I RESPECT AFRICA AS THE CRADLE OF MY CULTURE, BUT MY ANCESTRAL HOMELAND IS WATTS

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

EFFICIENT THOUGHT IS THE KEY TO BLACK EQUALITY

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I RESPECT AFRICA AS THE CRADLE OF MY CULTURE,

BUT MY ANCESTRAL HOMELAND IS WATTS

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I was recently in a discussion with an individual who insisted that in order to be a proud Black man I was required to love and embrace Africa. Now, I have no problem with Africa, the problem I have is with that narrow-minded point of view. I'm a realist. I don't believe in either group-thought, litmus tests, or caving in to the beliefs of others just to be a part of a tribalist knitting circle. All Black people don't think alike - and thank God, because it's the uniqueness of our varied intellectual perceptions that contribute to our greatness as a people. So the fact is, while I take great pride in my African heritage, I recognize that in the final
analysis, that's all it is – my heritage, not my identity.
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So, I am sick to death of some of our people trying to force their delusional ideologies down our throats about the meaning of Black pride as though it's some sort of cultural gospel - and it always seems to be the most undereducated among us who tend to spew that delusional nonsense. It's a form of street-corner religion and just as clueless. They're the flip side of the Trump crowd, who have a tendency to do more feeling than they do thinking. So, while I fully understand that no one man corners the market on either knowledge, wisdom, or intellect, I've concluded that we are in dire need of an alternative point of view about what it means to be a proud African-American, minus the tribalist bullshit.
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The truth is, Africa is just another name on the map to me. Yes, it's the cradle of my culture, and I appreciate that, but on a strictly personal level, I have no more connection with Africa than I do China. I have more of a personal connection to the Los Angeles General Hospital where I was born than I do Africa, but I don't love it either. It's just a hospital, and I don't love buildings any more than I do plots of land.
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The people who like to spew this theory of African homage like to call themselves "woke". But the fact is, they're anything but. They're so desperate to escape the shame of slavery in their past that instead of exploring what it really means to be a proud African-American they're scouring the world in search of a false identity.  Some of these people are so desperate to redefine themselves that they'll hear one speech by Farrakhan and the very next day show up in a bow tie. That's neither independent thought, nor Black pride - that's gullibility, and the tendency to delude themselves into trying to be something they're not. In addition, any man who is willing to give another man's ability to think priority over his own is a weak-minded fool, and a group of fools do not provide a strong foundation for a proud and illustrious people. 
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We don’t need one voice and one intellect speaking for millions, we need millions of intellects speaking with one voice. That's what makes a people great. Following the thoughts of one man limits our intellectual potential. Since we all have unique and varied experiences, we all have unique areas of brilliance and unique perceptions into reality. So, we shouldn't waste that valuable resource by following the limited perceptions of one man. There's no such thing as a "Godologist", so we should all use the common sense bestowed upon us by God to become teachers as well as students. We should all learn from one another. So, any preacher, potentate, or so-called "leader" who thinks he's been chosen to speak for God is not only arrogant, but deluded.
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So, I'm sorry if my attitude tends to offend some people, but it is what it is. Part of being an efficient thinker is not dealing in bullshit, so I’m not about to

diminish myself by trying to lie, or getting all misty-eyed over Africa just to make some dashiki-clad ideologue happy - a person who in all probability has taken on an African name and has completely skipped over the sacrifices of our slave ancestors as though they are something that we should hide in shame - so, who's the one who is brainwashed?  I love my African-American heritage, while they've been brainwashed into being ashamed of who they are - and let there be no doubt about it, they're definitely a product of slavery, regardless to how exotic-sounding the new name they choose to give themselves. Are they ashamed of Frederick Douglass as well? Look in that brother's eyes and tell me what it is that they're ashamed of.
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We're deluding ourselves by looking to Africa for our heroes. Douglass is the kind of brother we should be honoring. If we did, maybe we'd take more pride in who we are as African-Americans and do more to repair the Black community. Douglass, an escaped slave, stood before America eight years BEFORE the Civil War – during a time when they would lynch a Black man for just looking them in the eye – and said the following:
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“What, to the American slave, is your Fourth of July?

I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciation of tyrants, brass-fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy-a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages.”

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Douglass also encouraged President Abraham Lincoln to establish the 54th Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, a Black unit during the Civil War that was organized for the specific purpose of exacting payback for slavery, and his two sons were its first recruits. So why do we feel the need to reach all the way back to Africa for our heroes? I’ll tell you why, because many African-Americans suffer from a serious problem of self-esteem, and that, along with our failure to educate ourselves, are two of the primary dysfunctions that’s holding us down.
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I guarantee you there are going to be some Black people who are going to be intrigued by the title of this article, and then glance at it and say, “Oh, hell, naw. I don’t have time to read all that.”, and then move on to read a piece on twerkin’. That’s a major part of our problem.
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Far too many of us consider ignorance a moral obligation of our culture. Any attempt to free ourselves from ignorance is considered "uppity", or "tryin' to be White." The reason for that is during slavery the only slaves who spoke anything close to proper English were the house slaves, and many of them had a tendency to look down their noses at the slaves who worked the fields. As a result, to this day, many Black people have a hostility towards literacy and the pursuit of knowledge. They consider it "un-Black." Even the phrase "Stay woke" is a perversion of the English language, but they think it's cool, because it celebrates the sound of illiteracy, or what they consider being appropriately Black. That attitude is destroying our children, and the Black community as a whole, because it shuns the African-American's most valuable asset - our intellectual creativity.
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So, the fact is, I feel the way I feel, and I completely ignore the popular Black delusions about Africa. I consider it mindless dribble. I don't love any plot of land. I love people, not geography, and I don't know a soul in Africa, so what is it about Africa that I'm supposed to love, other than a fantasy and the need to compensate for a lack of self-esteem regarding what it means to be an African-American? Absolutely nothing.
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I’m not into fantasies. I deal in reality, but for some reason many of our people are into playing silly little closed-minded games - you know, the same kind of games the White man loves so passionately. Their attitude is, if you don’t look, think, and act like me there’s something wrong with you. That's what keeps us divided and unable to work together and move forward. It's also narrow minded and bigoted thinking that betrays their ignorance and limits their growth. So while they're talking Africa, they're thinking exactly like their White slave master taught them. Thus, I don't even like to waste my time with such ignorance. They’ll say things like, “If you don’t love Africa it's because you’ve been brainwashed by the White man. Every other culture loves their ancestral homeland, why don't you?” My response is simple - So do I, but my ancestral homeland is Watts.
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But because such people tend to be more ideological than thoughtful, what they don’t seem to understand is other cultures have a direct connection to the lands of their various cultures. They have love ones,

