AMERICA HAS BEEN CAUGHT WITH THE BIGGEST CRISIS EVER TO CONFRONT HUMANITY WHILE STUCK WITH THE MOST INCOMPETENT PRESIDENT IN U.S. HISTORY
Everyone knew from the very beginning that Donald Trump was grossly unqualified to be President of the United States, but several factors merged to cause the American people to completely ignore that fact. As a result, America’s hatred, bigotry and greed has finally caught up with us. The nation is now facing the biggest threat in human history and we’re caught flat-footed with the most incompetent and ill-equipped President in the history of this nation to address it. Essentially, we’re onboard a sputtering 747 with a man who has the character and intelligence of an 8-year-old at the controls. The situation is so stark in its irony, it almost seems like an act of God.
. Many bigots saw their vote for Donald Trump as payback for their anger over the election of Barack Obama. They were literally furious over the nation’s election of a Black man – so much so, in fact, that they tried to delegitimize his presidency by claiming that he wasn’t born in the United States, and ironically, that conspiracy theory was led by none other than Donald J. Trump. That’s one of the things that makes the current situation seem like an act of God. Trump seems to be reaping what he's sewn. Every since he was elected he’s been struggling mightily with the issue that his own presidency is illegitimate due to Russian interference on his behalf in the 2016 election. He's so sensitive to that fully substantiated charge that his staff can't even mention the controversy in his presence. . But the mere election of President Obama wasn’t the only thing that rubbed bigots the wrong way. They were also angry over Obama’s excellence as President. Just prior to Obama coming on the scene there was a raging debate going on in this country regarding the competence of Black professionals. Due to their own insecurity, there were many racists, like Trump, who claimed that Black professionals were professionals in name only. It was their contention that due to Affirmative Action, Black professionals didn’t have to pay the dues to obtain their credentials that their White counterparts had to pay, therefore, they were less qualified. As a direct result of that attitude, many highly qualified Black professionals were being passed over for upward mobility in their chosen professions. .
But whenBarack Obama stepped up to the plate and played them like a fiddle, he not only demonstrated that Black people were up to tackling the most arduous tasks with ease and grace, but in many cases, possessed the intellectual creativity to perform their task better than most - and without trickery, scandal, or anyone being indicted. As a result of his excellence, Obama was voted by presidential historians to be the 8th greatest president in American history. Now, all we hear from the bigots are crickets. .
But the bigots never forgave America for that – for allowing President Obama to strike that devastating blow against White supremacy - so in retribution, bigots, along with the greedy, the self-serving, and faux Christians, elected Donald Trump, who has been voted by those very same historians as the nation’s worst president in history, and we’re all now paying the price for their selfish idiocy.
Now, I’m not simply spewing petty partisanship on this issue. The facts fully substantiate my contention. Let’s take a look at Donald Trump’s character. He’s ignorant, petty, childish, selfish, petulant, irresponsible, narcissistic, dishonest, insecure, divisive, homophobic, xenophobic, misogynistic, racist, thin-skinned, boastful, uninformed, greedy, a pathological liar, anti-intellectual, stubborn, sneaky, treasonous, cowardly, and undignified. What more needs to be said? . It’s next to impossible to even fathom a human being with so many flaws, and without even one saving grace - he's accused of raping a 13-year-old child,
and raping another woman in a department store dressing room! It takes an act of divine intervention just to find a person as flawed as Donald Trump. It's almost as if God is using an ironic sense of humor to rub our gross hypocrisy in our faces. . Conservatives screamed to the high Heavens when Michelle Obama wore a sleeveless dress in public, yet, now a nation whose motto is "In God we Trust" has a First Lady who's an illegal porn model who got into the country on an Einstein Visa of all things. Just think about that. Can you see the irony in it!!!? Everything about Trump is a fraud, yet . . .
WHITE EVANGELICALS AND ONE FOOL WORSHIPING DONALD TRUMP
So maybe Trump was right about being “the chosen one” – maybe he was chosen by God to punish America for all of its many sins – for the slaughter of 200 million Native Americans (wiping out 10 generations over 200 years) to steal their land, the enslavement of 12.5 million African Americans to work the stolen land, the countless lynchings during Jim Crow, the internment of Japanese Americans, the dropping of not one, but two, atomic bombs on the innocent noncombatants of Japan, for killing millions of Vietnamese and people in the Middle East, and for tearing Hispanic families apart at the Southern border and placing their children in cages.
. There’s no other nation on Earth that’s better at cherry-picking laudable events in its history to celebrate, but the fact is, for the short time we’ve
been in existence, we’ve been the most brutally evil nation in the history of humanity, and that’s an undeniable fact - we condemn Hitler for killing 6 million Jews - which was indeed a horrible act of brutality - but we killed TWO HUNDRED MILLION Native Americans alone after being welcomed to their land - wiping them out for over 200 years (10 generations) - and for nothing more than rampant greed. That goes a long way towards explaining why we don't trust immigrants. . So while we can fool one another by proclaiming how honorable and God-loving we are, we can’t fool God. Thus, now the chickens have come home to roost with the worst plague in human history, and accompanied by none other than the Son of Satan himself, Donald J. Trump. May God have mercy on our souls.
DONALD J. TRUMP
Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com Ewattree@Gmail.com BLACK WRITERS, INTELLECTUALS, AND INDEPENDENT THINKERS . Religion: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.
BLACK PEOPLE: LET US MAKE KNOWLEDGE THE NEW 'SOUL'
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NEW BLACK DOCTORS
The current NFL controversy clearly demonstrates that far too many White people can't get past the idea that they have a RIGHT to control Black people, and Black people have helped to promote that attitude by our behavior, because far too many of us have a hostility toward knowledge.
