Bro. MenNefer – your question is excellent and well timed. I’m not certain yet if disagreeing keeps us from organizing in general. If anything it helps to create more organizations based on like mindedness. My Father and Mother disagreed all the time, but were well organized when it came time to discipline me.
How we disagree, and what we are disagreeing about is very important. It’s always good to see what Men and Women are passionate about in their spirit, in this sense arguing, debating disagreeing helps us to bring out the truth about ourselves. The truth about us is smeared out into the open for everyone to see and scrutinize.
How we disagree should be judged based upon what we are disagreeing about. For example arguing over a better quality of life for our people is a forum we should all be in audience to. John Henrik Clarke mentioned that, Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois were both right- taking the different environments and education of these Men, they were both right and both produced a solution for our people. I will also say John Clarke and Farrakhan were both right also. Dr. King and Malcolm X were both right.
When society produces great minds of different paradigms of thought, it becomes necessary for the people’s sake for these minds to promote their ideas in some comparative fashion – which is most cases is a public debate. From there people naturally decide for themselves what makes the best sense for them. From there people naturally form their own organizations, teams and value systems. This how societies have always functioned.
The fault here actually is that people don’t argue enough. Or perhaps don’t know how to argue and get out what they really mean. And usually because of how we have suffered emotionally and psychologically in the world, we have no way of arguing without it reaching a less productive level. I think most of us shy away from arguing anyway, so we’d rather just agree. Go along to get along. Keep the peace. I
’ve talked with an old couple before, the Husband is an Atheist and the Wife is a Yoga Spiritual Guru. Over 20 years of marriage. I asked myself how can this equation exist? The Wife told me they argue about God all the time, morning noon and night. Not because it has anything to do with their relationship but because that’s the kind of people they are, one believes one thing and the other believes another.
When people are concrete in their relationship with one another, nothing changes that. No disagreement can change how Black people in this country are related to one another. If we find ourselves making enemies because of how people express their feelings and thoughts, then the issue is with ourselves, and it has nothing to do with that person.
Personally, I believe Racism in America and in the world can be destroyed. It will happen if people are truthful about what they believe, and be truthful with those who believe as they do, and organize with those people who believe as they do to create a better quality of life for themselves. Wars are produced from a sincere effort to “convert” others into thinking, feeling and behaving as you do. The punishment for not converting is usually death, or some other form of punish, like living in poverty for example. There is a big distinction between those who want us to “understand” why they think, feel and behave as they do and those who want to convert or program us into those characteristics. War is the result of some form of resistance.
The obvious point made in this thread is that if Wars can be instigated right here, what stops them from being instigated by the Media? Differences shouldn’t sabotage people. We are all different. What sabotages us is how we “define” our differences. Take Bro. Williams as an example. An obvious “out the box” thinker like many of us here. We are different. We have different views. But his thoughts are very relevant. What he has to say is very important and needs to be heard regardless of how I or anyone disagrees with him. Unfortunately our people aren’t used to being able to have different thoughts, ideas, opinions without another Black person showing up to stomp it out of them. But we expect that, and we are used to that happening. Now, how can we use the power of our disagreements to motivate collective change?
An Elder once told me that a Religion, a Spiritual Belief System, any perspective on Life is like a Car. We all have different Cars. Our Cars are made to fit us sometimes, customized. Sometimes our Cars are generic. But if Liberation is on the other side of the hill, we have to get there regardless of what kind of Car we are driving. Sure some cars are slower than others. And some Cars might break down during the trip and have to Car pool with someone else. Some of us can’t afford our own Car so we have to take a Bus to our Liberation. The point is not the vehicle, the point is getting there.
It’s good to argue and debate, because some of us are lost and are afraid to stop and ask for directions. Some of us also know the way but don’t want to tell anyone., debating gets the truth out of them. Our Liberation takes place when we divorce our minds from the system of White Racism in general.
For me this means that even without actual White people on the planet, we still have the problem of White Racism. We have a system of oppression among Black people in general. We limit our own progress with and without their help. I don’t see Racism in the world as a super power. I see our minds as a super power however. If our minds say Racism is a super power then it is. If we say Whites are a super force, then they are. Our collective mental force is what helps to create the condition we are in. So arguing helps to challenge different thought variables that create our condition. It helps us to “recognize” what minds are producing what in our reality. Staying still and quite never solves anything. Snakes stay still and quite.
Obviously we are all part of the problem regardless of how different we are. We are either helping to enable or disable the powers of Racism. We are either feeding it more power, or defusing it’s voltage.
What might work of out for me personally, I'll start selling my work and research to White Teenagers and have them spill it. Since most of us are mentally programmed by White voices anyway, it just might work.
