" (Quadrant IV).

When people push their "neighbors" into Quadrant IV and pretend that  we have is the situation that I called out when I noted the ridiculous position that several wealthy celibrities held as they claimed that they as rich people should be made to pay "THEIR FAIR SHARE" via taxes. Little did they detail the "great works" that they have done with their money without being forced to do so by the tax man. Isn't THIS the true measure of the man and his charitable inclinations? Doing wonders WITH OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY is not impressive at all. 

The Questions My Ideological Adversaries Should Be Asking Me - Party 1

I am fresh from reading a US Supreme Court ruling on school funding which was handed down back in 1973. In this case the majority ruled that there is no violation of the 14th Amendment by a state in relying on local taxes to fund public schools.

Of course in reading this I primarily focused on my man Justice Thurgood Marshall. Since I have coined the term "Justice Thurgood Marshall Justice" to describe the general tendency of the progressive activist to make a criminal defendant a VICTIM of the state and thus the offense of the system is made greater than the individual assault that this person has committed. (Even if he assaulted a fellow victim of the system)

No surprise that Justice Marshall dissented on the school funding ruling, making the case that the use of local taxes is an arbitrary means of maintaining class distinctions within a state boundary. I will report on the details of the case but that is not the key focus of this post.

As I bounce my own views against the prevailing sentiments within the Black community I imagine (and have occasionally hear) that there is a big question of me generated by my more Progressive debate adversaries:

"How is it that your views are so counter to the views of the Civil Rights greats, where if they had not taken their liberal stances......you would not be where you are today as a Black man with a good job, living in a mixed community and not fearing getting your head bashed in by a racist White cop? Aren't you ultimately working against your own best interests by being so "conservative"?

MY ANSWER:

I like to believe that I come to my conclusions after much deliberation of the key facts of an issue and with a strong consideration of the strategic benefit for my people. It should never be mistaken that I 'stand against the interests of my own people' because I am opposed to government enforced resource redistribution efforts.

I also take these same people to task, asking if they and and those who preceded them FOUGHT FOR ME to be loyal subjects to their calling.....or did the FIGHT so that I as a Black man living in America could blossom into the person with the ideological and political bent that any other person, White or otherwise would have his life experiences direct him toward absent the ARBITRARY RACIAL STRICTURES that were once upon our people? I think that we all know the truth on that one. In Black America today there is a strong drive to "speak truth to power", remaining behind the ideology that fights the outward fight. Even when the census map shows that "the power" are people who we favor and helped put there - they simply "move the goal posts" and continue the "fight the power" dogma, shifting once again up on this external enemy that always seems to extend beyond their reach.

For me personally - I mandate that there be a balance with being in "receipt of" a certain set of resources from an external entity such as the government outside of my community. Some believe that as a member of society our individual care and feeding should flow down from the hierarchy if the local resources that are produced by the system that we have in place is not sufficient. Many of these same people fail to see the critical importance of insuring that our own people express their value of this proposed standard of living by ordering ourselves so that we can sufficiently supply our own needs, using these external resources as the EXCEPTION rather than the rule.

Think about it - the claim is that there is a circular reference in that we need access to quality education in order to become more self sufficient so that our people can access quality jobs and thus can provide the jobs and services that the people are demanding. The key problem as this is implemented by our people and their political surrogates is that it never quite kicks in as a one to one consequence because of the power of THE SYSTEM to trip us up at every turn via the prevailing sentiment against us. Thus the "fight the power" is a perpetual, circular reference. It becomes a modus operandi rather than a means to an actual conclusion. Thus despite being in agreement on the front end for the additional resources so that people have the OPPORTUNITY to gain access to these stated resources......when it comes to actually enforcing the back end consequences there in - these people are always the first people claiming that "there has not been enough time allotted, we're not ready", "others have more thus how can you ask the same of us", "the people have been more damaged by slavery than we had anticipated. We can't pull the plug".

All of these concepts heard in an attempt at forbearance points to the reasoning from a person who had a knee injury and is unwilling to put his full weight (and confidence) on the knee when it comes time to make the sharp turn necessary to avoid the defender and score the touchdown. Despite what all of the x-rays say in regards to this person's healed state - is it the state of the person's mind and confidence which has him imagining that the knee is still busted. He doesn't feel any pain, he just remembers the pain that he used to feel. This is enough to debilitate him.

