THE POOR BLIND CANDIDATE: FREEMASONRY'S CHALLENGE TO GIVE THEM KNOWLEDGE
by Fahim A. Knight-EL
This writer, was recently in a deep conversation with some brothers of the Freemasonic Order, three of them were Ancient Free and Accepted Masons (AF&AM) and the other four, had been raised in Prince Hall Lodges (F&AM). Thus, two of these Masonic brothers had received the conferred or honorary degree of 33rd, which is granted by the United Supreme Councils representing the Southern and/or Northern Masonic Jurisdictions in the United States (this Order has elevated presidents, kings, billionaires, prime ministers, popes, sheiks, mullahs, etc,) and for those who do not know, this is the only degree that can not be petitioned for membership by a brother Mason and it terminates the formal Masonic degree travel, at least in theory. Let's be clear knowledge is 360 degrees (33 degrees only gives us a small portion of the knowledge), knowledge is an eternal quest, anything less than that falls short of being able to truly connect all the dots.
This was the challenge that the Honorable Elijah Muhammad posed to Freemasonry in his book titled, "The Secrets of Freemasonry" Muhammad gave Masons and non-Masons a better understanding of what the symbolism meant beyond the obvious and he pointed out who the order was originally for and he decoded some of the symbolism and demystified the true meaning of the Widow's Son (this is the world's best kept secret). Freemasons can learn a lot from the teachings and writings of Mr. Muhammad relative to increasing their understanding, in particular about Masonry as a science and Shrine Masonry as a secular pseudo Islamic organization in general. (Reference: Elijah Muhammad; "The Secrets of Freemasonry" edited by Nasir Makr Hakim).
The topic of Islam and Freemasonry, is a very sensitive and complex topic, in particular for Muslims, but there is no doubt that higher degree Freemasonry (Orders of the Mystic Shrine) has a direct link and connection to Islam. Shrine Masonry could not exist without the overwhelmingly Islamic historical themes and history. Many scholars and social scientist have overlooked this topic and scholarly research in this area is almost non-existent. There are many scattered pieces of research and it becomes like putting a puzzle together. The Nation of Islam for many years has always known this connection between Islam and Freemasonry and has always taught it publicly. The Student Enrollment lessons teaches us: "Why does Muhammad make the devil study from thirty-five to fifty years before he can call himself a Muslim Son? And wear the greatest and only flag of the Universe? And he must add a sword on the upper part of the Holy and Greatest Universe Flag of Islam (Reference: Fahim A. Knight; "Freemasonry (Moslem Sons) and Islam: What Do They Share?"; Internet published Fahim Knight Blog).
Moreover, since the Freemasonry is an oath based organization, it is prohibited for them to reveal their theories to non-Masons and, therefore, there is not much written by Masonic scholars relative to Masonry and Islam. Perhaps the pioneer on the subject of Islam and Freemasonry is Mustafa El-Amin who authored two of the best books on the subject: "Freemasonry: Ancient Egypt and the Islamic Destiny" and "Al-Islam, Christianity and Freemasonry."
John Rice in a book titled, "Lodges Examined By The Bible" stated: that in the Entered Apprentice (First Degree of Freemasonry) requires each initiate to oath themselves by stating, "that I will always hail, ever conceal and never reveal any of the secret arts, parts or points of the hidden mysteries of ancient Freemasonry…I furthermore solemnly promise and swear that I will not write, print, paint, stamp, stain, cut, carve, mark or engrave them, or cause the same to be done, upon anything movable or immovable capable of receiving the last impression of a word, syllable, letter or character, whereby the same may become legible or intelligible to myself or to any person under the whole canopy of heaven, and the secrets of Freemasonry be thereby unlawfully obtained through my unworthiness."
I think Prophet Noble Drew Ali gave us a model in which to claim a nationality. He understood back in the early 1900s that African people were robbed of the knowledge of self--we were systematically stripped of a homeland, religion, language, names and culture. Thus, Prophet Noble Drew Ali established the Moorish Science Temple of America (MSTA) to address these unique issues facing our people. Ali gave us a nationality-- Moorish American and received a legitimate charter from the U.S. Government recognizing MSTA as a sovereign nation with certain legal rights and privileges (this legal sovereign status could benefit our cause in North America). Prophet Ali felt an oriental style mystic Islam was the original religion of the Asiatic black man. It is believed that he traveled to North Africa where he was initiated into Kemetic mystery systems of so-called Egypt and received support from Morocco to go back to America to teach those who were cut off from their nationality and religion. However, some would argue that Prophet Ali was initiated into high degree Freemasonry, in particular joining the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine (better known as the Shriners) and this was where he delved into esoteric, Gnostic, occult, etc. (Reference: Zachary P. Gremillion; "African Origins of Freemasonry").
But many members of the Moorish Science Temple would refute this argument (they would argue that their theological and philosophical foundation predates the Masonic reality). But I believe there is enough historical evidence to suggest and support that Prophet Ali had some involvement and association with Freemasonry. But I also believe that he borrowed from other worldviews. For example, from Sufi Islam, Kaballah, Shia Islam, Christianity, Torah and the teachings of the Egyptian Mysteries. He appeared to have been a student of many disciplines and he incorporated all this within Moorish Science philosophical paradigm. He was the first Islamic leader to formalize an Islamic movement in America in 1913. There are some who believe that Prophet Ali plagiarized the Holy Koran-Circle-7 from an older source titled, "The Aquarium Gospel". Perhaps the MSTA would find some things that I have written as being debatable. (Reference: Peter Lamborn Wilson; Sacred Drifts: Essay on the Margins of Islam").
This High Degree Masonic House is only granted to 32nd degree Masons (those who have attained the degree of Master of the Royal Secret and/or Knights Templar degree (which is the highest degree on the York Rite side); however, membership has to be at the recommendation of another 33rd degree Mason (often this conferred degree is bestowed to Masons for their fraternal longevity and contribution to the Masonic Order, as well as their life body of work) at least, that is the intent of the degree relative to Prince Hall Craft Masonry. Some high profile persons have become members of the Sovereign Grand Inspector General degree via honorary membership. (Reference: A. Ralph Epperson; "The New World Order').
Also, this writer recently met another brother Mason who was less than 30 years old and he told me that he had just received his 33rd degree; I looked at him with amazement and first thought, was that he hasn't been on the planet long enough to have acquired the intellectual experience and the ancient wisdom that is associated with the order. My next, thought was that he was still too young to have acquired a true life body of Masonic work, which would have made him deserving and eligible for the highest Masonic degree.
He told me that he had entered, passed and was raised (Blue Lodge Degrees of Entered Apprentice, Fellowcraft and Master Mason) all in one night (this practice is an exception in Prince Hall Masonry, but some military dispensation lodges might exercise this practice which could be consistent with their Masonic Code or constitutions and the jurisprudence intent of such regulation, but is not a customary practice. This practice compromises the integrity of making a man a Mason, in particular if he was in possession of all necessary qualifications. Let him enter this most Worshipful Lodge in due and Ancient Form. The very next day he told me that he was raised all the way up to 33rd degree level in one ceremony. This writer does understand that the grand masters within their jurisdictions have the power and authority to make a Mason on sight.
I immediately thought about, what the study process or curriculum may have been like, for the neophytes who were accepted to study in the Egyptian Mystery Schools and the amount of study time that was mandated in order to show yourself approved. (Reference: Anthony Browder: "Nile Valley Contributions to Civilization"). I said, wow! But it was quite evident that this was the doing of a clandestine and irregular Masonic entity that had bestowed this young brother with all these fictitious degrees and essentially it was a financial scam (it is every Mason's duty to be vigilant and on guard to readily to expose and denounce these clandestine Masonic groups). Prince Hall Masons don't use "Duncan Ritual" or "Look to the East; A Revised Ritual of the First Three Degrees of Freemasonry" by Ralph Lester as instruction manuals; these monitors can be purchased over the counter and are not considered authentic Masonic monitor guides (the Ecci should be taught in code and lessons are committed to memory). It is instances, like have described above that gives Freemasonry a bad name (A so-called Masonic order or jurisdiction that is not properly Masonic sanctioned and has no recognized legal charter).
Sovereign Grand Commander Henry Claussen stated: "It must be apparent that the Blue Lodge. . .degrees can not explain the whole of Masonry. They are the foundation. . .An initiate may imagine he understands the ethics, symbols and enigmas, whereas a true explanation of these is reserved for the more adept." (Reference: Henry Claussen; "Claussen's Commentaries on Morals and Dogmas, The Supreme Council, 33rd Degree, Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry, Southern Jurisdiction; P. 148).
This writer is not necessarily of the understanding that high degree Masonry is an indication or representation that a Masonic brother has acquired a deeper degree of Freemasonic knowledge and understanding of the ancient wisdom, or has completed a course that would have qualified him to be considered in depth in the esoteric, Gnostic, and Occult wisdom (in which Freemasonry has to be seen from this perspective and interpreted in order to grasp the essences of its inner most meaning). This ordinarily, only means that a brother has petitioned the various Masonic Houses (Seen in Scottish Rite and/or York Rite ladders) and had taken further obligations (oaths) to protect and conceal the ancient mysterious.
Many of them including the group that this writer was talking to were mere ritual Masons (I am even using this term loosely because they had only committed a portion of the ritual knowledge to memory), which made their Masonic knowledge limited and shallow relative to pursing the larger science of Speculative Freemasonry (the theoretical and philosophical working of the signs, symbols and words) is not about Operative Masonry anymore, the workings tools are emblematic, conveyed only which to give Freemasons a tangible visual that is rooted in a physical reality and these symbolic working tools represents symbolic instruments of perfection (given to point you to something greater) which is designed to transition us to a spiritual reality. This is where right angles, horizontals and perpendiculars are best used to square us up with the Supreme Being and to remind us, that our lives and conduct should be plumb, level and square which to serve as examples for all of humanity. (Reference: Edgar J. Ridley; "Symbolism Revisited").
Charles H. Mertz in his work titled, "Ask Me Brother" stated: "In speculative Masonry, a master builder is one who is qualified in heart and mind, by skill in moral and spiritual science, and by holy consecration to erect temples of immortal characters. Under the stroke of his masters hand, men are taught strict rectitude and justice in relation to others, courtsey and kindliness according to the symbolism of the level, uprightness of heart and integrity of action following the symbolism of the plumb. Guided by the movable jewels of Masonry." (Reference: Charles H. Mertz; "Ask Me Brother"; published by MaCoy Publishing Company; arranged by S.J. Pridgen and quoted by this author from the Masonic Holy Bible; pp. 72-73).
The Prophet Jesus said he who is without sin, let him cast the first stone; thus, just as the Disciples of Christ and the people of 2,000 years ago were unable to cast that stone, it was an indication of the imperfection in those to judge--because in reality, all of us are plagued with sin. But we are taught to love the sinner and hate the sin and our challenge as leaders should be based on how well we demonstrate human compassion.
It is a Mason's job, duty and responsibility to always demonstrate brotherly love, relief and truth (this is the ultimate challenge to the length and strength of ones cable tow). The symbolism associated with Masonry is designed to create a mental allusion, but it is through allegory where great lessons and truths are taught. For example, the story of the Egyptian Sun God Asur (Osiris) who was murdered by his jealous brother Seth and was cut into fourtheen pieces, where his body was buried (some scholars places the body in a chest and others gives varying interpretations of this folk lore) was scattered in the Nile River, but his sister Nephthys searched until she was able find Osiris body in order to give him a proper burial. (Reference: R.T. Rundle Clark; "Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt").
Thus, she resurrected him from the dead (this resurrection story predated Jesus or Yeshua Ben Josef), but she was not able to find his phallic (symbolic of life and regeneration).This allegorical story gave us lessons in a good and evil, but all other cultures and societies including Shrine Masonry whether it be the the Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine or the Ancient Egyptian Arabic Order Nobles of the Mystic Shrine have adopted these lessons in order to teach morality. (Reference: Jacob Boehme; Concerning The Three Principles of The Divine Essence").
The Greek philosophers from Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, and Pythagoras actually borrowed these principles from the original people of Kemet (Egypt), but other cultures erected similar prototypes such as Adonis, Mithra, Buddha,Quetzalcoatl, Apollo etc., emulated the agriculture rites (and/or the Sun Rites) of Ancient Kemet. Masonry is truly a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols. (Reference: Keith Moore;"Freemasonry, Greek Philosophy, The Prince Hall Fraternity And The Egyptian (Arican) World Connection").
The true Mason is forever working to avenge the death of Hiram Abiff (not to impose physical justice but by pursuing moral excellence) would put us on a course to confront those intrinsic demons, which are greed, ego, jealousy, envy and failing to view human compassion as the greatest attribute one human being can offer another human being. The three Ruffians or conspirators committed that horrid act against the Grand Master Hiram Abiff, they were desirous of taking his place as the chief architect. If those symbolic individuals that conspired to murder our Grand Master Hiram Abiff would have just demonstrated patience there would not have been a need for a Subsitute Word. If we can not find truth and righteous principles in the ritualism and practice them as tenets of morality then our knowledge will mean little to this institution. Every phase of Craft Masonry will continue to lose its intent and purpose, if the objective tends to be just raising group after group of Masons, but who have failed to internalize true Masonic principles, which is ultimately rooted in spirituality. (Reference: Alauddin Shabazz; "Symbolism, Holidays, Myths and Signs").
The building of King Solomon Temple has a duality in interpretation, the real building and construction is not based on brick and mortar, timber or steel, etc., it is not based on gold and silver or any other ornaments of precious metals and materials. Hiram Abiff, the Master Builder used all the worldly things to beautify this magnificent external edifice, but the real building can not be manifest on the physical level; it takes place internally. The working tools definitely had a more noble and glorious purpose than just perfecting the physical vocation as skilled artisans, Speculative Masonry went far beyond the intellectual scope of the Guild Workers. However by 1717 Freemasonry had formalized itself in Europe into a body of Accepted Masons that was armed with Speculative Masonic knowledge (they became that 10 percent) the first begotten of the uncivilized man who would use the ancient knowledge to alter the world paradigm and ultimately confine the 85% those who were made blind, deaf and dumb to the knowledge of self. (Reference: Elijah Muhammad; "The True History of Master Fard Muhammad"; Edited by Nasir Makr Hakim).
But let's not get confused, European Masonry borrowed heavily from more ancient sources--Kemet (Egypt), Cush (Ethiopia), China, India, Persia (Iran), Hijaz (Saudi Arabia), Babylon (Iraq); these sources are part of that due and ancient form. The original man who master minded the construction of Kemet (Ancient Egypt), perhaps was the most discipline civilization ever record in the annals of time. They had mastered many sciences, but a few of these disciplines stood-out--Architecture, Astrology, Geometry, Physics, etc. The ritual of Freemasonry comes to life only when the neophyte (you will be student of this discipline for the rest of your life, the study process is eternal) learns that the ritual becomes mundane and meaningless, if one does not go on the infinite path. Moreover, which is the long journey of research and study to discover for yourself the inner mysteries and the layered mythological wisdom that have now been shrouded in the duplicity of religion and philosophy (both of these disciplines are necessary to decode the theoretical basis of this system of morality in order to continue justifying its existence within the modern context. (Manly P. Hall; "Secret Teachings of All Ages").
Manly P. Hall in his book titled, "The Secret Destiny of America" stated: "It is certain that the Dionysians practiced secret rites and worshiped the gods under geometric symbolism; and that they possessed a body of lore which included mathematical secrets of proportion and design, certain knowledge concerning the universal dynamics, and a philosophical, religious, moral and political conviction concerning the perfecting of human society. They referred to ignorant and uncultured humans as a rough ashlar, that is, an uncut stone as it comes from the quarry, unsuited to the purpose of building. Through the refinement which resulted from self-discipline and an addiction to the divine arts, man perfected himself; becoming square, upright, and true, thus forming the true ashlar, or the cut stone which could fit with others into a pattern of masonry. In their secret work the Dionysians thus were social and political temple builders, and the temple upon which they labored was the living temple of the Living God, 'built of stone made ready before it was brought thither; so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house while it was in the building.' This temple was human society perfected; and each enlightened and perfected human being was a true stone for its building." (Reference: Manly P. Hall; "The Secret Destiny of America"; pp. 75-76).
The failure to do so, have led to Freemasonry ranks to decline in membership and faltered in their ability to retain its membership beyond the day that the neophyte was raised from a dead level to a living perpendicular on the square, ninety degrees up right. They initially were intrigued by the mystique of the ancient order in particular, the symbolism which is mind blowing and most Worshipful Masters and the Grand Lodge Office holders have very little knowledge of epistemology and etymology and the symbolism exceeds their knowledge which to grasp the Higher Language ("symbology") spoken and written by the ancient sages. They can not teach that which they do not understand. (Reference: Albert Mackey; "The History of Freemasonry").
It is they who have contributed to the stagnation of the Masonic Order relative to its inability to grow and retain its membership beyond just being dues paying and card carrying members who have become disenchanted with the overwhelmingly social mission and has witness little commitment to raising a lodge of knowledge seekers and teaching the ancient wisdom as a tool of attracting and retaining those who are part of the diminishing-return (knowledge equals power). It is wisdom and knowledge that are missing in all of the Masonic Lodges and Masons after being raised, find it easy and convenient to creep back into the grave of ignorance, which is symbolic of darkness and they quickly forget their testament to seeking more Light in Masonry (initially their conductors answered for them and as they matriculated upward the Masonic ladder, they answered for themselves).(Reference: W.L. Wilmshurst; The Meaning of Masonry).
Once you have been raised, you are no longer considered the "poor blind candidate", in particular after being brought from darkness to light; it was a symbolic journey that was dramatized to move you from West (darkness) to East (light) in search of more light in Masonry, which was to teach you that, your chosen path should lead you more toward universal truths (this is the acceptance of knowledge without boundaries and with the objective of attaining continued enlightenment). J.S.M Ward in his monumental book titled: "Who is Hiram Abiff?," stated: "But as we follow the path back from darkness to light we shall find new hope and salvation in the evidence we shall gather up as to the way in which, amid the darkness of primitive magic, men have risen, inspired from on high, and seizing the ancient grim magical ceremonies, have transformed and ennobled them into things of beauty, proclaiming to all a message of hope." (Reference: J.S.M Ward; "Who is Hiram Abiff?"; p. 2).
Religion is an extension of philosophy and philosophy is mother of Masonic allegory, which to its members provides a rational and scientific interpretation of the mathematical symbolic language; without symbols language becomes stagnate and nonexistent. Henry Wilson Coil in his work titled,"A Comprehensive History of Freemasonry" stated: "Freemasonry, in its broadest and most comprehensive sense, is a system morality and social ethics, a primitive religion, and a philosophy of life . . .incorporating a broad humanitarianism. . .It is a religion without creed, being of no sect but finding truth in all. . .It seeks truth but does not define truth. . ." (Reference: Henry Wilson Coil;"A Comprehensive History of Freemasonry"; p. 234).
