Category Archives: African-American History
Washington, Garvey, & DuBois
This Land Is My Land: Reflections On Patriotism and Black America
As a historian whose studies have focused on the African-American experience, Independence Day has always been a date that causes tremendous reflection on my status within this nation. My perspective is heavily influenced by the undeniable contributions of my ancestors to the founding, development, and operation of this nation shared with the populace that James Baldwin termed his white countrymen. Of course, this matter is problematized by the long history of racial attacks from marauding whites whose foremost priority was placing a selfish claim on America.
I do not doubt that if most of my white countrymen were given a truth serum, they would state America belongs solely to them. Despite a mountain of evidence displaying the indispensable contributions of Blacks, most whites will never be convinced otherwise. Unfortunately, most of my Black countrymen agree with their counterparts that this is a white land they do not want to claim even a tiny portion of.
This refusal of Blacks to claim a sizable portion of this nation that is as much their birthright as their white countrymen provides a keen insight into the general psyche of far too many Blacks. For some inexplicable reason, most Blacks have tended to behave as if this is a white man’s land, allowing them to dictate their status in the land for which Crispus Attucks and the Massachusetts 54th died. Simply put, my Black countrymen have been far too willing to be subservient to a white population whose priority is to rule.
Brother Malcolm once stated, “Only a fool would allow his oppressor to educate his children.” I want to slightly alter our dear Brother’s statement: “Only a fool would allow his oppressor to tell him when and where he enters this place called America.” Blacks must begin to cease being so reactionary to the political positions and definitions provided to them by their historical oppressors.
Do we not have the mind to think for ourselves?
Must we wait until whites have spoken on or defined an issue before our position is established?
I wonder if the response to the above questions conveys an unwillingness to assert Black independent thought.
The presence of independent Black thought is crucial to understanding that America is as much your land as the whites and any attempts to control Black America’s economics, education, and politics. We must learn to evaluate the issues facing the Race and develop plans to address the myriad problems facing us in the present with a mind of preventing them from shadowing us into the future.
So, sing the following with me. “This land is my land; this land is your land…”
James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.
©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2023
Please remember to subscribe to the Manhood, Race, and Culture YouTube Channel.
Have The Chickens Come Home to Roost?: Why Contemporary Black Activists Behave as if They Have No Understanding of Revolutionary Struggle
In August Wilson’s play The Piano Lesson, the character Doaker issues the following quip about time and how there is no way to stop it. According to Doaker, “Time go long, time go long.” For each of us, “time is the only thing that God ain’t making no more of.” Yet, questions regarding the evaporation of time rarely extend beyond biological deterioration; as we age, our bodies change. A student’s comment pushed me beyond that limited understanding of the impact of time.
During a recent discussion of Marlon T. Riggs’ Ethnic Notions, for a reason I cannot recall, a failing that I attribute to the impact of time on my mind, I was responding to a student’s question of “What occurred after JFK was killed in Dallas?” I proceeded to mention Kennedy’s vice-president Lyndon Baines Johnson’s, commonly termed LBJ, impact on Black America by signing the Civil Rights Act (1964) and Voting Rights Act (1965). To my dismay, an unknowing student raised his hand and asked, “What does LeBron James have to do with this?” Initially, I did not understand the comment. However, after a few moments, I realized this young man associated the initials LBJ with NBA superstar LeBron James, not President Lyndon Baines Johnson.
I place the blame for such disassociation from the US History record on a host of culprits whose actions ensure that Black youth will fail to achieve the success levels of their parents or even grandparents.
Not a semester expires where a student does not attempt to drive home the silly notion that any occurrence before 2000 is “back in the day” and irrelevant to their tenuous present or uncertain future. The inherent dangers of such thinking disassociate African American youth from a past filled with vital information regarding survival strategies their ancestors used to weather the storms of life in a nation that many call a white man’s country.
Not a semester goes by that I am not saddened by African American students’ historical ignorance and illiteracy. Beyond the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks, Black students tend not to know other Civil Rights icons such as Bayard Rustin, Fannie Lou Hamer, or even a surface-level understanding of Black Nationalist icons Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, or Assata Shakur.
Truthfully, when I see one of my young charges with a T-shirt emblazoned with the image of Tupac Amaru Shakur (2Pac) or Christopher Wallace (The Notorious BIG), my spirit is lifted. However, when I realize that something as familiar as a T-shirt purchased from Target is no reason to believe that the one it adorns is politicized or revolutionary-minded.
Conservatives have successfully executed long-range goals to control what books are allowed in the libraries of American classrooms ensuring that African American children will continue languishing in a worsening purgatory locked away from their documented historical past. Making matters worse, Black organizations that should be opposing such attacks remain mired in ineffectual reactionary protests that fail to even hint at liberating Black America. Present-day activists can’t teach aspiring young activists about revolutionary struggle because relevant experience displays how little they know about the activity.
I agree with Huey P. Newton’s assertion that the revolution belongs to the young. However, I fear post-Civil Rights activists and groups’ failure regarding how to fight leaves aspiring new millennium activists with the necessary tools.
Far too often, Black activism presents itself as a one-trick pony of reactionary public protests and riotous behavior. Opponents of Black rights must react with glee when they see the old playbook and strategies in the hands of a new generation. Those who seek to increase their freedom quotient by snatching away Black rights have also used a predictable yet highly effective playbook that goes as follows.
- Donate money to political campaigns.
- Volunteer for political campaigns.
- Run candidates that view the world through your lens.
- Holding the elected officials’ feet to the fire once they’re elected.
As stated above, this is a familiar playbook that any group, regardless of Race/ethnicity seeking to increase its access to power, has implemented for decades.
One can only wonder when unfortunate Black traditions such as phrase-mongering, rioting, and reactionary activism give way to tried-and-true uplift activities that other groups have implemented to ascend out of their marginalized socio-economic position. Such activism is effective yet, considered relatively mundane as it is devoid of public performance and theater. If Black leaders abandoned their propensity to talk so much and modeled a traditional grassroots activism, the African American collegians that I lecture to daily would have some understanding of from whence they come and an inkling of where they should head.
James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.
©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2022
Please remember to subscribe to the Manhood, Race, and Culture YouTube Channel.
You can contact me at ManhoodRaceCulture@gmail.com with ideas and issues you would like to address.