The Black Dais

F**k Yo Kwanzaa (not my words)

2011-12-28T20:58:00.000-08:00

A, what appears to be dated, opinion piece where the author took a stance against celebrating Kwanzaa sparked some thoughts (Kwanzaa Is Wack: There, I Said It). Now I do not wish to proclaim whether or not I participate in the celebration of Kwanzaa, nor to I wish to confer to whether or not I agree with this blog post – that’s unimportant (by the way, those who know me know I give little credence to blog posts, including my own, which is why I rarely post anything). However, in this “open forum” era I would like to focus on what seems to be a continuing trend that I find interesting.

For disclosure, my understanding of Kwanzaa is that it is not a holiday in the current conventional sense, nor should it ever be observed as such. This is not because I agree with the writer of the piece, but rather, I look towards the initial intention of its creation. Yes, I lean towards the thought that it was not set up to be a Christmas replacement. Having said that, and for the purpose of this ‘little post,” the facts and personal views (mine or the blogger’s) regarding Dr. Maulana Karenga are an aside. My vision of Kwanzaa, or to further my point - the “Observance of Principles,” leaves me to being a bit more expansive in thought.

We are clearly living knee deep in the “freedom” era; thanks to the Internet and the relaxation of former moral/cultural norms, our freedom of speech and expression sometimes goes well beyond the parameters of where it belongs or needs to go. We also are draped in the freedom to believe in what we choose to believe in and/or observe, as well as enjoying the freedom to agree or disagree with one another – in particular, or in this case, with our elders and the foundations they’ve laid and established. Now I don’t necessarily think that any of this is “bad,” however, like Integration there’s a thin line between this train of thinking being a free and thoughtful inclusion of Black life in America, and a less than helpful side of that same life.

Just like not believing in or celebrating or observing Christmas, not believing, celebrating, or observing Kwanzaa falls into the territory of one’s own prerogative. However it remains that in this “Freedom Era” articles in this realm are becoming more and more common place – almost like Black republicans (and no, I’m not opening up that can of worms right now… I’m just saying). My point is, Black folk, in particularly young Black folk, are more and more feeling free or okay to express their opposing point of view on the so-called “Black Monolithic Thought.” While I think that’s perfectly cool, or fine, or whatever, there’s a tin lining in such a cloud with a low rust-point where, like in the metal, cohesive and malleable elements breaks down and such a streams of logic can become brittle and fragile.

In essence, this article speaks to a larger issue at hand – in my opinion, and that is on Black cohesion on a whole. I agree and believe that as Black folk we should, and have always had, the ability to express differences of opinion on all topics great and small. However, in the larger sense, we also need to be historically conscious of the theoretical, and proverbial, “other side of the coin.” In specific regard to the Kwanzaa piece, I think the immature mind can whole-heartedly embrace its sentiment. Nevertheless, what seems to be missing or maybe not fully understood is the sentiment behind Kwanzaa and other Cultural Nationalist "trends" established during the era of “Black Beauty” and awakening. At the accepted risk of sounding antiquated, there’s a foundation we have no choice but to steady ourselves on – freedoms were fought for, and won, in order for us to have the ability to disagree, or even disregard, our past.

The flip side to the negative speculations as to why Dr. Karenga possibly created Kwanzaa can easily be subverted with an argument that suggests a more positive spin – such as maybe he did it to atone for his alleged sins against the Black community (and more particular those against Black Panther Party, and/or members of the Us Organization). Regardless, my point is that there are positive elements to everything; this is what we call Equality.

In this age of contrarians and instant “snarkiness” for the sake of establishing a name for one’s self, it is very easy to jump on the “yeah I was feeling this way too, and now I can anonymously say this” band wagon. For many, in their rush to prove that they are not apart of the mythic “Black Monolith” the cause, effect, and purpose behind our traditions and general history in this country (and the world) is either overlooked, misunderstood, or ignored. We need to be more conscious about embracing the positive elements concerning our culture. Dragged here we were stripped of everything historical and traditional, so it only makes sense for us to create and establish new customs based on what some may perceive as myths and half or un-truths. Yes, the truth is the truth, but when we begin to dismantle all that has supported us and built us up until this point, what do we have left? This aim of reasoning will lead us wondering in the desert of ignorance – which, if one turns on the TV/radio/Internet will look rather familiar.

I look at it like this; Kwanzaa could possibly be an element that exists for the sole purpose of reinforcing the tin lining, almost similar to the idea that many of us have chosen to believe regarding the flip of the N-word into having a more positive meaning and connotation. Being a “Black alternative to Christmas” aside, Kwanzaa’s observance could possibly be used as a means to keep some degree of cultural awareness and/or historical context in the minds of our people, the youth in particular. As we wade deeper and deeper in the waters of free expression, or the “non-monolithic era,” I fear the Black or cultural foundation (some may refer to this as pride) will rust, disintegrate, and blow away leaving, as many of us are today, longing for the “good old” pre-integration days when we were “together.”

