Who Am I, Who Has the Audacity to Criticize the Illustrious Cornel West?

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Who Am I, Who Has the Audacity to Criticize the Illustrious Cornel West?

I'm a Simple Black Man, Who Tills the Soil

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A few diehard Cornel West supporters seem to have taken great exception to my article, "A Portrait of Cornel West - The Liberace of Faux Intellectualism." They asked, who am I who has the audacity to criticize the illustrious Dr. Cornel West, and what have I done for the Black community?
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In response, I can only say, I’m a simple urban farmer who tills the soil. So I must admit, I’ve done very little, at least, that meets the eye. But beneath the surface, everything I do is designed to move my people forward.  But like most urban farmers, I have to tend my crop and look at the long game, so I don’t have the time to concern myself with fame, fortune, and adulation. My job is to focus on harvest time, and patiently await my crop to come in.
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You see, we all have a role to play in this society, and I see mine as helping to educate our people - not at Harvard, or Princeton, because that's not the field where my crop resides. My crop was planted in urban America, so that's the field that I tend.
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I’m the product of a very unique family of farmers. We’re not famous, or world shakers, but we’re, literally, one of a kind in the United States. There's only one Wattree family in America, so anyone one with the last name "Wattree" is related to me. We immigrated to the United States from France after the Civil War, and as a family, we have ALWAYS been involved in educating, and tilling the soil of our people.
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My Great uncle, Richard Wattree, started the "Wattree School" in Louisiana to teach Black people to read and write back when there was very little education to be had for poor Black people, and we've carried on that tradition over the years in one way or another every since. Some of us teach elementary and secondary school in various cities and states across this country, others, like my daughter and niece, work in administrative positions in various colleges and universities, and still others are artists, who depict  our people's journey within this country over the centuries:

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SUSAN T. HERRING, Editor, The Guardian-Journal

Jubilee To Showcase The Art Of Claiborne Parish

"African American artist, Alma Lennear of Minden, will be exhibiting her works as well as selling her paintings Saturday at the Claiborne Jubilee. She comes from a long line of educators who have lived in and around Claiborne Parish since the days her great-grandfather, Richard Wattree, founded the Wattree School using the Bible as the reading book. A self-taught artist, Ms. Lennear's work features both portraits of historic figures as well as Biblical scenes. Come to the Jubilee and visit with a most interesting woman!"
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Writing is my forte. I'm also a Jazz musician and a poet, so I help to pass along pride in our Black tradition through those mediums. My good friend, Rita Edmond, is undoubtedly one of the greatest jazz singers in the world today, and as we speak, I'm writing music for her and passing along my knowledge of music theory in order to ensure that she'll be prepared to carry on the tradition of Ella, and Sarah, and Dinah Washington in a fashion that befits their memory, and her own.

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When I got married (when I was 21 years old, and my late wife, Valdie, was 19 ), I sacrificed my own ambition to be a professional musician, to stay at home and try to become the kind of father that could ensure that my kids and grandchildren would grow up to be better than myself - and they are. So while there are a handful of people who may think I’m formidable, they haven’t seen nothin' yet. My greatest contribution to our people still lies dormant, feeding, growing, and absorbing knowledge within their cocoon.
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So when my crop comes in, you’ll no longer have to ask, who am I. You'll know who I am - one hell of a farmer, but a simple farmer, who tills the soil to ensure the viability of his people.
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LEGACY
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Neither scholar nor the head of state,
The most common of men seems to be my fate;
A life blistered with struggle and constant need,
As my legacy to man I bequeath my seed.
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More fertile, more sturdy, these ones than I,
This withered old vine left fallow and dry;
The nectar of their roots lie dormant still,
But through their fruit I'll be revealed.

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

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A PORTRAIT OF CORNEL WEST - THE LIBERACE OF FAUX INTELLECTUALISM

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

A PORTRAIT OF CORNEL WEST -

THE LIBERACE OF FAUX INTELLECTUALISM

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Have you ever noticed that nearly every public pronouncement that spews from the mouth of Cornel West is literally dripping with racial innuendo? His latest racist slander is that MSNBC is the ‘Rent a Negro’ network.
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Cornel West spews more racist rhetoric than any Republican in America. The reason for that is he’s essentially an entertainer who specializes in shock and race-baiting as his one and only routine. Clear evidence of that is he's over the top in everything that defines him - he's over the top in his personal image, in his overly gesticulative presentation, and his rhetoric is invariably inflammatory. Everything about him is a contrivance that’s specifically designed to bring attention to himself. The actual issues are meaningless to him. They're nothing more than a platform to launch his performance. In short, Cornel West is the Liberace of faux intellectualism.

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CORNEL WEST USES A FALSE "LOVE OF BLACK PEOPLE" TO SLANDER BLACK PEOPLE WHO OVERSHADOW HIM

