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    KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLACK: FREDERICK DOUGLASS - ONE OF THE GREATEST MEN WHO EVER LIVED

    Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree
     
    KNOW WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLACK: 
    FREDERICK DOUGLASS - ONE OF THE GREATEST MEN WHO EVER LIVED
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    HE LIVED TO LOOK DOWN UPON THOSE WHO ENSLAVED HIM
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    America's Independence Day:"A thin veil to cover up 

    crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages!"

    You think Malcolm was militant in the 1960s? in 1852 - nine years BEFORE the Civil War - back when even "nice" White folks would lynch a brother if given sufficient cause, Douglass told America that he considered their Fourth of July celebration a "mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages!"

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    Born in February of 1818, escaped from slavery, and self-educated, he became one of the most prolific and sought after orators and writers of his time. Douglass was what many brothers of today pretend to be. He epitomized what it meant to be cool, but with one big difference - it wasn't contrived, and he had a powerful, focused, and very serious mind to go along with his suave demeanor. He, this former slave, had the kind of powerful intellect that would allow him to sit with presidents as a peer. He wasn't just against slavery, he did something about it. If you're Black, this man spoke up on your behalf, and he was also a fierce defender of women's rights. 
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    "Mr. Douglass was a regularly-enrolled member of the National Women's Suffrage Association, and had always attended its conventions. It was probably with a view to consistency in this respect that he appeared at Metzerott Hall. Although it was a secret business session of the Council, Mr. Douglass was allowed to remain, and when the meeting had been called to order by Mrs. May Wright Sewall, the President of the Council, she appointed Miss Susan B. Anthony and the Rev. Anna H. Shaw a committee to escort him to the platform, where most of the delegates, not more than fifty in number, were sitting. Mrs. Sewall presented Mr. Douglass to the Council, and contenting himself with a bow in response to the applause that greeted the announcement, he took a seat beside Miss Anthony, his lifelong friend."

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    Douglass was way ahead of his time, a 21st century man living in the 19th century. If you're Black, or a woman, he was fighting for your interest long before you were born - and he wasn't just respectfully whining for a little justice; he was out for a pound of flesh  He convinced Abraham Lincoln to enlist Black troops into the union army, and he helped to organize the famed 54th Massachusetts Regiment for a little pay-back over the brutality or slavery.

    THE 54TH MASSACHUSETTS REGIMENT MEMORIAL

    ". . . the 54th was widely acclaimed for its valor during the battle, and the event helped encourage the further enlistment and mobilization of African-American troops, a key development that President Abraham Lincoln once noted as helping to secure the final victory. Decades later, Sergeant William Harvey Carney was awarded the Medal of Honor for grabbing the U.S. flag as the flag bearer fell, carrying the flag to the enemy ramparts and back, and singing 'Boys, the old flag never touched the ground!' While other African Americans had since been granted the award by the time it was presented to Carney, Carney's is the earliest action for which the Medal of Honor was awarded to an African American."
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    Douglass was both a musician, and a ladies man, and he was sought after with affection by many of the sophisticated and highly placed White women of the time. Historian and scholar Playthell Benjamin describes Douglass in his, Commentaries On The Times, as "six foot four and over two hundred pounds, with a the well muscled body of a blacksmith and the handsome countenance of a leading man of the theater, a gift for language – historian and biographer Benjamin Quarles says Douglass seemed incapable of writing a bad line – and blessed with a marvelous vocal instrument which, when wedded to his mastery of rhetoric, had the power to move masses to action in behalf of his cause, a cause that included the emancipation of women, Frederick Douglass was a sexual magnet to the ladies, especially educated white ladies."
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    He told racist America, "This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine." Indeed, he says, to ask a black person to celebrate the white man's freedom from oppression and tyranny is "inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony."
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    And he had a little something to say to the jackleg preachers of the time as well. ". . . the church of this country is not only indifferent to the . . . [bad treatment of] the slave, it actually takes sides with the oppressors. It has made itself the . . . [defender] of American slavery, and the shield of American slave-hunters. Many of its most eloquent . . . [preachers], who stand as the very lights of the church, have shamelessly given the sanction of religion and the Bible to the whole slave system. They have taught that man may, properly, be a slave; that the relation of master and slave is ordained of God; that to send back an escaped bondman to his master is clearly the duty of all the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ; and this horrible blasphemy is palmed off upon the world . . . [as] Christianity."
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    THESE ARE THE EYES OF A FREE BLACK MAN.
    ARE THEY YOUR EYES?  WILL THEY BE THE EYES OF YOUR SON(S)?