The way I see it - I am not the one who is standing against the best interests of Black people in that "I sound just like our conservative enemies". In my frame of mind I think that the prevailing forces within the Black community are standing against the best interests of the Black community because they sound like "the racist progressive/liberals who believe that Blacks are inferior and in permanent need of help".

What they fail to realize is that Blacks are but a bit player in the scheme of the progressive. It is a Black victim today. It will be a baby seal or a spotted owl tomorrow. The superior being is providing protection, cover - care and feeding for the inferior - as long as he remains in the subordinate position.

I have the audacity to make note of the broad wingspan for the Black man that allowed us to thrive in Africa on our own for thousands and thousands of years. There is no record of catastrophic environmental destruction, mass regional wars in which millions of African humans were killed nor the acceptance of infanticide in the name of "choice". While these civilizations do not measure up to today's advanced societies from a material acquisition and scientific manipulation stand point - from the perspective of longevity and Earth-balance there is no comparison.

I am not calling for a return to nature by any means. I am a product of the 21st century. What I am calling for is a return to the spirit in which our people valued both their independent free will AND the accompanying responsibility that came with it. The yin and yang of such an interconnected commitment forced the people themselves to enforce a measure of social structure that force certain productive behaviors from the masses while suppressing socially corrosive behaviors that threatened to destroy them one and all.

The Battle Over Educator's Pay For Performance

A proposal to scrap the current pay plan for one based on performance taps into a national trend, but stirs controversy among school leaders

PRO:

“The system is eager to do this, and we do want principals to be compensated as professionals,” says President Janet Knupp.

CON:

Berry argued that the bonus proposal based solely on academic performance leaves out other important responsibilities that fall to principals, like hiring the best teachers and making sure schools are safe. “What principals do is very complex,” she says.

SKEPTICAL/FEARFUL:

One principal, who did not want to be identified by name, noted that the proposal under consideration would make it more difficult to recruit principals to lead the district’s neediest schools

All of this is interesting.
This hits at a major class of theories and ideologies.

Many of the people who are opposed to this are also opposed to a meritocracy where people earn what they are compensated. I do agree that in many cases the principal does not get to pick and choose the type of studnets (expecially), teachers or parents that he has to deal with. Often "it is what it is". At the same time this advances a very important point: for many of these communties to survive in this changing world many of the inferiorities and defenses that have been allowed to fester must be destoryed. They infact need to be connected to the world of competition and see THIS as their primary means for development. Currently their local leadership has tacit REPARATION for past oppression and resource imbalance that is going to save the day. The flaw in this strategy is that the people are focused more on taking over the system rather than making sure that they are ready when they do take it over.

The Erosion Of The Consequences Of Criminal Activity

Jacksonville: Bill touts hiring ex-offenders to cut crime rate

This story is one more story highlighted on the web site "Black Electorate.com". The editor of BE is driving to give voice to the various "Felon Voting" efforts around the nation.

For the record - I have personally yielded my opposition to "felon voting". At the end of the day this segment of the voting public represents an insignificant portion of the electorate. In fact any sustained opposition serves as just one more claim of a "conspiracy theory" to hold a brother down.

The point that there is a strong correlation (at least in some people's mind) between Black folks and felon voting should be more problematic than the person having been stripped of their voting privileges in the first place. Their victims are likely Black as well.

One day I would like to see Black activists getting on the front end of the issue. They will talk to PERSPECTIVE criminal element before they commit their crimes against the community. They detail the CONSEQUENCES of their actions. They tell the prospect that the real VALUE of their caper is not just the money in hand but instead:

* The value of the time spent away from their families
* The value of the freedom that is lost
* The value of the negative impact that their actions have upon the community

Instead the popular sentiment within the Black community is to focus on the unspoken conspiracy of the government to "Lock a Brother up"

Children aware of voter prejudice in US

Children aware of voter prejudice in US

Black Men: How We Treat Our Women

Chicago Defender: Domestic violence hits Black women harder

Domestic violence is a pattern of mental, physical, emotional or sexual abuse where one partner makes the other partner feel scared, weak, isolated, hurt or sad, according to Between Friends, a Chicago-based non-profit agency that provides educational and counseling services for domestic violence victims and advocates.

