Black men: Already Dead in America

“You are already dead to the world.” This was written by the Marquis de Sade in The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings . Unfortunately, via logic and real life occurrences, it is clear that this is consonant with the manner in which men of African descent are apprised in the United States. It is so bad that many of us do not even respect our own lives let alone the life, well-being and prosperity of another.

It should be obvious to the astute and free thinker, after all even prior to the founding fathers, the historical fact is that slavery had been a prominent feature of America almost two centuries before the founders took up the process of writing a constitution and that there had been few if any real efforts to end the ugly and barbaric practice according to, Supreme Court Chief Justice John Jay. Even with the constitution, the development and acceptance of the continuous tradition as to how European Americans perceived individuals form Africa, whether slave or free man has been consistent upon these shores ever since.

Slavery is mentioned in two main places in the Constitution; in Article 1, Section 2 Clause 3, and the 13th Amendment. When James Madison published Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787, a clear perspective of what a large corpus of the founding fathers who owned slaves thought about slavery should be abolished. It is obvious that in terms of human life, their position was that Africans were equal 3/5’s of a white European (3/5’s Compromise) and although they could be counted as such had no vote or voice in the democracy by their fiat - based on white Anglo Saxon protestant theological beliefs. Although they did seek to deal with the trade of slaves by compromise; ending slave imports after 1807, it was only because their preference was to encouraging slave breeding within the United States and slave auctions throughout the south. Outside of this, slavery is not mentioned until the 13th amendment (Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction) Now used for mass incarceration of African American males.

Even with such, as well as the bland attempt through laws, court rulings and other actions, there is a truism that cannot be ignored pertaining to how white America interacts with his darker skinned human beings. Although there is no record of the employment rates of African Americans for the first 70 years after the civil war and the emancipation proclamation, I would be willing to be that the inequity from all from education and economics to an unconditional respect for life and dignity has been less than that of those who brought African to these shores. The real political axiom in American for African Americans, in particular males is that there is no desire for those who brought us to these shore to work for free and make them wealthy to close the gap between the principle of equality and the practice of discrimination, and such will forever remain a constant in America.

Even with an African American president, it is obvious that regardless of their race, President’s will never lift a finger to deal with specific problems of race head on regardless of party. You will never see such detailed in the media as much as contraception, women rights, or terrorism. Albeit the are aware that there is a war of terror perpetrated against African American males in the form of racial profiling, lack of economic and employment opportunities, police brutality and health disparities rather a war on Black men.

This has not changed since it was present by Authur Ross and Herbert Hill in a book edited in 1967 titled “Employment, Race, and Poverty: A Critical Study of the Disadvantaged Status of Negro Workers from 1865 to 1965.” In the book it is noted that since 1954 (when records could be found) the black unemployment rate has consistently been more than doubled that of whites and that since 1950, the labor rate participation for African Americans has been on a firm and unchanging path downward. This is no different than the trajectory observed from 1980 to date in America.

These are not new occurrences. As a populous for some reason, historically we as a collective are an impecunious group, trained to be such in many respects by a culture that holds a criminal divinity above us for the single purpose of subjugation and oppression. Even with our first African American president, we can see this through more of the incessant inaction required to redress this historical impairment. He does nothing, yet we defend him as if he does. I would even state that Richard Nixon did more for African Americans than Obama. Nixon did originally establish as the Office of Minority Business Enterprise (now the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) on March 5, 1969. President Nixon recognized the impact of minority businesses on the nation’s economy and on the general welfare of the country more so than Obama seems to be able to do.

My perspective is more than an apercu of historic fact; it is also cemented in a logic that is based on a systematic investigation into our disturbingly awkward presence in America, which clearly cannot be compared to other immigrants. Laws and names are the only things that change, not the collective unconscious of a people. To say such is like asserting that confederate celebrations do not occur anymore in this nation. The new lingo includes words and phrases like “entitlement society” or “poor work ethic” or “food stamp president” and even suggesting such exhibit a lack of respect for the “Founding Fathers” and the “Constitution” according to Newt Gingrich. Not to mention the real big ones of “taking our country back” and “old-fashioned American values.”
Yes, for all men of Africa descent in America, although we may not see ourselves as such white America and its history and tradition and laws and intergenerational privilege treats us as if we are already dead. This code also extends to attacks on legal immigrants, always carefully lumped in with illegal immigrants, as people seeking “amnesty” and taking jobs from Americans.

Some may say or think the aforementioned proposition is outlandish. If so, all I ask is that you look at the manner in which mainstream American culture views, treats and relegates others that are not descendants of slavery like Latino and Hispanic immigrants to Muslims. They manner in which these groups are treated are similar to the manner African Americans have been treated historically and are still treated today. Yes to this nation, we are expendable, dead even as de Sade described. We are victims of a sordid political system and cultural heritage founded on mere desire and crime, one I which our stature is determined by “assassins in judge’s robes” as Camus once described. I have not given up. Likewise I will not ignore fact or be ashamed to admit that I have lost a substantial amount of confidence in human nature that would allow for African descendants in America to experience the feel of equity defeating discrimination.