While I’m no more complaining about non-celebration or observance than I am promoting it, I will say it may not be such a “bad” thing to remember or introduce elements that provide some degree of positive cultural direction and foundation into our consciousness which seems to be bombarded daily with ignorance and negative reinforcements. For that reason alone, who cares whether or not corn is native to The Continent of Africa, fact is there may be those on the lower side of intelligentsia who may need symbols and rituals to keep our collective hope alive. Just like the lone Black candle on the Kinara, the idea of Black unity needs to shine to some degree for all of us, including those who believe or not, think they know or honestly don’t know, and for those who choose to embrace or discard elements of our collective foundation.

----------------
Now playing: Parliament - Chocolate City

The REAL Black Entertainment Television

2010-02-01T21:49:00.000-08:00

Happy Black History Month, I used to do this every year when I was working in advertising and got this info in advance, and when TV programming was a little better. So enjoy, and if you watch television responsibly you might just learn something. These times may not be 100% and schedules are subject to change, all times are based on EST. I'm sure there's more programming out there, so feel free to leave comments that add on to the info or make any corrections. Hell even leave comments on some of the shows you watched. Oh, and by the way if you want some more Black History Month TV programming check out:

PBS Explores African-American Contributions to History and Society

TVOne - Way Black When/Our History Month

Monday, February 1

BET – The BET Honors' – 9:00PM
Hosted by Gabrielle Union the annual event honors the best and brightest in African-American culture.

Tuesday, February 2

Smithsonian Channel – SOUL OF A PEOPLE: WRITING AMERICA’S STORY – 9pm ET/PT
This remarkable documentary explores one of the most controversial public assistance programs of the Great Depression. The Federal Writers Project was one of four arts programs created under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) of newly elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The project employed thousands of unemployed writers, including the future icons Richard Wright, Zora Neale Hurston and Ralph Ellison, to fan out across America, interview its citizens, and produce a portrait of the United States from the ground up, in a series of state travel guides. They captured a unique portrait of 1930’s Americana. But what began as a program to create guidebooks for every state ended up igniting a storm of controversy when writers sought out not only the triumphs of America, but also its tragedies.

PBS - 'Independent Lens: Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness' – 10:30pm
Examines the forgotten legacy of Melville Herskovits, a controversial Jewish anthropologist whose writings in the 40s and 50s challenged widely held assumptions about race and culture. Maggie Gyllenhaal hosts.

SMITHSONIAN SPOTLIGHT: NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN AMERICAN HISTORY – 10:30pm ET/PT
The idea of establishing a museum dedicated to presenting and preserving the African American experience was first considered not long after the Civil War. It took well over a century, however, before Congress, in 2003, finally mandated the National Museum of African American History and Culture. The building isn’t finished yet, but the first exhibit is already assembled – an extraordinary collection of photographs of this country’s most celebrated and influential African Americans. Museum director Dr. Lonnie Bunch discusses his efforts to not only design the museum, but to fill its shelves with objects, documents and artifacts that capture and reflect the African American experience.

Thursday, February 4

SMITHSONIAN SPOTLIGHT: SCURLOCK STUDIO – 7:30pm ET/PT
Beginning in 1911, Addison Scurlock’s photographs portrayed African Americans in a way that wasn’t often seen. With the help of his two sons, George and Robert, the Scurlock Studio mastered the photographic portrait and captured the essence of Black Washington. Their portraits, photographs of weddings, graduations and families stand as a visual record of not only Washington, DC, but of African American culture. The Scurlocks created images to resist the racial stereotypes of their time and, in the process, produced truly fascinating art.

Friday, February 5

VH1 – 'Soul Train: The Hippest Trip in America' – 9:00pm
This year marks the 40th anniversary of 'Soul Train.' Terrence Howard narrates the documentary that taught America some of it's smoothest dance moves.

PBS – PRINCE AMONG SLAVES – 10:00pm
This special tells the forgotten true story of an African prince who was enslaved in Mississippi for 40 years before finally achieving freedom and becoming one of the most famous men in America. Mos Def narrates.

Saturday, February 6

Smithsonian Channel – LIVES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: NELSON MANDELA – 8pm ET/PT

Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in prison for standing up for what he believed in. Slowly, from the remote prison on South Africa’s Robben Island, he galvanized the world around his struggle to end apartheid. When Mandela was released from prison, he entered a world that had been profoundly shaped by his dream. Lives That Changed The World: Nelson Mandela tells the story of Nelson Mandela through the stories of nine people who were inspired by that dream, including F.W. DeKlerk, former Prime Minister of South Africa, and Mandela’s daughter, Zindzi, who continues her father’s legacy through her work with the children of South Africa.

Smithsonian Channel – LIVES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD: MUHAMMAD ALI – 9pm ET/PT
Muhammad Ali is considered one of the greatest athletes of all time. Lives That Changed the World: Muhammad Ali shows that he is also one of the most influential men of our era. This unique documentary tells the story of Ali through the human faces and voices of nine lives that he has inspired, including, his fight doctor, Ferdie Pacheco, and Etan Thomas, a professional basketball player and poet who was inspired by Ali to work for change.

