STRAIGHT BLACK TALK: WE ARE AT A TIME OF CRISIS
By Fahim A. Knight-El
This Blog came about after I had a dialogue with a good friend and brother of mine who is a Christian Pastor, which I have tremendous respect for him and his commitment to black people in which his work, as well as his service speaks for itself. A few weeks ago the reverend asked me a very timely and provocative question and truly when he first asked the question I had no immediate answer because the question caught me totally off guard, He stated: “What are we going to do about our community?” I felt it was a serious and timely question being posed to me and I equally felt that it was deserving of a serious response (after giving the questions some lengthy thought I emailed the reverend my response and some of those thoughts are embodied in the content of this Blog). I have always applauded this brother minister for being one of the good Shepherds that has been active in the black community and who possess a proactive vision. But I also know that it is tough serving black people and often we have to love them more than they love themselves and there is no doubt that he understands this axiom.
How do we end the cycle of violence that continues to plague the so-called African American community? There has been statistical accounts where Black U.S. military servicemen fighting in the Gulf Wars (Kuwait and Iraq) and in Afghanistan were safer being engaged in war than living in the ghettos of America, and was more likely to be killed on the streets of America than on a foreign hostile battle field. We also know that, perhaps one of the number one disparities that exist in the United States of America is the wealth disparity; whites statistically still outranks blacks when it comes to income and wealth, but ethnic subgroups such as the Asians (this analysis do not include the Jews) are steadily moving ahead of whites, blacks and Latinos in median income and acquiring advance degrees in science, mathematics and engineering, therefore, putting themselves in the position to be the global leaders of tomorrow. Although, blacks in 2014 had over a one trillion dollar economy with a Gross Domestic Product (GNP) that exceeded a number of industrialized European Nations; and if blacks were a sovereign and independent nation this figure alone would make black Americans as having the 13th largest economy in the world, but why are we so destitute and poor? (Reference: Claud Anderson: “Black Labor, White Wealth: The Search for Power and Economic Justice”).
Our detractors and pundits could rightly argue that we have money and our failure to economically advance ourselves and people only reflects poorly on our leaders and their refusal to invest in themselves and reclaim our community. There are many blacks that have acquired middle and upper middle class incomes and life styles—this much is true and in their mind they are living the American dream—but own nothing but debt and are victims of consumerism (if the truth be told this is the poor example that the black intelligentsia has always left for our people to follow). There have always been black nationalist self-help groups who preached black economic nationalism—the Garveyites, Moors, Black Muslims, Hebrew Israelites, Father Divine, Daddy Grace and many more self-help visionaries had the right idea about economic empowerment. The black mom and pop enterprises, if we would have nurtured them properly these type businesses could have transitioned into major black corporations some 50-100 years later and our economic predicament would perhaps be different in 2015. These men and groups should have been our business prototypes because they understood the importance of black economic sovereignty (Reference: Claud Anderson: "Powernomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America”).
But often they were laughed at and ridiculed by their own people and dismissed by white people (integration was a false bill of goods and fifty years later we are paying the price of abandoning and betraying the concept of black self-sufficiency for civil rights and accommodation). There will never be a post racial era in the United States of America until the historical question of white supremacy and slavery is properly dealt with and justice is giving to the descendents of slaves in the form of reparations (‘The Book of Negroes’ or ‘Roots’ can never tell and depict the true impact this tragedy and dehumanization process had on the African victims and it still haunts the so-called American Negro even today) (Reference: Nation of Islam Historical Research Department; “The Secret Relationship Between Blacks and Jews; Vol. 2 ‘How Jews Gained Control of the Black American Economy).
