Ken Burns with Mr. James Baldwin on "Liberty"

 

Opinion: Ken Burns is an optimist. But he’s very worried about America.

♬ The wheels on the white supremacy bus go round and round...all through the world ♬ (Part 2)

(Edited & Updated below)
On his Racism in France post, Asabanga commented, “Black/African people all over the world face a struggle for dignity.”  He's absolutely right and it's no secret, that those who are clearly a part of the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy (definition at the 4:27 click) play a continuous role in the indignities visited upon us.  It is, after all, right out there for all who truly give a damn to see.

And for nearly a month now, I've been waiting to see just who truly gives a damn about the Black/African people struggling for their dignity in Israel. As it turns out, there aren't many--particularly in the Western mainstream media. This from RT News:



Having watched a glut of coverage about the "People of the Sand" from various places in the Middle East, during various phases of imperialist maneuverings by the "usual suspects" (Syria now being the target du jour), I said to myself:

"Self, now you would think, with all this Hitlerism being perpetrated against Africans in Israel, the Fourth Estate would be doing a better job of covering this!  I mean really now.  They're all, already right there, right?  I mean, far as I can see, there's no shortage of stories being churned out by major "news" outlets about all the carnage the Syrian government's been perpetrating.  Israel's been doing the exact same thing--and crickets?!" (smdh)

I don't know why I even asked myself a question whose answer is so obvious.  Both Israel and the Western, mainstream media are a part of that same white supremacy, neither of whom, see Blacks/Africans--as people.  And with media control here, resting squarely in the lap of American Jews, I suspect most of the country will hear little, if anything about Israel's wanton cruelty.

But, young sister, Yvette Carnell, writing at both KultureKritic and Your Black World, has been loudly and faithfully sounding the alarm about yet another, Black holocaust, this one, perpetrated by the European, "Never Again" survivors of similarly abhorrent treatment by the Nazis.  Here's a small sampling:

5/25 - Israeli Mob Attacks Black Immigrants, Netanyahu Vows to Send Blacks 'Home':  Mobs in Tel-Aviv, Israel have taken to the streets to demand that African immigrants be sent home. More than 1,000 angry Israeli citizens took to the streets of the poor and mostly black neighborhood of Hatikva to demand that the African immigrants be made to leave. White nationalist organizations also reportedly ransacked the neighborhood. The protesters claimed that blacks are responsible for an increase in crime rates. (emphasis mine)

Sound familiar?

5/28 - Israeli Parliament Member Apologizes For Calling African Migrants a "Cancer" to Society:  Regev was accused of inflaming the mob, many of whom went out and attacked African migrants, reportedly pulling them off bicycles and beating them, and pelting them with rocks.

In her apology to Israeli news outlets, Regev apologized to holocaust survivors and cancer patients, but not to the African immigrants she called a cancer.

“When I compared the migrant worker phenomenon to cancer I was referring to the way the phenomenon had spread, and not anything else. If anyone took it otherwise and was consequently offended, I apologize and I surely did not intend to hurt either Holocaust survivors or cancer patients,” she said.

...Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to put a fence around the African migrants and then begin the process of sending them to their home countries. (emphasis mine)

A fence?  Like they're cattle?  I gotta say--no "visions of sugarplums danced in my head" on that one!  Felt more like shades of the renamed,  Kunta Kinte Island in The Gambia (formerly James Island); Japanese internment camps in America; GITMO; Krome Detention Center in Miami--and extraordinary rendition jumping around up there!

(Political cartoon courtesy of leonkuhn.org.uk)

6/04 - Israel to Jail African Migrants for up to three years: Yishai, of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party...“The infiltrators along with the Palestinians will quickly bring us to the end of the Zionist dream,” Yishai said. “We do not need to import more problems from Africa.

Aryeh Eldad, another conservative leader asked, says that Israeli troops should shoot any Africans who breached its borders. (emphasis mine)

My, My, My!  Leon Kuhn really hit the nail on the head with this cartoon didn't he?  For sure, as long as Zionism keeps hacking away at the olive-branched hand; there will never be peace in the Middle East.