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West routinely uses policy differences as a pretext for making unsubstantiated and slanderous assertions about the character of the president and every other high-profile Black person who overshadows him: 
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1). President Obama is "a war criminal."
2). President Obama is "a black mascot of Wall Street oligarchs . . ."
3). President Obama is "a black puppet of corporate plutocrats."
4). President Obama is "a Rockefeller Republican in Blackface."
5). President Obama "has a certain rootlessness, a deracination."
6). President Obama Is "Afraid Of Free Black Men."
7). President Obama is "a global George Zimmerman."
8). Dr. Harris-Perry is "a fake and a fraud"
9). Dr. Michael Eric Dyson "is a sellout."
10). Al Sharpton "is a sellout."
11). MSNBC is the "Rent a Negro Network."
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Yet, when comedian Steve Harvey called him an Uncle Tom, he said, "When you are trying to talk about issues that affect the people, name calling gets in the way. Name-calling is nothing but another weapon of mass distraction."
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In other words, the only time that name-calling is objectionable is when it's directed at Cornel West. Such unmitigated hypocrisy is mind boggling - but for once, he’s right. Not one of the above assertions is a disciplined, constructive, or scholarly assessment of the facts. On the contrary, they're the reckless and intellectually undisciplined rants of a bitter, self-serving, and severely discredited academic fraud.
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For Cornel West there’s something ‘racially defective’ about every Black person who has the audacity to preempt Cornel West from the limelight. West has a propensity for trying to denigrate the character of people whose been in the trenches for years, while West himself has done absolutely nothing beyond running his mouth. In order to gain clear evidence of that fact one simply has to ask oneself, what efforts have West made to try to improve the plight of the Black community?
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1). Is he in the community teaching 3^rd grade to help ensure a better education for our children, or teaching at an Historically Black College or University to help "enlighten" young Black students?
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No. He’s never taught at a school that more than 1% of Black students can even afford to have lunch in throughout his entire career. He'd rather gather the perks and props of teaching the children of the economic elites - the children of the very people who he CLAMS is the enemy, whenever he manages  to do a "drive-by" somewhere in the hood to sell a few books.
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2). Is he in the community teaching our young men to cherish, honor, and respect our Black women - the very womb of our culture?
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No. He’s out trying to sell books filled with inane and misleading information, doing $30,000 an hour speeches, and trying to become a hip hop star.
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3). Is he advising his good friend and business partner, Tavis Smiley, to be consistent with his sermons by being "accountable" to the community, and returning the money that he made on the Wells Fargo "Ghetto Scam" loans that he helped to herd over 30,000 poor minorities into?
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Nope, not a peep.

About the Rise of Cornel West

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I used to be a big fan of Cornel West. I’ll never forget how during the Clarence Thomas confirmation when some old condescending senator started talking down to him West said something to the effect of, "Wait a minute, senator. I have more education than you do." I loved that, because at the time I thought it was simply a Black man being assertive and "standing his ground," as it were. But only later did I begin to recognize that the senator had played right into West’s hands, and that what I took for assertiveness was merely an introduction to the Cornel West show. But before I became aware of his "shtick," he immediately became my main man.
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But later on, after West started making intellectually reckless and questionable remarks, I began to research him, and it became increasingly clear that his reputation, and his entire persona, was all smoke and mirrors. Now, upon reflection and the insight derived from 20/20 hindsight, it’s become perfectly clear to me how West rose to prominence.
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Cornel West came up during a time when there was a raging debate going on over the racist claim that due to the "artificial boost" that Black professionals were getting from affirmative action, they weren’t as competent as their White counterparts. And during that same time there was a debate going on over the claim by some White scholars that Black people were innately intellectually inferior to White people and the rest of the population. As a result of those debates, and the fact that West had an association with White Ivy League universities, the Black community embraced him as the poster child for Black intellectual competence, but without taking the time to vet him like we should have. It was that mistake that has led to the flawed intellectual monster - and the total embarrassment to the Black community - that we have today. http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/08/black-racists-and-their-thinly-veiled.html
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 But Cornel West has allowed himself to become a little too bigheaded, and as a result, he's allowed his card to be peeped. And as I pointed out above, he's betrayed to any objective observer the fact that he's at best, the Liberace of faux intellectualism, and at worst, a Harvard anointed preacher searching for a flock. As Stanley Crouch pointed out, he's revealed himself to be a mile wide and an inch deep. So he'd be doing himself a tremendous service if at this point he'd simply shut up, but he doesn't even seem to have sense enough to do that.
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WAS OBLIGATED TO COME ON THE TAVIS SMILEY

BULLSHIT-A-THON? 

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http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/03/beneath-spin-eric-l_24.html

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

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WHY I DON’T CRITICIZE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS EQUALLY

Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

WHY I DON’T CRITICIZE DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS EQUALLY
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Let’s get this silly non-issue settled once and for all. Black people vote Democratic because it's in our best interest and we recognize that the Republican Party is toxic to the Black community. While the Democratic Party is not everything we'd like it to be, at least it's not working against our interest.
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Common sense dictates that we have to prioritize our efforts. And while the Democrats may be the Bogeyman, the Republicans are the Devil, so it would be highly imprudent to criticize both parties equally. If we did that we would be dividing the Black vote and lending comfort to the GOP, who are leaving no stone unturned to reverse the Civil Act.
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So people like Tavis Smiley and Cornel West need to just put the silly argument that Black people are blindly following President Obama to rest. It suggests that Black people are stupid. So if they can’t contribute something constructive to the national dialogue, they need to just shut up.
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The Black community has been trying to send them that message for a few years now, but they’ve been thumbing their nose at us, and every time we look up they’re denigration yet another high-profile Black person. They've both become serial offenders in that regard. It's gotten to the point where even if they said something relevant it would be ignored, because they've become renowned for their petty, spiteful, irrelevance. West's latest racist slander is calling MSNBC the "Rent a Negro Network" - consider what an uproar that would cause if a White person said that. So yet again, West is being divisive, racist, and engaging in nonconstructive mudslinging.
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It's not clear whether West is struggling to remain relevant, or he's merely becoming senile.That's not our problem. But the fact that he and Tavis Smiley have become a liability to the Black community is very much our problem, so it's time to take the gloves off and actively go after these two.
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Yes, they have the right to their opinion, but when they begin to hurt the Black community by making us all look stupid, it’s time for us to shut them down and boycott any, and everything, they’re involved in. Only then, will we actually see just how important their opinion is to them. Frankly, I think they’re much more interested in their pocket.
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While these two are hard at work trying to divide the Obama coalition, the Republicans are actively engaged in trying to obstruct the Black vote, obstruct all legislation that could possibly provide jobs in the Black community and America as a whole, they’re trying to circumvent the United States Constitution and women’s right to privacy by invading a woman’s uterus, they’re trying to obstruct the rights of gays, they’ve disenfranchised Michigan voters by firing duly elected officials and replacing them with handpicked cronies who are completely unaccountable to the people, and they're applauding the murderer of an innocent and unarmed Black child. I could go on for pages, but I’m sure I've made my point. The GOP is, literally, the domestic enemy of the American people.
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On the other hand, much of what we’re complaining about with regard the Democrats is our own fault, because we've allowed ourselves to become so distracted by hedonistic pursuits that we're leaving the store unattended, so it's no wonder we're having problems.
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But again, Tavis and West aren't adding one constructive thought to the discussion. On the contrary - they seem to be delighted by the situation, because our misery provides them the opportunity to advocate that we cut off our head to cure a hangnail, when all we actually have to do is take a page from the Tea Party and start voting a few people out of office during the primaries.
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We need to start with congress, because they control the purse strings.  If certain Democratic legislators are unresponsive to our condition, we should vote them out of office during the primaries, and then run someone who is more cognizant and observant of our needs. That’s what the Tea Party does, and that’s exactly why Republican politicians are scared to death of this small handful of people. We should follow suit and do the exact same thing, because to even entertain the suggestion that Black people become more bipartisan - or do anything else to dilute our vote in the general election - is total lunacy, because to dilute our vote, is to dilute our power.
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Thus, the very first thing we should do is put everybody on notice by making it unquestionably clear that we’re fed up with the nonsense - and the best way to do that is by shutting Tavis Smiley and Cornel West completely down as a clear and unequivocal message to their admiring clones, wannabes, and obsequious minions in the wings. Because even as we speak these people are watching, learning, and preparing to follow in their divisive and self-serving footsteps.
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It's time for the Black community to start cleaning house, and the most appropriate place to start is with these two self-appointed, unelected, omens of self-destruction.

