WAKE UP, BLACK PEOPLE - THE HOLOCAUST WASN'T A MYTH (PROLOGUE)

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

WAKE UP, BLACK PEOPLE - THE HOLOCAUST WASN'T A MYTH

(PROLOGUE)

.

I'm going to be addressing the issue of Black injustice in a series of articles with specific examples of how this White supremacist establishment not only slaughter innocent Black people on the street, but also routinely victimize the average Black, minority, and working class person in their daily lives.
.
I referred to this system as the "White supremacist establishment," but that's a misnomer. I should refer to it as the White ELITIST establish, because the social manipulators who control this system don't care any more about poor and working class White people than they do Blacks and minorities. Was it only Black people whose jobs were shipped out of the country, or who lost their homes during the 2008 housing crisis? I don't think so. We're in a class war. They only give White people the IMPRESSION that they're special, and then throw a few perks their way in order to factionalize us and keep us at one another's throats. The reason for that is social division is the establishment's most potent weapon against America's working class. So it is essential that the working class people of this country aside our petty differences and come together to protect our way of life.  
.
The problem in the Black community is the most severe, however, and it's partially our fault. We wait around until the brains of one our kids are blown out before we start jumping up and down. That's tantamount to coming across poison oak and simply cutting off the leaves instead of pulling it out by the roots. The Black community has got to become PROACTIVE in the fight against injustice. We've got to organize in our churches and community, educate ourselves, and join with others to form a working-class coalition 
.
The murder and abuse of Black people by bad cops only to have their atrocious actions declared justified by the courts is just the leaves of a political system that is corrupt and indifferent toward Black, minority, and working class people down to its roots. So if we truly believe that Black lives matter, the atrocities being committed by the establishment must be snatched out by its root. We can't just wait around until AFTER a Black life is taken to demonstrate and voice our outrage, we've got to take off our party hats, turn off BET, and begin to reform the infrastructure of our community BEFORE these atrocities take place. 
.
Jumping up and down once one of our kids has been murdered, or one of our women has been lynched for smoking a cigarette in her own car is meaningless - that doesn't help either the dead kid, or the woman, and it doesn't prevent the next kid or Black woman from being senselessly murdered. We've got to come together in the Black community and develop a political clout that's formidable enough where the last thing a cop hears before he goes out on the street is, "Whatever you do, don't upset the Black community." 
.
That's the way the Jews have it, and so can we. When was the last time you heard of a 12 year-old Jewish kid being murdered by the police? Never - and that's in spite of the fact that this bigoted power structure is just as anti-semitic toward Jews as it is racist toward Blacks (well, almost). But the Jews have developed the cultural resources to fight back. They learned a very powerful lesson during the holocaust, and if the Black community doesn't wake up from our "party hardy" attitude, and our delusion that "It can't happen here," we're just one conservative lunatic away from repeating the Jewish experience - and we have a clown bus full of conservative lunatics running in the 2016 election. What's currentl, and routinely, happening to Black people at the hands of bad cops on the street, and the tepid response of the nation's judicial system clearly demonstrates that the Black holocaust has already begun. So wake up, people!
.
Many insightful Black people recognize the truth in what I'm saying, but our collective response to it is lackadaisical, indifferent, and completely inept. Just going after one bad cop after he's killed a Black child, and snatching microphones from people in order to grandstand on stage does absolutely nothing to correct the problem we face.What good has that done? Black people are still being slaughtered on the street, and their personal lives are still being made miserable in their homes, on their jobs, and in the courts. All we're doing with such behavior is showing the powers that be what pushovers we are. We've got to go after the system that spawned and protects that bad cop AS A WHOLE - and in order to do that we're going to have organize our community, become serious and mature adults with an eye toward the future, and stop giving priority to Beyonce swinging her butt. But currently, we're allowing the social manipulators to keep us completely distracted while they're picking us off one at a time with complete impunity, and as they become more bold, they're going to eventually start coming after us as a group, and that day may be sooner than you think. 
.

BLACK, MINORITY, AND WORKING CLASS LIVES DO MATTER: 

THE RITA EDMOND STORY

.