“One in three women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime so everybody probably knows someone who has been affected,” said Kathy Doherty, executive director of Between Friends.

I do my fair share of sampling of "Black Independent movies" as a means of keeping up with the popular culture. One thing that stands out is the language that is used between Black males and females. For some people aggressive confrontation where they call their woman a "Bitch" is the norm. The female, taking it in as a normal response - backs down. The scar tissue that has been built up (or the normalization of this language) has her taking it stride on the outside but indeed her soul (and confidence) has been rattled.

With all of the focus on what we allow others to call us - it is high time that our community start setting limits on interaction internally. I assure you that these "deaths by a thousand cuts" add up to be equal to the external offense that gets more press.

The Judge, The Thug and The City Council Woman - The Rebellion Within Our Community

Judge Vonda Evans of Wayne County Michigan - Detroit Recorders Court
Thug Rapper Young Jeezy
Detroit Council President Pro Tem Monica Conyers

I realize that some of you all believe that I pick on "Black cities" and "Black politicians" too much. This is only because they provide too much material to focus upon (and few other people are saying anything about it) and they do things that fortify certain negative attributes that are associated with them.

Above we have a sitting judge and a city council leader posing with a known drug dealer and thug rapper.

Let me tell the story of two key points of consciousness that I experienced this past weekend that make this picture relevant and disturbing.

First I went to a sports bar on Saturday. As I waited for my friend I watched a series of videos on BET. Besides a song that I had never heard of before in which a female told her man why she had to break all of the windows out of his car - I saw a video with Young Jeezy in it. At the start of the video he was being arrested by two White cops. They made him lean against the wall to be searched. It appeared as if this type of "harassment" was just another day at the office for Young Jeezy. He then takes off for Miami where he enjoys fun in the sun with a bevy of beautiful women, jet skis and expensive jewelry. Of course since he is the narrator of the tale he comes out as a victim of the system initially but then he gets over on the system because he is PAID. He is living the good life and the White cops can't hate on him. They can't stop his flow no matter how hard they try.

Indeed Young Jeezy is a role model for all young Black males.



The second key mental impression that I experienced to over this weekend was my visit to a local church for their "Recognition Of Public Servants Day". They had an array of local elected officials, judges, and police officers from several different agencies on hand to recognize their hard work and commitment to the community. Though this is election season there was no political tone to this ceremony. None of them were allowed to speak. Individuals were allowed to go up and talk to them individually after the service.

This church was a diverse but majority White Christian Church. I would say that they are conservative in their leanings. As I watched the video tribute that was a part of the recognition service I noted that there was an unmistakable presence of police, military, fire fighters - THE SYSTEM if you will. There were images of "9/11", various hostage situations where the police were the heroes. The firemen saved a baby from a burning house.

Simply put - there was a level of brainwashing and indoctrination contained in the Young Jeezy video and the "rah rah rah" nationalism seen within the video at the church. I choose to place a different set of values on both and conclude that the church based indoctrination ultimately served a greater purpose to that particular community.

In some communities gone are the days of the "Sesame Street" version of "the police officer is your friend" message. To be clear - the police played a hand in the tarnishing of their own image. At the same time, being a voracious consumer of news and current events - you can't tell me that the members of the Black community suffer a far worse fate from the actions of the police than from the actions of the cancerous thugs within. Watch a few episodes of "The First 48 Hours", for example, and see for yourself.

I make no bones about it - I don't like the ideology and general political outlook of Monica Conyers or her husband John Conyers. It surprises me none that the city of Detroit is in the condition that it is presently in when the voting populace can promote people with these ideas as their leaders. I do not know Judge Evans and have never heard of her prior to this picture and my related research attesting to her friendship with Mrs. Conyers. For me, however, this "guilt by association" is enough to obtain an instant read on her ideological sentiments.

How then can two public officials justify being present in good company with a known drug dealer and thug rapper like Young Jeezy? Jeezy's entire message is about "Fuck The Police and the System". Does anyone believe that Detroit is in need of more people who "speak truth to power" or are they in a massive need of SYSTEM BUILDERS who can fill the void that is currently present. The powers in Detroit are presiding of a city that is a shell of its former self.

