The Fourth of July: Blackwards...

Universal Greetings & Salutations To The People of The Human Family.  Today is independence day in America.  The historical relevance of this day is intricate and complicated.  For people of color like Native and African Americans the history is a stained and tainted one.  The declaration stated that "All men were created equal."  But those of us in the African and Native American community know this was far from the case.  Especially the fact that many of the signers of the declaration were slavers.  As the great ancestor Frederick Douglass pointed out in his 1852 speech "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" "I say it with a sad sense of the disparity between us.  I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary!  Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us.  The blessings in which you, this day, rejoice, are not enjoyed in common. — The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by me.  The sunlight that brought life and healing to you, has brought stripes and death to me.  This Fourth [of] July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn."  The points Douglas makes are points that poke America contemporarily, perhaps not in the same context, but in the same sentiment.  The notion that America has become a post-racial nation is ludicrous.  The systemic evils that have crippled people of color especially Africans Americans suggest the rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence, bequeathed by your fathers, is shared by you, not by us--in totality."

"The 4th of July is also not Independence Day for people of color.  It wasn't until the 15th Amendment was ratified in 1870 that all men had the right to vote regardless of race -- on paper, that is, not in practice. People of color were systematically, and all too successfully, disenfranchised for another century.  July 4th of 1776 was certainly not a day of Independence or reverence for Native Americans.  It wasn't until 1924 that Native Americans could unilaterally become citizens of the United States and have the voting rights to go with it." -Carina Kolodny

Make no mistake, America has come a long way since 1776, and she is a great nation, but, she has egregiously digressed.  Yes, even with the first sitting African American POTUS.  One may ask, "Why point this out?" "Why bring up the past?"  They may state "You are free, you could be living in a country like Iran or Cuba," or "If you dislike America then go live somewhere else."  I point this out because as a spiritual man, I know like the great Dr. MLK, Jr. knew "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice."  I point this because as a spiritual, I know like author of Declaration of Independence knew "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever."  I bring this up the past because as Malcolm X stated "“Of all our studies, history is best qualified to reward our research.  And when you see that you’ve got problems, all you have to do is examine the historic method used all over the world by others who have problems similar to yours. And once you see how they got theirs straight, then you know how you can get yours straight.”  America has not been beautiful for people of color, and when we hear from those who say they want to return America back to what she was or "never appreciated the benefits of local fascism," we tremble.  We tremble because we know what this type of patriotic-talk means.
"Happy white peoples independence day the slaves weren't free but I'm sure they enjoyed the fireworks." -Chris Rock

When people of color bring up or point out America's past, it is not because we dislike or hate America, although some do, but it because we see what America can be.  The greatness that is in America inspires the world.  The goodness that is the America people inspires the world.  But the same can be said about the evil that is in America because there is a thin line between greatness, goodness, and evil.  Paraphrasing Minister Louis Farrakhan "One can be great, but that doesn't mean their good, because good is a moral quality that one possesses."  America's evils are seemingly outweighing her greatness and the goodness found in her

citizens.  All one has to do is look at the world picture screen to get a not so picturesque view of how America is seen throughout the world.  To the world America is at the top of "spiritual wickedness (existing) in high places," she is the master architect of "principalities--powers and rulers of darkness in this world."  In most instances, there is a difference between America and the American people.  Many American people know America has not been be all that she can be, they know that her laws are unjust, and they know that if she is the Christian Nation she claims to be that God's justice will not sleep forever, because it "rolls down like rivers of running water."  Many Americans see what Thomas Jefferson saw that America will have to answer for what she has done and is doing.

Black Business: Why Blacks don't support Black Businesses?

Why Blacks don't support Black Businesses?

According to late psychologist Dr. Amos Wilson "Identity is essential to economics..." In other words, if one does not identity with one's culture its easy to spend your money with others. African American businesses often fail because we no longer identify with being Black holistically.  We've been Americanized in a way that has taken us from the idea of collective work & responsibility (Ujima) and cooperative economics (Ujamaa) as a people.  You darn for sure won't see the Chinese spending a ton of money outside of their community.

Dr. Umar Johnson says "teaching your child that they have a shared identity with their enemy is one of the worst things you can do."  Essentially, what Johnson is saying is, by assimilating ourselves into a system that constantly and consistently attacks Black culture, we are serving a death sentence.  Question is like Joe Madison - "The Black Eagle" often asks "What are you (we) gonna do about it?"  And, the reality is, we can do something about it, if we so choose, in spite of the obstacles.