BLACK LIVES MATTER - DON'T LET YOURSELVES BE PLAYED AND MISS THE BIG PICTURE

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

BLACK LIVES MATTER - DON'T LET YOURSELVES BE PLAYED AND MISS THE BIG PICTURE

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RM,
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I know you're a big supporter of the "Black Lives Matter" movement, and as a Black man myself, it's easy to understand why. They reflect our frustration at repeatedly seeing Black people shot down, beaten, choked to death, and possibly even lynched while in police custody. And then if that's not bad enough, we're being forced to endure juries and agencies across this country treating these heinous crimes as though the alleged perpetrators are performing a public service. It's unconscionable and almost more than one can stand. So I'm definitely in full support of BLM's "professed" agenda.
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But I'm also quite concerned about how BLM is going about trying to achieve their objectives, and whether or not they've been infiltrated by right-wing operatives who are instigating a level of stupidity that's not only sabotaging BLM's professed agenda, but is allowing the organization to be used to undermine other progressive activists - So far, Bernie Sanders, Al Sharpton, and Mike Malloy - activists who should be considered allies. They settled for a quiet little chat, behind the scenes, with Hillary Clinton. Hmmmmm . . .
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Writer and political commentator, Brian K. Pinaire, Ph.D. , describes the the BLM takerover of Bernie Sanders' Seattle event as follows:
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"We'd been waiting for nearly two hours by the time he finally took the stage. We'd been approached by a few dozen petition-circulators, button-sellers, pamphlet-distributors and sign-holders. We'd heard a few songs by a group called the "Raging Grannies." And we'd listened to the usual array of warm-up speakers, local candidates and activists gathered for this event at Westlake Center in Seattle. Now, it was finally time for the man of the hour--or the two hours, actually. Until all of a sudden it wasn't.
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"Just as Senator Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., was beginning his speech, protestors representing "Black Lives Matter" took the stage, screamed at Sanders and commandeered the podium at what was supposed to be a celebration of the birthdays of Social Security and Medicare. I watched all this occur in real-time, but I was also capturing it on video. And I am glad I did, because not enough has been said of the insulting manner by which these individuals addressed everyone within earshot.
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"Demanding to speak, and to do so before Senator Sanders, Marissa Janae Johnson, a self-described co-founder of the Seattle group, began by telling us all "You guys are full of bullshit with your black lives matter!" Even though the crowd had cheered earlier speakers who'd mentioned the movement, Ms. Johnson seemed distraught that some people were chanting "Bernie!, Bernie!" after she'd taken over the stage.
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"Why was the crowd chanting "Bernie! Bernie!"? you might ask. Because they came to see Bernie Sanders speak about Social Security and Medicare.
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"This was when Ms. Johnson reprimanded the crowd even more--a crowd whose average age was easily more than twice that of her own--by announcing "You're never going to hear Bernie speak unless I get silence here now." Yes, she was scolding people of her parents' and grandparents' generations who had come to hear about how we might make lives better for the poor and elderly. And now she was also holding Senator Bernie Sanders for ransom." (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/brian-k-pinaire-phd/feel-the-bern_b_7963688.html)
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So again, RM, while I share your frustration, I'm greatly concerned over BLM's behavior, because nobody can be as stupid as they've been by accident, and  as a child of the sixties, I learned very early in life to never allow myself to be blinded by circumstances. No matter how frustrating and unconscionable the situation, we must always remain vigilant for hyper-ideologues engaged in reckless and unnecessary stupidity.  CointelPro 101.
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The minute I witnessed what BLM did to Al Sharpton and Bernie Sanders I cringed, because it was like "deja vu all over again." It was immediately clear to me that behavior such as that is the primary reason we're still fighting the very same battle 50 years later.
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Both Sharpton and Sanders were on the right page and using the perfect tactic - educating the people and gaining their empathy and support. Then hot-heads professing to be from BLM jumped on stage using exactly the wrong tactic - snatching the mic and shaking their fist at the very people who they should be trying to recruit as allies. They weren't scaring nobody; they just pissed people off - including me, and I'm an old-school revolutionary.
