How Do We Make Racist Children?

*This article appears on the Five Percent Media website*

 

“Ignorance.” That is the short answer to the question, “How Do We Make Racist Children?” With all of the intelligence, expertise, lip service, and resources addressing this issue in America you would think that we would have figured this out by now. But no, we continue to grow children who become the kinds of adults that we saw desecrating the U.S. Capitol building on Wednesday, January 6th. These are the same kinds of adults we saw in Wilmington Delaware in 1898, one hundred and twenty-two years ago, who violently overthrew a duly-elected government. For me, this behavior is not surprising. I could literally write about historical instances of violence perpetrated by Americans against their own citizens EVERY DAY for the next three years and still not exhaust that content. That is only 1,095 days. For 1,095 days I could exclusively write about lynchings and never have to discuss another topic. This is America and make no mistake about it, violence has been a staple of this society from its inception. Some people have been on the historical receiving end of that violence, while others have been its historical perpetrators.

Following the storming of the U.S. Capitol building by Pro-Trump supporters, we have heard both Democrats and Republicans proclaim, “This is not who we are” -which is one of the most disingenuous statements one could make, especially at a time like this. It is a boldfaced lie that denies the obvious existence of historical dissatisfaction, division and devilishment we have witnessed in this country. IT IS who you/we are… and until we can accept that uncomfortable reality we will not be able to perform the institutional autopsies needed to determine the cause of this cannibalism.

 

As an early childhood educator, I am always thinking about ways to foster the kind of growth and development that enables our youth to become caring critical thinking adults. From my experience and research, children are not born racist, sexist or etc. Babies are born into a societal womb that reinforces institutions, social norms and an economy that nourishes racist, sexist, ageist and other ideas just like blood vessels in a womb support the growth and development of a fetus. These ideas help set a child’s cognitive trajectory and contributes to shaping their worldview. We were all socialized like this, regardless how we ultimately grow up to define ourselves. A critical part of our growth and development journey is constantly performing a self diagnostic to check the bullsh*t ideas we have knowingly/unknowingly adopted along the way. Another important part of that journey is helping support others to do the same. Treating these racist, sexist or etc. ideas like they are harmless only creates a larger problem later on. For generations these problems of race, sex and etc. have been outright denied, ignored, minimized and treated as minor by the dominant society. This is the same dismissive way the garden snake was treated in Genesis until it grows into a fire-breathing dragon once you get to Revelations. Like Revelations, January 6th was a day of reckoning for America to face its uncomfortable truths.

So what can we do about this as adults? First and foremost it is important that we model the type of attitude, behavior and citizenry we would like to see and celebrate in our children. Because our youth are growing up in a society that promotes ideas that may not coincide with a worldview of freedom, justice and equality, we must be invested in helping them successfully navigate around, beneath, above and through racist, sexist and etc. ideas. Part of that means helping them develop their “spatial awareness”; one of the critical cognitive skills children start to learn in early childhood.

Spatial awareness is our position in space relative to the people, places and things around us. In early childhood, children start understanding the concepts of location, direction and distance which enables them to physically navigate their environment. They also begin to understand where they are; their point of origin and how they are oriented. For example, recognizing that a toy is across the room on a couch or the direction of a window in a room. When a child has challenges with spatial awareness they have difficulty navigating their environment, reaching destinations and understanding their position in relation to the people, places and things around them. When a child or even an adult does not understand their point of origin they will lack a sense of orientation. Without a sense of orientation, it is impossible to determine direction. This disorientation makes a person more prone to being lost and easily led in the wrong direction. Make sense?

What makes racism, sexism, ageism and etc. so insidious is these ideas distort a person’s spatial awareness and sense of orientation. These ideas pervert reality and warp a person’s ability to understand their socioeconomic position in relation to the people, places and things in society and their capacity to reach their goals. Consider how something like segregated drinking fountains twisted a person’s spatial awareness. Where an object only steps away had to be rationalized as being more distant than the Moon. What about women who have earned a certain position based upon quantifiable data but are consistently passed up for a promotion by unqualified men. There is no way to rationalize how those positions in society and distance to other people, places and things are what they are. In both of these examples, accessibility and the landscape that they see IS NOT what it truly is… While black and brown people are often told all they need to do is work hard to successfully get from point A to point B in life, it is more like the game Frogger. Some will argue that we all have challenges reaching our goals and that is true. What is also true is there have been and still are institutions, government policies and socioeconomic obstructions that have impeded the progress of specific segments of our American population. In other words, some frogs are facing an entirely different obstacle course that other frogs have never seen and will never see in their lifetime. Understanding and navigating a society that distorts our spatial awareness is difficult for adults. So just imagine how difficult it is for our children. The growing mental health crisis and expanding education on trauma-informed care in this country is a clear example of this.

To some people, this warped reality of racism, sexism, ageism and etc. puts them in an inferior position of disenfranchisement. This makes it difficult to navigate this environment, reach destinations and understand their position in relation to the people, places and things around them. To other people, this warped reality of racism, sexism, ageism and etc. puts them in a superior position of privilege. Thus they are able to navigate this environment, reach destinations and understand their position in relation to the people, places and things around them with relative ease. We are all socialized this way the moment we take our very first breath.