experiences, and memories of the land that forges a connection. But the African-American culture is a new culture that’s indigenous to the United States. We’ve had absolutely no connection to the continent of Africa for over 400 years. So, to claim to have a passionate love for Africa is just a flat-out lie designed to reap props in the hood. It's simply a form of "me too-ism" in a desperate attempt to be like other cultures.  If these people's passion for Africa wasn't a lie, more of them would be living there, but you couldn't even banish such people to Africa. As they were being transported back they'd be kickin' and screamin' bloody murder. So, the real difference between myself and people like this is, I don’t believe in lyin’ for props - I'm an African-American, I love living in America, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. Period.
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I'm fully capable of being a strong and prideful Black man without lying about loving a place that I know absolutely nothing about, just like I can love God without caring anything about religion. So the fact that Africa is just another place on the map to me doesn’t make me any less Black, it simply means that I’m a strong, Black, African-American man who takes pride in my own cultural experience - slavery and all - and I don't indulge in delusional bullshit.
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Engaging in delusions about Africa like the one above is both a major

cause, and symptom, of Black dysfunction. First, it teaches us to be delusional and less than efficient thinkers, and secondly, it sends a subliminal message to our children that says there’s something inherently inferior about the African-American culture. It sends the message that we’re nothing more than tarnished and impure Africans, but that’s far from the case. In fact, African-Americans represent the evolution of the Black man. So, we need to take more pride in who WE are, not Shaka Zulu, or scouring the Earth looking for a sense of false identity. 
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Like any other species in nature that’s faced with overwhelming adversity that threatens their survival, nature steps in and provides them with the necessary capabilities to overcome that adversity, or to evolve. So, the fact is, the severe adversity of the African-American experience has caused us to evolve into MORE, rather than less.
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Having to deal with racism, injustice, and bigotry from the time we open our eyes in the morning until we close them at night has given us an intellectual muscularity. It's like spending every day at the gym - Every day, all day. It's given us the ability to deal with bigots while on autopilot and without even having to think about it. In my own case, it's gotten to the point where dealing with bigots has even become a form of recreation. So it’s simply up to us to recognize our ability, take pride in who we are, and begin to develop our evolving capabilities instead of wasting our time twerkin’, partying, and engaged in other frivolous pursuits. Because what we call, “soul” is nothing less than Black brilliance straining to set itself free.
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The White establishment recognized that fact when they had us in slavery. Initially, they brought us here from Africa to be mules, but it wasn’t long

before they began to recognize our astonishing intellectual creativity, and ever since that time the White establishment has tried to move Hell and Earth to keep that knowledge from us, and to also keep it in check. That, and Bacon's rebellion, is what ultimately led to all of the oppressive laws and traditions designed to “keep Black people in their place”.  Thus, racism is not based on hatred, it's based on fear.

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So, while it is always good to stay in touch with one's roots, the fact is, the African-American culture has long since ceased being purely African - even though the continent of Africa will always define the core of our being. But any connection that we may, or may not have had with Egypt, Nefertiti, and/or Cleopatra is tenuous and remote at best, at least, in a strictly cultural sense. It's as though we're going around, hat in hand, desperately searching for a piece of history to call our own. But we shouldn't place ourselves in that position – it's undignified, pathetic, and wholly unnecessary.
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We must begin to understand that we are a new culture. We ceased being Africans when it became necessary to adapt to the fields and ghettos of

America, and neither are we simply Americans - we became something more than simply Americans when it became essential that we become more than simple Americans for our very survival. We are a brand new culture - a culture conceived in pain, delivered into turmoil, baptized in deprivation, and weaned on injustice. And since adversity is experience, and experience translates into knowledge, we don't have a thing to be ashamed of. The uniquely pointed adversity that the African-American has experienced makes us more, rather than less. We are a culture that is only now in the infancy of its development. For that reason, we cannot hope to compete, lie-for-lie, with the more ancient cultures relative to history, since our history is only now being written. The African- American culture is a culture of the future, not the past, and for that very reason, we don't have to try to compete for historic greatness, because we're writing our history today.
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But the fact that we are a new culture doesn't mean that we are anything less than the older cultures; it simply means that our greatest contribution to man lies before us. So we don't have to look back to antiquity to find a source of pride, all we have to do is study the life and times of our parents, our grandparents, and that generation of African Americans born between the turn of the century and WWII.
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In less than 50 years, the Black people of that generation went from