    So what we have in Douglass is a handsome, suave, and debonair Black man, living in pre-Civil War America, yet, had the knowledge and intellect to command enough respect to live life the way he saw fit. He counseled the President of the United States, he 'dated' who he felt like 'dating' (Black or White), and he had the courage to tell White America that their celebration of the Fourth of July was "a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages!" But in spite of Douglass' in-your-face outspokenness, which certainly would have gotten a lesser Black man lynched, he received several presidential appointments.
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    So Douglass was one hell of a guy, and young Black men of today could learn a lot about what it means to be a true Black man by studying his legacy. In order to command the kind of respect that Douglass enjoyed during a time when other Black men were looked upon as scarcely more than animals, he had to be a unique man among men and have some serious 'street creds.' Because he lived life the way he wanted to live, and he said exactly what he wanted to say - and without looking down at his feet. He dealt with every man eyeball-to-eyeball, and he didn't care who they were. Yet, he had no 'posse,' no 'crew,' and absolutely no backup. It was just Fred, and his manhood, against the world. But obviously, that was enough.
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    So one of the important lesson that today's young Black men can learn from Douglass is what it MEANS to be a Black man. Today, many of our young men are all swagger and no substance, while Douglass was all substance and no swagger. That's what it means to be a man. Swaggerin' is a device designed to hide a LACK of manhood, so you'll find a wimp behind most swagger. Douglass didn't have to swagger. He had knowledge, resolve, and a serious sense of purpose that the world could see in his eyes, and again, that was enough.
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    Douglass's first autobiography, "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave," published in 1845 (When he was 27 years old). At the time, some skeptics questioned whether a black man could have produced such an eloquent piece of literature. Within three years, it had been reprinted nine times, with 11,000 copies circulating in the United States. It was also translated into French and Dutch and published in Europe.
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    Frederick Dougalss died at 78 years old on February 20, 1895. He was living in a sumptuous manor on Cedar Hill, looking down upon those who had enslaved him.

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    OBITUARY
    By THE NEW YORK TIMES

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    WASHINGTON, Feb. 20--Frederick Douglass dropped dead in the hallway of his residence on Anacostia Heights this evening at 7 o'clock. He had been in the highest spirits, and apparently in the best of health, despite his seventy-eight years, when death overtook him . . . (MORE)
    http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/0207.html
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    Eric L. Wattree
    http://wattree.blogspot.com/
    [email protected]
    Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
    .
    Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

    Comments

    A great review of Frederick Douglass, a true American Hero. 

    I will point out that black males have made significant strides. There are more black men in college today than at anytime in history. In 1988, only 18.5% of black males were in college. Today the number is 33%. In 1976, 6.3% of black males had a bachelor's degree. Today that number is 20.4%.National dropout rate dropped from 21.2 in 1976 to 8.1% in 2012. There are more college age black men in college than in jail.

    The okey-doke compares black males in college to the entire prison population from age 18 to death. There are too many black males that have contact with the judicial system or incarcerated. That number is one in three. The majority of black males are striving to do the right thing and make Frederick Douglass proud.

    https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2015/03/17/108852/the-...


    Thank you, RM.

    I love those stats. They're a surprising revelation to me.  I guess I've been nibbling on the fried ice cream.


    Black bodies are routinely demonized. BLM is the latest monster. They have had little or no impact on Bernie a Sanders, but they are continually blamed for somehow harming his campaign. Looking past the okey-doke is important. When two NYPD officers were killed by a man from Baltimore, black protestors were blamed. The shooter had first shot his ex-girlfriend. Black protestors had nothing to do with the rage inside the shooter in NY.

    http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/bs-md-co-owings-mills-shooting...

