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African-American History, African-American Males, African-American Men, Black Males, Black Men, POLITICS, PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, RACE

Are Black Men Suffering From Stockholm Syndrome?: The Rise of Black Men Willing to “Make America Great Again”

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I was recently ensnared in one of the most peculiar conversations a Professor could have with a student regarding the fast-approaching Presidential election. That sense of peculiarity turned into concern when I encountered others expressing their intention to vote for Donald J. Trump. This political move is actual support for Trump and his low-information racist brigade of racists in their attempts to “Make America Great Again.” Simply put, there is a significant population of Black men determined to cut off their noses to spite their faces by voting for white supremacy and its various manifestations.

One particular discussion with a young man determined to “Make America Great Again” led me to believe he was suffering from Stockholm syndrome. The same mental disorder that ensnared Patricia (Patty) Hearst after being kidnapped by the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA) in 1974.

The granddaughter of publishing magnate William Randolph Hearst attributed her support of the SLA robbing of several banks to Stockholm syndrome, a malady that mental health experts term a psychological response by abduction victims who develop a bond with their captor via brainwashing.

It appears that the Black men willing to vote for Donald J. Trump are due to a perfect storm of historical illiteracy flowing from an absence of relevant education, miseducation, and an astounding inability to understand the never-ending battle for politico-economic control. After all, the colonists’ desire for political power and wealth birthed this nation.

The never-ending resistance of majority white public school boards regarding the inclusion of the Black experience has left several generations of Blacks without an understanding of Jim Crow. One only needs to listen to the illogical hair-brained assertions of pseudo-Black Studies intellectuals that have proliferated over the last few years as if they were Gremlins who have found a large body of water to dive into for verification. They have no idea that their support of Donald J. Trump is akin to turning a blind eye to Mississippi bigots while they teach Blacks life lessons.

Yet, those proudly expressing their desire to cast a vote for the sake of “Making America Great Again” a synonym for returning to an era that Rayford Logan termed The Nadir, a moment where rapes, lynchings, abductions, and burnings of Blacks were the rule of law. And before pseudo-historians assert that they were members of the Democratic Party, this is true. Yet, that spirit of unregenerate evil moved in mass toward the Republican Party during the Southern Campaign. Today’s Democratic Party is no more reflective of the old Democratic Party than today’s Republican Party reflects the values of old. No William Lloyd Garrison, John Brown, Maria Stewart, David Walker, or Frederick Douglass are found in their midst.

Time is running out for Black men to reach an understanding that this political matter has nothing to do with Kamala Harris and her racial identity; it has everything to do with the realization that your best interests are represented by those supporting unionization, the pathway to a solid middle-class, and the monitoring of those who have to this day done their best to solidify their privileged position by rigging the system in their favor.

Although I stand with those who maintain that Black men are not a monolithic population, I also understand that the interests of most Black men are best served at the present moment by the Democratic Party ticket. An inability to recognize this fact hints at you not understanding the stony road our people have trod and the long way we must go in the battle to ensure that Black people have accessible pathways for individual and collective growth.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture 2024.

POLITICS, RACE

Why Trump’s Radio Ads Should be Considered Offensive by Black Men: Joe Biden’s Ads Are Not Any Less Offensive Either

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Earlier this week, I discussed that Joe Biden’s campaign was making a concerted effort to reach out to the often-ignored Black male voter with two political ads. Undoubtedly, these efforts by the strategist behind Joe Biden’s campaign are being conducted to ensure that the votes of Black men do not slip through the Democratic Party candidate’s hands.

I am sure that the Biden campaign is not overly concerned that Black men will vote for an embattled Donald J. Trump. However, there should be some concern that Black men may very well stay at home and not cast a ballot for either candidate. Hence, Joe Biden’s decision to court Black men with barbershop talk ads is a strategic move designed to encourage them to get out and vote in key battleground states. There is no one who believes that the Trump campaign will convince many Black male voters to vote for the embattled incumbent. Yet, the politically astute realize that he may not need many more than the 8% who cast a ballot for him in 2016 to steal a battleground state from Joe Biden.

As a firm believer in the saying “monkey see monkey do,” I knew it would not be long before the Trump campaign sent some form of communication to Black male voters residing in urban America. I did not have to wait long. The Trump campaign unveiled new radio ads that will run in urban areas such as Detroit, Flint, Raleigh, and Charlotte, North Carolina.

The new ads featuring Herschel Walker and Georgia State Representative Vernon Jones are attempting to convince Black voters that they have nothing to lose by voting for Trump over Joe Biden. It would be wise for Trump to remind Black America that it was Joe Biden who created the 1994 Crime Bill that proved disastrous for many Blacks.

In the Trump ad, Herschel Walker shares the following fond recollections of the polarizing Donald J. Trump.

