From a discussion I was having with one of YOU black conservatives on My Space.

Similar to what Malcolm X said, you don’t stick a knife in a man’s back and pull it out and talk about that’s making progress. See where we fundamentally differ on is where we should be or would be or could be based upon where we came from.

Let me give you an example, if we use the white majority as the benchmark for other ethnicities in America, than success or failure, progress or lack of progress must be measured based upon that benchmark. Right? That is the traditional tool used to measure ethnic group progress in America is in relation to the white majority. We can argue about whether that is the right way or not, but for the moment it serves our purpose as I believe both you and I would be willing to use that same benchmark.

I would argue that what ever we hypothesize our ethnicity would be if forced immigration through slavery hadn’t occurred (in relation to the white benchmark) is where we should be as blacks, and IF we aren’t at that hypothetical level, then the result is due not to failure on the part of blacks, but on the external racist acts of whites in the various systems of America. That is completely rational don’t you agree? (more…)

Chance writes: America is a multi-ethnic country Minister Louis Farrakhan wants to have a separate state just for black people only. Certain Whites want a state for whites only and some Hispanics also want to have a state within America Just for their own ethnic group. What about all the other colored ethnic groups they’ll eventually want a state within America just for their own people also. America should remain united as one country don’t break it up. If colored ethnic groups and certain whites don’t like America being united. Then just leave and go live some where else like immigrants do when they don’t like certain things about the country their born in.

Minister Louis Farrakhan Wants A Separate State Just For Black-Americans

By Chance, Chancellorfiles

Chance: Minister Louis Farrakhan has been asking for years that the American government allow Black Americans to create their own state. Therefore Black Americans can live and govern themselves totally independent of the United States of America.

Louis Farrakhan leader of the nation of Islam

Minister Louis Farrakhan also wants the United States government to help financially assist in supporting this Black American state for about 20 to 30 years. Farrakhan wants this future Black American state to be a Muslim state. Minister Louis Farrakhan has said on many occasions, that Islam is the best religion for the black man. But many Black Americans are Christians, and if a Black American state is every created many of these Black Americans will remain Christians. (more…)

Glory Road
Written by BT

I would imagine in the next few weeks, the typical Hollywood media hype will make it virtually impossible for anyone to ignore “the next great movie”, Glory Road. The story is set in 1966 El Paso, Texas, at then Texas Western College (which would become The University of Texas, El Paso or UTEP) the next year. The movie is being positioned as the “great untold story of the Civil Rights era”.

Like anything Hollywood does… There is a lot more to that story.

I attended UTEP in 1969, as part of establishing my creds. As a young 17 year old freshman, from Virginia, being in the “Texas South” for the first time certainly was an experience. I remember to this day, my first day of class, when the history professor – a gentleman bearing an uncommon resemblance to the Southern Sheriff in the “Dodge Boys” commercials (“Boy, you in a heap of trouble!”) announced his two imperatives:

“That the So-ver-eign State of Texas can seee-cede from the United States at any time they wish – and this will be on the final, and if you get it wrong you fail the course…”
And, “that ‘coloreds’ and women don’t traditionally do well in my class – so it might be a good i-dea if those sort of folks seek a transfer to a class that’s more a-menable to their educational limitations.” (more…)

What color is your mayor, your city council, your local judge, your school administrators and the majority of your business owners? How about your state and your federal elected politicians?

What is the difference in economic positions between black vs. white, and what is the difference in life expectancy and healthcare, if they ever did a study in your city. What is the difference in education per same age student, and what is the difference in sentence for same crime/same criminal back ground black versus white.

That is where the impact of racism active and passive is measurable, not by how many people you hear called the N word, monkey or [Enter Epithet Here].

That is not to discount individual acts of verbal racism which seems for whatever reason the type that most individuals concentrate on. We acknowledge this is negative. The impact of structural racism, and racism held by people in powerful positions who acted racist, past and present is much more harmful. Farmer Joe in the middle of a Nebraska watching Nebraska football yelling at the TV saying, “Look at that nigger run, he is quick as a monkey”, doesn’t harm me to much if at all. However, if that farmer is also that districts Congressman, and he holds to that position, he has the potential to do much harm if he enacts laws and policies based upon that position.