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Too many of us believe that the serious pursuit of knowledge is a “White thang,” and the role of Black people is to simply be cute, cool, and have 'soul'. So on those occasions when we do decide to demonstrate our ability to think, some White people, like Trump, assume they can just slap us on the wrist and tell us to go sit in the corner and shut up.
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The problem is, as a direct result of our conditioning during slavery, many of us feel that Black people have a moral obligation to remain ignorant and intellectually remote in order to prove that we take pride in being Black. That attitude, held by many Blacks, causes a hostility toward other Blacks who take learning and knowledge seriously, because they’re perceived as “selling out,” or “trying to be White.” That, in turn, causes many brilliant young Black people to shun the pursuit of knowledge, and/or even HIDE their intellect, and that's become a vicious cycle that's led to Black people not being taken seriously.
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As a result, many in this society perceived Black people as being nothing more than a mindless group of children with rhythm. That causes some White people to believe that they are the adults in the room, and they have an OBLIGATION to tell Black people how to think and behave in order to prevent us from destroying THEIR great national values. These people lack the insight, however, to recognize that what they're so desperately defending as their "national values" are nothing more than a collection of myths, and a bowl of fried ice cream that they've been brainwashed into believing in the first place.
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For example, how can you disrespect the flag by taking a knee, when the flag itself is a symbol of the right to free expression? You can't. The flag SUPPORTS the demand for justice. So those who want to DENY that right are the ones who are being un-American and disrespectful of the flag. But these so-called "patriots" lack the intellectual insight to see that, because they lack a grasp of syllogistic logic. For them, logical thought goes something like this - "All dogs have fleas, and my cat has fleas; therefore, my cat is a dog." So from their illogical point of view, anything that they disagree with is seen as un-American, just by virtue of the fact that they disagree with it. That's what allows them to get all up-in-arms over disrespecting a piece of cloth as unpatriotic, yet, not have a word to say about Trump - a draft dodger - disrespecting the widow of a soldier who's given up his life for this country. So it's all a matter of gross hypocrisy, and an attempt to force Black athletes to salute White supremacy and become compliant wimps to the so-called 'patriots'' conservative point of view. If you listen carefully, they actually say it! - "We've made you millionaires, so how dare you worry about our killing a few worthless coons on the street!!!?"
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WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THIS
YOUNG BROTHER WOULD BECOME ONE OF OUR
GREATEST PRESIDENTS?
But these Black athletes (at least, those who are Black conscious) see right through that, because another thing that many White people fail to understand is, contrary to popular belief, Black people tend to be quite brilliant - in fact, they are much more intelligent than many of them are - and it is precisely that intelligence that has allowed them to survive in this uniquely hostile environment.
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The adversity that Black people have been forced to endure in this racist society has served to make them MORE, rather than less. Because having to deal with racism, both overt and covert, every single day of their lives, from the time they wake up in the morning until they close their eyes at night, is like going to the gym every day. It has caused Black people to develop an intellectual muscularity that most of us simply take for granted. Most Black people assume that everyone has their intellect and perception, but everyone doesn't have it. So Black people must learn to appreciate their unique insight and ability to think rather than shun it, and learn to utilize their intellectual muscularity in order to move forward, rather than hide it. Having a keen intellect is nothing to be ashamed of, and it certainly doesn't make you less Black. Was Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, or Frederick Douglass less Black?
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Recognizing that fact is the only difference between Barack Obama and the brothers hanging out on the block - and let there be no doubt about it, Barack was one of them, in every way, right down to getting his head bad - he's high in the photo above, look at his eyes. Yes, Obama is special, but he's not unique among Black people. There are tens of THOUSANDS of Barack Obamas in the Black community. It's just a matter of what the community rewards - do these young people get more immediate recognition from the community for learning to think, or for shooting a jump shot; for trying to become Barack Obama, or for struttin' around trying to rap like Snoop Dogg? These are the issues that are serving to define the Black community.
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The very same creativity that led to the development of Charlie Parker, Ray Charles, Miles Davis, and Aretha Franklin can also be applied to math, science, engineering, and social development. The only thing Black people have to do is want it, focus upon it, and refrain from defining the very womb of our culture as “bitches” and “hoes,” because we ARE what we think.
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And the social engineers within this White supremacist society know that; that’s why they pay a handful of Black idiots handsomely to negatively profile the Black community, lead our young people astray, and drag our image through the mud - and as a direct result of how well they carry out their assignment, rogue cops are allowed to shoot our children down in the street like dogs with complete impunity. Yet, we continue to flock to the movies and music venues to support these ignorant turncoats in huge numbers. We've got to stop that. We've got to start focusing on excellence instead of ignorance, because ignorance is neither cute, nor cool, and it's, literally, killing us. Look at the video below - the vocabulary, the message, and the mindset. This is the kind of thing that makes rogue cops think they can eradicate us like rodents. No, it's still not right, but nevertheless, we're giving them a helping hand.
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What we call 'soul' is creativity, and creativity is intelligence. So the only reason that Black people seem to have so much 'soul' but our special abilities seem to lean primarily toward music, dance, and the arts, is that was the only areas in which we were allowed to freely engage during and after slavery. The White man recognized the intellectual capacity of Black people early during slavery, so after the Civil War his number one priority was to contain the Black intellect. That’s what 'Jim Crow' was all about, holding the Black man down - or, “keeping him in his place.” That’s also why Barack Obama was, and is, hated so intensely by White conservatives, because he clearly demonstrated the latent potential of excellence that lies dormant within the Black community. Barack Obama took on the entire Republican Party single-handedly, and saved the world from a second Great Depression in the process, and without bustin' one sweat bubble. That's not just excellence, that's greatness, it was political genius! He managed to drag this nation forward, in spite of the fact that White conservatives were hanging on to his ankles kickin' and screamin'.