6/10 - Israel Begins Deportation of African Migrant Workers: Interior Minister Eli Yishai said the round-up will continue until Israel is migrant-free. The government has also increased penalties for Israeli business owners who employ illegal immigrants, up from a two year sentence to up to five years in jail. (emphasis mine)

Round-up?  They really think they're cattle, don't they?  ::rolls eyes in disgust::  Would interpreting "migrant-free" as "extermination through expulsion" be a bit much?

~#~

While "giving a damn," is without a doubt, important--equally important, is to critically examine what one sees, hears, and are told to think.  To wit, the Changeling's March 4, 2012, "when the chips are down, I have Israel's back" AIPAC speech.

Kindly bear with me as I try, with the help of Dr. John Henrik Clarke, to address some of the bullshit the Changeling put out there for AIPAC's amusement (and cash of course).

During the speech, Israel's latest, U.S. government shabbos goy said:

Shimon was born a world away from here, in a shtetl in what was then Poland, a few years after the end of the first world war. But his heart was always in Israel, the historic homeland of the Jewish people. And when he was just a boy he made his journey across land and sea - toward home. (emphasis mine)

Now I'm pretty sure Israel's been having the doubly, distinct pleasure, of using the hell out of this guy (What?  Why doubly?  Well, 1:  He is the figurehead of their most generous client-state, and 2:  He's a society-identified Black man, born of an African father.  Given the topic herein, I suspect jerking his chain is quite entertaining for them)  but, when it comes to historical fact--I'd trust the wisdom and research of the late, Dr. John Henrik Clarke, before I'd listen to anything the Changeling had to say (part of that, "critically examine what one sees, hears, and is told to think" thing).

Dr. Clarke's work, with all of its easily documented truths, affords us an opportunity of a lifetime, to learn the truth about our place in this world (the one everybody keeps trying to convince us we never had).  Alongside that, there's the collateral, and wonderfully useful benefit--of being able to set the record straight whenever other people lie.  Regarding the Changeling's "historic homeland" assertion, I think it'd  be best, in this instance, for Dr. Clarke to do just that, in his own words:



Okay, despite the fact that there is historical (not folkloric or mythological) evidence, that the word Jew is a European invention, pasted on a religion that existed wa-a-ay before they came up with the word--means nothing. Now that I think about it though, historical evidence has never meant much when it comes to adherents of white supremacy. They just appropriate, revise, spew; appropriate, revise, spew--until they've taken over the narratives of everyone else's lives, while running from their own.

Moving on...



Please hang in there through the glitches in the video, it's worth it. I guess if you're "white," or acting like you are (see first related article below), it just sticks in your craw--FOREVER--when you know your entrance "into human history" was predicated on the benevolence of Black folk, whom you thought you were better than, but you later found out, were head-and-shoulders above anything you brought to the table and who, because you showed neither respect nor gratitude for either their humanity or generosity, told you to get the hell out of their country.

Dr. Clarke from the 6:57 - 7:34 click: "Sometime ago, someone was arguing about who, is our friend...and I said that, "I would not be surprised, if the day would come, when I would see the Jews and the Arabs in the same political bed against the African people." (emphasis his)

When you think about Libya, you have to admit he was pretty prescient, no?

From the 8:06 - 9:06 click:  "Competent historians, do the same thing, to prove their cases as competent lawyers--they cite a precedent. They point where it has already happened.  There has already been, a relationship between Africans, and Jews, and Arabs--in Spain, for 800 years, when the African was the military arm, that held Spain in the Mediterranean.  And when they lost the power,  the Arabs and the Jews came together, turned on the Africans, and began to enslave them. The Jews went to Holland, and found the Dutch East India and the Dutch West India Company and subsequently, helped to find (sic) South Africa." (emphasis his)

(A brief aside: Dr. Clarke's mention of the East India Company, reminds me of how "media ignoring the truth" is taught here. During my one-year stint in DC at a journalism grad school, our "Ethics" class was divided into groups, with each assigned a philosopher about whom, a presentation was to be made later on in the semester.  The group assigned John Stuart Mill, gave a blatantly disingenuous presentation, dealing mostly with his, "On Liberty"--but they totally left out his more than 30-year career in the slave trade with Britain's, East India Trading Company.  During the Q & A after, I asked them about their omission (which to my mind, negated all the " on liberty" talk). To a person, they all said they knew about it, but thought it best to leave that part out!  I immediately blurted out, "And you find that to be ethical?"  Nothin' but "crickets," even from the teacher.)

