WADING IN THE WATERS, OF OUR OWN CHOOSING?

To all my loyal readers, I say Welcome Back! Thank you for participating in the most comprehensive blog on the net discussing issues relevant to the black community.

There may be some who have read this blog that question, “what makes this person qualified to criticize us? Where are his credentials? I don’t see any BS, or PhD’s behind his name.

It’s true I don’t have a series of degrees that supposedly add legitimacy to the subjects raised in this blog. I can only answer any question concerning my “qualifications” in much the same manner that Malcolm X did when his lack of credentials were questioned, he said, “I am not an expert in any particular field, but I am sincere, and my sincerity is my credentials”.

The time and effort necessary to insure that the content in this blog is informative and educational generates from a sincere desire to see black people, my people, rise above the psychological impediments that are continuously inflicted on us as a people, that continue to encumber our growth and potential as a people. This blog is a labor of love….period.

 It is my sincere belief that we can overcome all obstacles if we first come to an understanding of who we are as a people, make an honest assessment of the current state of our communities, and make the commitment to effect lasting change. All that being said, let’s go to work.

I like to begin by offering some statistics for your consideration:

In two U.S. wars from 2001 to 2009, 6,754 American soldiers were killed. Statistics show that more than 7,000 Black people are murdered in this country every year! During the 9½ years the U.S. has been at war overseas, about 67,000 Black people were murdered in the United States

Most of these homicides were committed by Black men, primarily men in the 17-44 year-old-age group, against other Black men in that same age group.

Black men comprise about 6.5% of the U.S. population and nearly half of all U.S. homicide victims.

For homicides in which the victim to offender relationship could be identified, someone they knew murdered 74 percent of black victims.

Homicides involving black victims for whom the circumstances could be identified, 69 percent were not related to the commission of any other felony. Of these, 56 percent involved arguments between the victim and the offender. Twelve percent were reported to be gang-related.

It’s obvious I could go on and on quoting statistics that demonstrate this point… we are killing ourselves! We have become our own worst enemy, not racisism, not the KKK, us. Black people have killed more black people than the Klan ever dreamt of killing. If you have been a reader of this blog and you don’t believe that we have been predisposed by psychological conditioning to hate ourselves, then please, take the time out your busy schedule to offer an opposing opinion. I anxiously await your response. If you do believe that we have been conditioned to act and react in a manner that is detrimental to our very existence, then let’s regain control of our communities and ourselves and initiate measures that will result in effective change.

Let’s emancipate ourselves from psychological enslavement

The statistics concerning blacks, as victims of violent crime are staggering. I can’t help but wonder where is the government response? If these numbers were applied to some type of virus or pandemic that transcended racial parameters I have no doubt scientists would be working day and night on a vaccine or "cure".

Actually the Center for Disease Control does offer recommendations for combating the crime epidemic.

These recommended strategies include:

1. Build strong families and communities and support responsible parents as the chief

advocate for reducing violence

(parental, communal responsibility, it takes a village...)

2. Teach young children ways to resolve conflict peacefully

(all life has value, violence never solve your problems)

3.  Provide mentors to serve as guides and role models for positive youth behavior

(each one, reach one, teach one)

4. Reduce social and economic causes of violence in young people's environments

(offer opportunities via ownership of our own businesses)

5. Ensure spiritual or character-based training for young children and reinforce that training throughout their early years

(knowledge of self)

It seems to me that the recommendations submitted by the CDC reflect the same information being proposed in my blog. If you don’t want to accept knowledge from me, perhaps you will accept it from the "credentialed" CDC. I have no ego. I don’t care how you get it, as long as you do... get it!

I ask myself where is the outrage? Where are all the alleged “black leaders”? Where is the display of righteous indignation from the black church? Where are the demonstrations, the protest, and the campaigns to ensure that our elected officials get involved?

If some outside force was perpetrating this plague of wanton violence against our community we would be up in arms demanding that some type of solution be enacted. When one of our own, is killed by one of our own, we accept it as if it were some type of forgone conclusion that blacks killing blacks is “normal”.

If a white police officer commits some egregious act against someone in our community we are quick to respond in earnest, calling for investigations, and demanding that the guilty be punished. However when young men from our own community’s senselessly take a life, our collective voices are strangely silent.

Right is right and wrong is wrong, even when a black person commits the wrong!

It’s apparent that we are more concerned with how whites treat us, then we are about how we treat ourselves! We must understand that the effect of continuous degradation has manifested itself as inane violence. We must make our young men understand that every time they kill a black person they are killing a part of themselves.