housekeepers and flunkies to the boardrooms of multinational corporations. In less than 50 years, they went from playing washboards and tin cans on the side of the road, to becoming some of the greatest musicians the world has ever known. In less than 50 years these people have gone from the defenseless and nameless victims of public lynchings, to laying a foundation that led directly to Barack Obama becoming the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth - and that is a chapter in history that is verifiable.
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The most cursory glance demonstrates that there is something unusually unique about this new culture. While social scientists have indicated that all minority cultures must assimilate, dilute, and subordinate themselves to the dominant cultural soup, there is clear evidence that the African-American culture has had a much greater impact on the dominant culture than is the reverse.
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Members of the dominant cultural group under fifty years of age have more in common with the African-American culture in terms of attitudes, style, and personal taste, than they have with their own grandparents. Black music - Jazz, Blues, Rap, Gospel, and, yes, Rock n Roll - is the predominate music, not only in the United States, but in the entire world. Every time a Rock group steps on stage, they sing a tribute to nameless slaves moanin' in the fields - and just to turn on a radio or television set anywhere in the Western world, is to pay a tribute to Duke, Bird, Miles, and Diz.
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In addition, the United States of America has honored only four men in history by declaring the day of their birth a national day of celebration -

Jesus Christ of Nazareth, widely accepted by many as the father of all mankind; President George Washington, the father of this nation; Christopher Columbus, the man credited with discovering the Americas (along with the native Americans who were already a part thereof); and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., a man whose forebears were brought to these shores in chains.
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That says a lot about that humble black man - and it says just as much about his people. In spite of the fact that Dr. King began his life burdened by the inherent disadvantages of being blessed with black skin in a Jim Crow environment, his words, his intellect, and his deeds so inspired the heart and soul of humanity that America saw fit to set aside a day for this nation - this world - to thank God that he was allowed to walk among us. His was a soul with such strength that it served to lift the rest of mankind to a higher level of humanity. That's not only a testament to one black man's ability to pull himself from the dust of his humble beginnings, it's also a testament to the capacity of his people to meet the test of greatness - and that's a history that is verifiable.
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And we must also take pride in our own personal journeys, and realize that in our own journey through life, history is also being made. You don't have to be a world conqueror to have an impact on the history of mankind; you simply have to make decisions in your personal life that helps to enhance and move your people forward towards their appointment with destiny - and every time you face life's obstacles with courage and perseverance, you meet that challenge. After all, you don't make decisions in a vacuum - every decision that you make in life becomes a public decision. People are watching, your children are watching, and if you nurture your children properly, they will make the character of your decisions an indelible part of the public record.
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Thus, the character that you reflect in your daily conduct carries the seed that your children will carry with them for generations. For that reason, I don't regret one moment of my youth that I spent stumblin' through Watts on whatever drug happened to be convenient. Those years were part of a personal journey that stands as a monument to who I am today. Of course, I related those struggles to my children as stumbling blocks to be avoided at all costs, but they were also related as examples of perseverance, and the determination to overcome the obstacles in my life, and by overcoming those setbacks, it allowed me to relate those experiences with just as much pride as the White culture relates the experiences of General Patton to their children. George fought his battles, and I fought mine, and as far as my children are concerned - as far as I'm concern - one was no less heroic than the other.
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So I don't let others dictate to me what I'm OBLIGATED to think in order to prove who I am. That's group-think, and group-think is not thought at all, it's a sheepish accommodation to the beliefs of others. So, anyone who resent the fact that I don’t think like they do can go to hell.  I have better things to focus on, like how am I gonna move forward right here, and right now. I consider anything else a petty and frivolous waste of brain power.
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Some people tell me that if I don’t know anything about Africa, I should take the time to become informed. My response to that is, why?  I'm not an anthropologist. I'll leave that to people who are interested in such things. We only have so many seconds here on Earth. How is wasting those seconds learning about Africa going to benefit me when I can spend that time learning more about math, physical science, or epistemology? I could become the world’s greatest authority on Africa and still be on my ass. On the other hand, if I put that time into becoming the world’s greatest mathematician, that’ll get the world’s attention.

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I tried to get that point across to many of my brothers when we were in college. They simply wanted to get a degree, any degree, but I already had a young family, so I was there to gain useful knowledge. So, when they asked me why I wasn’t taking classes in Afro-American history (a quick and easy way to gain credits), I told them that struttin’ around in a dashiki spewing tales of the illustrious history of the African diaspora may make them superstars in the hood, but in the long run it’s only gonna lead to making them the most enlightened brothers in the welfare line, and my prediction turned out to be right on the money.
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So, while taking pride in our heritage is undoubtedly a good thing, the realities of survival in American society makes practicality a far superior pursuit. But due to our natural tendency to be entertainers, and our need to impress upon others the pride we take in being Black, many in the Black community have yet to recognize that fact, and that’s why we’re struggling.
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Black pride is not about lip-service regarding how much we love Africa or subject to any other kind of litmus test, it’s about intellectual development, independence of thought, and the confidence and strength of character to be your own man and avoid feeling the need to cater or kowtow to the beliefs of others – Black or White.
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Thus, what it means to be a strong Black man is having the insight to understand the importance of knowledge, the strength and independence of thought to become your own hero, and the confidence to never allow anyone to remove your cape.
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Neither scholar nor the head of state,

The most common of men seems to be my fate;
A life blistered with struggle and constant need,
As my legacy to man I bequeath my seed.
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More fertile, more sturdy these ones than I,
This withered old vine left fallow and dry;
The nectar of their roots lie dormant still,
But through their fruit I'll be revealed.
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And that, is verifiable.

