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Watching Melanin Fall…

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Published on: January 19, 2020

To the extent this is credible – Oh, how the American black mind calcifies!

Blacks are pessimistic about, and choose to consider racist, an elected official who’s presided over:

Interestingly, Trump’s thinking and behavior toward blacks is virtually unchanged from what it had been before he sought the presidency, which represents a time when he was acknowledged for a “lifetime of service to African Americans” by one Jesse Louis Jackson. In an existence more public than most, Trump endured failed companies, failed marriages, ridicule, bankruptcies, and was called many things; however, ‘racist’ was not among them.

(I’m aware of the federal housing discrimination lawsuit; no one has shown that he did anything more than seek not to lease apartments to those he believed were unlikely to pay rent…and he wrote in one of his books,  “What we didn’t do was rent to welfare cases, white or black”.

I’m also aware of Trump’s stance regarding the Central Park Five…and I don’t care. Trump didn’t produce the case against them; NYPD and the District Attorney’s office did. Nor has anyone shown he might have acted differently had the perceived perpetrators not been black. Trump has mad love for NYC for many reasons, including business, and that crime was an assault on ‘his’ city.)

Donald John Trump is an out-sized personality who has supported blacks for decades, and that behavior continued after his unexpected ascent to the presidency. Trump hasn’t changed; however black perception of Trump has, and that change is more likely to condemn blacks than condemn the president, in the eyes of the nation and her electorate.

Begin with the poll finding blacks the most racist U.S. demographic, even in the minds of blacks.

Then consider public positions that blacks take which at least appear unreasonable:

Such hypocritical and nonsensical rhetoric damage black credibility. Couple that with disproportionately high illegitimacy, abortion, criminality, and STD infection rates, and it becomes reasonable to wonder about the current humanity of a people who just 6 decades ago led the nation on a moral crusade against inhumanity.

Blacks, as a group, are marginalizing themselves, with an especially virulent strain of  TDS that renders those affected all but incapable of rational thought or conversation where the president is concerned, that renders them deaf to anyone who’s not a progressive member of the Democrat Party, or a progressive agent of the mainstream (or left-wing) media. Other whites who attempt to engage them are labeled racists exercising white privilege; blacks who deign to approach are labeled “coons” or other pejorative terms.

This would not be a testimony against blacks were they not faring measurably better under Trump than than they fared under his predecessor. Blacks show less regard for a white president who serves them well, than for a black one who made them at best a third priority, behind homosexuals and illegal immigrants. And the country saw and took note of the obvious racism and lack of logic.

Consequently whites, Latinos, and Asians are becoming less likely to engage with blacks on issues that impact the country at large…because blacks reduce the areas  of objective American commonality between themselves and other citizens. Even Jews, longtime allies with blacks on political and social issues, are re-evaluating their relationships with blacks, in the wake of rising – and violent – anti-Semitism from members of the black community.

Meaning blacks, through every fault of their own, will see their part in the national conversation decrease. While there remains a call for national unity, many blacks opt to be the ice block in the Great American Melting Pot – critical of the good economy, critical of not being at war, critical of the military, (hypo-) critical toward God, critical of anyone or anything that runs counter to what they espouse.

And what far too many blacks accept, without claiming to so do, represents a cultural posture that cannot help them…or anyone else:

Many born-in-America blacks have chosen a backward-looking mindset that prevents fully benefiting from what their country offers; instead of opening their hands to America’s current and future opportunities, they would rather shake a clenched fist at America’s past,  detaching themselves from Americanism and making themselves adversaries – if not enemies – of the state. That is a ruinous prescription for every black person inclined to get it filled. and that is what currently destroys black influence – political, social, and cultural – in America.

Fortunately, a small but increasing number of blacks want a new drug.

The temptation, fed by the media, is to see black support for Trump as an embrace of the president himself. It is likely not that; it stems from a realization that the political path for blacks need not be charted by those who are false friends to them, and who hate the country itself.