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People are tired of publicity-seeking fist-shakers creating public distractions and wasting our time. Fist-shakers are generally just looking for applause, so they should go somewhere and learn to tap dance and get it legitimately. We're looking for thinkers who can seriously, and effectively, address our problems, not overbearing and obnoxious, "look-at-what-I'm-doing" type entertainers. This situation is much too serious for such self-serving and childish behavior. All they've done is become a distraction. Instead of talking about how Black lives truly do matter, all we're discussing is BLM's childishly disgusting behavior; and instead of promoting the perfect declaration - again, that Black lives matter - whenever thousands of people hear the phrase, the first thing they'll experience is their anger over BLM's silly antics. Our enemies are dead serious, so this is no time to jump on stage auditioning for fame.
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In response you said, "Since the NYPD is using COINTELPRO against BLM, doesn't that make BLM legit? If BLM is COINTELPRO,  did Obama authorize the operation?"
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You're missing the point. When CointelPro is mentioned, that doesn't necessarily mean that it is the exact same government-initiated program that it was during the Civil Rights Movement; what I'm suggesting is BLM's attack on Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rev. Sharpton (both allies) struck me as CointelPro-LIKE.  During the sixties Howard Hughes was world famous for being considered one of the riches men on Earth as a result of his $2.5 billion fortune. But today's billionaires could leave that kind of chump-change as a tip. So today the Koch Bros., ALEC, and their billionaire friends can finance programs that not only rival CointelPro, but much more - and they often do.
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In today's world there is no such thing as a group being "legit" or "illegit".  I'm sure that the 99% of the people involved in BLM are perfectly legitimate and their primary concern is protecting Black lives, but how can we prevent the Corporate/GOP Alliance, with all of their vast wealth and resources, from sprinkling illegitimate infiltrators among BLM's ranks to instigate ill-advised - in fact, stupid - behavior that not only sabotages BLM's agenda, but also undermines other progressive activists and/or candidates?  The fact is, we can't. So again, all we can do is remain vigilant for inappropriate behavior and be discrete, but thorough, in monitoring and looking into the background of people who are over-the-top and who suggest such behavior. People like that are either Judas goats, or not level-headed enough to be in positions of responsibility.
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That's why it's so important for the the working class to come together and pool our political resources instead of going our separate ways as single-issue, fanatic-prone, factions. We cannot win this CLASS WAR by trying to fight it as single-issue factions. Black people, at 13% of the population, are going to be crushed trying to fight injustice by themselves. The same is true of union workers, women, gays, or undocumented immigrants, because the Corporate/GOP Alliance is going to use their vast wealth to manipulate us and turn us against one another. They're going to turn Blacks against immigrants, union workers against non-union workers, and Christians against anybody who doesn't look, think, and act like their particular denomination.  In short, we're going to continue to see repeat performances of the way BLM turn on Bernie Sanders while he was TRYING to tell us what we were up against: "Aw man, Get off the stage! We don't want to hear all of that. We want to know what you're going to do about Black injustice!!!" The fact was, he was trying to tell 'em, but the hot-heads among them weren't listening - or thinking. They didn't understand what any mildly competent chess player knows - sometimes you have to address an issue through a circuitous route.
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You see, many people tend to be so blinded by anger over their single issue that they fail to see the big picture. So the Corporate/GOP Alliance will stirrup anger among Black people, and then do the same thing with other factions - women, gays, workers, immigrants, etc - to keep us so focused on, and fighting over, whose single issue is going to be given priority that we're completely oblivious to the fact that they're hard at work cutting ALL of our throats.
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Factional injustice is merely a distraction to keep us angry, frustrated, and divided. The end-game is actually about abolishing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance, The Fair Labor Standards Act, etc.  In short, they're trying to lower the standard of living of the American middle class to a level that coincides with third world countries of the new global economy, where many workers make less a week than many middle-class Americans spend on lunch per day.
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Thus, it is absolutely essential that we wake up and stop being so blind and single-issue oriented. Yes, absolutely, we should continue to be aggressive in addressing issues of injustice, but we must organize and address all  matters of  injustice AS A CLASS, and not as a multitude of fractious and undisciplined factions. Currently we're trying to fight a class war against the most insidious domestic enemy in the history of the United States as a multitude of clueless platoons, each headed up by a corporal, and without sufficient resources. The Corporate/GOP Alliance, on the other hand, is a well funded and organized army headed by a four star general - and he has a bird's eye-view of the entire field of battle. That's unacceptable, and it's political suicide.
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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 CALL TO ARMS FOR THE ENLIGHTENED GENERATION: LET US MAKE OUR FINAL ENCORE MAGNIFICENT!