RELATED ARTICLE

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Is President Obama a Slave to Wall Street?

http://wattree.blogspot.com/2012/03/is-president-obama-slave-to-wall-street.html

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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

About Truth, Knowledge, Racists, and Power

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

About Truth, Knowledge, Racists, and Power

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Dr.  Michael Eric Dyson has taken the position that Black people can't be racist because racism requires the necessary power over the institutions of government to carry out a racist agenda.  I say that's nonsense. Racism is a frame of mind, so whether or not one controls the necessary power to carry out a racist agenda is relevant.
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I've always sought to be a bottom line thinker, and never allow what I WANT to believe to get in the way of the facts. I consider that absolutely necessary to clear thinking. Truth should always be given priority over ideology, but Dyson seems to be trying to give ideology priority over truth. That's flawed thinking.
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We must always seek to follow truth wherever it leads, and regardless to whose ox it gores. Thereafter, if we don’t like where truth leads, we should change the place, not the truth. That is the road to knowledge, and as we all know, knowledge is power.

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The bottom line to this discussion is, Black people and White are as much alike as a Black poodle and a White poodle. No one group of people, as a whole, are innately any better or any worse than another. Thus, anyone who claims that their group is better or superior, is a racist, because there are only two kinds of people in this world - good people and bad people - Period.

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So institutional racism is not representative of a flawed race, but is brought about as a result of power and opportunity. If Black people had the power and opportunity, we’d discriminate against White people, and if everyone in the world was of the same race, right-handed people would discriminate against left-handed people, or vice versa, depending upon who was in a position of power.

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But while the opportunity to EXPRESS one’s racism, or bigotry, is enhanced by power, that doesn’t mean that power is NECESSARY for one to BE a racist or bigot. "I THINK, therefore, I am." Thus, thought ALWAYS precedes action. So since a racist society, or INSTITUTIONAL racism itself, is setup by RACISTS, that’s prima facie evidence that racism is a frame of mind, and racist behavior is only a result of that frame of mind.
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If one takes the position that a person cannot be a racist without power, the logical extension of that argument would mean that a person cannot be a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, or an asshole unless they control the system, which is patently ridiculous.
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Any clear thinking person should recognize that the system doesn’t create racists, it is racists that create the racist system. Thus, a racists mind-set must exist prior to racists gaining power, which completely destroys the argument that one cannot be a racist without power. Anyone who disputes that is guilty of convoluted logic, since, again, it takes a racist to create a racist society or institution in the first place.
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In short, since it takes a racist to build a racist power structure, racists and racism, must exist prior to, and independent of, gaining power.

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http://wattree.blogspot.com/2013/07/black-people-cant-be-racists.html

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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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Black People Can’t Be Racists?

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Black People Can’t Be Racists?

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  Bro. Dyson,

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While I fully embrace the overall point you're trying to make, you’re misinforming our people with respect to Blacks not being able to be racists, in order to make it. As result, when your Black followers run around quoting you on this issue, they’re making themselves look like unthinking idiots.
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You enjoy much respect in the Black community, and along with that respect comes responsibility. So please use your position in the community to help teach our people to think efficiently, and with precision. Here’s the position I recently took with one of your adherents:

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Being a racist is a state of mind, so it doesn't require control, all it requires is ignorance. According to your logic we also have to say that a Black person can't be a sexist, a homophobe, a xenophobe, or an asshole either, because he doesn't control the system.
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The point that you SEEM to be TRYING to make is that Black people don't have the power to EXPRESS their racism as effectively as White people, because we don't have the power to employ INSTITUTIONAL racism. But to extend that to say that Black people can't be racist AT ALL, is not only a gross corruption of common sense, but it defies the very definition of the word. It’s what’s called a "factoid" - a lie that’s been told so often that people began to accept it as fact.
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It’s one thing to express your views, but when you do that, you should make every effort to express them with precision. Don’t try to redefine the English language to mean what you want it to mean; the only thing you accomplish in that way is, instead of helping people to understand your point of view, you cause them to dismiss you as an idiot, so you’re defeating your own purpose.
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Now, I said that I was done with this discussion, but the only reason that I decided to make this final comment is because I love Black people, so I hate to see them make a damn fool of themselves. Personally, I don’t care what you believe, but I hate it when Black people make comments like the one under discussion and I have to look at the smirks of satisfaction on the faces of White bigots. Because whenever Black people make ridiculous statements like the one above, it tends to reinforce the position of White bigots that Black people are just a bunch of ignorant and undereducated fools. 
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Have you ever noticed how when the news media wants to interview a Black person they often seem to look around for the most ignorant, inarticulate, uneducated Black person they can find? Well, they’re looking for people who will say EXACTLY the kind of thing that we’re discussing here. They’re looking around for someone who will validate their position that Black people are stupid. 
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I don’t like seeing that, and I don’t like seeing Black people being used in that way. That’s the one and only reason that I’ve wasted even one brain cell on this silly-ass discussion. But now I’ve done my part, so the rest is up to you. I’m done with this.

QUESTION

 

"Eric, who is responsible for crafting the dictionary definition of racism? As you correctly state Eric, bullshit in, bullshit out. Dr. Neely Fuller's stance regarding what constitutes a racist/racism closely mirrors that of Dr. Dyson and Dr. Anderson. Do you submit they too are full of lies?"

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The handful of so-called "learned" individuals who are going around spewing the message that Black people can’t be racist is doing much more harm to the Black community than good. First, their position is a corruption of common sense and defies the very definition of the word, and secondly, it antagonizes potential allies by sowing division during a time when the poor and middle-class, of every stripe, are in dire need of unity to fight off the neo-fascist agenda of the corpo-Republican alliance.

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The English language is what it is, and so is the definition of racism. As for who compiled the definitions in the dictionary, that’s irrelevant, because the dictionary doesn't DETERMINE what the English language is, it merely INFORMS us of how the English language is used. So the fact is, the "learned" gentlemen that you cite are not only either lying, or grossly out of touch with reality, but again, they're doing the Black community a horrible disservice.
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This nation is currently knee-deep in a CLASS WAR in which the enemy's most potent weapon is division. So by running around spewing this nonsense, they're lending comfort to the enemy by helping to keep people of normally good will, who SHOULD be allies in this war against corporate feudalism, antagonistic and throwing spitballs at one another.
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During WWII, even the United States and the Soviet Union had sense enough to put their differences aside long enough to fight off Nazi fascism, but these so-called learned individuals have obviously learned absolutely nothing from history. The current GOP represents nothing short of creeping fascism. They don’t care any more about poor and middle-class White people than they do Black people. So instead of people like Dyson stirring division among the poor and middle-class, they should be educating the public to the dire need for us to come together to fight off a common and insidious foe.
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So the bottom line is, by going around spewing the myth that Black people can’t be racist, they’re placing they’re desire to gain personal street creds above what’s in the best interest of the Black community. How do I know their motivation? Because the message they’re spreading has absolutely no remedial value to current conditions in the Black community. It goes a long way towards hurting us, while on the other side of the ledger, it serves no useful purpose. What benefit do we derive by saying that Black people can't be racist? The only purpose it serves is to turn off potential, and badly needed, allies.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ0QfLkjujY

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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

The Zimmerman Verdict - A Return to Jim Crow “Justice”

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

The Zimmerman Verdict - A Return to Jim Crow "Justice"

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The Zimmerman verdict was a return to Jim Crow justice. The ONLY solid evidence in this case was that Zimmerman stalked, approached, and killed an innocent Black child. That was proven. Everything else was simply the word of a murderer trying to justify his crime.
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We didn't have to prove that Zimmerman murdered Trayvon. That was a fact already in evidence. Thus, it was then up to ZIMMERMAN to prove that there were mitigating circumstances that justified his committing the crime, otherwise, he would have simply gone to jail for murdering a child.
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Thus, the case boiled down to who the jury chose to believe, a murderer trying to get off the hook, or their lying eyes, and due to their racist attitudes toward Black males, they chose to believe the murderer - in spite of the fact that every act he engaged in prior to the murder was improper. So it was a racist verdict - period.

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To all those who are trying to bend reality and common sense by saying that the jury merely followed the law and jury instructions and came to a completely objective and color-blind verdict, I simply say the following. If that were indeed the case, it would be a matter of record that Black people and Whites get equal justice under the law, but every statistical study ever done on our judicial system clearly shows that’s not the case.

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All laws and jury instructions are open to interpretation. That's why we have juries. In this case, this jury, chose to believe that Fred Flintstone actually existed and graduated from Yale in the Spring of 21000 B.C., and every non-racist, clear-thinking in America knows that, so you might as well stop trying to debate this issue.

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By trying to justify this blatantly racist atrocity, and claiming that anyone who doesn’t want to accept the ridiculous justification for this murder and verdict is race-baiting, your merely making our case regarding the continuing strain of racism that's so pervasive in this country. Because such an argument is the height of racist arrogance, and it's an insult to the intelligence of anyone with common sense. It’s the murder and verdict that’s race-baiting.

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In essence, what racists and the obsequious idiots who follow them expect us to believe is Zimmerman was found not guilty because an innocent dead child failed to prove that he had a right to live. That argument is as stupid as it gets. It's a throwback to the Jim Crow era when bigots used to be acquitted on the grounds that "the nigga forced us to lynch him."  So if you embrace that rationale, you’re either stupid, or a racist.