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As I pointed out in a previous article,
. “The problem with Trump is he desperately wants to be an Obama, but he just doesn't have Obama's character, eloquence, or intelligence - and he knows it - and that's driving him crazy. So instead of trying to compete with Obama's accomplishments, he's trying to tear down his legacy. He's so jealous of Obama that he's not only trying to sabotage a nuclear arms agreement that's benefiting the entire world, but he’s also trying to deprive millions of Americans of affordable healthcare in a futile attempt to erase President Obama from history. That's the problem with having an immature and self-absorbed narcissist as president, he places his own needs before the needs of the country, and even the world. But Trump’s malevolent efforts may be a blessing in disguise, because they serve to reveal the GOP's true colors, and the fact that they don't give one bit of a damn about the American people.”
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So this nation isn’t as divided as it seems, it’s just that the bigots are louder. What we’re witnessing is Jim Crow’s final gasp, and the conservative blowback from eight years of frustration over a nation that embraced and loved our first Black president so much that they elected him twice. They’re also frustrated over Obama’s overwhelming success as a president. Prior to the Obama era there was a raging debate going on in this country over whether or not Black professionals were as capable as their White counterparts. But if you'll notice, since Obama, we hear nothing of that debate any longer. Obama made the job of being president look effortless during one of this nation’s most trying times. So thanks to Barack Obama, the bigots lost one of their most cherished delusions - the delusion of superiority. Therefore, instead of becoming frustrated ourselves and descending to the level of the bigots, we must out-think them, and embrace the honor of delivering Jim Crow his final blow - and we can do just that.
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Black people are natural educators, and we've already demonstrated that we have the ability to influence the world. In spite of our second-class status in the united states, and our being deprived of attending the great music conservatories of the world, we took washboards and makeshift instruments and created jazz, the greatest, and most complex, musical innovation in the history of mankind. We made the Roaring Twenties roar, jazz serenaded America to victory over Hitler during WWII, and today you can get a PhD at any university or musical conservatory in the world for just being able to explain what Charlie Parker was doing over sixty-five years ago. We also demonstrated to the world that we weren’t the mindless Stepin Fetchits in which we’d previously been portrayed, and we produced a president who was certainly one of America's greatest, who was beloved and respected around the world, by friends and foe alike, and who saved the world from a second Great Depression. So we've already proven that we have much to offer this nation, and the world - my closest friend is being applauded and having roses thrown at he feet by the people of Russia even as I speak.
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She sent me a message saying, "Everything is good. We had a 1200 person standing ovation the other night. Last night after the show I went out in the lobby and the people stood around me and applauded. Their faces were filled with glee and my heart was full. It was a happy heartfelt memory moment. I signed autographs and people wanted to take pictures with me. One little girl kept coming over to take pictures. It was so funny, so I said, 'Okay, this one is just in case you loose the other three.'"
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JAZZ SINGER RITA EDMOND
IN RUSSIA
So it’s time to set aside all pettiness and, ironically, to focus our creativity on saving this nation that's treated us so harshly, from itself. The bigots want America to believe we’re in a race war, but instead of getting as ignorant and angry as they are, we must help this nation to understand that we are not in a race war, but knee-deep in a CLASS war - race is merely a very potent weapon being used as a divisive distraction - and we can do that with just a little bit of intelligence, foresight, and creativity. So let the bigots act a fool while we quietly morph into reasoned and thought-provoking educators of the American people. Because we're engaged in a war of ideas, philosophy, and intellect, not idiocy. So it's time to let the cat out the bag, and show the world, once again, who we REALLY are.
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Even some of the most thoughtful and well-meaning White people - White people who recognized and fully support the Black community's potential - even they fail to recognize who we really are as a people, because we keep it under wraps - even from ourselves in many respects. Thomas Jefferson said the following:
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“They [Black people] are more generally gifted than the whites with accurate ears for tune and time, and they have been found capable of imagining a small catch. … Whether they will be equal to the composition of a more extensive run of melody, or of complicated harmony, is yet to be proved.”
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LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN
That is EXACTLY how many, but far from all, White people feel about Black intellect. But Thomas Jefferson, a musician himself, has been proven to be grossly in error in his attitude toward Black people with regard to our musical capabilities, just as many of today's White people are in error regarding our intellectual capacity. Without even having to address the debate over whether or not Beethoven with his Moorish heritage was Black, let Bach try to compete with the "melodic run" or "harmonic complexity" of John Coltrane or Quincy Jones below - as great as he was, he'd be blown out of the water. I know there are many musicologists who would be absolutely shocked that I would even THINK such a thing, and GOD FORBID, say it out loud, but that's only due to their educational brainwashing. But I present the facts below. Just imagine, if you can, Bach trying to keep up with this - and I'm being compassionate here by not dragging out Bird:
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AND WITH REGARD TO ORCHESTRATION - OVER 55 YEARS AGO WHEN QUINCY WAS NOT MUCH MORE THAN A KID:
"Twelve year-old twins, Peter and Paula Imafidon, are black children from Waltham Forest in northeast London. Nicknamed “the Wonder Twins,” Peter and Paula are Great Britain’s current highest achievers. At 9-years-old they made history as the youngest children in British history to attend high school. They are now in their third year. The children became the youngest to ever pass the University of Cambridge’s advanced mathematics exam after participating in the Excellence in Education program. They set world records when they passed the A/AS-level math papers. Peter Imafidon, who is also a 100m and 400m relay champ in London, has said that he would like to serve as Prime Minister one day and his sister Paula, a county champion in rugby, would like to teach math. Both students are musicians.