The educated black bourgeoisie has always found it necessary to use his learning and training to serve white America and has always felt his western education rendered him a superior status and it was beneath him to create meager enterprises and after graduating from the below prestigious universities and colleges have always looked to take their talents, skills and intellect to corporate America (to serve master and boss). Many have even sent their children to some of the best colleges and universities in America and the world such as to Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, Columbia, Stanford, Brown, Claremont Colleges, Duke, M. I. T. University of Pennsylvania, Georgetown, Oxford, Cambridge, the Sorbonne, etc. They have often believed and relied on education as being the great equalizer and ultimately the gateway to success (experiencing the so-called American dream). Yet, many of our people who attend these ivory towers lose the principle concept of service and become desensitized and detached from the masses of black people's plight (Reference: Carter G. Woodson; “The Mis-Education of the Negro”).
But lets not get it twisted here is the end game—our neglect of the black community have contributed to them becoming depilated wastelands and we will eventually see these urban wastelands under the plans of re-gentrification (the new urban renewal language). Those in power have a master plan and it will involve big developers seizing upon these abandoned prime real estate sections of the country possessing and exploitative agenda of covertly putting things in place to revitalize rundown urban America. And when we wake up to the new reality (or plot) the taxes, land value and cost of living will have become so expensive in these former rundown urban areas that poor whites, blacks and Latinos will be expendable—the working poor will be forever pushed out of the cities across America and only their cheap devalued labor will be needed in servicing the new inhabitants. The new urban dweller will be white or Asian from the tech sector armed only with their computers and will be globally competing for markets from their swank downtown lofts (the effects of corporate outsourcing and downsizing have created these new global opportunities in which the majority of Americans do not have the high tech skills to compete).
For example, look at the once thriving Detroit, a port city and former musical capitol of the world—where the legendary Motown and Barry Gordy were bright stars shining from Detroit the Motor City (Reference: Nelson George; “Where Did Our Love Go?: The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound”). The city of Detroit will eventually become a pilot project and a template to be used around the country to depopulate highly concentrated black and Latinos in urban cities by initially making these areas so crime ridding, economically impoverished and destitute that even poor people will start to voluntarily resettle in other geographical areas. I know some of my critics would like for me to blame the former Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick for the present day political and economic woes of Detroit. I must admit this young brother was on the fast political track and he ruined it based on money, sex and lies, however, they only used Mayor Kilpatrick petty crimes and corruption as a stepping stone to dismantle this great city (there was just to many Negroes function as HNIC) and the plan is to bring Detroit back under white control. The alleviation of poverty and want in the black community should be our number one priority. Let Sharpton, Jackson, Obama, Farrakhan, etc., know this and all the other so-called Negro leaders know that not to seriously address the issues of poverty and want will only acerbate the crisis and will only continue to sentence our communities to death and destruction (we can no longer wait for the U.S. Government to solve our problems; they cannot because America is falling).
It was the Elitist, Hidden Hand, and the United States Government that destroyed this once powerful blue collar and automobile capitol of the world. They attempted to scapegoat the labor unions as the culprits and the problem (the labor unions were good for protecting the interest of the workers against the conglomerate interest of big business). But they did not inform the masses that the U.S. automobile industry became the victim of economic capitalist global interest, which U.S. Fortune 500 companies found cheaper Markets in Asia (this rendered U.S. labor expendable) and they duped us into accepting downsizing and corporate outsourcing as the “New Normal” and we witness the backbone of America become dismantled and destroyed which became an all out assault on the middle class; this destroyed the blue collar capitol of America. They systematically killed Detroit.
