All posts by Dr. James Thomas Jones III

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When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong: Why Someone Needs to Come and Get Susan “Ride or Die” Rice Immediately

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Years ago, famed comedian Dave Chapelle blessed the world with a skit titled “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong.” Those who remember the skit will tell you that it was various scenarios where some people decided that they would no longer stand for some injustice and decided to intercede as if provided superhero powers that allowed for them to prevent an injustice from occurring. These moments of intrusion never, and I do mean NEVER, turned out positively. I fear that we are on the verge of seeing an actual occurrence of “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong” featuring former U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice. Yes, that Susan Rice.

Just in case you missed the ridiculous events that led us to Susan Rice’s debut as a “ride or die chick” for Gayle King, I will seek to quickly rehash how we have arrived at this moment.

  • During an interview with WNBA Superstar Lisa Leslie, Gayle King engaged in a line of questioning that many supporters of the recently deceased Kobe Bryant found offensive.
  • Segments of Black America have taken both Gayle King and Oprah Winfrey to task for their seeming penchant to lambaste Black men while not offering a humbling word regarding the actions of White males that they have dealings with.
  • Snoop Dogg issued an angry video taking Gayle King to task for seeking to harm Kobe Bryant’s legacy.
  • Susan Rice took to the internet to issue a warning shot at Snoop Dogg that he needs to immediately “back the FUCK off. You come for @GayleKing, you come against an army. You will lose, and it won’t be pretty.”

I am certain that the vast majority of Blacks are shocked that Susan Rice, Obama’s former National Security Advisor, is behaving as if she is a hood bred “ride or die chick” from either Compton (CA), South Park (TX), Oak Cliff (TX), Chicago (IL) or Brownsville (NY).

There is a portion of me that is unsurprised by Rice’s antics as her type, meaning economically privileged, formally educated, and well-connected politically, harbor an inner-thug that they are just waiting to release into the atmosphere. For the sake of clarity, I must state that the alluded to urge is no different than the one harbored by Irish men who “blackened up” before going on stage to mimic the dance and verse of Blacks they abhorred. Just as such performances were a release for noted performers minstrel Al Jolson and T.D. Rice, Susan Rice’s outburst allows for her to behave as if she has “hood credibility.” I pray for her safety and the safety of those she loves that someone comes and gets her and makes her sit down and shut the heck up.

The mere fact that Rice has stepped to Snoop Dogg in such a public manner is an obvious sign that she does not really comprehend the world of West Coast gang violence. A world where loyalty is routinely expressed via unspecified horrific violence. According to dear friend Tiffany Thompson, an L.A. native, “Y’all have no idea of the politics behind or the dangers inherent in the world of L.A. gangs. It is best to ignore such matters if you are not well-versed in them.”

I am certain that Susan Rice’s knee-jerk reaction to become that “ride or die chick” for Gayle King was purely emotional and encouraged by her belief that the “street people” which populate this world will never be able to touch her. Such thinking is the height of foolishness and unwise as it conveys the classic mistake of underestimating your enemy — an enemy that Rice unwisely created from a situation that had nothing to do with her.

Susan Rice and those around her have no comprehension that deep within the alluded to world are individuals whose primary aspiration is to “earn a rep” among those that they revere. If Susan Rice understood anything regarding this world, she would have understood what Snoop was implying with his warning to Gayle King of “before we come get you.” Snoop’s words are a harbinger of evil things that may emanate from some unknown person directed at either Rice or one of her loved ones. Susan Rice apparently does not understand that fame, fortune, or a security detail are effective deterrents to the implied violence.

It is for these reasons that I hope someone comes and gets Susan “Ride or Die” Rice and makes her shut-up and sit her narrow butt down. This fight is not hers and she should not be seeking to make it hers. Maybe someone should sit her down and force her to watch Dave Chappelle’s infamous skit of “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong” and explains to her that if she continues to stick her nose in a world that she neither belongs nor knows anything about, she will reap a harvest that she did not even realize that she planted.

Trust me when I say that this comes from the best place that you could imagine, however, I must implore Susan Rice to Shut up, Susan. Please, shut up!!!!!! You know not what you are doing.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture 2020.

I thank you and appreciate you visiting Manhood, Race, and Culture.

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It would be greatly appreciated if you would consider purchasing my book, Foolish Floyd: The Life & Times of an African-American Contrarian.