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"The twins joined the ranks of their gifted siblings, Anne-Marie Imafidon, who was the pioneering child among the young genii. Now 23 years old, Anne-Marie spoke six languages and graduated from high school at age 10. In 2003, when she was only 13, she was granted a British scholarship to study Mathematics at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Four years later, Anne-Marie obtained her MastersDegree from Oxford University. Anne-Marie was the youngest person to pass the A-level computing exam. Just last year she was called a “serial world record breaker” in the September 2011 edition of “Higher Education Digest.” Anne-Marie has mentioned that she believes in mentoring children to help them succeed. She is involved in the S.T.E.M. (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program to help fulfill the need for math and science female leaders. She is currently working in a high-level position at an international investment bank in the United Kingdom." http://nilabam.com/blog/meet-the-most-brilliant-family-in-the-uk/
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Black people have held their intellect close to the vest for many reasons. During slavery and the Jim Crow era, letting the White man know the depth our intellect could have meant a death sentence, and even to this day, letting your employer know that you're smarter than he is can place you in the unemployment line. For these, and many more reasons, my grandfather told me as a kid, "Never let people know everything you know, because then they'll know everything you know, plus what they already knew, and that'll make them smarter than you." That was great advice for my grandfather's time, but times have changed. It is now time for Black people to let our intellect out of the bag and strut our stuff, and there is a very important reason why . . .
. Knowledge is the bane of the Republican Party. They're wholly dependent on ignorance and stupidity for their very existence. So Black people must let knowledge and intellect become the new 'soul', and use our creativity to help to educate the American people. Now is the time for Black people to out our intellect and reveal the depth of who we are as a people. It's time to show America that we can do much more than just boogie. We must strut our stuff, and not through screamin' and snatchin' microphones, but through careful thought, wisdom, and intellect. In today's environment, simply being Black and proud is not enough - we must also demonstrate our brilliance and resolve. The Black community can longer afford the luxury of simply thinking as a hobby, we must make serious and mature thought a way of life.
As I've asked many times since this controversy began, how can Colin Kaepernick be denigrating the flag by taking a knee when the flag is a SYMBOL of free expression? That’s like saying he’s disrespecting the church by being a Christian. That’s not only hypocritical, but stupid. As a former marine I can say without a doubt - and I’m sure that Trump’s Chief of Staff, Gen. Kelly, could also tell him - that American fighting men and women didn’t die for a piece of cloth or a song; they died for what that piece of cloth represents, the very personal freedom that Trump is now trying to deny Kaepernick and his fellow players.
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But I can understand Trump not being able to fully grasp the concept of patriotism. After all, when it was his turn to fight for this country he applied for, and obtained, 5 draft deferments to avoid fighting in Vietnam - and the very same was true of Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh. But now that they don't have to put their OWN lives on the line, all of a sudden they've morphed into these "Super Patriots" and want to wave their flags at our troops from the sideline - until the troops come home broken and wounded, then they call them deadbeats and want to deprive them of public assistance. This has been a pattern with Republicans. During Herbert Hoover's administration, 15,000 WWI veterans marched on Washington demanding that they be paid what they were owed by the government. Hoover responded by calling in federal troops to throw these ex-servicemen off government property.
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So patriotism is just an abstraction to Trump and his kind. He doesn’t understand that Colin Kaepernick and the others are not disrespecting the flag, he is. These players are simply confronting bigots for being the lyin’ and hypocritical racists they are - and all bigots know it!!! They wave the flag as a pretext for their bigotry, but defending the flag is not what they're about at all. What Trump and his bigoted cohorts are actually about is trying to get us to celebrate their right to continue to kill Black people and abuse other minorities with impunity. But now that they’re being confronted with their own anti-Americanism, they’re trying to claim that it’s the PLAYERS who are unpatriotic!!! That’s pure racist bullshit.
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There are many good people in this country, but they have to be educated into seeing America as it is, instead of the John Wayne version of America that they've been spoon fed all of their lives. Many White people can’t see past that, but due to our experience in America, virtually every Black person who's not a complete idiot sees America's hypocrisy and moral corruption clearly. So we can't afford to tap dance around this issue. We must state the facts in no uncertain terms, and here are those facts.
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The fact is, this nation has NEVER lived up to the myth that the American flag is suppose to represent, so it’s past time for us to stop living a lie and begin to actually live up to the ideals in which we profess to believe. They say, lets “Make America Great Again.” Well, let’s take an unvarnished look at what they’re REALLY talking about:
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After being welcomed to this land by the Native Americans, European immigrants responded by presenting them with disease-infected blankets and then bringing in their army to eradicate them. In the end they killed as many as 100 million Native Americans in order to steal their land. Thereafter, they moved on to either kill are make the lives of millions of African slaves miserable. Then after slavery, there was the Jim Crow era in which millions of African-Americans were discriminated against, brutalized, and in many cases murdered. And during that same time the nation was involved in WWII where Japanese-American citizens had their property seized and entire families were placed in concentration camps. In addition, the United States dropped not one, but two atomic bombs on Japan - and since the men, women, and children of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were innocent noncombatants, that constituted the most brutal and heartless act of terrorism in all of human history.
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But “America the Beautiful” still wasn’t done. It went on to kill 3.1 million Vietnamese - 2 million of which were also innocent noncombatant men, women, and children. Then they did the very same thing to the people of Iraq, but they were more compassionate with the Iraqis - they only killed a million of them, but for no other reason but the fact that they didn’t like the cut of their jib.
