Sunday, July 28, 2013

Buoy, oh buoy, oh buoy.

Bill this is not advocacy. The video of you is not advocacy. 

Let's start with the idea there is a "Civil Rights Industry." That is not so. There are advocacy groups such as The National Urban League and NAACP. They are not an industry. Not like "Millionaire Mindset" is an industry. I am sorry your ability to relate is limited to merchandizing.

Like ANY large organization there is paid leadership, but, that does not mean if there was no need for their services the organization would never disappear. Most of the supporting membership have other professions. 

Possibly my favorite example of a very successful African American citizen that was highly activist is Vernon Jordan. I can't count the number of Fortune 500 Boards he has been a member. At some point in his career Mr. Jordan has served as a Georgia Field Director for the NAACP, the Southern Regional Council, the Voter Education Project. He was executive director of the United Negro College Fund and President of the National Urban League. In any of these activist roles he never NEEDED the job.

The problem with the African American reality is ENTRENCHED in culture. When I worked with minorities populations I would hear earnest stories involving, "But, I did the program." My friends and acquaintances liked me and sometimes loved me as a sister. They took me seriously when I would speak about 'character' and 'limits.' What they meant by "But, I did the program," was over the decades the USA power structure has attempted to bring opportunity to the minority populations within our society. The folks focused by 'The Program' actually participated, but, in few numbers that would interpret into opportunity.

The focus on law enforcement when a entire populous is victimized by a majority culture has lead to a greater and nearly intractable problem. The success of rap artists that are violent and sexist is a surrender to the fact they are outside the power structure and outside the money structure. So, they created their own. That is not unusual for any society. When an entire minority population finds itself outside any opportunity to them they create their own areas of success. The Rap Culture is an example.

There is a reason there are Black universities and communities. And if you were ever identified by any government as a SUBVERSIVE your future as an African American could be limited if not destroyed forever. 

Let me remove this from the context of African American. The Jewish Community in it's earliest days in the USA, before there was an Israel, were completely ostracized by the majority culture of the USA. Their problems were religious. They were white folks, but, they didn't 'do the christian thing.' The Jewish people, like Rabbi Heller, bonded and congregated together and found a culture all their own. They were among the first practitioners of medicine and law in the USA. They became very good at what they did and they made money. It was small amounts of money in the beginning, but, in time we know what came of all those professions, now don't we.

Now, don't go there. Don't say, "Why aren't African Americans like the Jewish people then?" That is opportunistic dialogue that locks out productive understanding.

The point is there have been a lot of problems within the culture of the USA experienced by many populations. Why? Because of the foundation of this democracy is capitalism. NO, I am not going to start criticizing capitalism, but, what do we know about the cultural USA that supports capitalism? Supply and demand. Commercialization of values, etc.

The Jewish population valued education. They educated themselves. They found value in that education that translated into ways of life and OPPORTUNITY to earn a dollar and uplift the individual and ultimately the entire culture within the USA culture. Their skills were and are marketable and still today we find communities of Hasidic Jews that find comfort among their own. I cannot get the image of the community out of mind even today surrounding the death of the child in NYC.

Now, the history of the African American culture within the USA culture is very different. Did they immigrate as did the Jewish culture? Where were they educated? What opportunity was open to them when they were in poverty? Were they savvy enough with forty acres and a mule to fight back against continued oppression? 

I realize over the years there were lawsuits and opportunity contextualized within our society for our minorities. Appropriately so, at least we are not all damnable for our lack of ability to reach a larger consensus of success. But, the hurdles have been huge and there still are many. 

Currently, our society is not doing well with our minorities. The Hispanic Culture lacks the love and loyalty of our greater society to bring them home to the place they have known as their own for a long time. That is not acceptable.

Worse in some ways, but not exclusively African American, is the very real danger to our minorities illustrated in the grossly immoral death of Trayvon Martin. That young man's death was mired in political realities. That is not only dangerous that is genocidal. In at least theory. When a social culture starts to exonerate itself from an immoral death of a promising life there is a huge danger to our nation and our moral content in that. We cannot allow it to be propagated. 

We ended the physical lynching, but, as in the dragging death of Mr. James Byrd, Jr. it still continues in modern day USA. We have hate crimes legislation, but, it doesn't end the culture of death and killing. It doesn't even end the death and killing by police. As example: The young African American at his bachelor party the night before he was to be wed. Like. WHAT?

There is a stereotype of our minority communities. Those stereotypes have caused a culture to grow in the USA. A very dangerous culture. We cannot give it permission or validity. It has none. That hatred is part of the political paradigm in the USA and we have to stop it. It is taking lives and we can't stop the trend. Innocent minority people are scared of their own reality and their futures. In the USA? Come on, stop the blaming and take responsibility. 

I think there are issues that need to be dealt with that can take on a legislative capacity, but, the federal government is locked in intractable politics. So, here we are at impasse and no available solution EXCEPT the one we create ourselves. 

To invite President Obama into a public dialogue isn't going to happen. He stated openly and honestly this is an issue we have to discuss among ourselves. He stated that and now by this example alone his words are not accepted and taunted into a greater political advantage for the Right Wing. This can no longer remain a political issue. It has to resolve and we are required by every moral directive to end it.