As a people we must acknowledge that we are in pain. The violence we see in our streets directly reflects the self-hatred we feel about ourselves. We attempt to remove the self-hatred by slowly eradicating that which continuously reminds us of what we really hate…ourselves. We must learn to love who we are, to take pride in who we are, if we are ever going to break the cycle of self-destruction.

Our silence must end. We can no longer afford the luxury of inaction. Here and now let’s make the commitment to be just as angry, and vocal about crime, whether the perpetrator is white, or black. We must commit to being just as outraged by a homicide committed by one black against another black, whether or not it’s “high profile” or whether or not it receives press coverage. All life has value. We must commit to becoming an active participant in bringing anyone who commits crime in our communities to justice. The guilty go free, when the just remain silent.

“Start snitchin, or Stop bitchin”

My father, who was a wise man, used to tell me, "water seeks it's own level". Ultimately we are in control of what type of environment we live in, what type of community we will raise our children in as they grow and mature. We determine the "water level" of our community by what conditions we are willing to accept. We can't rely on the government or  police to solve the problems of crime in our community independent of our own involvement. We must self-police, report those who bring down our community. We must send the message to anyone that engages in negative behavior, that such behavior will not be tolerated.

We decide whether we will instruct our children in the way they will go or leave them to their own devices and allow television, video games and the streets to determine the “content of their character”.

We can remain apathetic and ignore the problems that we face, or we can acknowledge their existence and begin the process of finding solutions. This is our responsibility; no one else’s… ours! The only question is whether or not we will step up and accept it, or are we as other’s perceive us, savages who are incapable of independent self determination.

We must demonstrate that we are not like children, but that we are strong men and women, capable of discarding the shackles of psychological enslavement that have restricted our development as a culture and as a people.

There is no future for us, without us…

Begin THE MOVEMENT, that will define us!!!

NIGGANOMICS

Nigganomics   -   The propensity that blacks have for overcompensating for feelings of low self worth by purchasing expensive items that will convey the impression of economic 

prosperity, also described as hustlin' , making the quick dollar, or "stackin paper" in an "unconventional" manner without regard to the accumulation of wealth

I know the title for this blog is in direct opposition to the subject matter offered for consideration in previous submissions. The reason for my deviation is that the commentary in this blog is; beyond any measure of doubt one of the most significant subjects I will present to you, the reader for consideration. It is my firm belief that our very survival as a culture depends on understanding, then rectifying it.

In past blogs I’ve attempted to explain that we are still the targets of a conscious, directed, and aggressive, campaign of mentality manipulation that started from the time we first set foot upon these shores.
I hope that you, the reader have considered the knowledge put forth in these blogs and took note of the fact that at no time have I ever used the word victim or victimization. It’s been my experience that there are basically two types of people. Those who take responsibility for the things that occur in their lives and those who blame their circumstances on external forces (victims). To use the word victim would imply that external forces have ultimate control over our actions. We cannot control the actions of others who desire to manipulated our behavior, but we can, however control how we ultimately react to their attempts at manipulation. Our destiny is our own to control.

The best-laid plans of mice and men sometimes go awry

Let me offer a few statistics for your evaluation. We know that there are approximately 41.1 million blacks in America. Blacks currently generate about 740 billion dollars in buying power. It is estimated that by 2011 that number will be over one trillion dollars!

This “budget” makes Black America the ninth wealthiest “nation” in the world!

Despite our collective buying power, and because of our undisciplined spending habits we remain the poorest ethnic group in this country. According to “financial experts” most blacks, no matter what their current situation, upper, middle or lower (economic) class, maintain extreme financial risk due to extensive credit card debt and by purchasing  high interest items that quickly depreciate in value. In other words, as a rule we spend our money, we don’t save or invest our money. 

Do we have some questionable spending habits?

1.      Blacks spend over 75% more than Whites on boys’ clothing (poor investment, boys continue to grow)

2.      Blacks are estimated to spend more than $500 million per year on McDonald’s fast food. (ever really notice their commercials?, yes I know the CEO is black)

3.      Black males between the ages of 13 and 24, who are less than 3 percent of the total U.S. population account for 10 percent of the $12 billion dollar athletic shoe market, purchased more than 1 out of every 5 pairs of the overpriced shoes made by Nike ( Just do It...right)

4.      Black females, who equal approximately 6 percent of the total U.S population, purchase 15 percent of the $4 billion dollar cosmetics industry, or $600 million and spend 26 percent more on perfume than any other female ethnic group. (Do they think they smell that bad?)

