BLACK PEOPLE: LET US MAKE KNOWLEDGE THE NEW 'SOUL'

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

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,
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“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:

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MEET THE MOST BRILLIANT FAMILY IN THE UK

"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 . . .
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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.

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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.

Sphere: Related Content

BLACK INTELLIGENCE: THE MOST CLOSELY GUARDED SECRET IN AMERICA (Reprise)

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

BLACK INTELLIGENCE: THE MOST CLOSELY GUARDED SECRET IN AMERICA 

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KAI AND ERIC, JR.

Most Black people have well above average intelligence. We have to just to survive in America. Every day, from the time we get up, until the time we go to bed we have to navigate our way through all manner of bigotry, both overt and covert. Racism is so pervasive in the lives of Black people that many of us don't even have to think about the intellectual strategies necessary to outwit most bigots - we do it on autopilot. As a result, we've developed an intellectual muscularity that we don't even have to think about. 
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As Naturalist Charles Darwin pointed out in his book, On the Origin of Species, all species of organisms arise and develop through the natural selection of small, inherited variations that increase the individual's ability to compete, survive, and reproduce.  In other words, the adversity that Black people have been forced to endure over the centuries has caused nature to step in to enhance our innate intellectual abilities in order to help us to survive in a hostile environment. So the adversity that we’ve endured over the centuries is serving to make Black people MORE rather than less. It is causing us to evolve as we speak, but it's up to Black people themselves to recognize, develop, and utilize that potential.
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A HOME IN THE BLACK MIDDLE-CLASS

SUBBURB OF BALDWIN HILLS, CA.

President Barack Obama, and the Imafidon family at the bottom of this article, are graphic examples of the fact that the evolutionary process mentioned above may already be revealing itself. As the son of an African immigrant, in ONE generation Barack Obama rose to become one of this nation's greatest presidents, and he possessed the intellectual muscularity to handle the entire Republican establishment like they were a group of irate children.  He also saved the world from a second Great Depression, and if it weren't for the Republican Party's eight-year tantrum of ignorant, racist, and childish obstructionism, America would undoubtedly be experiencing the greatest era in its history at this very moment. And then there's the Imafidons, a Nigerian family, acknowledged as THE most brilliant FAMILY in the United Kingdom.
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Those facts are significant when it comes to defining what Black people represent. But facts such as these tend to be ignored, or played down in a bigot drenched America, because they don't conform to America's preferred view of reality. America prefers to define Black people based upon the images of the most dysfunctional among us. But I intend to explode that myth, not only for the average uninformed White person, but for the many Black people who've been brainwashed by the mass media into embracing their tainted view of reality. If we portrayed White people in the same way that Black people are being portrayed, all White people would be seen as hillbillies.
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As I've mentioned in a previous article, racists tend to be the mediocrity of White society, so they try to use the fact that they were born White to define themselves and to compensate for their lack of personal value. Their entire sense of self-esteem is based more upon group association than individual value and accomplishment, and their entire claim to personal significance is, "Well, at least I'm better than them."  Well, here are the facts:
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In the Live Science Article, Low IQ And Conservative Beliefs Linked to Prejudice, it states unequivocally that "There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy." That's what drives radical conservatives so crazy about President Obama - he's walking, breathing, evidence that they cannot claim superiority by virtue of the color T-shirt they were born in, and that simple fact alone is causing them to suffer a severe attack of cognitive dissonance before the eyes of the entire world. That's also why they were so determined not to allow President Obama to be as successful as he could have been, even if it meant  destroying the country.
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But Obama's not the only chink in their armor. These people feel such a desperate need to be superior that they’ll go to any length to try to substantiate that claim, even if they have to corrupt both logic and reality to make it conform to their point of view. For example, how can they claim to be superior to Black people while at the same time claim that America is such a devoutly Christian Nation? If Jesus Christ had been born in the desert with blond hair and blue eyes they wouldn’t have had to crucify him - he would have died of Sunburn. Jesus Christ was a man of color. So how can you claim to be superior to a man that you also claim to worship? One would think that a “superior race” would have recognized the flaw in that logic.
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So now this entire nation, including the future of our children, is being threatened by the desperate attempt of a handful of insecure bigots to maintain their delusion of superiority, and as far as they’re concerned, if the country has to be sacrificed for that cause, so be it.  That's what makes it so important for Black people to begin to develope the innate intelligence that we've been both hiding, and/or, holding a cultural antagonism toward.
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What do I mean by a cultural antagonism toward intelligence?
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The root of the problem that we’ve traditionally had in the Black community among the more dysfunctional among us is not a lack of intelligence but our attitude toward knowledge. As a direct result of our history of slavery, we’ve developed a sort of hostility toward both knowledge, Black people who embrace it, and/or tend to display an exceptional level of intelligence. We tend to equate the pursuit of knowledge with selling out. We also tend to see the active pursuit of knowledge as part of the White man’s domain, so we look upon Black people who have a love of knowledge with disdain, because we see them as "trying to be White."
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KRIS KROSS WEARING THEIR

