I often speak of visiting those places I call Brownsville, you know, those segregated places mandated by law as a result of the wretched system of “Separate but Equal”. I try to resurrect the ghost of the greats that changed the world, which have caused me to live a life promised to all Americans. Having said that, I readily admit there is still a long way to go.
I have shared the African American journey that no doubt is the greatest story ever told. Maybe let me say this more succinctly by quoting Jesse in terms of witnessing our story coming “From the outhouse to the White House”. The irony of this was that Africans were dragged onto the shores of this place the slaves called “merica” to now having a man of African descent in the White House as President. Frankly, this is the most significant event since Christ rose from the grave.
This evolution brought about our acquiescence to political agendas, abdicating our own economic self-sufficiency for the greater good and most working diligently for the economic well-being of African American people. Since the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments were written many have died for the rights described therein, and we continue to fight for equality still.
Let me leave you with this thought from “The Mis-Education of the Negro,” the most profound novel ever written in my opinion, originally published in 1933 by Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who is known as the father of Black History Month. I might add that this book should be mandatory reading for all African Americans – young and old.
The thesis of Dr. Woodson’s book is that Negroes of his day were being culturally indoctrinated rather than taught in American schools, or not even given the advantage of education. This conditioning, he claims, causes African Americans to become dependent, seeking out inferior places in the greater society of which they are a part. This assertion is clearly evident nearly eighty years later.
He challenged his readers to become empowered by doing for themselves, regardless of what they were taught: “History shows that it does not matter who is in power… those who have not learned to do for themselves and have to depend solely on others never obtain any more rights or privileges in the end than they did in the beginning.”
This goes beyond the imagination, irrespective of the many promises that have been made and broken, that fairness exists. Religion teaches us when we die there is a place where there is a mansion with streets paved with gold. Be that as it may, let’s agree with the great Curtis Mayfield who wrote: “we are people who are darker than blue”. He also said, “People get ready there’s a train a comin. You don’t need no ticket. All you need is faith to get on board…”
Some of you may know George Orwell’s statement about history:
Whoever controls the past controls the future, and whoever controls the present controls the past. And whoever’s in charge of a culture decides what history we get, or tries to decide what history we get, and our job is to look beyond that and to try to find our own history, the one that they don’t want us to have. You know what I mean by “they.” I won’t—I won’t give you any names, but there is—there’s always a “they.
“Black History is American History”. We have witnessed the first man of African descent elected president of these United States, and I am thankful to have lived to see what no one living or dead ever thought would occur. God Bless America but the train has not reached its destination, and the greatest story ever told will continue! And that is my Thought Provoking Perspective…
This thing we call life is nothing more than a season characterized by a particular circumstance, suitable to an indefinite period of time associated with a divine phenomenon gifted to us by someone greater than ourselves. During this passage through time I have come to realize that there are milestones, mountains, and valleys that everyone will encounter.
This has caused me to realize what I view as a grace-filled journey was it a true story, a miracle, a blessing or just simply a fairy tale. While examining the evolution of my life to this point, through God’s grace, I was blessed with the good fortune or privilege to have had many precious moments.
What I have learned is that we need to appreciate and value those dear to us for tomorrow is not promised. This is why I think showing love is the toll we pay along the way. I will admit that my life has not been unlike that of any other man who has ever lived. Although challenging at times, the answer to those challenges was to have the will to survive, and that means being accountable for life on life’s terms, and of course understanding that I have no control over life’s terms.
Some may say that I am a self-made man, while I say I simply experienced a journey that was charted by someone greater than myself. I have been given the magnificent gift of being a benevolent spirit and the good fortune to have been blessed many times over, for which I am very grateful. I am thankful to have enjoyed the by-products of life, meaning the material things that can be gained from it. However, the most rewarding experiences have come from the personal enrichment gained from helping others.
I can recall my Granddaddy telling me to reach for the stars and understand that it is not a disgrace to do so. It is, however, a disgrace not to have a star. I worked hard trying to make my dreams come true. If my mind could conceive it and my heart would believe it, there was no reason not to achieve it. I was born and therefore I am.” In reality, it doesn’t matter what you have done for yourself. It is what you have done for humanity during the journey that is the more important question. Granddaddy taught me that doing the common things in life in an uncommon manner would command the attention of the world. It is possible that’s what my dear friend meant.