   When children are taught to be culturally competent, when we respectfully expose them to different worldviews, it encourages them to become caring critical thinking adults. They learn that everyone has something to offer of significance to this world and your skin color, gender, age or etc. does not make you superior or inferior to others. Teaching children the obvious ugliness of America, as well as its beauty, is also a vital part of this educational process. IT IS who they/we are. For some of us, America has been more of a nightmare than a dream. America has only existed for 244 years yet my ancestors were legally enslaved and segregated against for 189 of those years. This means that 78% of the time black people have been in America we were legally denied the right to participate in American society and have equal access to its resources, institutions and economy. In regards to spatial awareness, many of my people literally lost their lives… and still lose their lives… for “not knowing their place.” We will continue to make racist children, who become racist adults, by lying to them about this American landscape. They need to know what they are inheriting; good and bad. They need to be spatially aware and know their true position relative to the people, places and things around them. There is a short answer for that also. In my culture, we say that understanding is seeing things for what they are, not what they appear to be.

Peace,                                                                                                                                                    Saladin

Get Out: A "Woke" Analysis

“When they [horror films] resonate, when they hit their stride, it is because there is some social.., there’s something in the zeitgeist, some real fear that the movie is playing to. You know that’s like how the torture porn genre became big in the Post 9/11 Era. You know, that was us exorcising this demon within us. We were out for blood.., in this weird way. So this one [Get Out] is less allegory and more strait up about what it is.” –Jordan Peele

The opening quote is from a BUILD Series Interview in February 2017 with Get Out Writer/Director Jordan Peele and best summarizes the layers of insight I drew-up from this film. His deliberate use of the German term “zeitgeist”, meaning “spirit of the age” (zeit ‘time’ geist ‘spirit/ghost’), speaks volumes in and of itself. Get Out, dubbed a Social Thriller by Peele, was released in 2,781 theaters on Oscar Weekend, February 24^th, with a production budget of 4.5 million dollars. Earning a coveted 99% Rotten Tomatoes ranking, Get Out has grossed over $170 million domestically as of today. As a Blumhouse Production, a company that’s generally known for low-budget horror films, this was highly successful for a film with a 4.5 million dollar budget. In fact, Get Out is the first film debut by a black Writer/Director to gross over $100 million dollars.

What interested me the most about Peele’s quote was the ambiguous “what it is.” While it’s obvious to the naked eye that “it” in this film can be race, there are many other layers undetected by the naked eye. When I first saw this film there were five films that specifically came to mind where I could see Peele drawing his inspiration. In viewing some of his interviews about Get Out he mentioned four of these films specifically by name or included them in the film’s dialogue. These films are as follows and should be critically examined to gain further insight into various themes Peele is strait up about in Get Out: Rosemary’s Baby, Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner, Eyes Wide Shut and The Stepford Wives (1975). The fifth film that I haven’t heard him speak about or imply is called Inception. While Peele is credited with writing this film, it’s clear to me that it’s much more at play behind the scenes. In music production there’s a function used called quantization that eliminates imprecision. For example, if a snare or kick drum you’re playing is a little off beat, the quantizing function will sync the snare or kick exactly on beat. Although it’s precise, sometimes it sounds too perfect, digital, mechanical and loses some of its human touch. The timing of this film, and his constant admittance that he didn’t think this film would ever be made, could not have been any more perfect. In the same interview Peele states, “Since Strait Outta Compton came out and really broke a lot of monetary boundaries that were thought, um, existed, I feel like we’re in the beginning of a Renaissance of many untapped voices to do, to get platforms to do really elevated work.” While some people believe in perfect storms, it’s also possible for perfect storms to be made. Our most recent presidential election is an obvious example of that.

Franz Friedrich Anton Mesmer

In addition to race and microaggressions, one of the other themes in Get Out was the use of mind control, hypnosis and the audit-like techniques employed by Scientologists. The fact that I haven’t seen much commentary on that I thought was very strange. As someone who has studied these sciences in great detail over the years, I can say that they’re very real and being used on the masses of people every day; often under the guises of advertisement, marketing & promotion, media and image branding. The main character Chris [Daniel Kaluuya] was hypnotized during a time known as the witching hour in occult circles; the same time certain “programming” is on the television and the point during our sleep where we’ve reached the REM stage. So I've learned not go to sleep with the television on. If you must, leave the television on something specific, or even play specific music, that you want to download into your subconscious. Keep in mind that this is also the time where certain orders, covens and etc. perform certain rituals; there is less conscious resistance to any determined idea when people are sleep. During the dinner scene where Chris laughed it off that his girlfriend Rose’s mother, a Psychiatrist/Hypnotherapist, used a watch-like pendulum to hypnotize people, it was eventually shown that this is something we shouldn’t laugh off. Hypnotism, as we seen by Missy Armitage’s use of a simple tea cup, can successfully work using various objects in place of a pendant/pendulum. To be crude about it, if nakedness, music or a treading topic can focus our attention long enough to put us to sleep then that’s just as good or better than a pocket watch. This concept is what "Law of Attraction" self-hypnosis mechanics are based upon. While many viewed the tea cup as the object Missy Armitage used to hypnotize Chris, I would argue that it was actually her silver spoon. Historically, that hypnotic symbol of wealth, and the false sense of white acceptance and promise of miscegenation, has been the death of many black people in North America.