Let me set the record straight Judaism, Christianity and Islam do not compare to the school of thought of philosophy, yet this writer does not deny that Abraham, Jesus and Muhammad played huge roles in the spiritual development of humanity, which served a purpose and whether you view their purpose as being rooted in some sort of divinity, it must be received on a personal level. Freemasonry is void of dogmatic religious constraints and uses the best in religion without possessing any loyalty to one religious school of thought. All holy books are revered in Freemasonry, but none take precedent over the other and the Masonic alter is open to adapt to the culture and religious tradition of the people belonging to certain lands, if the society is a Muslim country where Islam is the dominant religion, it would not be unusual to seeing the Qur'an on the Freemasonic alter serving as the Great Light. (Reference: Albert Pike; "Morals and Dogmas"),
While the Square and Compass gives us various Geometric angles and yet we do understand that 120 degrees X 3 = 360 degrees, thus the square and compass gives us the most complete symbol in which human life (microcosm) and the universe (macrocosm) vibrates (which is motion and order) these two heavenly bodies are synonymous in forming the circle. It further, teaches us that the two greatest symbols and working tools that exist in Freemasonry is the Square and Compass which symbolic provides for us, the forever unbroken circle of life. The Masonic Rule and Guide is measured in twenty-four hour period, in which there are three periods of eights. How do we divide our time and do we use the twenty-four inch gauge and the common gavel to measure our usefulness and effectiveness within the scheme of life priorities? (Reference: Allen Roberts; “The Craft and its Symbols: Opening the Door of Masonic Symbolism”).
We are merely mathematical equations and Freemasonry is coded in the highest mathematical language which was mastered by those ancients sages and spiritual gurus who built magnificent civilizations in Kemet (Egypt), Sumra, China, India, Persia, Mexico--Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, Native Americans, the Ancient Druids understood the true meaning of birth, death, resurrection and ascension--Sanskrit and Vedas verified these ageless truths. "What is the duty of civilized man?" "To teach the uncivilized person civilization". Father Allah, Clarence 13X and the teachings of the Nation of Gods and Earths has power to transform the Masonic lessons, but will the Order take instructions from the POOR RIGHTEOUS TEACHERS . (Reference: Allah Jihad; "The Immortal Birth").
These ancient civilizations had mastered the connection between mathematical principles and constructing the temple from within, the Freemasonic physical foundation rest upon two support systems Boaz (denoting strength) and Jachin (denoting foundation), these were the left and right Pillars respectively in which King Solomon Temple was built and without these two strong pillars Freemasonry would crumble. But the foundation was erected in accordance to the Grand Architect of the Universe (GAOTU). Strength is "the ability to maintain a moral or intellectual position firmly" and it also defined as to "the state, property, or quality of being strong". (Reference: Albert Churchward; "Origin and Antiquity of Freemasonry").
During your very first step, you were invested with a word that implied strength and it was to teach you that Masonry has stood for thousands of years and it will collaspe if Masons don't stand on moral character and pursue justice and equality and to recognize that their strength emanates from a Deity, in which man and Deity are inseparable (God is man and man is God). The two notable Masonic writers, C. H. Stauffacher and Charles P. Rodney stated: "the science of geometry in the mysteries of Freemasonry. In this twofold symbolism the letter 'G' represents to the Mason unity of heaven with the earth, of the divine with the human, of the temporal with the eternal, of the finite with the infinite." How will you dispose of it?
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
TAVIS SMILEY VERSUS REV. AL SHARPTON: LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE
TAVIS SMILEY VERSUS REV. AL SHARPTON: LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE
By Fahim A. Knight-EL
This writer was listening to the Tom Joyner Morning Show (TJMS), which is a black syndicated radio program that he is geared toward black urban radio audiences. I was tuned in on Tuesday February 23, 2010, and Mr. Joyner had announced that Tavis Smiley was making a guest appearance on the show, and for those who do not know, Smiley is presently a television talk show host on PBS and prior to this assignment, he was a host on a Black Entertainment Television (BET) talk show. He also had been a radio commentator on the Tom Joyner Morning Show for a number of years and has made guest appearances on NPR as a political social critic.
So the morning, Joyner announced Smiley's appearance, I sat back, anticipating Smiley's commentary, this writer has always enjoyed Smiley's commentaries on the show and prior to his resignation from TJMS in 2008, he was one of the more serious voices on the show who was not always buffoning and clowning. He always appeared well prepared, organized and his commentaries were insightful and provocative. It was always evident that he had given his topics much thought and he stayed abreast of current events, as well as taking his assignment serious.
However, this writer did not always agree, with Smiley's political analysis, but often, his arguments were compelling and challenging. Thus, for close to ten years he made a bigger name for himself serving as the chief organizer and convener of the State of Black Union forums, that became an annual event in February, which was covered live on C-Span television. Smiley often assembled some of the most brilliant black intellectuals, academia, clergy, social scientist, legal professionals, educators, social activist, politicians, business personnel, writers, publishers, etc.
Tavis Smiley wrote in his book titled: "How to Make Black America Better": "A lot of our actions as Black people have been directed at trying to get white people to change. There are too many of us who allow our life decisions to be governed by the 'statement' we feel our actions might make to white people. The perceptions of white people even find their way into decisions we make about the clothes we buy or the hairstyles we wear. During the civil rights movement, we devoted a good bit of our energy and time to making it clear that we are equal, that our aspirations, concerns, and feelings about life are the same as those of white people, in the hope that the white community would come to understand and accept us as equals. Today, we can no longer afford to do this. It is time to give up on the idea of changing white people and seek change from within, among ourselves. For in the final analysis, it's not about their misbehavior but our behavior". (Reference: Tavis Smiley; "How to Make Black America Better"; p. 9).
Moreover, during the 2008 presidential elections Smiley ventured into uncharted waters by offering critical assessments of then Senator Barack Obama, the little known senator from the state of Illinois, an African American presidential candidate who shocked the nation by winning the Iowa Caucus, but he was still considered a long shot. However, after some of the early primaries Senator Obama was beginning to make serious political momentum (he immediately began to create enthusiasm amongst African Americans).
There were some blacks who believed, that any black criticism of Senator Obama would only hurt his chances of becoming America's first black president (black criticism of Obama was viewed internally within the race with suspicion and interpreted as betrayal). Smiley was being called everything but a child of God, for daring to raise questions, that you would have expected any intelligent group to make of a potential United States commander-in-chief. This writer applauded Smiley for not going soft on Obama and some of the TJMS listening audience accused Smiley of jealousy and player hating. This writer thinks that it was this opposition that left Smiley embattled and eventually ended his tenure as a member of TJMS.
Many African Americans began to back Obama and if nothing else they have had this historical longing of perhaps one day seeing and witnessing a black person becoming president of the United States of America (American style racism and white supremacy have left this longing for 4 centuries). Senator Obama's candidacy was symbolic of so many things to the African American and they began to embrace him in huge numbers and for many his candidacy represented a fulfillment of the Dream that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had so eloquently articulated of hope, pluralism and equality.
His selection (or "election") was being viewed as the ultimate sign of social progress and that America had turned a page in its over 450 year history relative to granting African Americans complete social-equality (these sentiments were coded in how his election was being perceived, in particular by non-African Americans). President Barack Obama's election was being sensed as so-called leveling the historical playing field and it signified an end to American racism and discrimination.
The United States had elected its first black president and this alone denoted the epitome of social and political progress, at least in theory. I think many citizens both black and white, got caught up in the moment and truly desired to believe that President Barack Obama's election represented a new beginning in how the question of race would be perceived in present and future discussions within the United States.
President Obama's election brought into question, the continued relevance of the old guard black leadership and their necessity in 2008 and beyond. Dr. Cornel West in his book titled, "Race Matters" stated: "The time is past for black political and intellectual leaders to pose as the voice for black America. Gone are the days when black political leaders jockey for the label 'president of black America,' or when black intellectuals pose as the 'writers of black America.' The days of brokering for the black turf--of posing as the Head Negro in Charge (H.N.IC.)--are over. To be a serious black leader is to be a race-transcending prophet who critiques the powers that be (including the black component of the Establishment) and who puts forward a vision of fundamental social change for all who suffer from socially induced misery." (Reference: Cornel West; "Race Matters;" p. 70).
Some actually believed that President Obama's election ended African Americans quest for civil rights and also naively believed that racism was no longer a problem in our society because of the political status that President Obama had achieved (they had turned a blind-eye to the pervasiveness of American racism and was in denial that President Obama was only a black token).
Tavis Smiley as a commentator on the Tom Joyner Show often took black folk and Barack Obama to task (he also took the listening audience out of their comfort zone and exposed their failure to exercise critical thinking). Smiley would often remind us that Obama was not above critique and critical assessment (this writer agrees with this common sense approach) should be rendered and not allow ourselves to get caught up in his race and forget about the game he has chosen to play, which was politics.
Politics is more about positioning and leveraging in order to access the political, economic and social benefits that is shrouded in the power apparatus, as well as help shape and mold public policy which to reflect constituents aspirations. Smiley felt that the black community was given Obama a free pass and although, he was being sensitive to other interest groups other than African Americans and this was viewed by Smiley and others as an act of disrespect. But we were allowing him as the premier black politician to overlook his most loyal base which was the African American community (this writer sees critical evaluation as being a very healthy exercise).
President Obama has taken black folk and the black vote for granted and black leaders are just starting to take him to task (I read recently where Princeton University Professor Cornel West made some critical remarks of President Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus is starting to appear dismayed). What has taken black leadership so long to wake the hell up?
This writer has always believed it to be literally insane for over 93% of African Americans to be registered Democrats (we vote party and not issues) in which this party has treated black folk like a step child. The Democratic party historically has always taken the black vote for granted and President Obama has strategically and tactfully used this reality, to his political advantage. But when it comes to black political neglect, his most important hold card is race--he believes this is an unbreakable bond and it carries more political weight than anything his black critics, in particular and pundits in general, could ever use against him.
He has measured that if he doesn't meet any of the political planks of African Americans, they are too tied and too loyal to the Democratic party to send him packing and understands that more than likely, he would not suffer any real political consequences from the black electorate; even if, he betrays their interest and political aspirations. When will so-called black leadership come to their senses and advocate breaking this slave-master relationship and hold the Democratic party to a higher standard?
Politicians have to know and understand that they will suffer political backlash, if they fail to acquiesce to the wants and desires of those who put them in office. Smiley has been one of the few black leaders that have gone against the grain and has been thinking outside of race loyalty, but have chosen to examine the real deal, which is President Obama's policy positions. President Obama in reality, does not have any loyalty to blacks, in particular and Americans in general. He is a Rothschild, Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger agent in which all roads lead to their interest and banks and swore loyalty to keep them in power and to keep the masses powerless.
Our so-called black leadership is weak and compromising--Reverend Al Sharpton (Action Network), Benjamin Jealous, (NAACP), Marc Morial (National Urban League), etc., these are nothing but card carrying window dressing Uncle Tom Negroes who are probably government agents put in place to keep us docile and under control. Most of the organizations they represent receive grants and funding from the Rockefeller Foundations and from Carnegie Mellon Foundation, or some other governmental funding sources (has anyone ever asked the question, how do these Negroes get paid?).
These Negroes continue to convene conferences at white owned hotels and convention centers, which to talk about the problem and are constantly servicing everybody else economy but their own (we are meeting in white folk five star hotels and banquet halls which to analyze racism, if this isn't a contradiction, what else could it be?). Why do not these Negro leaders pool their resources and buy a five star hotel and convene at an establishment that they own and operate. Moreover, the corporate sponsorship of these Negro conventions are often alcohol, tobacco and food conglomerates that deals death and destruction to the black community (Budweiser the King of Beers and McDonald's, etc).
Tony Brown in his book titled: "Empower the People" stated: "Black Americans possesses great wealth, and has learned to use its wealth to buy its freedom! It is the quintessential example of a community of interest that could become empowered if it developed a 'root economy' and used its own money system. Numbers do not lie. As already noted, Black America's annual income of $500 billion is the equivalent to the GNP of the tenth richest nation in the world. . . However, Blacks were historically organized by their elitist, Socialist leaders, mostly white, to boycott themselves. Although, the income of Blacks is growing faster than that of any other group of Americans, they spend only 3 percent of their $500 billion income with one another. That is why the most successful economic boycott in history is the current one that Blacks wage against their own entrepreneurs. On average, other ethnic and racial groups recycle 80 percent of their income within their own community. In addition to recycle 3 percent of its income, the Black community turns a dollar over less than once. Conversely, a dollar turns over five to twelve times before it leaves a Jewish American, Chinese-American, Indian-American, or numerous other ethnic communities." (Reference: Tony Brown; "Empower the People"; pp. 306-307).
But most Negro leaders themselves are corporate pimps and sophisticated hustlers who plays on the ignorance and emotions of black people. I recently read an article where someone exposed the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) who raised 55 million dollars in foundation money air marked for black scholarships; moreover, after completing the article and analyzing the content, this writer came to the conclusion, that they should be investigated for possible misappropriation, fraud, embezzlement, etc., and their 501-C3 (R) nonprofit and tax exempt status should be revoked.
The CBC to date has only spent over a half million dollars on scholarships, but during the CBC annual gala weekend event they spent over a million dollars in parties, socializing and window dressing (where is the priority of our established black leadership?). Yet, black males have the highest high school dropout rate in the nation and often lack financial resources to pursue post secondary education and these Negroes are sitting on 55 million dollars and putting on extravagant parties and the black community is in crisis.
This writer has very little respect for Negro leaders and the organizations that they represent. We have forty black congress-persons and they lobby for everyone else causes accept the black community. It is inexcusable for Africa and the Caribbean to be in their present condition with the power and influence that black Americans have and it is a shame that these black lawmakers don't play a larger role in the foreign policy decision making which effects how international foreign aid is decided upon and dispensed (they should be front and center assuring when the back room deals are cut that we should get our fair share).
Many of these Negro leaders see themselves as elitist and part of the reactionary petit-bourgeoisie class and they constantly dupe the black masses into believing that they share a common cause and interest with the black have-nots. (Reference: E. Franklin Frazier; Black Bourgeoisie"). The black masses have brought into skin color, race and ethnicity as variables in determining allies and enemies; these artificial variables have led to many historical setbacks and acts of betrayal. (Reference: Frantz Fanon: "Black Skin White Mask).
I heard Minister Louis Farrakhan state years ago "politics without economics is just like symbol without substance," we have over 6000 black elected and appointed officials, yet we are still a powerless people in 2010 and we can not continue to blame white folk for our predicament. Why do not we place some of the blame on black leadership for their ineffective role as leaders and their failure to move us beyond consumers?
Let's try doing for self and work to create a new political and economic paradigm--this will allow us to foster a new relationship with all civilize people of the earth. Who elevated Reverend Al Sharpton to the status and spokesperson and black leader over the masses? Where is his following? Most black leaders are mere creations of the media and serve the interest of the status quo.
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson in his book titled: "Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line," stated: "Complicating matters further was the fact that the choice of spokespersons didn't always turn on issues that were of greatest interest or importance to blacks. Often a spokesperson was selected because his themes, style, and ideology were acceptable to the white majority. Many black leaders were viewed skeptically by their constituencies. Booker T. Washington is a prime example of this model of leadership. Naturally, these conditions introduced considerable tension into the relationship between those who did the speaking and those who were spoken for. Black spokespersons acquired influence because they were given legitimacy by the white majority, whose power to establish such legitimacy was far greater than that of the black minority. As a result, these spokespersons used their power in black communities to reward loyal blacks and to punish dissidents. This arrangement meant that patronage more than moral principle determined the allocation of the limited resources for which the spokesperson was a funnel. As a result, few blacks benefited from the leadership that was supposed to speak for them all." (Reference: Eric Dyson; "Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line;" p. 52).
Tavis Smiley called Reverend Sharpton out because he and Morial and Jealous had a closed meeting with President Obama relative to the president's jobs bill initiative (I called it a butter biscuit and chicken session). Smiley stated like any other president in office, our conversation with the president should be centered on putting forward a black agenda in which if he was a white president, it would have been top priority for Negro leadership to demand that the White House is sensitive to the political aspirations of African Americans (Sharpton, Smiley, Watkins ).
This has been standard political operational procedure and not to do this with President Obama would be a noticeable deviation from the norm. Sharpton reacted to Smiley, as though he had committed an unpardonable sin for daring to raise the question of the black agenda and went on an emotional tirade of accusing Smiley of misrepresenting his agenda. What is Al Sharpton's agenda? What is Tavis Smiley's agenda? Perhaps their squabble is more rooted in ego and an unwillingness to concede that the problems confronting black America is far beyond their grandiose and self-aggrandizing dispositions.
I think both of them acted very poorly in public and displayed a poor examples of what black leadership should be about and stood to be condemned. Yet, I see nothing fundamentally wrong with open debate, critique and disagreeing (we should be able to disagree without being disagreeable); I think Smiley had every right to challenge Reverend Al Sharpton and think Sharpton equally had the right to answer the criticism being spewed by Smiley. But where does this leaves black America, as far as direction and need for unapologetic black leadership? We have had enough grand standing and ego driven black leadership, which have never benefited the masses and unity is the only solution to the problems that are plaguing black America.
Lastly, Sharpton and Smiley owes the black community an apology. Yes, I will be tuned into Smiley's forum that will be taking place on March 20, 2010 at Chicago State University, which will be televised on C-Span and I believe Al Sharpton is conducting a forum from New York on April 17, 2010. Now, I am of the opinion, that we do not need any more BIG MEETINGS. Here is the solution, lets break this cycle of dependency and get up and do something for self.
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
By Fahim A. Knight-EL
This writer was listening to the Tom Joyner Morning Show (TJMS), which is a black syndicated radio program that he is geared toward black urban radio audiences. I was tuned in on Tuesday February 23, 2010, and Mr. Joyner had announced that Tavis Smiley was making a guest appearance on the show, and for those who do not know, Smiley is presently a television talk show host on PBS and prior to this assignment, he was a host on a Black Entertainment Television (BET) talk show. He also had been a radio commentator on the Tom Joyner Morning Show for a number of years and has made guest appearances on NPR as a political social critic.
So the morning, Joyner announced Smiley's appearance, I sat back, anticipating Smiley's commentary, this writer has always enjoyed Smiley's commentaries on the show and prior to his resignation from TJMS in 2008, he was one of the more serious voices on the show who was not always buffoning and clowning. He always appeared well prepared, organized and his commentaries were insightful and provocative. It was always evident that he had given his topics much thought and he stayed abreast of current events, as well as taking his assignment serious.
However, this writer did not always agree, with Smiley's political analysis, but often, his arguments were compelling and challenging. Thus, for close to ten years he made a bigger name for himself serving as the chief organizer and convener of the State of Black Union forums, that became an annual event in February, which was covered live on C-Span television. Smiley often assembled some of the most brilliant black intellectuals, academia, clergy, social scientist, legal professionals, educators, social activist, politicians, business personnel, writers, publishers, etc.
Tavis Smiley wrote in his book titled: "How to Make Black America Better": "A lot of our actions as Black people have been directed at trying to get white people to change. There are too many of us who allow our life decisions to be governed by the 'statement' we feel our actions might make to white people. The perceptions of white people even find their way into decisions we make about the clothes we buy or the hairstyles we wear. During the civil rights movement, we devoted a good bit of our energy and time to making it clear that we are equal, that our aspirations, concerns, and feelings about life are the same as those of white people, in the hope that the white community would come to understand and accept us as equals. Today, we can no longer afford to do this. It is time to give up on the idea of changing white people and seek change from within, among ourselves. For in the final analysis, it's not about their misbehavior but our behavior". (Reference: Tavis Smiley; "How to Make Black America Better"; p. 9).