How Obama and Black Politicians Have Reinvented the Negro

Politicians of African descent in America, in concert with the non-concern of their voting constituency have reinvented the Negro, or better yet made the Negro retro chic. What do I mean by this? Well from an etymological perspective, the word Negro is Spanish for black. The Spanish language comes from Latin, which has its origins in Classical Greek. The word Negro is derived from the Greek root word necro, meaning dead. It was a reference to the state of mind for millions of Africans. Politicians thrive and live on the fact that folk are negro as opposed to self determined individuals with the ability to reason and problem solve, thus ensuring their hold in politics. But what they fail to understand that if they truly want to deal with the economic plight of African Americans, they need to face the fact that economic improvement cannot be accomplished within the context of mass incarceration and the environment of the criminal justice arena that foster incessant Jim Crow-like practices. For the same dynamic that led to Jim Crow after the Civil war and emancipation proclamation has led to the present day mass incarceration of African Americans.

Just as slavery, Jim Crow and today’s focus on mass incarceration operates within the context of a system of institutions, policies and laws that function in concert to subordinate and disenfranchise a select group of folk defined mostly on race. Until our political figure heads address this and make this connection, nothing economically will improve in areas with high concentrations of African Americans. Only difference is the type of laws. There used to be “vagrancy laws,” “eye rape,” or “insulting gestures,” that could serve to keep newly freed African American men and former slaves in check. Now they have new names under the war on drugs such as “stop and frisk.” Even the way in which we were incarcerated during the era of the Jim Crow period are similar – to date all white jury’s convict black men for crimes that whites would never be take to trial for. Could you imagine white folks being prosecuted for marijuana possession offenses at the rate young African Americans are today? No because white politicians would change the laws.

More clearly defined, the way the prison and justice industrial complex operates is merely a continuation of the maintained of Eurocentric power and hegemony by changing the rules and names of those rules. In theory the 13th amendment abolished slavery, but it was always accepted by law that slavery still was an acceptable punishment for crime. As it is today, for the way in which law and order is mandated politically today, the only sure result is the arbitrary arrest of African Americans disproportionately to their numbers in the nation and according to the crimes.

If our elected officials from the Executive branch to or local level truly are interested in addressing the economic woes of our community, then they must deal and address mass incarceration and the disparate manner in which the criminal justice system is designed to race-neutrally target African Americans. If they do not, not only do they ignore the math involved in economic revitalization, but are equal in action to a George Wallace who stood in front of Schools in the segregated south blocking the entry of African Americans. We have to have our elected figures address the unconstitutionality of the obviation of our collective 4th amendment rights and fight “stop and frisk” laws and court sanctioned “race-neutral” racial profiling.

Prison is used to force African Americans into a system and existence of oppression and control today as Jim Crow and slavery were employed centuries ago. It is a direct result of the conservative position observed in the Jim Crow period in which they perceived that special laws (abolition of slavery) moved blacks ahead of them in position and standing. This was unacceptable so Jim Craw laws and the black codes were developed and designed to keep poor and uneducated blacks in a permanent subordinate political and economic position for it is their argument, from Goldwater, to Nixon to Regan to Santorum that poverty is caused by black culture.

Our present coteries of African American politicians hide behind the illusion of progress, especially economic progress in terms of the idolatry of having an African America President. Unfortunately their delusional states prevent them from comprehending that there cannot be any real economic progress in our communities if those locked up behind bars and ostracized from the community are not included in the poverty or unemployment statistics. To do so is saying our political representatives are no better than the slave masters and house Negroes and Klansman who maintained hegemony via legal and violent subjugation and marginalization. Thus what we confront via this legal mode of operandi is a caste system equal to that propounded by the Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws, for what we faced then in practice and outcome is no different than what we encounter today through our extant criminal justice system’s convention of mass incarceration.

Why? Well first, after the assassinations of King and Malcolm, the civil rights movement stagnated. This was during a period of a rise in conservatism that centered on animosity of the recent and quick gains of Africa Americans. In addition, it was a time in which African American, especially males were not need to sharecrop the fields and technology was replacing low wage jobs unskilled and uneducated African Americans typically received. It was the start in the disproportionate rise in black unemployment, which conveniently happened on the heels of Regan and Clinton’s war on drugs, which made unemployment even worse.

The simple reality is that there is no such thing as a color blind society and that nothing is race neutral as the Justice system would like for us to accept. Please explain to me the difference between hiding behind a white sheet and a badge? To assert such is like asking me to view the world as green, when I see blue skies and black asphalt. I could prove and state that I only see green but the reality is that I see more. Yes the Negro has been reinvented by our present power hungry corpus of black elitist politicians. Before we had poll tax, literacy test and felon disenfranchisement – these were staples of the Jim Crow legal system. However then, we had warrior activist and scholar politicians who were not afraid to voice support for the people if it meant losing their political clout. Today we have marijuana possession laws, stop and frisk, and felon disenfranchisement – staples of mass incarceration under the auspice of fighting a war on drugs. Only thing different is that we have a lot more cowards in leadership lining their pockets than before. Strange, Obama and black politicians quick to say Republicans are at “WAR WITH WOMEN” over the contraception issue, but run like scared dogs with their tails between their legs before they will say there is a “WAR ON BLACK MEN.” Strange, President Obama can call to comfort a Georgetown Law Student who was called a slut but not the parents of Travon Martin.