Another theme expressed in Get Out, which echoes Peele's above comment on America's "torture porn genre", is the culture of sexual ambiguity that’s often said to exist in affluent white communities, especially Hollywood, dating all the way back to its cultural codification in ancient Greece, Rome and in many contemporary European societies. Popular examples of this are the history of Sappho in Greece, Caligula in Rome and the grotesque Sheela Na Gig carvings of naked women stretching their vulva found on churches, castles and other buildings throughout Europe, particularly in Ireland and Britain. During a scene when Chris talked to his friend Rod [Lil Rel Howery] on the phone about his experience at Rose's parents house Rod jokingly remarked that her mother Missy Armitage is probably hypnotizing black people to be sex slaves on some serious "Eyes Wide Shut sh*t!" This theory of Rod's was a constant reference throughout the film and speaks to the general notion and conservative attitude black folks have concerning these ideals [how white folks get down], especially in a society that has historically restricted our liberty. It must be noted here that although we've seen elements of this sexual ambiguity expressed in some black and brown societies that pre-date Greece and Rome, those societies did not accept nor entertain these elements as a part of its cultural norms. For example, the word homosexual [and lesbianism] is derived from Greek and Latin [Roman]; many classical and indigenous languages didn't have a word to functionally define or support this sexual ambiguity. Even when you're looking at the Erotic Art temples of India; they are the direct result of Hindu influence whose lineage goes back to the Aryans or Indo-Europeans who invaded India. At one point Chris starts to learn something isn't right when he discovered a hidden Pandora-like box in Rose's room of her posing intimately with over a dozen young black men, including the black gardener, and one female house maid. It was the Nation of Islam co-founder, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, who often described the white woman as “the devil's last trick for the black man, and the modern day Delilah” used by the white man to thwart our progress and create enmity within the black family. In a Theology of Time lecture on July 4^th 1972 Muhammad warned, “My young brothers, do not grab these blue-eyed gals of his. They are doing this today to get you away from the God of your salvation. The girl has been taught a long time, so when this day comes that she will sweet-heart with you and she will blind you to the knowledge of the time so that you won't recognize what she is doing.” 
 
As in any film I watch, my approach is as a social scientist and Get Out is an excellent study of America’s past, present and potential future attitude about race, relations and cultural appropriation. In an age where “Stay Woke” has become a popular generic hashtag among Millennials, our next step is to literally “Get Out.” Get Out of the mindset that coded films such as this are enough to effectively combat over a century of Hollywood propaganda that has systematically demonized, caricatured, dehumanized and co-opted the culture and identity of black people. We must all play our part in using our voice to create and control our narrative. A voice to tell our stories through all spheres of people activity, that no one else is qualified to do.

Peace,
Saladin

Is Bill Cosby Innocent or Guilty?

Is Bill Cosby

Innocent or Guilty?

Since the rape allegations against Bill Cosby have come out, people have also come out on both sides offering their perspectives on his innocence or guilt. Some have framed it as a white supremacist witch hunt to destroy the black father image. Others have viewed it as a man getting off easy, pun intended, because of his celebrity status. What many are not saying, or taking a look at, is the cultural context or backdrop these alleged incidents happened on or the mainstream medium they're being discussed in. What do I mean by that?

When you look at Bill Cosby's comedy career, on different occasions he's done comedy bits about slipping women a mickey; drugging women. He did it in live stand-ups, on his comedy album it's true! it's true! and on Larry King Live in 1991. This doesn't mean that he actually did these things but it does mean that this was something that his audience related to; it was an obvious part of popular culture, especially in Hollywood, going back to the 1960's where these incidents date back to. In terms of popular American culture, some of its background music historically reflects this notion about its drug culture. Here's a very popular song covered by various rock, country and etc. artists called Quaaludes Again you can listen to below. The artist even explains to you what Quaaludes are.

  



Quaaludes Again covered by Pork

Post WWII in the 1950's America saw an expanse of drug use that was articulated in a popular Hollywood film called The Man With The Golden Arm starring Frank Sinatra, who was speculated to be a cocaine business partner of Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar. Even when you look at the backdrop of 1960's drug culture, including Jazz music, it's rare to find jazz artists who didn't have contact with drugs. Many died from this. In the 1970's you see it's continuation with popular heroin addict songs like Neil Young's The Needle And The Damage, Gil Scott Heron's Home Is Where The Hatred Is and novels like Faggots where the characters are constantly doing Quaaludes as a party drug used in New York gay community before the popularization of AIDS. Even in the 1980's you see it the popular film Scarface when Tony referred to his wife's drug addiction, the coming of crack and President Reagan's so-called War On Drugs campaign. This type of popular American culture continued on into the 90's and 2000's and cannot be trivialized or overlooked when considering the context of the Cosby allegations. Being a Hollywood staple for many years, Cosby and many others most certainly had contact with the drug culture. Hollywood wasn't in a vacuum nor a place in an alternate universe disconnected from popular American drug culture. Because of this, it's rare to find any comedians, actors, musicians and people working in the entertainment business who didn't have contact with drugs. With the new designer drugs of today, coupled with various drugs of yesterday, I think it's still rare to find comedians, actors, musicians and people working in the entertainment business, especially in Hollywood, who don't have contact with drugs. This has been a part and continues to be a part of popular American culture. A popular American culture that some of the present day corporate sponsored rap artists have now become one of its biggest advocates of.

Herein lies a fundamental problem; Popular drug culture is superimposed over a racist and sexist [misogyny and chauvinism] American backdrop. This is a problem that many of us overlook, ignore and ultimately fail to address. What this translates into are people of color and women being victimized in/by a system we may or may not choose to participate in. In the case of Bill Cosby we see this being played out on two fronts. First we see him being used as the face of popular American drug culture, which he is not. Yes it's possible that he sexually assaulted women in his past and got away with it because of his celebrity status and the fact that he is a male. It's possible that some of these women were active participants or outright lying. It's also a fact that various others were doing this, especially white male celebrities, yet they have not been demonized in the same way Cosby is. Take Roman Polanski for example, the famous director, producer, writer and actor who drugged and raped a thirteen year old at Jack Nicholson's house. He plead guilty to the charge of "Unlawful Sexual Intercourse with a minor" and in 1988 he agreed to pay her $500,000 plus interest based upon a civil suit. This and countless examples show you there's a contradiction here.