As I look back, I am honored to have given something to everyone whose path I’ve crossed, along with finding a place in my heart to care for other souls, especially those I loved. I cannot say that my greatest glory was never failing; although the objective was not to fail but when I did, finding the strength to rise when I have failed was the true blessing.
I learned a valuable lesson a long time ago, when I attended a Sunday school class, which was why Jesus wept. As the story goes, when Lazarus died, Jesus saw Mary and Martha weeping. He was so moved as he witnessed their pain for the loss of his friend that he also wept. Today I understand because I have felt that pain because I lost a son. So I understand that the real tragedy of life is not that it ends too soon. Perhaps the tragedy is that most people never have a chance to live life while they have it.
I sometimes wonder if the lessons from my experiences should be called obstacles or stepping-stones that shape the time I’ve have lived. Nonetheless, in their entirety – life’s lessons are priceless. Maybe this proves that God is in the miracles business. He works in mysterious ways with his wonders yet to behold.
Time is life and just as in life, time is something experienced that dictates the rhythm of your soul. As life’s most precious commodity, it waits for no one. All of us have been given only 24 hours each day, which is life’s great equalizer. It does not matter who you are – everyone is equal and from that standpoint, 1440 minutes each day are all you get. It is each minute that is the starting point for living the rest of your life or the last minute of it. Therefore, I must be ever so conscious of every single minute because each minute must be cherished and used ever so wisely. The key, however, is not how much time you have, rather what you do with that time. Since we know not the minute or the hour, my mission now must be to live each eternal moment.
How interesting it is that we come into this world crying while all around us are smiling. Then we leave the world smiling while everybody around us weeps. This brings to mind a sermon my childhood pastor, Reverend Cole, gave explaining this phenomenon called life in the simplest of terms. He said, “This period of existence we call life in the final analysis is Just a Season.” And that’s my thought provoking perspective…
I guess every since there have been black people there have been those who are different. One of my subscribers sent me this chilling video and all I can say is this guy takes different to a whole-nother realm! I’ve been taught and affirmed by definition that “insanity is doing the same thing you’ve always done and getting the same result”. I don’t believe that describes sufficiently to what is going on in the mind of this guy. This can guy can only be described as a “house nigger” and that is being kind!!!
The insanity of some people, like this guy, that its very frightening. This is why we must teach our children the true history of our people or they could end up like this guy. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…
I want to pay homage to those who read my words – thank you very much for your support – and if this is your first-time WELCOME. I am looking forward to the comments and your thoughts with regard to the question. Since the assassination of Trayvon Martin and the recent incident in Oklahoma’s death-row, it begs the question or at least consideration of thought – “Does race matter?”
Race is a conversation that most Caucasians struggle with, at least in an open or honest way, and most are scared to talk about race, and we aren’t any different. Now, African Americans see matters of race from a completely different perspective. It’s like; if you’ve felt the brunt of this wretched ideal of supremacy you know it and see it.
The stories of oppression, racism, segregation and even slavery are very real and most African Americans have experienced it in one form or another and know it is real. Of course slavery was not physically visited upon us today by law but the elevated mental state and the prison industrial complex ensures it continues.
You cannot view the history of America and not see that race has and has always been the driver of its policies and laws. Naturally, the obvious differences in neighborhoods, employment, schools, and the legal system – causes one to ask why. If you just look at the presidents treatment, the Trayvon Martin story, Rodney King situation, or even the OJ case; all differed tremendously along political and racial lines. There are countless examples dating back to the first day black people was dragged onto the shores of this place they called “merica”.
More to the point, there was a time in my life where I saw police trample peaceful protesters, marchers beaten in the streets, and fire hoses turned on American citizens called Negro’s for asking and in most cases begging for the basic human right to live, which was simply a human right. Then a few years prior to that, in the first half of the last half century, black men were lynched by the hundreds for entertainment. Yet, most of white America believed it to be proper and sanctioned by law these so-called moral actions.