Eric L. Wattree

Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
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BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS
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Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does. 

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KUNTA KINTE? NO - I'M THE GREAT GRANDSON OF TOBY, MY MAN

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

KUNTA KINTE?  NO - I'M THE GREAT GRANDSON OF TOBY, MY MAN

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I love my people, but sometimes we have a tendency to front-off, flo-show, and become melodramatic on subjects that we know absolutely nothing about. That’s why, with few exceptions, whenever I’m confronted by brothers with those exotic names and African costumes I tend to dismiss them out of hand.  It’s not that I resent their image and/or persona - I think it’s wonderful that they take pride in their heritage - but because I see it as an affectation designed to suggest a knowledge, wisdom and pride that, more often than not, they seriously lack. 
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One such brother came up lecturing me on the need for Black people to come together and join with our brothers and sisters in Africa. He was talking like the entire continent of Africa constitutes one group of people.  I had to point out to him that there’s more bigotry in Africa than there is here in America, it’s just not racial in nature, it’s based on religion, tribalism, and politics.  In fact, the chances are very great that we were sold into slavery by other Africans in the first place.
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African terrorist groups kidnap or kill Black women and children routinely. The African Islamist group Boko Haram captured more than 300 young girls from a school in northern Nigeria. While some of the girls escaped, the group's leader claimed he planned to sell the rest “at the market place.” There’s also the Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, Allied Democratic Forces, Ansar al-Sharia (Libya), Ansar al-Sharia (Tunisia), Ansar Bait al-Maqdis, Ansar Dine, Ansar ul Islam, and the Ansaru Armed Islamic Group of Algeria - and those are just some of the groups in Africa whose name starts with the letter “A.”  So if he took his African-American ass over there trying to lecture true Africans on “brotherhood,” they’d send his head back home in a basket.
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Certainly not all, but many of these brothers are acting out a role designed primarily to impress rather than to disseminate knowledge.  If they truly took pride in what it means to be Black, they’d realize that what makes African-Americans unique is not just our African ancestry, but the knowledge that we’ve obtained through the adversity of trying to survive slavery and Jim Crow right here in America.
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While it is admirable that these brothers want to identify with Africa, they only tend to speak of the kings and queens of Africa with pride. They completely ignore the African-American slaves who suffered and died to get us to where we are today.  Those were the real heroes, and those are the Black people who I most closely identify with.  So, “Naw, I ain’t Kunta Kinte, White boy; I’m the great grandson of Toby, and I want you to remember that as you’re diggin’ my virtual foot out your ass.”  That’s what inspires me, and I’ve worked every day of my adult life to be able to say that with knowledge, confidence, and conviction - no swagger, no fist in the air, and no exotic name or costume, just the power and knowledge of what it means to be an African-American, a group of people who are completely unique in culture, experience and adversity, and it's that very adversity that has made us MORE rather than less.  So my goal, and it should be theirs, is to make Toby swell with pride as he smiles back from the grave at what he has spawned.
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While it may seem that this is among the worst of times for Black people, it is also a time ripe with opportunity.  We’ve been complaining for many years about how we’ve been forced to compete on an uneven playing field.  Well, now that the establishment is involved in a class war and determined to dumb-down ALL of the poor and middle class, it presents an opportunity for Black people to make knowledge the new “soul.”  We can only be dumbed-down if we allow ourselves to be, because knowledge is free.  Thus, if we focus and bring our unique creativity to the task, Black people can very easily become one of the most knowledgeable groups in America. Black women, who have always been at the cutting edge of our culture, have already recognized that fact.

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The National Center for Education Statistics has reported that "black women are now the most educated group in the United States." According to the report, "between 2009 and 2010, black women earned 68 percent of all associate degrees awarded to black students, as well as 66 percent of bachelor’s degrees, 71 percent of master’s degrees and 65 percent of all doctorates awarded to black students."  The report goes on to say, "By both race and gender, a higher percentage of black women (9.7 percent) are enrolled in college than any other group, topping Asian women (8.7 percent), white women (7.1 percent) and white men (6.1 percent)." 

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So it’s time for Black men to stop frontin’ and join our sisters in their enlightenment.  We must start working toward actually becoming the brothers that far too many of us only pretend to be.  So like with Colin Kapernick, it'll become clear when the Black man is truly ready to be liberated, because we too will begin to realize that knowledge is the path to moving forward - not rappin', not saggin', not swaggerin', and not trying to enrich ourselves as individuals by becoming the horse instead of owning the race track - it's knowledge that is power, period. 
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I've been through two riots, and if history repeats itself - and it generally does - when the shit hits the fan the most militant among us will be the first one's to haul ass, with their dashikis fluttering in the wind.  There's good reason for that.  Because they know better than anyone that we can't out-scream the White establishment, because they control the media, and we can't out-fight them, because they control the police and military.  So our only alternative is to out-think them, but all most militants specialize in is talkin' shit.  If they were true thinkers they wouldn't have time for that.  It was brothers like the ones described who sold out Malcolm during the Civil Rights Movement - and I didn't read that from a book, I was around at the time, so I've been here, and done this before.  Brothers like this are not out to liberate Black people, their out to gain personal notoriety, but unfortunately, many young people tend to follow them due to their flamboyance, and their own lack of knowledge.
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So I'm glad the shit-talkers are the first one's to haul ass, because I wouldn't want to go into battle having to depend on no damn Cornel West to have my back. He talks too damn much, and he's too self-serving to have a backbone.  He's a performer, not a warrior, so even when it's only a war of wits, he's afraid that he might be wounded.  Just take a minute to ask yourself, where is Cornel now in the fight against Donald Trump?  I'll tell you where he is - he's hiding under a rock, along with Tavis Smiley.  Now that they don't have a Black man to attack, their dashikis are fluttering in the wind.
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So regardless to what these performers say, we must always remember that we're only 16% of the population, so the first thing we've got to do as a community is to educate ourselves, and then once that's done, we've got to use our creativity to educate the rest of America on how they're being played.  Barack Obama knew that, and that should be our strategy, but in order to do that we're going to have to become more serious, and more sober-minded to get the people's attention.  We've got to get away from this "Keeping it Gangster" mentality - and YES WE CAN!   If we can teach America to sing, dance, and play basketball, we can also teach them to think - and this time, our way.  The establishment has been using our celebrity and creativity to shout to the world that our mothers are "bitches" and "hoes", and that we take pride in being gangsters, murderers, and dope fiends.  We've got to turn that around, and use that very same celebrity and creativity to re-educate America - just like Bird, Miles and John Coltrane did - to the fact that we weren't just a bunch of grinnin' and mindless Stepin' Fetchits.  So while Kunta Kinte was quite admirable, it's the great grandson of Toby, with all of the knowledge, wisdom, and power of adversity, who now stands before you - and with great pride.