    The local Texas Sheriff blamed BLM for setting a tone that led to the stalking and murder of his deputy, It turns out, not surprisingly that the suspect in the murder had a history of mental illness. He had been declared mentally incompetent. The suspect may have heard his dog talking to him. There is nothing to link BLM to the shooter.

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/suspect-texas-deputy-shooting_55e529...


    The reason that I push back on the negative stereotypes so much is because they don't reflect the full picture and they give credence to the fears that lead to attacks on civil rights like Stop and Frisk. Urban life has changed. There are now urban reservations with food desserts and no easy access to shopping.  When property values fall to a critical level, businesses come in to gentrify the neighborhood and kick the current residents out. Property values increase to levels that the residents cannot afford. The negative stereotype is part of the business plan.

    In Ferguson, Baltimore, and Chicago we saw patterns of police abusing urban communities. Ferguson used the black community as a cash cow. Baltimore paid out millions for police abuse. Chicago paid out millions for police abuse and had a secret jail where those arrested were held and "lost" in the system. The people in the urban reservations are terrorized by criminals and they are terrorized by the police. The judicial system that is supposed to oversee law enforcement turns a blind eye. In Ferguson, that made the city prosperous by ignoring the abuse of  civil .rights.

    We have a situation of deliberate ignorance of the plight of the urban reservations coupled with demonization of those on the reservation. The rights of those citizens are considered unimportant because everybody else in the city feels "safe" because we are fighting crime. The fact that high unemployment couple with no trust that the legal system is fair created crime is overlooked.

    The reason why we have to protest when unarmed criminals are gunned down, is that if we don't, "upstanding" citizens will be the next target. John Crawford was gunned down while talking on a cellphone. There was no crime. Tamar Rice was gunned down playing in a park. The prosecutor has made no decision as to whether the officers who killed Tamir within seconds of arrival committed a crime. We protest deaths of unarmed criminals because they will feel free to kill us next.

    History teaches the lesson to speak for the so-called "least of us". We all know the story of Rosa Parks. She is an icon. Nine months before Rosa Parks was arrested, Claudette Colvin was arrested for the same"crime" of not giving up a seat on the bus. Claudette was a teenager. She was dark-skinned, poor, and she became pregnant out of wedlock. She had an affair with a married man. The NAACP decided not to use her as the test case. Claudette Colvin had rights but she was not "pure". When middle-class, lighter-skinned Rosa Parks was arrested, the NAACP went into action. The missed take home message is that when we don't speak up for the so-called "least of us", they will abuse the so-called "best of us".

    Rights are rights. We shouldn't have to meet some arbitrary moral code to have rights. Law enforcement does not differentiate between the criminal and the upstanding citizen. You can be a target at any time. Sandra Bland was employed. She refused to put out a cigarette during a bogus traffic stop and was threatened with a Taser. A teenage girl in a bikini was thrown to the ground by a police Sergeant who went on a wilding. He pulled his gun on unarmed teens.

    You protest when the rights of criminals are taken away because we are next. Our children are next.


    WHO DO BLACK PEOPLE CALL WHEN THE POLICE ARE CRIMINALS?
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    RM, 
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    You asked, "Who do you call to control crime when the police are criminals?"
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    The answer to that question is very simple - we must call on one another.  The biggest problem that we have in the Black community is that we're failing to come together to address our own problems. Police abuse, crime, poor schools, poverty, a lack of jobs, etc., all stem from the very same source - the black community's tendency to wait around for someone else to solve our problems.  That's a fact that we're going to have to confront sooner or later.  We're going to have to begin to realize, as a community, that we will never obtain the justice we seek until we become strong enough to demand it, and wise and resolute enough to maintain it. Because the bottom line is, nobody's going to GIVE us anything, so we might as well become comfortable with that fact and begin to carry ourselves in a manner that will compensate for it.
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    Thus, neither trying  to ask the police to "be nice," nor throwing tantrums when they're not will ever be effective tactics against police abuse. We must turn off BET, MTV, and ESPN; take off our party hats, and come together to develop enough political clout where it BEHOOVES  the police to treat us with dignity and respect when they come into our communities. That's the ONLY tactic that has ever worked in the history of humanity, because the weak are ALWAYS rendered victims. That's their assigned role in society, so it's our role as competent Black people not to allow ourselves to be placed in that position.

