Black Man Thinkin'

In 1827, Scottish botanist Robert Brown, looking through a microscope at pollen grains suspended in water, observed small particles that moved about irregularly, similar to the red dots in the “water” of blue dots below:

The phenomenon Brown observed bears his name: “Brownian Movement” – the random motion of particles suspended in a fluid. The particles neither move on their own, nor move with any purpose. Instead, they get knocked around by the fluid.

Brownian Movement seems to describe many American blacks: particles suspended in the fluid of American culture and current events. Blacks neither create the events nor control the impacts. Instead, they get knocked around by them, often according to someone else’s agenda. For example:

The Rise of Barack Hussein Obama

Barack Obama’s historic election elated blacks. From the 2004 Democratic National Convention Keynote Address that brought him national prominence, to his improbable triumph over Hillary Clinton for the 2008 Democrat Party Presidential Nomination, blacks supported Obama, so strongly that he could take their vote for granted, in the primaries and in the general election.

But where were the blacks directing the Obama “event”? They were generally not part of Obama’s inner circle, in either his first or second administration. Instead of embracing the black church, Obama distanced himself from his black pastor of more than 2 decades – a controversial man who performed his wedding and baptized his children – before securing the 2008 nomination. Some questioned his black “bona fides”.

Unsurprisingly, white acceptance led to Obama’s success. During the 2008 campaign, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) “praised” Obama as “a ‘light-skinned’ African American ‘with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.'” Joe Biden (D-DE), who also sought the Democrat nomination, called Obama “the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

Of the nearly 69.5 million votes Obama received in the General Election:

• Less than 22% came from blacks,
• Less than 10% came from hispanics, and
• Less than 3% came from asians….

…and more than 60% came from whites. By providing fewer than one of every four Obama votes, blacks resembled the girl who could not keep her grandmother’s fried chicken “secret”:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB7j3sUWohE[/youtube]

Only this time, “Shake N Bake” was, “Who elected Obama?” The black voter response: “Those white folks…and I helped”.

Six years, and one re-election, later, blacks: have lost economic ground, absolutely, and relative to whites; feel less empowered; saw latino and homosexual concerns receive higher priority than theirs; became America’s most racist group; and felt disrespect from the president.

Blacks did not create Obama; he was thrust upon them…and knocked them around.

The Trayvon Martin Shooting

Trayvon Martin’s death, on February 26, 2012, sparked outrage over a white man shooting and killing an unarmed black teenager.

But Martin’s killer is not white. That small detail did not prevent Trayvon-inspired “revenge attacks” on whites, both before and after the trial; the “popular” narrative was impervious to fact.

Sympathy for Sybrina Fulton, Martin’s biological mother, was sincere, and nationwide, even though Trayvon did not live with her when he died. Alicia Stanley,Trayvon’s stepmother, actually raised him…from the age of 3. Blacks generally ignored this (step-) mother’s pain – Stanley was displaced at Martin’s funeral and at Zimmerman’s trial. Sybrina Fulton’s exploitation of the son she did not raise, copyrighting protest slogans, less than a month after his death, also seemed to go unnoticed.

However, Fulton’s opposition to “Stand Your Ground” laws, in Florida and in Washington, D.C., did draw attention…even though police found “Stand Your Ground” irrelevant to her son’s case, and even though “Stand Your Ground” was not part of Zimmerman’s defense.

That legal experts called Zimmerman’s arrest affidavit “irresponsible and unethical”, and considered Zimmerman “overcharged”, angered more blacks than it informed. News that a grand jury indicted the prosecutor who charged Zimmerman for falsifying his arrest warrant made more blacks question the system than question the prosecution’s case.

Somehow, Sharpton’s rhetoric, NBC’s editing “errors”, and a non-threatening image of Trayvon Martin, which differed from the unarmed teen Zimmerman met:

masked these inconsistencies, and blacks got knocked around by a false narrative which put them at odds with the facts, the legal system…and other Americans.

Donald Sterling’ Clippers

Audiotape of Donald Sterling’s private conversation with a mistress became public on April 25, 2014; the fallout came quickly.

The next day, current and former NBA players offered their opinions, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver called the recording “offensive and disturbing”, other NBA owners weighed in, and Clippers’ players protested…before losing their playoff game.

The following day, a second recording surfaced, and president Obama commented. By April 28th, just 3 days after the first tape leaked, sponsors severed ties with the Clippers.

Then, Commissioner Silver dropped the hammer, on April 29th:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHCgmVikntw[/youtube]

banning Sterling, for life, from the NBA. After more drama, Sterling’s estranged wife sold the Clippers, on May 30, 2014.

And so, the word went forth: major sports franchise owners cannot make racist remarks….even if in private…

Even if their bigotry is common knowledge since last century…

Even if they pay 7- and 8-figure annual salaries to black men who play and coach a game…

Even if they are generous philanthropists, with multiple NAACP Lifetime Achievement Awards…

Apparently, what a man does, publicly, to benefit blacks is less important than what he says, privately.