This is the key point of frustration that I have with "my people". When it comes time to be SYSTEM BUILDERS some people are so beholden to their ideology and the ethos of "fight the power" that when it comes time for them to BE THE POWER they know not what they do. All decrease that results from the departure of Whites (and some Blacks for that matter) is blamed on systematic racism. Some of the problem, in truth, needs to be placed upon the "things that certain Negro leaders do".

Yes indeed there is quite a lot of "shunning" that takes place within the Black community. If you are a conservative "Clarence Thomas type" please don't expect too many invitations to the local NAACP awards banquet. Sadly enough - these Thug operatives have done far more immeasurable damage to our community than even the most liberal reading of Clarence Thomas' rulings can be proven to have done harm to us.

At what point should our community demand that some DISTANCE be placed between the leaders that we have entrusted to build up our communities and the system of Thugs who seek to tear it down all the while liquidating the lives of our people via their drug profits? I do not buy the notion spoken by Louis Farrakhan that "these rappers are our voices.....WE CAN CHANGE THEM. let's not throw them to the side". The fact is that they are not changing. Aside from their favorable work for the popular ideological and partisan causes in the framework of the American Political plane that Blacks are fused into these operatives do more damage to our culture than good.

It is time for the Black community to set certain standards. Stay within the limits if you want to be accepted as a person in good standing.

Can blacks be conservative?

Savannah Morning News: Can Blacks Be Conservative?


My Response:

Geveryl:

Indeed Black people hold a multitude of varied opinions on various subjects - just as do all other people. I believe that some of your points are some what off of the mark with your assessment of the "conservatism" within the Black community.

Instead of the example of young mothers who carry their child to term and thus you prove their valuation of life - you should also make note that many of these children were born outside of the traditional/conservative framework of marriage. The bond of marriage has shown to produce far better results for all children, Blacks included. The conservative position would be to ask people to hold the line regarding their current impulses for the sake of better days ahead in reconstructing the Black family.

Your example of the supposed unacceptability of homosexuality is not evident beyond the verbal shaming that some people receive when others talk about them behind their backs. Yet I can think of no particular wide spread sanction that is present within the for such a lifestyle - even among church members. "Non-Judgmentalism" is rife within our community.

If your argument were to stand based on the evidence then the entire Black community would do more to culturally enforce the construct of marriage as the foundational means to addressing many of the problems that we have within our community. The statistics say otherwise. Some of us are even comforted that by seeing a creeping increase in OOW births among Whites and Hispanics - our own problems are not so bad - we have company now.

Instead, Geveryl, what we have is a force that serves to co-opt and trump all of these points listed above from being addressed organically - within the Black community. The notion of the continuing presence of the amorphous force called "White Racism" causes otherwise rational "Black conservatives" (along with many others within) to place the core of our problems with the SYSTEM that is seeking to destroy us rather than any set of constructs that we enforce upon our own people that might produce a differentiated set of results.

The reason why more Blacks who are Conservative don't exit the Democratic party is because if there is one thing that Black folks are judgmental about it is about political conservatives. Do you notice that in our community Clarence Thomas has received more attacks upon his character than has Tookie Williams, the founder of "The Crips" gang who turned into a children's book author before he received justice in the death chamber?
While Williams is not only charged with first hand killings of several people he also started a gang which has killed tens of thousands. Clarence Thomas, on the other hand, is hated by some because he is willing to allow the state to execute people who have dutifully gone through the system and were judged as guilty. Since he is not an anti-death penalty fundamentalist - there is no room for him in the mind of many Black Progressive fundamentalists. These same people are able to see redemption in the mind of the various Black people who have killed other Blacks on the street as they conduct their illicit commerce on the streets. They can't find space for a Black man who is the agent of the system though.

I agree with you 100% that despite the process - some guilty men are sentenced to death. I strongly disagree, however, in that your greater focus needs to be on the street crimes in which 100% of the time the victim receives no justice from his executioner. The person who receives this type of death penalty has no access to a system that at least has the checks and balances to have it work toward a system that is just.

It seems to me that you should express your concerns over the accuracy of the judicial system to the "would be killers" before they kill. Tell them about the sanctity of life and how those that they might kill in the future have value just as you value the baby in the mother's womb who is innocent to the world.