Was this colorblindness that dictated these policies that allowed justice which is blind to permit the wretchedness of racism to exist in the hearts and minds of people? You may realize that whenever the conversation of race comes up; there is the usual quote by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “we want to judge people, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” If the issue of race was that simple – the world would be a better place, but it’s not. So let’s talk about it.
Look at it this way, there was an old man who was bent over. Someone told him to stand up. The old man had been bent over so long – he said, “I thought I was!” And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective…
The recent headlines in the news of police brutality, police killings, the police in gas masks and military garb attacking American citizens protesting peacefully shocked some, but frankly this story is as old as America itself. It is the same story of implicit bias, black pain, disenfranchised communities and systemic racism. What this means is that most have forgotten true history and the rest think that the cries and pain of black people are fictitious. Nothing to see here!
Eighteen-year-old Michael Brown was killed by a police officer when he was stopped for walking in the middle of the street. Witnesses say Brown put his hands up and said “Don’t shoot” to the officer as he dumped more than a dozen rounds into his body. The police, however, have remained quiet on Wilson’s version of events, choosing instead to make the victim the focus by releasing grainy video footage of the teen allegedly robbing a store keeper over a pack of pilfered cigars. This is a familiar theme portrayed in the name of justice; blaming of the victim in nearly every such situation at the hands of the law.
This summer there has been weekly brutality by the police and several murders under cover of law. Yet, they ask why such community outrage. For example, the mayor and police chief of tiny Ferguson say there is no problem here – our darkies are happy and love living here. We’ve heard this before as far back as slavery and segregation! In other words, it is just contempt and how they devalued the lives of its black citizens. Instead of trust and healing, the streets of Ferguson were full of tear gas and militarized police. In the place of justice, there is only anger, reminiscent of scenes we have seen before.
Judith Browne Dianis, a veteran civil rights attorney, put it this way:
“Fifty-nine years ago last week, 14-year-old Emmett Till was murdered for allegedly “whistling” at a white woman. His death and open-casket funeral revealing the boy’s brutalized body caused a national outcry, demonstrating how African Americans were viewed as less than human in many parts of our society, and that those who kill them would likely go unpunished. But the killings of Emmett Till and those like him, for infractions small or imagined, didn’t start 59 years ago. These killings and the divide they illustrate are rooted in 400 years of oppression.
In her article, she added and said, “Michael Brown is now part of a tragic legacy, a member of a group that includes Till. You’ll also find Trayvon Martin there, killed last year by a self-appointed neighborhood watchman who stalked him as he walked home. You’ll find New Yorker Eric Garner, choked to death by police last month for asking why he was being harassed. There’s John Crawford, killed by police the same week as Brown for holding an air rifle — essentially a toy gun — in an Ohio Wal-Mart. Ezell Ford’s death this month either came from resisting arrest or lying face down in the street, depending on whether you believe the Los Angeles police or Ford’s mother.
A 2012 study revealed that police officers, security guards, or self-appointed vigilantes extra-judicially killed at least 313 African Americans that year alone. This means a black person was killed at the hands of a “security” officer every 28 hours. But these dire fates are not inevitable. They are the result of generations of suppression and inequality, devaluing the lives of African Americans to the point where we invest little in economic equality, education and the other types of policies that create opportunity in other parts of America.”
The police are paid to protect and serve all people, yet for too many communities of color, police are an occupying force using suppression-only tactics, indicting residents by the color of their skin, not differentiating between them and the criminal element they seek. The police domination of black communities reminds me of Hitler’s Gestapo and storm troopers that occupy not protect and serve.
The question before us is whether or not we will continue to accept this brutal oppression? Four hundred years of this has lasted far too long, and it’s time to say enough is enough! And that’s my thought provoking perspective…
On Wednesday, Former Governor Robert “Bob” McDonnell openly wept like a pitiful little girl, as he sat in a federal courthouse in a Richmond, Virginia to hear the jury render its verdict convicting him of eleven felony counts. Governor “gifty” and his wife, the former Virginia first lady, who a witness called a “nut bag” were convicted on almost all of the fifteen counts they were charged in their federal corruption trial. This trial was more like a soap-opera than that of the saintly person he and others portrayed him to be, which was a morally righteous conservative.