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Racist Rant From George Zimmerman's Brother

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6cfOSnRJj8

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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

Racists Convicted Trayvon Martin of Failing To Prove He Had a Right to Live

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Racists Convicted Trayvon Martin of Failing To Prove He Had a Right to Live

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Zimmerman Supporters are insisting that anyone who points out racism as a component of the Zimmerman verdict is a race-baiter, while at the same time suggesting that we accept out of hand that because Trayvon was a young Black male, Zimmerman was justified in his assumption that he constituted a threat to the community. How is that not racism?
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More evidence of a racist mind-set is the fact that most Zimmerman supporters are blindly accepting the murderer's version of events - a murderer, I might add, who has been caught in several inconsistencies, and refused to explain how he got to his gun under the scenario that he described. How do they justify that? 
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If a guy is arrested for shooting someone in an alley, would they blindly accept the murderer’s word that the victim attacked him? If so, what's to prevent every murderer from claiming that he was being attacked? Thus, if every murderer was treated with the same level of deference that George Zimmerman was treated, the only way to convict anyone of murder would be with an independent eye witness (http://www.thestate.com/2013/07/10/2856356/sc-supreme-court-stops-murder.html).
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We have no evidence whatsoever to suggest that Trayvon did any of the things that Zimmerman claimed. Yet, Zimmerman supporters are claiming that we have to prove Zimmerman guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Well, it had been proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Zimmerman initiated a chain of events that ended in the death of an innocent kid. Thus, the murder had been proven, so it was up to Zimmerman to prove that there were mitigating circumstances that made the murder of an unarmed child justified.
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In addition, even if Trayvon did get into an altercation with Zimmerman, didn’t Trayvon have a right to defend himself against a man who 1). stalked him, 2). weighed 40 pounds more than he did, 3). unjustifiably approached him at night, 4). didn’t identify himself, and 5). didn’t have any visible sign of authority? All of those factors made Zimmerman’s claim of self-defense ridiculously flawed.
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But in spite of all that, instead of holding Zimmerman accountable for his reckless behavior, they convicted Trayvon - who was guilty of nothing more criminal than going to the store - of not being able to prove he had a right to live. How is that not racism?
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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.

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Save Your Breath, Zimmerman Supporters - The Black Community Know You Better Than You Know Yourselves

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Save Your Breath, Zimmerman Supporters - The Black Community Know You Better Than You Know Yourselves 

The vast majority of people in this country - both Black, White, and others - are good people. While we all have a strain of racism in us, it’s not a conscious racism, and most of us of normal intelligence are engaged in a constant internal struggle to eradicate it when we recognize it in ourselves. What makes it such a struggle is we’re constantly inundated by it in this country, and the reason we try so desperately to weed it out is, being of normal intelligence, we see it for what it is - a form of gross stupidity.
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But as a Black man - one who has three mixed grandsons, including Eric Wattree III, and a daughter-n-law who is so pure in her White heritage that she makes Mitt Romney look like an Angolan immigrant - I’ve found the debate over the George Zimmerman verdict very enlightening. I used to think that racism was a choice, but now I see that there is a group of people, of normally good conscience, in this country whose racist strain is so innate to who they are that they are completely blind to it. They don’t intend to be racist, nevertheless, their racist attitudes and assumptions seep all the way to their bone marrow. We’ve seen a clear example of that in the Zimmerman verdict.
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One's predisposition colors the way that one perceives the world. Therefore, in my opinion, the only way that it would be possible to view George Zimmerman’s actions in a less than culpable manner is to view reality through the clouded lens of, at the very least, a predisposition towards latent and unrecognized racism.
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Many who support the verdict, yet recognize it as the brutal assault on American justice that it is, are trying to hide behind the law by saying that they had no choice but to let Zimmerman off due to the reading of Florida law. But that’s not only a weak argument, but a transparent attempt to justify their innate predisposition not to hold Zimmerman accountable for his actions. 
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This verdict boiled down to whether or not the jury believed Zimmerman's story, in spite of all its flaws. It wasn't the law that determined whether or not the jury accepted Zimmerman’s story that Trayvon attacked him, or that he feared for his life against a child who weighed 40 pounds less than himself, or that once he had the gun out he had to pull the trigger. It was their predisposition to want to believe him.
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The bottom line is, this verdict essentially, and in fact, convicted an innocent victim instead of a murderer who engaged in a series of extraordinary and improper actions that led to the victim's death. Thus, in order to excuse the murderer's improper actions, and to convict the victim instead of the murder, it required a mind-set that betrays a racist predisposition - whether the assessor of fact was trying to act in good faith or not.
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It takes either racism or a complete lack of common sense not to clearly recognize that racism played a huge role in both George Zimmerman’s motives, and his intent. First, the only thing that caught Zimmerman’s attention about Trayvon Martin was the fact that he was a Black male. Secondly, Zimmerman contacted 911 more than 40 times, and virtually every call involved Black males. Third, Zimmerman was instructed to remain in his car, and he ignored those instructions. Fourth, Zimmerman claimed he murdered Trayvon in self-defense, but regardless to what took place after he approached Trayvon, Zimmerman had to approach Trayvon to place himself in a position to require him to have to defend himself. And fifth, Zimmerman claimed that he had to resort to lethal force because Trayvon, who weighed 40 pounds less than him, was banging his head against the concrete so vigorously that it caused him to fear for his life. Yet, all he had to show for this brutal assault were a few scratches, not the huge lumps on his head that you would expect from a person whose head had been banged against concrete.
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Thus, I feel safe in saying that no parent in America - Black or White - would find that anywhere close to a justifiable excuse for the murder of their child - a child who was doing nothing more criminal than going to the store to get a bag of Skittles. So I submit that it takes either gross racism or gross stupidity to accept such a story as a justification for murder.
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In order for people to accept such a story they have to be of the following mindset:
1). Simply because Trayvon was Black that was an acceptable reason for Zimmerman to suspect him of criminal activity.
2). Again, because Trayvon was Black, he posed a serious enough threat to the community to justify Zimmerman ignoring police instructions to remain in his car.
3). Since Trayvon was Black, they should ignore the fact that Zimmerman actually approached him in the first place.
4) Since Trayvon was Black, it was the height of audacity for him to think he had the right to defend himself after being confronted by a man who wasn’t a police officer, and who didn’t have any visible sign of authority.
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If the above seems reasonable to you, you're a racist - period.
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If we accept that as the standard for justice in this country, that could cause murder-for-hire to overtake drug dealing as an easy source of disposable income. What’s to prevent some woman’s boyfriend from dragging her husband in an alley, blowing his brains out, and then calling the police and claiming self-defense? Or what’s to prevent a robber from killing his victim to cover his crime, and then calling the police and claiming he was attacked? Thus, the standard that Zimmerman was freed on was absolutely ridiculous - and clearly racist in nature.
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An assault is an intentional act by one person that creates an apprehension in another of an imminent harmful or offensive contact. So just by following, and then walking up to Trayvon at night constituted was an assault, because you don't have to put your hands on a person for it to constitute an assault. Putting you hands on them is assault and battery. An assault is merely placing them in fear for their well being. So it was Trayvon who had the right to defend himself. If the exact same scenario had taken place, but it had been a Black man who killed a White kid, the Black man would undoubtedly already be on Death Row - for first degree murder.
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But Black people are used to such ridiculous standards being applied to them, because many Americans, when it comes to self-serving comfort of racism, have a pronounced blind spot - and it’s historic in nature. The blind arrogance of many Americans is absolutely astounding - and then they’ll say things like, "There you go playing the race card again!" Of course we are, because you’re a racist, idiot!
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How in the hell can a White person even presume to tell a Black man about racism, and the state of racism in America? They have absolutely no idea what America looks like through the eyes of a Black man. George Zimmerman stalked an unarmed Black child, who was minding his own business, AFTER being told by the police to stay in his car, then shot and killed him. That’s murder, regardless to how you slice it - Period.
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Now, I love this country, but I don’t suffer any illusions about what it represents. But if you relate the truth about this country to some White folks - especially conservatives - they’re so blind to reality that they’ll call you un-American, regardless to how many facts you bring to bear. The reason for that is, as Americans, we’re expected to adhere to an unspoken agreement to perpetuate the American myth.
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But the easily demonstrable fact is, the United States is one of the most racist countries on the face of the Earth - and it always has been. All this "freedom and justice for all" was a lie when it was written, and it's still a lie.
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Again, Americans have a delusional blind spot when it comes to this country. We condemned Hitler for killing 6 million Jews, but we conveniently ignore the fact that Americans killed over 100 million Native Americans - and some historians place the number at closer 300 million. We call Al Qaeda unconscionable terrorists for killing three thousand Americans, then we trot right over to Iraq and kill over one million innocent women and children - and for absolutely nothing! Then we talk about the war against terrorism, but we're the only country on Earth that has dropped not one, but two, atomic bombs on Japan - one each, on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing and maiming thousands of innocent men, women, children, cute little puppies, and cuddly little kittens.
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Yeah, I know - we were at war with Japan. But we were at war with the Japanese government, not innocent noncombatants, and terrorism is defined as "the killing of innocent noncombatants for political purposes." So based on that definition, the United States is the most brutal and prolific terrorist nation in the history of mankind - and I didn't even mention the atrocities committed during slavery, the Jim Crow years, and during WWII when Black war heroes were forced to give up their seats on the train for Nazi prisoners of war.
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So George Zimmerman supporters can talk until their mouths are dry about why he was justified in killing that innocent child, but they’re not fooling the Black community for one second. Because contrary to what they’ve obviously convinced themselves to believe, being a minority and being dumb is far from synonymous, so we know them much better than they obviously know themselves.