BET – THE GREAT DEBATERS – 6:30 PM
The blockbuster hit starring Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker is a drama based on the true story of Melvin B. Tolson, a professor at Wiley College Texas. In 1935, he inspired students to form the school's first debate team, which went on to challenge Harvard in the national championship.

Sunday, February 7

BET – TEN9EIGHT – 12:00 PM
Directed by award-winning filmmaker Mary Mazzio, this documentary tells the inspirational stories of several inner city teens from Harlem to Compton and all points in between, as they compete in an annual business plan competition run by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

PBS – GREAT PERFORMANCES “Harlem in Montmarte” – 10:00pm
A picture of the African-American expatriate community in Paris between the First and Second World Wars.

Monday, February 8

SMITHSONIAN CHANNEL’S sound revolution: sounds of jazz – 8pm ET/PT
Jazz was perhaps the first great American art form of the 20th Century. Award-winning actor Morgan Freeman tells the story of the first few decades of jazz, beginning at the mouth of the Mississippi, in the city widely acknowledged as its birthplace, New Orleans. He follows jazz’s journey from its origins as a mixture of African, Classical European and Blues; through the great Dixieland days of Louis Armstrong and King Oliver; to the swing and big band eras of Duke Ellington and Count Basie, when it became the most popular music in the country.

HBO – “The Black List: Volume Three" – 8:30PM
The third installation in a series featuring well respected and distinguished African-American notables. Including 'The View's' Whoopi Goldberg, 'Precious' director Lee Daniels and John Legend.

Thursday, February 11

PBS – 'In Performance at the White House: A Celebration of Music from the Civil Rights Movement' – 8:00PM
President and Mrs. Obama will host this musical special at the White House East Room. Performers include Natalie Cole, Jennifer Hudson, John Legend, John Mellencamp, Smokey Robinson, Seal and many others.

Sunday, February 14

BET – THE LORETTA CLAIBORNE STORY – 6:00 PM
The inspiring fact-based saga of a mentally and physically handicapped young woman who fulfilled her dream to excel at track and field.

Tuesday, February 16

PBS – 'Mine/Home' – 10:00PM
A powerful story of animals left behind during Katrina, and of the struggles of hurricane survivors to reunite with their beloved pets. A meditation on the essential bond between humans and animals, “Mine” is an equally compelling story of race and class, and the power of compassion, in contemporary America.

Monday, February 22

PBS – AMERICAN MASTERS “Zora Neale Hurston: Jump at the Sun”- 10:00pmET
This is a profile of author Zora Neale Hurston, one of the most celebrated — and most controversial — figures of the Harlem Renaissance, that creatively expansive era in the 1920s when “the Negro was in vogue.” S. Epatha Merkerson (“Law & Order”) narrates.

Tuesday, February 23

PBS – INDEPENDENT LENS “Behind the Rainbow” – 10:00p.m. ET
A previously untold account of South Africa’s political problems, struggles and realities. Maggie Gyllenhaal hosts.

Friday, February 26

FOX – 'The 41st NAACP Image Awards' – 8:00pm
Celebrating some of the most outstanding achievements from notable minorities. Denzel Washington, Jamie Foxx and Mo'Nique are nominees.

Saturday, February 27

PBS – 'Tavis Smiley Reports: One on One with Hillary Clinton' – 8:00pm
Tavis Smiley sits down with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about her first year as America's chief diplomat.

Sunday, February 28

BET – A MOTHER'S COURAGE: THE MARY THOMAS STORY – 3:00 PM
The story of Mary Thomas, the mother of basketball star Isiah Thomas, and how she fought to keep her family together and her sons out of trouble despite the surroundings of poverty, drugs, crime and violence of their ghetto neighborhood. Starring Alfre Woodard.

----------------
Now playing: Sade - Soldier Of Love

Home Is Where The Hatred Is

2009-08-11T22:07:00.000-07:00

We now live in a post racial America. And by post racial I do mean that the level of “race relations” have traveled from the insanely ignorant and overt, past the inane and uncomfort of the post-civil rights era, through the in you face lets confront this ‘70s sit-com era, and finally to the insanely ignorant and overt. We used to fear that if we had a Black president someone would assassinate him, but we never pictured this. These right-wingers are as nutty as a fruitcake, as my grandmother used to put it, but what’s even more bizarre is that these fools are spewing there nonsense with straight faces and complete conviction. Beyond that are their followers, who seem to be nowhere near as educated as these pundits claim to be, but who are swallowing what they are serving like it’s the straight, refreshing gospel. They’ll cop to this being about race, but this can’t call it politics either. There is going come a time soon when some on Fox News will use the N-word, it is just a matter of time. It may not be a pundit, but it will happen, and it will be directed towards the president. This is why I believe the president should not have made the call or had the “beer summit.” They are trying to push him like they do all Democratic presidents and they know the N-word is their ultimate weapon of last resort. I don’t know maybe it will be a pundit, maybe someone will be ordered to fall on their sword, but it will happen. But the sad-ass-truth is, nothing will happen and all will be forgiven, apologies will be made, meetings will be held, and in a few short months all will be forgotten. Imus who???