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TRUMP SOUGHT, AND OBTAINED, 5 DRAFT
DEFERMENTS TO AVOID GOING TO VEITNAM
So tell me, exactly what is it that Colin Kaepernick and the others suppose to be so proud of that they should feel obligated to stand every time they hear a song? What the hell are we supposed to be so proud of? It’s not as if either the song, or the flag, represents a history of great acts of human compassion, it’s a flag that represents 241 years of criminal brutality, thuggery and mayhem. But in spite of all that, when Colin took the knee, he wasn’t ranting and raving about not loving this country, his actions simply suggested that we should stop lying about who we profess to be, and every TRUE American - or at least, those who subscribe to the United States Constitution - should agree with him.
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In order for this nation to adhere to the prescription for greatness that was laid out by its founding fathers, we must constantly seek to become better each day than we were the day before. Because the fact is, anyone who claims that America has been anything even approaching “great” in its past, is living in a delusion.
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A REAL AMERICAN DURING A RESCUE OPERATION - NO TRUMP-LIKE BLUSTER, JUST ACTION
I know there's a lot of people who are going to resent what I've said, and they're going to find it hard, if not impossible to swallow, but try to objectively challenge any fact that I've laid out here and see what you come up with. The only thing "great" about America is its potential, and that's what we should focus on, instead of continuing to live a lie. It’s trying to live that lie that’s destroying this country. Bigots like Trump will say America is fine just like it is, but it’s not, and it’s trying to live his delusional vision of America that’s preventing us from moving forward toward TRUE greatness.
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The truth is, America is an Affirmative Action program for the rich and powerful who are leaving no stone unturned to keep the rest of us divided and subservient, and our ignorance and bigotry is their most effective weapon. So to have cowardly bigots like Trump wrapping themselves in the flag is a national disgrace.
MY BIBLE IS ONLY ONE PAGE LONG, AND IT HAS ONLY THREE COMMANDMENTS
. 1). LIVE THE BEST LIFE YOU CAN.
2). HELP OTHERS WHENEVER YOU CAN.
AND
3). MIND YOUR OWN DAMN BUSINESS.
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BLACK PEOPLE HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT SLAVERY
IS A THING OF PAST, BUT OUR MINDS ARE FAR FROM FREE
African Americans were taught the Christian,'faith' while they were tied next to the mules and their mentors were actively engaged in the annihilation of as many as a 100 million Native Americans. So it's obvious that our persecutors didn't believe in their own teachings, and it's easy to understand why.
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The Bible that Christians Worship today was compiled and “blessed” by the Catholic Church, not God. "The Holy" Pope Damasus I, at the Council of Rome in 382, issued a decree appropriately called, "The Decree of Damasus," in which he listed the canonical books of both the Old and New Testaments. He then asked St. Jerome to use this canon and to write a new Bible translation which included an Old Testament of 46 books, which were all in the Septuagint, and a New Testament of 27 books. During that time any book that disagreed with the teachings of the Catholic Church was banned, and anyone who challenged those teachings could be tortured and killed. It's almost as though man created God in man's own narrow-minded image instead of the reverse. And isn't it interesting that God tends to have all of the prejudices and shortcomings of man? For example, according to most religious teachings, God is a virulent sexist, just like man, even though he gave women - not man - the ability to create and nurture life. Man tries to explain all of that away to me, but it just doesn't make sense to the mind that I KNOW God gave me. So who and what am I supposed to believe, what man says, or what God has done?
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So the fact is, what Christians call "The Holy Bible," and what Black preachers run around thumpin’ so passionately, wasn’t even put together until nearly 400 years after the death of Christ. Thus, everything in it is hearsay. In terms of years, when the Bible was compiled, they were nearly twice as far away from the life and times of Jesus Christ as we are away from the life and times of George Washington today. So in reality, they didn’t know fact from fiction, any more than we know whether or not George Washington actually chopped down a cherry tree. It was created as a political document, and it was "blessed" by bigoted White folks to promote their philosophy. And many of the stories in it could have been written by Mother Goose. For instance, if Adam and Eve were the first people on Earth and produced Cain and Abel, where did the people come from that Cain went to live with after he killed his brother? The Pope obviously didn't think that through very well. Nevertheless, Black people embrace these myths with such a fierce tenacity that it makes the "faith" of Pat Robertson, Ted Cruz, and Donald Trump pale in comparison.
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So Black people are in dire need of a thorough re-assessment of their attitudes and those things they take for granted. They also need to educate themselves in all areas of knowledge in order to gain confidence in their own ability to think, because they are worshiping a philosophy that is dedicated to the proposition that they are inferior. Just open your Bible and you won't see nothing but White folks - who were supposed to have been born in the desert. Are we so brain-drenched that, that doesn't tell us anything!!!?
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As a direct result of that brainwashing, as I write, many of us are currently voting for continued White supremacy, because our "Christian" brain-drenching has taught us to believe that "The Lord" wants us too. We're falling all over one another to be the first to vote for a woman whose husband created the most draconian crime bill in the history of the United States and used prisons as an urban housing program for Black people - and, with her full support. So if Black people don’t come to their senses we’re going to end up with a choice between Zig and Zag. Zig is Donald Trump, and Zag is Hillary Clinton. To paraphrase Mort Sahl back in the sixties, the only difference between the two is if Donald ‘Zig’ Trump sees a Black child lying in the street, he’d simply order his chauffeur to run over him. If Hillary ‘Zag’ Clinton saw the kid, she’d also order her chauffeur to roll over him, but she’d weep, and go apologize to the NAACP, after she felt the bump. So where are our minds? I'll tell you where they are - they're still tied up next to that mule in the 18th Century.
