BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE
The Very Silent Black Majority
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"Question. Why aren't the blacks all up in arms over the way Obama is treated. I work with mostly minorities, a black woman is my boss and they never say a word in his defense IN MY PRESENCE. and I'm always hearing fascist shot from the whites. Is the divide so wide that there's no dialogue possible."
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Chris,
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The reason the Black community is not out in mass in defense of President Obama is because he doesn't need our defense. He's doing quite nicely on his own, and we're confident that he's quite capable of handling anything that they can throw at him. We expected what's currently going on from the day that he was elected, and so did he - we would have been fools not to expect it. In addition, the silent Black majority in this country don't suffer fools. We don't have to.
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We WANT the GOP and other social bigots to remain fools, because we have our own agenda that's kept pretty close to the vest, but it's gradually beginning to reveal itself. So we don't intend to say a word in defense of who we are. We WANT bigots to think all Black people are undereducated, saggin', and swaggering. Thus, we have no intention of getting all excited and trying to prove our value. The days of trying to prove ourselves to White folks are over. We intend to SHOW the bigots of this nation what they've created, just like Barack Obama is currently doing - and the fact is, they've created their worse nightmare, because adversity has made us MORE, rather than less.
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Living our entire lives having to out-think and out-maneuver racist bigots and institutional racism hasn’t been without its intellectual rewards, and neither has being involved in a marathon where White people are spotted 100 yards and we’re forced to compete in lead boots. Spending our lives having to deal with that kind of adversity, and still managing to remain competitive, has contributed greatly to our intellect, character, and perseverance. It is that very experience that’s allowed President Obama to stand head-n-shoulders above the GOP, and contrary to popular belief, he’s far from an aberration in the Black community.
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While the GOP has been on a single-minded mission to dumb-down America, and has been lodging a brutal assault against the nation's educational system in order to conceal their atrocious history and malevolent agenda, many in the Black community are using that as an opportunity to level the playing field by doubling-down on the education of their children so they'll have the upper hand in the future.
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Many of us have come to understand that "knowledge is power" in a real and personal way. Those words are just an adage to many Americans, but not to a huge part of the Black community, because we've had to live the bitter consequences of failing to recognize their significance. A pointed example of just how significant those three simple words are is the fact that we were enslaved in the first place because we lacked a knowledge of gunpowder and other munitions.
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Another example that I often cite is the fact that when man arrived here on Earth he was completely vulnerable. He was a naked ape, but without the strength and agility of a true ape. He wasn't as big and powerful as the elephant, as ferocious as the lion, nor could he fly above danger like the eagle. The only thing that nature armed him with was the human mind, but as a result of developing his mind, he can now build machines that can crush the most powerful elephant, victimize the most ferocious lion, and fly far beyond the domain of the most dedicated eagle - in fact, he's not only gained dominion over this world, but he's gone on to visit others.
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The above facts haven't been lost on a sizeable segment of the Black community. So as we quietly watch the many virulent racists continue to delight in their stupidity, we smile, because we recognize that ignorance is only bliss until reality sets in.
A NOTE TO A "LEARNED" BIGOT
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To Professor Claude Henschel and All Other Social Bigots - You’re Only Fooling Yourselves
Claude, you said,
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"He [President Obama] has actually caused me not just to totally dislike him and disrespect his leadership abilities, but now, because of him, I have the same feelings about Muslims."
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First, you and your GOP counterparts aren’t fooling anybody. You don’t disrespect President Obama’s leadership. In fact, just the reverse is true - you are shocked, awed, and severely dismayed over how much more competent and intelligent this Black president is over any White man you’ve ever known. It’s causing you to struggle through a severe case of cognitive dissonance, because it forces a reality down your throat that you’d rather die than accept - that there’s nothing special about being born White. Now, that isn’t to say that there aren’t many very special, and brilliant, White men and women, but they didn't get that way by virtue of being born White. They got that way through a personal investment that they made in themselves.
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Secondly, President Obama is not responsible for you’re distaste for Muslims. You were probably a bigot long before Barack Obama was born. So don’t try to lay your backward-thinking, bigoted attitudes at Barack Obama’s feet. You’re a bigot because you’re ignorant, the poster child for profound mediocrity, and your self-esteem requires you to desperately hang on to your delusional belief system in order to maintain any sense of significance whatsoever.
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So again, what you - and the entire wing-nut fringe of the GOP - actually dislike about Obama's leadership is that he causes you to experience cognitive dissonance. All your life you’ve been able to delude yourself into believing that regardless to how drenched in mediocrity you might be, you could always take comfort in the fact that you are superior to Black people. But now, these ‘uppity’ Black people like Barack Obama - and myself, by the way - have come along and thrown a pie in the face of your delusions of grandeur. Don't you realize that there are literally millions of us out here who KNOW how miserable that makes people of your ilk feel? And we're getting a very special kind of joy out of watching it.
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And Claude, now that we’re having this discussion, I want to take this opportunity to express my personal gratitude to you and all the people like you. Because you people literally created me, and many more Black people just like me, who are quietly investing in themselves and growing in cocoons all across this nation. Due to your constant need to validate and reinforce your delusion of superiority, you've indulged in a studied propensity to constantly focus on the most dysfunctional 10 to 15% of the people in the Black community, and you’ve totally ignored the very people that you should have been watching - the highly functional 85% of Black people - and that, has been a grievous error on your part, an error that Barack Obama’s appearance on the scene - seemingly from out of nowhere - clearly demonstrates.