PANTS BACKWARDS

The reason for that is simple. During slavery the only Black people we knew who spoke anything close to "proper English" were the "house niggas," and many house slaves had a tendency to look down their noses at slaves who worked in the field. As a result of that experience, many Blacks have an hostility toward "proper talkin'" Black people that persist to this day. So many highly intelligent Black people will often try to hide their intelligence, because, ironically, over the years we’ve developed an attitude where many feel that we have a moral obligation to remain ignorant in order to prove that we take pride in being Black.  Think about that. Isn't it ironic that many of us embrace ignorance as a sign of Black pride? That's why we can hear many educated young Black people going around saying things like, "What it is?", "What it be like?", and other obvious assaults on the English language. They know it's improper English, but they see it as giving credibility to their pride in being Black.  Some young people would put their shoes on backwards if they could just to show how unlike White people they are, and one hip hop group, Kris Kross, actually did wear their pants backwards.
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That attitude among some Blacks was one of the weapons that was used against President Obama by many envious Black intellectuals. They tried to use his "all-American" conventionality against him. They attempted to convince the Black community of the following:
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"I’m cool - see my long, wooly Afro, how cool I act, and how I can quote Lil’ Wayne when I’m on television? I’m one of y’all. I just have enough intelligence to speak the White man’s language, so I’m keeping an eye on him for the people. But that Obama, he’s not like us. He don’t have no Afro, he don’t never quote Lil Wayne, and he’s obviously much too intelligent to be trusted as a genuine Black man. He thinks like the White man."
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So even as Black "intellectuals," many send the message to Black youth that intelligence is the White man's domain, and that being Black and intelligent are incompatible - and ironically, many Black people have become more wedded to that attitude than White people. The message isn't overt, because we claim to be seekers of knowledge, but it can be clearly seen in our daily interactions with one another.
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An example of that is reflected in a joke that I wrote for a comedienne by the name of Frances Nealy.  I spoke of a new kid in school who continued to enthusiastically raise his hand to answer all of the teacher's questions.  Finally a kid in the back of the class said, "Who IS this dude!!!?  He must think he White or somethin'!" What made that a joke was it put it's finger on the underlying attitude of many Black people pointed out above.

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Here's another  example of that attitude at work posted on YouTube:
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"THE BLACK BOULE-NEGROS THAT HELP SELL YOU OUT "

WHAT DID THESE PEOPLE DO TO DESERVE BEING CALLED SELL-OUTS?
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JIM CROW
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Another reason that Black people have a tradition of hiding their intelligence is through necessity. During the Jim Crow era many White folks saw a smart Black man as an "uppity nigga," and it could get him lynched, because a smart Black man was a challenge to what bigots wanted to believe - that they were superior. Again, that's why they hate Barack Obama - and I've been surprised to see how deep seated that attitude is today, even among many White people who claim to be liberals. I've noticed over the internet that many White people believe that a Black person should defer to them in a debate, even if they're proven to be dead wrong. A Black person can say the very same thing to them as another White person, but they'll view the Black person as being arrogant - "How dare this spook try to make me look like an idiot!!!?" (Well, because you are).               
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When my mother was in nursing school my grandparents virtually raised me - we were connected at the hip. and my mother was more like an older sister that they allowed to play house with me from time to time. But every year my grandparents would go back to Louisiana to visit for a week, and every year they had to keep their pending trip a secret, because the moment I found out about it, it was absolutely ON until the car turned the corner headed for the airport.  I wanted to go with them, but my grandfather wouldn't let me.
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I could get them to cave-in on most things, but on this, my grandfather stood absolutely firm.  He said, "Eric, I wouldn't take you no farther South than San Diego, because you talk too much, and you could get us killed.You've got to learn to listen to what's on everybody else's mind, and never let anyone know what's on yours, because if you tell the another man everything that's on your mind, he'll then know everything you know, plus what he already knew, and that'll make him smarter than you. So that's why you have to stay home - because we can't afford to let those White folks down South know more about us, than we know about them." That was the thinking of many Jim Crow era Black people, and they also knew something that's true even today -  one of the fastest ways in the world to lose a job in America is to let your boss know that you're smarter than he is. So for all of those reasons, Black people have developed a tradition of hiding their intellect.
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But at this point in our history it's time for Black people to come out of the closet and change that strategy, and for the very same reason - survival.  We're living in a different world today, a world where we can't survive without using all of the intellect and knowledge at our disposal.  So we've got to prepare our children to survive in a world of science, technology, and political manipulation.  We can no longer simply demonstrate and shake our fists at the establishment and expect results. All the establishment is going to do is wait a couple of weeks until we cool off, and then it'll be business as usual. We see that strategy currently being played out against the Black Lives Matter movement at this very moment.
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So our children have got to be taught that we can't out-scream the establishment, because they control the media; and we can't out-fight them, because they control the military; thus, the only option left is to out-think them.  We've got to prepare ourselves to assume positions of power and authority, and we've got to learn, as a culture, not to be self-serving, and to recognize the advantages of sticking together in order to jerk the chains of political power most effectively.  In short, we've got to start relying on our intellect, and we have plenty of it to draw upon.
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TAYLOR WATTREE-JACKSON