Secondly we see the marginalization of women living in a misogynistic society that mirrors ancient Rome and women in the Victorian era. Because of this, females/women are devalued, objectified and their issues trivialized. Take for example the recent public outrage surrounding the Rick Ross album Black Market that was pulled from Walmart's website because the song Free Enterprise had Anti-George Zimmerman/Donald Trump lyrics. In it Ross raps, "Assassinate Trump like I’m Zimmerman/Now accept these words as they came from Eminem." This is the same Rick Ross who was slapped on the wrist for his rape rap verse, "Put molly all in her champagne, she ain’t even know it/I took her home and I enjoyed that/She ain’t even know it" on the Rocko song U.O.E.N.O. While he was kicked off of the public campaign to represent the Reebok brand at the time, he is still the face of its Rebook CrossFit training program he remixed as #RossFit. What this and various scenarios sadly demonstrate is that females/women, especially ones of color, being violated, unacknowledged and not protected comes along with the territory in a historically sexist [misogynistic and chauvinistic] society. Now I've heard the argument that some or many of the women accusing Bill Cosby of sexual assault are hoes who were trying to f*ck their way to the top. Well even if this was the case, based upon your definition of a hoe or even a woman who proudly calls herself a hoe, even a so-called hoe has the right to be conscious and coherent while she's f*cking her way to the top. In other words, at no point is it alright to take advantage of any female/woman or male/man, without or even with, their consent, period. Unfortunately, this attitude towards human life has gone on since America's unsavory inception, up until today. In addition to looking at what's happening with these allegations, another problem is people don't want to look at the sick system that helps produce, protect and perpetuate these dysfunctional behaviors.

I don't anticipate or expect this narrative to be discussed along with the Cosby sexual assault allegations. Nor do I expect some cataclysmic shift in the American culture that continues to produce, protect and perpetuate dysfunction. This would require a system to indict itself. Has Bill Cosby received celebrity privileges surrounding these allegations? Absolutely, and this is a problem. Is he being treated differently than his white counterparts who've had sexual allegations or plead guilty to sex offenses? Absolutely, and this is a problem. Are victims or alleged victims of sexual abuse, especially females/women, blamed for what happened to them and/or slut shammed? Absolutely, and this is a problem. Has there been a popular American drug culture going on since the 1960's up until today that has shaped every aspect of this society, including the commentary surrounding these allegations? Absolutely, and this is a problem too. In analyzing what's going on I would encourage people to not get sucked into an emotional game on a lopsided field governed with unfair rules, covered by unfair commentators and funded by unfair sponsors.  In the end, nobody wins but them, unless we're wise enough to not play their game. Whether Bill Cosby gets convicted of something or not, the popular American culture is still here and we'll see more people like him in the news. Whether some of the women who've accused him of sexual assault are proven to be true, the popular American culture is still here and we'll see more people like them in the news. As we critique these allegations and determine what needs to be done based upon the findings of facts, we must also examine the areas in this cultural system that need to be revamped that makes drug and rape culture acceptable. This is especially important for our youth -who are being shaped and molded into the image and likeness of this kind of culture.

Peace,

Saladin



Unmasking White Domestic Terrorism

Unmasking White Domestic Terrorism

Colorado Springs, Colorado -On Friday November 27th, Christian Extremist and Domestic Terrorist Robert Lewis Dear, described by neighbors as a chronic complainer and "angry" "aloof" man "you had to watch out for", was given a choice to surrender to law enforcement after shooting up a Planned Parenthood clinic and murdering three people. Nine others were also hospitalized from his savage attack; five officers and four civilians. Although the mainstream media claims Dear's motive was unclear, a law enforcement official did confirm that Dear mentioned "no more baby parts" and expressed anti-abortion and anarchist [anti-government] views in interviews with authorities. Among some of his past criminal charges, Dear was charged with two counts of animal cruelty, being a peeping Tom and domestic assault against his wife. One of Dear's neighbors, Zigmond Post, also confirmed that Dear once brought him anti-Obama pamphlets. 

While black/brown people are being murdered in cold blood by law enforcement for everything from simply wearing a hoodie, having our hands up, walking down the street, not being able to breathe, listening to music, playing at a playground and not using a turn signal, then demonized in the mainstream media as guilty until proven innocent, monsters like Robert Lewis Dear are normally innocent until proven guilty. In fact, after Dylann Roof murdered nine people in a church, law enforcement bought him Burger King after safely taking him into custody. This is a choice and consideration that Laquan McDonald and countless other black/brown people were never given, even when there was no evidence of a crime being committed. What this translates into is this: a double standard with two sets of judgment rules. One set of rules for black/brown people and another set of rules for black/brown people.

What do President Woodrow Wilson's Official White House screening of Birth of a Nation on March 21st, 1915 which celebrates the domestic terrorism of the KKK [Klu Klux Klan], the domestic terrorism that burned down Black Wall Street and murdered approximately 1,000 black people in 16 hours during the Tulsa Race Riot, the generations of lynchings of black/brown people, Without Sanctuary, at the hands of domestic terrorist mobs, the countless school shootings carried out by domestic terrorists and the coddling claim that domestic terrorist Dylann Roof is "suspected of perpetrating" the murder of nine Charleston, SC church members, including State Senator Clementa C. Pinckley, all have in common? The mainstream media's refusal to unmask and categorize its Micheal Myers demographic as White Domestic Terrorists. And in case you didn't notice, this continues to be the consistent American non-narrative since its Native American genocidal inception.