Trust me the guns and dope in our community are being placed there systematically by those who are the benefactors of creating social discord and accumulating massive wealth for the Elitist individuals and Mafia families throughout world at the expense of the defenseless poor. The United States Government is the biggest entity behind the covert genocidal plots in the black community (drugs, guns, GMO foods, unemployment, homeliness, diseases, vaccinations, alcohol, etc.); the dope trade is conducted from the highest level of the U.S. Government—they are behind the heron, cocaine and marijuana trade—who else have the airplanes, ships and boats and the clearance to avoid and evade national and international jurisdictions, but someone with unlimited power and resources? (Reference: “Dope Inc: Boston Bankers and Soviet Commissars”). But our so-called leaders have used us as a political football in order to create wealth for themselves. They only show up in the black community during election time and make false political promises and encouraging 'Negroes' to forever be loyal to the Democratic Party (how insane for it that 94% so-called American Negroes vote Democrat—the Democratic Party is the trick party; ‘we love the Devil because he gives us nothing’). Who will hold these bloodsucking vipers accountable for their derelict in duty and responsibility to their black constituents? They conveniently use race as a rallying point to foster support and the moment they achieve their political goals they immediately abandon all nationalist views and racial politics for being an invitational member to the larger circle of deception. No one has played this game better than Reverend Jesse Jackson and Reverend Al Sharpton (phenomenon ambulance chasers); now, that is not to say that Black America has not received some crumbs from these Negroes agitating white folk from time-to-time; Fredrick Douglas once stated, if we cannot do anything but agitate the enemy than we should do that (Reference: Terrance Jackson; “Putting it All Together: World Conquest, Global Genocide and African Liberation”).
I do think there is an overall disconnect between us and young brothers (or African American men) between the ages of 13-35 years of age and its starts with a serious breakdown in communications and our fear and distrust of them only foster a deeper divide. For example, my sixteen year old daughter thinks she should be entertaining the idea of dating and a young man who is a student at her high school was invited to my home by my wife and daughter as an initial step relative to this socialization process (I cannot say that I agreed with this idea). So after meeting the young man and having dinner; I covertly and diplomatically read him the riot act and afterwards he tells my daughter that having a father and mother in her home was a bit too structured for him; moreover, he goes on to essentially tell her that he does not have home rules to abide by and somewhat does not have to answer to anyone (I do know initially he was residing with his grandmother and later with his mother). It appears and according to him even at sixteen years old he could come and go as he pleased with little to no restrictions or having to be accountable to an adult (definitely unchartered waters for my daughter).
He also conveyed to my daughter that his father was not present in the home or in his life in which I could immediately tell that he was not accustomed or comfortable to having to deal with a man and I think this placed him in an awkward predicament with me, but deeper than that; I immediately recognized how far reaching the psychological and social pathology of young African American males (or black) crisis was (I to am a victim of the same pathology)—not having fathers in our lives, have left many of us abused and without the necessary tools that entails levels of manhood training and perhaps this is playing itself out in a destructive way relative to the high incidents of black-on-black violence that has reached epidemic levels (equally high incidents of suicide and domestic violence) which is plaguing Durham in particular, and black America in general (Reference: Naim Akbar: “Visions for Black Men”).
We have recently witness a number of young black male homicides that have taking place throughout the city of Durham since the New Year of 2015; I know that these statistics are only a microcosm of the senseless black homicides or murders that are taking place in Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Little Rock, Jacksonville, Columbia, Los Angles, Houston, Dallas, Memphis, Washington, DC, Birmingham, Charlotte, Charleston, New Orleans, New York, Gary, Boston, Richmond, East St. Louis, Camden, Atlantic City, Kansas City, Las Vegas, etc., and that is not counting the smaller and rural cities where drugs and gangs are claiming young black lives just like in the larger urban cities (now, gangbanging has reached the south). But if these young black men were being killed by whites and/or white law enforcement officers, our community would be outraged and there would be mass rallies and protests denouncing these killings and murders as immoral and reprehensible (we would be shouting racism from the mountain top and demanding legal intervention on all levels). Yet, I guess the loss of black lives at the hands of other so-called African Americans do not warrant a serious call to action from black America and to me this serves as an indictment on black leadership and it renders most of them hypocrites. Thus, their silence and non-action renders them lacking in the area of having a true moral compass, which is a compromise in the realm of being true advocates for justice and peace (or have we deduced justice down to white on black crimes only).