I NOW STAND FIRM
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ERIC WATTREE, JR.

I now stand firm. My dedication to the power of knowledge is the platform upon which my podium rests. I stand firm, strong, and now free. Free of anger. Free of self-delusion. Free of the folly of empty vanity, and free of the pernicious bane of meaningless pride without substance.

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I stand free to look upon the eyes of other men, reflecting dignity over sorrow, and accomplishment over pain; I stand with a burning passion, fueled by the very flame that forged ancestral shackles,with a deep sense of pride and a pride that flows deep.

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I now stand erect. The steel that once degraded my father, that chained him in bondage to this bitter Earth, now reinforce my character, making me more, rather than less; and the blood and sweat that once drenched his brow, now rage with resolve and a sense of purpose within my burning breast.

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I now stand as a new being - neither simply African, nor simply American, but a hybrid forced to transcend the sum of my parts; no longer simply African, since being torn away from the African motherland to suffer and toil in the fields of America, and more than simply American, after being forced to be more than simply American just to survive within the bowels of this prosperous land.

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Thus, I stand now armed - armed with the wisdom of deprivation, the courage of my conviction, and a deep conviction of my courage; and fortified - with the confidence of a survivor, the empowerment of knowledge, and a ravishing hunger for greatness.

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I now stand the product of love, struggle, and sacrifice; a witness to man's inhumanity to man, and a monument to the hopes and dreams of a million slaves.

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I now stand embraced by my creator, as God now smiles upon my people.

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Yes, I Now Stand Firm.

Firm, Black, and Free.

-Wattree.

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Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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A Tribute to The Man - John Coltrane

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

A Tribute to The Man - John Coltrane

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When I was a kid coming up in the 50's, the worst thing that you could be called was a “Black African.” Many fights broke out about that, because it conjured up images of Tarzan, one White man beatin’ the hell out of entire African tribes who were runnin’ around in grass skirts and bones through their noses.  Tarzan also had the assistance of the animals, because even they knew that he was the “King of the jungle.”  He strutted around like a God, with the African people seeming to recognize, and acknowledging his superiority, and their inferiority. The African people were portrayed as being so dumb that they only had a two-word vocabulary - “Boola, boola.”
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KATHLEEN CLEAVER

African American people were forced to live with that imagery of themselves and their culture during the 50's. Then in 1961 John Coltrane came along with a different vision of what it meant to be Black.  When he recorded “Africa” he changed our view of what we represented as a people.  While many of us in the past had been ashamed of our culture, Black pride flowed from Trane's horn like honey. Trane carried dignity in his gig bag, along with Afros, dashikis  and beautiful Black women strutting around in African Sun dresses.  A new era of Black consciousness had begun. 
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I first heard "Africa" when I was 12 years old, and I’ve never been the same since. My mother mourned her "little boy" who loved to cuddle up next to her, because on the very day that I heard Trane I left my childhood behind, never to looked back. He opened up a new world for me, so on that very day I acknowledged a
new King who escorted me into his domain. He revealed a kingdom  

of knowledge, Blackness, and pride. So for me, the battle against
Tarzan was on.

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God bless you Trane, for shining your light upon my darkness.

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AFRICA

THE MAN

(A Night to Remember)

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Young and curious, crusin’ the street,

my partner and I, with life at our feet.

Beautiful days of summer’s ilk,

and beautiful ladies with legs of silk.

Miles on the box with Thelonious in tow,

playin’ ‘Round Midnite--nothin’ but soul.

Miles was moanin’, Thelonious was Monk,

our senses were reelin’, our top in the trunk.

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Down Century Boulevard, past Sportsman Park,

north on Crenshaw, Can’t wait ‘til it’s dark.

Crenshaw was jammin’, not like today,

with cognitive people, who went their own way.

Cadillacs gleamin’, prosperity galore,

ladies a struttin’, that gait I adore.

The ‘hood left behind, no denial or shame,

these were the people who’d mastered the game.

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Dreamin’ and crusin’, yet, chained to the ‘hood,

but into an element we both understood.

Jazz was the thing that had lured our route,

and no chain of poverty was keepin’ us out!

‘Cause THE MAN was in town, with his mighty ax,

and was jammin’ that night at Dynamite Jack’s.