The 71st Governor of Virginia was viewed as a rising star in the Republican Party and was on the short list for Vice President in 2012 and considered a presidential candidate in the next presidential election. He served on the executive committee of the Republican Governors Association, a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserves, served in the Virginia House of Delegates, and was Attorney General of Virginia. In January, he will become an inmate in a federal prison for a longtime.
His promising career can now only be described as the quickest and sharpest fall from grace of any Politian in modern times. What makes this so distinct is that outwardly he appeared and talked as if he was “the holier than thou”! He spoke of bringing Christian values back to Virginia. Yes, the family values guy who championed marriage “threw his wife under the bus” during what was vastly different then his fake persona as soon as the trial began in the most disgraceful way I have ever see.
The holder of several degrees in business to law, an attorney, and selected to a public policy program where he obtained joint degrees from the Christian Broadcasting Network University; now known as Regent University. Not surprisingly, his most ardent supporter is the so-called preacher often view as wacky Pat Robinson who praised by him as a great servant of the Lord. Now, we see he was nothing more than a crook and proven such via the trial.
Governor “Ultrasound”, as he was known during his administration for his extreme views on abortion and other conservative issues. It could said that he and Caribou Babe, the Huckster, the Cruzer, Big Boy, and the rest of the Republican demagogues are nothing more than self-serving holding no value other than to fool the fools who follow and believe in them. This bunch pious fakes attacks our president on every issue and says he must go. To which I say none of them are worthy or capable of being his match in any moral realm. Thieves in the temple!
However, the one-time Governor suck to the script, he said upon leaving the courthouse that his “trust rests with the Lord”. I don’t know how he could say such a thing with a straight face. More disturbing is that he could even pretend to believe it himself. This was the most appalling trail and disgrace of a human being that I have ever witness, which just speaks to the man who fooled everyone until his deception was revealed. I will say in the aftermath of his disgrace, as he believed as a lawyer, I’m sure, he was judged by a jury of his peers and that justice was served.
No worries, there are more fake conservatives in line waiting to follow you. So don’t pick up the soap. The way “We the People” think it’s about time. Finally, you still have to face judgment day and dude, Jesus is not going to be happy with you. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…
Listen to the message from the Prophet. Brother Malcolm’s words spoken fifty years ago to the grass roots. Education is the single most important ingredient necessary to neutralize those forces that breed poverty and despair.
Have you asked yourself “What is Racism?” Webster says it is a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities, and racial differences that produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. This does not adequately explain or represent the reality of what we’re witnessing in today’s political and social environments.
I believe racism is a misunderstood psychology and yes there is a psychology to racism, which is where the confusion exists. Therefore, it appears that racial prejudice or discrimination, which is a prejudicial outlook, action, or treatment is somehow believed to be directed toward the people of the dominate race.
The legacy of dependency, apathy, and entrenchment of the American social order from the beginning provides clear evidence of its diabolical intent to bankrupt the souls of African Americans based on an ideology of supremacy. We are the descendants of the stolen souls who bear the burden of a system that perpetrated, in the name of God, the greatest crime known to man. Hence, from the beginning, people of African descent were intended to be a nation of people living within a nation without a nationality.
~ “Law and Order” theme music plays ~
I read an article sometime ago, “When Racists Speak Their Unspoken Truths” by Anthony Asadullah Samad, Ph.D., who made a statement that speaks loudly to this issue.
“It’s what racists claimed for 235 years that American society is about rights (mainly theirs, everybody else’s can be stepped on) and not about race. It’s why racists wore hoods and sheets in public, and why their powerful societies that controlled political and economic affairs were always secret. The less you know about what they think, the less you can respond to how they think, even though the social, political and economic outcomes will tell you what they think.” It seems that those who claim racism are active participants in the continuance of this ideology and (in their minds) think they are now subjected to it.
