quote="RAPTOR, post: 698464"]And HoTeP to you too.
And I don't disagree with all of what
you've stated.
There are those who would say:
What struggle? Struggle from what? "Struggle" implies that we were
doing things okay and somehow it when bad. At that point of demarcation
what was the catalyst? At the turn of a decade, say 1970 (or earlier), the black
community at the flick of a switch instantly regressed? Did the children of the
1960's or 70's come to the world with something instilled in them to reject all
that was essential and meaningful to community and progress?
The civil rights generation? How did they fail to pass down to their children
what they were fighting for? Jews, even some of the most "liberal", know about
the holocost (sp) and all the times they were oppressed prior to that.
What did their elders do, that our elders seemed to have missed?
[/quote]
Like I said,they cut the head off the snake when they killed "X",and MLK.They knew they had to neutralize these bruthas in order to kill the process of creating "Black Messiah," who would have the potential of uniting, and leading us in masses to achieve our goals. After they were killed,apathy began to creep into the consciousness of many former protestors. Then they began to use their gimmicks to fool us of false progress as a way of making us think our struggle was over. One such gimmick was they would take a prominent black, put him in the cabinet or some other position. So he could walk around, and to black "look how much progress has been made". Just because his immediate personal problem was solved. And this worked,because the movement died,and the further we got from the struggle the more it died. Now Black history is barely taught in schools out here where I live. This is not a coincidence.
IMO, the black community is afflicted with some form of acute tone deafness or a neurological disorder that contributes to memory loss. That is the only explanation that makes sense to me when I see just how many of our people know so little about our race. I can give you a simplistic answer, but the problem in a lot more complex that teaching. For example, when we were free, we literally begged the white man to let us fight and die with him,after he said no. Why is that? We signed up to be Buffalo Soldiers to do the white man's dirty work by driving the Indians off their land that the white man wanted for himself.
We were seen to be no better than them. Why did we do this? When we were segregated, our communities flourished because the white man said that we could eat with them,or too much associate with them. White owned business would not cater to blacks for fear of losing white business. Sometimes violence was the reward for catering to a black. But as soon as segregation ended, we ran to the white man and gave him our money. This took away the economic base of the black community and black businesses dried up. Once again, why did we do this? This goes beyond teaching. These people knew first hand what oppression felt like, but they forgot just that quick.
If the parent doesn't know, how can they teach? And this is the problem,blacks aren't oblivious to what happen to us. What we have to do is find out what makes some of us want to fit in and assimilate white culture. Many of us would read,or watch something white before we would something black,educational or otherwise. I asked my wife's friend who was Jim Crow, she said she never heard of him. So we clearly have a disconnect. Back in my day and time,bruthas wanted to dance,sing and wear their hair like the Temps. My big brutha wore his Fro like Dennis Edwards. We imitated Ali,and who didn't know "float like a butterfly,sting like a bee". Those were our images. Today,you have blacks in entertainment,and sports that got becky on their arm. We won't go into mainstream hip-hop. We have to realize that a level of social engineering has,and is taking place. Look how many rap artist drop out of school,and the record label don't care. It isn't their race that is looking bad. When have you seen a CEO get blamed for lyrics or for the behavior of an artist? Rakim spke the truth when he said that young brutha go in with a good song,and they get told it isn't good. That same brutha go back in a week later,with the song laced with violence and profanity and he get a record deal.
And that is how they get us...CREAM.
I agree,our situation is a complex one. For example,we think we have come so far that we now can condemn gays based on their life style. We must have forgotten that we were once vilified, maligned, and degraded. We must have forgotten the lies and stereotypes that were spread throughout history in order to further subjugate us. We must have lost the ability to remember how we cried,screamed, and yelled for acceptance and equality from whites. Those that do this point to the Bible as being their moral guide and consistently quote the Bible when discussing this issues. But many of them have forgotten that very same Bible they use often use to justify their prejudice against homosexuals, was once used to justify OUR ENSLAVEMENT. Where is our sense of history?
And thank you for the excellent questions.
Peace!
And I don't disagree with all of what
you've stated.
There are those who would say:
What struggle? Struggle from what? "Struggle" implies that we were
doing things okay and somehow it when bad. At that point of demarcation
what was the catalyst? At the turn of a decade, say 1970 (or earlier), the black
community at the flick of a switch instantly regressed? Did the children of the
1960's or 70's come to the world with something instilled in them to reject all
that was essential and meaningful to community and progress?
The civil rights generation? How did they fail to pass down to their children
what they were fighting for? Jews, even some of the most "liberal", know about
the holocost (sp) and all the times they were oppressed prior to that.
What did their elders do, that our elders seemed to have missed?