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So anxious to worship THE MAN in the flesh,

the first thing that mornin’ we started to dress.

In our youthful exuberance we saw nothin’ wrong,

with the hours to kill before HE would go on.

Hence, there we were with nothin’ to do,

THE MAN’S first note at 9, it was now only 2.

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So we went to a park on Rodeo Road

and proceeded to get in our mack-daddy mode.

We needed two women with presence and class,

two women who also could dig modern jazz.

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We lucked-out, no doubt, with Debra and Gwen,

two sisters out trippin’ in their step-father’s Benz.

These women were ladies we soon recognized,

not only quite lovely but exceedingly wise.

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We spoke of Dizzy, Dexter, Thelonious and Bird,

and all of the monsters of jazz that we’d heard.

Then just as our session was starting to end,

Gwen mentioned Dolphy, and we at it again.

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We partook of the bush, we had a few beers,

by 8 it was like we’d been partyin’ for years.

But now it was time to hit Dynamite Jack’s,

to hear THE MAN blow, sip Scotch and relax.

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We followed the ladies up into the hills,

to a fabulous pad, must’ve cost a few bills.

We dropped off my car, then got in the wind,

we split to see HIM, and my journey began.

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Dynamite Jack’s was the place to be,

there seemed to be thousands of new things to see.

Doctors, lawyers, pimps and "hoes",

dope fiends with their nostrils froze;

perverts, politicians (one and the same),

everyone seemed to have some kind of game.

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At 16 years old I was really impressed,

with this flash, this glitz, this flamboyant success.

I knew before long, that my turn would come,

I’d shoot for the stars, at least, out of the slum.

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Then HE came on stage to a mighty roar,

as bustling humanity hung all out the door.

A quiet MAN, of knowledge and taste,

yet HIS presence sent a chill through the place!

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Flash became silence, glitz bled to awe,

pure greatness just glistened from THIS MAN we saw;

no posturing, no swagger, no hipster-like mack,

just unfettered greatness, the essence, in fact...

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That one precious moment, I gaped at the stand,

my young reckless mind would take hold as a man.

That moment estranged from the kid that I’d been,

life’s door was flung wide, a new man would step in.

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Many years later, assessing my life,

the greatness of raising two kids with a wife;

THE MAN is no more, on this earthly plain,

but HIS unflaunting manhood stays etched in my brain.

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That kid on that night gave birth to a plan,

that night when he looked up in awe at THE MAN.

Revealed was a path that would color his life,

that shunned the flamboyance and glitz of the night.

To shoot for the stars! That was his plan,

the stardom that’s found in just being A MAN!

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Taking two souls, molding their lives,

away from the flash, and the glitz, and the blight.

Two college age kids now view him with awe,

he now see in their eyes what that night HE saw.

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Greatness is relative, he learned from THE MAN,

through the glint in HIS eye, and HIS demeanor on stand;

don’t have to be famous to be someone grand,

just pull up your trousers, and face life like a man.

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It was KNOWLEDGE and WISDOM that night the kid saw;

the EXCELLENCE of DISCIPLINE that put him in awe,

of one humble spirit, so sweet and sublime,

but a spirit that’ll speak to all man for all time.

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So a droplet of beauty, the kid to mankind,

a pearl of wisdom, a wistful rhyme;

some insight he gained as he bat away tears,

might his essence endure through the unfolding years?

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A journey began, on that faithful night,

that moment a young set of eyes saw "First Light."

When HE tapped out the rhythm to "Africa Brass,"

and my dream to see COLTRANE had come true at last.
*

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A LOVE SUPREME

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A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme,

A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme . . .

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The mountains, The sea,

The stars above

are part of me.

All a gift from he who is HE,

the wondrous creator

of you and me.

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A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme,

A love Supreme, A Love Supreme . . .

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The ageless tide. It’s mighty roar,

The hue of a setting Sun

that paints the shore,

All a gift,

forevermore,

From A loving God

that I adore.

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A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme,

A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme . . .

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I take my horn

to sing his praise,

I’ll sing his song

throughout my days,

And when I’m gone,

I’m still not through,

I leave behind

this song for you.

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A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme,

A Love Supreme, A Love -

.

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My loving child,

now that you're through,

I take thou horn,

and lie it next to you;

In loving praise,

you always blew,

Now, sleep my child

as I sing to you . . .

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A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme,

A Love Supreme, A Love Supreme . . .
*

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.  

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Could Somebody Please Tell Me The Difference Between Zionism And Routine, Garden Variety Racism?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Could Somebody Please Tell Me The Difference Between Zionism and Routine, Garden Variety Racism?

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I'm about to do something that I generally make it a point to avoid - discuss the collective nature of White folks. The reason I make it a point to avoid this subject is because I don't want to add to the disinformation disseminated by many Black racists (oh yes, racists come in Black too) that there is something more intrinsically evil in White people than there is in any other racial group.