THE BILL CLINTON AWARD FOR SCHOLARSHIP
OUTSTANDING STUDENT OF THE YEAR 
KIWANIS CLUB OF RIALTO 

So our children already have the intellectual potential to meet the challenges of the modern world and more, but it's up to the parents to convince them of that fact, and to impart the importance of doing so.  We've got to teach them that life isn't about just sitting back and being cute, or cool anymore, so they can no longer afford to just sit around, party, and get high like many of us did in the past, because the election of Donald Trump sends a very clear and emphatic message - it's crisis time.  So we've got to stop letting our young people be programed regarding who they are by the corporate media, because as long as Black people are better known for dancin' and saggin' than we are thinking, we'll always be under the White man's thumb. That isn't to say we should ban our kids from consuming pop culture, but we should discuss these issues with them, and point out how they're being manipulated.
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These are horrible times for this country, but they present a prime opportunity for the Black community to level the playing field . While the establishment is pulling every lever at its disposal to dumb the rest of America down, Black people have the opportunity to pull every lever at our disposal in pursuit of knowledge and leveraging our innate intellectual competence.  So it's all about thinking, instead of just shaking our fists.
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For that reason, every time our children did anything exceptional, my late wife and I made a big deal of it - like when my daughter, Kai, taught me how to factor when she was in the 6th grade, while university professors couldn't do it. We made a big deal out of that - in fact, it was a big deal, because I was struggling with

TAYLOR WATTREE-JACKSON

PRE-MED

JACKSON STATE UNIVERSITY

that class.
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For some reason my math professor just couldn’t get the concept of factoring across to me, but Kai did it in about 10 minutes by simply drawing a little tree and then hanging numbers on its branches. We praised her to high Heaven. That rewarded her for thinking, instead of just being able to dance. We also had this little game where you had to insert various geometric-shaped blocks into the proper slots before it popped up. Kai and Eric could do it with time to spare, but I never did master that game. They loved it, and it gave them confidence in their abilities, because it clearly demonstrated to them that they were better at some things than their parents were, and that's a big deal to children.  So we always went out of our way to let them know that they weren't average, because “average is the best of the worst, and the worst of the best,” and they were better than that. We also always treated them like peers rather than children, and while always respectful, they acted that way.
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Today Kai is a Human Resources Specialist for her college alma mater and President of the California School Employee’s Association, And Eric is a Special Agent for the United States Department of Justice.  Here’s what the Air Force had to say about him:
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23 April 2002

MEMORANDUM FOR OFFICER TRAINING SCHOOL SELECTION COMMITTEE
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FROM: 92 SFS/SFO
2 E. ARNOLD STREET
FAIRCHILD AFB, WA 99011

SUBJECT: Recommendation for Staff Sergeant Eric L. Wattree

ERIC WATTREE, JR.

1. I wholeheartedly concur with Staff Sergeant Wattree’s request to attend Officer Training School. He represents the enlisted ranks with the highest standard and will bring that dedication and professionalism to the officer corps.

2. Eric continues to lead a stellar military career; his enlisted performance reports speak for themselves. His leadership and experience, especially in contingency environments, remains a vital asset to our unit and wing. As one of my primary Phoenix Raven team leaders, he’s propelled to the forefront of all major deployments throughout the world. He’s repeatedly secured aircraft and crews, supporting a wide variety of missions, in the most austere and terrorist-ridden environments where security is severely inadequate. The diversity of these missions never limited SSgt Wattree’s capacity to adapt to each situation. For this reason, Eric was selected as our 2000 Outstanding Phoenix Raven Member of the Year and the 2001 Air Force Reserve Component Airman of the Year for the 92d Security Forces Squadron.

3. Whether operating under peacetime or contingency operations, Eric easily assumes control and tackles every situation with meticulous tenacity, a quality highly desired in our Air Force officers. Requested by name, Sergeant Wattree, provided security for presidential Banner missions throughout Greece, Peru and Viet Nam. While deployed to Afghanistan, he flew numerous combat missions in our nation’s pursuit to eradicate terrorism through Operation ENDURING FREEDOM. Additionally, he provided round-the-clock force protection for aircraft in other high-threat environments including Uzbekistan, Pakistan and Oman.

