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Why White America is Responsible for the Lynching of George Floyd and What They Can Do About It

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Brrrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinng!

The above word is the first line of Richard Wright’s novel, Native Son. The famed Chicago Renaissance writer intended for the ringing alarm clock to serve the purpose that all alarm clocks serve, to wake this nation up. From Wright’s perspective, America needed to be awaken to its Race problem.

Although significant by itself, Wright’s Native Son is only one of a series of bridges that highlight America’s great tradition of racial bigotry. The resistance of David Walker’s Appeal, Frederick Douglass’ admonishments during a Fourth of July presentation, Anna Julia Cooper’s lamentations from the South, W.E.B. DuBois’ prophetic warning that “the problem of the 20th Century will be the color line” and a series of deaths all serve as reminders of America’s horrific history of racial animosity. The alluded to bridges have led us to the murder of George Floyd by so-called law enforcement officers who were deemed fit for employment by the Minneapolis Police Department.

Americans are no different from other groups in their desire to embrace traditions that portray them in a favorable light and distance themselves from grander traditions that depict them in a negative, yet accurate light. An unbiased review of the American historical record reveals White America as a collective of greedy, avaricious, ends-justify-the-means, racial bigots who have little problem turning a blind-eye toward genocide if it serves a larger purpose.

This consistent inconsistency is nothing new.

There is no greater depiction of America’s character than the following litany offered by Frederick Douglass nearly two-hundred years ago. Douglass characterized this nation in the following manner.

There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. Go where you may, search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the every day practices of this nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.

The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis Police Department officers in front of an attentive public is yet another reminder that Douglass’ words still ring true.

The optimistic side of me hopes that Douglass’ words will activate White America to take a serious look at its soul. A soul that has been formed in the midst of centuries of unconscionable acts of hatred, racial bigotry, and tyrannical rule.

Let me be clear on this matter, the genesis of America’s Race problem began with White America and the solution to it will come from that community as well. There are only two reasonable paths that Whites can take to achieve the above goal. They can either aid in the total destruction of Black America or turn inward with the full intention of executing a intra-racial Civil War designed to exterminate unsavory portions of their community. A process that would call for them to address the bigotry of close family members, political leaders, and associates. It is obvious that there is no way that White bigots and Blacks are going to ever peacefully coexist within the same country.

I resist with every fiber of my being the white rage that leads so many of my Black countrymen to view Whites’ as a monolithic population whose foremost priority is the extermination of Blacks. My personal experience prevents me from embracing this daunting perspective. Yet, I am firmly entrenched in the belief that the only population capable of stomping out America’s grand tradition of racial bigotry and hatred is White America. Put simply; it is time that White America regulated its own citizens as there are segments of White America that are impenetrable to outsiders.

I am certain that it is within these socialization centers where the most virulent racial bigots are created by a daunting narrative that masquerades the evil-doings of White heroes and heroines for the extension of White privilege. This can only be eradicated by our White countrymen. The failure of White America to get its house in order makes the public lynching of Black men such as George Floyd an inevitability.

The ability to end racial bigotry and the cascade of ills that flow from it is found within a White America whose power and privilege rests on its existence. Trust me when I say that the alluded to conundrum is not new. It is the same issue that faced abolitionists William Lloyd Garrison and John Brown. I hope that White America will realize it and get busy cleaning their own house; however, I have little hope that they will.

After all, racial tyranny is one of their grandest traditions and its destruction will come at a steep cost that I am unsure that they are willing to pay for the sake of freedom, liberty, and justice.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture 2020.

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Why is Senator Tim Scott Asking Questions that He Already Knows the Answer to?: A Response to a Question of Entitlement

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When you think about it, even a broke clock is correct twice a day.

Those are comforting thoughts in the wake of realizing that I agree with Senator Tim Scott’s comments during a Fox News interview. According to the Republican Senator from South Carolina,  

I am just amazed that the last decade Democrats have had an entitlement mentality that they are entitled to the black vote.

In fact, I would extend Senator Scott’s observation. My addition would read that for far too long large swaths of Black America have behaved as if it was their sworn duty to cast a ballot for the Democratic Party. Now let us not ignore the fact that Black America’s migration from “the Party of Lincoln” is grounded in the historical realities of the Great Depression Era.

The harsh reality is that for the entirety of America’s existence, neither political party has offered Blacks a significant opening to exercise the theoretical equality promoted in a series of Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts. One of the most obvious examples of White resistance is found in the words of President Lyndon Baines Johnson (D) during his commencement address at Howard University.