Moreover, during the 2008 presidential elections Smiley ventured into uncharted waters by offering critical assessments of then Senator Barack Obama, the little known senator from the state of Illinois, an African American presidential candidate who shocked the nation by winning the Iowa Caucus, but he was still considered a long shot. However, after some of the early primaries Senator Obama was beginning to make serious political momentum (he immediately began to create enthusiasm amongst African Americans).
There were some blacks who believed, that any black criticism of Senator Obama would only hurt his chances of becoming America's first black president (black criticism of Obama was viewed internally within the race with suspicion and interpreted as betrayal). Smiley was being called everything but a child of God, for daring to raise questions, that you would have expected any intelligent group to make of a potential United States commander-in-chief. This writer applauded Smiley for not going soft on Obama and some of the TJMS listening audience accused Smiley of jealousy and player hating. This writer thinks that it was this opposition that left Smiley embattled and eventually ended his tenure as a member of TJMS.
Many African Americans began to back Obama and if nothing else they have had this historical longing of perhaps one day seeing and witnessing a black person becoming president of the United States of America (American style racism and white supremacy have left this longing for 4 centuries). Senator Obama's candidacy was symbolic of so many things to the African American and they began to embrace him in huge numbers and for many his candidacy represented a fulfillment of the Dream that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., had so eloquently articulated of hope, pluralism and equality.
His selection (or "election") was being viewed as the ultimate sign of social progress and that America had turned a page in its over 450 year history relative to granting African Americans complete social-equality (these sentiments were coded in how his election was being perceived, in particular by non-African Americans). President Barack Obama's election was being sensed as so-called leveling the historical playing field and it signified an end to American racism and discrimination.
The United States had elected its first black president and this alone denoted the epitome of social and political progress, at least in theory. I think many citizens both black and white, got caught up in the moment and truly desired to believe that President Barack Obama's election represented a new beginning in how the question of race would be perceived in present and future discussions within the United States.
President Obama's election brought into question, the continued relevance of the old guard black leadership and their necessity in 2008 and beyond. Dr. Cornel West in his book titled, "Race Matters" stated: "The time is past for black political and intellectual leaders to pose as the voice for black America. Gone are the days when black political leaders jockey for the label 'president of black America,' or when black intellectuals pose as the 'writers of black America.' The days of brokering for the black turf--of posing as the Head Negro in Charge (H.N.IC.)--are over. To be a serious black leader is to be a race-transcending prophet who critiques the powers that be (including the black component of the Establishment) and who puts forward a vision of fundamental social change for all who suffer from socially induced misery." (Reference: Cornel West; "Race Matters;" p. 70).
Some actually believed that President Obama's election ended African Americans quest for civil rights and also naively believed that racism was no longer a problem in our society because of the political status that President Obama had achieved (they had turned a blind-eye to the pervasiveness of American racism and was in denial that President Obama was only a black token).
Tavis Smiley as a commentator on the Tom Joyner Show often took black folk and Barack Obama to task (he also took the listening audience out of their comfort zone and exposed their failure to exercise critical thinking). Smiley would often remind us that Obama was not above critique and critical assessment (this writer agrees with this common sense approach) should be rendered and not allow ourselves to get caught up in his race and forget about the game he has chosen to play, which was politics.
Politics is more about positioning and leveraging in order to access the political, economic and social benefits that is shrouded in the power apparatus, as well as help shape and mold public policy which to reflect constituents aspirations. Smiley felt that the black community was given Obama a free pass and although, he was being sensitive to other interest groups other than African Americans and this was viewed by Smiley and others as an act of disrespect. But we were allowing him as the premier black politician to overlook his most loyal base which was the African American community (this writer sees critical evaluation as being a very healthy exercise).
President Obama has taken black folk and the black vote for granted and black leaders are just starting to take him to task (I read recently where Princeton University Professor Cornel West made some critical remarks of President Obama and the Congressional Black Caucus is starting to appear dismayed). What has taken black leadership so long to wake the hell up?
This writer has always believed it to be literally insane for over 93% of African Americans to be registered Democrats (we vote party and not issues) in which this party has treated black folk like a step child. The Democratic party historically has always taken the black vote for granted and President Obama has strategically and tactfully used this reality, to his political advantage. But when it comes to black political neglect, his most important hold card is race--he believes this is an unbreakable bond and it carries more political weight than anything his black critics, in particular and pundits in general, could ever use against him.
He has measured that if he doesn't meet any of the political planks of African Americans, they are too tied and too loyal to the Democratic party to send him packing and understands that more than likely, he would not suffer any real political consequences from the black electorate; even if, he betrays their interest and political aspirations. When will so-called black leadership come to their senses and advocate breaking this slave-master relationship and hold the Democratic party to a higher standard?
Politicians have to know and understand that they will suffer political backlash, if they fail to acquiesce to the wants and desires of those who put them in office. Smiley has been one of the few black leaders that have gone against the grain and has been thinking outside of race loyalty, but have chosen to examine the real deal, which is President Obama's policy positions. President Obama in reality, does not have any loyalty to blacks, in particular and Americans in general. He is a Rothschild, Rockefeller and Henry Kissinger agent in which all roads lead to their interest and banks and swore loyalty to keep them in power and to keep the masses powerless.
Our so-called black leadership is weak and compromising--Reverend Al Sharpton (Action Network), Benjamin Jealous, (NAACP), Marc Morial (National Urban League), etc., these are nothing but card carrying window dressing Uncle Tom Negroes who are probably government agents put in place to keep us docile and under control. Most of the organizations they represent receive grants and funding from the Rockefeller Foundations and from Carnegie Mellon Foundation, or some other governmental funding sources (has anyone ever asked the question, how do these Negroes get paid?).
These Negroes continue to convene conferences at white owned hotels and convention centers, which to talk about the problem and are constantly servicing everybody else economy but their own (we are meeting in white folk five star hotels and banquet halls which to analyze racism, if this isn't a contradiction, what else could it be?). Why do not these Negro leaders pool their resources and buy a five star hotel and convene at an establishment that they own and operate. Moreover, the corporate sponsorship of these Negro conventions are often alcohol, tobacco and food conglomerates that deals death and destruction to the black community (Budweiser the King of Beers and McDonald's, etc).
Tony Brown in his book titled: "Empower the People" stated: "Black Americans possesses great wealth, and has learned to use its wealth to buy its freedom! It is the quintessential example of a community of interest that could become empowered if it developed a 'root economy' and used its own money system. Numbers do not lie. As already noted, Black America's annual income of $500 billion is the equivalent to the GNP of the tenth richest nation in the world. . . However, Blacks were historically organized by their elitist, Socialist leaders, mostly white, to boycott themselves. Although, the income of Blacks is growing faster than that of any other group of Americans, they spend only 3 percent of their $500 billion income with one another. That is why the most successful economic boycott in history is the current one that Blacks wage against their own entrepreneurs. On average, other ethnic and racial groups recycle 80 percent of their income within their own community. In addition to recycle 3 percent of its income, the Black community turns a dollar over less than once. Conversely, a dollar turns over five to twelve times before it leaves a Jewish American, Chinese-American, Indian-American, or numerous other ethnic communities." (Reference: Tony Brown; "Empower the People"; pp. 306-307).
But most Negro leaders themselves are corporate pimps and sophisticated hustlers who plays on the ignorance and emotions of black people. I recently read an article where someone exposed the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) who raised 55 million dollars in foundation money air marked for black scholarships; moreover, after completing the article and analyzing the content, this writer came to the conclusion, that they should be investigated for possible misappropriation, fraud, embezzlement, etc., and their 501-C3 (R) nonprofit and tax exempt status should be revoked.
The CBC to date has only spent over a half million dollars on scholarships, but during the CBC annual gala weekend event they spent over a million dollars in parties, socializing and window dressing (where is the priority of our established black leadership?). Yet, black males have the highest high school dropout rate in the nation and often lack financial resources to pursue post secondary education and these Negroes are sitting on 55 million dollars and putting on extravagant parties and the black community is in crisis.
This writer has very little respect for Negro leaders and the organizations that they represent. We have forty black congress-persons and they lobby for everyone else causes accept the black community. It is inexcusable for Africa and the Caribbean to be in their present condition with the power and influence that black Americans have and it is a shame that these black lawmakers don't play a larger role in the foreign policy decision making which effects how international foreign aid is decided upon and dispensed (they should be front and center assuring when the back room deals are cut that we should get our fair share).
Many of these Negro leaders see themselves as elitist and part of the reactionary petit-bourgeoisie class and they constantly dupe the black masses into believing that they share a common cause and interest with the black have-nots. (Reference: E. Franklin Frazier; Black Bourgeoisie"). The black masses have brought into skin color, race and ethnicity as variables in determining allies and enemies; these artificial variables have led to many historical setbacks and acts of betrayal. (Reference: Frantz Fanon: "Black Skin White Mask).
I heard Minister Louis Farrakhan state years ago "politics without economics is just like symbol without substance," we have over 6000 black elected and appointed officials, yet we are still a powerless people in 2010 and we can not continue to blame white folk for our predicament. Why do not we place some of the blame on black leadership for their ineffective role as leaders and their failure to move us beyond consumers?
Let's try doing for self and work to create a new political and economic paradigm--this will allow us to foster a new relationship with all civilize people of the earth. Who elevated Reverend Al Sharpton to the status and spokesperson and black leader over the masses? Where is his following? Most black leaders are mere creations of the media and serve the interest of the status quo.
Dr. Michael Eric Dyson in his book titled: "Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line," stated: "Complicating matters further was the fact that the choice of spokespersons didn't always turn on issues that were of greatest interest or importance to blacks. Often a spokesperson was selected because his themes, style, and ideology were acceptable to the white majority. Many black leaders were viewed skeptically by their constituencies. Booker T. Washington is a prime example of this model of leadership. Naturally, these conditions introduced considerable tension into the relationship between those who did the speaking and those who were spoken for. Black spokespersons acquired influence because they were given legitimacy by the white majority, whose power to establish such legitimacy was far greater than that of the black minority. As a result, these spokespersons used their power in black communities to reward loyal blacks and to punish dissidents. This arrangement meant that patronage more than moral principle determined the allocation of the limited resources for which the spokesperson was a funnel. As a result, few blacks benefited from the leadership that was supposed to speak for them all." (Reference: Eric Dyson; "Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line;" p. 52).
Tavis Smiley called Reverend Sharpton out because he and Morial and Jealous had a closed meeting with President Obama relative to the president's jobs bill initiative (I called it a butter biscuit and chicken session). Smiley stated like any other president in office, our conversation with the president should be centered on putting forward a black agenda in which if he was a white president, it would have been top priority for Negro leadership to demand that the White House is sensitive to the political aspirations of African Americans (Sharpton, Smiley, Watkins ).
This has been standard political operational procedure and not to do this with President Obama would be a noticeable deviation from the norm. Sharpton reacted to Smiley, as though he had committed an unpardonable sin for daring to raise the question of the black agenda and went on an emotional tirade of accusing Smiley of misrepresenting his agenda. What is Al Sharpton's agenda? What is Tavis Smiley's agenda? Perhaps their squabble is more rooted in ego and an unwillingness to concede that the problems confronting black America is far beyond their grandiose and self-aggrandizing dispositions.
I think both of them acted very poorly in public and displayed a poor examples of what black leadership should be about and stood to be condemned. Yet, I see nothing fundamentally wrong with open debate, critique and disagreeing (we should be able to disagree without being disagreeable); I think Smiley had every right to challenge Reverend Al Sharpton and think Sharpton equally had the right to answer the criticism being spewed by Smiley. But where does this leaves black America, as far as direction and need for unapologetic black leadership? We have had enough grand standing and ego driven black leadership, which have never benefited the masses and unity is the only solution to the problems that are plaguing black America.
Lastly, Sharpton and Smiley owes the black community an apology. Yes, I will be tuned into Smiley's forum that will be taking place on March 20, 2010 at Chicago State University, which will be televised on C-Span and I believe Al Sharpton is conducting a forum from New York on April 17, 2010. Now, I am of the opinion, that we do not need any more BIG MEETINGS. Here is the solution, lets break this cycle of dependency and get up and do something for self.
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
Friday, February 26, 2010
HOW TO EAT TO LIVE AND THE POLITICS OF FOOD
HOW TO EAT TO LIVE AND THE POLITICS OF FOOD
By Fahim A. Knight-EL
This article had been in the back of my mind for sometime relative to food and health and the politics that surrounds food. Some years ago, I was invited to Muhammad's Temple Number 25 in Newark, New Jersey, this was in the 1970s where I heard Minister James Shabazz teach from a book written by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975) titled, "How to Eat to Live" first volume published in 1967; it eventually became a two volume book that laid out the Nation of Islam and Black Muslim dietary laws. I found Minister Shabazz message that day to be very intriguing and enlightened, thus I purchased the book "How to Eat to Live" in 1973 and began reading. I am now recommending that you read this eye awakened book and you will find out why it is dietary important to put down them yams and collard greens (these are vegetables that are prohibited). Messenger Muhammad wrote about Allah who came in the person of Master Fard Muhammad and the type of foods and diet that he prescribed and ordained for the Asiatic Black man.
The health of this nation or lack of has to be viewed, from the highest levels of government and we can somewhat, attributed our dismal health disposition to corporate greed and neglect by the United States Government in its failure to demonstrate a level of genuine sincerity towards the well being of the American people outside of corporate interest. America does not need a health care bill, and if we do get one, it would not be worth a damn because health is big business and any health care bill that is passed, it going to be in the interest of the powerful medical lobbies and medical associations that they represent (whether it is President Obama's Health Bill or a Republican sponsored bill).
It has been intentional neglect which has led to our entire food supply being placed in danger--from our agriculture crops to our poultry farms and cattle farms have all been compromised, therefore, because of this, the health of our entire nation has been compromised. The government sanctions the use of poison pesticides and fertilizers in the name of efficient productivity--growing bigger and harvesting more agriculture commodities in shorter planting time frames (they have truly disturbed the balance of nature and has disturbed the the most perfect system that has been in existence for perhaps trillions of years, which is the ecological system). Man is in deed at war with himself and the planet.
The Center For Disease Control (CDC), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as other regulatory agencies already know that these agriculture pesticides (subtle germ, chemical and biological warfare) will have short and long term adverse health ramifications on the American people and planet (but what they do not tell you is, that it has always been about profit over health). Our water supply have also been compromised by poisonous pesticides and fertilizers run-off into our rivers, lakes and oceans.This evidence is translated into seeing higher incidents of all types of various cancers and diseases that are plaguing our nation and if the truth be told, it can be traced back to our food sources. The chickens are being injected with various growth hormones and enzymes (which is dangerous to humans that eat this poisonous meat) in which these chickens are caged raise (confined to tiny square foot areas) they do not have free range ability to roam and interact in a more natural environment and is confined to filthy controlled assembly line like operations. (Reference: Karl Weber; "Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About It").
These chickens are being forced fed food with little to no nutritional value, the only objective is to fatten them up for the consumer market and also these same chickens (hens) are being artificially inseminated to create mass egg production in order to meet the food supply demands (the United States has 300 million people, but consumes a disproportional amount of the world's resources). The cattle (beef) ranches and farms are no different (cows on steroids). This also makes our dairy unsafe for human consumption. Thus, we are eating these hormonal injected birds and steroid beef (this includes Angus beef as well); and we wonder, why our little girls are having their menses at 6 and 7 years old and is growing breast at that same age, as well as developing physically like teenagers twice their age. Also, child obesity is running rampant throughout America.
Mad Cow disease, Bird Flu and the latest being Swine Flu (so-called H1N1) are clear examples, that our animal food supply is contaminated and the above animals have served as host to viruses that are making people sick and have even been responsible for killing thousands who have fell victims to coming in contact by consuming poisonous poultry and livestock. The media talking heads and the U.S. Government tried to quickly discredited the rumors and allegations that the Swine Flu virus could not be transposed to humans by eating pork (swine meat) and although the CIA and CDC possessed medical evidence from Mexico that people had died from eating contaminated (H1N1) pig meat and others got sick from contracting this virus that United States Government calls H1N1 (Swine Flu). They have kept this information away from the public because of the interest of huge pork growers; they do not want to scare you away from continuing to buying swine, it is to lucrative of a business to be interrupted by human sicknesses and deaths.
Muhammad did not forbade the consumption of beef and/or chicken, but he said we would be better off by not consuming any animal flesh. Messenger Muhammad forbade certain seafoods such as crabs, shrimps, lobsters , scallops, etc., he referred to them as the scavengers or bugs of the sea and he prohibited the eating of fish that weighed of over ten pounds (this included large tuna). The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, we could cure ourselves by what we eat or not eat and he recommended that we eat one meal per day. He also recommended that we should fast at least three days at the end of each month. Moreover, Mr. Muhammad even went a step further, he stated that we should practice eating every three days because our stomachs and digestive tracks were not designed to constantly work trying to digest three meals per day and health wise this practice would keep us away from the doctor's office. (Reference: Norman W. Walker; "Colon Health: The Key to a Vibrant Life").
Many African American healers and holistic healers that came after the Honorable Elijah Muhammad such as Queen Afua who authored the book titled, "Heal Thyself: For Health and Longevity" and fail to mention "How to Eat to Live" by Elijah Muhammad, the man who was talking about health in the black community when it wasn't popular. Queen Afua has written an excellent book that supports vegan and vegetarian dieting, but it is remissly not to mention Elijah Muhammad as a forerunner in this discussion of health. I witness Mr. Muhammad clean-up and heal black people who became Muslims and followed his dietary plan and restriction. Some of these individuals came to Mr. Muhammad obese and ailing and within six months after following the program and the life giving teachings they became healed, it was though they appeared 10 years younger after practicing the dietary and Restrictive Laws of Islam. He taught us, of the value of the navy bean and the various use of this bean (get the book and read it for yourself).
There is another great book written by Dr. Llaila O. Afrika titled, "African Holistic Health" but, how can you write such an enlightened book and not mention messenger Muhammad and many of these individuals were directly and/or indirectly touched by his mission and work? I am on record of admitting that it was Mr. Muhammad's teachings that woke me up as a lost-found member and it was his teachings that gave me the intellect and wisdom to further connect the dots. The brothers in the Temple would often state "Make it plain Brother Minister" and that is exactly what I have tried to do in the writings of all my blogs.
This writer lives in the south and there is a huge hog farm in Virginia named Smithfield Farms (I often see their tractor trailers advertised with Smithfield Farms on I-40 East and West as I travel throughout North Carolina) and some of my readers may not know this, the hog selling business is over a billion dollar industry and it is vital to the U.S. economy. This is what Wikipedia stated about Smithfield farms: "Smithfield Foods, Inc. is the world’s largest pork producer and processor. Its headquarters are in Smithfield, Virginia, with operations in 26 states and 9 countries. The company raises 14 million hogs a year and processes 27 million. The company produced 5.9 billion pounds of pork and 1.4 billion pounds of fresh beef in 2006. Its plant in La Gloria, Mexico is suspected to be the source of the 2009 swine flu outbreak." (Reference: Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia; topic Smithfield Farms).