There will be no terrorist banging on this country’s borders with bombs or planes, this place will surely implode on itself… from the inside. And it will be the very people who are telling the ignorant “they’re coming to get you” who will ignite the fuse and those ignorant listeners and followers who are now strapping on the bombs of discontent will be the very instruments of their own and everyone else’s destruction.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

----------------
Now playing: Ten City - Goin' Up In Smoke (Revelation Mix)

On Michael Jackson, Part II

2009-07-17T10:36:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I'm usually not one to beat a... wait maybe I aught not use that analogy, however, I'm just saying this may be the only time you will see the same topic addressed back-to-back. With that said, I just really, really had to post this video from my man Jay Smooth, dude hit the nail on the head with this - it's so on point that its ridiculous. His incredible insight on MJ's struggle with "the spotlight" and the media goes beyond words. So now I'll just shut the F up so you can watch this...

Ran across this and had to add because it fits...

----------------
Now playing: Lonnie Liston Smith - Expansions

On Michael Jackson

2009-06-30T06:57:00.000-07:00

It’s crazy and unfortunate that people are so fascinated with the ugly side of life. People crave the particulars, more so the bad than the good, of a person's being without a thought or care of what that level of pursuit does to the pursued. Maybe its the news culture of - if it bleeds, it leads - that's been created where people are conditioned to seek out the most intimate and inane details of a person's existence which they choose to label “interesting” and follow with pseudo investigation, pseudo meditation, or even a pseudo discussion of why a person (the pursued) has become whatever they (the pursuer) perceived or otherwise, has become. It’s deplorable that a person cannot live and engage in the life they wish, but sadder yet is the irony that pushes those to the ultimate extremes, extremes that continuously fuel the pursuers and thus creates a never-ending cycle of lunacy that’s not even broken in death. A cipher that begs the question; is life even appreciated in the first place.

We appreciate you Michael Joseph Jackson, and may you finally get some Peace.

Below are a few well thought comments on Michael Jackson’s life. It is with hope that these written and spoken comments can be used as tools to combat the negative and allow us to hold on to the essential spirit of the man who, since childhood, brought so much joy to a multitude of lives around the world.

James Baldwin on Michael Jackson from "Here Be Dragons" (1985)

The Michael Jackson cacophony is fascinating in that it is not about Jackson at all. I hope he has the good sense to know it and the good fortune to snatch his life out of the jaws of a carnivorous success. He will not swiftly be forgiven for having turned so many tables, for he damn sure grabbed the brass ring, and the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo has nothing on Michael.

All that noise is about America, as the dishonest custodian of black life and wealth; the blacks, especially males, in America; and the burning, buried American guilt; and sex and sexual roles and sexual panic; money, success and despair--to all of which may now be added the bitter need to find a head on which to place the crown of Miss America.

Freaks are called freaks and are treated as they are treated--in the main, abominably--because they are human beings who cause to echo, deep within us, our most profound terrors and desires.

This clip is about 50 minutes long, but check out the comments by a caller and the hosts in the first 10 minutes.

“You can’t use the same ruler we use for ourselves to measure their inches.” -- James Mtume on artists like Michael Jackson, Miles Davis, et al., The Open Line 98.7 KISS FM, NYC - June 28, 2009 - Part II

----------------
Now playing: The Jacksons - This Place Hotel

The North Didn't Have No Slaves!

2009-06-19T15:13:00.000-07:00

Funniest ish, Chris Matthews wild out on Steve Cohen who sponsored the Apology for Slavery bill. Dude gotta be bi-polar, lol.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

----------------
Now playing: UMCs - Blue Cheese

A Long Response To An Article

2009-06-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

This article is very interesting to me on a few levels, besides my building a program to make our students ready for college, with an emphasis on HBCU, I'm also dabbling in the writing another novel that considers this very premise only expanding it to Black Nationalism on a whole, and as we know The Nation plays a major part in that. We all have recognized and been amazement by the amount of change that's taken place on the political landscape in the past 20 years. While we celebrate Obama and generally Black folk having advanced opportunities towards being progressive, in the 'hood those 20 years don't necessarily look unfamiliar, in fact they look very familiar; they look like they've always looked for some unfortunately. And it’s not just the 'hood, for many our world at large looks very familiar, when it comes to racism and justice progress seems to take two steps ahead, and then four steps back. There's still police brutality and unjust killings, race/sex/religious based killings and crime, Mumia and other political prisoners from that era are still locked up while racist murders go free, and while it seems that we're moving towards lifting the embargo on Cuba, we have politicians (both Black and white) still stuck in their ways of 20 years ago and unwilling to adjust to the times.

So while I understand that the necessary rhetoric and movement of Black Nationalist is urgently important, I think the question is how do the tactics evolve. I think the author’s argument about the Million Man March points to this. Not that I completely agree with her, however, there is the issue of continuing the momentum. The example of Obama’s first 100 days could possibly stand as sort of a road map to addressing this issue. He hit the ground running, and while many of us are already on the ground, some are nowhere near running and others (do to age/lack of young new blood or resistance to new technology) are continuing at that snail’s pace chipping away at the problems as they’ve done for the past 40 years. I make this point particularly because I know of grassroot level organizations that’s been doing their thing for years, but ask them for a simple email address and you damn near get a conspiracy theory about why they don’t have that or a cell phone. Now that may not be the norm, and I don’t hold them to fault on anything but point is it exists.