In a Huffington Post article When The Media Treats White Suspects And Killers Better Than Black Victims writer Nick Wing elaborates, "News reports often headline claims from police or other officials that appear unsympathetic or dismissive of black victims. Other times, the headlines seem to suggest that black victims are to blame for their own deaths, engaging in what critics sometimes allege is a form of character assassination. When contrasted with media portrayal of white suspects and accused murderers, the differences are more striking. News outlets often choose to run headlines that exhibit an air of disbelief at an alleged white killer's supposed actions. Sometimes, they appear to go out of their way to boost the suspect's character, carrying quotes from relatives or acquaintances that often paint even alleged murderers in a positive light."

To add fuel to the fire, many Pro-Dear Extremists have been coming out praising him for his heinous act: 

Personally speaking, I do not agree with many of the stances of Planned Parenthood, especially its Margaret Sanger eugenics origins and Negro [birth control] Project. At the same time I've partnered with this organization on various occasions to help provide some positive abstinence education programs/services for teens within my city who live in a county where the teenage pregnancy and STD rates are among the highest in New York State. NO these programs/services weren't promoting abortion to young black females or sterilization to young black males, they were geared towards educating our youth about making healthy, responsible choices. You may not agree with abortion and that's understandable. At the same time it should also be understandable that our youth need access to programs/services to teach them how to make healthy, responsible choices with their bodies, with others bodies and how they use social media especially concerning the dangers of sext messaging. 

As a black man, I live in a society where anything I say or do will be used against me inside of a court of law, outside of a court of law and in the court of public opinion via the mainstream media, if I'm allowed to live. If you are a person of color, you are in the same position. People like James Holmes, Michael Dunn, Robert Lewis Dear and others can commit horrifying acts yet are not judged by the same standard and are often allowed to live to see their first court appearance. They are the monstrous face of the psychopathic and sociopathic backdrop the dominant society does not want to take responsibility for. I've said it before and I'll say it again in regards to controlling the narrative: we must create, protect and perpetuate our own media platforms to make sure we lay this responsibility in their lap. We can't wait on a benevolent mainstream media to unmask these murderers, we must do it ourselves. We can't wait to see if they're going to call it what it is, we must call it what it is: White Domestic Terrorism. The world needs to know that there's much truth to the American Horror Film genre and characters like Jason Voorhees, Norman Bates, Damien Thorn [The Omen], Jack Torrence [The Shining] and Michael Myers aren't just made up from someone's sick imagination. There are real people we've lived amongst, for generations, who've committed horrific terrorist acts of violence that make these character's films look Rated G. They're not Muslims, nor are they black/brown people. They're American males, often self described Christians, who are White Domestic Terrorists.

Peace,

Saladin

The Amazing Race Part 2

Rachel Dolezal, NAACP Chapter President

The Amazing Race 
~Part 2~

Interracial and Biracial (Inter: to enter into, Bi: to buy)

As I stated in The Amazing Race Part 1, the words “interracial” and “biracial” are terms derived from the root word and concept of race. As I’ve expressed, race is an erroneous and pseudoscientific term used to classify groups of people based upon physical characteristics. These physical characteristics were/are used for the purpose to categorize the intellectual, biological, psychological, social and economic behaviors of these groups in order to reinforce the position and power of a ruling class and white supremacy. An example of this are some of the ‘Criminology’ theories of Earnest Albert Hooton that suggests that criminal behavior is linked to physically inherited characteristics; racist theories that still appear as a rule of thumb on the 11 o’clock news today. See: Crime and the Man   (Hooton, 1939) When it came to Hooton’s Criminology theories, the only problem white people had with them is when he started profiling white characteristics as criminal and inherently violent. Because his theories contradicted the status quo, white scientists began to go on record to debunk what Hooton proposed when it put white people in a negative light.

Let me reiterate that regardless what kind of relationship we have in America, racism always plays a direct/indirect role in that relationship. There is no way around that reality. There is also no way around the fact that America is historically race conscious and the dominant society (ruling class) are white people. Those of us who are black and brown are a subgroup (minority underclass) within their society. So the designation of relationships by ‘race’ (interracial/biracial) serves the purpose of reinforcing these power relations between white and black and brown people. It was through the concept of race that white people placed themselves in a dominant/superior position and relegated black and brown people to a recessive/inferior position. It was also through race that black and brown people, although collectively the global majority, have been divided and categorized into groups/subgroups of second class, third world citizenship throughout the planet earth; making it easier for the global minority (white people) to rule. So to be in an arrangement that is classified as “inter”-racial means a couple has knowingly/unknowingly “entered” the worldview of the ruling class thus upholding that status quo. To be in a “bi”-racial arrangement or even to call a child from that type of union “bi”-racial means a couple has knowingly/unknowingly “bought into” and “buys into” the supremacist worldview of the ruling class, thus upholding that status quo. Although this couple may believe this arrangement is equal because of their shared feelings, it does not change the reality that one person (white) still represents the superior or ruling class, and the other person (black or brown) still represents the inferior or underclass. These power dynamics are still institutionally evident in every aspect of American life and were never designed to be equal. They were designed to keep the ruling class in a socioeconomic position that’s superior and another class of people as inferior and subservient to that class. See: The Help.