Stay with me, he's not done:



Dr. Clarke, from the 2:54 - 3:34 click: "But the European, tries to dominate, everything he is a part of.  And nothing came from the European mind, that did not have, as its intention, the facilitation, of the European domination of the world. This is the essential mission of every European, whether he is a Capitalist, or Communist, or, Christian, or Holy-Roller."(emphasis his)

All we need do, is look around--wherever we are--to see that what he says is so. Europeans, in collusion with those others who are a part of the White Supremacist Capitalist Patriarchy (based on bell's definition), have been on that "essential mission" since time immemorial.

From the 7:52  - 9:03 click:  "But they drew the idea of a state, from mythology.  Because, they never had a state, that wasn't stolen property.  The "homeland" of the European Jew is Europe! Now they can go back into folklore and mythology, and tell you about a god named, "Yahweh," who told them to get thee to Palestine and get their homeland.  But who told, you, that God was ever in the Real Estate business?  And who told, the God, that Palestine was unoccupied?  Always "occupying" something that's already, occupied, and throwing out, somebody else." (emphasis his)

That last sentence, is the main reason those now, near-defunct, "Occupy" movements didn't sit well with me (too much bad history attached to that word).

Moving on...



Dr. Clarke, from the 00:29 - 1:50 click:  "Look at, Palestine, geographically.  It's a door that swings, three ways:  It's at the back door of Europe, the side door of western Asia, and the front door of Africa.  Strategically, it is well-located.  It never, absolutely never, belonged to any, European people.  And this is another thing that might, shock some of our Moslem friends, in all honesty, in early history, it never, it wasn't (sic) belong to the any Arabs either.  It was an African country.  The Arabs didn't get there in any appreciable number til about 1600 AD.  I'm not saying they shouldn't live there, but as a matter of historical fact, it's not the original home of the Arabs either.  But people don't even ask questions about the Arabs."

From the 6:57 - 7:06 click:  "My main point is that Zionism, and the spread of colonialism, walk side-by-side. (emphasis his)

And anyone with eyes to see, has to know that walk continues to this day--in Israel.

So, believe the Changeling's "historic homeland" foolishness if you need to, or, you can get some of those books Dr. Clarke referenced in the videos and learn about the rich legacy of African people all over the world, and be able to set people who lie--straight; as James Baldwin said, "...know whence you came."

Back to that speech:

In his life, he has fought for Israel’s independence, and he has fought for peace and security...But beyond these extraordinary achievements, he has also been a powerful moral voice that reminds us that right makes might - not the other way around.

Shimon once described the story of the Jewish people by saying it proved that, “slings, arrows and gas chambers can annihilate man, but cannot destroy human values, dignity, and freedom.” And he has lived those values. He has taught us to ask more of ourselves and to empathize more with our fellow human beings. I am grateful for his life’s work and his moral example.

Say what?!  Is he talking about the same Shimon and Jewish people that this "Report for the African Refugee Development Center (ARDC) to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) - submitted January 30, 2012" is talking about??:



I can't begin to express, how painfully enraged I am by all the white supremacist hypocrisy in this video--so much so, that I won't do my usual blow-by-blow this time.  There just isn't enough space.  I know it's a little long, but please do watch the whole thing (even if you have to break it up).  I'm sure after you do, your blow-by-blow list will absolutely rival mine.

But, there is one thing I just have to say.  Given the report date and the period it covered, it's evident that, up to and even during the time that the Changeling stood before AIPAC, jiggin' for Jewish dollars--"Bibi" and his Zionist, colonialists-cum-neocolonialists henchmen, had been acting like run-of-the-mill, neo-Nazis toward Africans, in what they call "their" country.

Pardon me if "moral, Jewish people" seems like an oxymoron, given their behavior toward Africans and Palestinians over all these years.  And the fact, that the Changeling "is grateful" for Shimon's "life's work" and "moral example" speaks volumes--or it should.

He goes on to say:

This isn’t just about numbers on a balance sheet. As a senator, I spoke to Israeli troops on the Lebanese border. I visited with families who’ve known the terror of rocket fire in Sderot. And that’s why, as president, I have provided critical funding to deploy the Iron Dome system that has intercepted rockets that might have hit homes and hospitals and schools in that town and in others. Now our assistance is expanding Israel’s defensive capabilities, so that more Israelis can live free from the fear of rockets and ballistic missiles. Because no family, no citizen, should live in fear. (emphasis mine)

Unless they're African of course.