African-American History

MLK and Black Power

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There is no sensible argument that can be made to counter W.E.B. Du Bois’ statement that “the problem of the 20th Century will be the color line.” If any criticism can be hurled at this Duboisian prophecy it is that it ends too soon and should have been extended far into the new millennium.

For many of our countrymen, it is Race that remains their rallying point. Even when aware of how variables such as class, gender, and sexual identity impact their lives, it is Race whose reign resembles that of King Cotton during this nation’s period of chattel slavery. Considering the centrality of Race in American lives, a reasonable argument could be made that there is no more frightening combination of words in the English language than “Black Power”. Above all other word combinations, Black Power and the philosophies flowing from it have proven to be reliable rallying points for those who support the concept as well as those that oppose even the mention of such matters. I am sure that you can imagine the polarization that occurred during the highly contentious identity politic driven 1960s when SNCC worker Willie (Mukasa) Ricks changed the ideological trajectory of the fight for racial equality in Greenwood, Mississippi when he taught sharecroppers “Black Power” slogans instead of the standard call for “Freedom Now”.

This moment was so impactful on the movement that not even movement patriarch Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr., was able to ignore its arrival.

The debut of “Black Power” slogans stoked increasingly paranoid Whites’ fears of roving revenge-minded attacks by young Blacks. This moment tells us far more about the psyche of Whites in this nation than it says about angry Blacks who have rarely responded to centuries of exploitation, denigration, and marginalization at the hands of an oppressor with organized counter-attacks. Most agree that when White America’s fears were heightened, it was MLK’s advocacy of non-violent civil disobedience that provided significant psychological comfort to White’s who were bracing for the arrival of vengeful blood-thirsty Black Powerites desirous of revenge for past transgressions.

It would not be a stretch to argue that in the paranoid mind of many Whites, MLK was needed to control “irrational blacks” who refused to accept their second-class citizenship status. King’s utility grew in the mind of White America every time a media outlet juxtaposed King against Malcolm X or some other expression of Black Power politics. Many Whites, and a few Blacks, naively considered MLK as a necessary evil capable of quelling Black Powerites.

Considering this nation’s penchant for displaying episodes of dementia regarding matters of Black liberation, I will take a moment to define what Black Powerites were seeking to convey during their calls for “Black Power.” The most accepted definition of “Black Power” during the volatile 1960s is provided by Charles V. Hamilton and Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) leader Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture). According to Hamilton and Carmichael,

Black power is concerned with organizing the rage of black people.…Black power (1) deals with the obviously growing alienation of black people and their distrust of the institutions of this society; (2) works to create new values and to build a new sense of community and of belonging; and (3) works to establish legitimate new institutions that make participants, not recipients, out of a people traditionally excluded from the fundamentally racist processes of this country.[i]

The concept of Black Power rests on a fundamental premise. Before a group can enter the open society, it must first close ranks. By this, we mean group solidarity is necessary before a group can operate effectively from a bargaining position of strength in a pluralistic society. Traditionally, each new ethnic group in this society has found the route to social and political viability through the organization of its own institutions with which to represent its needs within the larger society . . . the American melting pot has not melted. Italians vote for Rubino over O’Brien; Irish for Murphy over Goldberg, etc.[ii]

Over a half-century after its creation, this definition remains relevant as it still reflects the political realities facing a politically powerless and economically marginalized Black America.

The arrival of “Black Power” politics into the volatile 60s political economy was so significant that MLK realized that ignoring the matter was an incorrect action. Many would-be shocked to learn that the integrationist-minded “Prince of Peace” offered limited support for “Black Power” politics. According to Dr. King,

[t]here is nothing essentially wrong with power. The problem is that inAmerica power is unequally distributed. This has led Negro Americans in the past to seek their goals through love and moral suasion devoid of power and white Americans to seek their goals through power devoid of love and conscience….  [I]t is precisely this collision of immoral power with powerless morality which constitutes the major crisis of our times.[iii]

{Black Power activists} must use every constructive means to amass economic and political power. This is the kind of legitimated power we need. We must work to build racial pride and refute the notion black is evil and ugly. But this must come through a program, not merely through a slogan…The words ‘black’ and ‘power’ together give the impression that we are talking about black domination rather than black equality.[iv]

Black Power is a call for the pooling of black financial resources to achieve economic security.… Through the pooling of such resources and the development of habits of thrift and techniques of wise investment, the Negro will be doing his share to grapple with his problem of economic deprivation. If Black Power means the development of this kind of strength within the Negro community, then it is a quest for basic, necessary, legitimate power.[v]

Attempts to ignore MLK’s ideological maturation after the “March on Washington” dooms them to a limited understanding of both the Civil Rights patriarch and the larger struggle for “the liberation and salvation of the Black nation.”  