     


    Eric black people are relying on one another. I pointed out the strides that black males have made despite the negative stereotypes. Black teen pregnancy is down. Violent crime was down. Despite that the stereotype persisted, Crime has gone up after revelations of police abuse on camera. 

    Black people in Ferguson were directed targeted by the legal system.They did not "put themselves" in any situation, the legal system targeted the community. The community was demanding respect. They got none. The situation exploded when they left a black body to rot in the heat for four hours.

    When a nine-year old was murdered in Ferguson recently, the community provided emotional support. They organized a fundraiser at a local restaurant. A witness came forward to identify the suspect. Yet if you look at how the MSM treated the case, the black community is stereotyped as apathetic. The black community gets little outside help. They are called immoral and lazy. They are being gentrified and kicked to the curb.

    Do you have any comments on that beyond just repeated sentences? Black communities decreased crime. They continue to protest. They have come together. Law enforcement is saying that in order to keep order, they will have to kill a few unarmed black people from time to time?

    What is your answer to the targeting of black communities and the lawlessness of the police? The people in urban reservations are not waiting around, they are active. To say that they are all watching BET or some other nonsense is a slur. What pressure needs to be put on politicians and police from outside the urban reservation? Do the rest of us sit back all call the community lazy?


    RM, You said,
    .
    "Black people in Ferguson were directed targeted by the legal system.They did not "put themselves" in any situation, the legal system targeted the community. The community was demanding respect. They got none. The situation exploded when they left a black body to rot in the heat for four hours."


    Many of the problems that the Black community is facing across this country is a direct result of our tendency to be reactive rather than proactive.  Take Ferguson, Mo, for example.  The Black community could have avoided the problems they had in that city by simply voting.  The Black population in Ferguson is 67%, yet only 7% turned out to vote.  As a result, the police department is 94% White. In the last election they corrected that problem with record Black voter turnout, but it was a little too late for Michael Brown. So let us learn from the Ferguson experience and be PROACTIVE in our response to what's taking place in Leimert Park, because much like in the case of Michael Brown, it's going to be much too late to try to demonstrate AFTER the fact. NOW is the time to get up-in-arms. 

     


    The community was complacent. Hopefully they now realize the value of the vote. Despite the election, the clueless Mayor was not voted out and remains in office. In my biased opinion, as life became more secular, a powerful engine for change was lost. If there was a community problem, the church responded. You learned organization skills and how to make contacts with influential people through the elders in the church. The church was one of your mentors and you had a host of people with varying skill sets close by.

    Those skills along with the spiritual fire and hope that went along with the activism is getting lost. If you read Ta-Nehisi Coates' new book, you see problems described in detail. Again stating my biased opinion, Coates' is an atheist and one sees little hope described in the book. If you read MLK, you cannot help being pumped by the sense of hope after the struggle. BLM openly states that they are and atheist organization. This may help explain why the hierarchy common to organizations in the Civil a Rights era is not present. BLM is a loose-knit group with 26 official chapters and some groups who use the name but have no true affiliation with the original group.

    The country is going to be secular. Somehow we have instill the organizational skills in young activists,. They may come to these skills through bitter experience. There is passion in BLM,but one doesn't get the sense of hope that was seen with King or Jesse Jackson. I'm not attacking atheism. I'm making a ham fisted attempt to explain why organization was a basic part of past black activist organizations.

    There are flaws in BLM but there were miscalculations by King as well. I don't have to tell you about the open hatred that the confrontational rev. Sharpton faced. We will see if BLM can adapt.


    RM, you said, 

    "Rights are rights. We shouldn't have to meet some arbitrary moral code to have rights. Law enforcement does not differentiate between the criminal and the upstanding citizen." 

