Category Archives: RACE

African-American Men, POLITICS, RACE

Black Is and Black Ain’t: The Irony of Kamala Harris and Black Folks

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I have been around Black folks long enough to realize that few things divide us, like political matters. One only needs to revisit the historic election of Barack Hussein Obama to the Oval Office for verification of how Black folks can split over political issues. Despite the revisionist tales of Obama’s victory, not even his ascension to the highest office in the land garnered the full support of Blacks, particularly Black men.

Then it was Obama; today, Kamala Harris divides my people. For clarity, please let me elaborate on who I am talking about when I say my people. The Blacks I am referring to are encapsulated by at least one of the following.

  • Non-wealthy/economically elite
  • They live paycheck to paycheck.
  • There has been some entanglement, directly or indirectly, with the justice system.

If any of the above represents you, it is nice to meet you, cousin.

Anyone versed in the lengthy history of Race in America is unsurprised that Black folks’ foremost issue with Kamala Harris revolves around her racial identity. Racial issues dividing Blacks in a white world is ironic. My folks railing against Kamala appear to have remixed Kendrick Lamar’s recent hit Not Like Us into a wicked Kamala diss track titled She Not Like Us.

Although there is no logical room to argue against assertions that Kamala is technically not “Black.” If being a descendant of previously enslaved Americans is your definition of blackness, Kamala does not meet that standard. I pray that after the euphoric high from such an inconsequential win, Kamala’s opponents realize that their political victory is the equivalent of worthless fool’s gold destined to lead them down an unproductive path. Those who previously sat at a crossroads of racial identity, loyalty, politics, and priorities can tell you that reliance on racial identity as a guide for political decisions inevitably ends in frustration and failure. History teaches us that racial identity is an unreliable indicator of political priorities. Lest we forget that racial allegiance played a significant part in some Black’s support of Clarence Thomas’ bid for a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court, an appointment that has haunted Black America for the past thirty-three years. 

This brief essay is less about soliciting support for Kamala Harris and more about directing my people to weigh political candidates on their political positions. Many of my relatives have issued intense vitriol toward Kamala Harris due to her lack of blackness and allowed that to overshadow the undeniable dangers presented by her political opponent. Ignoring Donald Trump’s political platform on matters such as promised complete immunity for law enforcement officers due to Kamala Harris’ lack of blackness promises long-term harm for my kin when one considers their frequent interactions with marauding police officers. If my people who have had repeated run-ins with law enforcement officers, and you know who you are, were looking at this political season through a lens focused on political priorities that should matter to you, you would undoubtedly support Kamala (not Black enough for you) Harris over the alternative.

It is time my people took an introductory identity political course focused on understanding political and economic interests. For the life of me, I cannot understand how my people allow such a juvenile matter as Kamala Harris’ racial identity to block their view of a bigger picture of worker rights, pay, the ability to unionize, and paths to a middle-class existence.

But I guess that your crazy asses can continue down a familiar path that never benefits you. As you consider casting your vote this political season, please remember the old saying, “If you do what you always did, you will get what you always got.”

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture 2024.

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African-American History, African-American Women, Black Women, RACE

Black Rights Fugitive: Assata Shakur

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African-American History, AMERICAN HISTORY, RACE

This Land Is My Land: Reflections On Patriotism and Black America

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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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African-American Men, Black Males, Black Men, RACE

What the Murder of Tyre Nichols Says About How Some In Black America View Their “Brothers and Sisters” and Why

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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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African-American Males, African-American Men, Black Males, Black Men, RACE

The River Valley High School Slave Auction: What Does Black Male Participation in the Event Really Mean?

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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

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You can always contact me at ManhoodRaceCulture@gmail.com with ideas and issues that you would like to have addressed.