In an in-direct manner, Johnson informed Blacks that White America had given all that they were willing to offer with the Civil Rights (64) and Voting Rights (65) Acts. According to Johnson, it was time that Black America did for itself.

Equal opportunity is essential, but not enough. … Ability is stretched or stunted by the family you live with, and the neighborhoods you live in, by the school you go to and the poverty or the richness of your surroundings. It is the product of a hundred unseen forces playing upon the infant, the child, and the man. . . .

Overt job discrimination is only one of the important hurdles which must be overcome before color can disappear as a determining factor in the lives and fortunes of men . . . The extent to which an individual is able to develop his aptitudes will largely depend upon the circumstances present in the family within which he grows up and the opportunities which he encounters at school and in the larger community.

The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. took issue with American politicians’ failure to aid Blacks. According to King,

For the vast majority of white Americans, the past decade — the first phase — had been a struggle to treat the Negro with a degree of decency, not of equality… The outraged white citizen had been sincere when he snatched the whips from the Southern sheriffs and forbade them more cruelties. But when this was to a degree accomplished, the emotions that had momentarily inflamed him melted away.

When negroes looked for the second phase, the realization of equality, they found that many of their white allies had quietly disappeared. Negroes felt cheated, especially in the North, while many whites felt that the negroes had gained so much it was virtually impudent and greedy to ask for more so soon…

Negroes of America had taken the President, the press and the pulpit at their word when they spoke in broad terms of freedom and justice . . . The word was broken, and the free-running expectations of the Negro crashed into the stone walls of white resistance.

It appears that American political leaders of every stripe have dedicated their public lives to ensuring Black suffering continues unabated.

Despite what Democratic Party officials would like to believe, their attractiveness to Black America has been facilitated by the phrase-mongering that serves as standard verse within a Republican Party filled with racial bigots; a hatred that was frequently expressed via the maintenance of Black poverty, public lynching’s, and the rape of Black women.

To the chagrin of Republican Party leaders, the Democratic Party is more attractive to Blacks by default. This no-brainer choice is directly connected to the Republican Party’s willingness to serve as a safe-haven for racial bigots. This willingness to harbor an eclectic collective of racial bigots has done nothing to aid their recruitment of Blacks.

Donald Trump’s futile pandering to Black America for political support via the statement of “what do you have to lose” is revealing. Embed within this statement is the insinuation that the Democratic Party has done little for Black America and maybe it is time that ‘you beautiful people tried a beautiful option to reach a beautiful end, it would be beautiful; really beautiful.’

Unfortunately for the Republican Party, pervasive disenchantment with their current politico-economic marginality has failed to lead Blacks to associate with avowed bigots. From our perspective, the Republican Party overflows with White bigots who have no problem expressing their belief that America is a White man’s nation and all others should be grateful that they are allowed to live here. Until the Republican Party expels its impressive collection of virulent avowed bigots, Blacks cannot consider them a reasonable alternative to the Democratic Party.

I am certain that Tim Scott understands the above matters better than most. Let us not forget that he is forced to associate with such types on a continual basis. Scott will most-likely never commit political suicide by publicly admitting to these truths about the Republican Party, it would be far too harsh for party leaders to digest and not feel the compulsion to expel him from their midst. If injected with a truth serum, the Senator from South Carolina would state that it is in fact the presence of uncouth racial bigots who have no problem expressing their multiple hatreds in public arenas that has produced the sense of entitlement that he alluded to during the Fox New interview mentioned above.

If provided the opportunity, I would ask Senator Scott, “What other choice do forward-minded Blacks have other than to abstain from the political process?”

I hope that Tim Scott and his Republican Party cronies one day arrive at the understanding that Black America is not running to the Democratic Party, they are running from a Republican Party overflowing with racial bigots who have historically been harbingers of death for Blacks.

To uncover from whence this problem begins, Senator Tim Scott needs to look no further than the top of his political party and realize that the hatred hurled from the Oval Office trickles down to the Republican Party’s underlings in a manner that reminds one of Reagan’s trickle-down economics schemes.

Entitlement? No!!!!!

Selection of the most attractive political option by default? Certainly!!!!!

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture 2020.

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Why The Attack from Black Voices for Trump on Joe Biden Reveals So Much About Black Political Activism — None of it is Good

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Legend has it that a wise man once said that there are only two certainties in life, taxes, and death. Now, I am not here to question such a long-lasting expression of wisdom, rather, to petition for the adding of a third certainty that fits the 21st Century. The third certainty is that “no opportunity to increase one’s political power shall be missed.”