The United States Government consistently lies to the America people and they create medical epidemics and in some cases pandemics while simultaneously using fear and panic to enrich the pharmaceutical companies and medical profession by selling vaccines as so-called protection against viruses like H1N1 (this is a CIA initiated medical hoax). So like fools we run and get vaccinated and allow our children to be inoculated with experimental chemicals and drugs; thus, trusting the damn government and thirty years from now, they will come out and admit, that they injected us with a cancer containment. Perhaps you have never heard of the Tuskegee Experiment it is well documented in a book written by Harriet A. Washington titled: "Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans From Colonial Times to the Present). All this is about making money and nothing else. (Reference: Curtis Cost; "Vaccines Are Dangerous: A Warning to the Black Community").
The air we breathe have been compromised due government failure to regulate and impose meaningful OSHA and EPA standards in which to govern all the toxic waste, hazardous gases and fumes that are being released into the environment and is poisoning the oxygen that we are taking in and is is destroying the Ozone Layer (perhaps global warming will be the vehicle that destroys a rebellious humanity). But corporate interest gets a free pass to assist in killing the American people because we are viewed as being expendable and money making has been placed as a higher priority over the health and well being of the American people. When will we wake up from our slumber? Or will it be to late. I am willing to bet you, that the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will not give you this type of information.
This writer in the late 1980s met an interesting gentlemen named Michael Joseph, who stated his ethnicity and nationality as being Lebanese (he looked more Cauasian than an Arab Semite). Brother Joseph and I became friends, and every time that he would come town from Miami, he would always stop by my house and the black book store in Durham. He was a very intelligent man who probably at some point in his life had decided to quit corporate America and found peace with himself by coming in harmony with his spirit-self and the universe. He had chosen to live a meager and simple life and he use to self promote and distribute a book that he had written by given small talks at African Centered book stores throughout the southeast and appearing on black talk radio. I learned so much from him about Homeopathic medicine and holistic treatments, as well as nutrition (western medicine has become for the most part, a system of pawns for the powerful pharmaceutical companies; this is the master they serve and often will not entertain Eastern healing procedures). (Reference: Kahlil Gibran; "The Prophet").
Western doctors have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in acquring a medical education and has put a lot of time into becoming practitioners of their vocation and this alone makes them arrogant and unwilling to submit that in some instances Homeopathic medicine may be superior to western base medical treatment (well to be quite honest many of them get financial incentives from pharmaceutical companies to become your personal dope pusher). Natural healers go to the earth and uses herbs and roots for medicinal treatment and I can remember when segregation existed and African Americans could not seek treatment in a conventional hospital or clinic. Grandmother who were not medically trained at Stanford, Duke John Hopkins, and Harvard, but she could walk in the woods and retrieve a plant and administer treatment for what was ailing us. (Reference: Kevin Trudeau; "Natural Cures: They Don't Want You To Know About).
Michael Joseph wrote and published a book titled, "Animals in Digestive System: How to Avoid Disease Nutritionally" stated: "I blame the medical establishment for not being more forceful in their nutritional advice . Too many physicians themselves are addicted to meat to be entirely neutral in their recommending nutritional therapies when confronted by ailing trusting population. Physicians are not chemists or physiologists, and too influenced by salesmen from drug corporations, and by the American Medical Association, which is itself guided by drug manufacturers. The war on drugs is being fought against the wrong people. Isn't it paradoxical, that a government can be responsible for the drug addiction of its own people, then use the very excuse of that drug abuse to imprison thousands. The news media are understandably addicted to their sources of funds, which are the chemical and food producers, the drug and tobacco industries. To be truthful with the American people about the poisons being added to our foods, would seemingly put many of these producers out of business, or at least inspire them to change. Anyone who knows how the media is financed can easily understand this fact. Therefore, the media has been compromising itself when sharing information on health and nutrition, seemingly in the interest of earning a profit, rather than their real purpose of disseminating the truth. (Reference: Michael Joseph; "Animals in Digestive System: How to Avoid Disease Nutritionally"; pp. 120-121).
This alone makes the United States Government complicit by willfully and intentionally turning a blind eye while the health of the American people becomes compromised; this writer wonders if all of this is part of the grand conspiracy to commit control genocide with the objective of depopulating the earth. The Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn stated: "To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he's doing is good. . .Ideology--that is what gives devildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others' eyes, so that he won't hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors." (Reference: Alexander Solzhenitsyn; quoted in the book "Emerging Viruses" by Leonard G. Horowitz).
Muhammad stated: "food keeps us here; it is essential that we eat food which gives and maintains life. That same food destroys life. Therefore, to keep this food from destroying our lives, we must protect our lives as well as we possibly can from the destruction of food. If we eat the proper food, and eat at the proper time, the food will keep us living a long, long time. Eating three and four times a day is to your stomach as dripping water is to a stone or iron. The dripping water will eventually wear the stone and iron away. But, just to look at the water, it does not appear powerful enough in its dripping to wear the stone and iron away. It is the same with food; we continuously put it into our stomachs to be digested and eventually it will destroy the stomach. If we let ourstomachs rest a while and gain strength, they will last longer in doing a job of digesting food for us."
C. Leonard Vories in his pamphlet titled, "The Hog: Should It Be Used For Food" stated: "During recent years discoveries by the medical profession have brought to light why reasons why God, thousands of years ago, could have condemned the hog as unfit for food. The microscope has revealed that the flesh of hogs is often infested with trichina worms, which when taken into the human body multiply and begin to work their way through the entire system, even into the brain and heart. This condition is known as trichinosis. Thus, far there is no known cure for the disease, since nothing has been discovered which will the trichina without killing the person when once the worms have started working into the flesh." (Reference: C. Leonard Vories; "The Hog: Should It Be Used For Food" ; p. 15-16).
This writer has been in various food markets and there is nothing more disturbing than to see a senior citizen who looked to be in poor physical health and yet in their shopping cart, it is filled with food that has no nutritional value such as processed foods, swine (pork chops, pig knuckles, pig ears, fatback, etc.) and foods that are high in sodium (dead food with no life). Elijah Muhammad taught how during slavery the slave masters fed the blacks slaves the worst type of food. For example, pork-swine, but even the slave diet, they were giving the worst of the swine, the hog guts and intestines (chitterlings), fatback, salt pork, ham hocks, etc. Many poor people buy cheap processed foods because they see it as stretching the dollar and in their minds this is smart shopping because they have achieved their goal of quantity purchasing and at the same time, perhaps negated the most important aspect of food consumption, which is, what are the health and nutritional value of the food? (Reference: Dick Gregory's Natural Diet For Folks Who Eat: Cookin' With Mother Nature").
Often in poor and oppressed communities (which are ordinarily blacks and Latinos), it is difficult to find an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, the food vendors (and the alcohol beverage companies operate off this same premise) systematically supply these communities with the worst types of foods, which contributes to these communities having high incidents of Hypertension, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Colon Cancer, etc. It is a bit hypocritical for the United States Government to act like they are concern about the health and well being of our nation and yet the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) do very little to regulate the huge food conglomerates (they are off the chain). (Reference: Alfred Powell; "Message 'N' A Bottle").
Why don't U.S. Government take a proactive and preventive measures by outlawing foods that contributes to us having all types of chronic diseases? Not to consider doing this, will eventually further burden our health care system and cost the American taxpayers billions of dollars on the back-end (having to treat long term illnesses that with proper diet and nutrition could have been preventable). However, this writer is not oblivious to fact, that there is huge amounts of money to be made in dealing in death and destruction (sickness is a commodity)-- selling products that is sugar based (sugar is more addictive than cocaine and heroin); this keeps the dentist employed, and trans fats know wonder our children at five and six years of age are experiencing child obesity in which we are sentencing them to a life of potential heart disease and diabetes, as well as other health aliments. Just take a look around you in any urban cities across the United States and no doubt, you will see a number of fast food restaurants--McDonald's, Churches Chicken, Burger King, Wendys, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Bojangles, Chinese Restaurants, etc (they are dealing death over the lunch counters). Parents are serving their children fast foods two and three times per day and its these habits that are contributing to the poor health of our children. Their life expectancy will be even shorter than the prior five generations unless we change personal course and our government course.
My mother use to cook and I grew up eating home cook meals, but most younger mothers in America today do not know how to cook and rely on eating out and fail to realize all the negative benefits in putting your mouths in someone else kitchen. Autism, Down Syndrome and hyperactivity in children can be traced to diet and this is not meant to overlook some of the genetic factors. Fast foods factors into 90% of the health issues plaguing children. Think about this, just 35 years ago children under 10 having hypertension and Diabetes were unheard of and it is insane not look at what they are eating today in comparison to yesterday.
Muhammad further stated: " IF THE MEDICAL DOCTORS and the theologian teachers and scientists of chemicals,are indulging and are not successful expanding their own lives in what they are offering to us to eat and drink, then why should we follow their way of life? The chemical doctors go to the earth to get chemicals to heal themselves and us. These chemicals soon will destroy both. And, their bodies were not made to be supported by chemicals for health and longevity. The fact is the body of man was not to be drugged." (Reference: Elijah Muhammad; "How To Eat To Live" Book # 2 Chapter 47 online PDF version).
I am going to digress a bit by sharing some of my personal experiences, which in my opinion, will prove to be relevant to the overall objective and intent of this article. This writer got one of his first real lessons in the politics of food over fifteen years ago; I was once an international trader who was involved in importing and exporting various trade commodities, which included food. The company was named Progressive International Trading Company, Inc. and it was headed by a dear friend and CEO Daniel Brown out of Baltimore, Maryland. But who taught us the business was two con men out of Budapest, Hungry who owned a trading company in Budapest named East-West Channel.
These Hungarians understood the European import and export markets better than anyone that we had ever done business with. The first thing you learn in the food commodity business, is how political and competitive the food industry is and you also learn, who controls the markets; we learned very quickly that there were powerful trading companies who functioned as sovereign corporate governments that controlled all levels of the import/export international networks from finance too distribution--Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), ConAgra, and Cargill (they have a monopoly on the food industry) controls huge international markets and they determine who eats globally. No, small trader can penetrate the global food markets without brokering deals with these large powerful trading companies. They set the United States international trade policy and dictate to the U.S. food regulatory agencies of how stiff or how lax government intervention is going to be relative to our food sources.
These companies have controlling interest in banks (they controlled the issuing of financial instruments such as Letters of Credit), farms including coops, freight forwarding companies, freight insurance companies and they control embassies and trade ambassadors, etc. They also control many smaller food subsidiaries in the United States and around the world in which they will not even entertain an international trade proposal of huge tonnage without blocking you until they are able to steal your potential customer. Perhaps one of the most value lessons that I learned came by way of a commodity deal that we were trying close with selling some corn to one of the Eastern European nations and their government had strict stipulations that no genetically modified or genetic alter food was allowable into their country because they were unsure of how this genetic modified foods would impact the future health of their nation. Just look at the United States and there is plenty of proof of how genetic modified food is contributing to us having a wide range of health issues that are plaguing this nation. We are what we eat, and we can not trust anything that comes out of the laboratory of the wickedly wise. You must become the scientist in your kitchen. Thank you Mr. Muhammad for taking my wife through the Muslim Girl Training and General Civilization Class (MGT--GCC).
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
By Fahim A. Knight-EL
This article had been in the back of my mind for sometime relative to food and health and the politics that surrounds food. Some years ago, I was invited to Muhammad's Temple Number 25 in Newark, New Jersey, this was in the 1970s where I heard Minister James Shabazz teach from a book written by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad (1897-1975) titled, "How to Eat to Live" first volume published in 1967; it eventually became a two volume book that laid out the Nation of Islam and Black Muslim dietary laws. I found Minister Shabazz message that day to be very intriguing and enlightened, thus I purchased the book "How to Eat to Live" in 1973 and began reading. I am now recommending that you read this eye awakened book and you will find out why it is dietary important to put down them yams and collard greens (these are vegetables that are prohibited). Messenger Muhammad wrote about Allah who came in the person of Master Fard Muhammad and the type of foods and diet that he prescribed and ordained for the Asiatic Black man.
The health of this nation or lack of has to be viewed, from the highest levels of government and we can somewhat, attributed our dismal health disposition to corporate greed and neglect by the United States Government in its failure to demonstrate a level of genuine sincerity towards the well being of the American people outside of corporate interest. America does not need a health care bill, and if we do get one, it would not be worth a damn because health is big business and any health care bill that is passed, it going to be in the interest of the powerful medical lobbies and medical associations that they represent (whether it is President Obama's Health Bill or a Republican sponsored bill).
It has been intentional neglect which has led to our entire food supply being placed in danger--from our agriculture crops to our poultry farms and cattle farms have all been compromised, therefore, because of this, the health of our entire nation has been compromised. The government sanctions the use of poison pesticides and fertilizers in the name of efficient productivity--growing bigger and harvesting more agriculture commodities in shorter planting time frames (they have truly disturbed the balance of nature and has disturbed the the most perfect system that has been in existence for perhaps trillions of years, which is the ecological system). Man is in deed at war with himself and the planet.
The Center For Disease Control (CDC), United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), as well as other regulatory agencies already know that these agriculture pesticides (subtle germ, chemical and biological warfare) will have short and long term adverse health ramifications on the American people and planet (but what they do not tell you is, that it has always been about profit over health). Our water supply have also been compromised by poisonous pesticides and fertilizers run-off into our rivers, lakes and oceans.This evidence is translated into seeing higher incidents of all types of various cancers and diseases that are plaguing our nation and if the truth be told, it can be traced back to our food sources. The chickens are being injected with various growth hormones and enzymes (which is dangerous to humans that eat this poisonous meat) in which these chickens are caged raise (confined to tiny square foot areas) they do not have free range ability to roam and interact in a more natural environment and is confined to filthy controlled assembly line like operations. (Reference: Karl Weber; "Food Inc.: A Participant Guide: How Industrial Food is Making Us Sicker, Fatter, and Poorer-And What You Can Do About It").
These chickens are being forced fed food with little to no nutritional value, the only objective is to fatten them up for the consumer market and also these same chickens (hens) are being artificially inseminated to create mass egg production in order to meet the food supply demands (the United States has 300 million people, but consumes a disproportional amount of the world's resources). The cattle (beef) ranches and farms are no different (cows on steroids). This also makes our dairy unsafe for human consumption. Thus, we are eating these hormonal injected birds and steroid beef (this includes Angus beef as well); and we wonder, why our little girls are having their menses at 6 and 7 years old and is growing breast at that same age, as well as developing physically like teenagers twice their age. Also, child obesity is running rampant throughout America.
Mad Cow disease, Bird Flu and the latest being Swine Flu (so-called H1N1) are clear examples, that our animal food supply is contaminated and the above animals have served as host to viruses that are making people sick and have even been responsible for killing thousands who have fell victims to coming in contact by consuming poisonous poultry and livestock. The media talking heads and the U.S. Government tried to quickly discredited the rumors and allegations that the Swine Flu virus could not be transposed to humans by eating pork (swine meat) and although the CIA and CDC possessed medical evidence from Mexico that people had died from eating contaminated (H1N1) pig meat and others got sick from contracting this virus that United States Government calls H1N1 (Swine Flu). They have kept this information away from the public because of the interest of huge pork growers; they do not want to scare you away from continuing to buying swine, it is to lucrative of a business to be interrupted by human sicknesses and deaths.
Muhammad did not forbade the consumption of beef and/or chicken, but he said we would be better off by not consuming any animal flesh. Messenger Muhammad forbade certain seafoods such as crabs, shrimps, lobsters , scallops, etc., he referred to them as the scavengers or bugs of the sea and he prohibited the eating of fish that weighed of over ten pounds (this included large tuna). The Honorable Elijah Muhammad said, we could cure ourselves by what we eat or not eat and he recommended that we eat one meal per day. He also recommended that we should fast at least three days at the end of each month. Moreover, Mr. Muhammad even went a step further, he stated that we should practice eating every three days because our stomachs and digestive tracks were not designed to constantly work trying to digest three meals per day and health wise this practice would keep us away from the doctor's office. (Reference: Norman W. Walker; "Colon Health: The Key to a Vibrant Life").
Many African American healers and holistic healers that came after the Honorable Elijah Muhammad such as Queen Afua who authored the book titled, "Heal Thyself: For Health and Longevity" and fail to mention "How to Eat to Live" by Elijah Muhammad, the man who was talking about health in the black community when it wasn't popular. Queen Afua has written an excellent book that supports vegan and vegetarian dieting, but it is remissly not to mention Elijah Muhammad as a forerunner in this discussion of health. I witness Mr. Muhammad clean-up and heal black people who became Muslims and followed his dietary plan and restriction. Some of these individuals came to Mr. Muhammad obese and ailing and within six months after following the program and the life giving teachings they became healed, it was though they appeared 10 years younger after practicing the dietary and Restrictive Laws of Islam. He taught us, of the value of the navy bean and the various use of this bean (get the book and read it for yourself).
There is another great book written by Dr. Llaila O. Afrika titled, "African Holistic Health" but, how can you write such an enlightened book and not mention messenger Muhammad and many of these individuals were directly and/or indirectly touched by his mission and work? I am on record of admitting that it was Mr. Muhammad's teachings that woke me up as a lost-found member and it was his teachings that gave me the intellect and wisdom to further connect the dots. The brothers in the Temple would often state "Make it plain Brother Minister" and that is exactly what I have tried to do in the writings of all my blogs.
This writer lives in the south and there is a huge hog farm in Virginia named Smithfield Farms (I often see their tractor trailers advertised with Smithfield Farms on I-40 East and West as I travel throughout North Carolina) and some of my readers may not know this, the hog selling business is over a billion dollar industry and it is vital to the U.S. economy. This is what Wikipedia stated about Smithfield farms: "Smithfield Foods, Inc. is the world’s largest pork producer and processor. Its headquarters are in Smithfield, Virginia, with operations in 26 states and 9 countries. The company raises 14 million hogs a year and processes 27 million. The company produced 5.9 billion pounds of pork and 1.4 billion pounds of fresh beef in 2006. Its plant in La Gloria, Mexico is suspected to be the source of the 2009 swine flu outbreak." (Reference: Wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia; topic Smithfield Farms).
The United States Government consistently lies to the America people and they create medical epidemics and in some cases pandemics while simultaneously using fear and panic to enrich the pharmaceutical companies and medical profession by selling vaccines as so-called protection against viruses like H1N1 (this is a CIA initiated medical hoax). So like fools we run and get vaccinated and allow our children to be inoculated with experimental chemicals and drugs; thus, trusting the damn government and thirty years from now, they will come out and admit, that they injected us with a cancer containment. Perhaps you have never heard of the Tuskegee Experiment it is well documented in a book written by Harriet A. Washington titled: "Medical Apartheid: The Dark History of Medical Experimentation on Black Americans From Colonial Times to the Present). All this is about making money and nothing else. (Reference: Curtis Cost; "Vaccines Are Dangerous: A Warning to the Black Community").