I say all that to say, I love the old school Civil Rights and Black Power movements, it’s hard for me not when I fancy myself a student of history, however there is a generational gap – much of which picked up steam due to President Obama’s election – that tends to break away from that spirit. That’s why I equate it all together, just like the movement away from HBCU by our students. The argument or dilemma is akin to asking “what’s the need or necessity for all that old school Black talk?” Which is like asking “what’s the need for community action?” when we know for a fact it’s needed and why. Or for that matter “what’s the point or need for HBCU?” Now while there are those of us knee deep in answers, those questions still remain and many of us feel and believe we have overcome so The Nation, Black Nationalism, HBCU, and much of what has traditionally been apart of our history during our sojourn here is passé. And I guess therein lies the opportunity for a progressive discussion towards evaluating and moving forward many of our old ways of addressing the same issues we face in this new day.

----------------
Now playing: Jackson 5 - I Am Love

Death to America… a slow, agonizing, fried pork induced artery clogged death!

2009-03-11T15:28:00.000-07:00

Only in America can you have a recession (depression or repression – your pick) with a majority of the world starving no less, will you have foolish people wasting food with a silly-ass “let’s see what’s the most outrageous food combination we can fry” mentality. While some may find this cute, funny, or whatever it really points to the cavalier attitude many have in this country in terms of the severity of what’s going on with the economy, government policies on health care, the environment, and education, or in our individual communities. But then again, it’s only food, and its all in fun. So while some of us(?) choose to use TV as an instruction manual (see Taco Town Taco) I guess I’ll keep taking pop shots at the fatties sitting at the 5¢ slot machines in A.C., and why not, they’re easy targets. And you wonder why the Prez took they Single-Payer Healthcare off the national healthcare bargaining table. Hmmm. Eat up, 'cause this is truly why your fat!

----------------
Now playing: Nas, Marvin Gaye - One Love of Mercy

My Annual Post

2009-03-11T11:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah so I guess I'm gonna give this blog thing another shot... maybe, we'll see. Its kinda stupid, I mean who cares what I think (or what anyone thinks for that matter). Besides, who has time to read and write this crap with facebook taking up everyone's precious time.

10 tips for giving up Facebook during Lent

----------------
Now playing: Sharon Redd - Can You Handle It

While You Wait...

2007-12-27T22:50:00.001-08:00

So while you're waiting for my brilliant posts, take some time to read the words of Mr. Jimmy Baldwin. I found this in my inbox a while back. Its from the New York Times circa 1967. Just thought it would be fun to share. Enjoy (Oh by the way, its long, very long).

Negroes Are Anti-Semitic Because They're Anti-White

By JAME S BALDWIN

When we were growing up in Harlem our demoralizing series of landlords were Jewish, and we hated them. We hated them because they were terrible landlords, and did not take care of the building. A coat of paint, a broken window, a stopped sink, a stopped toilet, a sagging floor, a broken ceiling, a dangerous stairwell, the question of garbage disposal, the question of heat and cold, of roaches and rats--all questions of life and death for the poor, and especially for those with children--we had to cope with all of these as best we could. Our parents were lashed to futureless jobs, in order to pay the outrageous rent. We knew that the landlord treated us this way only because we were colored, and he knew that we could not move out.

The grocer was a Jew, and being in debt to him was very much like being in debt to the company store. The butcher was a Jew and, yes, we certainly paid more for bad cuts of meat than other New York citizens, and we very often carried insults home, along with the meat. We bought our clothes from a Jew and, sometimes, our secondhand shoes, and the pawnbroker was a Jew--perhaps we hated him most of all. The merchants along 125th Street were Jewish--at least many of them were; I don't know if Grant's or Woolworth's are Jewish names--and I well remember that it was only after the Harlem riot of 1935 that Negroes were allowed to earn a little money in some of the stores where they spent so much.

Not all of these white people were cruel--on the contrary, I remember some who were certainly as thoughtful as the bleak circumstances allowed--but all of them were exploiting us, and that was why we hated them.

But we also hated the welfare workers, of whom some were white, some colored, some Jewish, and some not. We hated the policemen, not all of whom were Jewish, and some of whom were black. The poor, of whatever color, do not trust the law and certainly have no reason so, and God knows we didn't. "If you must call a cop," we said in those days, "for God's sake, make sure it's a white one." We did not feel that the cops were protecting us, for we knew too much about the reasons for the kinds of crimes committed in the ghetto; but we feared black cops even more than white cops, because the black cop had to work so much harder--on your head--to prove to himself and his colleagues that he was not like all the other niggers.

We hated many of our teacher at school because they so clearly despised us and treated us like dirty, ignorant savages. Not all of these teachers were Jewish. Some of them, alas, were black. I used to carry my father's union dues downtown for him sometimes. I hated everyone in that den of thieves, especially the man who took the envelope from me, the envelope which contained my father's hard-earned money, that envelope which contained bread for his children. "Thieves," I thought, "every one of you!" And I know I was right about that, and I have not changed my mind. But whether or not all these people were Jewish, I really do not know.