The number of blacks who will side with America will not eclipse the number whom Malcolm Little described as “political chumps and traitors to their race” anytime soon. But it would be un-American (and ungodly) not to hope, fervently, that it one day will. Just as abolitionists held out hope for decades that enough would agree with them so chattel slavery would end. Just as many hoped, for nearly a century following Reconstruction, for  laws encoding segregation into American society to fall. In both those cases, holding out hope was warranted though, at the time, it may have seemed pointless.

My thought is that hope will prove warranted in this instance as well, that the majority of blacks will embrace the political and ideological postures that underpin American confidence and success, and I believe they will. However, until that change occurs, America will continue to witness a decline in the fortunes of her black population; a decline which the nation will find painful to observe, but one that it cannot stop…because it’s a Black thing.

The “Buy-In” Is Worse Than The “Sell-Out”

The NBA’s Donald Sterling debacle made some blacks look bad and, as it drags on, is making others look even worse. Start with the young black men, millionaires only because they can play a game, turning their clothes inside out over what a white man said to his side chick during a conversation that was none of their business:[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3HRrSiO-10Q[/youtube]
It was not a good look.

Other NBA players, however, did a “buy in”, threatening to boycott playoff games unless Sterling received severe punishment, and willing to suffer the consequences of their actions. Hard to say how meaningful those consequences would be, given that their contracts are guaranteed. So, a bunch of black millionaires were willing to disrupt the incomes of others, while their money continued to flow.

If THAT is what a “principled stand” looks like, then that, also, was not a good look.

Then, of course, the race shakedown artists appeared, not even waiting for them to haul Donald Sterling’s corpse from his owner’s suite before making demands. Interestingly, among those demanding change from the NBA was a group who had taken Sterling’s money for many years, and publicly acknowledged the “racist owner’s” support of blacks.

Another case of bad optics.

Consequently:

    A) NBA players (blacks) wish to dictate what owners (whites) say privately; if they don’t like it, then ownership should change hands?

    B) NBA players (blacks) can threaten to disrupt owners’ (whites) income, while their salaries from the owners remain guaranteed?

    C) Other, unaffected blacks should demand white owners reform their behavior, despite accepting money from misbehaving owners?

To the extent there is a “Yes” answer to those questions, then blacks cannot seem principled, fair, or without hypocrisy. However, many see those blacks who would answer “No” as “Oreos”, “Uncle Toms”, or “Sell-Outs”. Case in point: consider Mark Cuban’s recent comments:[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72g3MpXb3UM[/youtube]

So interesting how many blacks heard Cuban say “black kid”…”hoodie”…”late at night”…”I’m walking to the other side of the street”…and missed his statements about bald and tattooed white guys, and prejudice in general. Cuban was honest and accurate; he was just not politically correct.

Stephen A. Smith’s initial reaction to Cuban’s comments was negative. Then he stopped accepting second-hand accounts, listened to Cuban’s words, and considered the comments not racist, but illustrative:[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSbbPImYHDA[/youtube]

Apparently, that was the wrong view for a black man to take, in the view of some. Even more apparent: Smith was not only unwilling to modify his view, he was more than willing to help his critics change their views:[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb3_81iiBU0[/youtube]

There is no middle ground between Smith’s sentiments, expressed while defending himself and in articulating his take on the “American Dream”, and those of blacks who see race the same way some see winning:[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrMgWOSrDb0[/youtube]

For those fixated on race, which includes an uncomfortably large percentage of blacks, this is clear: you are either someone who is a “Buy-In” to their ideology, or you are a “Sell-Out”. While “Sell-Out” is a harsh label, as Smith can attest, it is still less painful and demeaning than being among those who “Buy-In”.

And Smith did not “buy in”. Instead, he was a “sell out” to the notion that he could work himself out of poverty and mediocrity…and he is foolish enough to believe others can emulate his success…if they first emulate his effort. He was not a “buy in” to the idea that public assistance, tied to government-supported illegitimacy was a long-term solution for economic viability, as some apparently are:[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWDhFc6nN1Q[/youtube]
Instead, Smith was a “sell out” to pursuing higher education and internships and building a career, which generally delivers a better standard of living than anything a government provides for “free”.