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Oh, wait a minute! You didn’t think Barack Obama was an aberration, did you? Not hardly, buddy. There are tens of thousands of Black people across this country who are capable of wearing your ass out - intellectually, professionally, or in any other way you choose to compete. In fact, every Black person that's considered your professional peer is actually, more often than not, your superior, because they've been forced to spot you 100 yards and run against you in lead boots, yet, they've still managed to remain competitive. Yes, I've said it before, but I can't say it too often, because many of us who are a part of this silent Black majority have prepared our entire lives for this marathon. Personally, I can assure you that I have invested in myself with a fierce and dedicated determination for my entire adult life to make you feel just like you're feeling right now, and believe me, it feels wonderful - it's right up there with sex.
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So let there be no doubt about it, Barack Obama is getting a very special kind of joy out of watching all you bigots struggle with your self-esteem. He's taking your unfounded delusions of superiority and beating you about the head with them, just like I do with you routinely, professor.
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So don't you think for a moment that your jumping up-and-down about what you allege is Obama's incompetence is fooling anybody in America but yourself, as evidenced by the last election. We all know what's really going on - including many White people. You're in absolute misery, and we're taking great pleasure in watching your agony, because we know why you're ACTUALLY screaming. You're not screaming over Obama's alleged corruption or incompetence; you're screaming in agony over having the hell beat out of you with your own bat, and it's an absolutely exhilarating thing to watch.
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FACTS THE GOP DOESN'T WANT AMERICA TO KNOW ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE -
WE'RE NO DIFFERENT THAN YOU
WE'RE NO DIFFERENT THAN YOU
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The vast majority of Black people in this country are middle class or above. African Americans are the second largest consumer group in America with a combined buying power of over $892 billion currently and likely over $1.1 trillion by 2012. In 2002 African American owned businesses accounted for 1.2 million of the US's 23 million businesses, and 47% of Africans Americans own their own homes. - U.S. Census Bureau.
HOWLING WINDS
As I watched my son, dapper as they come, walk down our walkway and into manhood,
what I remember most was the howling winds. I'd seen such winds before, but never like this - my old foe was pulling up trees by the roots,
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So I watched, but I watched alone.
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As the winds raged on and the mighty palms bowed, a single leaf from our Winter-bare ficus tree
held tough against the ferocious storm. It fought valiantly against the angry gale, as though hanging tough Just to witness the changing of the guard,
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So I stood, but I stood alone.
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Like that solitary leaf, all my life I've fought the ferocious winds, and now they’ve returned, this mighty foe, poised to seize the hopes and dreams of my only son,
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So I cringed, but I cringed alone.
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Then, posterity glanced back, squared its shoulders, and beat back hopelessness as it
trudged through fields of ivy. Then it spread its wings and rode those howling winds
over yonder mountaintop,
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So I wept, but I wept with a crowd . . .
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| ERIC L. WATTREE, JR. |
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MEMORANDUM FOR OFFICER TRAINING SCHOOL SELECTION COMMITTEE
FROM: 92 SFS/SFO
2 E. ARNOLD STREET
FAIRCHILD AFB, WA 99011
SUBJECT: Recommendation for Staff Sergeant Eric L. Wattree
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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| KAI AND ERIC WATTREE, JR. * I NOW STAND FIRM
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I now stand firm. My conviction of the power of knowledge is the platform upon which my podium rests. I stand firm, strong, and now free. Free of anger. Free of self-delusion. Free of the folly of empty vanity, and free of the pernicious bane of meaningless pride without substance.
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I stand free to look upon the eyes of other men, reflecting dignity over sorrow, and accomplishment over pain; I stand with a burning passion, fueled by the very flame that forged ancestral shackles, with a deep sense of pride and a pride that flows deep.
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I now stand erect. The steel that once degraded my father, that chained him in bondage to this bitter Earth, now reinforce my character, making me more, rather than less; and the blood and sweat that once drenched his brow, now rage with resolve and a sense of purpose within my burning breast.
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I now stand as a new being - neither simply African, nor simply American, but a hybrid forced to transcend the sum of my parts; no longer simply African, since being torn away from the African motherland to suffer and toil in the fields of America, and more than simply American, after being forced to be more than simply American just to survive within the bowels of this prosperous land.
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Thus, I stand now armed - armed with the wisdom of deprivation, the courage of my conviction, and a deep conviction of my courage; and fortified - with the confidence of a survivor, the empowerment of knowledge, and a ravishing hunger for greatness.
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I now stand the product of love, struggle, and sacrifice; a witness to man's inhumanity to man, and a monument to the hopes and dreams of a million slaves.
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I now stand embraced by my creator, as God now smiles upon my people.
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Yes, I Now Stand Firm.
Firm, Black, and Free.
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So I'd like all of you "racially superior" bigots out there to consider this a teaching moment and take special note of the bludgeoning below. You're severely out-classed - not because you're White, but because you're White and failed to prepare yourself for reality.
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In closing, I'd just like to take this opportunity to inform all the Professor Henschels out there that, no, as much as you might want to believe it, we're not all out here kickin' back saggin' and gettin' our heads bad - not by a long shot. And if you think President Obama is formidable - of course, you're not going to admit it, but we know you do; that's why you hate him so much - but just wait until you have to deal with group that's currently coming up. Obama became formidable through having to deal with the adversity of the Black experience, but the group that's coming up now were raised to deal with people like you - and as they're doing so, enjoy the challenge. So the days of simply claiming that you're superior are rapidly coming to an end. In the very near future, you're going to have to prove it . . . and frankly, I don't think you can.
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Now go on and vent. Call we a crazy coon. I love it, because it assures me that you're choosing to remain delusional. I also love it because I know it's not gonna change a thing.
. Eric L. Wattree
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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