I hope that you understand that the following statement is not an attempt to insinuate that I am clairvoyant. However, I knew that once Joe Biden, also known as emcee Joey B. or the Notorious B.I.D. in these parts, ignited an explosive device buried in America’s cultural minefield called racial matters that vultures would immediately circle above the explosion in hopes o devouring his carcass. Trust me when I say that the alluded to vultures were circling above the quarantined Presidential hopeful long before the Notorious B.I.D. emerged to issue a misspeak. According to the Notorious B.I.D.,  

…if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black.

I blame Biden’s political team for not realizing the inherent dangers found in allowing a 77-year-old White man to navigate delicate racial matters that have shifted heavily during his lifetime in real-time. Biden’s words provided a welcomed opening for avowed opponents.

In a world where political group supporting issues appear for no apparent reason, I was unsurprised, yet amused, by the emergence of a group called Black Voice for Trump. Prior experiences with such groups inform my belief that they were created for moments such as these that allow them to assume a position of righteous indignation and feigned shock. This group of Trump supporters offered the following statement crafted by Katrina Pierson, an American Tea Party activist senior advisor for Trump 2020.

White liberal elitists have continuously dictated which Black Americans are allowed to come to the table and have a voice.  It is clear now more than ever, following these racist and dehumanizing remarks, that Joe Biden believes Black men and women are incapable of being independent or free thinking. He truly believes that he, a 77-year-old white man, should dictate how Black people should behave. Biden has a history of racial condescension and today he once again proved what a growing number of Black Americans and I have always known: Joe Biden does not deserve our votes.

If it were not for the inherent racial bigotry that shadows varying expressions of Republicanism, this message would hold some significance. However, it is difficult to get past the fact that the modern-day Republican Party ceased being “the party of Lincoln” or Reagan long ago. It has given way to being the party of Donald J. Trump; the most boorish and divisive figure to ever serve as U.S. President.

This space has repeatedly been used to lament the absence of political choices available to Black America. Unlike many others, I place a significant portion of the blame for this situation on the shoulders of Black America. There is no need to rehash Black America’s grand tradition of entering political seasons without a political agenda that they could leverage as a Excalibur to advance their politico-economic interests in a crowded field of competitors. It is ironic that a community that invests so much into their Christian beliefs fail to integrate the “good news” of Jesus Christ during opportune moments. It seems that every political season, Black political leaders violate the spirit of James 4: 2 – 3 (You have not because you ask not) by not developing a political agenda.

Despite the unwise words of a few rabble-rousers, it does matter who wins the 2020 Presidential election. The path to increasing Black America’s position in a increasingly diverse nation begins with a well-developed political agenda.

Unfortunately, it appears that Black political leaders have absconded from their duty to develop the alluded to political agenda in favor of in-fighting that cuts along traditional political lines. It is imperative that Black political leaders possessing allegiance to a wide-swath of political philosophies divest from mental masturbation sessions that will produce little more than wasted water divest from the well-worn pattern of one-upmanship and busy themselves developing a political agenda to represent the millions of Black voters who hold the potential to serve as a swing vote in contentious political battles.  

As we approach the 2020 Presidential election, I hope to hear less about Joe Biden aka The Notorious B.I.D. and much more about Black leaders finally awakening from their extended slumber to develop a political agenda that Blacks who agree that the ultimate goal of improving our community must not be derailed by personality conflicts born of one’s affiliation with a political party that continually places Black issues on the backburner.  

A guy can hope, I guess.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture 2020.

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Introducing Emcee Joey B.: Why it Would be Wise for Joe Biden and the Democratic Party to Cease Public Pursuits of Coolness

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If you want to understand how White folk really feel about Blacks, one needs to do little more than to listen intently to the words that come out of their mouth. I guess it is misleading to limit the way that others communicate to merely the words, communication is found in dress and posture; not to mention the implementation of the “cool” via the implementation of Black slang.

Although there are literally millions of examples of White people seeking to capture an elusive “coolness” that Blacks naturally emanate, my personal favorite comes from middling R&B singer Jon B. In an interview conducted for a Black media outlet, Jon B., wearing black shades and a do-rag, slouched back as if he were a member of a local black gang and answered a Black reporters question of what it felt like to record a song with Tupac Amaru  Shakur. In a drawl that reminds one of a person basted in the essential elements of Black cool, Jon B. slurred the following.