And just as we’ve been there with our security assistance, we’ve been there through our diplomacy. When the Goldstone report unfairly singled out Israel for criticism, we challenged it. When Israel was isolated in the aftermath of the flotilla incident, we supported them. When the Durban conference was commemorated, we boycotted it, and we will always reject the notion that Zionism is racism. (emphasis mine)

Speak for yourself, Man.  I'll let Dr. Clarke speak for me with the following:

From the 1:05 - 5:38 click/Part 2: "They have never, been our friends when we needed them.  And the concept of a historical alliance, between African people and people called Jews is a lie and a myth, and a misconception.  They overplayed every event in history when they came in contact with us.  Anytime it was to their benefit, they have walked away from us.  We are one, of the most politically naive people in history, we have never made a good alliance with anybody.  Everybody that has come among us, have shown, that they would betray us, anytime it was to their benefit.  There is no exception, right or left.  That's true of every religion, it's true of every politics.  And it's true of every, single, ethnic group.  Now you wanna play a whole lot of, ethnic-partner games; I think you should make alliance with other ethnic groups--but watch the alliance.  You should be partners, but when people break the alliance, you should be in a position to punish them.  And don't depend too much, on the alliance..."I'm tryin' to show you where we related to the humanity of all people, but all people have not related to our humanity." (emphasis his)

Israel's ongoing and unfettered abuse of Africans and Palestinians, along with those three emphasized incidents in that last excerpt from the Changeling's speech above (Goldstone, the attack on the flotilla and Durban)--all keep me singing: ♬ The wheels on the white supremacy bus go round and round...all through the world. ♬

And they will continue, unless and until, we take Dr. Clarke's intellectually astute advice and shed our political naiveté; coalesce with each other worldwide; make only mutually beneficial alliances (reserving the right to punish--in one way, or another--those who break them) and say our own...

(Took this  photo on Juffureh, during my first trip to The Gambia)

...and this time--mean it!

UPDATE:  Russell Simmons calls for truce with ADL's Foxman

I just read this piece on JewishJournal.com and when I was done, Dr. Clarke's, "We have illusions about people" statement at the 6:56 click in Part 2 of his videos immediately came to mind. Russell Simmons has, without a doubt, some serious illusions.

Simmons, a co-founder with Rabbi Marc Schneier of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, said that he was proud to have worked to strengthen the relationship between the African-American and Jewish communities. He said his comments at the conference were undermining the work he has done on behalf of the Jewish community to build synagogues and promote tolerance.

“Rabbi Marc Schneier and I had a remarkable week in Israel where we met and convened with some of the most important religious leaders in the country, including the Chief Rabbi of Israel and the Grand Mufti of the Palestinian people,” Simmons wrote. “We had difficult conversations that have not happened before, and we are determined to break through barriers that have been in existence for decades.”

Now if this isn't an excellent example of some of that political naiveté to which Dr. Clarke referred, I don't know what is.  Not only has he stepped in to "strengthen" this mythological alliance building synagogues with his "dolla', dolla' bills y'all" (they're not crazy, they know just who to target), they've got him apologizing for saying something that was almost true (I say almost, because I don't see any "leaders" in the Black community)!  You're just another shabbos goy, Russell.

And while Simmons boasts about his "remarkable week," meeting and convening with the Chief Rabbi and Grand Mufti--I wonder, did he stop to meet-and-greet any of those Black-like-him Africans being attacked, rounded up like cattle and deported?  Oh, and note to Russell:  Those barriers?  They've existed for way more than decades--use some of that cash you've got to buy a damned clue. (smdh)



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"Jews," the Changeling and nuclear weaponry

I've really been trying not to write about this circus we call "politics" in this country.  But given the Changeling's recent, begging "...when the chips are down, I have Israel’s back" speech to AIPAC, I thought I'd jump back in for a minute, turning back to the Master Teacher, Dr. John Henrik Clarke to share some history about the "Jews" and their less-than-reciprocal behavior toward Black folk first (as you listen to the following, you'll see the reason for the quotation marks):









"Nothin' beats a lie like the truth" is what my grandmother always said.  And given all that went before (and continues to this day), the Changeling's unwavering fealty to the state of Israel should be, at the very least, questionable to discerning Black folk, and at most - a gross miscarriage of justice to anyone with eyes to see (though, if you heard the speech, or read the transcript linked above - you'll have to admit, he's a helluva strategic beggar!).