Dr. King’s always evolving political priorities have created “blind spots” for supporters and critics of one of the most important figures of Black America’s twentieth-century struggle for first-class citizenship. If nothing else, this moment serves as definitive proof of our collective need to study, study, and study some more. Failure to do so guarantees our inability to understand a past that serves as the foundation for a present that has yet to correct the misunderstood past.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture 2020.

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Why Michael Bloomberg is Preaching Against ‘Safe Spaces’ for African-Americans on Predominantly White Campuses

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While reviewing my files, I came across the following offering that addresses now Presidential hopeful Michael Bloomberg. Considering his decision to join the pursuit for the Oval Office, I thought that it was appropriate to republish this article.  

I will be the first to acknowledge that my exposure to Michael R. Bloomberg is limited to frequent visits to Harlem during his tenure as New York City’s, Mayor. This period is particularly significant to me as it allowed me to witness significant portions of Harlem USA, the Mecca of Black America for much of the 20th Century, being lost by Black New Yorkers. After interacting with many of the victims of this colossal gentrification, I surmised that Michael R. Bloomberg has been both an irritant and antagonistic toward African-Americans.

Consequently, I was not shocked when Bloomberg continued his well-worn pattern during his commencement address at the University of Michigan. The former Mayor used this occasion to display his staunch opposition to all policies that could potentially benefit African-Americans, particularly Black collegians. Bloomberg used this platform to attack the ‘safe spaces’ and ‘learning communities’ that are dotting American collegiate campuses. What follows is a portion of Bloomberg’s message.

The most useful knowledge that you leave here with today has nothing to do with your major. It’s about how to study, cooperate, listen carefully, think critically and resolve conflicts through reason. Those are the most important skills in the working world, and it’s why colleges have always exposed students to challenging and uncomfortable ideas.

The fact that some university boards and administrations now bow to pressure and shield students from these ideas through “safe spaces,” “code words” and “trigger warnings” is, in my view, a terrible mistake.

The whole purpose of college is to learn how to deal with difficult situations — not run away from them…one of the most dangerous places on a college campus is a safe space, because it creates the false impression that we can insulate ourselves from those who hold different views.

We can’t do this, and we shouldn’t try — not in politics or in the workplace. In the global economy, and in a democratic society, an open mind is the most valuable asset you can possess.

I am unsurprised by Bloomberg’s view of safe spaces created to o aid African-American males during their pursuit of academic success on what are unfortunately hostile collegiate campuses.

To be honest, I expected Michael Bloomberg to be clueless regarding the utility of safe spaces. Such ignorance is predictable when one considers that the vast majority of whites, particularly upper-middle-class and wealthy whites such as Bloomberg, live lives where the entire world is a ‘safe space’ for not only them, but also their offspring.

Bloomberg’s contention that collegiate campuses provide an opportunity to “learn how to deal with difficult situations — not run away from them…the most dangerous place on a college campus is a safe space, because it creates the false impression that we can insulate ourselves from those who hold different views” reveals much about Class and White privilege, variables that are accessed so routinely by some that it is akin to the laws of gravity. Figures such as Bloomberg have never realized that their position and perspective is a unique one that most Americans, particularly Black males, cannot identify with it.

In light of the fact that individuals such as Michael R. Bloomberg will never be able to remove the blind spots that led them astray during moments such as this one. I am going to provide them a lesson what others here when persons of their ilk seek to delve into racial matters such as this one. Michael, this is what non-elite Black males took from your juvenile statement regarding safe spaces.

The whole purpose of college is for ‘minorities’ to learn how to deal with the difficult situations that they will eventually be placed within – and that lesson can never be to run away from them…one of the most dangerous places on a college campus is a safe space, because it creates the false impression for African-Americans that they can insulate themselves from powerful whites who hold views that they are powerless to affect. Views that will never be abandoned as it would mean powerful Whites working against their own interests; an occasion that never occurs; particularly for something that matters as little as racial equality.