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So yes, I’ve developed my own Gospel, my own truth, and not a word of it comes from the mouth of another man, because I pay absolutely no attention to man. I determine God's will not by what man says, but by what God has done. And to atheists, yes, I do believe that God exists, because we exist. For me, God is whatever entity, or process, that is responsible for the existence of the universe, or what we call reality. So, since the universe does exist, that's evidence enough for me that God exists. Thus, if I exist, so does God, even if he, she, or it is simply the universe or nature itself. Now, that said, as we gaze upon this infinite universe, what evidence do you have that God is not nature itself, and that we are not a part of God?
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So again, yes, I've created my own religion, but unlike the religions of the social manipulators, my religion allows you to stay in bed and hug your wife on Sunday mornings and then spend the rest of the day enjoying your children instead of being mandated to get up and suffer through a paid spoken-word concert by some guy who doesn't know any more about God than you do; and we have no rituals, nor 'Born Again' hypocrites to contend with - you know, those people who use religion as a God-approved pretext to hate or look down their noses at everybody who don't look, think, and act like they do. While we don't wish such people any harm, it is our belief that the world would be a lot better off if many of these 'Born Again' hypocrites (Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Ted Cruz, etc.) wouldn't have been born the first time, and we don't believe that the very human philosopher, Jesus of Nazareth, would approve of such people at all. And finally, there's absolutely no begging in my religion, so there's not a preacher in sight. Thus, my religion is Heaven right here on Earth. We simply focus on trying to become better people, help each other whenever we can, and leave each other alone - and it doesn't take a volume of scriptures to do that, nor a collection plate.
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HOW A KID RAISED IN THE CHURCH CAME TO REJECT CHRISTIANITY
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I was recently in a discussion with a gentlemen on religion and he asked me, "You say you believe in God, and you seem to have Christian values, so why do you say you're not a Christian?" My answer was very simple - because God blessed me with common sense, and while I do have values, they're nothing like those that I've seen from so-called Christians, or any other religious group. So while I believe in God, I make it a point to keep the word of man out of anything that has to do with my spirituality. Again, for me, God is whatever force is responsible for creating what we call reality - period. That's all I have to know, and that's all I have to contemplate.
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An individual's organized religious beliefs are merely an accident of birth, and a form of socialization. The very same man who was born in Georgia, and who was raised to be a devout Christian, would more than likely be a devout Muslim if he'd been born in Iran, a devout Jew if he'd been born in Israel, or a devout Buddhist if he'd been born in China. So organized religion is nothing more, or nothing less, than a form of socialization, and it has absolutely nothing to do with God. In fact, religion is anti-God, because you can trace nearly every form of narrow-mindedness, hatred, and bigotry, directly back to man's religious beliefs. White supremacy is predicated on the belief that "God" sent a White Scandinavian to be born in the desert to lead mankind to the "Promise Land." That has a fundament impact on our thinking. It suggests that White skin is Godly. But the fact is, if Jesus had been White, they wouldn't have had to crucify him - he would have died of sunburn. But once you can get people to believe in walking dead men and talkin' snakes, you can get them to believe in anything - and they have.
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Thus, man uses religion to try to make himself feel special, as though he has some special connection to God, so by its very nature organized religion is discriminatory, not only toward other groups, but other creatures. From their point of view, it's not that they hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like themselves - it's just that God does. So their religious beliefs are used to both make themselves feel superior, and also, to validate their hatred and distrust of others unlike themselves. But from my point of view, since God created all things, what makes man think that God loves him any more or less than he does a parakeet? Thus, religion is nothing more than a reflection of man's arrogance.
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That's why a person's religious beliefs are nearly inseparable from his or her political beliefs. Many Christians don't believe in global warming, equality among people, that Jesus was Black (not that it matters, since he was just another insightful man, and nothing else), or that the Bible didn't prohibit the wholesale slaughter of up to 100 million native Americans, tying Black people up next to the mules, killing 6 million Jews, or dropping two atomic bombs on the innocent civilians of Japan. Christians claim that they did these things in the name of God - it was their "Manifest Destiny." What they do believe in, however, is quietly allowing, and even supporting, the ascent of a nasty, bigoted, and un-Godly man like Donald Trump. Many Christians believe that Trump came into our midst as a result of the will of God, which, of course, is complete nonsense, but their religious delusions and myths justify their hatred, anger, bigotry, and greed.
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Thus, religion is invariably used to validate the most malevolent part of man's nature. It allows his hatred, selfishness, and greed to be written off as God-approved, and with respect to Black people, it allows our apathy to be written off as justified - "All we have to do is sit and wait, because God is coming to our rescue." That was the position taken by many in the Black clergy who criticized Martin Luther King. They said his activity was stirring up unnecessary animosity toward the Black community, and that all he had to do was be patient and things would work themselves out.
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In that regard, what about Black people - why do they embrace this nonsense, and in many cases, even more passionately than Whites?
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Black people tend to be such devout Christians because they've been taught, first by slave masters, and then by rich, slick-talking Black preachers, that God's going to deliver justice upon them "by-and-by." But what they don't understand is, God did his part when he gave us a brain, and "God helps those who help themselves." That's the way of nature - God made birds to fly, fish to swim, and man to think. So you either do what you were created to do, or you perish - period. That's a fundamental law throughout the universe for all things that exist. If a planet drifts to close to it's parent star, it's over, and that's it. So as Black people, we are not going to be able to pray ourselves out of our current condition; we're going to have to think our way out of it, or we're not going to survive, because God created man to think, not conjure up stories about a walking dead man coming to our rescue. Dead men don't walk, and snakes don't talk in this universe - at least in our part of it. That's just not the way things work, and if you believe that it does, or even can work that way, you have more faith in what man says, than what God has done.
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HOW STUPID CAN YOU GET!!!?