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Racist Rant From George Zimmerman's Brother

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6cfOSnRJj8

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.

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Let Us Use Trayvon’s Death to Breathe Life Back Into America

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Let Us Use Trayvon’s Death to Breathe Life Back Into America

Many bigots in this country are giddy with delight over what they view as a victory for bigotry in the George Zimmerman verdict. But since scientific studies have shown that racist attitudes have a positive correlation with gross ignorance (http://www.livescience.com/18132-intelligence-social-conservatism-racism.html), many of them are probably not familiar with the concept of "unintended consequences?"

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So while bigots may think that they’ve won a victory in the Zimmerman verdict, they also thought they won a victory with the murder of Emmett Till, the bombing of the 16^th Street Baptist Church, and the arrest of Rosa Parks, that initiated the Civil Rights Movement. So this unconscionable verdict just might be exactly what was needed to awaken a sleeping giant, those Black, White, and various other Americans of good conscious who have been in denial about what's been taking place in this country over the past 30 years.

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Admittedly, this writer is not one to be found sitting up in church every Sunday - while, ironically, many of those applauding this verdict are - we do recognize that there is much wisdom to be found in the Bible, and the Bible does say in effect, that "God works in mysterious ways." So what we might have just witnessed in this verdict is the dying gasp of Jim Crow.

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There’s been a raging debate going on in this country every since President Obama was elected, as to whether or not his election signaled a "post-racial" America. Some believe that it does, by mere virtue of the fact that enough White people came out to vote for this Black man to elect him President of the United States in the first place. Others argue that the election of Barack Obama was just an illusionary ploy to silence the Black community’s complaints over racism in America.

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I take the position that we are in both the best of times, and the worst of times. President Obama’s election demonstrates without a doubt that racism among the vast majority of Americans is nowhere close to what it was in the past, but on the other hand, those who are determined to "conserve" America’s racist tradition are both more vehement and powerful - and much more dangerous - than ever before.

