Is Blackness Dead, or has my classmate lost her mind?

A few years ago I began my poem “Black Power – Yeah Right” with the words:
“What appears to be insurmountable
And our survival less than probable
Yet our ancestors faced
Far less tolerable
Conditions
Their existence
Challenged
By legalized lynchings
We are the descendants of the strange fruit
But our integrated minds make the point moot
Our Miseducation served to dilute
And once stable communities now mimic Beirut”

I often reflect on those words, but this year as we embark on yet another Black History Month “celebration” this reflection seems juxtaposed against a backdrop of a black collective that seems hell-bent on self destruction, although like those in Hans Christian Anderson fable, The Emperor’s New Clothes, many of us still fail to grasp the depths of our descent. As a result, in 2010 with a man of color in the White House and a full generation of blackness enjoying the fruit of the sacrifices of the sixties, many of us would suggest that self destruction and dysfunction would be the adjectives of “haterism” and not an accurate portrait of reality.

Perhaps if one makes allowances for black on black crime, black neighborhoods running amok, or a black leadership class that is more known for betraying trust than earning it, then yes perhaps dysfunction may be a bit too harsh. One of the more popular sayings in recent times is “what would Jesus do?” What happens if we inserted the names Harriet, or Frederick, Martin or Malcolm? Past is prologue right? – Or perhaps not. All which begs the question how would those iconic figures that we celebrate during black history month view their progeny? I considered that question in my poem “It aint prophecy” when I wrote:

“I wonder if we’d come clean?
If confronted by the ghost of brother Malcolm or Dr King
And perhaps explain
How we now worship the bling
And sold our souls for the sound of cha ching, ching
And how our queens
Have become fiends
Unloved and demeaned
And that a white powder would become king
And 10,000 toddlers will never hear freedom ring
Another 10,000 will never live out their dreams
And that day by day by day
Black Genius is wasted on
Another foolish scheme”


And just what schemes have befalling the black nation? With Richter scale irony, the greatest scheme may have been the manipulation of a people’s desire to connect with their motherland, and as a collorary strategy, using white guilt as a tool for social change. Conceding the import of both as legitimate in the context they were developed is easy, but now it is time to recognize that both blackness and white guilt are no longer tools for uplifting a nation of kidnapped souls, but instead they are tools to hoodwink and bamboozle. Therefore for many, no matter how much we achieve, how much we excel, our blackness can only be validated via the acceptance of white America. In addition there exists a more insidious belief that as long as racism and white supremacy exists, we as a black people can never be free. What is worse, are the hoards of young blacks who now rather sit home, be aimless, and do nothing, but as long as they can “front” with the symbolism of blackness, and spout hatred for whitey and their crooked systems, or blame the “illuminati” – they are absolved from taking responsibility for their own dysfunction. As a result, significant amounts of energy has been expended either in blaming white America, or in trying to change the hearts and minds of the sons and daughters of former slave owners rather than the instillation of genius in the sons and daughters of former slaves.

Recently, I read my high school classmate Debra Dickerson’s book The End of Blackness. What I found was quite compelling. The premise of her book and the inherent message to black America therein was simple and succinct. White America has given all it will give in concessions and apologies to black people for any crimes real and “imagined” therefore any further attempts to validate our worth by virtue of gaining white acceptance or white acknowledgement of their past wrongs is an utter and useless waste of time. In addition Debra cited, power is there to be seized, not begged for, yet a race of people knee deep in to on victimization are singularly ill equipped embrace their own power . Yet black America continues on its search for white approval and for mea culpa - reparations.

As I write this essay, I am reminded that organizations like the NAACP and the National Urban League often whined during Republican Administrations that they were ignored by GOP Presidents. Yet, the black electorate, represented by these organizations effectively rejected the Republican Party, and since many black leaders assailed Republican Administrations because of their “anti black” policies and programs, was the point of their whining? For instance, did they truly believe that the mere appearance of President Reagan at their conventions would lead to a more progressive Republican agenda? Did they believe that the mere words of a man whose policies they abhorred would represent a dramatic change, or that Ronald Wilson Reagan would appear before the NAACP Convention, and reverse an increasing right wing agenda? I hope not, because if they did, then they exposed themselves for being political neophytes at best and mere fools at worse. Forgive me if I wonder out loud, if the lamentations of these organizations merely served to distract from their increasing political impotency and diminishing relevance.

Beyond the lack of relevance of outdated strategies, lays a more penetrating question, could we as a race look beyond the blame game, the “white folks don’t respect us” game, and define ourselves, outside the perimeters of white acceptance. In ‘Blackness”, Debra opined that if the white racism ended at 12:00 noon, at 12:05 the issues in the black community would still remain. For example, there would still be crack in our neighborhoods, our inner city schools and housing stock would still be crumbling, our collective credit rating would still be low, and our obesity excessive and disease would still be rampant. Who would we blame then? To take Debra’s thought further, suppose that mythical moment also meant there was not a single white person in America, how would those issues get fixed? Could we resolve them? Since we have totally adapted the western cultures preference to look external rather than internal, would Black America now bereft of white America to blame for its problems, find the wherewithal to look inside and move forward? The ancestors that we celebrate during black history months had no illusions about America, and while the trap of victimization was available to them, we honor them today because they didn’t fall prey to it.