4. Sergeant Wattree motivated his personnel during the worst conditions and raised the level of esprit de corps to integrate personnel from other Air Force specialties into a cohesive team. His leadership, integrity and devotion to our Air Force play an integral part in our future leadership. Eric has what it takes to become a commissioned officer and earns my full support to attend Officer Training School.

FRANK HELLSTERN, JR., Captain, USAF
Operations Officer
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Phoneix Ravens
This Elite Force Protects Vulnerable Air Force Aircraft

In The Most Dangerous Places On Earth

When Eric was discharged after his four-year tour, he was contacted by the Air Force and asked to return by “Special Request.”  But that didn’t last long, because as an Air Force Raven (Special Forces) he worked in concert with the Secret Service, FBI, CIA, and various other security agencies, so the federal government snatched him up. The agent who did his security clearance came to my home and told me, “Your son could get any security job in the federal government - I’m just glad he doesn’t want mine.”
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I couldn't help but get a little choked up when he told me that, because all I could think of was that timid little boy who used to peek out at the world from behind his older sister, and get into bed with me and Val at night because he was afraid of the dark. And on 4th of July he would get in the car and roll up the windows because he was afraid of the fireworks.  He was, literally, the family's pudgy-jawed little baby boy, and frankly, I was concerned about what was going to become of him when his sister grew up and moved on with her life.
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ME AND MY BABY BOY - BEFORE HE EVOLVED 

But in high school he sprung up in just one year, and in college he continued to morph, and now the government was here telling me that he's this 6'6", 250 lb. American hero. "Wait a minute! Are you trying to tell me that my timid baby boy is Buck Rogers!!!? Where did that come from?"  I couldn't believe it, and neither could my wife. When they arranged for Val and I to be brought out to attend his credentials ceremony at Quantico, they had a congressman there, but they stopped the ceremony just long enough to talk about who Eric was, and his exploits even in training, and my wife asked me, "Are they talking about OUR Eric?"  And I said, Yes they are, baby. But I don't think she ever did reconcile the difference between her little boy and the man that he later became. Actually, even after all this time, neither have I. Is this evolution at work?  I can't say with any degree of certainty, but what I can say is, it's been a chilling and fascinating thing to watch. Today, when I look into his eyes, there's absolutely nothing left of that timid little boy that I once knew. All I see is a dead serious, no-nonsense manhood, and without a bit of posturing, pretentiousness, or macho swagger. What I now see, is what manhood is suppose to look like.
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BARACK - BEFORE HE EVOLVED

So we don't know what potential lies dormant within our children. Thus, we must begin to instill the pursuit of excellence and the power of knowledge in them at birth, and never let up. We must also become their number one “road dawg,” and not just sit back and expect them to be educated by others, because we ARE what we think. The very purpose of Jim Crow was to keep us from knowing that.  So think big, and teach your children to do likewise. Let us make the pursuit of knowledge and intellect the new "soul" within the Black community. We must set a goal where when the world thinks of Black people, they think of brilliance, competence, and accomplishment, not just "soul."

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POPPI'S DREAM

Well, Taylor,

Well, Trey,

You’re on your way,

To add to the Wattree Clan;

It’s my conviction, not hope, you will surely both,

Add a page to the sojourn of man.

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You’ll be loved and nurtured to take your place,

In this world that you now belong;

And when we’re through, we trust both of you,

Will help make our people be strong.

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You’ll be taught that knowledge is the key to life,

And to harvest its essence you’ll strive;

Then combine that knowledge with the wisdom of Solomon,

To help see our people survive.

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Think not of what is politically correct,

Seek to be independent of thought;

For group-think, indeed, is not thought at all,

But that of which fools are wrought.

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Embrace truth over all as your clarion call,

Make integrity your moral code;

And when life’s so tough you think it’s too much,

Allow God to relieve your load.

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Make the God you trust the God of your heart,

And not the God of man;

For the God of man is man himself,

And only just when it suits his plan.

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And look to the note that your poppi once wrote,

A withered vine ignored as benign;

Make my words come true, what I said of you,

And make my legacy whisper through time:

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“Neither scholar nor the head of state,

The most common of men seems to be my fate;

A life blistered with struggle and constant need,

As my legacy to man I present my seed.

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More fertile, more sturdy, they both than I,

This withered old vine left fallow and dry;

The nectar of their roots lie dormant still,

But through their fruit I’ll be revealed.”

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Love,

Poppi

ERIC WATTREE III
INVESTMENT/FINANCE

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII

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The Imafidons, a Nigerian family, is the smartest family in Britain

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EVOLUTION IN PROGRESS

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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