The air we breathe have been compromised due government failure to regulate and impose meaningful OSHA and EPA standards in which to govern all the toxic waste, hazardous gases and fumes that are being released into the environment and is poisoning the oxygen that we are taking in and is is destroying the Ozone Layer (perhaps global warming will be the vehicle that destroys a rebellious humanity). But corporate interest gets a free pass to assist in killing the American people because we are viewed as being expendable and money making has been placed as a higher priority over the health and well being of the American people. When will we wake up from our slumber? Or will it be to late. I am willing to bet you, that the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius will not give you this type of information.
This writer in the late 1980s met an interesting gentlemen named Michael Joseph, who stated his ethnicity and nationality as being Lebanese (he looked more Cauasian than an Arab Semite). Brother Joseph and I became friends, and every time that he would come town from Miami, he would always stop by my house and the black book store in Durham. He was a very intelligent man who probably at some point in his life had decided to quit corporate America and found peace with himself by coming in harmony with his spirit-self and the universe. He had chosen to live a meager and simple life and he use to self promote and distribute a book that he had written by given small talks at African Centered book stores throughout the southeast and appearing on black talk radio. I learned so much from him about Homeopathic medicine and holistic treatments, as well as nutrition (western medicine has become for the most part, a system of pawns for the powerful pharmaceutical companies; this is the master they serve and often will not entertain Eastern healing procedures). (Reference: Kahlil Gibran; "The Prophet").
Western doctors have invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in acquring a medical education and has put a lot of time into becoming practitioners of their vocation and this alone makes them arrogant and unwilling to submit that in some instances Homeopathic medicine may be superior to western base medical treatment (well to be quite honest many of them get financial incentives from pharmaceutical companies to become your personal dope pusher). Natural healers go to the earth and uses herbs and roots for medicinal treatment and I can remember when segregation existed and African Americans could not seek treatment in a conventional hospital or clinic. Grandmother who were not medically trained at Stanford, Duke John Hopkins, and Harvard, but she could walk in the woods and retrieve a plant and administer treatment for what was ailing us. (Reference: Kevin Trudeau; "Natural Cures: They Don't Want You To Know About).
Michael Joseph wrote and published a book titled, "Animals in Digestive System: How to Avoid Disease Nutritionally" stated: "I blame the medical establishment for not being more forceful in their nutritional advice . Too many physicians themselves are addicted to meat to be entirely neutral in their recommending nutritional therapies when confronted by ailing trusting population. Physicians are not chemists or physiologists, and too influenced by salesmen from drug corporations, and by the American Medical Association, which is itself guided by drug manufacturers. The war on drugs is being fought against the wrong people. Isn't it paradoxical, that a government can be responsible for the drug addiction of its own people, then use the very excuse of that drug abuse to imprison thousands. The news media are understandably addicted to their sources of funds, which are the chemical and food producers, the drug and tobacco industries. To be truthful with the American people about the poisons being added to our foods, would seemingly put many of these producers out of business, or at least inspire them to change. Anyone who knows how the media is financed can easily understand this fact. Therefore, the media has been compromising itself when sharing information on health and nutrition, seemingly in the interest of earning a profit, rather than their real purpose of disseminating the truth. (Reference: Michael Joseph; "Animals in Digestive System: How to Avoid Disease Nutritionally"; pp. 120-121).
This alone makes the United States Government complicit by willfully and intentionally turning a blind eye while the health of the American people becomes compromised; this writer wonders if all of this is part of the grand conspiracy to commit control genocide with the objective of depopulating the earth. The Russian dissident Alexander Solzhenitsyn stated: "To do evil a human being must first of all believe that what he's doing is good. . .Ideology--that is what gives devildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others' eyes, so that he won't hear reproaches and curses but will receive praise and honors." (Reference: Alexander Solzhenitsyn; quoted in the book "Emerging Viruses" by Leonard G. Horowitz).
Muhammad stated: "food keeps us here; it is essential that we eat food which gives and maintains life. That same food destroys life. Therefore, to keep this food from destroying our lives, we must protect our lives as well as we possibly can from the destruction of food. If we eat the proper food, and eat at the proper time, the food will keep us living a long, long time. Eating three and four times a day is to your stomach as dripping water is to a stone or iron. The dripping water will eventually wear the stone and iron away. But, just to look at the water, it does not appear powerful enough in its dripping to wear the stone and iron away. It is the same with food; we continuously put it into our stomachs to be digested and eventually it will destroy the stomach. If we let ourstomachs rest a while and gain strength, they will last longer in doing a job of digesting food for us."
C. Leonard Vories in his pamphlet titled, "The Hog: Should It Be Used For Food" stated: "During recent years discoveries by the medical profession have brought to light why reasons why God, thousands of years ago, could have condemned the hog as unfit for food. The microscope has revealed that the flesh of hogs is often infested with trichina worms, which when taken into the human body multiply and begin to work their way through the entire system, even into the brain and heart. This condition is known as trichinosis. Thus, far there is no known cure for the disease, since nothing has been discovered which will the trichina without killing the person when once the worms have started working into the flesh." (Reference: C. Leonard Vories; "The Hog: Should It Be Used For Food" ; p. 15-16).
This writer has been in various food markets and there is nothing more disturbing than to see a senior citizen who looked to be in poor physical health and yet in their shopping cart, it is filled with food that has no nutritional value such as processed foods, swine (pork chops, pig knuckles, pig ears, fatback, etc.) and foods that are high in sodium (dead food with no life). Elijah Muhammad taught how during slavery the slave masters fed the blacks slaves the worst type of food. For example, pork-swine, but even the slave diet, they were giving the worst of the swine, the hog guts and intestines (chitterlings), fatback, salt pork, ham hocks, etc. Many poor people buy cheap processed foods because they see it as stretching the dollar and in their minds this is smart shopping because they have achieved their goal of quantity purchasing and at the same time, perhaps negated the most important aspect of food consumption, which is, what are the health and nutritional value of the food? (Reference: Dick Gregory's Natural Diet For Folks Who Eat: Cookin' With Mother Nature").
Often in poor and oppressed communities (which are ordinarily blacks and Latinos), it is difficult to find an abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables, the food vendors (and the alcohol beverage companies operate off this same premise) systematically supply these communities with the worst types of foods, which contributes to these communities having high incidents of Hypertension, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Colon Cancer, etc. It is a bit hypocritical for the United States Government to act like they are concern about the health and well being of our nation and yet the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) do very little to regulate the huge food conglomerates (they are off the chain). (Reference: Alfred Powell; "Message 'N' A Bottle").
Why don't U.S. Government take a proactive and preventive measures by outlawing foods that contributes to us having all types of chronic diseases? Not to consider doing this, will eventually further burden our health care system and cost the American taxpayers billions of dollars on the back-end (having to treat long term illnesses that with proper diet and nutrition could have been preventable). However, this writer is not oblivious to fact, that there is huge amounts of money to be made in dealing in death and destruction (sickness is a commodity)-- selling products that is sugar based (sugar is more addictive than cocaine and heroin); this keeps the dentist employed, and trans fats know wonder our children at five and six years of age are experiencing child obesity in which we are sentencing them to a life of potential heart disease and diabetes, as well as other health aliments. Just take a look around you in any urban cities across the United States and no doubt, you will see a number of fast food restaurants--McDonald's, Churches Chicken, Burger King, Wendys, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Bojangles, Chinese Restaurants, etc (they are dealing death over the lunch counters). Parents are serving their children fast foods two and three times per day and its these habits that are contributing to the poor health of our children. Their life expectancy will be even shorter than the prior five generations unless we change personal course and our government course.
My mother use to cook and I grew up eating home cook meals, but most younger mothers in America today do not know how to cook and rely on eating out and fail to realize all the negative benefits in putting your mouths in someone else kitchen. Autism, Down Syndrome and hyperactivity in children can be traced to diet and this is not meant to overlook some of the genetic factors. Fast foods factors into 90% of the health issues plaguing children. Think about this, just 35 years ago children under 10 having hypertension and Diabetes were unheard of and it is insane not look at what they are eating today in comparison to yesterday.
Muhammad further stated: " IF THE MEDICAL DOCTORS and the theologian teachers and scientists of chemicals,are indulging and are not successful expanding their own lives in what they are offering to us to eat and drink, then why should we follow their way of life? The chemical doctors go to the earth to get chemicals to heal themselves and us. These chemicals soon will destroy both. And, their bodies were not made to be supported by chemicals for health and longevity. The fact is the body of man was not to be drugged." (Reference: Elijah Muhammad; "How To Eat To Live" Book # 2 Chapter 47 online PDF version).
I am going to digress a bit by sharing some of my personal experiences, which in my opinion, will prove to be relevant to the overall objective and intent of this article. This writer got one of his first real lessons in the politics of food over fifteen years ago; I was once an international trader who was involved in importing and exporting various trade commodities, which included food. The company was named Progressive International Trading Company, Inc. and it was headed by a dear friend and CEO Daniel Brown out of Baltimore, Maryland. But who taught us the business was two con men out of Budapest, Hungry who owned a trading company in Budapest named East-West Channel.
These Hungarians understood the European import and export markets better than anyone that we had ever done business with. The first thing you learn in the food commodity business, is how political and competitive the food industry is and you also learn, who controls the markets; we learned very quickly that there were powerful trading companies who functioned as sovereign corporate governments that controlled all levels of the import/export international networks from finance too distribution--Archer Daniels Midland (ADM), ConAgra, and Cargill (they have a monopoly on the food industry) controls huge international markets and they determine who eats globally. No, small trader can penetrate the global food markets without brokering deals with these large powerful trading companies. They set the United States international trade policy and dictate to the U.S. food regulatory agencies of how stiff or how lax government intervention is going to be relative to our food sources.
These companies have controlling interest in banks (they controlled the issuing of financial instruments such as Letters of Credit), farms including coops, freight forwarding companies, freight insurance companies and they control embassies and trade ambassadors, etc. They also control many smaller food subsidiaries in the United States and around the world in which they will not even entertain an international trade proposal of huge tonnage without blocking you until they are able to steal your potential customer. Perhaps one of the most value lessons that I learned came by way of a commodity deal that we were trying close with selling some corn to one of the Eastern European nations and their government had strict stipulations that no genetically modified or genetic alter food was allowable into their country because they were unsure of how this genetic modified foods would impact the future health of their nation. Just look at the United States and there is plenty of proof of how genetic modified food is contributing to us having a wide range of health issues that are plaguing this nation. We are what we eat, and we can not trust anything that comes out of the laboratory of the wickedly wise. You must become the scientist in your kitchen. Thank you Mr. Muhammad for taking my wife through the Muslim Girl Training and General Civilization Class (MGT--GCC).
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolism and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
Monday, February 15, 2010
BARACK OBAMA: HAS THE LUSTER WORN OFF; I WASN'T INVITED TO THE TEA PARTY
BARACK OBAMA: HAS THE LUSTER WORN OFF; I WASN'T INVITED TO THE TEA PARTY
by Fahim A. Knight-EL
President Barack Obama's 2008 presidential election over Senator John McCain, perhaps was met with the type of enthusiasm and political anticipation that was unmatched by most recent U.S. presidential elections. There were a sizable amount of variables, which contributed to these political emotions, but there was none more evident than the United States electing its first African American president in the 234 year history of our republic. This phenomena alone, created a sense of excitement and a political euphoria that reverberated throughout the world.
People were celebrating President Obama's election on all four corners of the globe (they were dancing in the streets and villages) you would have thought that a world revolution had taking place; they were anticipating a more rightly guided and moral leadership, a change from the old guard leadership of President George W. Bush, which had created eight years of political havoc around the globe.
Noam Chomsky in his book titled: "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance" stated: "One can discern two trajectories in current history: one aiming toward hegemony, acting rationally within a lunatic doctrinal framework as its threatens survival; the other dedicated to the belief that 'another world is possible,' in the words that animate the World Social Forum, challenging the reigning ideological system and seeking to create constructive alternatives of thought, action, and institutions. Which trajectory will dominate, no one can for tell. The pattern is familiar throughout history; a crucial difference today is that the stakes are far higher." (Reference: Noam Chomsky; "Hegemony of Survival"; p. 236).
President Obama had the whole world literally in his hand and he did not seize the moment; instead his concept of change was by surrounding himself with a cabinet of Washington, DC insiders and reactionary forces from President Bill Clinton's prior administration, which was a clear indication that he had ignored the voice of the electorate who pulled the lever for him as a protest vote against the establishment and he has either naively or arrogantly overlooked the reason that American voters took a chance on electing him as a novice to the most powerful office in the world and his reward to the electorate has been betrayal.
The people in 2008 had spoken and had voted for change, but his policies are only an extension of what the American people had detested for eight years and had come to dislike under President George W. Bush. This writer believes that the people deserve much more than lies and deception, how about for once, some genuine honesty, trust and integrity?, But only one hundred percent dissatisfaction can bring about one hundred percent change. The two political party system will never be the answer to the legitimate political aspirations of the masses because they are controlled by big business (and it is their interest being represented) and the money trail may take you to some strange places.
This writer thinks that even a viable alternative Third Party system would have a difficult time surviving under American style democracy because the threat always exist of becoming co-opted by the same forces who controls the two establishment political parties and to try give the appearance of being independent of the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission and the Bilderbergers (this writer does not think that any person, theory or movement can escape their power and influence) will always be a stretch. These three groups decide what democracy should look like in the United States and what the global political course is going to be.
Your vote do not mean damn thing (there is no such thing within the United States policy formulation that is arrived by a democratic process, it is all contrived by the Invisible Forces and is spoon fed to the dumbfound masses). The agenda is set by them and all we are doing is following script; this is why President Barack Obama is continuing the "Bush Doctrine" because essentially he is powerless to alter our nation's direction and he does not have permission to deviate from the present course of action. There is no need to be dismayed with the puppet and not understand the power of puppeteer who is hidden behind the curtain, but is the one pulling the purse strings (this is the real power broker).
Obama early on was even being viewed and thought of by some as being a black Jesus, a savior of sought and perhaps others viewed him as being refreshing and had bought into his campaign slogan of change--lock, stock and barrel. Thus, and there were even others who believed that he had a magic wand, which to resolve all the social, political and economic problems facing America, in particular and the world in general, (how quickly have they become disappointed). The first initial mistake that the media, public and his handlers made was the lack of critical assessment (internal and external) given to President Obama during his campaign run and during his first year tenure as commander-in-chief in which he was given almost a free pass to function and operate with little opposition from the right and/or the left.
David Halberstam in his book titled: "The Next Century" stated: "Thanks to television, the national agenda becomes not what our long-range or our most pressing problems are, but those that produce the best film. This means that in a mass democratic society, the most critical part of communications circulatory system--network television--is essentially blocked. As the network news format trivializes political debate, the political system adapts to it. Serious discussion of serious issues is too complicated. Candidates and their advisers learn what the networks want: a telegenic background and a hyped-up attack or counterattack, the more simplistic the better. Television runs only ten-and fifteen-second sound bites from our leading politicians; soon the politicians begin to talk in such brief bites; finally they begin to think in them." (Reference: David Halberstam; "The Next Century;" p. 106).
It would ultimately be conservative talking heads such as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly and others who inspired radical conservative groups such as the Tea Party with the political momentum that appears to have formulated into a viable protest movement, which initially began organizing around the health care debate and made their political mark and voices heard at various town hall meetings this past summer 2009.
The Tea Party essentially represents a group of disgruntled Republicans and I do not know if they are to the right of the Republican Party or not, but if the truth be told it was not President Obama that gave the fuel to this political fire that is dividing the country, if you believed that scenario it would without doubt be the furthest thing from the truth; thus, these dissatisfied so-called patriots have risen as a backlash to the ineffectiveness of the Republican Party and President Bush to so-called articulate core Republican conservative values at the conclusion of his presidential term (it also exposed the weakness and divisiveness that exist under the leadership of RNC Chairman Michael Steele which to give the Republican Party any sustainable direction).
However, why didn't Tea Party take their signs and rhetoric to the Federal Reserve Building in Washington, DC and make a citizen arrest of Ben Bernanke (he is much more of a criminal and sinister than President Obama) for gross criminal misconduct, conspiracy, money laundering, felony thief, armed bank robbery and most of all violating the United States Constitution? When will the Tea Party demand that Merrill Lynch, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear-Stern, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Chase, etc., give the American taxpayers back their hard earned money and demand that they relinquish the mortgage held on our future unborn generations?
These are some criminals that are worthy of opposition in which this writer would have willingly stood shoulder to shoulder with Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin (co-founders of the Tea Party), as well as the other patriots in their quest for some real freedom, justice and equality. But this writer saw virtually no rallies and/or protest movements who had organized in opposition to the 1.4 trillion dollars heist that was stolen from the American taxpayers, which was initiated by George W. Bush, confirmed by congress and sanctioned by President Barack Obama. This was a cause worthy of fighting for, if they truly were concern about taxpayers dollars being spent irresponsible and imprudently.
It was easy for these damnable hypocrites to blame the poor and growling at a defenseless sector who were being characterized as seeking government handouts relative to the Obama's health care bill, which just might have benefited the poor (many of themselves were part of the working poor, middle class poor and unemployed poor). They appeared on television as almost a nostalgic scene out of the 1950s and 1960s warning us that the Socialist and Communist once again were come to get us and that Obama was a Marxist (so-called left-wing bad guy); and yet in 2008, it was not a Marxist inspired government that brought us almost to the brink of economic destruction, but it was a democratic government that was capitalist inspired (yet their ignorance have blinded their ability to see the contradiction). Where was the anger and resentment at these capitalist who robbed the American people under the financial bailout terms and have devastated the social, political and economic lives of the American people?
It was even more alarming that dirt poor Appalachian, hillbilly, tobacco chewing, snuff dipping mountaineers, etc., who were illiterate (many could not read and write) and are victims of a health care system that can not be adequately accessed without money (let's be clear this writer fully understands that the U.S. health Care debate is being formed and shaped by the powerful American Medical Association). The poor whites of this nation have been duped into believing that blacks are the beneficiary of government handouts (this becomes an artificial point of contentious antagonism--divide and conquer scheme) and yet blacks and whites in this class may share similar social and economic conditions, it is they, who believe that their privileged skin color have giving them a stake in keeping the Haves and Have nots (they ultimately serve as gatekeepers of distraction) in their respective places. Those who control our existences do not give a damn about race; they only uses it when it is convenient to herd their sheep in a certain direction.
Yet, no one compared the Wall Street Bailout to being a form of corporate welfare and these criminals are truly the bloodsuckers of the poor. Many even at this late date still do not understand that real change is not determined by those who are appointed to oversee the White House and U. S. Congress because the agenda and political direction of the country is prior approved by the Invisible Rulers and President Obama is just following orders. These decisions do not factor into the electoral process or consider to be influenced by the powerful lobbies--public policy is ultimately at their discretion.
Gary Allen and Larry Abraham in their book titled, "None Dare Call it Conspiracy" stated: "Most intellectuals, pseudo or otherwise, deal with the conspiratorial theory of history simply by ignoring it. They never attempt to refute the evidence. It can't be refuted. If and when the silent treatment does work, these 'objective' scholars and mass media opinion molders resort to personal attacks, ridicule and satire. The personal attacks tend to divert attention from the facts which an author or speaker is trying to expose. The idea is to force the person exposing the conspiracy to stop the exposure and spend his time and effort defending himself. However, the most effective weapons used against the conspiratorial theory of history are ridicule and satire. These extremely potent weapons can be cleverly used to avoid any honest attempt at refuting facts. After all, nobody likes to be made fun of. Rather than be ridiculed most people will keep quite." (Reference: Gary Allen and Larry Abraham; "None Dare Call it Conspiracy" ; pp. 12-13).
