Save ourselves

A Quick History Lesson

A Quick History Lesson for  Readers of Cape Cod Today
"We are the world" is not how is really is around here

For many it is still convenient to sing their version of "We are the World" denying how pervasive institutional racism is in our daily lives.  Unfortunately , outspoken Blacks are still resented. This resentment dates back to slavery and was codified after the Civil War when the implementation of the Black Codes made it illegal for a Black to speak back or even look a white person directly in the face. The price for breaking that law was often death. A modern day version of this contempt for Black people is evidenced in the way in which Obama and Reverend Wright are being treated by mainstream America.

In contemporary society, White men go to business school and they study marketing. They are trained to be aggressive. They run Bear Sterns.  They destroy Bear Sterns and they receive welfare from the Federal Government for their incompetence.  Blacks on the other hand,are continually warned that what they studied in Business School was only for White boys. (On right is a clip from one of the two viseo below)

If Black men act aggressively or you are too outspoken, you will be silenced, possibly destroying your career.  We defy all odds and become the Governor of Massachusetts and are condemned because we redecorate the Governors mansion.  We defy all odds and become the leading Democratic candidate for the Presidency of the United States and we are bound to choose every word we say carefully, not to offend White men who are so threatened by our presence.

We are damned if we do and dammed if we don't.  Despite Obama's eloquent words, whites will insist that the strident words of his minister follow him for the rest of this campaign. This is what we call modern day racism. Obama attempted to prepare the nation for the fact that we need to be vaccinated with the kind of education and acceptance that will start a healing process. We know that racism is irrational and America is like a sick office building. The tenets of racism and racist thought circumscribe the nation.  Many of you who have responded to my editorials demonstrate how deep seated the sickness runs in the veins of America. Professor Derrick Bell, one of the country's leading Legal Scholars defines racism in America as permanent. It is like a terminal disease we have to live with, but like the terminally ill patient we hold out for a miracle cure.

Stop dismissing the daily experiences of so many in this society. Stop changing the subject and feeling the need to point out some other victim that is also bleeding. Concentrate on the bludgeoned in front of you. I have dedicated my professional and personal life as an activists, educator and vocal artists to addressing these issues directly. I am not shocked by the responses to my writings and Obama's ascendancy as a viable political leader in America.  When I first heard Obama announce his run for the presidency, I thought of the Honorable  Reverend Wright.  I said to friends, they are going to wait a year and then try to use Wright against Obama. I remembered how the media did the same thing to Jesse Jackson with the "hyme" comment he allegedly made almost a year before the New Hampshire primary. The story was held and released on the eve of the primary.

Wright joins a litany of other Black theologians/activists in America continue with life time commitments to serving the Black community with integrity and honesty. During the height of segregation, The Black Minister could always tell the truth because he did not have to go downtown and report to the white man. Black people paid his salary.  Wright stands tall and it part of a legacy of orators that include James Cone, Sam Proctor, James Forbes, Jessie Jackson, Martin Luther King, Maxine Waters, John Henrik Clarke, Randall Robinson, Nelson Mandela, Ida B Wells, Shirley Chisolm, Diane Mckinney,Fannie Lou Hammer, Elma Lewis, Paul Robeson, Herbert Daughtry and thousands of other leaders mostly unknown or ignored by White America.  Those of you who are really committed to social justice need to take a few moments and read a book. Step out of you comfort zone. It is something Black people have to do everyday.

I share this video with you. Listen to the lyrics, see can you identify most of the people and incidences chronicled here and synced to the song "American Fruit with African Roots."  If you can complete this task, you will better understand Reverend Wright and why Senator Obama cannot reject him.

Here are the two links. If you have a technical problem go directly to Youtube and type in "American Fruit with African Roots".  There you will find  a live version and the film version produced by Charles A Grandson IV. Here are the two YouTube links below.

American Fruit with African Roots
American Fruit with African Roots LIVE

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Saying what Obama can not say about race

Racism is systematic and pervasive throughout the culture
See & Hear the YouTube of today's speech here.

Barack Obama, pressed to the wall, offers America an eloquent critique on race in America. Ferraro's and Limbaugh's recent attacks on Obama and his minister, The Honorable Jeremiah Wright have forced him to discuss a subject most whites still deny is a reality for most Black people in America.  In fact, Hillary, Ferraro and the white media should be the ones addressing the country on race and white's preoccupation and requirement that Barack and other Black people betray our ancestors and abandon our clarity about our history of struggle in America. 

American racism is systematic and pervasive throughout the culture. The modern language of racism is coded and subtle but the impact on Black Americans reminds us that the most liberal of white folks face a steep learning curve on race in America.

