Topic: RACEscism
Name: rick
: Fayettville, NC
: usa
: BLACK PLEDGE SAID AT KWANZA (sic) IS RACIST
: WE PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE RED, BLACK, AND GREEN, OUR FLAG, THE SYMBOL OF OUR ETERNAL STRUGGLE, AND TO THE LAND WE MUST OBTAIN; ONE NATION OF BLACK PEOPLE, WITH ONE GOD OF US ALL, TOTALLY UNITED IN THE STRUGGLE, FOR BLACK LOVE, BLACK FREEDOM, AND BLACK SELF-DETERMINATION.
but what if it was like this then it would be racist right?
WE PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE RED, WHITE, AND BLUE, OUR FLAG, THE SYMBOL OF OUR ETERNAL STRUGGLE, AND TO THE LAND WE MUST OBTAIN; ONE NATION OF WHITE PEOPLE, WITH ONE GOD OF US ALL, TOTALLY UNITED IN THE STRUGGLE, FOR WHITE LOVE, WHITE FREEDOM, AND WHITE SELF-DETERMINATION.
Dear Rick,
Your point is well taken; this pledge is racist on the face of
it.
Where did you obtain it? I've never seen this pledge before, and
I've been celebrating Kwanzaa for 35 years. I can certainly believe
that someone, somewhere recites such a pledge. I myself recited
similar things back in the 1960's during the Black Power Movement.
The white version of the pledge echoes what was actually done
by white Americans during their 19th century drive to achieve
what they felt was "Manifest Destiny".
Let me make an assumption that perhaps I shouldn't; that you are
a white person offended by the idea of politics based on race.
In my childhood I was offended by the same idea, and so I can
sympathize with you. When I matured into adulthood, research and
experience led me to the conclusion that after hundreds of years
of kidnap, murder rape, torture, segregation and discrimination
suffered by black people in America based largely on race, that
effectively all politics, as it applies to us, is racial.
You will probably never understand or agree with my feeling about
that, and I don't expect you to; our life experiences are probably
vastly different. In my 59 1/2 years on the planet, I've been
shot at and arrested by police, assaulted and cursed by white
people who did not know me, stopped by police while driving in
white neighborhoods, seen friends murdered or jailed for their
political beliefs and spent a career training less qualified whites
to be my boss.
In case your imagination just went into overdrive, I also completed
four years of college, spent 32 years as a Loss Prevention Manager
for various major corporations and never broke a law in my life.
I didn't even violate the laws that made me ride in the back of
busses, sit in segregated movie seating or get food from the back
door of restaurants I wasn't legally allowed to eat in.
From my perspective, a black person would have to be insane not
to understand that black control of land, economics, education,
etc. (similar to the white control of those things that your people
enjoy) is the only logical solution to our predicament. Blacks
looking for salvation from white people are destined to continue
roasting in American Purgatory.
You might be less concerned about black people pledging to control
their lives and do some evangelical work among your own people,
the Skin Heads, the Nazis, the White Aryan Resistance (WAR), Aryan
Militias and the KKK, who take far more troubling pledges and
then carry them out by murdering or lynching people and blowing
up government buildings in Oklahoma City.
Neither I nor any of the "Black Militants" I knew back
in the 60's ever killed anyone.
Take care,
Ike
Topic: RACEscism
Name: Kevin
City: Mesquite
State: TX
Subject: Not everyone is obsessed about skin color
Text: Hello,
I read your article about racism, and I
have to admit
I agree with most of your premises and conclusions.
In a nutshell, your argument runs like this:
Premise: Whites are a severe minority on
the planet.
Premise: Whites want their descendants to be white.
Premise: Interracial marriage and reproduction would
eventually "darken" the complexion of descendants of
whites.
Premise: To prevent interracial mixing, whites in power
have erected legal barriers and spread lies to foster
negative attitudes toward blacks among whites and
prevent acceptance of blacks as equal individuals.
Conclusion: Whites will always continue to behave this
way so blacks must expect it and get used to it.
I think I'd have to modify one major premise,
though, to
make it more accurate, and perhaps more hopeful for a world
we can share in the future where the imaginary concept of
"race" is meaningless. That premise would be the second
one. To me, and many whites, the concept of "race" is
an
invention with no biological meaning whatsoever. Blacks
and whites are not different species, just differently
adapted for their environments. You seem to make this same
case in your article.
People like me want our grandchildren (and
I am a parent of
three, by the way) to be raised by two loving, committed
parents, and couldn't care less what level of pigmentation
they end up with.