If I invented a Game and then invited you to participate in it, it’s still my Game and you can only play according to my rules. So regardless if you call it interracial or biracial, by definition, that arrangement can only serve the purpose of reinforcing the status of the ruling class because they invented the Game of race. Regardless how equal such an arrangement is said to be, it’s taking place within a society dominated by a white American way and that translates into home field advantage for the home team; the white person in that arrangement -regardless how humble, coy or meek that white person chooses to behave. If any problems arise, there will be no confusion about where this arrangement is taking place, who’s the home team and who ultimately has the institutional power to control or dissolve that arrangement at will. Again, since black and brown people didn’t codify the concept of race, and represent the subgroup/minority in any racial matters, we are a fundamental disadvantage. Looking at this Game of race, all arrangements, defined as interracial/biracial, serve the socioeconomic purpose of reinforcing and perpetuating the status quo of the dominant society or ruling class. It is also my position that the only way an arrangement like this can ever become a relationship that establishes true freedom, justice and socioeconomic equality outside of this status quo and ruling class bias, is that it must take place on the ethnic, culturally conscious and nationalistic terms of the black and brown person. In other words, the black and brown person must have home field advantage and their terms must be the central focus and primary foundation of that relationship -not the dominant society or ruling class. This, of course, is a very scary reality for any white person to honestly consider or accept because they come from a societal worldview where being the shot callers, having white skin privileges, their religious iconography, economic elitism and military might has always been considered the norm. As a matter of fact, less than 50 years ago, there were laws enforced all over America that banned black and brown people from even marrying into the dominant society and assimilating into the ruling class. This means that for 189 years of America's 239 year existence, or almost 80% of the time during the country’s existence, black and brown people were restricted from legally 'entering' (inter-racial) or 'buying' (bi-racial) stock in the American Dream via any relationship with white people. Now honestly ask yourself, how can 189 years (almost 80%) of America's political policies, institutions, educational curriculum's, economic investments and religious teachings/iconography about black and brown people not matter now and have no influence on race based [interracial/biracial] relationships today? Even though these things were consistently implemented and reinforced by the ruling class for almost several generations, did their affect upon society and it's treatment towards it's underclass or subgroups (minorities) vanish in less than 50 years?  

A common theme you’ll always notice in any black and brown movement/organization seeking to redefine ourselves outside of the perimeters of race, is our association with ethnicity/genus (color), cultural consciousness and nationality as our worldview. It was understood that when black and brown people “enter” or “buy” into interracial/biracial arrangements, they must partially or completely abandon their sense of ethnicity, cultural consciousness and nationality in order to assimilate and identify themselves -generically- with the dominant society or ruling class. They identify themselves generically because any ethnicity/genus (color), cultural consciousness and nationality that doesn’t represent the status quo is in opposition to the ruling class. So black and brown people who have bought into this Game will begin to espouse generic phrases such as “love knows no color”, “we’re all human”, “we all bleed the same”, “love is love”, “love is blind”, “color doesn’t matter”, “we are all dark when the lights go out” and etc in the interest of assimilating with the dominant society and avoiding a confrontation with that ruling class. What most black and brown people playing this Game don’t realize is that identifying themselves generically and abandoning their sense of ethnicity/genus (color), cultural consciousness and nationality does nothing to address or equalize the power relations of the structurally bias arrangement they’re in. As a matter of fact, it only serves to further empower the person who represents the dominant society or ruling class. How? Because the white person did not give up anything, and aren’t required to give up anything, in regards to their status quo the black or brown person just “entered” (inter-racial) and “bought into” (bi-racial). They aren’t required to give up anything because they are the home team; the standard model upon which all black and brown people are anatomically compared. Therefore, their standard model, and all of their Eurocentric trimmings, remains the foundation of that arrangement a black or brown person agreed to be a part of. In other words, in order to have an interracial/biracial arrangement, a black and brown person is required to leave most if not all of their ethnicity/genus (color), cultural consciousness and nationality at the door. This is the reason why you’ll find the majority of interracial/biracial couples saying, “we are all the same” but still advocating standardized Eurocentric cultural values (holidays, religious rites, diets, clothing styles, social norms and etc.). This is also the reason you’ll rarely cee interracial/biracial couples saying, “we are all the same” and openly advocating black and brown cultural values (holidays, religious rites, diets, clothing styles, social norms and etc.) and actively supporting black and brown movements designed to change the white supremacist status quo and position/power of the ruling class.

Victor Lewis on "The Color of Fear"