The world wanted a change from the backwards and straitjacket policies of Obama's predecessor President George W. Bush--which was steeped in isolationism and unwarranted international antagonism and was guided by the politics of fear. Bush recklessly and systematically, reshaped United States foreign policy after the 9/11 incident or may I should just call it for what it was, a sophisticated hoax orchestrated to set the future course of international and domestic political action (or shifting the paradigm, which has swung the pendulum to the far right) to further the agenda of the Invisible Rulers.
Bush instigated two unnecessary wars (Iraq and Afghanistan), which has cost the United States taxpayers trillions of dollars (come on lets have some tea over these travesties of injustices). These two wars are unjust and this writer can not in good conscious support the murdering and mass slaughtering of innocent Iraqis and Afghans. Thus, creating this present paradigm of Islam versus western governmental ideology or better yet good (applied to the west) versus evil (applied to Islam and the Muslim World in the East) and yet, at the same time, luring the masses of the people to sleep, while the house was being robbed with us right inside.
President Obama has flat out lied to the American people and his policy positions does not reflect or resemble the humanity that he so eloquently articulated during the campaign which captivated the imagination of American people. His polices looks a lot like former President George W. Bush and this is only an indication that they both serve one master--the Invisible Shot Callers, if your were holding onto political optimism, well the evidence is clear that we were placed further into a trick bag by electing President Obama as the candidate of change.
This writer must admit 9/11 was a masterful job of deception, its objective was to forever change global politics and to render humanity existences of having no functionality, which this neo-global transition altered fundamentally the arrangement of wealth and labor, but most all this Cabal forever destroyed the fundamental principles of democracy in which the United States Constitution was overthrown by a silent coup. We have been stripped of our rights and civil liberties. You were led and is continued to be led into believing that the "terrorist" are coming to get us and we have foolishly chosen the United States Patriot Act over our most precious document the United States Constitution .
Alan Greenspan in his book titled, "The Age of Turbulence" stated, "The new world in which we now live is giving many citizens much to fear, including the uprooting of many stable sources of identity and security. Where change is most rapid, widening disparities in the distribution of income are a key concern. It is indeed an age of turbulence, and it would be imprudent and immoral to minimize the human cost of its disruptions. In the face of the increasing integration of the global economy, the world's citizen face a profound choice: to embrace the worldwide benefits of open markets and open societies that pull people out of poverty and up the ladder of skills to do better, more meaningful lives, while bearing in mind fundamental issues of justice; or to reject that opportunity and embrace nativism, tribalism, populism, indeed all the 'isms' into which communities retreat when their identities are under siege and they can not perceive options. There are enormous obstacles facing us in the decades ahead, and whether we surmount them is up to us." (Reference: Alan Greenspan; "The Age of Turbulence;" p. 18).
It was one of my ancestors who was a freed African slave named Crispus Attucks on March 5, 1770 that became the first "American" (unknown martyr) to die at the Boston Tea Party during the initial stages of the American Revolutionary War. Attucks was a black patriot who made the ultimate sacrifice for liberty and American sovereignty, but not many modern day patriot have never heard of this black American patriot.
President Obama's strategist and advisors have yet to continue to remind Americans that he inherited this political, economic, and social mess, but based on the criticism that he has received in one year of being in office, you would have thought that he created the present political predicament. But in all fairness, I do not believe any president that proceeded to be elected after George W. Bush would have been able to immediately render the type of political, economic and social results that would have satisfied the American people during these induced turbulent times. The international bankers and the Federal Reserve have literally bankrupted the United States and our nation was experiencing the second Great Depression, which was being disguised under the covert language of being deemed a recession (what is the differences when the global colateral damage is the same?).
The American people should have been outraged long before the Invisible Rulers placed their pawn Barack Obama at the helm of their ship, the handwriting had been on wall for a very long time. His State of the Union speech gave the appearance of a deflated and defeated president and many are starting to debate will he be just a one term president. Many of his pundits cite the recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts as signifing President Obama's political demise and is even starting to view him as a political liability, as we draw closer to the congressional mid-term elections.
President Obama is starting to understand and come to grips with the political complexity of a beaurocracy that has always been much bigger than the political aspirations and/or optimism of U.S. Presidents. He has had to wrestle with processes and procedures. But I am somewhat dismayed at the Tea Party and these so-called patriotic liberty movements because of the obvious hypocrisy. The problems we are experiencing in 2010 within the United States did not necessarily originate with Preident Obama and the Democratic party. It was not Obama who worked to compromise the United States Constitution--this was in the making as early as 1967 (he was just a little boy) and came into complete fruition under the watchful eye of Bush II (2000-2008).
President Obama so-called represented change and people bought into the idea that he possibly had the ability to move the nation and world to greater heights; after all, he could not have been any worse than George W. Bush. President Obama appeared a lot more intelligent than his predecessor --good looking, charming, charismatic and believable. The United States who has one of the worst race relations history in the world relative to its significant role in Chattel Slavery (1555-1865); thus, even decided to give an African American the opportunity to become president of the United States. This writer never thought that he would see this in this in his life time because of the racial politics within the United States. Perhaps in the grand scheme of things President Obama was set up to fail even before he got started.
He was proceeding after President Bush who spearheaded (let may say frontman) this nation into one of the greatest economic depressions in the history of the United States, as well as was the chief architect of two major wars--Iraq and Afghanistan. President Obama inherited a formula for political disaster and his advisors had set the bar so high that he thought that in one or two years many of the issues plaguing America would be manageable and under control rather quickly. President Obama's lack of political experience would serve as double edge sword. His willingness to serve was out of a sheer innocent optimism (not really he was handpicked by the CFR, Bilderberger and Trilateral Commission) and he had no fear of what was around the corner.
Obama perhaps after one-year on the job as commander-in-chief, he was in for a rude awakening. His advisors allowed him to become to overly exposed and every damn issue that came about, they felt the urge to continually trot him out in public televised forums and they did not realize that this is why you have a presidential cabinet and political advisors/secretaries, a body of expertise and intelligentsia whom you have hired to articulate the president's political theories and philosophy. The office of president of the United States has always had this aura, and mystique perhaps sinced 1780s, which was steeped in the mystery of power and appeared beyond our abilty to having the president accessible in order to address every issue. This demystification has compromised the commander-in-chief's ability to be viewed as a strong and un-bowed leader. It has cheapened what it means to be the U.S. president.
If there were issues germane to Homeland Security; why did not they defer those concerns to the secretary of that department and not have the president responsible to appearing before the media and the American people on issues that could be handled by his advisors and cabinet secretaries?
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
by Fahim A. Knight-EL
President Barack Obama's 2008 presidential election over Senator John McCain, perhaps was met with the type of enthusiasm and political anticipation that was unmatched by most recent U.S. presidential elections. There were a sizable amount of variables, which contributed to these political emotions, but there was none more evident than the United States electing its first African American president in the 234 year history of our republic. This phenomena alone, created a sense of excitement and a political euphoria that reverberated throughout the world.
People were celebrating President Obama's election on all four corners of the globe (they were dancing in the streets and villages) you would have thought that a world revolution had taking place; they were anticipating a more rightly guided and moral leadership, a change from the old guard leadership of President George W. Bush, which had created eight years of political havoc around the globe.
Noam Chomsky in his book titled: "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance" stated: "One can discern two trajectories in current history: one aiming toward hegemony, acting rationally within a lunatic doctrinal framework as its threatens survival; the other dedicated to the belief that 'another world is possible,' in the words that animate the World Social Forum, challenging the reigning ideological system and seeking to create constructive alternatives of thought, action, and institutions. Which trajectory will dominate, no one can for tell. The pattern is familiar throughout history; a crucial difference today is that the stakes are far higher." (Reference: Noam Chomsky; "Hegemony of Survival"; p. 236).
President Obama had the whole world literally in his hand and he did not seize the moment; instead his concept of change was by surrounding himself with a cabinet of Washington, DC insiders and reactionary forces from President Bill Clinton's prior administration, which was a clear indication that he had ignored the voice of the electorate who pulled the lever for him as a protest vote against the establishment and he has either naively or arrogantly overlooked the reason that American voters took a chance on electing him as a novice to the most powerful office in the world and his reward to the electorate has been betrayal.
The people in 2008 had spoken and had voted for change, but his policies are only an extension of what the American people had detested for eight years and had come to dislike under President George W. Bush. This writer believes that the people deserve much more than lies and deception, how about for once, some genuine honesty, trust and integrity?, But only one hundred percent dissatisfaction can bring about one hundred percent change. The two political party system will never be the answer to the legitimate political aspirations of the masses because they are controlled by big business (and it is their interest being represented) and the money trail may take you to some strange places.
This writer thinks that even a viable alternative Third Party system would have a difficult time surviving under American style democracy because the threat always exist of becoming co-opted by the same forces who controls the two establishment political parties and to try give the appearance of being independent of the Council on Foreign Relations, Trilateral Commission and the Bilderbergers (this writer does not think that any person, theory or movement can escape their power and influence) will always be a stretch. These three groups decide what democracy should look like in the United States and what the global political course is going to be.
Your vote do not mean damn thing (there is no such thing within the United States policy formulation that is arrived by a democratic process, it is all contrived by the Invisible Forces and is spoon fed to the dumbfound masses). The agenda is set by them and all we are doing is following script; this is why President Barack Obama is continuing the "Bush Doctrine" because essentially he is powerless to alter our nation's direction and he does not have permission to deviate from the present course of action. There is no need to be dismayed with the puppet and not understand the power of puppeteer who is hidden behind the curtain, but is the one pulling the purse strings (this is the real power broker).
Obama early on was even being viewed and thought of by some as being a black Jesus, a savior of sought and perhaps others viewed him as being refreshing and had bought into his campaign slogan of change--lock, stock and barrel. Thus, and there were even others who believed that he had a magic wand, which to resolve all the social, political and economic problems facing America, in particular and the world in general, (how quickly have they become disappointed). The first initial mistake that the media, public and his handlers made was the lack of critical assessment (internal and external) given to President Obama during his campaign run and during his first year tenure as commander-in-chief in which he was given almost a free pass to function and operate with little opposition from the right and/or the left.
David Halberstam in his book titled: "The Next Century" stated: "Thanks to television, the national agenda becomes not what our long-range or our most pressing problems are, but those that produce the best film. This means that in a mass democratic society, the most critical part of communications circulatory system--network television--is essentially blocked. As the network news format trivializes political debate, the political system adapts to it. Serious discussion of serious issues is too complicated. Candidates and their advisers learn what the networks want: a telegenic background and a hyped-up attack or counterattack, the more simplistic the better. Television runs only ten-and fifteen-second sound bites from our leading politicians; soon the politicians begin to talk in such brief bites; finally they begin to think in them." (Reference: David Halberstam; "The Next Century;" p. 106).
It would ultimately be conservative talking heads such as Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly and others who inspired radical conservative groups such as the Tea Party with the political momentum that appears to have formulated into a viable protest movement, which initially began organizing around the health care debate and made their political mark and voices heard at various town hall meetings this past summer 2009.
The Tea Party essentially represents a group of disgruntled Republicans and I do not know if they are to the right of the Republican Party or not, but if the truth be told it was not President Obama that gave the fuel to this political fire that is dividing the country, if you believed that scenario it would without doubt be the furthest thing from the truth; thus, these dissatisfied so-called patriots have risen as a backlash to the ineffectiveness of the Republican Party and President Bush to so-called articulate core Republican conservative values at the conclusion of his presidential term (it also exposed the weakness and divisiveness that exist under the leadership of RNC Chairman Michael Steele which to give the Republican Party any sustainable direction).
However, why didn't Tea Party take their signs and rhetoric to the Federal Reserve Building in Washington, DC and make a citizen arrest of Ben Bernanke (he is much more of a criminal and sinister than President Obama) for gross criminal misconduct, conspiracy, money laundering, felony thief, armed bank robbery and most of all violating the United States Constitution? When will the Tea Party demand that Merrill Lynch, AIG, Lehman Brothers, Bear-Stern, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, Chase, etc., give the American taxpayers back their hard earned money and demand that they relinquish the mortgage held on our future unborn generations?
These are some criminals that are worthy of opposition in which this writer would have willingly stood shoulder to shoulder with Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin (co-founders of the Tea Party), as well as the other patriots in their quest for some real freedom, justice and equality. But this writer saw virtually no rallies and/or protest movements who had organized in opposition to the 1.4 trillion dollars heist that was stolen from the American taxpayers, which was initiated by George W. Bush, confirmed by congress and sanctioned by President Barack Obama. This was a cause worthy of fighting for, if they truly were concern about taxpayers dollars being spent irresponsible and imprudently.
It was easy for these damnable hypocrites to blame the poor and growling at a defenseless sector who were being characterized as seeking government handouts relative to the Obama's health care bill, which just might have benefited the poor (many of themselves were part of the working poor, middle class poor and unemployed poor). They appeared on television as almost a nostalgic scene out of the 1950s and 1960s warning us that the Socialist and Communist once again were come to get us and that Obama was a Marxist (so-called left-wing bad guy); and yet in 2008, it was not a Marxist inspired government that brought us almost to the brink of economic destruction, but it was a democratic government that was capitalist inspired (yet their ignorance have blinded their ability to see the contradiction). Where was the anger and resentment at these capitalist who robbed the American people under the financial bailout terms and have devastated the social, political and economic lives of the American people?
It was even more alarming that dirt poor Appalachian, hillbilly, tobacco chewing, snuff dipping mountaineers, etc., who were illiterate (many could not read and write) and are victims of a health care system that can not be adequately accessed without money (let's be clear this writer fully understands that the U.S. health Care debate is being formed and shaped by the powerful American Medical Association). The poor whites of this nation have been duped into believing that blacks are the beneficiary of government handouts (this becomes an artificial point of contentious antagonism--divide and conquer scheme) and yet blacks and whites in this class may share similar social and economic conditions, it is they, who believe that their privileged skin color have giving them a stake in keeping the Haves and Have nots (they ultimately serve as gatekeepers of distraction) in their respective places. Those who control our existences do not give a damn about race; they only uses it when it is convenient to herd their sheep in a certain direction.
Yet, no one compared the Wall Street Bailout to being a form of corporate welfare and these criminals are truly the bloodsuckers of the poor. Many even at this late date still do not understand that real change is not determined by those who are appointed to oversee the White House and U. S. Congress because the agenda and political direction of the country is prior approved by the Invisible Rulers and President Obama is just following orders. These decisions do not factor into the electoral process or consider to be influenced by the powerful lobbies--public policy is ultimately at their discretion.
Gary Allen and Larry Abraham in their book titled, "None Dare Call it Conspiracy" stated: "Most intellectuals, pseudo or otherwise, deal with the conspiratorial theory of history simply by ignoring it. They never attempt to refute the evidence. It can't be refuted. If and when the silent treatment does work, these 'objective' scholars and mass media opinion molders resort to personal attacks, ridicule and satire. The personal attacks tend to divert attention from the facts which an author or speaker is trying to expose. The idea is to force the person exposing the conspiracy to stop the exposure and spend his time and effort defending himself. However, the most effective weapons used against the conspiratorial theory of history are ridicule and satire. These extremely potent weapons can be cleverly used to avoid any honest attempt at refuting facts. After all, nobody likes to be made fun of. Rather than be ridiculed most people will keep quite." (Reference: Gary Allen and Larry Abraham; "None Dare Call it Conspiracy" ; pp. 12-13).
The world wanted a change from the backwards and straitjacket policies of Obama's predecessor President George W. Bush--which was steeped in isolationism and unwarranted international antagonism and was guided by the politics of fear. Bush recklessly and systematically, reshaped United States foreign policy after the 9/11 incident or may I should just call it for what it was, a sophisticated hoax orchestrated to set the future course of international and domestic political action (or shifting the paradigm, which has swung the pendulum to the far right) to further the agenda of the Invisible Rulers.
Bush instigated two unnecessary wars (Iraq and Afghanistan), which has cost the United States taxpayers trillions of dollars (come on lets have some tea over these travesties of injustices). These two wars are unjust and this writer can not in good conscious support the murdering and mass slaughtering of innocent Iraqis and Afghans. Thus, creating this present paradigm of Islam versus western governmental ideology or better yet good (applied to the west) versus evil (applied to Islam and the Muslim World in the East) and yet, at the same time, luring the masses of the people to sleep, while the house was being robbed with us right inside.
President Obama has flat out lied to the American people and his policy positions does not reflect or resemble the humanity that he so eloquently articulated during the campaign which captivated the imagination of American people. His polices looks a lot like former President George W. Bush and this is only an indication that they both serve one master--the Invisible Shot Callers, if your were holding onto political optimism, well the evidence is clear that we were placed further into a trick bag by electing President Obama as the candidate of change.
This writer must admit 9/11 was a masterful job of deception, its objective was to forever change global politics and to render humanity existences of having no functionality, which this neo-global transition altered fundamentally the arrangement of wealth and labor, but most all this Cabal forever destroyed the fundamental principles of democracy in which the United States Constitution was overthrown by a silent coup. We have been stripped of our rights and civil liberties. You were led and is continued to be led into believing that the "terrorist" are coming to get us and we have foolishly chosen the United States Patriot Act over our most precious document the United States Constitution .
Alan Greenspan in his book titled, "The Age of Turbulence" stated, "The new world in which we now live is giving many citizens much to fear, including the uprooting of many stable sources of identity and security. Where change is most rapid, widening disparities in the distribution of income are a key concern. It is indeed an age of turbulence, and it would be imprudent and immoral to minimize the human cost of its disruptions. In the face of the increasing integration of the global economy, the world's citizen face a profound choice: to embrace the worldwide benefits of open markets and open societies that pull people out of poverty and up the ladder of skills to do better, more meaningful lives, while bearing in mind fundamental issues of justice; or to reject that opportunity and embrace nativism, tribalism, populism, indeed all the 'isms' into which communities retreat when their identities are under siege and they can not perceive options. There are enormous obstacles facing us in the decades ahead, and whether we surmount them is up to us." (Reference: Alan Greenspan; "The Age of Turbulence;" p. 18).
It was one of my ancestors who was a freed African slave named Crispus Attucks on March 5, 1770 that became the first "American" (unknown martyr) to die at the Boston Tea Party during the initial stages of the American Revolutionary War. Attucks was a black patriot who made the ultimate sacrifice for liberty and American sovereignty, but not many modern day patriot have never heard of this black American patriot.
President Obama's strategist and advisors have yet to continue to remind Americans that he inherited this political, economic, and social mess, but based on the criticism that he has received in one year of being in office, you would have thought that he created the present political predicament. But in all fairness, I do not believe any president that proceeded to be elected after George W. Bush would have been able to immediately render the type of political, economic and social results that would have satisfied the American people during these induced turbulent times. The international bankers and the Federal Reserve have literally bankrupted the United States and our nation was experiencing the second Great Depression, which was being disguised under the covert language of being deemed a recession (what is the differences when the global colateral damage is the same?).