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It is these malevolent forces who are now celebrating the unconscionable verdict that freed the man who killed Trayvon Martin, an innocent kid whose only crime was having the audacity to think it was safe to go to the store to buy some candy in America. Thus, by finding the freeing of this child’s murderer a cause for celebration, these people have clearly defined themselves, and they’ve also defined the kind of America that they look forward to maintaining.
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We shouldn't worry about the verdict, per se, because while Zimmerman supposedly "got off," he's far from free. He's gonna have to live the rest of his life like a mole. Imagine having to live your life worried about millions of potential hit men. So justice is prevailing. No more strolls on the beach, no leisurely walks in the park, no more going to the movies with family and friends, or to dinner and a night club for a quick drink - he can no longer do any of those things. He’s essentially in a prison without bars. He's not only going to have to look over his shoulder until the end of his days, but he’s also cursed his entire family.
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So again, God, Nature, or the Universe - take your pick - works in mysterious ways. Thus, maybe like Emmett Till, Trayvon Martin’s only purpose in life was to serve as a catalyst to wake up America. 

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History is filled with examples where the fate of ordinary individuals has changed the course of history. So while we mourn Trayvon and the gross injustice of his untimely death, we should also honor his death by using it to awaken the sleeping giant within our midst, that vast majority of Americans of good will, to crush those malevolent forces among us who threaten to destroy all of the poor and middle class in America, in the very same way that their view of America snatched the life from Trayvon Martin.

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So let us ensure justice for Trayvon, by shoving him down their throats and making him the poster child for all injustice."TRAYVON LIVES!" should be our fight song to address all injustice towards the poor and middle class across this nation. In that way we can bring attention, and the passion of this moment, to the cause of the poor and middle class, and we can also honor both Travyon, and his family, by using his untimely death to defeat all injustice, and to breathe life back into America.

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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.

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Trayvon Martin is Dead Because He Was Born Black in America - Period

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

Trayvon Martin is Dead Because He Was Born Black in America - Period

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White conservatives often criticize Black people for being too quick to play what they call "the race card." On the other hand, many Black people criticize America for not being sensitive enough to the reality that race plays in American life. George Zimmerman’s trial for the murder of Trayvon Martin clearly validates the Black community’s point of view.
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Trayvon Martin is dead for no other reason than he was born Black in America. That’s a non-debatable fact. Had he been a White kid, Trayvon would have still been alive today. Yet, even as the jury is out deliberating Zimmerman’s fate, there’s a raging debate going on in America over whether or not Zimmerman was justified in taking this mere child’s life.
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Regardless to the eventual verdict in this case, the trial itself clearly demonstrates how the laws of the land are routinely bent against the interest of the Black community while still managing to maintain the illusion of justice for all.
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The bottom line is, Trayvon Martin was guilty of absolutely nothing. He was simply engaged in an activity that millions of kids - good kids - engage in all across this country on a daily basis. He wasn’t casing the neighborhood in preparation to commit a crime, he wasn’t walking down the street smoking dope, nor was he walking the street in search of a potential victim. He was simply an innocent kid on his way home after going to the store to buy a bag of Skiddles and a soft drink. So how, in a just society, can he end up dead, and his killer - an armed adult, who stalked him, and outweighed him by forty pounds - can now be claiming self-defense in his murder? The very scenario strains credulity to the limit.
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One would think the facts above would be crystal clear to every single person in America - and they would be if the situation was exactly reversed. If Trayvon Martin had been the adult in this scenario, and he stalked and killed a White kid under the exact same circumstances - if he stalked the kid, weighed forty pounds more than his victim, and he was armed while the kid was not - chances are, he would already be on Death Row for First Degree Murder - that is, assuming he survived to reach the police station.
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In addition, what many are failing to realize is, by trying to bend the law to accommodate their racism they're cutting their own throats. You see, many people think an assault is a physical attack, but that's not true. An assault is simply putting a person in fear of bodily harm? So what most people think of as an assault - physically attacking someone - is actually an assault and battery. So when Zimmerman confronted Trayvon and placed him in fear for his well being, that constituted an assault. Therefore, he committed a crime against Trayvon, and Trayvon had every right to defend himself. So if Trayvon would have had a gun and shot Zimmerman he would have been well within his rights. Thus, if Zimmerman is found not guilty, that will set a precedent saying that if a guy tries to rob you and you fight back, he has a right to kill you in self-defense.
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While one might say, that doesn't apply since the guy is engaged in a  criminal act, who will be around to attest to that?  Just like Trayvon, you'll be dead, so there will only be the criminal's word for what took place. Therefore, if Zimmerman is found not guilty of this grievous crime, it will not only be a slap in the face of justice, Trayvon Martin, and the Black community, but it'll be an assault on the personal security of every American across this land.  In fact, it may even give criminals an incentive to kill in order to cover-up their crimes.
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That's a high price to pay to accommodate racism, but in spite of that, I don’t take the position that all White people are malevolent, nor am I one who's prone to looking under every rock for the existence of racism whenever Black people don’t get their way. I do, however, stand firm in the belief that racism is such an historically pervasive part of American life that many Americans - both Black and White - harbor grossly racist attitudes towards Black people that are so deeply ingrained that they don’t even recognize it themselves.
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You don’t think so? Watch any hip hop video and count the number of beautiful dark-skinned sisters you find. I guarantee you, you’ll find very few - and even when a dark-skinned sister is so strikingly beautiful that they can’t avoid using her, they’ll usually shine a light on her to make her look orange.
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So I reiterate, Trayvon Martin is dead due to the gross racism of a grossly racist society - Period.

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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.



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CORNEL WEST - THE ILLUSTRIOUS MIGHTY MOUTH - IS AT IT AGAIN!

Beneath the Spin*Eric L. Wattree

CORNEL WEST - THE ILLUSTRIOUS MIGHTY MOUTH - IS AT IT AGAIN!