In summary - the real proof of the Black Community's conservatism will be evidenced by our ability to craft a more desired set of results within our communities by primarily seeking to express these results via the actions, thoughts and structures that are produced on the backs of our own people. Since we stand to benefit the most from such changes we also need to be the primary operators in such a movement.

Constructive Feedback
withintheblackcommunity.blogspot.com

Why Aren't You Happy At This Time Along With "Black America"?

After reading Ebony Magazine and so many other sources of information that purport to capture the heart beat of "Black America" my mind was taken back to a real life event from my past that I will now describe.


Back during college I had a very good friend named Walt. Walt was from an inner city high school in Philly and came to college via a remedial education program as did a significant number of other Black students in attendance did. This program allowed those students who's prior academic background did not prepare them to effectively compete in the mainstream flow of college. It instead allowed them to fortify their basic skills during their first 2 years before being released into the standard classes. They were assigned academic advisers and other resources throughout their time at the university. All of this was done in the name of minority retention.

I was admitted through the normal channels. My aspirations at the time was to bulk up my own academic skills and transfer to the school of engineering. Though I graduated high school within the "National Honor Society" the school asked that I take an algebra course and a trigonometry course in order to fortify myself. One of my biggest joys as a freshman was to take both of these courses and receive a solid "A" in math, a subject that previously I did not "get" on the first go round. Because I was a freshman that was not yet attached to the social scene in college I committed enough of my time to sit down and understand the mathematical challenge that was before me I was able to get good grades during my freshman year.

As I blossomed in the social area I decided to pledge a fraternity. My friend Walt decided to go on line with me. We were cool with each other because we both were from Philly. Our experiences pledging and afterward as brothers allowed me to better understand him than ever before. Walt was already struggling as a student after one year past him as he ventured into the world of fraternities. I would later learn that in joining the frat he was able to receive a sense of accomplishment through this channel that he was not receiving as a student, his shaky academic foundation not serving his transition from "Philly-cool operative" over to an educated young Black man who can articulate what he can do to help a particular business prosper.

From a relative stand point the semester spent pledging took all of us down a notch academically. I was a B+ student who was aspiring to be an "A" student that instead was knocked down to a C student. My friend Walt was already a "C" student and after pledging he had failed a number of his classes. The first dagger was placed in his college career. A fraternity that had "scholarship" as part of its key operational mandates clearly did not "mean it" when it came to its pledge program. For too many individuals the Black fraternity pledge process provides the tipping point OUT of school at a time when their organizations need more Black men who have solid credentials behind them. Admittedly the 4 major Black frats have changed substantially for the better in this area in the past 20 years.

For Walt, this change in character of the organizational mandate did not come soon enough. After "going over" our college mission had been consumed by our fraternity. I know personally that my own goals became an extension of the chapter's goals. I wanted to have the organization's reputation and membership to be greater than our competitors. That extra time that I had been committing to focused and uninterrupted studies of my school work began being committed to the fraternity. From the party planning, to the step shows, to the issues with the little sisters - these things, along with the socialization with my brothers became my priority for the duration of my college experience.

In my case, at least, I was able to use my own knowledge and street smarts to make it through my classes. With my time being substantially diverted from exclusive studies I vacillated between a B- and a C student. My friend Walt did not have such resources to tap upon. He was already an "at risk student" as he entered the fray. All of these choices to consume these other social options that were available to him only insured incrementally that he would never see graduation day.

Walt was always good at basketball. A substantial amount of our junk talking centered around our skills on the court. Walt had always aspired to become a walk-on for our school - a major, division 1A team. He'd always kept in touch with the players on the team, making sure they knew who he was. While they all had scholarships and were highly recruited, my friend Walt both struggled with finances and academically.

Our junior year in school arrived and our collective friendships via our fraternity experiences had been strained through various conflicts. Yet we survived. I had since moved out of the adopted "frat house" which was really a series of rented houses which had enough brothers in it to become a central hang out and thus the label. I chose to get my own apartment whereby I could insert myself into the fraternization when I wanted to rather than have it all around me as a permanent fixture. For my friend Walt who remained in the mix the storm clouds had all formed as an array around him. The academic problems, the problems in the relationship with his long time girl friend, the financial problems with the brothers who spent their rent money on alcohol - all of this served as a fatal blow to his hopes of ever graduating from college. I saw it. I am not so sure that he did.