I think we should understand the sub-text of what we are seeing today, at least from a power and political perspective. It is a strategic effort to contain and marginalize a black President, which is consistent with the Republican Party’s objective of marginalizing minorities and women. Now just like back in the days of segregation, its staunchest supporters were Southerners, Mid-Westerners and poor whites, and people now of that mindset remain.
This intolerance or behavior was never unlearned and have been passed down from generation to generation. Over my relatively short lifetime, I have been referred to as Colored, Negro, Afro-American, Black, African American, and worst. All were polite terms assigned to make known that people of color were not American citizens. Remember the statement etched in the country’s blueprint that says clearly people of color are “3/5 a man” and did not mention women at all.
The concept of African Americans being slaves, physically or mentally, is as old as the nation itself, designed to deprive a people of its culture and knowledge through sustained policies of control. This is to include the age old practice that has been very effective, “divide and conquer” because this form of thinking has one purpose. Therefore, when you look at what we have experienced and what they imply relating to this new phenomenon is as far apart as the vastness of the universe. And that’s my thought provoking perspective…
“Disclaimer: This piece is long but it is knowledge everyone should know.”
There have been many ways to suppress people over time; unfortunately, African Americans have endured the brunt of these efforts. As we know, the history of America reports that it was not only African American’s who were subjected or affected by these efforts. What I can report is that it was always a minority affected by these laws meant to ensure a permanent underclass.
This ideology began as indentured servants, then slavery, segregation, and now could it be conservatism. In each of these classifications there was a design called laws Black Codes, which I suppose make these immoral sanctions sound gentler. The truth is the sole purpose was to suppression rights. Kinda like the agenda behind the States Rights dog-whistles we hear today.
Black Codes were laws passed designed specifically to take away civil rights and civil liberties of African American on the state and local levels. This is the reason Conservatives desire a return to “States Rights” and speak of taking back their country because at the state level they can be unimpeded in turning back the hands of time.
Although, most of the discriminatory legislation, in terms of Black Codes, were used more often by Southern states to control the labor, movements and activities of newly freed slaves at the end of the Civil War. But as Malcolm X once said, “Anywhere south of Canada was south” meaning wherever you were in America you were subjected to discrimination in terms of the “separate but equal” laws, which was the law of the land.
The Black Codes of the 1860’s are not the same as the Jim Crow laws. The Black Codes were in reaction to the abolition of slavery and the South’s defeat in the Civil War. Southern legislatures enacted them during Reconstruction. The Jim Crow era began later, nearer to the end of the 19th century after Reconstruction, with its unwritten laws.
Then there were sundown laws, which meant Blacks, could not live or be caught in certain towns after dark. In some cases, signs were placed at the town’s borders with statements similar to the one posted in Hawthorne California that read “Nigger, Don’t Let The Sun Set On YOU In Hawthorne” in the 1930’s. In some cases, exclusions were official town policy, restrictive covenants, or the policy was enforced through intimidation.
After the abolition of slavery by the Thirteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which prior to that African Americans were considered 3/5’s human. Therefore, all former slave states adopted Black Codes. During 1865 every Southern state passed Black Codes that restricted the Freemen, who were emancipated but not yet full citizens. While they pursued re-admission to the Union, the Southern states provided freedmen with limited second-class civil rights and no voting rights. Southern plantation owners feared that they would lose their land. Having convinced themselves that slavery was justified, planters feared African Americans wouldn’t work without coercion. The Black Codes were an attempt to control them and to ensure they did not claim social equality.
The Black Codes outraged public opinion in the North because it seemed the South was creating a form of quasi-slavery to evade the results of the war. After winning large majorities in the 1866 elections, the Republicans put the South under military rule. They held new elections in which the Freedmen could vote. Suffrage was also expanded to poor whites. The new governments repealed all the Black Codes; they were never reenacted – OFFICALLY.
Many of these things are unknown to the generations of today because these injustices have been erased from our history and very little of it is taught in today’s classroom. For example, a sundown town was a town that was all white on purpose. The term was widely used in the United States and Canada in areas from Ohio to Oregon and well into the South. Even in Canada many towns in Southern Ontario, Alberta, and Quebec, were sundown towns prior to 1982, when it was outlawed. The term came from signs that were allegedly posted stating that people of color had to leave the town by sundown. They were also sometimes known as “sunset towns” or “gray towns”. Let me ask if you have ever been to a million dollar community – sound familiar.