I guess I would view the smartest way to
changing white
folks' attitudes is by spreading the news to anyone who will
listen that race is an outdated, unscientific concept.
You are right about one thing though, those who won't listen
probably never will. You and I would both do well to steer
clear of people like that, and perhaps evolution will weed
them out.
Dear Kevin,
Fantastic response! I've had that material up on the web for a
year and
yours was the first intelligent response about race that I've
received.
You are absolutely correct when you state that race is a set of
imaginary
classifications not supported by genetic research. But imaginary
concepts
like religion and race become very real to literally millions
of people who
who have been murdered, tortured or enslaved because of them.
It would be difficult to
dismiss as imaginary what happened to the victims of the Crusades,
the Spanish Inquisition, the Slave Trade, the Klan, the Nazis
or even the rednecks who drag people behind their pickup trucks.
I hope you are right about the future, but I learned long ago
how
dangerous it is to underestimate the hatred and brutality that
men are
capable of.
Africans were forcibly detained
and brought to America to
provide cheap labor; those tasks are now performed by machines
which require skill and technical know-how to operate and maintain.
The educational / skills gap between blacks and whites will insure
that a large part of the growing class of unemployables will be
black. In view of this, neither history nor current events gives
me a rosy view of future race relations in this country.
I hope that you're right about the future; I fear that you're
wrong.
Ike
Topic: Feed Back
Name: Diamond
City: Charlotte
State: NC
Country: US
Subject: What???
I am so sorry if I sound or come across as an uneducated person.
However I do believe in a higher being or even better my conscience.
I understand that you were raised with strict baptist beliefs
and that during that time you became a more "learned"
individual, but it stil (sic) does not mean that you don't have
a mind to know what is right from wrong.
I understand your point that some of the things that are in the bible are questionable but from just reading a few things off of this site, my "personal" take on you is that you are a very troubled and sadden (sic) person, not to mention hostile. I believe that there is a way to get your point across without being potrayed (sic) or coming across as "an angry balck (sic) male". But you know thats just me.
Even if you don't believe in God anymore, please believe that we all have a higher calling to help others, to be kind, and loving. Peace be unto you my brother. And I hope that you find what you are "truely" looking for.
Dear Diamond,
You don't sound particularly uneducated, but education is not the point. Some of the most highly educated people that I know still sound like morons when they try to convince me that there is an Invisible Man In The Sky. Morality (doing what is right instead of doing what is wrong) is not the issue either. I probably do fewer evil things than the "Christians" you know, but what good I do is based on intelligent thought and my personal choice, not on whether the Invisible Man will thrown me in a pit of fire for eternity.
Yes, many things in the bible are questionable, and I listed more than a hundred of them in the REALigion section of this website. I notice that you chose not to refute one of these points. If you really disagree with me, read more than "a few things off of this site"; read the whole thing and write to tell me what's incorrect. Perhaps it's silly to take a self-diagnosis from someone who takes pride in being insane,* but I'm the least troubled or sad person I know. I do, however, take pride in being an "angry Black Male". Without going off on a rant here, I consider any Black Man who isn't angry an ass. (*"In an insane society, a sane man would be considered insane." Mr. Spock)
I believed in fairies until I was five, in Santa Clause until I was eight and in god until I was ten. I found what I was looking for (an exceptionally clear and thoughtful brain) half a century ago. It would be great if you took your message of kindness, love and peace to the people who really need it: not atheists like me, but Christians like the Serbs (mass murder and genocide), Ronald Reagan (mass murder), the Ku Klux Klan (torture and mass murder), the U.S. Congress (mass murder), Clarence Thomas (sexual harassment), Adolph Hitler (mass murder and genocide), George Bush (drug running and mass murder), the Confederate Army (mass murder), the U.S. Army (mass murder) and American slaveowners. Every one of the above prayed to your god before doing what they did.
Do you feel any of these people are "sadden" and "hostile" like me?
Ike
Dear James,
If you're like the kids in the U.S. you're in the middle of final
exams and don't have a lot of time for reading right now. Your
questions show that you've had limited exposure to historical
research; I'm going to ask you to do the last thing you probably
had in mind for your summer vacation: some reading. Go into my
website www.afriqueonline.com and go to the HISstory section of
B.S. Blasters; at the end you'll find a list of books which will
answer your questions much better that I could.