Like Geraldine Ferraro's recent remarks about the qualifications of Obama to run for the presidency of the United States, she has failed white liberals miserably.  Her remarks tapped into a system of terrorism directed towards Black people.  She joins the insidious group of Americans who play the race card and then demand Black people respond to their white fear and ignorance. Ferraro, Rush Limbaugh, Don Imus, Michael Richards(Kramer) and several former American Presidents, white scholars, white intellectuals, sports executives, white CEO'S and any "Joe Smo" or "Blanche" residing in the American bowels of white mediocrity remain perched to challenge our competence and humanity because of the color of our skin and the texture of our hair. Structural racism produces this mental disorder, this need to attack Black excellence. It is as pervasive in America as obesity and bad breath. .

Barack Obama in his speech did not abandon his membership and affiliation with the Trinity Church of God and Christ on the South Side of Chicago.  His clarity as to what went wrong with America is partially based on the guidance and sound Black theological instructions he received under the direction of the The Honorable Reverend Jeremiah Wright Jr, who is now being labeled by the media as some kind of maniac cult leader. 

Once again whites have displaced and redefined the issue

Once again whites have displaced and redefined the issue demanding Black people lie and deny the racist, heinous and violent history of this country.  This is a typical stunt out of the "play book" of racial politics to silence and castrate Obama, forcing him to once again recreate himself in order to maintain white acceptance. 

The coded message from White America demands that he disavow his impeccable education, on point analysis and diagnosis of America's deep seated denial of who we continue to be, and most unfortunately deny the man who has been his surrogate father. This entire spectacle provoked by Ferraro incites many whites to act like dogs responding to that silent whistle that only they can hear. 

This continued psychological and physical battering of Black people is what The Honorable Reverend Jeremiah Wright has committed his life to eradicating. Like him, I and many Black people are unwilling to embrace this Kansas like dream sequence of the Wizard of Oz.  The American record remains replete with examples of stagnation and indifference when it comes to social justice for Black people in America.   

Ferraro is blinded by her own white privilege and ignores the fact that she has enjoyed full citizenship because she is a white woman.  A Black women or man with her regional,luke warm credentials and average contributions to the larger society could never have been elected to Congress, much less a candidate for Vice President. 

Ferraro could not have forgotten that she attended Marymount Manhattan College, Hunter College and Fordham University's evening law classes. She must have remembered Former Vice President Dan Quayle a graduate from DePauw University who received his J. D. from Indiana University School of Law at Indianapolis.  And clearly we are all familiar with the "B" actor Former President Ronald Reagan who attended Eureka College. By any measurement Obama a graduate of Columbia University and Harvard Law School represents an academic pedigree superior to most politicians in this country.

Black people are accustomed to this form of American terrorism.  The Electronic and Print Media readily offers a platform to many with white skin to scapegoat  Black people. Ferraros' remarks and those of Limbaugh are reminiscent of the historical legacy of chattel slavery; the most cruel form of human bondage unknown to any other society in human history.  Ferraro and Limbaugh keep alive in the minds of many Americans a racist American Constitution, that relegated black people to the status of being three fifths of a human being, The Supreme Courts Dred Scott ruling stating that no black man had any rights a white man was bound to respect, the  bloody history of racial violence and the tradition of white privilege that relegates our best and the brightest to the status of being the beating post for the most marginal whites in our society.  

Hollywood's first block buster movie,"Birth of A Nation" is one of the most classic examples of the illness of this nation. When critics describe the film, it is usually done in the most laudatory terms.  The Birth of a Nation ,also known as The Clansman.  Released in 1915 was heralded by most critics for its innovative technical and narrative achievements.  The fact that film was the American blueprint for psychological and physical terrorism against Black people is often ignored. Long before there was Al-Qaeda's and Osama bin Laden there was D. W Griffith and Thomas Dixon .  Every day somewhere in America a Black youth, usually black men live with the daily threat of being dismembered, murdered, arrested, or profiled because whites continue to play the race card to ease their mental disorder of being racist. Sadly, we keep waiting for a groundswell response from those whites who profess their new found love for Obama to rise up and say enough already.    

Hillary and Bill Clinton have lost the moral high ground and their silence and/or tepid response to Ferraro's comments demonstrate the cowardice nature of White liberals.  Whites like those who read this column, sit back and allow these kind of comments to fuel the airways.  The hate we identify in the words and actions of Ben Laden originate from the same toxic sentiments that led to Ronald Reagan initial opposition to the The Civil Rights Act of 1964, The Open Housing Act, former secretary of education Bennett's comments suggesting that if Americans really wanted lower crime we would aboard Black babies or Senator Trent Lott suggesting if segregationist James Strom Thurmond would have become President, America would be a better place.  These comments are consistent and always rear their ugly heads when Black excellence has beat the odds.  