For example, and individual once told me much of the racist activity in her town was held by people of a lower white socio-economic class. Well often these are the ones who you generally SEE overtly expressing these sentiments. Typically those of a higher education level are to savvy for this form of overt expression as their potential loss in terms of credibility and image are that much higher. (more…)

I am reprinting a conversation I had via email with this brother who sent me an article where Larry Elder stated, “racism no longer posed a significant obstacle to black progress”

Racism is Like AIDS
But brother, blacks have ALWAYS been successful in spite of. One of the deadliest tricks the conservative party attempts to play is to evaluate the total by the exceptional. It doesn’t work. Even back in slavery there were black millionares and no one will say that there wasn’t racism back then. In no other aspect of American life is the group measured by the success of a single individual or a small populace. It is measure by the median, mean, and in relation to a bench mark.

An example would be evaluating all blacks using Carl Lewis the great Olympian as a model. “Well Carl Lewis can run the hundred under 10 seconds, so all blacks should be able too”. That is the same black conservative logic that is applied (like Elder is doing in this article). I have a black history book that details the success of blacks ‘inspite of’ throughout history. It points out black inventorys, inspite of racism, black millionaires, inspite of racism even, as mentioned before, during the period of slavery.

Racism is not uniform in its effects on a population, and all individuals are not effected equally and don’t respond equally to racism, but to say that it is no longer a significant effect on blacks is myopic, revisionistic, and unrealistic. My view on the effects of racism is similar to how AIDS, the disease, works. AIDS isn’t what kills the individual, it is the weakening of the immune system and the corresponding ancilliary illness, such as flu, or pnuemonia, that kills the individual.

Racism is AIDS, it weakens the populace so that they are predisposed to catch the ills that a normal and healthy evolved subgroup would be able to fight and overcome.

Finally, I want to point out that when ever individuals like Larry Elder say that racism is not the primary or a primary impediment to black progress, I would like to ask him what hard data and what are the bench marks he is using. Anecodotes are just that, and simply saying something is true doesn’t make it true.

DELIVERANCE
How many is too many black people?
By Melinda Barton | RAW STORY COLUMNIST

Marksville, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. It has been nearly 3 weeks since I said goodybye to this little town nestled deep in the heart of Cajun country (or should I say Klan country?). I don’t honestly know if I’ve ever been so relieved to leave a place in my entire life, a period spanning nearly thirty years now. I encountered there an anachronism that belonged more to my parents’ youth than to mine: virulent racism of the Deliverance kind.

It was Sunday, September 25, 2005. (Keep that year in mind.) Rita had just done her worse. Having been confined to the evacuee shelter for days due to the storm, often without electricity, we were aching for a little recreation. In a town as small as Marksville, that meant a night playing pool at a small daiquiri shop on the main drag, Louisiana Highway 1.

Although it’s usually completely classless to mention this information, it’s necessary here: “We” meant a group of African-Americans and myself.

My friend Deborah and I arrived early in the evening, desperate for a little stick action. We spent much of the evening teaching the local gentlemen what it means to get your ass kicked by a couple of crazy broads. No problems there. As time passed, more of our friends showed up and we had our own evacuee pool tournament going.

People were drinking, playing pool and poker machines, and rockin’ the juke box. All was well. A normal fun night out with the crowd.

That was until “too many black people” showed up. The bartender, a white woman, apparently became afraid at the appearance of so many black faces and called the owner. Within hearing distance of my friend Deborah, she informed him that there were “too many black people” in the establishment, she was afraid they were going to rob her, and she was calling the police. (Keep in mind that not a single hostile word or act precipitated this call.) (more…)

Chance

Category-Social commentary

Chance writes: Should California’s prisons remain racially segregated, or should they be desegregated-and inmates from different racial groups become cell-mates. Example a Black and White inmate become cell-mates, a Hispanic and Black become cell-mates or an Asian and White inmate become cell-mates instead of having a cell-mate from your own ethnic group.

Who Rapes in Prison, Prison Segregation, And Prison Gangs

By Chance, The Chancellorfiles

CHANCE: California, United States Of America, An inmate named Garrison S. Johnson in the California prison system filed a lawsuit against the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Garrison S. Johnson is a member of the crips street gang and has been in prison since 1987 for murder, robbery, and assault. The lawsuit states (says) segregating inmates by ethnicity is a violation of his 14th amendment, now the 14th amendment says every one is entitled to equal treatment(equal protection).