Secondly, I'd like to share the following, just to give some context for America's and Israel's absolute hypocrisy regarding Iran and their right, as a sovereign nation, to develop nuclear weapons either as a deterrent to, or to protect themselves from, Israel in particular, if they so choose (let me just note though, after the U.S. devastation of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, I am in no way a proponent of nuclear weapons):  "An Illegal Interview with Mordechai Vanunu," a former Israeli nuclear technician who, in 1986, blew the whistle on Israel's nuclear weapons development program in Dimona, garnering him 18 years in Ashkelon Prison (more than 11 1/2 of which he spent in solitary confinement.  Bradley Manning has nothing on Dr. Vanunu - yet!):







And the Changeling was the one who got a Nobel "Peace" Prize??!! (:serious eyeroll:)

Check out why the above interview was illegal at this site, which thoroughly covers Dr. Vanunu's whistle-blowing experience - and the consequences:  The U.S. Campaign to Free Mordechai Vanunu.

While I've never had anything for the Changeling, I've always thought he was pretty intelligent.  But, given Dr. Clarke's excellent historical rendering of the "Jews" and Israel, Dr. Vanunu's view of Shimon Peres, and Prime Minister Netanyahu's banging of the war drums, I find this portion of the Changeling's "Can I have more, Sir?" speech quite indicative that either, he isn't as intelligent as I thought (particularly regarding who he is, as a society-identified Black man), or he's as disingenuous as they come:

Shimon was born a world away from here, in a shtetl in what was then Poland, a few years after the end of the first world war. But his heart was always in Israel, the historic homeland of the Jewish people. And when he was just a boy he made his journey across land and sea - toward home.

In his life, he has fought for Israel’s independence, and he has fought for peace and security. As a member of the Haganah and a member of the Knesset, as a minister of defense and foreign affairs, as a prime minister and as president - Shimon helped build the nation that thrives today: the Jewish state of Israel. But beyond these extraordinary achievements, he has also been a powerful moral voice that reminds us that right makes might - not the other way around.

Shimon once described the story of the Jewish people by saying it proved that, “slings, arrows and gas chambers can annihilate man, but cannot destroy human values, dignity, and freedom.” And he has lived those values. He has taught us to ask more of ourselves and to empathize more with our fellow human beings. I am grateful for his life’s work and his moral example. And I’m proud to announce that later this spring, I will invite Shimon Peres to the White House to present him with America’s highest civilian honor - the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

In many ways, this award is a symbol of the broader ties that bind our nations. The United States and Israel share interests, but we also share those human values that Shimon spoke about: a commitment to human dignity. A belief that freedom is a right that is given to all of God’s children. An experience that shows us that democracy is the one and only form of government that can truly respond to the aspirations of citizens.

America’s Founding Fathers understood this truth, just as Israel’s founding generation did. President Truman put it well, describing his decision to formally recognize Israel only minutes after it declared independence. He said, “I had faith in Israel before it was established. I believe it has a glorious future before it - as not just another sovereign nation, but as an embodiment of the great ideals of our civilization.”

For over six decades, the American people have kept that faith. Yes, we are bound to Israel because of the interests that we share - in security for our communities, prosperity for our people, the new frontiers of science that can light the world. But ultimately it is our common ideals that provide the true foundation for our relationship. That is why America’s commitment to Israel has endured under Democratic and Republican presidents, and congressional leaders of both parties. In the United States, our support for Israel is bipartisan, and that is how it should stay. (emphasis mine)

We've got so much work to do family - in alliance with, or without, any-damned-body else!

Interesting update: Is Bibi the Bully wagging the American dog? - Pepe Escobar

"We're better than this..." - "That's not who we are..." Really???

"People who treat other people as less than human, must not be surprised when the bread they have cast on the waters comes floating back to them, poisoned."

