Tag 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.

I thank you and appreciate you visiting Manhood, Race, and Culture.

African-American Males, African-American Men, African-American Women, Black Males, Black Men, Black Women

How Black Men Have Been Made Invisible by Bitter Black Women

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To be honest with you, baseless commentary by a segment of Black women about Black men puts me into a state of disbelief because I understand that their emotional accusations spewed toward Black men do not reflect Black men in America. I do my best to sidestep such discussions. I realized long ago that such opinions are anecdotal recitations lacking evidence. During a recent podcast, I was ensnared by such a discussion.

A rambling discussion eventually brought forth assertions that Black men were solely to blame for both the disintegration of the Black family and the resulting struggles of children raised in single female-headed households. Predictably, it was a female panelist who led this unproductive discussion that reduced to Black men being blamed for not being present due to their “weakness.”

The argument reminded me of Ralph Ellison’s The Invisible Man.

 

Ellison’s The Invisible Man, an unnamed protagonist, does not lack a physical body, yet he is invisible because those around him “see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of their imagination.” Although physically present, Ellison’s protagonist is no different from millions of Black men who are physically present, yet never really seen for who they are.

I considered this all too common attack on Black men to be identical to what the invisible man expressed. The female panelist’s decision to consolidate the identities and experiences of Black men who for whatever reason do not awake under the same roof covering their children as “weak” displays an astounding ignorance of Black lives, regardless of gender. Although I understand that generalizations permit us to discuss things, they still must be grounded in truth. The attack on Black men mentioned above does not rest on a morsel of truth.

Of course, I protested this mischaracterization of Black men by highlighting a host of reasons explaining this social epidemic, such as the emotionally driven, usually illogical, decisions and antics of women who do not understand the Black family’s importance in creating a familial legacy that bolsters the next generation’s opportunities for success. Not even my assertion that factors such as American courts’ decision to side with women when it comes to custody of children, drug addiction, or the “last hired, first fired” economic quandary that so many Black men experience seemed to penetrate the wild assertions that denigrated Black men into being weak.

In the end, the accusations of a bitter segment of Black women regarding the absence of Black fathers in the home or their inability to be selected for marriage is an extreme simplification that says little about the Black men that they have rendered invisible yet speaks volumes about their unwillingness to take inventory of themselves and the lives they lead while projecting their views on nameless Black men. It appears that some Black women are looking back at their lives and realizing that they have failed to develop a life worth living. Put simply, they have somehow managed to miss the truly important things such as family and relationships that were tightly grasped by their ancestors. It seems that in their rush to blame Black men for self-acknowledged unfulfilling lonely lives, they have forgotten to take any accountability for the lives they lead.

The classic saying “if you do what you always did, you’re going to get what you always got” applies to so many, certainly not all, Black women. It may be time for these frustrated, angry, and irrational Black females to stop blaming Black men for their poor decision-making and inability to forge a lasting relationship with men of any Race; after all, when one looks at the marriage rates, no man of any Race has or ever will choose them and you can’t blame Black men for that!!!!!!

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2023

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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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POLITICS

Not Totally Clarence’s Fault: Why There Is More Blame To Go Around Regarding The Ending of Affirmative Action than Justice Thomas

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I am unsure if anyone with an ounce of common sense is surprised that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the use of Race in student admissions. In a 6-3 majority ruling, Chief Justice John Roberts wrote that the use of Race in school admissions “violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.” Most progressives understood long ago that this ruling was inevitable.

It was a foregone conclusion that Clarence Thomas would vote against using Race in school admissions. There is no need to rehash that Affirmative Action was a prerequisite to Thomas’ access to higher education that positioned him for an opportunistic climb to the Supreme Court. Once he arrived on the Court, Thomas displayed an insatiable desire to block the path he traveled for fellow Blacks in a legendary manner. Simply put, Thomas has repeatedly proven to be no friend of Black America.

The most troubling aspect of Clarence Thomas’ position as a Supreme Court Justice flows from his uncanny yet reliable penchant to operate without considering historical context. On the surface, Thomas’s place in the recent decisions that “the color of a person’s skin is irrelevant to that individual’s equal status as a citizen of this nation” is a reasonable interpretation of the 14th Amendment. Unfortunately, his position flounders when placed within a larger context of racial conflict that began in 1619 when the first “half-free” persons of African descent arrived in the Jamestown Colony.

The level of historical illiteracy one must be constrained by to ignore Race as the most influential determining factor in a citizen’s fortunes in this land is astonishing. While it is theoretically correct that “the color of a person’s skin is irrelevant to that individual’s equal status as a citizen…” everything, and I do mean everything, about this discussion changes when the descendants of enslaved Africans enter the conversation. I fear that the present emotional furor regarding the Affirmative Action decision will cause my people to unwisely place total responsibility for the ruling on Clarence Thomas’ puny shoulders because he is not solely to blame for the ending of Affirmative Action.