The October of our junior year provided some great news for my friend Walt and for our frat and those who knew us. The grand news was that Walt had been accepted as a walk on for our basketball team!! Chapter brothers from near and far heard the news about Walt and called to tell of their happiness for him and how they would look out for him on television and such. To our friend Walt this was a major point of accomplishment. He learned that if he worked hard enough for something - he could finally achieve it. Everyone was proud of his accomplishment. Everyone except ME, seemingly.

During the height of his excitement we had a chance to have a private conversation. He told me that he had received so much unchecked praise and congratulations from everyone else but noticed that my response was dramatically different - as if I was not happy for what he had achieved. I told him "Walt - I know you as good as anyone else knows you. We have been close friends since freshman year. In my view your pursuit of basketball is but one more diversion that stands in the way of your academic pursuits. Walt - I am no less happy for you in achieving your goal than anyone else. I just care more for your complete self than those other people. I know that you are struggling in school. It was education that you and I had originally come up here to focus upon. I know that you first used the frat and now basketball to mask your frustrations with your academics. In truth all of these things are threats to your academic career. My reaction to your acceptance on the team was indeed different because unlike most of the others - I want you to graduate".

This was not what he wanted to hear. But this is what he needed to hear. After the one season with him having made the team, participating in practice and getting some time in one game, the season ended and the final nail in the coffin came down. My friend Walt was suspended from school for lack of academic performance. He began to work full time in order to stabilize his finances and focus on getting back in school. I allowed him to live with me and he slept on my couch for about 4 months until the end of the school year was upon us. He departed school, returning back to Philly. His basketball hopes and his academic hopes shattered and unfulfilled.

So what the heck does any of this have to do with Black America - October 2008?

PLENTY!!!!

Black America, if you read the sources is ecstatic over the prospects of having "the first Black president" in Barack Obama. The final fear that it has is that on election day the long heard claims that "America is too racist to elect a Black man for president" will have all of this excitement come crashing down. From this joy will spring a grave depression if the long heard axiom within Black America comes like a stalker in the night and proves itself to be true.

My previous story parallel today's conditions in that while Black America is overjoyed there are many fundamentals within our community that remain unaddressed. The hype, it is hoped, will smooth over all of these things.

The greatest irony that is fused within my head is that the Thursday that Barack Obama made his Democratic acceptance speech and made some Black people cry is the same day that the Clayton County school system lost its accreditation and made a lot of Black people cry. The first set of tears were symbolic. The second set was a response to something that was far more threatening to their core.

As I read Ebony Magazine and other cheerleading oracles who are telling Black America "Our dreams have been obtained in this one fitful moment" I am fully aware that as they cheer and as they prepare their little black dresses and tuxes for a grand inaugural ball - Black America is threatened at the core, no less than ever before.

My frustration comes in that the people who I most hold accountable for this situation will use this even to proclaim "See we were right!! We told you to stay UNIFIED behind us and Black America will prosper".

Just as I had debated with a good friend several months ago who told me "Most peoples take 300 years to recover from slavery, the Black American did so in 100" - I told him that the election of ONE BLACK MAN should not be mistaken for a HEALED PEOPLE!!! The statistics of Black America says something otherwise. I further told him that SLAVERY'S DAMAGE is not the prevailing damage that we face as a people today.

My inability to celebrate comes from my knowledge that this singular event that is taking place within the "American Political plane" does not provide the logistical infrastructure to fundamentally transform Black America within the "internal racial/community domain". In truth the ideology that Obama brings is likely to further the damage that is in place. The popular leadership is seeking resources rained down upon them from external sources where the masses of Black people will be healed from the national entitlements of health care, education and 'opportunity' that their own economic choices and prioritizations did not deliver to them.

As I perform my left wing media research I have learned the lesson that "Democracy is shown more in the fabric of a nation than anything coming from the presidential palace." This speaks of a bottom up framework for change and prosperity among the people. To do otherwise has them as consumers or serfs.

My opposition to Barack Obama comes from my view that we as a people need to focus upon rebuilding our cultural confidence and not aligning resources so that we are "in receipt of benefit" unable to deliver these items upon our own backs. If an when this system collapses - our ability to continue living at this standard will be fundamentally destroyed.