Those that came before us, lived lives often one step away from the noose, therefore they had their collective heads on a swivel as if there life depended on it, and often it did. Yet they understood that victimization and vigilance should not be confused - nor should we. This is America, the same America that bred Bull Conner, the KKK, and David Duke; therefore it would be foolhardily to suggest we ought not to be vigilance. However danger lurks when we fail to see the forest for the trees and succumb to the fool’s gold of playing the role of victim to a nation who utterly refuses to see you as such.

In the album “Be” the rapper Common must have had that in mind when he wrote “be vigilant of foreclosure over your shoulder when begging a nation built on slave labor for reparations.” That poetic warning rings louder in the light that we still seem too primed to blame white America for our ills preferring to lie in repose lamenting the opportunities given to Mexicans who often take jobs we refuse to take, or bellyaching over how the “A-Rab”, or Korean that stores dominate industries in our community while forgetting our own communal abdication. In light of the many black families seduced into taking sub prime mortgages now facing real foreclosure, Common’s lyrics now show themselves as being prophetic.

But if hustling victimization wasn’t bad enough, black America was also inundated by modern day “pro black hustlers” who played on our natural desire to celebrate blackness to the degree that we began to confuse smoke and mirrors for structural change. In short, we were sold a bill of goods that suggested - putting a black face on Jesus, or being known as African Americans ( all while having very little knowledge or appreciation of Africa) would substitute for substantive change. Did any one take time to ask, what good is it to know Swahili in a country where there are more Spanish speakers than English, and at a time when our biggest trading partners speak Mandarin? Pro black hustlers seemed to have little interest in the promotion of greatness, or delving into community problems with a seriousness that is required. But when the cameras are on, they became quite skilled in organizing candlelight vigils, and marches that follow homicides, but very little interest in supporting schools or organizations that may reach our young before they become homicidal.

Sadly, what started as a Pan African movement by giants like Marcus Garvey, and W. E. B. Dubois – movements which simultaneously promoted blackness and greatness has now degenerated into street hustle. One of those hustles is to put black faces on western traditions, which allows us to participate in those traditions - without guilt. Therefore we painted Jesus black ostensibly to cope with the religion of our oppressors, as if a black Jesus would now make Christianity more palatable, and exorcize the role of the church in slavery. And to double down our bets, we developed our own version of Christmas via Kwanza but like the lights on the Christmas tree, after Kwanza is over, the principles are put back in the collective closet until the next year. Given the current state of black America, it is a chilling statement that the Kwanza principals of Umoja (unity) or Kunjchagulia (self determination) are only worth discussing for seven days!

The Nation of Islam was unique in their hustle. Aiming their hate at white “devils” exploiting the disingenuous nature of the Christian message for blacks – especially black males, they were able to reel in men from the penitentiaries, and cleanse them in the name of Allah. But at the end of the day, the greatest beneficiaries of this “cleansing’ were the “Honorable” Elijah Mohammad and now Minister Louis Farrakhan. To give credit where credit is due, both of those gentlemen lit a spirit of purpose in many black men, yet in the end I believe they manipulated them for their own agenda. I considered this as I wrote my “message” to Minster Farrakhan in my poem

“This Aint Prophecy”

“A few years ago
I witnessed your tearful mea culpa on 60 Minutes
But for me it failed to diminish
Your role in brother Malcolm’s untimely finish
A bloody blemish
Remains
An ugly stain
A sold out soul
But to what gain?
So that 30 years later
A Million men could march
For your glory, your honor and your fame?
You got misguided soldiers worshiping a fraudulent name
Too busy hustling pies to
Peep game
Or so they claim
But I think it is it fear of reprisals
That has them restrained
Like Pavlov’s dogs
Conditioned and trained
Freed from prison -
But still in chains
If they only knew -
If they only knew
That now a black demon has replaced a white one
And at the end of the day
Only the shackles have changed”

More recently a new hustle has evolved as a group of blacks calling themselves “Moors” are hustling a concept of “sovereignty” that among many things will allow them to walk out of court rooms and say some magical incantations to a judge and then walk out unscaved - their innocence or guilt notwithstanding. They also suggest that by filing your UCC you grant yourself legal insulation from the laws of this country, and if you go on their website they will file you EIN # for $50.00 – The fact that you could go on the Internal Revenue Service’s website and file for free, is a detail left for another day.

Finally there is the “conscious hustle”. These folks go where the Christian and Kwanza, and Moorish hustle dared not - the hustle of the spirit. Thus leading the way for the popularity of the West African religion Ifa practiced by the Yoruba tribes and other related groups and practitioners. Their aim is to connect us to Africa not merely by written principles, but by providing a portal to Africa via mythical deities, ancestors and guardian spirits who would protect us from the enemy, and oh by the way absolve us from personal responsibility – because – they got us.