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

 

A CALL TO ARMS FOR THE ENLIGHTENED GENERATION:

LET US MAKE OUR FINAL ENCORE MAGNIFICENT!

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The generation of "Baby Boomers" that came up during the 50s and 60s will forever be remembered as the "Enlightened Generation." We were special. The world had never seen anything like us before, and for the most part, the nation still reflects just how special we were. We were just idealistic kids, but we got it right. We embraced knowledge, educated ourselves, and then demanded that this nation adhere to the values that it professed to hold dear. Even this nation’s founding fathers found it expedient to comprise some of their values, but we didn’t compromise even one, and the fact that this nation elected its first Black president on our watch - a mere fifty years after Black people were being attacked by police dogs for exercising the simple right to sit at public lunch counters - will forever stand as a monument to the astounding impact that we’ve had on this nation. But we got yet one more task to perform before we move on. While we're still around, we’ve GOT to educate the young people of this nation to begin to follow in our footsteps.
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As we’ve aged, our numbers have began to diminish, so the nation, and the world, have started to backslide - and it didn’t happen spontaneously. It was a planned and orchestrated attack against everything we represent. It started nearly 35 years ago under the Reagan administration. First they began to attack public information by abolishing the "Fairness Doctrine." The Fairness Doctrine provided that if any television or radio station in America broadcasted a purely partisan perspective on a public issue, they had to provide equal time to the opposing point of view.
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The doctrine’s purpose was first, to keep the American people informed, and secondly, to prevent the demagoguery that we see today on Fox News, and it served its purpose well. It provided endless public debate on every public issue, and that, in turn, served to keep the nation informed of every side of every issue. In addition, a person like Rush Limbaugh couldn’t have existed under the Fairness Doctrine, at least, not unless he had a liberal sitting right next to him who could challenge every lie he told. But some stations found that too combative, so they simply gave a liberal a show with equal time that immediately followed shows like Rush Limbaugh's.
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But conservatives found that when the people were informed of the facts, the conservative point of view always fell short. That’s why it was so important to them to abolish the doctrine, so they could spew their lies and propaganda with impunity. Then after they successfully got the doctrine abolished, conservative-leaning corporations began to buy up all the media outlets across the country, effectively shutting out the liberal perspective from the American people. It got so bad under George W. Bush that only conservative commentators were being broadcasted to the troops in Iraq. I tried to take up the slack by communicating with the troops online, and I had quite a following. But after a while, a military commander contacted me and politely asked me to cease and desist. He said that I was hurting moral. I found that to be both a profoundly significant, and an extremely telling point of view. If truth hurt moral, what did that say about the mission? 
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After the conservatives effectively blocked the liberal perspective from the airways, they then turned to our educational system. They used tax laws and various other measures to attack and defund our educational system in order to ensure that the generations that followed the Baby Boomers didn’t have the educational background to become independent and critical thinkers. As a direct result of the machinations of this Corporate/GOP alliance, today many people with college degrees lack much of the knowledge that the enlighten generation was armed with when they entered high school. That’s why it’s routine to hear the Republican base make statements like, "Barack Obama is un-American - he’s involved in a socialist plot to insure my family against catastrophic illness." Many in the Republican base actually accept such gross stupidity as logically valid. Personally, I find the fact that people’s minds can be manipulated to that level of stupidity kind of scary.
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Thus, the brutal attack that's currently being waged by conservatives on the nation's educational system that's been ongoing for the passed thirty years, is in direct response to what the enlightened generation was, and who we remain to be.