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The fact is, just as intellect is distributed equally across our species, so is malevolence. We all have a tendency to be self-serving and corrupt given half a chance. The only difference between White people and any other group is that they have the power, thus opportunity, to reflect that side of their nature - and to anyone who wants to challenge my assertion in that regard, I invite you to witness the Black-on-Black mayhem that's currently taking place on the continent of Africa. Or take the police out of the Black communities of America and see the level of enlightenment that prevails - it would be the survival of the fittest within a week.
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So it seems that the common trait shared by all those who tend to be inhumane and corrupt is neither race, creed, nor color. What they all have in common is power, opportunity, and greed. And let there be no doubt about it, that's the source of all of the turmoil in the Middle-East - the power, opportunity, and greed of Israel, and the American military/industrial complex. But whenever anyone seeks to examine this issue they're immediately met with hysterical charges of being either unpatriotic, anti-Semitic, or both. So while everyone is aware of the problem, we tend to turn a blind eye to it.
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Zionism is nothing but a Betty Crocker-approved euphemism for bigotry, but if you speak to a Zionist he'll tell you, "That's not true. Jews simply want, and deserve, a Jewish homeland." But isn't that EXACTLY what Hitler said? - "I'm not a bad guy; I simply want an Aryan homeland."  It's the exact same thing, and based on the exact same pretext. No one group of people DESERVE any part of this Earth - which "God" set aside for ALL human beings in general - for themselves, and anyone who says differently, and is willing to kill for it, is a murderous warmonger, and full of crap.  If Jews wanted to return to Israel, or Palestine, they should have simply started immigrating to the region and tried to PEACEFULLY blend in with the indigenous people, not take over. If they had done that, and the indigenous people had been respected and given an incentive to accept them, we wouldn't have much of the hatred that we have in the region today.
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This is an issue that needs desperately to be addressed, because due to our failure to do so, American troops are dying, the United States treasury is being looted, and the entire world is being placed at risk. So enough with all of the name-calling and accusations. Israel's behavior needs to be scrutinized just like any other country in the world, because ironically, they're doing the EXACT same thing to the Palestinians that Hitler did to them. They've turned Palestine into a concentration camp, and whenever they feel the whim, they drop their ovens from the sky.
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Pure, objective, and unadulterated truth is not nearly as complicated or elusive as we try to make it seem in this country. But since truth doesn’t lend itself to being Black, White, Jew, or Gentile, when the truth comes up less than a perfect fit to our carefully constructed comfort zones, we tend to, distort, convolute, and try to beat it into submission for a more comfortable fit. In the process, however, we do ourselves a gross injustice, because no matter how you distort it, truth will always prevail in the end. That is the source of most of our problems in this world. We all seek to distort the truth in a way that is most palatable to our special interest - and this problem is magnified by the fact that our writers, political pundits, and politicians have a natural tendency to seek applause and self-interest over truth. So if we’re indeed dependent on the truth to set us free, let us not doom ourselves to a death, carnage, and intellectual bondage by living a lie.
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And the truth is, our poor and middle-class young people are being wooed by slick government commercials to become cannon fodder in a war for profit. But young people, take it from an old Marine, it’s all a lie. They're only showing you the benefits and upside of military life - with you standing proud and strong in your spotless uniform at home, with all the girls looking at you with admiring eyes. They’re not showing you the real picture - of you lying in 120 degree heat in agony thousands of miles from home, bleeding to death from the stub that use to be your leg, or looking at your foot in a bloody boot twenty-five yards away from where the rest of you lie dying. They’re being criminally remiss in not showing you that side of military life. Why do you think the children of the rich rarely come back in coffins?
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Now, don't get the impression that I’m a pacifist, or hate the military, however - I’m not. There IS a time when war is justified, but this ain’t it. You know it’s time to go to war when you’re prepared to see your own love ones become it’s first casualty, but it's abundantly clear that no one in our government has reached that point as yet. If they had, they'd be encouraging their kids to enlist.
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Where is Liz Cheney, or the Bush girls? They can drive a truck. But no, not on your life - they're idea of patriotism is cheering on the dying "little people" from the lobby of exclusive tennis clubs. So be all you can be, but don’t be a fool. You won’t be fighting for your country; you’ll be fighting for Exxon and Halliburton's collusion with Israel to rob the people of the Middle East and gouge the American taxpayer.
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The truth is, the dispute over Israel is nothing less than "The Manifest Destiny" being reenacted. When the Europeans came to America and began to strip the indigenous people of their land, they justified their unholy atrocities by declaring that it was God’s will that they settle and bring his word to this "uncivilized land"– it was their manifest destiny. So in true civilized, Christian fashion, they began to spread the Holy word of God through the hot muzzle of a Gatlin gun. It was a brutally unconscionable and gruesome event, but what could these good Christians do? After all, it was God’s will that they slaughter those "Godless savages." That is the exact same scenario that is currently taking place in the Middle East today. It began with the "creation" of the state of Israel in 1948, and the campaign continues as I speak - but this time, it’s called Zionism.
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In 1882, while Jews were being massacred throughout Russia, Leo Pinsker, the founder of the Zionist movement, published a small booklet entitled "Auto-Emancipation". It pointed out that Jews would never find equality in Russia, so it was necessary for world Jewry to establish their own homeland. At first he didn’t care where it was located - in fact, the area encompassing Zaire, Africa was even considered. But later, Pinsker recognized that in order to get Jews to immigrate in numbers large enough to establish a homeland, he needed a location that would inspire the Jewish soul, and no location in the world would suit that purpose like Palestine, the land of Zion - "the land that God had promised the Jews." The fact that there were indigenous people already living in Palestine never even crossed his mind. In addition, the fact that Netanyahu is STILL taking land and encouraging even more Jews to immigrate to this very limited geographical area makes his agenda clear.
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The ultimate goal is to expand into Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt - countries as far away as Turkey, Yemen and Oman aren't even safe. Israeli hardliners like Netanyahu envision the United States of Israel, and with the help of neocons, oil companies and war profiteers in America, that means endless war, and the death of hundreds of thousands - maybe even millions - of poor and middle class children yet unborn, because they're not going to send their kids. At this very moment the GOP led congress is making absolutely sure that that those kids are going to be in such dire economic straits that their only way of even getting an education is to survive the military. The reason that we can't see that agenda in this country is because the american people think in news cycles, while the war profiteers think in terms of decades. When I was waiting to be discharged from the Marine Corps during the Vietnam era, they had me stationed in Twenty-Nine Palms, California helping to train marines in desert warfare. The war profiteers NEED war to sustain their businesses.  That's why Netanyahu and the GOP are working hand-in-hand. That's also why we need a thorough congressional investigation into the GOP 47 treason letter. They're conspiring to needlessly kill our children to promote injustice and greed.