I haven’t even mentioned such idiotic expressions of nigganomics like “makin it rain in the club”, specialty rims that cost $2,000.00 each on a car worth less than half what the rims cost, or the indulgent consumption of high end liquor and electronics, to reinforce our “playa status”, as the world outside our communities laugh and prosper. I did this purposely because;

  I’m not trying to humiliate,

I’m just trying to educate!

 If we truly want status, if we really want people to respect us as a people and acknowledge our economic power, let’s start producing businesses that help feed, cloth, and shelter those whom we should have a sense of responsibility toward.

It’s taken me awhile to “wake up and smell the coffee”. I’ve mismanaged a lot of situations in my life, money is only one of them, believe me. However, there did come a time when I realized my thinking was defective, and I made a conscious choice to implement change.

I understand why we display an illogical loyalty to “top brands”, as a means of creating the illusion that we are just as economically capable as anyone else.  Even though some of these "brands" have come out publicly and stated that they didn’t need or want our business, i.e. (Tommy Hilfiger).
I understand our deep seated need for instant gratification, to “have it now” because we believe our lives are fleeting, not as precious as the lives of others, after all “tommorrow is not promised”, right.

I understand, and have fallen victim to paying the “black price”, a higher price or interest rate applied to us, under the guise of “poor credit”. Yet we purchase the item anyway.

I understand that major corporations have spent and continue to spend, billions of advertising dollars, sometimes using so called black “celebrities” to keep our minds focused on material acquisition as apposed to uplifting ourselves as a people.

Watch this and then tell me I'm WRONG !!!

I understand all these things and more.

What I don’t understand is why we continue to allow ourselves to be manipulated by outside forces that only want to economically exploit us.

None of the dollars we spend outside our community ever make there way back into our community. This is why the “hood” is failing! When we make foolish decisions with our money, when our money is readily handed back over to the very people that exploited us, dominated us, and who helped facilitate the desolation of our community.  

Why do we willingly participate in the cycle of our own destruction? We’re like a hamster on a wheel, always chasing that treat that's just outside it's reach.  This is by design. It is an undeniable example of

the ramifications from continual, generational, psychological slavery.

You will never accumulate enough material wealth to free your mind from bondage. Only knowledge can do that. 

There will never be enough cologne or perfume to camouflage the stench of ignorence preventing your mind from acquiring knowledge of self.

!!! We Shall Overcome !!!

What I don’t understand is why we don’t take the time to learn the basic “ABC’s” of economics, why so many of us consciously choose to remain fiscally inept.

You can go into any major city in this nation and find a Chinatown. You can go into any city where there is a large Mexican population and find a “Little Tijuana, or Little Mexico”.
In any of these ethnic communities you will find people of the same ethnic background doing major business with each other. You will see a variety of businesses, large and small, from major banking institutions to the small “mom & pop” type store.

Now take a look around the black community, ask yourself who owns the businesses you see? We are the only ethnic group that doesn’t own the majority of the businesses that exist in out own communities!
Our women spend millions of dollars on "imitation hair" in an attempt to lenghten and straighten the hair God gave them, and that is their privilege, yet not one dollar of the millions spent ever returns to the black community.

Now ask yourself, How would my community benefit if a large portion of the dollars I spend remain in the community where I live? Would the dollars I spend on a daily basis contribute significantly towards uplifting the community where I live? 
I believe if you are honest with yourself, perhaps you will begin to see the current state of Black America a little differently and appreciate the need for immediate change.

Blacks must begin to frequent black owned businesses if these businesses are to survive.

Black business owners must realize the value of the black customer and treat them with respect and dignity, as if their business life depended on it.

When we learn to spend a large portion of that 1 trillion dollar budget in our own communities we will begin to see an immediate impact. We are the only ones that can effect this change. There isn’t a government program in existence that will achieve the results that the commitment to our own business community will.

This is only half the battle. We must make the transition from consumer to producer, then we can create opportunities for others in the community, as well as create a stable economic enviornment.

We have the (economic) power to dictate our own reality, to bring an end to nigganomics, to create real change. The type of change that will significantly benefit our people and continue to benefit our children for generations to come. Our future, as well as our very existence could be at stake.

 In the end it’s all up to us!

Don’t Cry About It, Be About It

The speaker in this video is Dr. Claud Anderson, do yourself a favor, get his book Powernomics, you will be enlightened !!!