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We hold the distinction of bringing America closer to what it professes to be than any generation in the history of this country. So we, as a generation, possess the quality of intellect that rabid conservatives are doing their very best to ensure never arises again. We are a direct threat to their agenda to convert America from being a democratic republic, to becoming a corporate feudalist state, where they can lower the standard of living of the American middle class to one that conforms more closely to the global economy, where in many countries, workers make less per week, than many American workers spend on lunch per day.
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And they’re coming very close to achieving that goal. A Princeton University study has declared that the United States is no longer a democratic republic; we’re now an oligarchy that’s controlled by the rich. The top 5% of the nation now control 72% of the wealth, and the bottom 80% of Americans only control 7% of the wealth. This has come about just since the Reagan administration. But consider this. Once the bottom 80% of Americans only control 5%, then 3%, and then later, none of the nation’s wealth, our children - both Black and White - for all intent and purposes, will be slaves. Thus, this is no longer a struggle about merely race - race is now only used to keep the poor and middle class divided. We are now knee deep in a CLASS struggle, and it’s the most dangerous threat to the American way of life that the nation has EVER faced.
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So as Baby Boomers, this nation’s enlighten generation, we have yet one more task to perform for this nation. We must do our best to see to it that our legacy lives on. It is essential that when we leave this Earth, that we leave our spirit behind - we owe it to the nation, we owe it to our children, and we owe it to our passionate brothers and sisters who are now in the wind. That is my life’s mission, and that should be the mission of ALL of us who are still around. We must muster the strength to come together for one final rally against those who are out to destroy our children’s way of life.
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America may not have always lived up to its ideals, but what made it special was it had ideals. That’s what made a generation like ours possible. But that’s no longer the case. Radical conservatives have changed that. At one time Americans could look forward with optimism, but not now - they’ve changed America into an ugly, evil, and dark place of mass suffering (when was the last time you saw a conservative who wasn't mean and hateful - in spite, of their professed Christian values). At one time politicians of different political persuasions could work together to further the interest of the American people, but not now - radical conservatives routinely hold the American people hostage in order to promote their malevolent agenda, and will vote any one of their number out of office who wants to act responsibly on behalf of the people.  At one time politicians sought to inspire, but not now - conservatives seek to anger, and turn one American against another. That’s the only way that they can survive, because their agenda is so toxic to the American way of life that they have to appeal to the very worst in the nature of humanity in order to generate enough hatred between one American and another to get them to vote against their own interest.
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So America needs us more than ever. We may no longer have the vigor that we once had, but we still have the passion, and not only that, we possess the most potent weapon that the domestic enemies of America will ever face - knowledge. We are the most knowledgeable people in America, so as we prepare to leave the stage, let us remind these chumps what we’re made of, and let our final encore be one of love for our children and grand children. Instead of simply saying good night, let us leave them with the gift of love, happiness, and the kind of security that we enjoyed.
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So as we prepare to make our final exit, let us come together one last time and tell our children, "Don’t worry, babies, We got this!" And after we’ve defeated these scoundrels, and as we walk out the door after our final curtain, let us not forget to leave a message for history . . . "All You Need is Love." Only then, will we be free to join our brothers and sisters in the mist, with our heads held high.