Rita Edmond has lived at the same location for 24 years. She's the only Black tenant in the complex, but in spite of that fact, the first 21 years of her tenancy was uneventful. Then the former manager of the complex died and management was taken over by Ritz properties, Inc. That's when everything began to rapidly change. First . . . (MORE TO COME). 

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

Sphere: Related Content

Let’s Get Real - What We Call ‘American Ideals’ Are a Sham

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Let’s Get Real - What We Call ‘American Ideals’ Are a Sham

.

While this country professes to honor the ideals of freedom, independence, liberty, and justice, that's just lip service. We have a long history of stifling each and every one of those ideals, and anyone who doesn't believe that should simply try suing a major corporation for an injustice, or try embracing the "freedom" to live an unconventional lifestyle. This country frowns upon those things just like any other country. Gays and women are learning that lesson as we speak.
.
All of the institutions that are supposedly designed to protect our freedom and justice are nothing more than facades that are actually designed to give us the ILLUSION of freedom and justice. While I don't want to throw a monkey-wrench in anyone's comfort zone, it's very important for us to wake up and be realistic about what we DON'T have, in order to work towards actually achieving what I choose to call "The American Wish List."
.
According to "TakePart.com, "In 2008, eight states had no laws requiring students recite the Pledge of Allegiance at school. That number has recently dwindled to five, with Nebraska being the latest state to adopt a statewide mandate."
.
Many conservatives enthusiastically advocate that children be mandated to recite the Pledge of Allegiance in school. Conservative talk show host, Sean Hannity, said, "Why wouldn’t anyone want to say the Pledge of Allegiance, unless they detested their own country or were ignorant of its greatness?” Notice that even in Hannity's statement advocating the recitation of  the Pledge of Allegiance, which guarantees "Freedom and Justice for all," you can hear a clear indictment against those who may choose not to recite the pledge.
.
That's the kind of gross and narrow-minded hypocrisy that makes people not want to recite it in the first place - "I love the freedom, liberty, and justice in America so passionately that I'm willing to take it from you to get you to love it like I do." That's also what makes us look like the Beverly Hillbillies of the "free world" - rich and powerful, but as presumptuous, backward-thinking, and unsophisticated as they come.
.
The problem with many conservatives like Hannity, Limbaugh, and other's is they're so blind that they fail to even see the hypocrisy of their position. Thus, as a middle-class African American male - in fact, as a human being of good conscience - I take great exception with making it mandatory for our children to recite a lie as fact at a time in their lives when their thinking is being molded without their consent, or the consent of their parents. Because the Pledge of Allegiance represents the worst kind of hypocrisy, and it serves no useful purpose other than to brainwash the nation's children.
.
One would think that as a conservative Mr. Hannity would recognize that the very essence of freedom is the freedom of parents to raise their children according to the philosophy that they see fit. Therefore, forcing a pledge down the collective throat of America's children constitutes an unconscionable intrusion by government on a family's rights. It's un-American by definition, and it violates the very pledge that our children are being forced to recite.
.
A mandatory pledge is a blatant act of indoctrination. What other motive can we have for forcing children to recite a pledge that they don't even understand? When I was a kid coming up during the height of the civil rights struggle, I was forced to pledge my allegiance to a nation that frowned upon everything I represented, and was dead set on thwarting anything that I ever hoped to become.
.