The Army may or may not be controlled by Jews; I don't know and I don't care. I know that when I worked for the Army I hated all my bosses because of the way they treated me. I don't know if the post office is Jewish but I would certainly dread working for it again. I don't know if Wanamaker's was Jewish, but I didn't like running their elevator and I didn't like any of their customers. I don't know if Nabisco is Jewish, but I didn't like clearing their basement. I don't know if Riker's is Jewish, but I didn't like scrubbing their floors. I don't know if the big, white bruiser who thought it was fun to call me "Shine" was Jewish, but I know I tried to kill him--and he stopped calling me "Shine." I don't know if the last taxi driver who refused to stop for me was Jewish, but I know I hoped he'd break his neck before he got home. And I don't think that General Electric or General Motors or R.C.A. or Con Edison or Mobil Oil or Coca Cola or Pepsi-Cola or Firestone or the Board of Education or the textbook industry or Hollywood or Broadway or television--or Wall Street, Sacramento, Dallas, Atlanta, Albany or Washington--are controlled by Jews. I think they are controlled by Americans, and the American Negro situation is a direct result of this control. And anti-Semitism among Negroes, inevitable as it may be, and understandable, alas, as it is, does not operate to menace this control, but only to confirm it. It is not the Jew who controls the American drama. It is the Christian.

The root of anti-Semitism among Negroes is, ironically, the relationship of colored peoples--all over the globe--to the Christian world. This is a fact which may be difficult to grasp, not only for the ghetto's most blasted and embittered inhabitants, but also for many Jews, to say nothing of many Christians. But it is a fact, and it will not ameliorated--in fact, it can only be aggravated--by the adoption, on the part of colored people now, of the most devastating of the Christian vices.

Of course, it is true, and I am not so naÔve as not to know it, that many Jews despise Negroes, even as their Aryan brothers do. (There are also Jews who despise Jews, even as their Aryan brothers do.) It is true that many Jews use, shamelessly, the slaughter of the 6,000,000 by the Third Reich as proof that they cannot be bigots--or in the hope of not being held responsible for their bigotry. It is galling to be told by a Jew whom you know to be exploiting you that he cannot possibly be doing what you know he is doing because he is a Jew. It is bitter to watch the Jewish storekeeper locking up his store for the night, and going home. Going, with your money in his pocket, to a clean neighborhood, miles from you, which you will not be allowed to enter. Nor can it help the relationship between most Negroes and most Jews when part of this money is donated to civil rights. In the light of what is now known as the white backlash, this money can be looked on as conscience money merely, as money given to keep the Negro happy in his place, and out of white neighborhoods.

One does not wish, in short, to be told by an American Jew that his suffering is as great as the American Negro's suffering. It isn't, and one knows that it isn't from the very tone in which he assures you that it is.

For one thing, the American Jew's endeavor, whatever it is, has managed to purchase a relative safety for his children, and a relative future for them. This is more than your father's endeavor was able to do for you, and more than your endeavor has been able to do for your children. There are days when it can be exceedingly trying to deal with certain white musical or theatrical celebrities who may or may not be Jewish--what, in show business, is a name?--but whose preposterous incomes cause one to think bitterly of the fates of such people as Beside Smith or King Oliver or Ethel Waters. Furthermore, the Jew can be proud of his suffering, or at least not ashamed of it. His history and his suffering do not begin in America, where black men have been taught to be ashamed of everything, especially their suffering.

The Jew's suffering is recognized as part of the moral history of the world and the Jew is recognized as a contributor so the world's history: this is not true for the blacks. Jewish history, whether or not one can say it is honored, is certainly known: the black history has been blasted, maligned and despised. The Jew is a white man, and when white men rise up against oppression, they are heroes: when black men rise, they have reverted to their native savagery. The uprising in the Warsaw ghetto was not described as a riot, nor were the participants maligned as hoodlums: the boys and girls in Watts and Harlem are thoroughly aware of this, and it certainly contributes to their attitude toward the Jews.

But, of course, my comparison of Watts and Harlem with the Warsaw ghetto will be immediately dismissed as outrageous. There are many reasons for this, and one of them is that while America loves white heroes, armed to the teeth, it cannot abide bad niggers. But the bottom reason is that it contradicts the American dream to suggest that any gratuitous, unregenerate horror can happen here. We make our mistakes, we like to think, but we are getting better all the time.

Well, to state it mildly, this is a point of view which any sane or honest Negro will have some difficulty holding. Very few Americans, and this includes very few Jews, wish to believe that the American Negro situation is as desperate and dangerous as it is. Very few Americans, and very few Jews, have the courage to recognize that the America of which they dream and boast is not the America in which the Negro lives. It is a country which the Negro has never seen. And this is not merely a matter of bad faith on the part of Americans. Bad faith, God knows, abounds, but there is something in the American dream sadder and more wistful than that.