Bloomberg’s statement reveals a deplorable spirit of refusing any refuge for the most abused and exploited populations within our midst. According to Bloomberg, a safe space for poor and working-class people is in a word, hilarious.

Make no mistake about it, predominantly White campuses are notorious for being hostile environments for African-American teenagers raised and protected by doting parents who have done their best to develop a moral compass within them. Many Black parents believe that basic values will serve them well on a path to success that will be filled with discrimination, racial bigotry, and institutional racism. For many of these optimistic Black youth, the inhospitable predominantly white institution is their initial full dose of unfairness. The safe space that Michael Bloomberg rails against serves as a much-needed shelter from an ancient storm that has broken several generations of Black America.

Michael Bloomberg either does not understand or does not care that the safe spaces that he criticizes as being useless to Black collegians on hostile white campuses reveal him and those of his ilk as being out of touch with the times. And why would they not be? They have never had to deal with such matters? Bloomberg and his contemporaries have never experienced the hellish existence that shadows the have not’s of America. They have no idea of what occurs during a typical day on a white campus to non-White students, nor do they care to learn. Sadly, elites are not feigning ignorance when they offer incredulous disbelief that a significant portion of the harassment that African-American male collegians experience comes at the hand of White professors and teaching assistants, more burdensome harassment than that issued by White students. Michael Bloomberg’s resistance to a moment of reprieve from such an existence is tantamount to “tough love” for Black collegians.

In many ways, Bloomberg’s statement is akin to a call for African-American collegians to simply “Eat Shit and Grin.” Unfortunately, this deplorable situation is the daily reality for far too many Black adults. To their credit, African-American collegians fight for a “safe space” that has been so strident that college administrators have been forced to take definitive steps to address the matter.

I guess that from his perspective that drips with every sort of privilege imaginable, Michael Bloomberg and his contemporaries by denying “safe spaces” are seeking to aid Black collegians by providing them a dose of reality. The message is that in “the real world” there is no reprieve from overreaching White elites who will seek to invade every portion of your existence, even your precious mental space. So, I guess it is through a warped sense of aiding Black collegians, a well-intentioned super-charged dose of benign neglect, that we must consider Bloomberg’s resistance to “safe spaces.” If Bloomberg had his way, African-American collegians on predominantly white campuses would be like the Black adults that they are training to join in “the real world” and manage to survive in a torturous isolation surrounded by White colleagues who are also attempting to carve out a space that allows for them to stomach the tyrannical reign of White elites whose fixation on Class mutes any consideration of racial solidarity that does not manifest itself in increased profits.

I guess that when viewed from this perspective, Bloomberg’s advice is kind in that it is attempting to tell Black collegians that they have much in common with their White classmates in that in this nation they both must learn to “eat shit and grin”. Unfortunately, neither of them realizes it yet; trust me when I say that if they live enough life in this Capitalist nation these non-elites will learn this lesson very well. 

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2020.

#ManhoodRaceCulture

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Prince Harry’s Master Class to Black Men

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If such things were not routine on social media sites, the audacious statement from some Black women that it took Prince Harry to show Black men “how to protect a Black woman” would have been alarming. Unfortunately for the sake of such critics, I, and the vast majority of Black men, have become desensitized to such commentary from a small group of Black women who appear to be afflicted with a host of psychological maladies.  

This matter reverts my mind to social critic Ishmael Reed’s assertion that “a people can be no stronger than their stories.”  Reed’s observation holds much truth regarding how people’s dominant narrative reveals much about how they view their past, present, and future. Hence, the assertion that Prince Harry is conducting a “master class” to Black men titled “how to protect a Black woman” speaks volumes about the past, present, and future perspective of a portion of Black women regarding the uselessness of Black males.

Now, the salacious allegation that I am a glutton for punishment may be verified by the fact that I find the comment sections of issues such as this one particularly riveting. The anonymity of message boards presents an unadulterated glimpse into the psyche of disgruntled Black women. So, while this issue was trending, I followed the lead of famed NFL Wide Receiver Terrell Owens and grabbed my popcorn and read through hundreds of comments regarding Prince Harry’s “Master Class” on “how to protect a Black woman” as proven by his treatment of Meghan Markle, the former Duchess of Sussex.