The American people should have been outraged long before the Invisible Rulers placed their pawn Barack Obama at the helm of their ship, the handwriting had been on wall for a very long time. His State of the Union speech gave the appearance of a deflated and defeated president and many are starting to debate will he be just a one term president. Many of his pundits cite the recent elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts as signifing President Obama's political demise and is even starting to view him as a political liability, as we draw closer to the congressional mid-term elections.
President Obama is starting to understand and come to grips with the political complexity of a beaurocracy that has always been much bigger than the political aspirations and/or optimism of U.S. Presidents. He has had to wrestle with processes and procedures. But I am somewhat dismayed at the Tea Party and these so-called patriotic liberty movements because of the obvious hypocrisy. The problems we are experiencing in 2010 within the United States did not necessarily originate with Preident Obama and the Democratic party. It was not Obama who worked to compromise the United States Constitution--this was in the making as early as 1967 (he was just a little boy) and came into complete fruition under the watchful eye of Bush II (2000-2008).
President Obama so-called represented change and people bought into the idea that he possibly had the ability to move the nation and world to greater heights; after all, he could not have been any worse than George W. Bush. President Obama appeared a lot more intelligent than his predecessor --good looking, charming, charismatic and believable. The United States who has one of the worst race relations history in the world relative to its significant role in Chattel Slavery (1555-1865); thus, even decided to give an African American the opportunity to become president of the United States. This writer never thought that he would see this in this in his life time because of the racial politics within the United States. Perhaps in the grand scheme of things President Obama was set up to fail even before he got started.
He was proceeding after President Bush who spearheaded (let may say frontman) this nation into one of the greatest economic depressions in the history of the United States, as well as was the chief architect of two major wars--Iraq and Afghanistan. President Obama inherited a formula for political disaster and his advisors had set the bar so high that he thought that in one or two years many of the issues plaguing America would be manageable and under control rather quickly. President Obama's lack of political experience would serve as double edge sword. His willingness to serve was out of a sheer innocent optimism (not really he was handpicked by the CFR, Bilderberger and Trilateral Commission) and he had no fear of what was around the corner.
Obama perhaps after one-year on the job as commander-in-chief, he was in for a rude awakening. His advisors allowed him to become to overly exposed and every damn issue that came about, they felt the urge to continually trot him out in public televised forums and they did not realize that this is why you have a presidential cabinet and political advisors/secretaries, a body of expertise and intelligentsia whom you have hired to articulate the president's political theories and philosophy. The office of president of the United States has always had this aura, and mystique perhaps sinced 1780s, which was steeped in the mystery of power and appeared beyond our abilty to having the president accessible in order to address every issue. This demystification has compromised the commander-in-chief's ability to be viewed as a strong and un-bowed leader. It has cheapened what it means to be the U.S. president.
If there were issues germane to Homeland Security; why did not they defer those concerns to the secretary of that department and not have the president responsible to appearing before the media and the American people on issues that could be handled by his advisors and cabinet secretaries?
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
BLACK HISTORY MONTH, IS IT STILL RELEVANT?
BLACK HISTORY MONTH, IS IT STILL RELEVANT?
(Republished from 2/7/09)
By Fahim A. Knight-EL
Black History Month, why is it necessary? This writer could simply answer this question by referencing what the founder of Black History Month; Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) called "The Mis-Education of the Negro". No, the election of President Barack Obama does not signify that the celebration of Black History month has become insignificant, outdated or has out lived its purpose and relevance. The dominant society has elevated President Obama and his achievement as a means to silence the racial contradictions that exist in America both past and present. But this token promotion does not resolve all the past and present disparities which continue to factor into America's social dynamics. (Reference: C. Eric Lincoln; “Coming through the Fire: Surviving Race and Place in America”).
This writer and millions of other African Americans are proud of President Obama's monumental achievement and his reaching the highest political office in the world, but we know this does not begin to address the real social, political and economic issues effecting African American people. Thus, we should not put our guards down and become complacent and thinking that we have arrived and America has finally become a true melting pot where as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., preached that we are now being judged by the content of our character and not by the color of our skin. (Reference: Cornel West; “Race Matters”).
President Obama's appointment does not resolve race issues in America and we forever need the voices of Louis Farrakhan, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Father Phleger, Cornel West, Malik Zulu Shabazz, Michael Dyson, etc., to remind us and America that the struggle for liberation continues and we will not be duped nor deceived by a token appointment and we call that progress. Our revolutionary scholars and activist can not be lured to sleep and cease to fight for freedom, justice and equality just because President Obama has become the so-called first African American president of these United States of America. The struggle is continuum and we must not allow ourselves to be intentionally placed in a lax mode. (Reference: Michael Eric Dyson: “Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line”).
Dr. Carter G. Woodson stated: “When a Negro has finished his education in our schools, then he has been equipped to begin the life of an Americanized Europeanized white man, but before he steps from the threshold of his alma mater he is told by his teachers that he must go back to his own people from whom he has been estranged by vision of ideals which in his disillusionment he will realize he cannot attain. He goes forth to play his part in life, but he must be both social and bi-social at the same time. While he is part of the body politic, he is in addition to this a member of a particular race to which he must restrict himself in all matter social. While serving his country he must serve within a special group. While being a good American, he must above all things be a "good Negro"; and to perform this definite function he must learn to stay in a "Negro's place." “(Reference: Woodson; “The Mis-Education of the Negro” pg 4).
This writer detest the Black History month pimps who are paid handsome honorariums to crisscross America speaking at colleges and universities in which many of these tired 1960s armchair revolutionaries have sold out and are just hustling outdated theories and have lost the meaning of conviction. I have no respect for these intellectual pimps who live bourgeoisie life styles and are hidden in white America's ivory towers and have become part of the so-called privileged class. They only promote black history to make money; some of these Negroes make $10,000 to $20,000 per speech given these glorified and apolitical black cultural talks which are very safe and non-threaten and supports the status quo.
Thus, after Black History month these Negroes disappear and black history is left to languish in obscurity until next year. They chose the shortest month of the year to honor the oldest history and longest (African History) to ever be recorded; twenty-eight days (28) does not even begin to allow us to scratch the surface. The study of African history must be 365 days; this writer is very familiar with Woodson choosing February because of the 19th Century Black leader Fredrick Douglas was born in this month and the so-called great black emancipator Abraham Lincoln was also born in this month. February was chosen in honor of these two American icons.
My keeping it Real Think Tank has an African American base and it has always been my primary audience, but I would be foolish to deny or disregard like minds of other races and cultures that share and understand the struggle we are up against, which affects all of humanity. But the African American has always been in a precarious situation in America, which stems from their history under Chattel Slavery (1555-1865). This history has never been redeemed and atoned; it therefore, continues to pose a dichotomy and creates and antagonistic social contradiction inside of America. It easy for people to say, we should overlook the 310 years of subjugation and are not sensitive to one of most inhumane crimes ever recorded in human history. (Reference: Ida Hakim; “Reparations: The Cure for America’s Race Problem”).
Chattel Slavery literally devastated a people psychologically, socially and culturally and the present generations of African Americans were never allowed to heal and yet just 150 years removed from the brutality they are still dealing with this not so distant history. This is not a cry of victimization or seeking sympathy, but it is a reality, that this history haunts the psyche of most black people, if they are honest. The United States as a governmental entity has never had a serious conversation relative to race and racism and as a nation we have been in denial and the issue of race therefore remains unresolved even in 2009. So, this sense of cultural and historical duality automatically breeds a position of nationalism because here goes a people that have lost their names, religion, land and lost a cultural reference point and there will always be a need to remind them of the value of their history prior to Chattel Slavery. (Reference: Richard Williams; “They Stole it, But You Must Return it”).
This writer was drilled by his college professors at a small Liberal Arts university in North Carolina in the value of the study of Black History. Professors such as Dr. Earlie Thorpe, Dr. David W. Bishop, Dr. Stephen Fortune, Dr. Percy Murray, Dr. Beverly Washington-Jones, Dr. Sylvia Jacobs, Dr. Freddie Parker, etc., were some of the best traditional historians in the United States—the history department was prominent and a well respected department headed by qualified scholars. Thus, as much as, this writer could appreciate these professional historians’ perspectives, it was not enough to captivate my imagination. (Reference: Earl Thorpe; “The Central Theme of Black History”).
But, it wasn’t until this writer came in contact with the likes of Elijah Muhammad, J.A. Rogers, Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannon, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Chancellor Williams, Dr. John G. Jackson, Dr. Cheik Anta Diop, Dr. Ivan VanSertima, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Dr. Marimba Ani, Runoko Rashidi, Dr. Maulana Karenga, Dr. Naim Akbar, etc., that my thinking evolved, it was these scholars who took my thinking to next level as it pertains to the study of African history and no doubt their views were outside the box and it challenged the system of white supremacy. These above scholars are true Black History advocates who have not compromised the principles of truth. They have uprooted the lies, half-truths and the historical distortions giving to us by the dominant culture. (Reference: Kwaku Person-Lynn; “First Word, Black Scholars, Thinkers, Warriors”).
This curriculum that was taught gave me a greater appreciation for the struggle and accomplishments that African Americans had made in world history before their sojourn as slaves. This writer oftentimes finds himself differing with white social activist and liberals when it comes to issues relating to race and yet we share some commonality on other political, social and economic issues. They desire to downplay the effects of race and racism and this writer has to constantly remind them that an unbalance playing field was created due to Chattel Slavery (1555-1865) and thereafter with Jim Crow (legal segregation). Black History month evolved out of these social dynamics because America's race relations had denied people of African descendent their humanity and had systematically denigrated them to an inferior status for over four hundred (400) years. (Reference: C. Vann Woodard; “The strange Career of Jim Crow”).
Dr. Woodson stated: No systematic effort toward change has been possible, for, taught the same economics, history, philosophy, literature and religion which have established the present code of morals, the Negro's mind has been brought under the control of his oppressor. The problem of holding the Negro down, therefore, is easily solved. When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary. (Reference: Carter G. Woodson; "The Mis-Education of the Negro" pg. ix).
Africa was called the "Dark Continent" interpreted to meaning they gave nothing to human civilization and although the nations of Ethiopia (Cush) and Egypt (Kemet) had splendid histories in which these African societies arguably fed all of humanity and were the birth places of man. It has been recorded that students from around the world came to learn from the wise ancient Sages of Cush (Ethiopia) and Kemet (Egypt). The scholars and social scientist are still baffled of how the Nubian Egyptians constructed the Eighth Wonder of the world—the building of the pyramids; surely these Africans were not inferior in their intellectual capacity. The science of medicine, mathematics, astronomy, religion, art, science, geometry, hydraulics, engineering, philosophy, architect, etc., originated on the African continent. (Reference: John G. Jackson; “Introduction to African Civilization”).
This writer is often amused by European Bloggers who have delved into various dimensions of Kemet (Egypt) and have come up with geometric and physics based reasoning to explain our sacred temples and pyramids of Kemet (Egypt) and not mention that it was Africans who left this puzzle for humanity to resolve. The Scholars Wallis Budge, Sir Godfrey Higgins, Albert Churchward, George Frazer, Manly P. Hall, Madam Blavatsky, Gerald Massey, H.G. Wells, Will Durant, etc., recognized that builders of the Kemetic pyramid structures were Africans. These modern day Egyptian intellectuals talk around this fact and they desire to place Egypt (Kemet) in the Middle East (there is such no place called the Middle East; the only thing that separates this territory from Africa is a man made ditch called the Suez Canal; for those who still do not know Egypt is in Africa) or come up with some false mulattoe ethnic race in order to deny the Blackness of Egypt. (Reference: Cheik Anta Diop; “Civilization Or Barbarism”).
I think America grew to become an even more ethnocentric society between World War 11 and the Cold War (1941-1989) periods whereas subjects like world geography and world civilizations weren’t deemed important and our educational philosophy was not being formulated around where the world was headed (globalism and the global market of ideas). We had arrogantly, selfishly and ignorantly embraced what we deemed as Americanism or better yet Eurocentrism. This thought led us to believe that everything from ideas—cultures and human achievements evolved around America —a so-called “superior culture” that had in one sense become isolated and it was this idea that contributed to the dummying down of America.
The Afrocentric movement led by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante and other scholars challenged America and all Western Education to reconsider, in particular how Africa was being viewed and how blacks were being viewed stemmed more from cultural ignorance and the educational curriculums reflected this institutionalize ignorance and was contributing toward our cultural incompetence . Although, this argument had its political, social and economic limitations; nevertheless, it forced American educators in the mid 1980s and 1990s to adopt educational strategies that would reflect and encompass the pluralism and the cultural diversity of our society. (Reference: Molefi Kete Asante; Afrocentricity).
This was a step to correct a nation’s psyche and redirect an educational ideology that had gone off course; this led to the multi-cultural movement, a movement to correct and address global projections once it was finally realized where the rest of the world was headed. I just do not think past great educational philosophers had the foresight to look deep in the future and create social theories that could stand without the need of any new assessments and evaluations which to make them relevant to where we are in this space and time. But blacks were robbed of a knowledge of self in this process they lost their culture, names, religion, folkways, mores and by being kidnapped they even lost their land.
Slavery was the greatest criminal act ever committed against humanity; it divided black slaves who spoke the same tribal languages and shared an ethnic heritage (dividing of the families had tremendous everlasting impact on African Americans). Slavery worked to disconnect blacks from their history and destroyed their linkage to a past and justified all manners of oppression and subjugation by calling Blacks the biblical children of Ham and depicted Blacks as being cursed base on their interpretation of the Bible. This theological interpretation more than anything else justified racism and white supremacy; it led to a subsiding of moral and ethical criticism based on this so-called divine system of reasoning. Blacks were denied the right to read and write (other than the Bible); learning for them was outlawed and a crime. They could be killed if caught with a book during chattel slavery. (Reference: John Blassingame; “The Slave Community”).
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches that history builds the springs and motives of human actions, it empowers a people beyond dates and events to come to know the contribution their ancestors made on the stage of human civilization. Many do not know that a black man named Granville T. Woods invented the telephone system and apparatus; Phillip B. Downing invented the letter box; William B. Purvis invented the fountain pen; Joseph V. Nichols and Lewis H. Latimer invented the electric lamp; W.A. Lavalette; Robert F. Flemmings, Jr., invented the guitar; John Stanard invented the refrigerator; Norbert Rillieux improved the sugar making process; George W. Kelley invented the steam table; Willis Johnson invented the Egg Beater; John Albert Burr invented the Lawn Mower; J.H. Smith invented the Lawn Sprinkler; George F. Grant invented the golf tee; Oscar E. Brown invented the horseshoe; Jan E. Matzeliger invented the shoe lasting machine; M.C. Harney invented the lantern or lamp, etc. (Reference: Ivan VanSertima; “Blacks in Science”).
This writer can go on and on about the countless inventions that African Americans made in which many were stolen because they could not get a patent for their inventions based on racism. These Black unsung heroes have languished as the unknown contributors toward the advancement of our culture refinement. While others profited financially off the inventions of African Americans and racism allowed them to be exploited and even to this day they have not received any compensation. No, we can not just overlook this and every intelligent African American who has come into the knowledge of self has a job, duty and responsibility to expose America’s hypocrisy. Even in 2009 the above cited contributions have almost been totally written out of American history and our children are given a distorted view of history based on the practices of intellectual racism. So the establishment of Black History month serves as an attempt to correct the wrongs and to give people a truer perspective of African Americans historical accomplishments seen outside the visual realms of the former slave masters and their children. (Reference: Chip Smith; “The Cost of Privilege: Taking On The System of White Supremacy and Racism”).
American history has been tainted by 400 years of racial politics and it has unjustly denigrated other people who were not of European descendent as inferior and relegated them to an insignificant role within the scheme of American history. In 1925 Dr. Carter G. Woodson recognized that African Americans were sixty (60) years removed from slavery and had suffered a tremendous systematic disconnectedness from a glorious past. Woodson was a well trained scholar who had received a Ph.D in history from Harvard University in 1912 and was the second black behind W.E.B. Dubois to earn a Ph.D in history from Harvard 1895. Woodson was a contemporary of Marcus Garvey and use to write articles for Garvey's publication titled, "The Negro World.” Garvey advocated Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism—Garvey preached back to Africa and self-reliance. (Reference: J.A. Rogers; “The World’s Great Men of Color”).
Woodson may have shared in some of Garvey's political, economic and social philosophy, but I believed Woodson was entrapped by his own western education. He may have empathized with some of Garvey's views, but as an intellectual perhaps wasn't willing to embrace Garvey's hardcore Black Nationalism teachings on separation and his call for a Pan-African state. However, no black leader did more to inspire and connect Diaspora blacks to Africa and to create an African worldview than Garvey. His philosophy was steeped in African tradition and represented a symbolic fulfillment of the prodigal sons and daughters having an identified home being Africa. But more importantly in theory, it reaffirmed their traditional linkage to a long lost culture and heritage. (Reference: Harold Cruse; “The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual”).
The establishment of Negro History week (it was originally called Negro History week prior to becoming Black History Month in 1976 and it was co-founded by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity) was essentially a reaction to white American style racism. American history had precluded blacks and there wasn't too many positive black images being offered in the text books and often blacks contributions were minimized to a footnote or was just outright discarded. Dr. Woodsin in 1916 founded the Journal of Negro History (presently called the Journal of African American History) where he began to write and publish scholarly and scientific research articles on varying aspects of black history. Woodson used this periodical to prove to the world that blacks indeed had made a worthwhile contribution, in particular to American history and world history in general.
Woodson served as its first editor from (1916-1950), Rayford Logan (1950-1951), William M. Brewer (1952-1970), W. August Low (1970-1974), Lorraine A. Williams (1974-1976), Alton Hornsby (1976- 2001), etc., these were some of the early editors of the Journal of Negro History.
Woodson stated: “A further examination of their curricula shows, too, that invariably these Negro colleges offer courses in Greek philosophy and in that of modern European thought, but they direct no attention to the philosophy of the African. Negroes of Africa have and always have had their own ideas about the nature of the universe, time, and space, about appearance and reality, and about freedom and necessity. The effort of the Negro to interpret man's relation to the universe shows just as much intelligence as we find in the philosophy of the Greeks. There were many Africans who were just as wise as Socrates.” (Woodson: “The Mis-Education of the Negro” pg 89).
Woodson in 1915 founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (presently called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History) all geared toward rectifying the intellectual damage caused by the brutal system of Chattel Slavery. Many historians have tried to piece the black experience together from remnants of scattered records because blacks were considered as the white man's property—vital statistics (family names, birthdays, siblings, tribal affiliation, etc.) were not kept on African slaves. Also, during early United States Census reports blacks were only listed as property. (Reference: Herbert G. Gutman; “The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom 1750-1925”).
Early on scholars such as W.E. B Dubois wrote extensively on varying aspects of African and African American history using his pen to reclaim the black man’s past. Dubois first book was titled, "Suppression of the African Slave Trade", "The Souls of Black Folk," The Philadelphia Negro," "The Autobiography of W.E.B. Dubois," "From Dust of Dawn" and perhaps his most celebrated work was titled, "Encyclopedia Africana" this writer does not think he ever completed this monumental project, but it was dedicated toward a pulling together of African people's history from around the world. But I believe Dr. Henry Louis Gates may have completed what Dubois started fifty (50) years ago. (Reference: W.E.B. Dubois and Herbert Aptheker (editor); “The Education of Black People: Ten Critiques, 1906-1960”).