So for the obvious reasons I've stated, black and brown movements that are truly dedicated to changing the structurally bias status quo of the dominant society and position/power of this ruling class, do not advocate interracial/biracial arrangements. As Five Percenters specifically, we take it a step further and advocate relationships that are pro-righteous/civilized and anti-devilish/uncivilized. We don’t classify the human family by race. We classify the human family according to ethnicity/genus (color), cultural consciousness and nationality. Regardless of this classification, what people choose to do in regards to themselves, their relationships with other members of the human family and their relationship with the environment is what ultimately determines if they’re pro-righteous/civilized or anti-devilish/uncivilized. Those white people who have the courage, integrity, humility, studiousness and sincerity to learn how to embrace our culture, in order to educate their own people about what needs to be done to change the structurally bias status quo of the ruling class are not ‘Gods’ or ‘Earths’. God, and the Earth, were already present millions of years before albinized (non-melaninated) people even existed. So because these white people strive for righteousness, they’re respected as Five Percenters; citizens in our Nation who are respected as righteous/civilized members of the human family based upon their deeds. We are not pro-black, or anti-white because our worldview is not racially motivated -yet we know and understand that the dominant society has historically promoted a pro-white and anti-black and brown agenda. We are also not idealistic about white people taking on the gigantic responsibility of denouncing ALL OF THE BENEFITS that came/come along with being a categorical member of the dominant society and ruling class just to be a righteous man/woman. We recognize how unreasonable it is to expect most of them to give up white skinned privilege, family inheritance, quit the family business, share inaccessible information/resources with black and brown people and ultimately put their (and their family’s) life on the line to establish socioeconomic equality. As a human family, there are certain biological, intellectual, socioeconomic, educational and etc. investments we are required to make that will not reinforce/uphold the status quo of the dominant society and ruling class. In love, there are certain types of relationships we absolutely cannot engage in. Our ideas about justice, civility and reformation cannot involve people who are invested in upholding an unjust status quo. Partnerships in business can’t be made with people who feel/believe they are above the law. Also, accepting any terms that translate into usury, ignorance or being kept apart from another's socioeconomic equality is completely out of the question -which is historically an institutional reality for black and brown people who represent the minority and underclass in America and throughout the planet where there has been colonialism. In our worldview, black and brown people are first class citizens; first world people who fathered and mothered civilization. The average white person finds this extremely difficult to accept because it completely contradicts what they’ve been erroneously taught about themselves, and what they’ve seen around them, their entire life. Those white people who do bear witness to this truth are not the average; they’re the elite among the ruling class. They represent members of the scientific, corporate, historical, political and medical community who secretly acknowledge who black and brown people are behind the closed doors of their masonic lodges and shrines (temples). And even though they have some of this information, they’re not utilizing their institutions, finances, material resources and intellectual property to change or equalize the status quo between white and black and brown people. They were allowed to learn this information in order to be upright and noble, yet consistently fail to keep and obey the laws.

In conclusion, it’s important to recognize and understand the power relations of any kind of arrangement -especially a relationship based upon the false concept of race in a historically racist (and sexist) society like America. If you’re a black and brown person who’s interested in someone who’s classified as white, you need to assess/define that potential relationship along ethnic/genus (color), culturally conscious and nationalistic lines. This is important because it automatically reveals the power relations that you’ll be agreeing to; maybe until death do you part! You need to know this white person’s considerations and stances on issues concerning the minority subgroup and underclass this society put you in. Since white people represent the dominant society you live in, and ruling class you’re under, you need to know their actual positions about slavery, sexism, lynchings, segregation, foreign policies, stereotypes and the present condition of the so-called race or subgroup of people you actually belong to; whether you choose to identify yourself with that so-called race or subgroup or not. See: O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson, Kobe Bryant and Tiger Woods. When I say stances, I’m not talking about politically correct sympathy conversation about how wrong these things were/are. I’m talking about what they’re actually doing about it. If they never did anything, or aren’t doing anything, then they’re upholding the status quo. Now that they’ve been made aware of these things, you have the opportunity to see what they’re going to do about being in society’s socioeconomic driver’s seat. Some people will argue that you can’t do anything about changing the past… Well what you can do is make sure what negatively happened in the past isn’t happening in the present and doesn’t happen in the future -starting with you, how you’re raising you’re children, and the people, places and things you choose to invest in. For those of you who want to act like this doesn’t really matter, it does not change the reality of the status quo you’re living under. I think it’s obvious that people who are in so-called interracial/biracial arrangements may truly “believe” in a world of freedom, justice and socioeconomic equality, even if it’s just in a bedroom. I also think that the thought of a world of freedom, justice and socioeconomic equality is a seed of a very noble cause. Yet until people can openly and honestly bring their ethnic/genus (color), culturally conscious and nationalistic concerns to the table and discuss a relationship (not an arrangement) based upon the power relations this relationship will establish, they’re only co-signing the status quo of the dominant society and ruling class. As a black and brown person, your participation in such a structurally bias arrangement is not only a disadvantage, it’s highly likely that you will suffer some form of psychological, social, financial and physical abuse at the hand of the person who represents the dominant society and ruling class. How is this possible? Because “who you are” as a minority subgroup and underclass in this society is not being considered. You’re an after thought, if a thought at all. You’re minority concerns are not primary, a priority, and usually irrelevant to the person who represents the dominant society and ruling class. While you have been forced through cultural assimilation to know and respect who they are, those who represent the ruling class have never been forced to know you. Therefore, it’s impossible to have a healthy sense of respect, consideration and even love for who/what you actually don’t know. Can you see how the person not being considered can get hurt in this situation? I can. It also makes one consider the self esteem and sadomasochistic/masochistic tendencies of someone who pursues structurally bias arrangements like this. In their mind, it Hurts So Good.

Now for those of you black and brown people who’ve already made this interracial/biracial decision without taking the time to actually think about what you were actually doing, you have two choices: 1.) Live with the complications you’ve accepted. 2.) Appeal to your white companion about renegotiating the structurally bias arrangements you’ve accepted along ethnic/genus (color), culturally conscious and nationalistic terms to make it fair. Good Luck because it’s ultimately up to them, a representative of the dominant society/ruling class, to consider if your appeal is valid or not. Like with any relationship, growth is important. The challenge with any relationship based upon race, whether we're with someone we consider the same "race" or we call it "interracial" or "biracial", it's taking place on a racist white supremacist backdrop. There is no way around, under, above or through that. Our relationship, and family unit, must be willing and able to transform this ugly reality through everyday people activities that don't reinforce the status quo. Our acceptance or rejection of this personal and collective responsibility will determine that kind of world our children will inherit.