In many ways, this regretful moment began when Civil Rights Leaders allowed the narrative surrounding Affirmative Action, a non-monetary reparations program intended to repair Black injury caused by institutionalized state-sponsored racial discrimination (Jim Crow, Black Codes, Racial Discrimination, Prejudice, etc.), to expand inexplicably and needlessly cover non-Black “minority groups.” One can attribute this unwise decision to political naivete or an astounding inability to advance Black rights with the necessary seriousness.

During the identity-politic-driven 1960s, multiple groups, from the LGBTQ+ to Feminist groups trained within the Civil Rights Movement, branched off and advanced their political agendas. The historical record shows that they successfully applied lessons learned during the Civil Rights Movement. Regardless of non-Black groups’ propagation of suffering and marginalization, their suffering pales compared to Blacks, the foremost victims of state-sanctioned discrimination from America’s founding.

Black political leaders have often refused to emphasize that Blacks were the only intended beneficiaries of the government initiative during Affirmative Action’s creation. Instead of demanding that the programs remain focused on Blacks and explaining why this must occur, they inexplicably worked to include other groups with no claim to the program. Maybe Black political leaders thought they were being politically savvy by forming alliances with other “minority” groups and collecting political currency to use later. I am bewildered that the above political leaders would vacate one of the few advantageous political positions Blacks have ever possessed. In hindsight, it is evident that this move to include others was a miscalculation as it is a “minority” group that led the charge to dismantle Affirmative Action when it served their interests.

In the end, the narrative that the blame for the decline of Affirmative Action must be solely laid at the feet of Clarence Thomas is a false one that allows a host of other culprits to be acknowledged for their role in dismantling Affirmative Action. This was not a good day for Black America as it once again displayed Black political leaders’ comprehensive ineptitude. Yet, Blacks will again fail to hold their political leaders accountable for their failings due to a stupefying political illiteracy that guarantees their marginalized status for yet another generation.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2023

 

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SPORTS

How Black America Must React to Deion Sanders Exit From Jackson State University

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According to ESPN’s Pete Thamel, Deion Sanders will accept an offer from the University of Colorado – Boulder to become its next head football coach. As mentioned in this space days ago, the rise of Jackson State University (JSU) Deion Sanders as a viable head football coach has been a riveting story filled with storylines revolving around various racial matters. The alluded conversation pieces extended beyond inequitable funding of HBCUs to the impoverished state of Jackson, Mississippi.

Considering his penchant for grabbing headlines, it is unsurprising that “Coach Prime” would be the conduit for such discussions.

Few are surprised to see Sanders exit JSU in favor of the University of Colorado – Boulder. Most people postulate that this moment is not only inevitable but also career advancement. Those possessing the latter belief are the type of Negroes who maintain that “the white man’s ice is colder.” Although such people are far from rare within Black America, fortunately, their dour perspective fails to encompass the entirety of Black thought. Thousands of Black educators and coaches have displayed a socially responsible individualism that allows them to aid the race while advancing professionally.

No reasonable-minded successful Black person fails to understand that they stand on the shoulders of previous generations. In Langston Hughes’ classic Mother to Son poem, the unnamed mother reflects the rough road that prior generations traveled and their hopes for those to come.

Well, son, I’ll tell you:

Life for me ain’t been no crystal stair.

It’s had tacks in it,

And splinters,

And boards torn up,

And places with no carpet on the floor—

Bare.

But all the time

I’se been a-climbin’ on,

And reachin’ landin’s,

And turnin’ corners,

And sometimes goin’ in the dark

Where there ain’t been no light.

So boy, don’t you turn back.

Langston Hughes (1922)

I do not doubt that Deion Sanders realizes that he, like the rest of us, stands on the shoulders of others. Unfortunately, this knowledge fails to order his steps as it has notable race men of yesteryear. To the chagrin of many, the moment a “better” opportunity arises, Coach Prime is exiting JSU for what he believes are the manicured green pastures of a predominantly white institution. Make no mistake; the green in “greener pastures” is money.

Of course, Deion Sanders’ exit will be a talking point for Black America, particularly sports enthusiasts and those associated with HBCUs, for a few news cycles. Another occurrence that has nothing to do with the future of Black America will replace this matter. Black America will lose the opportunity for a substantive discussion regarding socially responsible individualism.

Black America mustn’t get bogged down because Deion Sanders is leaving JSU and addressing more important matters such as taking control of HBCUs in every imaginable way.

Now, what does taking complete control of HBCUs resemble?

Taking control of HBCUs requires alums and the rest of Black America to prioritize becoming involved in every way possible with what should be centers of Black learning. It should be Black America that dictates the curriculum that our students engage and it must be Black dollars that bolster these institutions to the point that no program, goal, or achievement is considered impossible. Principles of socially responsible individualism must guide Blacks to send a monthly donation to their chosen HBCU as if it were a bill.

Such ACTION is much-needed and genuinely more critical than Deion “Prime Time” Sanders leaving JSU for the lily-white University of Colorado-Boulder. Only through socially responsible individualism can we bolster HBCUs to the point that they are on equal footing with other institutions and capable of guiding a glorious future for coming generations of Black America.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2022

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You can contact me at ManhoodRaceCulture@gmail.com with ideas and issues you would like to address.