James Baldwin

The first statement in the title was a part of what Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' brother-in-law, Cmdr Scott Kelly had to say from aboard the International Space Station. The second, is from Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton. "How can somebody hate that much?" was an Arizona woman's comment a few minutes ago on BBC News America.

What all three statements seem to have in common, is the fact that they all seem totally out-of-touch with the reality that is, and always has been America. Apparently, those who spoke those words have rarely, if ever, been the victim of that reality.

America is NOT - "better than this." Just ask any of the many "Others" upon whom such havoc has been wreaked over the course of this country's existence. I know she's the Secretary of State, with all the attendant requirements of lying about our "exceptionalism" and all - but Hilary Clinton should be ashamed to have uttered such an untruth. And there's also something opportunistically shameful to me about her using this tragedy as some sort of diplomatic lever during her meeting in Abu Dahbi - but that's just me.

THAT, Mme. Secretary - is exactly who America is, has been and will continue to be as long as this kind of non-owning, double-talking, politically expedient revisionist history continues.

And the beat goes on...

(P.S.Guess it's not just me. In her new post over at Freedom Rider, the ever-vigilant Margaret Kimberley points out the most shameful opportunist of them all!).

The incredible nothingness of "whiteness"...

America's summer of white discontent reached its apex this past weekend, with Glenn Beck and the fearful at the Lincoln Memorial on the anniversary of Dr. King's "I Have A Dream" speech.  And while, in these United States, they certainly have a "right to assembly" on any day for which they can afford to pay - let's not pretend that no insult to Dr. King's memory, the civil rights movement and everyone "other" was intended - because that, is an even bigger insult. 

The presence of their "rainbow coalition" notwithstanding, the "system of reality" at work on Saturday was most definitely one of  "restoring honor" to white supremacy and white privilege in the face of what they perceive as an assault on their dream by Obama & Co. - a perception hilariously telling in that he's done nothing BUT cater to their idea of the "American Dream" (but for his brown face).

So as not to leave you hanging, the clip above was taken from the October 26, 1965, Baldwin v Buckley debate at England's, Cambridge University.  The topic was:  "Has the American Dream been achieved at the expense of the American Negro?"  You'll have to follow the link and fast-forward to the 24:01 click to hear Baldwin's "this" (along with the remainder of his response), as he is the third debater and Buckley, with some interesting references to "white people" and "racial narcissim," is the last.  If you have the time though, it's well worth watching from beginning to end - for a lot of reasons.  But what I found most instructive, is the fact that not much, if anything has changed - on either side of the debate!

Nate Beeler/Washington Examiner

From the revsionist history textbooks the Texas State Board of Education voted in; to Virginia's slavery-ignoring celebration of Confederate History Month and their attempted restoration of literacy tests; to Arizona's passage of SB 1070; to South Carolina's Lindsey Graham suggesting a repeal of the 14th Amendment because he's petrified of "anchor babies"; to National Review's white people summit; to the furor over the inaptly named, "Ground Zero mosque;" right on up to the Beck/Palin, "Restoring Honor" event - it's abundantly clear that there are a whole lot of white folk who (to borrow from my old buddy, Jimmy) don't like having "their certainties disturbed."  The only problem with that though, is there ARE no "certainties" about who they even are in this country - other than what they've created.  

In, "On Being White...And Other Lies" - his April 1984 essay, originally published in Essence magazine and recently republished in "The Cross of Redemption: Uncollected Writings" (edited and with an introduction by Randall Kernan) - Baldwin makes that point quite forcefully:

The crisis of leadership in the white community is remarkable - and terrifying - because there is, in fact, no white community.

This may seem an enormous statement - and it is. I’m willing to be challenged. I’m also willing to attempt to spell it out.

My frame of reference is, of course, America, or that portion of the North American continent that calls itself America. And this means I am speaking essentially, of the European vision of the world - or more precisely, perhaps the European vision of the universe. It is a vision as remarkable for what it pretends to include as for what it remorselessly diminishes, demolishes or leaves totally out of account.

