Category Archives: RACE
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
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What the Murder of Tyre Nichols Says About How Some In Black America View Their “Brothers and Sisters” and Why
Although I have familial ties to Memphis, Tennessee, on my mother’s side, the moment I heard about the brutal beating of Tyre Nichols, I knew that such facts mattered little in analyzing this senseless tragedy. Ironically, my new home, Houston, trumps my connection to Memphis; let me explain. When pondering this tragedy and what it means specifically to Black America, Houston’s Geto Boys offers the most clarity.
The song I allude to is The World Is A Ghetto. The stanza below is lead rapper Scarface painting a dire picture representative of Black life worldwide.
Let’s take a journey to the other side
Where many people learn to live with their handicaps, while the others die
Where muthafuckas had no money spots
And if they did then they ass went insane
When all the money stops
I’m from the ghetto so I’m used to that
Look on your muthafuckin map and find Texas, and see where Houston at
It’s on the borderline of hard times
And it’s seldom that you hear niggas prayin’ and givin’ God time
That’s why your ask my mom pray for me
Because I know that even I gots to die, and he got a day for me
And every morning I wake up I’m kinda glad to be alive
’Cause thousands of my homeboys died
And very few died of old age
In most cases the incident covered up the whole page
From Amsterdam to Amarillo
It ain’t no secret
The world is a ghetto.
Scarface (1996)
Scarface’s lyrics about the perils of Black life, “From Amsterdam to Amarillo,” are a dreadful reminder to Black Men regarding the tenuous nature of the next moment. Unfortunately for Tyre Nichols’ family and friends, they will be reminded of this sobering reality daily.
When I heard that a Black man had been beaten to death by Memphis law enforcement officers, I cringed for several reasons.
- I could only imagine the violence necessary to beat a man to death. Even Rodney King survived his beating at the hands of Stacey Koon, Laurence Powell, Theodore Briseno, and Timothy Wind.
- I feared that this was the latest generations Rodney King incident.
As I considered this moment, the words of Malcolm X emerged from my mental Rolodex. According to Brother Malcolm, during the Civil Rights Movement, America was sitting atop a racial powder keg bound to explode with the slightest spark.
Yet somehow, this moment is different from other occurrences of police violence toward Blacks. Black male police officers delivered the mob-style beating of Tyre Nichols. As a result of this unprecedented occurrence, I have a few questions on my mind.
- What does this event mean for Black men and Black America?
- What does Tyre Nichols’s taped beating death at the hands of Black men say about how we view and behave toward each other?
I am sure we can agree on the following. The catalyst for the fatal beating of Mr. Nichols had little to do with the traffic stop. The many socialization issues that provided a smooth path for Black police officers to muster up the adrenaline-fueled rage they expressed via physical violence on Tyre Nichols began long before this night. It started before they became law enforcement officers. The path to the Black-on-Black brutality that we witness and hear daily is rooted in a complex socialization process that every American experiences; it takes root in many.
Although rarely discussed, it is challenging to be reared in America and develop an unbridled love for Black people. Experience has taught me that the following is valid for most Black people. We love the relatively few Black people we know personally, yet harbor levels of a rarely verbalized pessimistic view of others. Let’s be clear: this socialization process produces such significant bias among Blacks that it is not a stretch to term it a form of mental illness.
One merely needs to take a step back and consider the nicety manner that Blacks treat each other. This extreme hatred is expressed via our unwillingness to acknowledge our kind as they pass. The general skepticism Black men receive from Black women when approached for dating purposes. The vicious verbal and physical brutality that Black men, women, and children pour onto each other without provocation, being Black and present, seems sufficient provocation. The beating delivered by Memphis Police Department Officers Desmond Mills, Justin Smith, Emmitt Martin, Tadarrius Bean, and Demetrius Haley against Tyre Nichols is a by-product of many things, none of them good.
As the nation mourns what we have become, the onus is on Black America to go beyond understandable sorrow and tears and begin serious action to reverse a socialization process that results in us hating each other, if not ourselves. I will not portend to know the path forward; however, I can tell you with unshakable certainty that what we have been doing lately is not working for any of us.
Increase the love y’all!!!!!!!
James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.
©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2023
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The River Valley High School Slave Auction: What Does Black Male Participation in the Event Really Mean?
I am sure that you have seen the disturbing footage of members of the River Valley High School’s football team “auctioning” off their Black teammates. Yuba City Unified School District Superintendent Doreen Osumi remarked that the taped “auction” was both “unacceptable” and “deeply offensive.” To their credit, Superintendent Osumi and others reacted swiftly and barred those involved in the incident from participating in the remainder of the football season.
In a communication with CNN, Osumi penned the following.
Re-enacting a slave sale as a prank tells us that we have a great deal of work to do with our students so they can distinguish between intent and impact.
They may have thought this skit was funny, but it is not; it is unacceptable and requires us to look honestly and deeply at issues of systemic racism.