    You're wrong. Rights are not just rights, and while the law SHOULD be evenhanded and function as it SHOULD let's be real, we don't live in a SHOULD kind of world.  We live in the REAL world, where the only rights we're guaranteed are the rights that we're strong enough to demand, and competent enough to hold on to.
    And while I feel your frustration, ranting over it is not going to get us anywhere. We've got to start THINKING AND PLANNING.  Black people do so much ranting and raving, and then being thrown a Toosie Roll and forgetting all about it, that no one even pays us any attention anymore. I've been listening to brothers and sisters (including myself), ranting about injustice every since I was a kid. Then once we're done ranting, we go back to doing the same old shit we were doing before, without lifting a finger to change how we do things. Something's got to change, and the White establishment damn sure ain't gonna change, because the system is working for 'em just like it is. So who does that leave?

    What it leaves is what Frederick Douglass did, challenge the powers that be. Douglass thought so little of the efforts of Abraham Lincoln that he stopped recruiting black soldiers for the Union. Douglass published his displeasure with Lincoln in the newspaper

    http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/09/when-douglass-met-lincol...

    MLK challenged the powers that be including LBJ. King criticized Liberals who remained on the sidelines. 

    Who is left? The folks with access to corridors of power. That is why Clinton, Sanders, and O'Malley were challenged. Clinton's husband built up the hardened police force. Bill Clinton has apologized. O'Malley built up the abusive Baltimore police department. Sanders was not directly talking about the urgent needs in the urban reservations, he was talking about hoped for economic change that would at some point trickle into the reservations.

    Because people were hearing pull yourself up by your nonexistent bootstraps, BLM came in to fill a vacuum. If your solution is the bootstrap solution, you have failed the needs of the reservation. Success comes only with challenging the powers that be. Lincoln had to be challenged. LBJ had to be challenged.

    BLM fills a need. If they are too naive, too arrogant, or too self-centered to do anything, then build something else or get behind something already in existence. For all they pushback he gets Al Sharpton got Stop and Frisk halted and a trial for Trayvon Martin. Laws changed after recent protests. Ferguson's courts are no longer predatory.

    The black community has not been silent. The community has been active. They changed the makeup of the City Council in the last election. It is now time for those outside the reservation to take action and make demands on those in power to take action.

    Thus far your call is for the black community to unite with Sanders and Progressives. When is Sanders who has been in Congress for 30 years supposed to deliver something more than lip service. If we working class people are all in this together, when do we see the pressure being put on by those outside the reservation?


     

    Eric

    You keep talking about thinking and planning like there is absolutely nothing being done in the black community, That is false. I have given you examples of strides made by the black community. I have shown examples of what the black community is doing. You repeatedly ignore them.

    I can't talk you down. I can't talk down folks who blame BLM for damaging Sanders campaign. I can't talk down people who want to go on and on about black on black crime which had gone down until the recent exposure of the rot underlying the judicial people.

    Stop and Frisk and Ferguson can't convince you that blacks are not putting themselves in a position to be abused by police, but are being targeted. Ferguson, Baltimore, and Chicago has the stench of police corruption. Respect for law enforcement has plummeted. Baltimore police openly state that they do not want to be blamed when they kill an unarmed person shackled and being transported in the back of a van. You place blame in a targeted community. 

    Want to ease the economy in poor black neighborhoods? Stop using the community as an ATM by ticketing and court costs. Want crime to go down? Have a police force that doesn't abuse the citizens it is supposed to protect. Such a police force will be trusted.

    The black community is doing positive things. You just don't see them. Just like you were unaware of the numbers for college educated black men.

    I can't talk you down. I'm not going to try. I am going to continue to post actual data on what is going on in the black community. 

    BLM was able to make inroads because nobody outside the community was paying attention. BLM is trying to make a difference. If BLM is too politically naive, continues to label police as "pigs", rejects support from others, and crashes and burns by trying to battle in the streets.......so be it.

    Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Benjamin Crump and a host of others will still be standing. Those others will still be standing because they are independent actors with their own approach. A single idea, single organization would be targeted and easily destroyed. Multiple independent agents are better.