At the same time, so-called "patriotic Americans" - while enthusiastically insisting that we recite The Pledge - simultaneously lynched African Americans, bombed black children in church, and formed angry mobs to show up and jeer black children attempting nothing more than to go to the school of their choice.
.
And shortly before that, these same "patriotic Americans" forced Black WWII heroes (the Tuskegee Airman) returning from Europe to give up their seats to German prisoners of war. Yet, there I was, standing there reciting the Pledge of Allegiance - "and to the republic for which it stands" - every morning. Even as a child, if I had understood the meaning of the words that I would later have to dredge from my brain just to be able to think clearly, I would have refused to recite them - regardless of the consequences.
.
And beyond the pledge being morally disingenuous and a monument to the worst kind of hypocrisy, the entire text is, literally, a lie: ". . . One nation under God." In light of what I've just described, what is that supposed to mean? "Indivisible." The Civil War demonstrates that's a lie. "With liberty and justice for all." I won't even waste the ink to address that issue. So again, other than brainwashing, what other motive could we possibly have for requiring our children to start off every morning with a lie of that magnitude?
.
Now, I realize that I sound like a wild-eyed radical, but if I do, it's only because I have a very low threshold for bullshit. I love this country, but I love truth and clear thinking much more. So I'm eclectic in my views. I believe in clear, unadulterated thought, and addressing every issue on its own merit. As a result, sometimes I agree with liberals, and at other times I agree with conservatives. That doesn't always make me very popular, but I'm more than happy to forego popularity in return for moral and intellectual clarity. I was taught that's what it means to be an American. Maybe I'm naive, but I took that lesson seriously.
.
I'm in pursuit of truth, not an agenda. For that reason I stand with conservatives on issues like set-asides based on race, because moral and intellectual consistency dictates that if you're against discrimination, you must be against all discrimination. Thus, if we're going to set aside resources for the poor, those resources should be available to all of the poor, regardless to race, creed, or color. Our failure to recognize that fact ran a lot of White people who marched with King right into the arms of the Republican Party during the Affirmative Action controversy.
.
Yet, I stand with liberals in being against vouchers. The mere fact that conservatives want to create an entitlement program "in the best interest of minorities" immediately sends up a red flag for me. Creating schools run by corporations is the fastest way that I can think of to create young fascists who are running around speaking in fundamentalist tongue.
.
A voucher system would also lead to a two-tier society. What would happen to low and middle-class children if private schools raised tuition  beyond their parents' reach and the public school system have been destroyed? I'll tell you what will happened - the parents would be chained to corporations to work for crumbs just so their children could learn to read and write.
.
Proponents of a mandatory pledge contend that our children should be taught to love and respect our country. It is my position that too much nationalism and not enough principle is what caused the kind of animosity toward this country that led to 9/11. We need to teach our children to embrace high ethical standards and principles, and then if the leaders of our country followed suit, the nation would benefit from the uncoerced love and respect of its citizens and the world.
.
Thus, the Pledge of Allegiance should not be a pledge at all. It should be presented as a goal. Then instead of lying about who and what we are, it would encourage us to focus our energies on actually becoming the society that we profess to believe in. Maybe then we'll create the kind of nation where brainwashing our children for their allegiance won't be necessary.
.
Tupelo, Miss. Judge Jails Attorney for Refusing to Recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
.

