Post Racial America and Indirect Racism

  Since the end of the Civil Rights and Black Power movement, many white people have tried to distance themselves from being labeled a "racist". Although there are many other methods, the internet has long served as a safe medium for many people to voice their true feelings of other races in this current era called "Post-Racial America". With the beginning of George Zimmerman's murder trial, the judicial diarrhea of the US Supreme Court on the Voting Rights Act of 1964, and Paula Deen's (past) diarrhea of the mouth, the events of this week have removed multiple layers from the "Race Relations" onion of American society.

  There are 2 types of racism, both of which are common in the US, as defined by Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) in his book Black Power : The Politics of Liberation(1967): Individual Racism and Institutional Racism.

  Individual racism is a small scale event between individuals or a small group of people in which one group acts against another based on an ideal that is intentionally or neglectfully racist. Paula Deen's "n-word" jokes are little more than examples of individual racism. Which, for those who didn't know, the law suit against Paula Deen was filed by a white employee, and it is about more than simple "n-word" jokes as described in this article from Black Legal Issues. Another example would be a group of Black guys beating up a white guy, just because he's white. As offensive as it may be, incidents involving individual racism do not have a lasting impact on the target group as a whole. But since it is on a person to person basis, the impact may last for the individuals involved. This factor is what allows racist ideals to be passed from generation to generation.

  Institutional racism is far reaching in the number of people it affects and is usually carried out by a group of people, although individuals can carry out this form of racism as well. This usually occurs when groups of people with racist ideals and states of mind get together - a majority of the time having positions of power. Where, as the picture above states, company policies, law enforcement practices, and legislative practices are created with the intention of harming, or infringing on the rights or progression of a designated group of people. These policies are designed and promoted as resolving a problem, but either intentionally or inherently create disparities through disenfranchisement, harassment, and other abuses of the negatively affected race. Some other race or group of races naturally benefits from it. The support for these forms of institutional racism comes from individual racists who would not want to openly express those views, or would otherwise be powerless to act on those views. Therefore they invest in or vote for, companies and politicians who will be able to deliver policies and business practices that have a similar ring to their racist ideals(although not explicitly stating so). The students of Prairie View A & M University's struggle for voting rights is a prime example of institutional racism, inspired by individual racists. Sporadic incidents of individual racism then begin to occur as a result of the policies and attitudes behind institutional racism.

  The Civil Rights and Black Power movements marked the end of the then commonplace overt racism. The passing of the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, overt racism was outlawed. At that point, racial slurs took a back seat in the public eye, and made way for neutral terms like "criminals" and "illegals"(immigrants) to refer to a broad spectrum of people who will be affected by these policies. So we can ultimately define "Post-Racial America" as the period where it's OK to be racist(individually or institutionally) as long as you don't actually say that that is what you are doing. A period of time where race shouldn't matter, but it does, and unless there is a large enough group of people affected by it, there is no sure fire way to identify it.

  With a better understanding of what racism is and the different forms it can take, we can better prepare ourselves to develop and act on solutions to these problems. The problems of racism cannot be eliminated, but, similar to computer security, the threats or affect of those threats of institutional and individual racism can be transferred, delayed, or prevented from reaching fruition. By having a healthy and practical understanding of how racism works and the forms that it can take will help us to educate ourselves and others outside of the race in our continuing struggle is to secure economic, political, and social freedom and self-determination.

Peace

The Ballot

Today I wanted to talk a little about voting and how we as a people can use it to our advantage. Whenever election time rolls around (for anything) we all hear the average person on the street, and people in the "conscious" community say "I don't vote because voting doesn't work" or xyz excuse. Really, if you understand how the system we're living in works, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. We as a people get screwed over between elections (and every other day), so we don't vote. Since we don't vote, the people who DO vote are the ones who either make the decisions, or choose the people who will make the decisions. And 9 times out of 10 they aren't going to work with our best interests in mind. So, we get screwed over and voting doesn't work (for us)... because we didn't vote. Nothing happens TO us. Only what we did or didn't prepare for.

There are different ways to vote, different issues to vote on, and different areas of life where voting and elections are a part of the decision making process. The 2 that I focus on here are government and business. In government, we vote for the candidate we believe will represent our best interests. That's the idea we're told at least. The candidates may not live up to the "word is bond" principle by doing everything (or anything) that they said they would do, but that doesn't mean we shouldn't vote.  Don't like Democrats or Republicans? On all levels of government (local, state, national), there are many other parties besides the Democratic and Republican parties. There isn't much difference between the 2 parties anyway, they just have different ideas on how the same goal should be achieved - overextending America's influence... aka dominance. The other parties usually don't get as much airtime in the media because people don't look into them, or look for them, like they should. Other organizations and parties have other methods of resolving political issues. Some with candidates who may be more open to listening to our demands and working with us to make them happen.