[/quote]
Like I said,they cut the head off the snake when they killed "X",and MLK.They knew they had to neutralize these bruthas in order to kill the process of creating "Black Messiah," who would have the potential of uniting, and leading us in masses to achieve our goals. After they were killed,apathy began to creep into the consciousness of many former protestors. Then they began to use their gimmicks to fool us of false progress as a way of making us think our struggle was over. One such gimmick was they would take a prominent black, put him in the cabinet or some other position. So he could walk around, and to black "look how much progress has been made". Just because his immediate personal problem was solved. And this worked,because the movement died,and the further we got from the struggle the more it died. Now Black history is barely taught in schools out here where I live. This is not a coincidence.
By whom? Did we do that to ourselves (and if so, why)? Did all that transatlantic ocean air do something to our
enslaved ancestors minds such that when they touch-down in the new world, intentionally worked towards
forgetting "who, and what we are" (or were)? Isn't that a lame excuse? Look at the jews. Look at
the immigrants who come here? How much of this 'neglecting' to pass down/teach our youth of
the sacrifices that folks before them has to do with progress (real and or imaginary) made as a
result of the civil rights movement?
IMO, the black community is afflicted with some form of acute tone deafness or a neurological disorder that contributes to memory loss. That is the only explanation that makes sense to me when I see just how many of our people know so little about our race. I can give you a simplistic answer, but the problem in a lot more complex that teaching. For example, when we were free, we literally begged the white man to let us fight and die with him,after he said no. Why is that? We signed up to be Buffalo Soldiers to do the white man's dirty work by driving the Indians off their land that the white man wanted for himself.
We were seen to be no better than them. Why did we do this? When we were segregated, our communities flourished because the white man said that we could eat with them,or too much associate with them. White owned business would not cater to blacks for fear of losing white business. Sometimes violence was the reward for catering to a black. But as soon as segregation ended, we ran to the white man and gave him our money. This took away the economic base of the black community and black businesses dried up. Once again, why did we do this? This goes beyond teaching. These people knew first hand what oppression felt like, but they forgot just that quick.
When young folk say "so what", how does this happen? If we were to play the odds that out of 1000 babies born to this world were raised in the church from that time on the odds are that most (conservatively 80%) will stay in(volved) with the church and its gospel. By that stat, what is the institution of the church doing relatively so successful in bringing folks, from infancy on, to know/understand "christ" sacrifice for 'us' nearly 2000 years past, that we are unsuccessful in bringing young folks to know/understand, from infancy on, the sacrifice of black people in this country, that isn't a 100 years past?
If the parent doesn't know, how can they teach? And this is the problem,blacks aren't oblivious to what happen to us. What we have to do is find out what makes some of us want to fit in and assimilate white culture. Many of us would read,or watch something white before we would something black,educational or otherwise. I asked my wife's friend who was Jim Crow, she said she never heard of him. So we clearly have a disconnect. Back in my day and time,bruthas wanted to dance,sing and wear their hair like the Temps. My big brutha wore his Fro like Dennis Edwards. We imitated Ali,and who didn't know "float like a butterfly,sting like a bee". Those were our images. Today,you have blacks in entertainment,and sports that got becky on their arm. We won't go into mainstream hip-hop. We have to realize that a level of social engineering has,and is taking place. Look how many rap artist drop out of school,and the record label don't care. It isn't their race that is looking bad. When have you seen a CEO get blamed for lyrics or for the behavior of an artist? Rakim spke the truth when he said that young brutha go in with a good song,and they get told it isn't good. That same brutha go back in a week later,with the song laced with violence and profanity and he get a record deal.
And that is how they get us...CREAM.
Now, the above may be quite a mouthful, it surely speaks to the multi-layered overlapping complexity with regard to the plight of black folks in this country. Can we honestly/objectively (<if ever such a thing) say that that which afflicts us as a collective is more internal than external and visa versa? Regardless of the ratio we'd still have to analyze the quantitative/qualitative afflicts more precise than to give some broad over-generalized/over-simplified explanation of why we have problems internally and externally, no?
I agree,our situation is a complex one. For example,we think we have come so far that we now can condemn gays based on their life style. We must have forgotten that we were once vilified, maligned, and degraded. We must have forgotten the lies and stereotypes that were spread throughout history in order to further subjugate us. We must have lost the ability to remember how we cried,screamed, and yelled for acceptance and equality from whites. Those that do this point to the Bible as being their moral guide and consistently quote the Bible when discussing this issues. But many of them have forgotten that very same Bible they use often use to justify their prejudice against homosexuals, was once used to justify OUR ENSLAVEMENT. Where is our sense of history?
Thanks you for your response in advance, Enki.
And thank you for the excellent questions.
Peace!