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) founded in 1909 and stands as one of our oldest Civil Rights organizations in the United States and has been on the frontline taking on segregation, racism, discrimination, inequalities and has always called for social justice and fairness for African Americans. Where is the sense of urgency relative to the question of black violence?—we need sit-ins, picket lines, protests, etc., right there in the ‘hood’ and demand stop the killing. I think W.E.B. Dubois as one of the founders of the NAACP would applaud our efforts to create a new mission of devising real strategies and tactics to deal holistically with the social, political and economic issues plaguing the black community and not just be reactionary to white injustice (and move away from this nostalgic Civil Rights bullshit and do nothing but talk about the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., era and legacy as though we have arrived to the promise land). The killing of black men by other black men is unacceptable and I am demanding intervention, public denunciation, solutions and to demonstrate in action that black lives truly matter. I am not interested in singing the Negro National Anthem or singing we shall overcome during Black History Month and do nothing.
However, I will always stand with my people against police brutality and racist hate crimes that are aimed at black people, because it is my duty to fight for our human rights as victims of racist inspired crimes carried out by police departments throughout America; our demand should always be rooted in freedom, justice and equality for the powerless and voiceless. But what appears to be a bit bothersome to me, is that we have become increasingly desensitized to black-on-black violence and we do not come together with the same rallying cry and zeal to publicly dramatize what Dr. King called an appalling condition when blacks kills blacks. We should be willing to condemn these senseless killings with the highest moral conviction, as when a white racist kill an unarmed black man (case and point—Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, etc). There should be mass outrage on every level in Durham, NC and throughout America when these black-on-black homicides take place and our efforts should revolve around devising and implementing solutions and strategies to deal with resolving these conflicts—the bigger issue is addressing poverty—food, clothing and shelter (here lies the root cause of crime in the black community). The government has turned its back on the poor and, perhaps we do not understand or know that the poor is no longer a priority and has become expendable (we must revisit the models of Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, Elijah Muhammad, Father Divine, etc. and learn from the bootstrap teachers and stop looking for others to do for us what we can do for ourselves) (Reference: Naomi Zack White Privilege and Black Rights: The Injustice of U.S. Police Racial Profiling and Homicide”).
Black men are getting killed by other black men and there are no marches and protest geared towards holding the black perpetrators accountable for these crimes, which causes me to start wondering do "Black Lives Truly Matter"; many of these issues are rooted in systemic indoctrination practices and self-hatred schools of thought that is found in a system that was built and structured on the principles of white supremacy (Reference: Jawanza Kunjufu: “Developing Positive Self-Images & Discipline in Black Children”). Thus, our lack of self-love and community love allows for our young African American men to engage in violence and criminal activity because often there was no one present to hold them accountable and they see no value in black life and their anti-social behavior is a sub-conscious result of a lack of understanding of their own humanity. They are grappling with the vicious tentacles of self-hatred imposed in our educational and socialization process in America (they could kill and feel nothing for human life and post it on Facebook or Instagram).
They do not respect daddy, mama, teacher, principal, preacher, or law enforcement and often many black fathers (the root of the problem) a long time ago have lost respect and credibility amongst their sons in particular, when they walked away from their families and created dysfunctional family structures where black mothers are forced to become single parents and young black boys are forced to lead lives with no male role models or direction. Moreover, this variable alone places them at a social disadvantage and a prime candidate for all the things associated with the negative (high incidents of school dropouts, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse, crime and possible imprisonment). Our mothers have always done the best they could (and many have done a wonderful job in raising young black boys), but a woman cannot raise a boy to become a man—certain male dynamics can only begotten and passed on from male-to-male. (Reference: Jawanza Kunjufu; “Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys”).
There has been a semi collapse of our family structure relative to hierarchy (God, Father, Mother and Child which is the proper chain of command) and based on our overall concern of always desiring to be politically correct, we are afraid to ask the tough questions and mandate even tougher solutions. And not to do this, only continues to be the ultimate feeding ground for the Prison Industrial Complex in which the number one commodity is the black man. (Reference: Michelle Alexander; “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness”).