It's time for the Black community to wake up and fight back, because Tavis Smiley and Cornel West are killing us.
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These two individuals thrive on taking advantage of our misery for their own self-promotion and enrichment. Problems are their business. They love them, because highlighting problems give Tavis grist for his television production mill, they give West and the rest of Tavis' speakers bureau something to talk about to generate their huge speakers' fees, and pointing out problems under Obama generates revenue by making Smiley's ALEC-connected sponsors happy.
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As a result, when Tavis and West decide that there are not enough problems to sufficiently sustain their various enterprises, they incite them by indulging in reckless and divisive hyperbole - and at times like these, division is the last thing we need.
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These gentlemen are toxic to not only the Black community, but to America as a whole. Because, essentially, they’re serving as agents for the Republican Party, the domestic enemy of the American people.
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This time Fox News is trumpeting that West is proclaiming that under Barack Obama Black people are being relegated to the Back of the bus. But, as usual, both West - and of course, Fox News - is failing to point out that the United States Constitution gives control of ALL SPENDING to the United States House of Representatives, which is controlled by the Republican Party.
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We expect that from Fox News, but isn’t Cornel West bright enough to know that? If he doesn’t, he’s too dumb to be running his mouth as much as he does. On the other hand, if he does know it, why is he all over Obama instead of the Republicans? If we had to depend on Cornel West we would never know that while he’s busy bad-mouthing Obama the Republicans are leaving no stone unturned to reverse the Civil Rights Act. Hmmmmm . . .
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While it is true that the Black community is in dire need, what we're in dire need of is having people like Tavis Smiley, Cornel West, and the illustrious "Blue Dog," Boyce Watkins, to stop preaching us a sermon, and start living us one. If they were just half as prolific in finding solutions as they are in generating cause for division, we'd be half way home by now.
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At this point I no longer even have to discuss the stupidity of Tavis Smiley, especially in the Black community, but with respect to Cornel West, he’s renowned for going around bragging to anyone who will listen about how much he LOVES his people. Yet, he has NEVER taught at a school that more than 1% of Black kids can afford to get into in his ENTIRE career. What's up with that? If he REALLY loves his people as much as he claims, he’d be in the hood teaching 3rd grade, or at the very least, at a historically Black college. And how many Black students could he help through school with his $30,000 PER SPEECH speaking fees? He could pay for some deserving Black student's entire college education with just two speeches - and, help the Black college that the student chose to attend, in the process.
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Cornel West also joined with Ralph Nader to help get George Bush elected in the 2000 election. That created the very conditions that he's blaming on Obama right now. Bush won the presidency by winning Florida by 537 votes. The Nader/West coalition took 97,488 votes from the Democrats in Florida alone. So West is like a man who shit on the floor of a restaurant, and then called the health department because the proprietor couldn't get it up fast enough.
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In addition, in July of 2012 the Department of Justice announced that Wells Fargo Bank agreed to pay a $175 million settlement to reimburse over 30,000 poor and minority borrowers who were targeted in what has come to be known as the "Ghetto Loan Scam," in which West’s close associate, Tavis Smiley, is reported to have played a substantial role.
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The New York Times reported that it was the "second-largest residential fair-lending settlement in the department’s history." Yet, as much as Smiley and West love to jump up and down over poor and minority abuse, on this particular issue - again, the second largest case of fair-lending abuse in history - they’re as quiet as two church mice, or as Cornel West is so found of saying, neither one of them ain't said a "mumblin' word" - and with good reason.
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Several articles, including one seeded on Newsvine entitle, "Tavis Smiley - "Ghetto Loan" Peddler for Wells Fargo," closely associates West’s road dawg, PBS talk show host, Tavis Smiley, with the Wells Fargo Bank scam targeting poor and middle-class Black and Hispanic borrowers. The article quotes Kelvin Boston, host of "Moneywise, and Keith Corbett, of the Center for Responsible Lending, as calling Tavis Smiley "the big draw" of the Wells Fargo scam. Specifically, the article states the following:
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"Smiley was the keynote speaker, and the big draw, according to Boston [host of "Moneywise"] and Keith Corbett, executive vice president of the Center for Responsible Lending, who attended two of the seminars. Smiley would charge up the audience — and rattle the Wells Fargo executives in attendance — by launching into a story about how he hated banks, and how they used to refuse to lend him money for his real estate projects in Compton, Calif., and elsewhere... But what appeared on the surface as a way to help black borrowers build wealth was actually just the opposite, according to a little-noticed explanation of the "Wealth Building" seminar strategy, contained in a lawsuit recently filed by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan.
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"Wells' plan for the seminars all along was to target black borrowers for higher-cost subprime mortgages, not for wealth-building, the suit charged. And the seminars were a part of the bank's overall illegal and discriminatory practice of steering black and Hispanic borrowers into riskier and more expensive loans."
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In a statement by Wells Fargo put out after the bank agreed to a settlement of $175 Million, they said that while not admitting to any wrong doing, Wells Fargo agreed to a settlement of the law suit because the bank felt that it was the right thing to do. The settlement includes Wells Fargo paying the Black and Hispanic victims of discrimination $125 million in compensation, and an additional $50 million in down-payment assistance to borrowers in the affected communities.
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So the question that remains is, if Wells Fargo Bank feels that compensating the poor and middle-class victims of this scam "is the right thing to do," shouldn’t Tavis Smiley, the most strident advocate of "accountability" and fervent crusader for the interest of the poor, feel obliged to do the same? Certainly, benefitting from the misery of the poor and minority community would run counter to Mr. Smiley's zeal for the need of the powerful to maintain accountability.
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We also asked Cornel West, who loves to talk about the "prophetic tradition," what he thought was the proper course of action for his good friend and associate? What does the "prophetic tradition" dictate would be the appropriate action for Tavis Smiley to take in order to be "accountable" to these poor minority borrowers and the Black community?
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As yet, we haven’t heard a word from either Smiley or West. So Tavis, West, if you REALLY want to perform a public service for the Black community it would be very simple - either PUT UP, OR SHUT UP!

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THE REAL HISTORY OF THE POVERTY TOURS

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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.

　

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