Reply: The Lost Generation of Black Family Research Since the Moynihan Report

Gruntled Center: "The Lost Generation of Black Family Research Since the Moynihan Report"

My response:

[quote]A student said today that she felt bad writing her paper on the subject, because it seemed like just bashing black families, especially black men.[/quote]

Brother Weston - please allow me to give an observation about a confinement that the Black community is going to have to resolve before we can adopt effective management practices to address our most challenging problems.

I am preparing a blog post which looks at the phenomenon that I will give you a brief over view of here.

If I was a journalist who wrote an expose about how Black people are being summarily killed by police all over the country in my mission to give "voice to the voiceless" I assure you that I would win every single jounralistic and civil rights award known to man. If I, working on behalf of the "Black victim" went into these very same Black communities and documented all assaults on Black people and thus determined that it was another Black man who was the assailant in the most common occurrence and I dared to focus too much on the systematic antics of these assailants - those same award giving bodies who were so happy at me for protecting Black folks against EXTERNAL threats....would be among those attacking me for hating myself as a Black man.

The problem is that in the context of political opportunism and ideological double standards our community has not developed the language by which we have learned how to put forth effective pressure to direct our people INTERNALLY toward a favorable end. Today we have an apparatus that is attended toward keying in on external threats and upon converting INTERNAL threats into the residue that is caused as a result of past and present external threats.

The subject of the Black family and the current dysfunctional relationship that so many Black males have to this foundation is a common focus for me. It is clear to me that various Black operatives in their attempts to "defend the status quo WITHIN" are unable to put forth any sort of alternative system that will product change among those who have been identified as doing the harm that we so frequently talk about.

Yes they talk about the costs but they seek to outsource it as a societal burden and a missed opportunity that the nation must fix. The very same people who told these national outsiders to "mind their own damned business, your people have problems as well" are the same people demand that society is to blame for the current state of the Black male and the Black family for it did not care enough.

As a Black conservative I am looking squarely at the consequences of the morphed Black political and community agenda and how our communities have been failed. The inability to have that which we seek in the way of benefit expressed upon our own backs - among the systems within our communities has rendered us largely impotent in solving these problems.

This point is most evident when we look at areas that have a high concentration of Black people. Despite having an array of favorable political leaders after years of advocacy, while they are running the important institutions within our communities they are not asked to nor held accountable for failing to product the results that the community has long advocated for. Instead they "expand the police tape", making their failures, again, national failures and, yet again, go on the path of political expansion with the CLAIM that upon successfully controlling the next plateau, that long sought after peace within will be had. The only threat to this future glory, however, is if we don't remain unified in this political space and instead begin to ask questions.

From my point of view the inability for the Black community to "go right" when it needs to is the essence of what you are writing about. When you are an individual in a system that is rolling upon you and your rights it is logical for you to become an activist seeking to change this outer system so that you might have your rights. However, upon obtaining your fundamental rights and you begin to assume power over these same institutions that once oppressed you - it is now up to YOU to express these desired outcomes by fielding policies and prohibitions that guide the masses toward this directed form.

The ethos of "non-judgmentalism" which so many of our people are bound to (well at least among their non-enemies that is) renders them impotent as they seek to maximize theoretical personal liberty and rebellion while eschewing the inspection of that individual's contribution to his current fate via his own actions.

In summary - the prevailing challenges that Black people face have changed in 2008 yet the language and mechanisms to deal with them are still stuck in the past. This is only going to change by having the Black establishment to deliver effective benefit per their power position or to push them aside because the mission is more important than the man and the ideology that he popularly holds.

The Chinese Colonizalization Of Africa: The Consequences Of African Disarray

MailOne: PETER HITCHENS: How China has created a new slave empire in Africa

There he goes again "blaming the victim" of exploitation, right? Not so.

I am of the belief that a people must be ultimately responsible for coming together to insure that their own interests are advanced. This is not to discard the centuries of molestation that the African has faced from outside forces. This is a call for all of those who are interested in seeing a better future for their children to come together, form more transparent democratic processes and fortify themselves against the threat of external invaders or those seeking to "help" only to end up derailing the people's ability to actually execute "self determination".

Various African nations have already tried the "UN route" and the route which has them seeking "fish deliveries".

The best way to start a revolution is to make sure that new born children are as isolated as possible from conflicts festered by adults and for all to agree that this future must be molded properly.