As a people our past experiences with voting have been bitter sweet. From poll taxes to reading tests and threats, to "zoning", registration, and ballot issues we have had to struggle for our right to vote from day 1.

But, whose fault is it when their elected official's fail their word? It's ours. Because they are elected officials, they are suppose to represent us in the government. Politicians work for 2 things, money and votes. If you're not giving them contributions to their next campaign, sponsoring a program that they came up with, or voting for them, then your opinion doesn't really matter. Part of "civic participation" involves keeping your elected officials in check. Attending meetings, contacting them, telling them about the problems you have in your neighborhood or community (and possible solutions), fighting for minority businesses to be contracted by the government on all levels - all of those fights are fights that voting citizens have the influence to fight. If you put a politician in the position where he has a choice between being reelected and a pissed off voting bloc, he will work to solve their problems. Elected officials are supposed to, or claim, that they serve us, so it's up to us to make sure they do that.

The next method of using the ballot to our advantage is in the business world. When you buy stocks, you become a partial owner of that company. Many businesses allow for stock holders to vote on certain decisions the company will make. The issues shareholders can vote on depends on the company, but some of those issues include selecting the executive board/board of directors, deciding on company policies such as whether to develop reports disclosing their spending habits and political support. Just as in the political world, the more people you have voting together for the same cause, the more power and influence that group will have. Buy stocks, and vote.

Stop making excuses to not get involved and stay on top of what the people who influence your life are doing. If you leave someone else to make life-changing decisions for you without checking them, then you can't say anything when they reap the benefits of your work, too. Government and business are supposed to be here to serve us, not give us toys and dreams to chase while they take off with the spoils of our wok in the process.

A Discourse on Black Power

Fred Hampton, Jr., Immortal Technique, and the Watsonville Brown Berets

The other day I had a conversation with a friend of mine from high school (who happens to be Hispanic). I had told him about the blog and we had a discussion about the purpose and content. He wished me luck, but was concerned about the blog being specifically made for Black people, saying that it seemed exclusionary or separatist.  I compiled my responses to his questions and comments into one post.


Being Black, and seeing the condition we're in, I feel an obligation to work on improving our condition. I was nurtured into thinking this way, and naturally drawn into it. My mother taught me about the danger I was in as a Black man in this country, as well as how to read and learn about my history. I took that and ran with it (since the age of 7). I study and appreciate all cultures worldwide, but I make it a point to study my own. No one says anything when Asians release a video game or movie strictly about Asian history and culture, or when whites release a TV show with only white actors, or if they release a video game with all white characters. They are dealing with subjects related to their culture.


BMD is the same thing.


Although the bigger issue is class, each minority group has its own problems that are unique to that group with respect to its history in this country, or wherever they may be. No one is more qualified to talk about your problems and how they affect you than you are. Stokely Charmichael speaks on this in his book Black Power : The Politics of Liberation. You can't have a partnership with anyone else until you are secure and independent yourself. On an individual level, a person who can't help themselves can't help anyone else either. They have to have some level of independence. Otherwise, that partnership would become either parasitic on the individual's part, or predatory on their partner's part. If both parties are independent, prey/predator and parasitic relationships are less likely. And the same applies to any type of relationship. It is the same on a group level. Black people can't work with other races until they are able to function on their own. So yes, working with other races is, or will become, necessary because the real problems are social and economic class conflict (which goes above race and gender). But we can't have successful partnerships or ally relations until we get own out sh*t together.


Another example (in wake of the immigration issue): I work with Asian and Hispanic immigrants. Many of them speak their own language when talking to each other. The Hispanic guys also play the Latin station on the radio from time to time. They are doing what they're supposed to do, holding on to their original culture. Would it be right for me to tell them (when it is not work related) "Hey, you guys need to speak in English because I can't understand what you're saying" or "You guys need to change the station because I can't understand what the people on the radio are saying." Or "I just don't like Latin music." I can either A) Be parasitic and constantly ask them what is being said, B) Listen to the station without knowing what's being said, and appreciate the music for how I am able to see it. C) Listen to the music, not understanding it, and wishing someone would change the station, D) Be predatory and force them to change the station, or E) Learn Spanish so that I could understand what's being said both in their conversation, and on the radio.


Black Power, in it's original sense, doesn't mean having power OVER anyone else. It's about being in control of yourself and your environment. If you look at the content of the blogs, the things that I'm talking about are something everybody should know; the stuff that isn't culture specific. I'm discussing different avenues that we can us to get economic, political, and social power. Even then the content that is culture specific isn't or shouldn't be offensive.  If it is, you can't please everybody. You can either learn about it so you can understand in the future, or leave it alone.