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ONE FOR BOOMER

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Receding hairline, failing vision,

hair now turning grey,

an aging boomer in final protest,

Father Time his foe this day.

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Donning his headband, tie-dyed jeans,

and scorched draft card of protests past,

he set out for one last battle,

as in his youth that had quietly passed.

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Ode to an aging Boomer,

a different kind of man;

colleagues all now in the wind,

as he makes his final stand.

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But he found no placards or the sound of Trane,

no passionate speeches in the gentle rain,

no pretty girls wearing mini skirts,

and no solemn guards on ‘pig’ alert.

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All he found was a new America,

and more freedom across this land;

the fruit of his struggle

for women's equality,

and the rights of his fellow man.

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He found Martin, Chavez, and Malcolm X,

all standing by his side;

He found Thomas Jefferson

and all his forefathers

beaming down with pride.

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He found minority children across this land

whose reach now exceed their grasp;

He found Jim Crow angrily cursing him,

as he took his final gasp.

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He found pride as an aging boomer,

more hero, than common man;

He found a quirky old fart embraced by history,

for having the courage to take a stand.

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Alone, an aging Boomer,

fellow travelers now in the wind;

but once again, he limps to his trench,

to defend his fellow man.

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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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The Black Community Controls $1.1 Trillion in Buying Power, Yet . . .

Beneath The Spin*Eric L. Wattree

The Black Community Controls $1.1 Trillion in Buying Power, Yet . . .

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The African American community controls more spending power than the Gross National Product of Germany, the third richest industrial nation in the world, so why are we whining to the White man to provide for our needs?
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Dr. James P. Neelankavil, a professor of marketing and international business at Hofstra University, says in his book, International Business Research, that "Since the output of a country is an indicator of its economic activity, the GNP [Gross National Product] is often used as key factor in evaluating a country’s economic strength. The five largest countries in the world based on their GNP are the United States, $7 trillion; Japan, $2.5 trillion; Germany, $1.1 Trillion; France, $873 billion; and China, $393 billion."
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So based on Professor Neelankavil’s data, the African American community’s buying power of $1.1 trillion is equal to the economy of Germany, the third largest industrial economy in the world. We control $127 billion more than France, and $607 billion more than the gross national product of China. So why was it that in the 2014 midterm election people like Tavis Smiley and Cornel West were running around suggesting that due to high unemployment in the Black community, Black people would be justified in sitting at home, not voting, and letting the Republican Party win governorships around the country, and take over the House and Senate? There’s something wrong there. Either they, and their ilk, are grossly uninformed - in which case, they need to keep their mouths shut and educate themselves - or they’re in active collusion with the GOP - the Black community’s worst enemy, and the domestic enemy of the United States as a whole.
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It’s not President Obama’s fault that we have high unemployment in the Black community. We in the Black community need to educate ourselves to a few fundamental facts. Barack Obama is merely President Obama, not King Obama. The U.S. Constitution gives the U.S. House of Representatives SOLE power over spending, and the house is controlled by the Republican Party. Thus, President Obama has to get permission from them to even pay the light bill, but the GOP has a vested interest in keeping the American people hungry, angry, and divided, so they’re blocking everything he tries to do. We saw the reason for that in the midterm election, because with people like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, Boyce Watkins, and the entire Republican Party, they can convince the American people that it’s Obama’s fault, and win elections.
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NOBEL PRIZE WINNING ECONOMIST

The very same thing is true of the nation’s high unemployment. The economy is doing better than ever, and corporations are making more money than they’ve ever made in history, so the American people should be more prosperous than ever, and riding high. But the corporate/GOP coalition have a vested interest in not allowing that to happen, so they’re sending what should be American jobs, overseas. Again, the reason for that is political for the GOP - they want the American people angry with President Obama so they can win elections. And for the GOP’s corporate partners, it’s a business strategy - they’re trying to soften the American middle class up to the point they will accept a lower standard of living. They want to lower the American middle-class standard of living to where it’s more in line with the global economy, where in some countries workers make less a week than many middle class Americans spend on lunch per day. So the bottom line is, even though Barack Obama is President, in a free society, there is nothing that he can do to force corporations to hire more American workers. So I find it quite strange that someone who is SUPPOSE to be as brilliant as Cornel West is laying all of our problems at Obama’s feet, and not saying a mumbling word about the corporate/GOP alliance.
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Again, the Black community controls as much spending power as the GNP of Germany, the third largest economic power in the world, so we’re a nation within a nation, and there’s no reason why we have to sit around and wait for the White man to pass us crumbs. The reason we’re in this situation is because of our conditioning. As I’ve said many times before, we are products of the very same racist environment as White people, so some of us harbor some of the very same underlying bigoted attitudes toward other Black people as any barefoot, sheet-wearing, Hillbilly, as people like Clarence Thomas, Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and a whole hoard of Black conservatives clearly demonstrate - oh, did I forget Boyce Watkins (It’s important that I keep mentioning these people, because with the exception of Clarence Thomas, the others are trying to influence Black people covertly).
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As a direct result of many of our underlying attitudes toward our own people, Black consumers will drive right past Black businesses to give our hard-earned money to Walmart, a corporation that’s closely associated with ALEC (and Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, I might add), and an organization that leaves no stone unturned to obstruct Black people’s right to vote, support politicians who are dedicated to impeding any legislation or program designed to enhance the interest of the minority community, and undermine poor and middle-class American worker’s as a whole. For this reason, Black businesses are absent or barely surviving in the community, and can’t afford to hire Black workers, so we’re creating our own Hell. 
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The following statistic says it all:
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"Currently, a dollar circulates in Asian communities for a month, in Jewish communities approximately 20 days and white communities 17 days. How long does a dollar circulate in the black community? 6 hours!!! African American buying power is at 1.1 Trillion; and yet only 2 cents of every dollar an African American spends in this country goes to black owned businesses"(http://www.clutchmagonline.com/2014/02/african-americans-1-1-trillion-dollars-buying-power-putting-good-use/).
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But in spite of the $1.1 trillion passing through the Black community, there are many who still insist on coming up with the excuse that the problem is with the banks - they won’t finance Black businesses. That’s a lame excuse, and we really need to stop trying to make excuses for our condition, because by coming up with all of these excuses, we’re simply giving ourselves a convenient excuse for failure. With all of the money that passes through the Black community, if we came together we could establish our OWN banks.