But what makes people so passionate about their religion is it allows them to believe what's convenient for them to believe. That's why in spite of the atrocities that has been committed by this so-called "Christian nation" that have been listed above, we have Americans walking around with tears in their eyes talking about "God bless America." Such people represent a monument to man's capacity to delude himself. If we do an objective assessment of the atrocities committed by the United States in its relatively short existence, it will become immediately clear that this has been the most brutal and un-Godly nation in the history of humanity. Our historic record would make one think that the United States was founded by a cult of Devil worshipers - and this comes from a man who loves America. But I love what it can be, not what it is, or what it has been. So if we are ever to truly become the nation that our founding documents lie so eloquently about, it is a must that we begin to think clearly, and stop believing in talkin' snakes.
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Ephesians 6:5-9 says, "Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ." Those are not my values - and for so-called "good Christians" to simply sit back and say, "We're praying on it" don't fly with me, because they’ve been "praying on it" for centuries now. That's one of the major reasons that Black people are in such dire straits - we're spending more time worshipping the philosophy of bigots than we are educating ourselves, and as a direct result, we've become "bligots" ourselves.
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PORTRAIT OF AN IDIOT
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THE CONVERSION
"Come here nigga and let me teach yo crazy, animal ass about the Lord. The first thing you got to learn is to Love thy Neighbor . . . especially me."
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"Yes sir, Massa. Why would anybody not love you, Sir? You so good to me, Massa. Anybody don't love you needs to have dey ass beat real good, Massa."
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"Shut up, nigga. I'm talkin'."
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"Listen, you been blessed already, and you don't even know the Lord. The Lord made it where you don't have to worry 'bout a thing. I feed you, I put clothes on yo nasty ass, and I give you a shed to sleep in, and all you have to do is whatever the hell I tell you to. Do you know how blessed you are?"
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"Oh, indeed I do, Massa. You take good care of me. I's so happy."
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"Now, listen real good 'cause dis impotant. God said, thou shalt not steal from me, thou shalt not kill (unless I tell you to), thou shalt not stick another coon's wife (unless we tryin' to make some mo niggas), and nigga, whatever you do, thou shalt not even look like you want to stick a white woman, or we gon lynch yo black ass. You here me, nigga?"
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"Oh yes, Massa. We know dat! But Massa, I thought you said thou shalt not kill?"
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"Dat means people, fool - real people! Dat don't go for niggas. God wants us to keep you in yo place."
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"Dat's right, Massa. We sho gotta keep niggas in dey place. No tellin' what a happen if we let dese niggas git loose. God so smart."
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"I said shut up, nigga, and listen to the word."
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"The next thing you got to learn is, whatever happens on this plantation is God's will bein' done. And if you listen to me, you'll get to live like I do when you die and go to Heaven."
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"Live like you, massa? A nigga ain't got no business livin' dat good. What a Po nigga like me gon do with all this? You know I ain't got sense enough to run nothin' like this."
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"Just shut up, nigga!" When you dead you gon get some sense - the lord gon give it to you. The Lord can do anything, even give sense to a nigga. And he gon give you all the other niggas you gon need to help you in the fields, too."
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"Massa, you so good to me! Thank you for tellin' me all dis. I'm gon be a good nigga - the best nigga you ever seened. Look, I'm gon pray for you right now, and thank the Lord for givin' me so good a massa."
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"Shut up and get up off your knees, ya dumb nigga! The fields need tendin'! You pray to the Lord on your own time. God don't won't you talkin' to him when you s'pose to be workin'."
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"A couse, Massa. What I been thinkin'? I's so dumb. I don't know why you put up with me, Sir."
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"How many times I got to tell you to shut the hell up, nigga?"
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"Yes Sir, I's a shuttin', Massa. I's a shuttin', right now."
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"Now get yo ass out there in that field and let's get some work done around here . . . Oh, and Toby, have yo woman meet me in the barn. I need to tell her 'bout the Lord too."
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"Yes sir, Massa."
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"And another thing, Toby, if my momma come a lookin', tell her I'm playin' in my tree house."
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"Why you gon go fibbin' to yo momma, Mr. Tommy? She knows you like to sit wit Lou Ann."
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"Just shut up, nigga, and do what I said! And tell Lou Ann to wear that pretty dress I like, cause we gon be talkin' 'bout the Lord, so it's gon be like chuch."
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"Yes Sir, Mr. Tommy." . . . "Whaaaaaaat a friend we have in Jeeeeesus . . ."
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I PUT A SPELL ON YOU
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Eric L. Wattree Http://wattree.blogspot.com Ewattree@gmail.com
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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.
For the past six years we’ve had the opportunity to watch the ravages of cognitive dissonance at work. All their lives conservatives have been basing their self-esteem on the delusion that they were superior because they were born White. Now Barack Obama, and many others, have come along to completely destroy the delusion that has brought them so much comfort over the centuries, and it's just too much for their racist nature to take. So it's, LITERALLY, driving them crazy.
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They were able to maintain their myth of superiority for so long because an individual’s intelligence is focused on adapting to their environment. So when Africans were taken away from their environment and brought to this strange land, naturally we seemed out of place and clueless - so they laughed at us, pointing to our disorientation as stupid.
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But when they began to recognize our true intelligence while we were in bondage, they reached into their arsenal and began to utilize a tactic that seems to come so natural to them, and they started doing to our culture as a whole, what they’re currently doing to President Obama as an individual - they engaged in obstructionism, by making it a crime to teach a Black person to read.
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Thereafter, their worst fears were confirmed when slaves began to escape and educate themselves. Frederick Douglass was a case in point. In spite of being deprived of the great academies of learn of his time, Frederick Douglass escaped from bondage, educated himself, and went on to become one of the great writers, orators, and brilliant intellectuals of his time. He rubbed shoulders with presidents and kings, and became a valued advisor to President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, and to other presidents thereafter.