To briefly address your concerns, the first technology of any
significance developed on earth was developed in Africa. In the
land of Kemet (what you would call Egypt) a culture developed
5,000 years ago which boasted sophisticated politics, medicine,
architecture, military, arts, philosophy, engineering, religion
and science. In case you didn't know, Egypt is in Africa, and
these people were black (Arabs didn't invade the area until 600
A.D.). Look at their artwork, like the famous gold coffin mask
of King Tut, and you'll see clear evidence that the Egyptians
were black Africans.
White people (and everyone else on earth) were living in small
primitive tribes 5,000 years ago (whites were generally living
in caves in Europe). Meanwhile blacks built the only one of the
Seven Wonders of the World that still exists (the Pyramids). The
other six "Wonders" were built by white people thousands
of years later and they have long since crumbled into dust.
Forty five hundred years before English judges sent millions of
pimps, whores and murderers to penal colonies in America, Australia
and South Africa, Africans in Kemet had developed everything from
the Pyramids (which cannot be duplicated even today) to a coin-operated
holy water dispenser.
If you want to discuss modern inventions, black Americans have
invented thousands of things, including the stoplight (Garrett
Morris), the automatic railroad coupling (Elias McCoy), open heart
surgery, the blood bank (Dr. Charles Drew) and the filament to
Alexander Graham Bell's light bulb just to name a few (sorry,
I blanked on two of the names).
You write as though you received your world view from watching
Tarzan movies (all 43 Tarzan movies were filmed in California,
by the way, not Africa). If you rely on racist movies to provide
your information about reality, you will always be a source of
amusement to well read, thoughtful people.
Using Tarzan movies to teach you about Africa would be like me
watching Crocodile Dundee or Road Warrior movies to learn what
life in Australia is like. If you really think that EVERYTHING
of value was only created by your people, you are basing your
self esteem on a tissue of lies that will expose you to the ridicule
of thinking people everywhere.
Take care,
Ike
Dear Wale,
I've been called worse than a fool over the years, but you are mistaken; it's my head that says there is no "god", not my heart (the heart is only a muscle that pumps blood through your body, it's a poor organ to use for reasoning or rational thought). Men often try to use another muscle to think with, and look where that gets us.
Stating that something is real and proving it is real are two different things . . . your response to my thousands of words and hundreds of arguments about the bible and religion is to call me names and give no counter argument. If this invisible man of yours is real, prove it!
Imaginary spirits do not
exist, much less feel love for knuckleheads like me. I do not
exist in a state of sin from which some Invisible Man must "pardon"
me; I'm a rational human being with a low tolerance for B.S.;
that includes the B.S. some con man gave you to separate you from
your money on Sunday morning. Most victims of religion would be
amazed if they added up how much they have paid to the "Invisible
Man In The Sky" during their lifetime.
Topic: Feed
Back
Name: Takea
City: Raleigh
Subject: well...
Are you a member of the Brown family, because if you are, I might
just have to come to Richmond because our family is getting a
little interesting. As for your website. It's interesting. I have
to say though, that I'm am always disheartened when WE (black
folk, African Americans, etc) finding out that we have been lied
to about Christianity conclude that there is no spirituality worth
understanding cause white folks don't understand. Africans (and
others, for that matter) have a very different and profound sense
of themselves as part of something continuous. You might want
to check with some people of color about "they stuff".
Don't read about it, inevitably it is someone trying to "make
it nice for Europeans". Maybe I'll see you in Richmond.
Dear Cuz,
Yep, I'm a member of the Brown Family; I don't know about your branch of the family, but mine has been wild for generations. I will admit that I'm abnormal, but you'll have to forgive me . . . I've swallowed a little more water than others wallowing in the deep end of our gene pool.
I've had intimate relationships since the sixties with black folks who have practiced everything from Obeah, Roots Medicine and Asar Auset to Catholicism. Although fascinating, none of them has presented me with a glimmer of hope for improving the lives of black people, except those black people who have stooped to become con men (priests, ministers, houngoun, obeah men).
All of them promote a system of belief for which there is no proof. These systems have one thing in common; they can't exist without convincing people that there are invisible forces (gods, saviors, saints, angels, devils, orishas, soucoyants, gingays, etc.) who want you to give money to them. I agree that the literature is light on non-European religions, but I tend to read anything that interests me (of course with a critical eye).
Hope to see you in Richmond . . .
© 2004 Afrique Publications
E-mail: webmail@afriqueonline.com . . . Web: http://www.afriqueonline.com