    There will never be one organization representing all working class people. There will never be one organization representing all black people. Frederick Douglass, Ida B Wells ,etc had their own ideas and formulated organizations to carry them out. We had Booker T Washington challenged by WEB DuBois. We had Martin Luther King Jr challenged by Malcolm X and SNCC. We had Fannie Lou Hamer thrown under the bus by LBJ  and MLK. We have Al Sharpton challenged by BLM. That is the messy situation we call progress. At any point in time, if we had a single voice, we would all still be sharecroppers.

    We obviously see this differently.

    Edit to add:

    Here is the black community's response to the murder of a 9 year old girl in Ferguson

    http://fox2now.com/2015/08/27/suspect-under-arrest-in-jamyla-bolden-shoo...


    FoxNews and its collection of black toadies is pinning responsibility for the stalking and murder of a deputy in Texas to Black Lives Matter.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-lives-matter-fox-news-hate-gro...

    There is no connection between the shooter and Black Lives Matter.


    RM, you said,
    .
    "Want to ease the economy in poor black neighborhoods? Stop using the community as an ATM by ticketing and court costs. Want crime to go down? Have a police force that doesn't abuse the citizens it is supposed to protect. Such a police force will be trusted."
    .
    RM, If we placed as much energy into education, community affairs, voting, and supporting Black businesses as we do saggin', flo-showin' and making people like Dr. Dre billionaires, we'd be the ones running the police dept. in the black community. That would solve all of the problems that both you, and BLM, are complaining about.  You see, the problem that I have with both you, and BLM's position is, you're both demanding that SOMEONE ELSE address issues that WE should be addressing ourselves. That's the root of the problem in the Black community. If we controlled our own community we wouldn't have to march and protest, and if we controlled our own money we wouldn't always be beggin', others would be beggin' from us.
    .
    Beneath The Spin*Eric L. Wattree

    The Black Community Controls $1.1 Trillion in Buying Power, Yet . . .
    .

    The African American community controls more spending power than the Gross National Product of Germany, the third richest industrial nation in the world, so why are we whining to the White man to provide for our needs?
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    Dr. James P. Neelankavil, a professor of marketing and international business at Hofstra University, says in his book, International Business Research, that "Since the output of a country is an indicator of its economic activity, the GNP [Gross National Product] is often used as key factor in evaluating a country’s economic strength. The five largest countries in the world based on their GNP are the United States, $7 trillion; Japan, $2.5 trillion; Germany, $1.1 Trillion; France, $873 billion; and China, $393 billion." 
    .
    So based on Professor Neelankavil’s data, the African American community’s buying power of $1.1 trillion is equal to the economy of Germany, the third largest industrial economy in the world. We control $127 billion more than France, and $607 billion more than the gross national product of China.
    .
    The following statistic says it all:

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    "Currently, a dollar circulates in Asian communities for a month, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days and white communities 17 days. How long does a dollar circulate in the black community? 6 hours!!! African American buying power is at 1.1 Trillion; and yet only 2 cents of every dollar an African American spends in this country goes to black owned businesses"(http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/02/african-americans-1-1-trillion-do...).
    .
    So let's keep it real. While the crimes being committed against Black people are unconscionable, we're letting them happen. The fact is, we're much more interested in trying to make it LOOK like we've attained the "American dream" as individuals, than we are coming together and ACTUALLY attaining it as a community. We're the only group of people that I can think of in the world who measures our worth by how far we can get away from our own culture. Instead of loving our culture, it's about "look at me!"
    .


    .

     


    Eric

    You complain about the plight of the working class. The economic power of the working class is far greater than the economic power of the black community, yet they are struggling. If I am truly economically stable, I shouldn't have to be compelled to put my money into a single entity. Single entities are disasters waiting to happen. The idea is diversification.

    The thing that keeps you economically stable and independent is remembering a line from Ta-Nehshi Coates' book, America wants to destroy black bodies. When you buy a house, blacks have to keep in mind that the value of the home of an upper middle class black family is worth the same as or less than a lower middle class white family. The financial system is rigged against you. You need to have checked multiple sources before buying a home and obtaining a loan, Lending Tree and other sources are of enormous value. You go in with a good number and make your deal. The system will not treat you fairly. Homes are where a financial foundation is made.