I’ve known Donald Trump for 37 years. He keeps right on fighting to improve the lives of Black Americans.

Vernon Jones is quick to second the spirit of the famed NFL running backs feelings by adding,

I’m a lifelong Democrat and I’m part of a large and growing segment of the Black community who are independent thinkers and we believe that Donald Trump is the president that America needs to lead us forward.

The above blasé statements by Herschel Walker and Vernon Jones remind me of automobile commercials that advertisers aim at urban Blacks. Ads that tell their target audience nothing about why they should purchase the advertised product. Positioned in the place of pertinent information such as miles per gallon or safety features is blaring music, neon lights, and stylishly dressed actors. Unfortunately for Black America, the alluded to fluff advertising has historically worked on Blacks. And as you well know, in the political world, if a piece of propaganda works, candidates will use the strategy over and over again.

It is time that Black America forced all politicians, not just those seeking the Oval Office, to provide substantive information regarding their platform and timetables for implementation in exchange for their political support. A bland blasé statement by Herschel Walker and Vernon Jones fails to meet that standard; in fairness, I must state that the Biden campaign usually fails to meet that mark as well.

I am certain that the politically astute within our community, regardless of their political leanings, care little that Herschel Walker and Donald J. Trump have been friends for nearly four decades. Friendships and connections to notable Blacks is a ridiculous reason for anyone to cast support for a political leader. Black America must develop its own political agenda to address its particular issues and demand its acceptance and implementation in exchange for our political support. Failure to do so proves that Black voters are still naïve enough to follow political leaders who remain committed to the grand tradition of “talking loud and saying nothing.”

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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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.

African-American History

Are Black Politicians a Bigger Problem than White Moderates?: Reconsidering Dr. King’s “Letter from a Birmingham Jail”

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Experience has taught me how easy it is to get distracted from the “main thing” and mired in minutiae. The recent public spate between Hilary Rosen, a Democratic strategist, and Nina Turner, co-chair of Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, is such a moment. Just in case you missed it, the two battled on CNN regarding the applicability of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. “Letter from a Birmingham Jail” to Joe Biden’s Presidential candidacy.  

Lost in the contentious feud was Dr. King’s tremendous intellectual offering. This is familiar terrain for Dr. King that resembles the muting of his political maturation by of all things, his “I Have A Dream Speech.”

No one should be surprised that Dr. King’s commentary in his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” is as applicable today as it was the moment it was penned. According to Dr. King,

I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate.

I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro’s great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen’s Council-er or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to “order” than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says:

“I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action”; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man’s freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a “more convenient season.”

Shallow understanding from people of goodwill is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

I have pondered over MLK’s words for decades and as the historical context changed, so did my understanding of this piece of history. As with most intellectual offerings, it is crucial that we revisit and reconsider them as context changes. As mentioned above, the role of White moderates such as Joe Biden in the political lives of Blacks has not changed much. Yet, some things have changed in regards to Black political realities.  

In some ways, it is shocking that Dr. King’s commentary that was aimed at the gradualism of sixties White moderates fits far too many of today’s Black political leaders. Consider the following assertion. Black political leaders have rejected Bernie Sanders’ calls for a radical redistribution of wealth in this nation because such matters would be appropriate for a “more convenient season.” Obviously contemporary Black leaders fit the description of those possessing what Dr. King termed “…a mythical concept of time…”

Today’s White moderates have been outdone in their calls for gradualism by a cadre of Black political leaders whose resistance to immediate change color them as Conservatives regarding such matters. The alluded to leaders appear undisturbed by the unfortunate reality that their inaction extends an all too familiar misery and suffering among their Black constituents; if one did not know any better they could be led to believe that Black political leaders have become comfortable in their present socioeconomic position.

There is neither rhyme nor reason that explains why Black political leaders from Michael Eric Dyson through Jim Clyburn are so strongly supporting Joe Biden. Could it be that they are sold on Biden’s penchant for eating Soul Food in a South Carolina “hole in the wall” or the fact that he served closely with Barack Hussein Obama? Not even his most strident supporters can effectively argue against the assertion that Biden’s most significant impact on Black America has been negative.

There is no reasonable explanation for the above political alterations within Black America. However, it is obvious that contemporary Black leaders are no longer feeling the immediate impact of grinding multi-generational poverty as the vast majority of their constituents. While Black political leaders enjoy the material accruements wrought by political careers where success is measured not in the delivery of racial justice but by significant increases in their financial wherewithal, poor Blacks remain mired in omnipresent misery and suffering. It is the “good life” that Black political leaders are enjoying on a daily basis that makes them hesitant to embrace an overthrow of inequality in this nation, even they realize that such a radical change would cost them their positions of privilege.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2020.