The social scientist and criminologist will not readily admit to this, but there is a direct correlation between the levels of poverty and crime; when people are oppressed, it automatically creates disillusionment and often people turn inward on themselves and go afoul of the law. There is also a big disconnect throughout America between Police Departments and the black community—when community crisis arises between the police and the community, the first thing the leaders bring up is that there need to be a better system of communication between the police and the black community that involves community policing (this is nothing but sweet talking jargon that amounts to symbol without substance).
Some of this decadence is a direct result of the lack of employment and economic opportunities giving to young African American males (the disillusionment is systematically orchestrated). This new generation has been inspired and engulfed in the Hip-Hop culture (the music, clothing, tennis shoes, the lingo, etc., and for better or worse the bling, bling) and this appears to be the only magnetic attraction that moves them and yet many of our age are in denial of this reality. There must be an infusing of culture dynamics that is able to attract the dope boy and I think the bridging of the gap lies in our ability to develop models that are rooted in the Hip-Hop culture and let the conversation start from that point forward—lets have the conversation about sagging, gangster rap, smoking blunts, the value of purchasing tennis shoes that cost $300.00) (Reference: Bakari Kitwana; “The Hip-Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the Crisis in African-American Culture”).
They are not being engaged in the overall discussions and there is disconnect between them and ourselves which is evident. How do we locate them? They are on the street corners selling dope and claiming various segments of street corners as their territory—many sell dope because this is the only way they know how to make money, is by street hustling and many are quite aware of the North Carolina minimum wage of $7.25 per hour—given to unskilled laborers and to those who lack marketable work skills and education (which keep them and their family as members of the working poor and at the poverty level—many of these young black men have the responsibility of paying rent, electric and gas bills, providing food on the table and in some instances the mothers turn a blind eye to the criminal enterprise that their sons are involved in because they are the primary bread winners).
The city that I live in Durham, North Carolina has always been a black wealth city where well-to-do African Americans of the bourgeoisie class and persuasion have created generational wealth, but has no partnerships with the black 'have nots' and they do not use their monetary influence to create dialogues and ultimately opportunities for the black community. Yes I am very aware historically of North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company, Mechanics and Farmers Bank, Mutual Savings and Loan and of course the glory of Hayti (the original Black Wall Street), but this appears to be ancient history because for the most part they have lost relevance. We do not have to reinvent the wheel—we can learn a lot from the Jewish model and begin reclaiming our community by implementing the necessary political, social and economic steps to turn our situation around (Reference: J.A. Rogers; World’s Great Men of Color”) and (Reference: Steven Silbiger: "The Jewish Phenomenon: 7 Keys the Enduring Wealth of a People").
This will require the faith base community (black Christians, Black Muslims, Black Hebrews, Black Afrocentrics and all religious people of goodwill to have an involvement) to assume even more responsibility of coming together in spite of our religious and political differences to alter change. If nothing else these crisis have placed the black community in a state of national emergency (the trauma centers and the morgues are spilling over with young black men) the pain is there but the cries have been muffled because we have somewhat become immune to the violence, which continues to constitute the death of our young black men who are engaged in this type life style. Nevertheless, forgive me if it sounds like I am restating the problem, I think we all can agree that the problem has been well defined and we need all hands on deck to be involved in the solutions; I admit, I do not have all the answers.
There are those who would rightly argue that this is insane and definitely serves as being counter productive in which they will risk their lives for money and for a short lived life style and simultaneously heap destruction on the black community for the sake of acquiring blood money. We must call for a stop the killing powwow and/or town meeting and allow these young black men to tell us how best can we serve them and not standup dictating to them, it is imperative that we hear directly from them and take our marching orders from them.
Fahim A. Knight-El Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-El can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-El