“Maine, Pac told me to not waste my time or my talent.”

I am quite certain that Jon B.’s handlers told him that his “performance” before Black media was perfect in anticipation that Negroes would eat it up, consider him an honorary Black, and purchase a treasure-trove of recordings. Little did he realize that his desperate attempt to assume the cool pose guaranteed that I and a host of others would never even listen to another of his songs, let alone make a purchase. His antics relegated him to the status of a modern day T.D. Rice, the most infamous of all Black-faced minstrel performers.

In the 90’s we had Jon B., today we have emcee Joey B. aka Presidential hopeful Joe Biden, the hippest septuagenarian in the nation.

There is little doubt that Democratic Party leaders will never forget the reminder that Hillary Clinton’s failed Presidential bid placed in their lap. The alluded to message is that Black America remains the lynchpin to Democrats re-capturing the White House. The fact that it is impossible for the Democratic Party to recapture the White House without Black voters explains emcee Joey B.’s obsession with selecting a Black female to serve as his running mate in the 2020 Presidential election. Despite the gross ineptitude of Black leaders, Black America remains in an advantageous power position within the Democratic Party; without Black America’s support, there is no hope for political success.

Apparently, the desperate desire to accomplish something that Hillary Clinton failed to do, that being, securing the Black Vote, led Joey B. to unveil a hipster-persona during a recent interview with Black Popular Culture icon Charlamagne da God on the wildly popular Breakfast Club Morning Show. As expected, emcee Joey B. went on the attack and all attempted to place yet another dubious qualifier on the lengthy Black Card list that is used to both qualify and disqualify a person’s Blackness. According to Joey B.

…if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t Black…Take a look at my record, maine!!!!

Even Charlamagne da God found Biden’s tirade off-putting.

Were I provided the opportunity to advise emcee Joey B. I would inform him that the Black voter is far more sophisticated than he could ever imagine. Although we are a rhythmic people whose souls soar as a result of inspirational words, we also have reached a point where lyrical “razzle dazzle” no longer is sufficient to secure our loyalties; much of Black America desires substance from those seeking their votes, not the use of cultural tropes and snazzy sayings. If Biden’s campaign leaders really understood Black America, they would have realized that his Joey B. alter-ego was not endearing him to Blacks rather giving them a clear view that he is actually not any different from the series of Presidents who precede him; meaning that they are not really interested in aiding Blacks in the achieving racial equality.

An additional piece of advice that I would share with emcee Joey B. is that he may want to stop imploring Black America to investigate his political life because it is not as sterling and progressive as he and Democratic Party leaders would like us to believe. Consider for a moment that emcee Joey B. was the creator of the 1994 crime bill during the Clinton Administration. It was emcee Joey B’s pen that put the following draconian measures into effect.  

  • Expansion of the federal death penalty.
  • An escalation of harsh sentencing laws.
  • The “three strikes” and you are out laws that made it mandatory that those with at least three federal-level violent crimes or drug convictions received a life sentence.

I am sure that Democratic Party officials are fearing that Black voters will not be energized by emcee Joey B.’s soft-shoe minstrel performances. They should be afraid as his message is off-key, off-putting, and in many ways focused on defeating Trump and not what a vote for him would secure for Black America.

In fact, the most significant portion of Joe Biden’s attractiveness is not due to anything that he has said, done, or stands for. Sadly, it appears that his status as an alternative to the current Oval Office occupant is his most attractive feature. If the Democratic Party is not careful, Black America may stay home in the upcoming election as they feel that Biden is not much different than Trump. Unless Biden’s alter-ego emcee Joey B. is put to rest quick, fast, and in a hurry, in favor of a respectful political leader who develops and shares what his administration has to offer to Black America, it will be argued that Blacks should abstain from supporting the Democratic Party because from where Black America sits, their present choices seem so similar that it is like choosing between Satan, Lucifer, and the Devil; you’re going to Hell with all three.

May God bless Black America with truth, wisdom, and understanding as they seek to navigate this political minefield.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III  

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2020.

Committed to investigating, examining, and representing the African-American male, men, and manhood by offering commentary regarding the status of Black Men and Black Manhood as it relates to African-American Manhood, Race, Class, Politics, and Culture from an educated and authentic African-American perspective aimed at improving the plight of African-American men and African-American Manhood in regards to Politics, Culture, Education, and Social Matters.