We are all diminished as human beings when the majority community allows these kind of remarks to go unchallenged.  It is this ugly legacy that Obama's minister refers to. It is this hate and double standard that  allows whites freedom of expression, but sends a message to Blacks that you must always do as white people say and not as they do.  Clearly many whites in our country continue to view themselves and their wretched actions around the world as inside the circle of God's protection.  We allege to be a country that embraces spiritual and religious values, but if one reminds us of our terrorist policies and practices towards our own citizenry, they are vulnerable to the wrath and reprisal of mainstream America.

Reverend Wright also knows that Black men like the ones that worship at his church every Sunday have an extraordinary rate of incarceration.  One in every 20 black men over the age of 18 is in a state or federal prison, compared to one in every 180 whites.  In Oklahoma and Iowa one in every thirteen black men is in state prison; in Rhode Island, Texas and Wisconsin, the figure is one in every fourteen . Is Ms. Ferrarro referring to these men? Will she join with Obama and Reverend Wright to change this racist trend in the American legal system?

In a 2003 sermon, the honorable Reverend Wright said "God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human," His remarks reflect the reality of  Black life in America.  We continue to survive American barbarism and periodic tides of violence against the very people who built this nation brick by brick. Nearly 200 bills failed to pass the Senate over the first half of the 19th century that would have outlawed and forbid the lynching of Americans. Ninety percent of the victims were Black and Latino. Masses of as many as ten thousand Whites would gather and watch the systematic lynchings and castrations of Black Americans. Children were spectators and Mark Twain began to refer to America as The United States of "Lynchdom." With her ahistorical and callous remarks Ferraro allowed Americans once again to act as spectators, blind to the economic, social, cultural reality of this country. Her words and the words of others attempt to derail Obama's run for the White House.  It is the equivalent of a modern day lynching.

Lawrence Larry Watson

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Hating Hillary, loving Barack

 The thin line between love and hate"

As the old song says, "it's a thin line between love and hate". The media has wasted little time recording every denigrating remark made about Hillary.  I have stopped counting the number of white men who feel comfortable in my presence referring to her as a "Bitch."    "We have got to stop this "B", "I hate that 'B'" and the now infamous,"How can we stop the 'B'"?.

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We won't get fooled again

 A brotha defying the odds

By  Larry Watson.

I am overwhelmingly pleased and supportive of the Obama run for the White House. As a man of African descent, I recognize the imperative to promote successful men of African descent as we continue to deconstruct the deep seated, almost indelible image of us as mindless caricatures used either as comic relief or scapegoats for the failures of America. By any standard of measurement, he is as presidential as any other candidate. But in America, being competitive and qualified has never been the primary standard of measurement used to get candidates elected.   
 
For many Black people this Obama victory reminds them of the races won and lost in the past. We quickly settle into this Jesse Owens, Jack Johnson, Diana Ross,and Ruben "they must win" syndrome. If Owens beats the German in the Olympics, it nullifies Hitler's racist view of Black people.  If  Jackson Johnson knocks out Smelling, it means Black people are going to knock out segregation and lynchings in the South. If Diana Ross wins the Academy Award for her portrayal of Billy Holiday and beats Liza  Minnelli it means America finally credits us for being the best at our craft. If Reuben is crowned America's Idol then it means that America will finally idolize black folks.
 
Black people are always happy when we see a brotha defying the odds. We sometimes, like in the case of Clarence Thomas or O.J. Simpson  come to the rescue of  Black people who do not represent our best interests. When the White cop with the "evidence" to convict OJ was documented as using the "N" word or when Thomas used the phrase "modern day lynching" some black folks felt it was a call for action and uniform unquestioning unity.    
 
Young white college kids and White men who love Michael Jordan, and Oprah's suburban house wives have caught Obama fee-va.Many are deeply entrenched in the Obama frenzy reminiscent of the craze associated with the release of the Spike Lee movie "Malcolm X".  There were Malcolm  "X" hats being worn by known rednecks.  The carnivorous blood hound mentality of the media and New York's Madison Avenue, seized the financial opportunity and before long Malcolm X was turned into a "pop icon" rivaling Jesus Christ.  Young white college kids and White men who love Michael Jordan, and Oprah's suburban house wives have caught Obama fee-va.  But there is no need for this enthusiasm to degenerate into name calling,particularly directed at those African Americans supporting Hillary Clinton.
 
The election of Obama or Hillary will be a transformation event in American history.  Either one of these formidable democratic candidates will symbolize that white people abandoned the democratic election process in the last two presidential races which led to America having an appointed president for the last eight years.  White America will once again turn to Black people and women to help them rediscover the moral high ground. The world remembers the work of Eleanor Roosevelt, Dr. Martin Luther King, Rosa Parks, Marian Wright Edelman, Roselyn Carter and many others that remind us that Americans can rise above white arrogance, cross the aisle and make a difference.
 