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Black Community Opens Its Own Market, and Creates Its Own Jobs

The Black community of Greensboro, North Carolina has seen the light. The African Globe reports the following:
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"Winn Dixie and other large grocery chains had divided up market territory, resulting in the closing of some stores despite their profitability. The loss of this Winn Dixie turned Northeast Greensboro into a food desert . . . For more than 15 years, there were many efforts to lure a new grocery store into the space. However, while the store would be profitable, it wouldn’t be profitable enough to satisfy the demands of the shareholder-based economy of a large corporation. Fed up with essentially begging for access to affordable, quality food,  residents of this predominantly African-American and low-income neighborhood decided to open their own grocery store.
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"After learning about cooperative businesses, they decided to open a community-owned grocery store. The store would meet local residents’ needs for access to quality food and dignified, well-paid jobs. And now it’s going to happen. When the Renaissance Community Cooperative opens in 2015, it will be a conventional grocery store (like a Food Lion or Kroger) where wages start at $10 per hour."

The Black Community Must Rid Itself Of Poverty Pimps

If the Black community ever wants to be a viable entity, however, we’re not only going to have to follow Greensboro’s example, but in order to do that, we need an organized community, and a big obstacle to that is the self-serving poverty pimps among us who benefit from our suffering. We’ve got to eliminate these people. These are the ones who are primarily responsible for the plight that we currently find ourselves. When Martin and Malcolm were alive, the only thing they wanted from the White man was for him to leave us alone and allow us to live our lives in peace. My grandfather had a little verse that reflected their attitude. He used to say, "The only thing I want from this whole damn nation, is a pretty little wife, and a good foundation." I didn’t realize it at the time, but in that one little verse he was teaching me the meaning of life - and he had that - a prosperous and meaningful life, and more.
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But after the death of Martin and Malcolm, the poverty pimps swooped in to try to take their place, but both their philosophy, and their agenda, were much different. They convinced the Black community that we couldn’t make it on our own. They convinced us that we were incapable of such a monumental feat. They told us that we needed the White man’s help to move forward, so it was incumbent upon us to hire them as our official emissaries to the White man. That was in the late sixties and early seventies. But since that time, the "emissaries" have all profited greatly, while we’ve been sitting on our hands suffering, whining, and begging for the past forty years - and we're still waiting for the White man’s response. Sure we want our piece of America's pie, but the only way to get that is by organizing and making ourselves a strong enough political force to DEMAND it, not pay poverty pimps $30,000 an hour speaking fees to talk about how unjustly we're being treated. First, we already know that; and secondly, the only one it's benefitting is the poverty pimp. We're actually PAYING him to help spread the word, and profile us, as an hopelessly inept culture.
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So it’s time to bring the poverty pimp hustle to an end. We don’t need one voice speaking for millions; we need millions speaking with one voice. We also need to re-embrace our self-esteem, and begin to recognize who we are, what we represent, and the dignity of what we’ve managed to overcome. We're not puppies who need to be defended. We are a strong and vibrant people. One of our number has risen from the very bottom to become President of the United States. That's one of the most amazing accomplishments in the history of mankind. It's the equivalent of a captured slave rising to become the emperor of Rome, and it also speaks volumes about the American people's respect for excellence. But the poverty pimps have a vested interest in playing that down. They have a vested interest in playing you down.