There is, for example - at least, in principle - an Irish community: here, there, anywhere, or more precisely, Belfast, Dublin and Boston. There is German community: Rome, Naples the Bank of the Holy Ghost, and Mulberry Street. And there is Jewish community, stretching from Jerusalem to California to New York. There are English communities. There are French communities. There are Swiss consortiums. There are Poles: In Warsaw (where they would like us to be friends) and in Chicago (where because they are white we are enemies). There are, for that matter Indian restaurants and Turkish baths. There is the underworld - the poor (to say nothing of those who intend to become rich) are always with us - but this does not describe a community. It bears terrifying witness to what happened to everyone who got here, and paid the price of the ticket. The price was to become “white.” No one was white before he/she came to America. It took generations, and a vast amount of coercion before this became a white country. (emphasis mine)

As relevant today as he was 45 years ago, Baldwin's, "Jeremiah" - with his clear, consistent and critical knowing - not only eloquently puts his finger on the pulse of being Black in America, but on how the moral price of being "white" affects, not only the humanity of those upon whose necks it would grind its heel - but on its own humanity as well.  And according to Kalefa Sanneh's interesting, "Beyond the Pale," it was this very essay which served as a catalyst for the emergence of others in the field of "whiteness studies":   

...a cohort of scholars took up Baldwin’s charge, popularizing a field of research that came to be known as whiteness studies.  In 1994, the white labor historian David R. Roediger published an incendiary volume, “Towards the Abolition of Whiteness.” Paying special attention to unions and strikes, he traced the unsteady growth of American whiteness, a category that eventually included many previous identities that had once been considered marginal: Irish, Italian, Polish, Jewish. “It is not merely that whiteness is oppressive and false; it is that whiteness is nothing but oppressive and false,” he wrote. “Whiteness describes, from Little Big Horn to Simi Valley, not a culture but precisely the absence of culture. It is the empty and therefore terrifying attempt to build an identity based on what one isn’t and on whom one can hold back.” (emphasis mine)

Not long ago, on the documentary channel (trying not to watch much mainstream TV these days), I watched, "Beyond Wiseguys: Italian Americans and the Movies" which featured comments such as Frank Sinatra saying, he was "not gonna be the House Wop" in the 1945 short film, "The House I Live In" (he made the title song of the same name, penned by "Strange Fruit" writer,  Abel Meeropol quite famous), as well as this - "Guinea, dago, wop bastard, came from the irish, who got here before us. We waited for the Puerto Ricans and we turned on them." - a perfect example of Roediger's, "...attempt to build an identity based on what one isn't and on whom one can hold back" observation.

Abbey Lincoln's, "People in Me" below, is quite possibly "white culture's" worst nightmare.  Despite her passing earlier this month, she's still sweetly and clearly "insisting" as she gives the lie to both the supremacy and the privilege by pointing out, as Baldwin did, the falsity of both of those constructs.
 
But don't hold your breath waiting for Beck and his fearful to wrap their brains around that little "inconvenient truth."  Most of them never will.  If they did, they'd have to look back and own a lifetime of who they'd allowed themselves to become - a people whose "moral lives have been destroyed by that plague called color," and whose "American sense of reality has been corrupted by it."

And the beat goes on...

Wanda Right on Michelle?

Well, yes and no. They're no longer waiting for her to snap her fingers and work her neck because she already tried doing it - on the campaign trail:



(What was all that prize-figher, nose-wipin' going on?) And if I'm not mistaken, that was when the handlers quickly snatched her behind off the campaign trail (she kept a low profile as I recall) and inserted those "rods" Wanda was talking about. That Michelle Obama was never to be seen or heard from again - for the greater good, of course. She emerged, "new and improved," on The View, talking about making cookies or some other inane thing and laughing about, "Barack is so pathetic." Another faux pas that made the handlers cringe I'm sure.

Wanda can sit up there and tell that lie about "all Black women are not like that" if she wants to.  Now, I love the sister's comedy, but just an observation -- is not ALL of her comedy based on women "like that??" You know -- women who pull no punches and finally tell the damn truth, even if it hurts?  I submit there's a bit of Weezy Jefferson in all of us in varying degrees -- even the meekest of us, if we're honest. Given our heretofore positions in the patriarchy and slavery, I don't see how she couldn't be. And I like that in us! But that's just me.

I'm simply not of the opinion that women in general, and Black women in particular, have to always dial back how they feel about some bullshit in order to fit in some box - drawn by men in the first damn place! You can count this sister out if that's what you need to make you feel big and strong. And yes, my neck wa-a-as workin' as I typed that line!!!