The black codes that were enacted immediately after the Civil War, though varying from state to state, were all intended to secure a steady supply of cheap labor and all continued to assume the inferiority of the freed slaves. The black codes had their roots in the slave codes that had formerly been in effect. The premise behind chattel slavery in America was that slaves were property, and, as such, they had few or no legal rights. The slave codes, in their many loosely defined forms, were seen as effective tools against slave unrest, particularly as a hedge against uprisings and runaways. Enforcement of slave codes also varied, but corporal punishment was widely and harshly employed.
Let me highlight this example: In Texas, the Eleventh Legislature produced these codes in 1866. The intent of the legislation was to reaffirm the inferior position that slaves and free blacks had held in antebellum Texas and to regulate black labor. The codes reflected the unwillingness of white Texans to accept blacks as equals. You do remember “Juneteenth”? In addition, the Texans also feared that freedmen would not work unless coerced. Thus the codes continued legal discrimination between whites and blacks. The legislature, when it amended the 1856 penal code, emphasized the continuing line between whites and blacks by defining all individuals with one-eighth or more African blood as persons of color, subject to special provisions in the law.
Minorities were systematically excluded from living in or sometimes even passing through these communities after the sun went down. This allowed maids and workmen to provide unskilled labor during the day. Sociologists have described this as the nadir of American race relations. Sundown towns existed throughout the nation, but most often were located in the northern states that were not pre-Civil War slave states. There have not been any de jure sundown towns in the country since legislation in the 1960’s was inspired by the Civil Rights Movement, although de facto sundown towns and counties, where no black family lives – still exist.
Therefore, we see hints of it in the racism that has raised its ugly head and risen to the surface of society’s consciousness, particularly in this political climate. Since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, and especially since the Civil Rights Act of 1968 prohibited racial discrimination concerning the sale, rental, and financing of housing, the number of sundown towns has decreased.
However, as sociologist suggest it is impossible to precisely count the number of sundown towns at any given time, because most towns have not kept records of the ordinances or signs that marked the town’s sundown status. It is important to note that sundown status meant more than just African Americans not being able to live in these towns. Essentially any African Americans or other groups who came into sundown towns after sundown were subject to harassment, threats, and violent acts; up to and including lynching.
As one historian has noted, “Racial segregation was hardly a new phenomenon because slavery had fixed the status of most blacks, no need was felt for statutory measures segregating the races. These restrictive Black Codes have morphed in one form or another to achieve its desired effect to maintain a superior status by the powers that be. I am only suggesting that we know and understand history for it will open the mind to what the future may present.
Frankly, if you don’t know where you came from you will never get to where you are going. And that’s my Thought Provoking Perspective!!!
President of JT Wills Consulting, Speaker, Author, Writer, Blogger, Professor/Teacher, Radio Host, member and past officer of several Business, Community, College Board’s, a Volunteer, and friend to many. Regardless of the worldly titles given, I prefer to be called a man.
It’s been said that there are no words that have not been spoken and no stories that have never been told but there are some that you cannot forget! “Legacy – A New Season” is the perfect complement to that statement.
It is the sequel and the continuation of “Just a Season” and a stand-alone story rich in history on a subject rarely explained to children of this generation concerning the African American struggle.
Just a Season is a luminous story into the life of a man who, in the midst of pain and loss, journeys back in time to reexamine all the important people, circumstances, and intellectual fervor that contributed to the richness of his life...
“Knowledge is power and power produces an understanding that education is the single most important ingredient necessary to neutralize those forces that breed poverty and despair.” — John T. Wills
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Just a Season is a luminous story into the life of a man who, in the midst of pain and loss, journeys back in time to reexamine all the important people, circumstances, and intellectual fervor that contributed to the richness of his life. It is a must rea
Thought Provoking Perspectives
Thought Provoking Perspectives 