No one, I suppose, would dream of accusing the late Moss Hart of bad faith. Near the end of his autobiography, "Act One," just after he has become a successful playwright, and is riding home to Brooklyn for the first time in a cab, he reflects:

"I started through the taxi window at a pinch-faced 10-year-old hurrying down the steps on some morning errand before school, and I thought of myself hurrying down the streets on so many gray mornings out of a doorway and a house much the same as this one. My mind jumped backward in time and then whirled forward, like a many-faceted prism--flashing our old neighborhood in front of me, the house, the steps, the candy store--and then shifted to the skyline I had just passed by, the opening last night, and the notices I still hugged tightly under my arm. It was possible in this wonderful city for that nameless little boy--for any of its millions--to have a decent chance to scale the walls and achieve what they wished. Wealth, rank, or an imposing name counted for nothing. The only credential the city asked was the boldness to dream."

But this is not true for the Negro, and not even the most successful or fatuous Negro can really feel this way. His journey will have cost him too much, and the price will be revealed in his estrangement--unless he is very rare and lucky--from other colored people, and in his continuing isolation from whites. Furthermore, for every Negro boy who achieves such a taxi ride, hundreds, at least, will have perished around him, and not because they lacked the boldness to dream, but because the Republic despises their dreams.

Perhaps one must be in such a situation in order really to understand what it is. But if one is a Negro in Watts or Harlem, and knows why one is there, and knows that one has been sentenced to remain there for life, one can't but look on the American state and the American people as one's oppressors. For that, after all, is exactly what they are. They have corralled you where you are for their ease and their profit, and are doing all in their power to prevent you from finding out enough about yourself to be able to rejoice in the only life you have.

One does not wish to believe that the American Negro can feel this way, but that is because the Christian world has been misled by its own rhetoric and narcoticized by its own power.

For many generations the natives of the Belgian Congo, for example, endured the most unspeakable atrocities at the hands of the Belgians, at the hands of Europe. Their suffering occurred in silence. This suffering was not indignantly reported in the Western press, as the suffering of white men would have been. The suffering of this native was considered necessary, alas, for European, Christian dominance. And, since the world at large knew virtually nothing concerning the suffering of this native, when he rose he was not hailed as a hero fighting for his land, but condemned as a savage, hungry for white flesh. The Christian world considered Belgium to be a civilized country; but there was not only no reason for the Congolese to feel that way about Belgium; there was no possibility that they could.

What will the Christian world, which is so uneasily silent now, say on that day which is coming when the black native of South Africa begins to massacre the masters who have massacred him so long? It is true that two wrongs don't make a right, as we love to point out to the people we have wronged. But one wrong doesnít make a right, either. People who have been wronged will attempt to right the wrong; they would not be people if they didn't. They can rarely afford to be scrupulous about the means they will use. They will use such means as come to hand. Neither, in the main, will they distinguish one oppressor from another, nor see through to the root principle of their oppression.

In the American context, the most ironical thing about Negro anti-Semitism is that the Negro is really condemning the Jew for having become an American white man--for having become, in effect, a Christian. The Jew profits from his status in America, and he must expect Negroes to distrust him for it. The Jew does not realize that the credential he offers, the fact that he has been despised and slaughtered, does not increase the Negro's understanding. It increases the Negro's rage.

For it is not here, and not now, that the Jew is being slaughtered, and he is never despised, here, as the Negro is, because he is an American. The Jewish travail occurred across the sea and America rescued him from the house of bondage. But America is the house of bondage for the Negro, and no country can rescue him. What happens to the Negro here happens to him because he is an American.

When an African is mistreated here, for example, he has recourse to his embassy. The American Negro who is, let us say, falsely arrested, will find it nearly impossible to bring his case to court. And this means that because he is a native of this country--"one of your niggers"--he has, effectively, no recourse and no place to go, either within the country or without. He is a pariah in his own country and a stranger in the world. This is what it means to have one's history and one's ties to one's ancestral homeland totally destroyed.

This is not what happened to the Jew and, therefore, he has allies in the world. That is one of the reasons no one has ever seriously suggested that the Jew be nonviolent. There was no need for him to be nonviolent. On the contrary, the Jewish battle for Israel was saluted as the most tremendous heroism. How can the Negro fail to suspect that the Jew is really saying that the Negro deserves his situation because he has not been heroic enough? It is doubtful that the Jews could have won their battle had the Western powers been opposed to them. But such allies as the Negro may have are themselves struggling for their freedom against tenacious and tremendous Western opposition.

This leaves the American Negro, who technically represents the Western nations, in a cruelly ambiguous position. In this situation, it is not the American Jew who can either instruct him or console him. On the contrary, the American Jew knows just enough about this situation to be unwilling to imagine it again.

Finally, what the American Negro interprets the Jew as saying is that one must take the historical, the impersonal point of view concerning one's life and concerning the lives of one's kinsmen and children. "We suffered, too," one is told, "but we came through, and so will you. In time."