Eric L. Wattree
wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com
.
Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

Sphere: Related Content

Dr. Boyce Watkins on Gay Rights

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

Dr. Boyce Watkins on Gay Rights

.

"If gay is the new black, then black must have been the old gay . . . I don't really know what that means either . . .

I support gay marriage, but it's mainly because I just don't care one way or the other."

.

The author of the "enlightened" quotation above is Dr. Boyce Watkins of Syracuse University. He presents himself as a public intellectual and a dedicated civil rights advocate. He’s also the driving force behind "Your Black World," a popular website that seeks to keep Black people politically enlightened. Dr. Watkins goes on to say the following:
.
"I wonder what it means to simply say that everyone deserves civil rights, and to use that as a blanket justification for gay marriage. So, if I wanted to marry my sister and someone said I couldn't, would that be a violation of my civil rights? I support gay marriage, but it's mainly because I just don't care one way or the other. But if I were deeply religious and considered marriage to be a spiritual union solely designed to be between a man and a woman, I might be offended by someone asking me to support the notion of same sex marriage. Civil rights doesn't mean that every person can do whatever they want, whenever they want with whomever they want. If that were the case, then a mother could decide to terminate her child's life after the baby was born....after all, it's her baby, right[?]"
.
So-called public ‘intellectuals’ of Dr. Watkins’ ilk never cease to amaze me. I can’t help but wonder how he could possibly have obtained a PhD without ever learning to think? Shouldn’t we be able to expect a Phd, at the very least, to have the intellect to formulate an argument that’s not totally filled with irrelevant non sequiturs?
.
Equal civil rights mean that gays deserve the right to marry the one that they love just like straight people. But his response implies that gays are asking for MORE rights than straight people. Watkins' comments would only be valid if gays were demanding the right to marry their sisters. No one can marry their sister, so that represents equality.
.
So in response to his question, yes, it would be a violation of his civil rights if he wasn’t allowed to marry his sister, but only if others WERE allowed to marry their sisters. The fact that this guy has a PhD and can’t see that the issue of equal rights under the law, and his right to marry his sister are far from analogous is a serious indictment against our educational system - after all, he's charged with the responsibility of educating others. But much more important, it’s also clear evidence of the dire need of Americans to become independent and self-sufficient thinkers.
.
Again, Dr. Watkins presents himself as a public intellectual and a fierce advocate of civil rights. Yet, when it comes to the civil rights of gays he’s using the very same kind of irrational argument that racists used to try to block Black civil rights legislation of the past. They’d say things like, "Okay, if we allow a change in the law to allow White people to marry Black people, what’s to stop us from passing laws in the future saying that people should have the right to marry their dogs?"
.
Both are equally stupid analogies, and although I’ve heard Watkins say outrageous things in the past, for some reason I’m totally shocked to hear him say something as dumb as this, not only because it's a ridiculous attempt at syllogistic logic - "All dogs have fleas, and my cat has fleas, therefore, my cat is a dog"- but it is equally shocking to see that he fails to recognize the racist history of such a stupid argument.
.
But what his attitude clearly illustrates more than anything else is that Black people are the product of the very same racist and socially bigoted environment as White people, and as a result, we can be just as racist and socially bigoted toward other Blacks and minority groups as any racist Hillbilly. That accounts for much of the flak that Obama is getting from some of Dr. Watkins’ Black colleagues, namely, Tavis Smiley and Cornel West.
.
While many of these so-called Black "intellectuals" try to cloak their hostility toward President Obama in the language of Black activism, they’re actually upset with Obama for the very same reason that many conservative Republicans are - they consider him ‘Uppity.’ What they’re actually saying is, "Who does this spook think he is, struttin’ around like he thinks he has as much sense as White folks? He’s just another ignorant nigga, just like me." So in short, it’s self-hatred and "bligotry" (Black on Black bigotry).
.
For this reason, I’ve dropped all pretense of journalistic detachment on this issue, and I’ve gone on a single-minded mission against these people, as should every journalist, but Black journalists, in particular.  We need to recognize that some things are much more important than some arbitrary rule of journalism about not getting personally involved in a story. White journalists routinely recognize that fact every time this country goes to war, and the fact is, the Black community is now literally in a state of war. It’s currently being besieged by a group of Black, self-serving demagogues that constitute a severe threat to its survival, and we shouldn’t just sit back and let it happen, any more than we would sit back and simply chronicle the events attendant to a drowning child.
.
In this case, Watkins, this so-called Black "intellectual," has betrayed an attitude toward gay minorities that parallels that of a member of the Tea Party. That should be a call to arms to all Journalists in the Black community who feel a vested interested in the principle of equal rights under the law. At the very least we must start alerting the community of the importance of  Black people to start thinking for themselves, instead of relying on self-professed intellectuals to help them formulate their view of reality.
.
The Black community needs to understand that they should NEVER give anyone else’s ability to think priority over our own, regardless to the hype that precedes the person, or the academic credentials that supposedly attests to the person’s ability to think. Because in many cases, as we saw in the 2000 election that brought George W. Bush into our lives, the credentials of many ‘intellectuals’ only attest to the fact that they’ve spent so much time learning to regurgitate the thoughts of dead White folks that they’ve never taken the time to learn to think for themselves.
.
Thus, Black people should always seek to educate themselves, because that’s the only education that we can, unfailingly, depend upon.
.

RELATED ARTICLES

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2011/07/dr-cornel-west-and-intellectual-rice.html

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2011/09/once-again-nader-and-west-team-to-elect.html

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2012/03/in-defense-of-my-stance-against-cornel.html

.

Eric L. Wattree
Http://wattree.blogspot.com
Ewattree@Gmail.com

Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA)

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

Sphere: Related Content