It is a good thing that Charles Rangel, Maya Angelou,Harry Belafonte and others have  endorsed Hillary Clinton at this point in the race.  Their wisdom and years of observing, critiquing and confronting the most evil forces in America gives them the right to make that decision. It prompts me to honor their judgement and pay closer attention to what is going on in this presidential race. They know that Hillary and Obama may have to join forces for a victory against the Republicans in this race to the White House.
 
We do not need news headlines reporting on another group of testosterone filled males, with the best of intentions engaging in bar fights over who is the "best candidate" to serve as the next President of The United States.  This race for the White House should not be treated by adults as the latest shopping spree where you buy your kids the latest doll or play station. This is not American Idol.  This is not as simple as whether you want Jay Z or Madonna in the White House. The Reagan, Bush Clinton and G.W.Bush administrations have depleted the patience and tolerance of many in Africa, The Middle East and even Europe to envision another four years from a member of this old boys network.  Internationally, there is a visceral reaction to American white men castigating and condemning human rights violations around the world when the American home front is characterized by state prisons that house almost a million black men. And too many women are struggling to fee their children.
 
We do a disservice to the legacy and sacrifices made by earlier patriotic Americans who risked it all to advocate for social justiceWe do a disservice to the legacy and sacrifices made by earlier patriotic Americans who risked it all to advocate for social justice when we act like a Hillary/Obama-Obama/Hillary ticket is a new concept for America.  The Presidential candidacy of Congresswomen Shirley Chisolm in the 70's, a Black Caribbean woman heralded diverse support from whites all across this country at the height of racial animosity and urban violence. There was Jesse Jackson and the Rainbow Coalition.  This  grassroots organization consisting of whites, Asians,Blacks and Latinos took Jesse all the way to the Democratic Convention floor where he was the major contender for the democratic nomination.  His last speech before the delegation led to Mondale followers crossing the aisle to vote for Jackson.
 
Poised to make history, Jackson's candidacy for the Democratic nominee was taken so serious by Americans he would have stopped Mondale from receiving enough delegate votes on the first ballot to secure the nomination as the Democratic candidate for the Presidency.  Were it not for the late Coretta Scott King, Andrew Young, and Julian Bond rushing onto the nomination floor and invoking the memory of King and threatening the Mondale delegates, Jesse would have been a force for the Democratic party to reckon with. Coretta was later booed when she arrived to hear Jesse's concession speech. The 80's also saw Geraldine Ferraro, nominated as the first Italian American female running for the vice presidency. She endured George Bush Sr. using the  "B " word during the debate to describe her temperament.
 
That internal terrorism is racism, sexism and homophobia that stops many Americans from choosing the best person for the jobThe tendency of Americans to conveniently forget this history is the greatest evidence of the insidious need for many to hold onto old racial and gender biases that continue to divide the nation. Liberals and well intentioned whites suggests naively that a white southern vote for Obama or Americans envisioning Hillary as Commander in Chief, will mean the end of racism and sexism in America. There is no evidence in 2008 we have arrived or achieved a "post racial' or 'post gender" era in America. However Americans may be ready to elect a visionary who is bold enough to take on the internal terrorism that threatens to destroy our country.   That internal terrorism is racism, sexism and homophobia that stops many Americans from choosing the best person for the job.  We have a broken public school system, bridges collapsing, imminent recession, and  a racist penal and justice system.
 
Cities like Detroit, Philadelphia, Newark, Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans, and New York elected Black and female mayors and governors in the past to serve when these cities and states are on the verge of collapse.  Many of those elected officials were betrayed by the corporate sector forcing them to leave their political posts either through the back door or in a coffin .

Barack's wins came during Black History Month 

As we ponder our future this Black History Month and celebrate the  achievements of Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X and our many accomplishments throughout our tumultuous American sojourn, let us not  allow our euphoria to cloud our analysis. There is something quite remarkable taking place in America. We cannot allow this moment in American History to allude us.  The nameless, invisible Black faces and women who lived their daily lives battling racism and sexism deserve better from all of us. The candidacy of Barack Hussein Obama Jr. does not mean that the "dream" has been secured. The election of the Black man or the white woman will not heal the myriad of wounds that continue to fester in communities of color around the globe.  Such a victory will only mandate the formation of the largest coalition of women, men and young people of all faiths and persuasions to pick up the dropped baton if we are committed to securing a safe and "green" planet for the "beautiful ones not yet born."  
 
This election is a continuation of the second American Revolution committed to abandoning and dismantling institutional racism and sexism.  It is about Americans embracing a new vision. We have the power to build effective coalitions if we are bold enough to be truth tellers and dismantle and obliterate our racist and sexist practices. We have been at this crossroads many times before. "We won't get fooled again-no no !!

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