Garrison Johnson wants inmates from different ethnic groups, to have a cell-mate from another ethnicity. So if one inmate is Black and the other inmate is White or another inmate is Hispanic and the other is Asian or White. As long as the cell-mates are from different ethnic groups this is all good according to Garrison S Johnson’s view point.
On Wednesday February 23, 2005 the Supreme Court decided in a 5 to 3 vote. That the California Department of Corrections policy of separating (segregating) inmates based upon ethnicity and race at California prison reception centers was unconstitutional. Garrison S. Johnson was very happy that he won his lawsuit. (more…)

I love black women. Yeah, I catch much grief for saying that being that I am married to a white one, but I love them just the same, and really don’t care what you think about it. One of the most powerful forces in my life was my Grandma ‘Nita’ on my father’s side. She went through it in many ways, like many of our sisters today. She had a bum for a husband, my grandfather who lives in East St. Louis with his other family, whom I have seen maybe 5 times my whole life. She then married another fella, who seemed pretty decent, but turned out to be a fake preacher, whom almost got his butt beat by my father before scooting out of town.

Through all this she was a smoker, and suffered stress related illnesses. In many ways she was a little bitter as many who ‘go through’ are, but I loved her dearly, and I knew she loved me, her kids and her family. She was a religious woman, and constantly reminded us of the need for faith, and the power of God and perseverance. Through all the drama, she raised four children, one with a PHD, the other with a MA, and two other hard working and dedicated individuals. The day she died deflated me in many ways, as I always wanted to ‘make something of myself’ for her, not because she wasn’t already proud, but to show her how much I honored her for who and what she was as the matriarch of my fathers side of the family.

I argued on the other thread written by Raymond, Has the Black woman disqualified herself from marriage? that any failings and disqualifications aren’t due to black women, their so-called attitudes, or any philosophical feministic concept that they may embrace. They are almost solely the result of the failure of black men to be leaders, husbands, fathers, mentors, role models, community cornerstones, and spiritual figure heads of their communities. I say this with the memory of my grandmother firmly in my mind and heart, and with the story of the Garden of Eden as a back drop. (more…)

It’s funny, it is about 11:15PM Nebraska time and I have just finished my television show. Tonight I talked about a new report from Princeton in Business Week that discussed how minorities are or feel they are forced to ‘act white in a corporate environment’. I relayed my former corporate experience, and talked about the subtle compromise that so many corporations force blacks to make to rise in the ranks, and also about how most ‘diversity’ programs really only want brown faces but white actors.

As the show goes on, it was almost surreal how the calls came in. The first caller was a white caller, and he attempted to assign my perspective not to any thing race related, but to ‘bad management’. Two callers after that relayed their experiences similar to mine, with the second one discussing DOT and the trucking industry and his story. After I got a prank call by some white dudes talking about he hates it when blacks call him cracker, another white guy called in and said in the trucking industry it wasn’t about race, it was about class.

So here you have it, on one side blacks are pointing to REAL experiences in which they have been treated differently because of their race, on the other side you have whites who find a completely different rationale as to why these same experiences were based on race.

The question that I asked and never got a satisfactory answer to from the white callers was this, so when IS IT race?

Why should I not trust my own perception of reality in these environments where I perceive that I am being treated differently because I am black? Why would a white feel that my perception is not valid, but that what I am perceiving as a ‘racial’ situation is indeed something else?

Baby How Did I Do? The Real Black Inferiority Complex Part I
Dell Gines

How many of you heard of or know someone who has been in an abusive relationship? You maybe tried to talk them into leaving, wondered aloud how they could stay. Maybe it was you on the phone listening to them crying, trying to console them, trying to encourage them to just get away before they got seriously hurt or killed. Yet they still stayed. Not only did they stay in the relationship, but they continually tried to prove themselves as worthy to their abusive partner. Maybe they tried to dress nice, cook better, do anything no matter how freaky sexually just to get a positive affirmation, a kind word, a smile, a “Baby you did all right” from their partner who at any moment may snap and break an arm or a leg in response. Sad isn’t it. Irrational isn’t it. But that is how so many of us blacks subtlety operate in the world.

As black folk in this country we have been oppressed, mentally manipulated, scarred, beaten, burned, battered and bruised, yet we still look to white people metaphorically and ask them, “Baby how did I do’. A bitter pill to swallow, I know, let me give you some examples though. In the aftermath of Katrina, how many times did you feel ‘bad for how the race looked’ when pictures were shown of poor blacks, or of blacks looting? On a more interpersonal level, how many times have you cringed as you watch the show Cops, or the television station interviewing someone from ‘the hood’ and they speak broken English or can’t convey a thought adequately? Or how about the disdain you felt for a young brother with bad braids, saggy pants, and a hip hop attitude when you saw him at a store in an affluent area predominated by whites, hoping they didn’t lump you with him? (more…)