As I expected, some Black women celebrated Prince Harry’s actions while issuing scathing critiques of Black men. I was surprised that these comments were counter-balanced by a cross-section of Black America that not only challenged the prevailing narrative, but also seized it for their own purposes. A task that I have advised my community to do in this space on numerous occasions.

If I did not know any better, I would have been convinced that those lauding Prince Harry’s treatment of his wife did not live in the Black America that reared me and droves of others like me.

Although it would be deceitful to state that I do not know Black men who absconded their familial responsibilities, such realities do not blind me to the fact that I hail from a family of Black men whose foremost priority is taking care of their home. Within my Black America, I witnessed Black men work themselves into the grave as they attempted to provide for their offspring despite the presence of demonic entities known as prejudice, discrimination, racial bigotry, and institutionalized racism. The men that I speak of are analogous to fallen service members who gave all for those that they loved.

If provided the opportunity, I would tell the relatively small cadre of Black women fawning over Prince Harry’s actions to treat him as they have treated Black men who routinely accomplish the same task. They should purse their lips, give him their signature side-eye look and inform him that “you don’t get credit for doing what you are supposed to do.”

Seize and change the narrative y’all.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2020.

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The Time has come to Take Definitive Action to Save America’s Working-Class Voters from Themselves: The Call for a Pre-Qualifying Test

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As an African-American Studies Professor, I long ago realized the sickening reality that America’s traditions of unadulterated irony and shameless contradiction began when slave owner Thomas Jefferson penned the words that “All men are created equal.” In the wake of the most pregnant moment in this nation’s history, America birthed a disappointing child that has yet to display character traits such as truth, justice, and honor. Such failings has forced African-Americans to engage in a never-ending battle for crucial politico-economic resources.

The battlefield for this contest is a political arena that theoretically provides all Americans some level of influence via its “one man, one vote” ethos. Unfortunately, a cursory examination of American history displays that many times, “the franchise”, the most crucial component in America’s Representative Democracy, has not always been accessible to all Americans.

Succeeding generations will review this moment in time and pen a historical record that details the shocking reality that the vast majority of our contemporaries lacked understanding of the vote’s supreme utility. There is no greater evidence for this assertion than the average American’s propensity to vote against their interests.

Poor and working-class Americans’ penchant to vote against their interests has grown to a level that the time has arrived for decisive action. This unbridled display of ignorance must be stopped “by any means necessary.”

Although I assert the following with a heavy heart, it is time that this nation to institute a logic test as a prerequisite for access to the franchise. As a historian of the African-American experience, any call for a qualifying test prior to the casting of a vote terrorizes doesn’t sit well within my soul. I am well-versed in the literacy tests and other qualifiers used by Whites to prevent Blacks from voting in this nation. However, desperate times call for desperate measures. America needs to be protected from the hordes of uninformed voters whose allegiance is won via phrase-mongering instead of proposed political policy.

I am certain that a few skeptics will consider this call a covert means of lessening the influence of a particular political party, it is not. This request flows from a desperate attempt to save America from low information voters guided by emotion, not intelligence.

One could argue that one of the fatal flaws of America’s Representative Democracy is that it provides all citizens an opportunity to voice their opinion via the vote; unfortunately, those political utterances are increasingly motivated by everything but intelligence. Unfortunately for Democracy’s sake, far too many Americans have proven incapable of evaluating their present situation and voting with an enlightened understanding of where the nation needs to go in the future for their lives to improve.

It is a bit embarrassing that the most marginalized among us are not the most engaged in the political process. They have yet to understand that their non-participation dooms them to continued politico-economic marginality. Unfortunately for the sake of Democracy and equality, America’s poor and working-class citizens have detached from the political process and doomed themselves to an inheritance of misery and suffering. Political strategies of misinformation will never cease by the ruling class as it is a primary pillar in the maintenance of their power quotient. It is only through voter education that this gross exploitation can be appropriately addressed. There appears to be no better way to guarantee the generation of an informed voting populace than to place an obstacle in front of the voting booth. Hopefully, it would raise the general understanding of Americans whose ability to voice their concerns via the ballot is a foundational principle of our representative democracy; I just hope that they have something substantial when they enter the voting booth.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

#ManhoodRaceCulture