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The Community Must Control The Way We Are Being Portrayed

In addition, the Black community is doing itself a huge disservice by just sitting back and allowing ourselves to be portrayed in a distorted and negative fashion. It sends the wrong message to our children, and the world. When our children sit around for hours on end watching the antics of Lil’ Wayne and others flaunting the very worst of who we are, it sends the message to our young people that they have a moral obligation to be stupid in order to demonstrate their Black pride. They’re, literally, being instructed in what it means to be Black by sources other than ourselves. They’re being taught that being Black means wearing pants saggin’ off their asses, engaging in reckless and irresponsible behavior, scarring their bodies with ugly tattoos that can prevent them from obtaining employment, and giving priority to chasing "bling," momentary pleasure, and superficial trinkets over pursuing education, knowledge, and investing in themselves as individuals.
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If we’re tolerating these things in our homes, we have no right to complain when the rest of society refuse to hire us, and profile us a superficial and irresponsible idiots. But the fact is, we’re not only tolerating it, we’re making people filthy rich by supporting an industry that thrive on producing videos that are nothing short of ten minute commercials being circulated around the world saying that the very womb of our culture are sluts and whoes who are only good for abuse, and that Black men want everything out of life but a job - and will do anything to get it.
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That’s not who we are as a people, but that’s the way that 90% of the community is being portrayed by a mere 10% of the most dysfunctional element in the Black community.  That’s who our young people are looking up to, and that’s the way the rest of the world sees us. So if we allow this to continue, whose fault is it when the rest of the world believes their lying eyes? No wonder unemployment is so high among Black people. I wouldn’t hire anyone like that either - would you?
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So the Black community needs to come down on the media like a sledgehammer, and stop them from slandering our community. We also have to start letting our children know, in no uncertain terms, that stupidity’s not cute. And we can't start to disseminate that message too soon, or too early in a child’s life, and since kids tend to gravitate toward those things that they’re rewarded for as "cool," it’s not enough to simply address this issue as individual parents - we might as well be spittin’ in the wind. We have to address this issue as a COMMUNITY.
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We’ve got to let BET know that if they want the community’s continued support, they’re going to have to change their call letters to stand for Black Excellence Television, and their programming is going to have to reflect that. We have to make it clear to BET, MTV, and the rest of the media that if they want the support of the Black community that they’re going to have to air programming that’s consistent with our agenda as a community - programming that reflects manhood as having the character to face and defeat adversity, and reflects strength as being tender enough to sooth the wounded feelings of a baby girl.
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And we should also encourage the promoters of these awards shows, like the Soul Train Awards, to be more responsive to the needs of our community. We don't need yet another parade of swaggering millionaires staggering up on stage, snatching microphones, and acting a fool. We need to start placing more emphasis on honoring young scholars, educators, and the people in the community who are helping to move Black people forward. That isn't to say that celebrities and entertainment shouldn't be involved in the shows (I'm a musician myself), but they should be the "help," not the honorees. After all, if all our young people ever see the community honoring are singers, movies stars, and athletes, why should they aspire to be anything else?
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And finally, we've got to demand more responsibility from our churches. We've got to make it clear to some of these preachers that if they expect to take collection money out of our community on Sunday, they’re going to have to do more than just flap their lips; they need to be prepared to put some kind of service back into the community during the week. Our churches should be serving as low-cost childcare facilities for working mothers during the week. They could then employ unemployed mothers, and at the same time hold classes in child rearing. They should also put some of their tithes into starting businesses to provide jobs within the community, instead of squandering it on big cars and expensive homes (generally outside the community) for the preacher. So the community needs to send a very direct and precise message to some of these preachers -"Don't just preach me a sermon, live me one."
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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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Black Racists and Their Thinly Veiled Racist Rants Against Obama