In whose time? One has only one life. One may become reconciled to the ruin of one's children's lives is not reconciliation. It is the sickness unto death. And one knows that such counselors are not present on these shores by following this advice. They arrived here out of the same effort the American Negro is making: they wanted to live, and not tomorrow, but today. Now, since the Jew is living here, like all the other white men living here, he wants the Negro to wait. And the Jew sometimes--often--does this in the name of his Jewishness, which is a terrible mistake. He has absolutely no relevance in this context as a Jew. His only relevance is that he is white and values his color and uses it.

He is singled out by Negroes not because he acts differently from other white men, but because he doesn't. His major distinction is given him by that history of Christendom, which has so successfully victimized both Negroes and Jews. And he is playing in Harlem the role assigned him by Christians long ago: he is doing their dirty work.

No more than the good white people of the South, who are really responsible for the bombings and lynchings, are ever present at these events, do the people who really own Harlem ever appear at the door to collect the rent. One risks libel by trying to spell this out too precisely, but Harlem is really owned by a curious coalition which includes some churches, some universities, some Christians, some Jews, and some Negroes. The capital of New York is Albany, which is not a Jewish state, and the Moses they sent us, whatever his ancestry, certainly failed to get the captive children free.

A genuinely candid confrontation between American Negroes and American Jews would certainly prove of inestimable value. But the aspirations of the country are wretchedly middle-class and the middle class can never afford candor.

What is really at question is the American way of life. What is really at question is whether Americans already have an identity or are still sufficiently flexible to achieve one. This is a painfully complicated question, for what now appears to be the American identity is really a bewildering and sometimes demoralizing blend of nostalgia and opportunism. For example, the Irish who march on St. Patrick's Day, do not, after all, have any desire to go back to Ireland. They do not intend to go back to live there, though they may dream of going back there to die. Their lives, in the meanwhile, are here, but they cling, at the same time, to those credentials forged in the Old World, credentials which cannot be duplicated here, credentials which the American Negro does not have. These credentials are the abandoned history of Europe--the abandoned and romanticized history of Europe. The Russian Jews here have no desire to return to Russia either, and they have not departed in great clouds for Israel. But they have the authority of knowing it is there. The Americans are no longer Europeans, but they are still living, at least as they imagine, on that capital.

That capital also belongs, however, to the slaves who created it for Europe and who created it here; and in that sense, the Jew must see that he is part of the history of Europe, and will always be so considered by the descendant of the slave. Always, that is, unless he himself is willing to prove that this judgment is inadequate and unjust. This is precisely what is demanded of all the other white men in this country, and the Jew will not find it easier than anybody else?

The ultimate hope for a genuine black-white dialogue in this country lies in the recognition that the driven European serf merely created another serf here, and created him on the basis of color. No one can deny that that Jew was a party to this, but it is senseless to assert that this was because of his Jewishness. One can be disappointed in the Jew if one is romantic enough--for not having learned from history; but if people did learn from history, history would be very different.

All racist positions baffle and appall me. None of us are that different from one another, neither that much better nor that much worse. Furthermore, when one takes a position one must attempt to see where that position inexorably leads. One must ask oneself, if one decides that black or white or Jewish people are, by definition, to be despised, is one willing to murder a black or white or Jewish baby: for that is where the position leads. And if one blames the Jew for having become a white American, one may perfectly well, if one is black, be speaking out of nothing more than envy.

If one blames the Jew for not having been ennobled by oppression, one is not indicting the single figure of the Jew but the entire human race, and one is also making a quite breathtaking claim for oneself. I know that my own oppression did not ennoble me, not even when I thought of myself as a practicing Christian. I also know that if today I refuse to hate Jews, or anybody else, it is because I know how it feels to be hated. I learned this from Christians, and I ceased to practice what the Christians practiced.

The crisis taking place in the world, and in the minds and hearts of black men everywhere, is not produced by the star of David, but by the old, rugged Roman cross on which Christendom's most celebrated Jew was murdered. And not by Jews.

----------------
Now playing: Diamond & The Psychotic Neurotics - Last Car On The 2 Train (Featuring The Psychos)

My Very First Blog Post (ugh!)

2007-12-20T13:01:00.000-08:00

My reluctance in starting a blog is being weighted down by the fact that there is so much cultural BS out here in the world today – blogs being one of them. Maybe my ’08 resolution will be to write in my blog weekly, eh. The thing is, I really don’t believe in these electronic journals self-published for the world to see, basically my view on bloggers is that they are so damn self-righteous and self-important; and I’m talking way beyond a good healthy tablespoon of narcissism that we all share, I’m speaking “all eyes on me cause I’m right!” Either that or they're some brooding figure - a dark hero/anti-hero like Batman or something whose always right, LOL, what a lame. Or a hip hop hipster, or a smart-ass like me that just has something to blab about about and needs an outlet (notice how I just contradicted myself, yes I know, look I don't need that now). But I guess everyone has something to say and a right to say that something. Everyone is entitled to their opinion; it’s just unfortunate that the basic blogger belief is “everyone’s entitled to MY opinion.” With that said, here it is my contribution to the clutter that is the Internet. Enjoy as I take popshots at the crackpots.

----------------

Now playing: The Notorious B.I.G. - You're Nobody (Til Somebody Kills You)