Dr. Woodson also wrote and researched extensively and as a professional historian, he and Dubois took the study of African American history to the next level based on their use of empirical research methods, as for as scientifically approaching black history as a credible field of study.
Dubois stated: “The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach 'the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face." (Reference: W.E.B. Dubois; "The Souls of Black "Folk pg. 45-46).
Woodson perhaps authored one of the most definitive books examining the social, political and economic mindset of the African American titled, "The Mis-Education of the Negro" first published in 1933. This book answers the critics’ opposition to why African American still find it necessary to promote and advocate Black History Month every February. Racism is systemic and you can not reverse three hundred ten (310) years of human brutality which created certain attitudes and behavior as a result it became inculcated in the psychology of a nation.
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
(Republished from 2/7/09)
By Fahim A. Knight-EL
Black History Month, why is it necessary? This writer could simply answer this question by referencing what the founder of Black History Month; Dr. Carter G. Woodson (1875-1950) called "The Mis-Education of the Negro". No, the election of President Barack Obama does not signify that the celebration of Black History month has become insignificant, outdated or has out lived its purpose and relevance. The dominant society has elevated President Obama and his achievement as a means to silence the racial contradictions that exist in America both past and present. But this token promotion does not resolve all the past and present disparities which continue to factor into America's social dynamics. (Reference: C. Eric Lincoln; “Coming through the Fire: Surviving Race and Place in America”).
This writer and millions of other African Americans are proud of President Obama's monumental achievement and his reaching the highest political office in the world, but we know this does not begin to address the real social, political and economic issues effecting African American people. Thus, we should not put our guards down and become complacent and thinking that we have arrived and America has finally become a true melting pot where as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., preached that we are now being judged by the content of our character and not by the color of our skin. (Reference: Cornel West; “Race Matters”).
President Obama's appointment does not resolve race issues in America and we forever need the voices of Louis Farrakhan, Dr. Jeremiah Wright, Father Phleger, Cornel West, Malik Zulu Shabazz, Michael Dyson, etc., to remind us and America that the struggle for liberation continues and we will not be duped nor deceived by a token appointment and we call that progress. Our revolutionary scholars and activist can not be lured to sleep and cease to fight for freedom, justice and equality just because President Obama has become the so-called first African American president of these United States of America. The struggle is continuum and we must not allow ourselves to be intentionally placed in a lax mode. (Reference: Michael Eric Dyson: “Race Rules: Navigating the Color Line”).
Dr. Carter G. Woodson stated: “When a Negro has finished his education in our schools, then he has been equipped to begin the life of an Americanized Europeanized white man, but before he steps from the threshold of his alma mater he is told by his teachers that he must go back to his own people from whom he has been estranged by vision of ideals which in his disillusionment he will realize he cannot attain. He goes forth to play his part in life, but he must be both social and bi-social at the same time. While he is part of the body politic, he is in addition to this a member of a particular race to which he must restrict himself in all matter social. While serving his country he must serve within a special group. While being a good American, he must above all things be a "good Negro"; and to perform this definite function he must learn to stay in a "Negro's place." “(Reference: Woodson; “The Mis-Education of the Negro” pg 4).
This writer detest the Black History month pimps who are paid handsome honorariums to crisscross America speaking at colleges and universities in which many of these tired 1960s armchair revolutionaries have sold out and are just hustling outdated theories and have lost the meaning of conviction. I have no respect for these intellectual pimps who live bourgeoisie life styles and are hidden in white America's ivory towers and have become part of the so-called privileged class. They only promote black history to make money; some of these Negroes make $10,000 to $20,000 per speech given these glorified and apolitical black cultural talks which are very safe and non-threaten and supports the status quo.
Thus, after Black History month these Negroes disappear and black history is left to languish in obscurity until next year. They chose the shortest month of the year to honor the oldest history and longest (African History) to ever be recorded; twenty-eight days (28) does not even begin to allow us to scratch the surface. The study of African history must be 365 days; this writer is very familiar with Woodson choosing February because of the 19th Century Black leader Fredrick Douglas was born in this month and the so-called great black emancipator Abraham Lincoln was also born in this month. February was chosen in honor of these two American icons.
My keeping it Real Think Tank has an African American base and it has always been my primary audience, but I would be foolish to deny or disregard like minds of other races and cultures that share and understand the struggle we are up against, which affects all of humanity. But the African American has always been in a precarious situation in America, which stems from their history under Chattel Slavery (1555-1865). This history has never been redeemed and atoned; it therefore, continues to pose a dichotomy and creates and antagonistic social contradiction inside of America. It easy for people to say, we should overlook the 310 years of subjugation and are not sensitive to one of most inhumane crimes ever recorded in human history. (Reference: Ida Hakim; “Reparations: The Cure for America’s Race Problem”).
Chattel Slavery literally devastated a people psychologically, socially and culturally and the present generations of African Americans were never allowed to heal and yet just 150 years removed from the brutality they are still dealing with this not so distant history. This is not a cry of victimization or seeking sympathy, but it is a reality, that this history haunts the psyche of most black people, if they are honest. The United States as a governmental entity has never had a serious conversation relative to race and racism and as a nation we have been in denial and the issue of race therefore remains unresolved even in 2009. So, this sense of cultural and historical duality automatically breeds a position of nationalism because here goes a people that have lost their names, religion, land and lost a cultural reference point and there will always be a need to remind them of the value of their history prior to Chattel Slavery. (Reference: Richard Williams; “They Stole it, But You Must Return it”).
This writer was drilled by his college professors at a small Liberal Arts university in North Carolina in the value of the study of Black History. Professors such as Dr. Earlie Thorpe, Dr. David W. Bishop, Dr. Stephen Fortune, Dr. Percy Murray, Dr. Beverly Washington-Jones, Dr. Sylvia Jacobs, Dr. Freddie Parker, etc., were some of the best traditional historians in the United States—the history department was prominent and a well respected department headed by qualified scholars. Thus, as much as, this writer could appreciate these professional historians’ perspectives, it was not enough to captivate my imagination. (Reference: Earl Thorpe; “The Central Theme of Black History”).
But, it wasn’t until this writer came in contact with the likes of Elijah Muhammad, J.A. Rogers, Dr. Yosef Ben Jochannon, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, Dr. Chancellor Williams, Dr. John G. Jackson, Dr. Cheik Anta Diop, Dr. Ivan VanSertima, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Dr. Leonard Jeffries, Dr. Marimba Ani, Runoko Rashidi, Dr. Maulana Karenga, Dr. Naim Akbar, etc., that my thinking evolved, it was these scholars who took my thinking to next level as it pertains to the study of African history and no doubt their views were outside the box and it challenged the system of white supremacy. These above scholars are true Black History advocates who have not compromised the principles of truth. They have uprooted the lies, half-truths and the historical distortions giving to us by the dominant culture. (Reference: Kwaku Person-Lynn; “First Word, Black Scholars, Thinkers, Warriors”).
This curriculum that was taught gave me a greater appreciation for the struggle and accomplishments that African Americans had made in world history before their sojourn as slaves. This writer oftentimes finds himself differing with white social activist and liberals when it comes to issues relating to race and yet we share some commonality on other political, social and economic issues. They desire to downplay the effects of race and racism and this writer has to constantly remind them that an unbalance playing field was created due to Chattel Slavery (1555-1865) and thereafter with Jim Crow (legal segregation). Black History month evolved out of these social dynamics because America's race relations had denied people of African descendent their humanity and had systematically denigrated them to an inferior status for over four hundred (400) years. (Reference: C. Vann Woodard; “The strange Career of Jim Crow”).
Dr. Woodson stated: No systematic effort toward change has been possible, for, taught the same economics, history, philosophy, literature and religion which have established the present code of morals, the Negro's mind has been brought under the control of his oppressor. The problem of holding the Negro down, therefore, is easily solved. When you control a man's thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his "proper place" and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary. (Reference: Carter G. Woodson; "The Mis-Education of the Negro" pg. ix).
Africa was called the "Dark Continent" interpreted to meaning they gave nothing to human civilization and although the nations of Ethiopia (Cush) and Egypt (Kemet) had splendid histories in which these African societies arguably fed all of humanity and were the birth places of man. It has been recorded that students from around the world came to learn from the wise ancient Sages of Cush (Ethiopia) and Kemet (Egypt). The scholars and social scientist are still baffled of how the Nubian Egyptians constructed the Eighth Wonder of the world—the building of the pyramids; surely these Africans were not inferior in their intellectual capacity. The science of medicine, mathematics, astronomy, religion, art, science, geometry, hydraulics, engineering, philosophy, architect, etc., originated on the African continent. (Reference: John G. Jackson; “Introduction to African Civilization”).
This writer is often amused by European Bloggers who have delved into various dimensions of Kemet (Egypt) and have come up with geometric and physics based reasoning to explain our sacred temples and pyramids of Kemet (Egypt) and not mention that it was Africans who left this puzzle for humanity to resolve. The Scholars Wallis Budge, Sir Godfrey Higgins, Albert Churchward, George Frazer, Manly P. Hall, Madam Blavatsky, Gerald Massey, H.G. Wells, Will Durant, etc., recognized that builders of the Kemetic pyramid structures were Africans. These modern day Egyptian intellectuals talk around this fact and they desire to place Egypt (Kemet) in the Middle East (there is such no place called the Middle East; the only thing that separates this territory from Africa is a man made ditch called the Suez Canal; for those who still do not know Egypt is in Africa) or come up with some false mulattoe ethnic race in order to deny the Blackness of Egypt. (Reference: Cheik Anta Diop; “Civilization Or Barbarism”).
I think America grew to become an even more ethnocentric society between World War 11 and the Cold War (1941-1989) periods whereas subjects like world geography and world civilizations weren’t deemed important and our educational philosophy was not being formulated around where the world was headed (globalism and the global market of ideas). We had arrogantly, selfishly and ignorantly embraced what we deemed as Americanism or better yet Eurocentrism. This thought led us to believe that everything from ideas—cultures and human achievements evolved around America —a so-called “superior culture” that had in one sense become isolated and it was this idea that contributed to the dummying down of America.
The Afrocentric movement led by Dr. Molefi Kete Asante and other scholars challenged America and all Western Education to reconsider, in particular how Africa was being viewed and how blacks were being viewed stemmed more from cultural ignorance and the educational curriculums reflected this institutionalize ignorance and was contributing toward our cultural incompetence . Although, this argument had its political, social and economic limitations; nevertheless, it forced American educators in the mid 1980s and 1990s to adopt educational strategies that would reflect and encompass the pluralism and the cultural diversity of our society. (Reference: Molefi Kete Asante; Afrocentricity).
This was a step to correct a nation’s psyche and redirect an educational ideology that had gone off course; this led to the multi-cultural movement, a movement to correct and address global projections once it was finally realized where the rest of the world was headed. I just do not think past great educational philosophers had the foresight to look deep in the future and create social theories that could stand without the need of any new assessments and evaluations which to make them relevant to where we are in this space and time. But blacks were robbed of a knowledge of self in this process they lost their culture, names, religion, folkways, mores and by being kidnapped they even lost their land.
Slavery was the greatest criminal act ever committed against humanity; it divided black slaves who spoke the same tribal languages and shared an ethnic heritage (dividing of the families had tremendous everlasting impact on African Americans). Slavery worked to disconnect blacks from their history and destroyed their linkage to a past and justified all manners of oppression and subjugation by calling Blacks the biblical children of Ham and depicted Blacks as being cursed base on their interpretation of the Bible. This theological interpretation more than anything else justified racism and white supremacy; it led to a subsiding of moral and ethical criticism based on this so-called divine system of reasoning. Blacks were denied the right to read and write (other than the Bible); learning for them was outlawed and a crime. They could be killed if caught with a book during chattel slavery. (Reference: John Blassingame; “The Slave Community”).
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches that history builds the springs and motives of human actions, it empowers a people beyond dates and events to come to know the contribution their ancestors made on the stage of human civilization. Many do not know that a black man named Granville T. Woods invented the telephone system and apparatus; Phillip B. Downing invented the letter box; William B. Purvis invented the fountain pen; Joseph V. Nichols and Lewis H. Latimer invented the electric lamp; W.A. Lavalette; Robert F. Flemmings, Jr., invented the guitar; John Stanard invented the refrigerator; Norbert Rillieux improved the sugar making process; George W. Kelley invented the steam table; Willis Johnson invented the Egg Beater; John Albert Burr invented the Lawn Mower; J.H. Smith invented the Lawn Sprinkler; George F. Grant invented the golf tee; Oscar E. Brown invented the horseshoe; Jan E. Matzeliger invented the shoe lasting machine; M.C. Harney invented the lantern or lamp, etc. (Reference: Ivan VanSertima; “Blacks in Science”).
This writer can go on and on about the countless inventions that African Americans made in which many were stolen because they could not get a patent for their inventions based on racism. These Black unsung heroes have languished as the unknown contributors toward the advancement of our culture refinement. While others profited financially off the inventions of African Americans and racism allowed them to be exploited and even to this day they have not received any compensation. No, we can not just overlook this and every intelligent African American who has come into the knowledge of self has a job, duty and responsibility to expose America’s hypocrisy. Even in 2009 the above cited contributions have almost been totally written out of American history and our children are given a distorted view of history based on the practices of intellectual racism. So the establishment of Black History month serves as an attempt to correct the wrongs and to give people a truer perspective of African Americans historical accomplishments seen outside the visual realms of the former slave masters and their children. (Reference: Chip Smith; “The Cost of Privilege: Taking On The System of White Supremacy and Racism”).
American history has been tainted by 400 years of racial politics and it has unjustly denigrated other people who were not of European descendent as inferior and relegated them to an insignificant role within the scheme of American history. In 1925 Dr. Carter G. Woodson recognized that African Americans were sixty (60) years removed from slavery and had suffered a tremendous systematic disconnectedness from a glorious past. Woodson was a well trained scholar who had received a Ph.D in history from Harvard University in 1912 and was the second black behind W.E.B. Dubois to earn a Ph.D in history from Harvard 1895. Woodson was a contemporary of Marcus Garvey and use to write articles for Garvey's publication titled, "The Negro World.” Garvey advocated Black Nationalism and Pan-Africanism—Garvey preached back to Africa and self-reliance. (Reference: J.A. Rogers; “The World’s Great Men of Color”).
Woodson may have shared in some of Garvey's political, economic and social philosophy, but I believed Woodson was entrapped by his own western education. He may have empathized with some of Garvey's views, but as an intellectual perhaps wasn't willing to embrace Garvey's hardcore Black Nationalism teachings on separation and his call for a Pan-African state. However, no black leader did more to inspire and connect Diaspora blacks to Africa and to create an African worldview than Garvey. His philosophy was steeped in African tradition and represented a symbolic fulfillment of the prodigal sons and daughters having an identified home being Africa. But more importantly in theory, it reaffirmed their traditional linkage to a long lost culture and heritage. (Reference: Harold Cruse; “The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual”).
The establishment of Negro History week (it was originally called Negro History week prior to becoming Black History Month in 1976 and it was co-founded by Omega Psi Phi Fraternity) was essentially a reaction to white American style racism. American history had precluded blacks and there wasn't too many positive black images being offered in the text books and often blacks contributions were minimized to a footnote or was just outright discarded. Dr. Woodsin in 1916 founded the Journal of Negro History (presently called the Journal of African American History) where he began to write and publish scholarly and scientific research articles on varying aspects of black history. Woodson used this periodical to prove to the world that blacks indeed had made a worthwhile contribution, in particular to American history and world history in general.
Woodson served as its first editor from (1916-1950), Rayford Logan (1950-1951), William M. Brewer (1952-1970), W. August Low (1970-1974), Lorraine A. Williams (1974-1976), Alton Hornsby (1976- 2001), etc., these were some of the early editors of the Journal of Negro History.
Woodson stated: “A further examination of their curricula shows, too, that invariably these Negro colleges offer courses in Greek philosophy and in that of modern European thought, but they direct no attention to the philosophy of the African. Negroes of Africa have and always have had their own ideas about the nature of the universe, time, and space, about appearance and reality, and about freedom and necessity. The effort of the Negro to interpret man's relation to the universe shows just as much intelligence as we find in the philosophy of the Greeks. There were many Africans who were just as wise as Socrates.” (Woodson: “The Mis-Education of the Negro” pg 89).
Woodson in 1915 founded the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History (presently called the Association for the Study of African American Life and History) all geared toward rectifying the intellectual damage caused by the brutal system of Chattel Slavery. Many historians have tried to piece the black experience together from remnants of scattered records because blacks were considered as the white man's property—vital statistics (family names, birthdays, siblings, tribal affiliation, etc.) were not kept on African slaves. Also, during early United States Census reports blacks were only listed as property. (Reference: Herbert G. Gutman; “The Black Family in Slavery and Freedom 1750-1925”).
Early on scholars such as W.E. B Dubois wrote extensively on varying aspects of African and African American history using his pen to reclaim the black man’s past. Dubois first book was titled, "Suppression of the African Slave Trade", "The Souls of Black Folk," The Philadelphia Negro," "The Autobiography of W.E.B. Dubois," "From Dust of Dawn" and perhaps his most celebrated work was titled, "Encyclopedia Africana" this writer does not think he ever completed this monumental project, but it was dedicated toward a pulling together of African people's history from around the world. But I believe Dr. Henry Louis Gates may have completed what Dubois started fifty (50) years ago. (Reference: W.E.B. Dubois and Herbert Aptheker (editor); “The Education of Black People: Ten Critiques, 1906-1960”).
Dr. Woodson also wrote and researched extensively and as a professional historian, he and Dubois took the study of African American history to the next level based on their use of empirical research methods, as for as scientifically approaching black history as a credible field of study.
Dubois stated: “The history of the American Negro is the history of this strife—this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. In this merging he wishes neither of the older selves to be lost. He would not Africanize America, for America has too much to teach 'the world and Africa. He would not bleach his Negro soul in a flood of white Americanism, for he knows that Negro blood has a message for the world. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face." (Reference: W.E.B. Dubois; "The Souls of Black "Folk pg. 45-46).
Woodson perhaps authored one of the most definitive books examining the social, political and economic mindset of the African American titled, "The Mis-Education of the Negro" first published in 1933. This book answers the critics’ opposition to why African American still find it necessary to promote and advocate Black History Month every February. Racism is systemic and you can not reverse three hundred ten (310) years of human brutality which created certain attitudes and behavior as a result it became inculcated in the psychology of a nation.
Fahim A. Knight-EL Chief Researcher for KEEPING IT REAL THINK TANK located in Durham, NC; our mission is to inform African Americans and all people of goodwill, of the pending dangers that lie ahead; as well as decode the symbolisms and reinterpreted the hidden meanings behind those who operate as invisible forces, but covertly rules the world. We are of the belief that an enlightened world will be better prepared to throw off the shackles of ignorance and not be willing participants for the slaughter. Our MOTTO is speaking truth to power. Fahim A. Knight-EL can be reached at fahimknight@yahoo.com.
Stay Awake Until We Meet Again,
Fahim A. Knight-EL
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