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Black Racists and Their Thinly Veiled Racist Rants Against Obama

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In a comment on Electronic Urban Report (http://www.eurweb.com/2013/08/an-open-letter-to-tavis-smiley/#comme...), a gentleman by the name of Earl Wilkerson said the following:

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"Many of the arguments Mr. Smiley and Mr. West have concerning the African American community still exists and always will. Oh My how have we often forgotten President Obama Mother is a White woman to many this does not truly represents a African American fully. In fact, many may call him a half breed."

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Mr. Wilkerson’s "half breed" comment was nothing less than a not so thinly veiled racist rant, much like those of Cornel West. I found his allusion to "half breed" laughably ironic, since Barack Obama is perfectly symbolic of the African-American culture itself – part African, and part American. MOST African Americans are mixed, and a very short excursion among REAL and PURE Africans would clearly demonstrate that fact. Afros, Dashikis, and exotic-sounding names notwithstanding, we’re clearly not the genuine article.

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Our mixture may not be as direct as Obama’s, but I’d be willing to bet that as many as 90% of us have a "White boy" lingering somewhere in our family tree – I know I do, in spite of my large lips, kinky hair, and beautiful BROWN skin. And to listen to some of you – at least, with respect to your hostile attitudes towards Obama – it’s clear that more than a few of you not only have White boys lurking in your family trees, but those White boys brought their sheets along. Clear evidence of that is, instead of heatedly discussing the Republican attempt to reverse the Voting Rights Act, all of your anger is focused on the first Black President of the United States. No other culture in America would be that stupid – do you hear me, Smiley and West?

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And about President Obama’s seeming inability to part the Red Sea

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 Why is Unemployment So High?

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It is clear that the corporate/Republican alliance have decided that it’s in their best interest to keep unemployment artificially high. We know this is true because they’re making more profits than they’ve ever made in their history, so there’s no reason for unemployment to be so high. There are several reasons why it’s in their advantage to do so.

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1). It’s to their political advantage to keep the American people angry, miserable, and divided during the Obama administration. That’s why we have gridlock in congress.

2). They know that by allowing the poor and middle class to obtain any disposable income whatsoever it will stimulate the economy and create even more jobs, because the TRUE job creators are the poor and middle class. The poor and middle class create jobs when they have the disposable income to purchase goods and services, because that forces businesses to hire people to provide those goods and services.

3). The corporate/Republican Alliance doesn’t want the economy to be stimulated because their agenda is to place so much pressure on the American Middle class that they’ll be less resistant to accepting a lower standard of living, and thereby, be dragged down to a standard of living that conforms to the new GLOBAL economy where countries are paying their workers less per week than many American workers spend on lunch per day.

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So if that is the case, and the corporatists are REFUSING to hire, is there anything in a free society that President Obama can do to FORCE corporations to hire workers if they’ve decided that it’s not is their best interest to do so?

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You see, the problem with the thinking of people like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and other Obama critics is they seem not to recognize – or at least, don’t want the people to recognize – that Obama is merely the President of the United States, not the King of the United States. So these people are either not very bright, or they’re purposely trying to mislead the people – which do you believe it is?

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And by the way, it’s no accident that once Smiley and West lost the confidence of the Black community, they switched their strategy to start calling Obama a war criminal. By doing so, they’re trying to reach out to another constituency. Thus, while their lips say their interest is with what’s in the best interest of the Black community, their behavior clearly demonstrate two so-called brothers running all over the place trying to find ANYTHING that they can use to smear this Black president.

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Their antipathy towards President Obama is much like that of the Republican Party and social bigots - the only way the president could possibly appease their hostility would be to resign and apply for White House butler. So their behavior is not only embarrassing, but it’s disgustingly racist, and the Black community shouldn’t tolerate it.

A BLACK RACIST
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHSH1GYJXEE

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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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