    Want to start a business, expect to be targeted everywhere along the way. So check and double check everything that you are told. Blacks already pool money to start businesses. Turn off BET and read "Black Enterprise". They offer good advice and have for decades, They can even point you to investors if your idea is good enough. The Netwrok Journal is another source of startup information.

    The are people helping young black entrepreneurs, but some are facing challenges. Black women are in the forefront of doing startups despite the struggles. There are more current black entrepreneurs with businesses than Asians. Blacks represent 9% of the entrepreneur pool.

    Eric, your constant referral to BET, ESPN, and Hip-Hop as distractions for the black community lead me to believe that you are unaware of the progress that is going on. There is entrepreneurship. There are more black men in college than any point in time. You viewpoint is almost like you spend the day watching FoxNews and not reading Black Enterprise.

    There already are blacks helping blacks create business, you just have not been paying attention.


    Here are black millennials working to transform Detroit.

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/detroit-revival-black-millennials_55...

    It is sad that you view black youth as doing nothing of value and the black community as apathetic. People are doing things Eric.


    Here is an article about the organization "100 Black Men"

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/100-black-men-health_55e06b12e4b0aec...


    Eric you have bought the okey-dome Kool-Aid. 

    We're the only group of people that I can think of in the world who measures our worth by how far we can get away from our own culture. Instead of loving our culture, it's about "look at me!"

    You are completely wrong. You have to go out of your way not to come into contact with the glory of black culture. There has never been a time where more black scholars have been working to educate the world on black history. The Schomburg in NY has its online site. The Hutchins Center in Boston has online education. There are too many educational websites to list. They all have lively discussion. Where have you been.

    I point to blacks in college and you do not budge. I point to entrepreneurs and people working to create black entrepreneurs and you do not budge. You are trapped in despair. I cannot talk you down. There is a vibrancy in the black community that you completely ignore.

    If blacks make demands,you say they are begging. You tell them to build strength to make demands, just so you can say that they are begging again. They demonstrate their strength but you ignore it. Ferguson voted. The court's use of the community as an ATM stopped as a result. Black demanded that Stop and Frisk end and it did. Baltimore voted in Marilyn Mosby who is bringing the officers who killed Freddie Gray to trial.

    Blacks are fighting back. You have blinders on. Your assessment is wrong. 

     


    Thx for the heads up.

    I tend to use discussions to confirm why I believe what I believe so I appreciate the exchange


    I came across two articles explaining BLM's rejection of the DNC's support statement. Both point out that actions of Democrats in in national, state, and local legislatures have supported legislation that played a role in the aggressive police tactics impacting the black community.

    http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2015/08/_blacklivesmatter_and_h...

    http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2015/09/_whereas_blacklivesmatt...


    Politically, total rejection of the DNC statement is dumb because the Conservatives want to serve up a big serving of whip-your-behind on BLM so cover from the Democrats may help.

    I think us old folks might have phrased a response that while BLM is nonpartisan, we appreciate that you are committed to changing the status quo, or some other "we are keeping an eye on you" response rather than outright rejection,. We shall see if what they are doing works.

     


    Eric it occurs to me that this situation indicates why having just one organization would be disastrous. Conservatives are predictable. They are attacking BLM as a hate group. They attacked MLK as a Communist. Then Malcolm X came along and caused opinion of MLK to shift. MLK was the better bargaining partner for the elites.

    Conservatives are digging the same hole. If BLM is too radical, what happens when a more acceptable group comes along with the same agenda. What happens when a group behaves more like the Black Panthers or the Oath Keepers? By demonizing BLM, Conservatives create the downfall of their attempt to divert attention from police abuse.


    RM,

    When I say the people should organize to pursue justice without factions, I'm not talking about as "a group."  I'm talking about as a nation. We need to readjust our national mores to automatically come together against injustice - injustice against anyone. That's what the United States Constitution is SUPPOSED to be suggesting.


    Another great piece. I've enjoyed reading your work. I know we have some differing opinions, but I really benefit from your articles.

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