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In 1852 - nine years BEFORE the Civil War; back when even "nice" White folks would lynch a Black man if given sufficient cause - when asked what he thought of the nation’s Independence Day celebrations, he came straight from the shoulder, and without any hesitation or equivocation. He said, "Your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are, to Him [the slave], 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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So what we have in Douglass is a handsome, suave, and debonair Black man, living in pre-Civil War America, yet, had the knowledge and intellect to command enough respect to live life the way he saw fit. He counseled the President of the United States, he 'dated' who he felt like 'dating' - Black or White - because, since you are what you think, Douglass considered his brothers and sisters all those who THOUGHT like him - and he faced down a White supremacist society eyeball-to-eyeball without flinchin’ an eyelash, and he had no "posse," and no "crew." It was just Douglass, his manhood, his intellect, and the fierce determination in his eye - but obviously, that was enough.
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That is the Black man that conservatives fear, and are desperately trying to contain with all of their obstructionism, corruption, and brutality; and that is the Black man that every Black parent should be just as desperately trying to forge in every Black child in America. For, when you look at the intelligence, knowledge, and fierce determination in Douglass’ eyes, you’re looking into eyes that will look upon freedom, justice, and equality.
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But we’ve allowed Jim Crow to corrupt our souls, first, through physical bondage during slavery, and later, through his Jim Crow laws that beat down our character, and convinced us that we were less than who we are. He’s managed to turn many of us into clowns, into caricatures of manhood. As a result, far too many of our young Black men are all swagger, and no substance, where Douglass was all substance, and no swagger. That, is what we must strive to return to, because that, is who we truly are.
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A true Black man is strong, focused, and resolute like Douglass - not saggin’, swaggerin’, illiterates struttin’ around flaunting fleeting wealth and spewing vulgar nursery rhymes that celebrates the murder of his own, and denigrate the very womb of his culture. No, that’s not manhood - that’s the manipulation of Jim Crow pulling the strings of ladder-day Steppin’ Fetcits, stupidly masquerading as virile, while desperately in search of manhood.
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But there’s nothing intrinsically wrong with being a rapper - Black people have always gravitated toward the arts. Oscar Brown Jr. and Gil Scott Heron were rappers, but they were rappers because they had something to say. They were educators in the tradition of Frederick Douglass and the ancient griots of West Africa . . .
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So rap on young brother, but rap about substance. Carry a message that glorifies our people, that honor our Black women, and that celebrates the strength of character that allowed us to defeat the most severe adversity, an adversity that’s made us more, rather than less. Celebrate your people with dignity, pride, and intelligence. You’re always talkin’ about "bitches" and "hoes" - don’t allow yourself to become a hoe for Jim Crow. The bling ain’t worth it - and Black people, we must stop enriching those who think it is.
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HOWLING WINDS
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As I watched my son, dapper as they come, walk down our walkway and into manhood,
what I remember most was the howling winds. I'd seen such winds before, but never like this - my old foe was pulling up trees by the roots,
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So I watched, but I watched alone.
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As the winds raged on and the mighty palms bowed, a single leaf from our Winter-bare ficus tree
held tough against the ferocious storm. It fought valiantly against the angry gale, as though hanging tough Just to witness the changing of the guard,
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So I stood, but I stood alone.
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Like that solitary leaf, all my life I've fought the ferocious winds, and now they’ve returned, this mighty foe, poised to seize the hopes and dreams of my only son,
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So I cringed, but I cringed alone.
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Then, posterity glanced back, squared its shoulders, and beat back hopelessness as it
trudged through fields of ivy. Then it spread its wings and rode those howling winds
over yonder mountaintop,
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So I wept, but I wept with a crowd . . .
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I NOW STAND FIRM
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Eric Wattree, Jr.
I now stand firm. My conviction of 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.
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ATTENTION BIGOTS!
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Don't you think for a moment that you're jumping up-and-down about Obama's incompetence is fooling anybody in America but yourself, as evidenced by the last election. We all know what's going on - including many White people. You're in absolute misery, and we're taking great pleasure in watching your agony, because we know why you're ACTUALLY screaming. You're not screaming over Obama's alleged corruption or incompetence; you're screaming in agony over having the hell beat out of you with your own bat, and it's an absolutely exhilarating thing to watch.
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Consider this a teaching moment, Professor Henschel, and take special note of the bludgeoning below. You're severely out-classed - not because you're White, but because you're White and failed to prepare yourself for reality. It's a new day, and what’s actually causing you so much distress is having to witness Jim Crow's dying gasp.
Strive To Become Your Own Hero... Then Let No One Remove Your Cape.
BIO
Eric L. Wattree is a writer, poet, and musician, born in Los Angeles. He’s been a columnist for The Los Angeles Sentinel, Black Star News, The Atlanta Post, and is a member of the Sigma Delta Chi Society of Professional Journalists (http://www.spj.org/). He’s also the author of "A Message From the Hood."
Some of the greatest minds I’ve ever known held court while sitting on empty milk crates in the parking lots of ghetto liquor stores, while some of the weakest minds I’ve ever known roamed the halls of academia in pursuit of credentials over knowledge.
Am I a hater, you ask? You're damn right I'm a hater. I hate injustice. I hate hypocrisy. I also hate demagoguery, apathy, and the stupidity that allows it to exist. Hater? Absolutely. I'm a big time hater. I hate what I see happening to this country, and I hate watching the development of a culture that embraces ignorance with a stupid sense of pride. So yes, I am indeed a hater, but not only that - I'm a hater with a very low threshold for bullshit, so step off.
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