Zionism 

The American Heritage Dictionary defines Zionism as follows: "Zionism: An organized movement of world Jewry that arose in Europe in the late 19th century with the aim of reconstituting a Jewish state in Palestine. Modern Zionism is concerned with the development and support of the state of Israel."
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Thus, Zionism, by definition and design, is a doctrine dedicated to the taking of Palestine - and on May 14, 1948, European Jews did just that. Between 1944 and 1948, due to their experience with the Nazi’s, Eastern European Jews wanted to get off the European continent by any means necessary, so various Zionist organizations created the Bariha (escape) Organization that helped close to 200,000 Jews to leave Europe and settle in Palestine. Prior to that time, in July of 1922, the League of Nations (the progenitor of the United Nations) gave Great Britain a mandate to protect the people of Palestine, but on November 29, 1947 when the U. N. General Assembly passed a resolution to partition off Palestine between the Arabs and Jews, Great Britain announced that it was terminating its mandate. The end of the British mandate was to go into effect on May 15, 1948, but on May 14, 1948 the Zionists declared the creation of Israel, a Jewish state.
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But in order for the new State of Israel to have any legitimacy it had to be recognized by the United States. The U.S. State Department was less than enthusiastic about creating a Jewish state in Palestine, but shortly after President Truman took office, European Zionist, Chaim Weizmann, convinced the president that it was only just that the survivors of the holocaust would be given their own homeland. Truman agreed, and recognized the State of Israel on May 14, 1948, and all hell’s been breaking loose every since.
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The Israeli-American alliance was a match made in Hell from the very outset - they didn’t even trust each other. One of the largest units in the CIA is dedicated to the prevention of Israeli spying on the United States, and one of the biggest spy scandals in U.S. history involved an Israeli spy name Jonathan Pollard, an American of Jewish descent, born in Galveston, Texas. But in spite of that, Israel receives more U.S. foreign aid than any other country in the world, and we’ve made them one of the most formidable military forces in the world. The reason for that? - oil.
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Israel stands as an extension of the United States in the Middle East, within easy striking distance of Middle Eastern oil fields. So what we have in the Middle East is an unholy quid pro quo -The United States will help the Israelis steal Arab land, and the Israelis will help the United States steal the oil beneath the land.
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So the Israeli claim that their slaughter of the Arab people is simply an attempt to defend themselves is nothing but a farce. Granted, when someone invades your home you do have a right to retaliate against them, but Europeans have about as much right to call Israel their home as I’d have of tearing off a part of China simply because I converted to Buddhism.
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Far be it from me, however, to say who’s a Jew and who’s not, but I think we can all agree that European Jews are not the same Jews that were spoken of in the Bible. But, of course, you’re not suppose to even whisper such sentiments here in America. To say that European Jews don’t belong in Israel, or to speak out on any atrocity that the State of Israel might commit, is considered anti-Semitic in this country. But even that’s a farce. There’s a big difference between being anti-Semitic and anti- Zionist. To be anti-Semitic is to be against a people, while being anti-Zionist is to be against a philosophy. After all, all Jews are not Zionist. But there’s another issue here as well. How can you be anti-Semitic towards Europeans? They aren’t even Semites.
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The situation above describes exactly why we were in Iraq and are in Afghanistan today. Thus, all of the killing in the Middle East is about European hubris, injustice, and greed. The entire justification for Europeans being in the Middle East at all, is based on a lie - and that includes Europeans by way of America.
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How can you go into your neighbor’s home and kill his family, then call him the aggressor? And now they’re trying to undermine nuclear arms negotiations as a prelude invading Iran! It’s all about racism and greed. Think about it-- as bad as the Germans and Russians treated the Jews over the years, you’d think the Jews would have been given part of one of those countries. If they’d done that, European Jews wouldn’t have even had to leave home. But White folks don’t play that - no matter how much they hate each other.
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As I pointed out in my last article, you can't just TAKE land from someone else and then tell them that God wants you to have it. That pretext is not only blatantly ridiculous on its face, but insulting. So everybody knows what the facts are, and everyone knows how unjust it was, but no one wants to say it out loud because we've been indulging in a conspiracy of silence.  But we've got to address this issue, even though, at this point, we can't turn back the clock and get a do-over.  What's done is done. That was the mistake of another generation, and at this point there are two generations of Israelis who were born in Israel and have every right to call it home. But it's past time to start having an honest discussion on this issue and thinking about ways to compensate the Arabs for the hit that they took. That would undoubtedly go a long way toward healing longstanding wounds - and we should start by using that $3.15 billion a year we give Israel for their killing machines and use that money to make a better life for ALL Palestinians. 
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Yes, for once we should do something decent, and compensate the Palestinian people for the injustice we perpetrated against them, because continuing to buy Israel extermination machines is only making the situation worse. And another thing, trying to ignore injustice only allows it to fester and foster deep-seated hatred. We're seeing that scenario playing out right here in the United States among our own people.
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Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)
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Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

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