Blacks did not create the Sterling tapes; they simply bought into the politically correct doctrine that only those with “approved thinking” can supply entertainment in the U.S., and that violating someone’s privacy, or even the law, to enforce that doctrine is acceptable. The NBA needed “cover” for its income-stream-preserving exorcism of Donald Sterling, something it has wanted for 3 decades, and blacks unwittingly obliged…gaining nothing in return, apart from sound bites.

NFL Domestic Violence

NFL players behave better than those they entertain yet, from media reports, one might believe the league is full of wife-beaters and child abusers.

Ray Rice’s one-hitter-quitter episode with then-fiancee, now wife, not only cost the running back his job, it also threatened Roger Goodell’s tenure as NFL Commissioner. The ensuing desire for “justice” was so strong that other things apparently did not matter.

It didn’t matter that Mrs. Rice did not want her husband on trial (after all, it was their private altercation, not a prize-fight). Instead of praise for acknowledging her role in the incident, or standing by her husband, some labeled her a gold digger.

It didn’t matter that New Jersey dropped charges against Rice, or that a female arbitrator overturned his suspension from the NFL.

All that mattered, to many, was calling the NFL soft on domestic violence…and blacks boarded the bandwagon.

Adrian Peterson’s child abuse case, took political correctness to a different level. Not because it involved a child, not because it damaged Peterson’s Father of the Year candidacy, but because of reactions like this:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_w9aeTeKY4[/youtube]

Cris Carter’s rant, against his mother’s child-rearing and values, garnered wide praise. Yet, watching successful black men question the judgment of those who raised them, and the biblical values that sustained blacks in America for centuries and through difficult times, is disturbing.

Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson are now events by which the politically correct knock around what remains of traditional black family connections and cultural values, at a time when blacks desperately need both.

Bill Cosby “Sexcapades”

If Cosby’s troubles were about exposing a powerful man’s past sexual misdeeds, either to validate victimized women or to “educate” the public about his character, then another “Bill”, Mr. Clinton, would answer for sexual allegations, dating back to 1969 (plus a recent lawsuit involving sex with minors); especially since:

● Many Cosby “accusers” waited decades to speak out, with no independent verification; Clinton victims reported incidents when they occurred, often with 3rd party attestation,
● Cosby “accusers” claim he drugged them, without bodily harm; Clinton victims often reported physical abuse, and
● Clinton wielded more power, as a governor and president, than Cosby ever could as a comedian.

The lack of timely reporting or corroboration make proving the allegations against Cosby improbable, even if they are true. Consequently, the anti-Cosby argument is not, “Look at all the evidence against him,” but rather, “All those women cannot be lying!”

Brian Banks, who lost a football scholarship and 5 years of his life, might disagree. So might members of the Duke Lacrosse team, whose accuser now serves time for murder. Indeed, false rape allegations are not uncommon, and the women who make them rarely face negative consequences. Cosby’s accusers will likely speak with impunity.

And many blacks are hearing their message, meaning Cosby’s message, critical of failed black behavior:

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Gh3_e3mDQ8[/youtube]

…is heard, and regarded, less.

Blacks did not create the Cosby rape allegation “event”…but it knocks them around, so that many no longer receive a needed word, for the messenger has been (falsely) tarnished.

Michael Brown, Eric Garner Demonstrations

Michael Brown was an unarmed black teenager whom a cop shot and killed. Some remember Brown as a “good kid”, college bound with a bright future.

Apparently, they did not know the Michael Brown who had gang affiliations, who had an arrest record, who committed strong-armed robbery the day he died, or who assaulted a cop, tried to take his gun, and then made a run at him.

Those who entertained the “Hands Up, Don’t Shoot” story accepted a false Michael Brown narrative. Though disproved, it fueled riots and looting that still scar Ferguson, and many still cling to it.

Eric Garner, who died when NYPD used a choke hold while arresting him, is a more sympathetic figure than either Michael Brown or even Trayvon Martin. Instead of attacking police officers, Garner asked them to leave him alone; instead of fighting a man with a gun, Garner broke up a fight. Instead of a violent man, the video of his last moments show a man in distress.

What the video does not show is Garner’s history with NYPD of 30 arrests, or that he was out on bail, on multiple charges, when he died.

Yet, people “demonstrate” throughout New York, chanting, “I can’t breathe” and other sayings. They also take their message to restaurants, as though white diners either caused or support the lack of a grand jury indictment in Garner’s death.

Which leaves blacks knocked around by protesters who “peacefully” advocate violence, deteriorating relations between the mayor and police force of a leading American city, and calls for “change” that will neither happen nor help.

The Obama event marginalizes blacks politically and maintains their issues at a low national priority; The Martin event showed blacks as more emotional than factual; The Sterling event showed blacks as willing to harm those who’d done them more good than harm; the NFL Domestic Violence event saw black men attacking traditional black values; the Cosby event punishes black men who unabashedly speak to traditional black values; and the Brown and Garner events work to remove black confidence in police and in the justice system.

Blacks created none of these events, yet they buffet the black community, affecting their political, economic, social, and cultural standing. Currently, it is hard to identify a true black voice or direction, one more attentive to what blacks value more than to what excites them. And the events that knock them around make constructive voices and directions harder to identify. However, until blacks, as they did before, find those voices and directions, and navigate American culture and events, instead of getting knocked around by them, they will continue to resemble the red dots you see here…