When students find humor in something that is so deeply offensive, it tells me that we have an opportunity to help them expand their mindset to be more aware, thoughtful and considerate of others.
I definitely understand the Yuba City Unified School District’s expedient actions and applaud the suspension and plans to educate their student body regarding such matters. I pray that their looming programmatic efforts are (a) successful and (b) does not exclude Black students.
From the moment I heard about this incident — by no stretch is this the first time that I have heard rumor of such antics in American classrooms — my mind immediately went directly to the looming question of what Black student in their correct mind would participate, willingly or unwillingly, in a “slave auction?” I then realized why my thought pattern was erroneous because one learns little about race, racism, and racial bias due to one’s blackness. This reality is further problematized for Black youth when their socioeconomic status shields them from egregious occurrences of racism and microaggressions.
If you ever have the opportunity to speak with Blacks about racial matters, you will find that the vast majority of them either know little about contemporary race issues or are incapable of articulating feelings of injustice beyond quips such as “you know how white folk are.”
It is my hope that Black America is so disturbed by Black students participation in this activity that they move past fleeting reactionary anger that leads to ineffectual public protests and decide to act on behalf of Black students by investing in our children by any means necessary, including, but not limited to, (a) donating to existing independent Black schools and (b) learning about race in America with the intention of teaching others.
Our failure to develop a plan that paves the way for us to do something tangible on behalf of Black America will be a continuation of how we have done things since the abrupt end of the Black Power Era. As I have been known to say, stop worrying about what white folk are doing and get busy doing something on behalf of yourself and your children.
The future of Black America depends on it.
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 always contact me at ManhoodRaceCulture@gmail.com with ideas and issues that you would like to have addressed.
Here We Go Again: The Looming Battle for Affirmative Action — It Does Not Look Good For Black America
There may be no more difficult lesson to teach Blacks than the following one. The battle for racial equality will never end. The struggle will never end, but Blacks must also be mindful that opposing forces threaten their “victories” every moment. The concept of an irreversible gain in the American political system does not exist—anyone doubting the above needs to look no further than the anticipated reversal of Affirmative Action. The Affirmative Action issue landed in front of Supreme Court Justices 44 years ago with the Regents of The University of California v. Bakke.
The looming threats to Affirmative Action display why Blacks must be more vigilant regarding Black political and legal gains. Hilary Clinton’s failure to get Blacks out to vote during an uninspiring Presidential bid will serve as the foundation for decades of challenges to hard-fought legal rights gains for Blacks and many other groups in the new millennium. The above-anticipated challenges guarantee an uphill battle for the foreseeable future.
The long-term consequences of Donald Trump’s Presidency extend further than white supremacists and conspiracy theorists’ public appearances. The most significant accomplishment of the Trump Presidency was the confirmation of Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett. Please make no mistake; today’s overwhelmingly Conservative Supreme Court will dismantle what were always tenuous rights regarding Indigenous people, the LGBTQ community, and other people of color. The most violent assault the U.S. Supreme Court can execute against Black America is the dismantling of Affirmative Action. The dreaded moment that politically astute Leftists feared was inevitable is upon us.
Only the politically naïve are shocked that the present debate over Affirmative Action nearly seven decades after the U.S. Supreme Court handed down the Brown v. Board of Education (1954) decision that desegregated American schools is occurring. All surprised by this latest attack fail to recognize that a central pillar of this nation is white America’s determination to turn back the hands of time opportunely.
Challenges to Affirmative Action from places such as Harvard University and the University of North Carolina will eventually mute race as a factor in collegiate admissions. This issue of how impactful race should be in the college admissions process has been debated around for decades by Supreme Court Justices. Over time, we have witnessed opinions pivot from race being permissible to it now being a mere “plus factor” during the selection process. I fear that this latest manifestation of the U.S. Supreme Court with its three Trump nominees will deal the final blow to Affirmative Action.
Trust me when I say this is an awful moment for Black America. Yet, Black organizations and leaders have said little about this colossal development. There may be no more frustrating element to working on behalf of my people than prominent Blacks and the organizations they head remaining silent in the face of disaster. The looming attack on Affirmative Action may not be sensational enough for such people.
Yes, the battle for Affirmative Action is not as shocking as white law enforcement officers’ unjust killing of a Black man on American streets. No dramatic footage is associated with significant issues such as Affirmative Action, gerrymandering, and red lining. However, the consequences of such measures appear on the dashcam and body cam footage of law enforcement officers murdering an unknown Black man, woman, or child.
It is past that Black America abandons being so reactionary to sensational media-driven occurrences and applying a strategy toward being politically educated and astute because the failure to do so will result in Black America continually losing against well-organized adversaries. The old saying goes, “if you do what you always did, you gonna get what you always got.”
Let’s work to get racial equality; that would be different for Black America.
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 always contact me at ManhoodRaceCulture@gmail.com with ideas and issues that you would like to have addressed.