Lost in all the chatter of ancestors and ancients, white hatred, and sovereignty are concepts like paying your bills, developing a marketable skill, loving yourself, be responsible, build a community, and teach and raise your children. The unfortunate and perhaps inconvenient truth is that we have missed a golden opportunity, to prepare a generation to be poised for greatness, at this critical junction in this countries’ history. For as America mires in economic upheaval, and with a political structure too gridlocked to do big things, those who are innovative, ingenious, emotionally stable, and prepared, can seize the day. Instead of a nation of greatness, we are a nation of blackness well versed in all things black, but now lacking the wherewithal to excel at a time when there is a premium paid to those who bring their “A” game. Now at “High Noon”, we realize perhaps too late, that those who hustled blackness got paid, but we as a community were left holding the bag.

In 2010 we need to as they say “get a grip”. To be relevant means more that being able to quote greats like John Hendrix Clarke, the writings of the Metu Neter, or changing your “slave name”. When we look back at the life of Malcolm X, his true liberation didn’t come from the “X” but from extracting himself what he saw an organization that he felt was rooted in hate and lies rather than evolution. The heirs of Frederick Douglass made a conscious choice to use smoke and mirrors to advance their agenda. As a result, a generation of blackness begun to believe that 500 years of black slavery, both chattel and mental, could be eradicated by some allegiance to pseudo traditions, mythical deities, and putting black faces on western customs. In the battle for black minds, trickery and slight of hand won out over the pursuit of greatness, effectively taking an entire generation down with it.

From where I sit, a generation of these failed experiments are dispositive – “Blackness” is dead. For all the years of pro blackness, we somehow missed the lessons of living within our means, eating a healthy diet, avoiding unnecessary debt, developing a sense of personal integrity and accountability, and most importantly the development of personal power. In America where deadlines, and commitments manner, Steven Covey’s books should be required reading, in America where we are constantly downloading both information and misinformation, embracing quiet time matters, in a country where the federal government looks the other way as the worse foods are delivered to our homes, diet and fasting are necessary, in a country where the education systems produces functionaries - not greatness, alternative educational practices is mandatory and in a country where materialism reigns supreme, personal discipline should be a way of life, and finally and most importantly in a country whose spiritual tenets are the belief in an exterior God at the expense of an interior one, the reconnection to the inner divine should be “job one”. All of those issues are not rooted in blackness, or Africa, but in humanness. Before our ancestors were Africans, they were humans.

Yes it is true that the people of Ancient African were one of the first peoples on this planet, to organize and create a cohesive, society, and yes, arts, letters, science, math, and medicine are rooted in the genius of the African soil, but in 2010 black America immersed into the mores, and doctrines of the west, is far removed from the greatness of the Nile. Africa of Menes, and Thebes is a mere memory, and while they provide great historical “talking points”, standing alone, they are not a path to growth and evolution. In the final analysis, blackness is only of value when it walks in greatness, lacking that, it is effectively the death rattle of a people so lost, so disconnected, that they seek the symbol of Africa, but lack the substance of her genius.

And often what is lost on those hustlers is that greatness has no race, or continent, or nationality - it is what it is. Blackness was a social construct put on a group of people by their oppressors to fit their genocidal agenda. Now these hustlers have turned blackness on its head and are using it for their own means. For the descendants of slaves who were kidnapped and brought to this hemisphere, the search for blackness was a guiding light; a driving force that they believed would somehow make them whole. Today we shame them with our propensity for minstrel foolishness, and chicanery in the name of blackness.

In 2010, it may be time to realize that blackness as a tool for evolution is nothing more than a fraud, fools gold that prevents a people from their true path – greatness. Greatness and blackness need not be irreconcilable, but what is the point of embracing blackness through the prism if mediocrity, and self hatred? Putting a black face on white traditions, has not eliminated crime from our communities, growing “locs” or wearing kente has not extracted crack from our communities, or kept our young from the path to self destruction. Greatness comes from recognizing your inherent gifts and genius, harnessing those gifts and leveraging them for a fulfilling life, and hopefully to share with the collective.

In 2010, the black community cannot sustain ourselves when our best and brightest are filling prison cells rather than universities, we cannot sustain ourselves by leaving ideas, and dreams undone and unrealized because we are intimidated by paperwork, bureaucracy, or underdeveloped skill set. In 2010 greatness requires a paradigm shift in our perspective; it requires viewing the world through the vision of opportunity, and abundance. Greatness requires developing the discipline, the vision, the inner genius, and unleashing the array of skills needed to impose one’s personal will, and chart his pr her own path. In doing so if the black community benefits, great, but in the final analysis I agree with my classmate, blackness as a portal to self actualization has run its course, its high noon for black America, a new day is dawning, and with it the death of “Blackness”.