Peace, 
Saladin

The Amazing Race Part 1

The Amazing Race 
~Part 1~

Growing up I dated various types of girls. Whether their ethnic status or nationality was so-called African-American, Italian, Haitian, Eritrean, Egyptian, Punjabi, German, Arabian, Puerto Rican, Greek, Native American, Jamaican and etc... I also dated various types of girls of different social statuses. Looking back on these experiences, I am thankful of the lessons I’ve learned along the way; some good, some bad, and yes, some ugly. As I matured I modified my perspective of relationships -realizing that I had to be more mindful of the challenges, conflicts and consequences that forging certain unions would bring. Many of us often have a “love is love”, “love knows no color” and “everything will be alright” attitude when we enter our relationships and eventually find out that it takes much more than these flighty feelings to actually sustain it. In America, regardless what kind of relationship we have, racism always plays a direct/indirect role in that relationship. Realizing this, it's important that we take responsibility for how we allow that direct/indirect role to shape our relationships. I'm not just talking about being responsible for our personal feelings/gratification. I'm talking about being responsible for what our relationship, and potential family unit, brings into the world -especially children. No child is born a racist. Children are taught to be racists, directly/indirectly, by adults.

What is Race? The codified concept of ‘race’ can be traced back to a white Anthropologist named Earnest Albert Hooton. In addition to helping establish Harvard as the center for Physical Anthropology in the United States, Hooton was responsible for classifying human beings into groups and subgroups based upon phenotype (physical characteristics/traits); race. Through what is called ‘comparative anatomy’, Hooton used white people as the primary model of man and classified/defined black and brown people as primitives according to that basic standard. Based upon Hooton’s work, in 1926 The American Association of Physical Anthropology and the National Research Council organized a committee to focus on the anatomy of black people (so-called Negroes at the time). A year later in 1927, the committee endorsed a comparison of African babies with young apes. If that wasn’t enough, about 10 years later in 1937, the committee published findings in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology to prove, not suggest or imply, that Negroes were closer to primitives than the white race. Racial stereotypes about black intellectual inferiority, criminality, promiscuity, homeliness, amorality, socioeconomic ineptness, etc… are all associations with the pseudoscience of Earnest Albert Hooton. Although many white people already entertained/advocated these ideas and feelings about black and brown people for hundreds of years prior to Hooton’s anatomical comparisons, Hooton was instrumental in classifying and systematizing these ideas/feelings into a framework that we’ve come to know and define as race -and ultimately racism. Even though Hooton was not a hood wearing, card carrying member of The KKK, who were already about 3 million strong in America approaching the 1930’s, his work served as ammunition to advocate their White Supremacist philosophies, politics, and policies.

So here in America, this purely sociopolitical construct called ‘race’ was used as a tool to establish, justify and reinforce the power relations between people classified as white and others. These power relations established a status quo; where the dominant society and ruling class is white and black and brown people, the minority within their society, are the underclass. Thus whenever white and black and brown people lived in proximity to eachother, the white group or ruling class controlled the institutions, political networks, finances, material resources and intellectual property. Even though whites are the minority throughout the planet earth, how can you explain these power relations that defy all logic and probability? Is this minority in control because it’s just the natural order of things? Do black and brown people (the global majority) believe they aren’t intelligent enough to govern so white people are better equipped to control the institutions, political networks, finances, material resources and intellectual property? Is there a systemic sociopolitical way of doing things that has empowered the global minority to gain control over the institutions, political networks, finances, material resources and intellectual property? And if there does exist a systemic sociopolitical way of doing things, has this been beneficial for all people, especially the majority? It is my perspective that the concept of race (along with ‘racism’ and ‘sexism’), the sociopolitical arm of white supremacy, is one of the primary tools being used to accomplish this goal. 

See, to even use the word ‘race’ in regards to human beings, we automatically “enter” (inter-racial) or “buy” into (bi-racial) the power dynamics that was propagated by the ruling class (white people) and codified by Earnest Albert Hooton’s classifications. To consider yourself as a race, it automatically compromises your identity because the term race neutralizes/minimizes your ethnic/genus origin, cultural consciousness and nationality. As a person of color, it puts you on the primitive end of a categorical chart designed to uphold a dominant Eurocentric status quo. It’s interesting to note that the findings of The American Association of Physical Anthropology and the National Research Council in the mid 1920’s coincides with the proliferation of Marcus Garvey’s UNIA (United Negro Improvement Association) and the founding of Noble Drew Ali's MSTA (Moorish Science Temple of America). The significance of this is the fact that Marcus Garvey and Noble Drew Ali advocated the importance of black and brown people’s ethnic/genus origin, cultural consciousness and nationality. As a Nationalist, Noble Drew Ali even went as far as to instruct his members to learn ‘The Color of Law” -used by racists to carry out racial inequality/discriminatory policies and procedures within the so-called justice system. This Ethnogenesis, advocated by the UNIA, MSTA, NOI, Five Percenters and other organizations was a vehicle to redefine ourselves outside of the white supremacist perimeters of race and within the context of our own ethnic/genus, cultural consciousness and nationality. Of course this did little to change the dominant society we were living under as a subgroup, or the sentiments of this ruling class. To undermine the progress of organizations like this, the ruling class began to promote the repackaging of ‘race’ under the pseudonyms of Colored, Afro-American and African American in order to get black people to continue entering/buying into a racist (racial) sociopolitical construct. The last and greatest ploy being bio-political subjugation via Interracial (enter ‘race’) or Biracial (bi-‘racial’) arrangements. How and what can be done? Find out in my next article "The Amazing Race Part 2"

To be continued.....

Peace,

Saladin