Consider that Smith describes himself as someone who grew up poor and was held back in the 4th grade. Had he been among those who “buy in” to the myth that prison planners use elementary school reading scores to predict inmate populations, then he should be behind plexiglass, not on the other side of an LED screen, and wearing an orange one-piece, instead of well-tailored suits. A fair question might be, “which is a better look for a black man?”

Consider Smith’s salient point about the music and sports stars whom many blacks see as achieving the American Dream: “…I don’t consider them the American Dream; I consider them to be a fantasy turned (to) reality…”

Simply put, everyone is NOT equal; some folks are special, and possess gifts and abilities others will never receive. That many blacks yet “buy in” to the notion that such have achieved the “American Dream” is both self-defeating and is a perversion of the term.

The American Dream is not unique because special people achieve it; it is unique because there is a special place, America, where anyone can achieve it. And there is no “buy in” to the American Dream; whoever would achieve it must “sell out”, abandoning everything that would hinder success, including the opinions of friends, confidants, and peers. Unfortunately, among black people, there are too many who “buy in”:

    To the notion that racism is the primary reason the black unemployment rate remains nearly double that of whites,

    To the notion that today’s blacks suffer the after-effects of a slavery they have never experienced, and deserve “reparations” from those who did them no harm,

    To the notion that blacks cannot be racist, even though the entire nation, it seems, disagrees, and

    To the notion that the self-inflicted wounds of crime and ignorance can be bound up by politicians, or police, and not by those blacks who hurt and get hurt

to ever achieve the American Dream…

The sad thing is, while “buy in” blacks claim the victory of the Civil Rights Movement, only “sell out” blacks live that victory. For many “buy in” blacks, We Shall Overcome remains a song about the future; while for “sell out” blacks, it speaks of daily challenges conquered…and they have greater reverence for a different tune:[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l49N8U3d0Bw[/youtube]

So, the “buy in” black looks ahead to what he hopes will be a brighter day, while the “sell out” black looks back on a wondrous and unfinished journey. It should be easy to determine which is a better look for black, or any, people.

The Disturbing Donald Sterling Episode…

Showing himself a “strong leader”, and setting himself apart from his predecessor, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acted: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w_AB_YJA08[/youtube]
The move is praised by pundits, [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niaeYK8ilRg[/youtube]
former players, [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H91ou_RAOC0[/youtube]
coaches, [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWSyRhrmTQM[/youtube]
and politicians, as well as other interested parties.[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaFC75vlE0s[/youtube]
Judging by the social media reaction, one might decide this the most positive occurrence in the United States in many years. However, the action against Sterling is more problematic than satisfying, particularly for those who value individual liberty.

First, there is the problem of acting against Donald Sterling at all. The NBA has known of Sterling’s racism for many years:

    • Heckling his teams during games,
    • Berating players in the locker room after games, and inviting guests there to admire their “beautiful black bodies”,
    • Paying players on Fridays, by check, after the banks had closed, and
    • Suspending players, without pay, for negative public comments.

Then there are the lawsuits:

    • 2003 – Federal Housing Discrimination: Claims included disparaging comments against black and hispanic tenants, refusing to accept rent (then using that as a basis for eviction), and having residents sign in as guests. Dismissed after a settlement was reached in 2005. Sterling was ordered to pay $5 Million in plaintiff’s attorney fees,
    • 2006 – Federal Housing Discrimination: Filed by the Justice Department during the Bush administration, claims included refusing to rent to non-Koreans in LA’s Koreatown, and turning away families with children. Settled in 2009, with Sterling paying a $3 million fine, with no admission of liability, and
    • 2009 – Wrongful Termination: Filed by Hall of Famer and longtime Clippers’ General Manager Elgin Baylor, claiming race and age discrimination. Baylor dropped the racism allegation before trial…and lost in court in 2011.

Commissioner Silver, while announcing the lifetime ban, acknowledged that he has known the Clippers’ owner for more than two decades. It is difficult to believe that the audiotape, which revealed sentiments agreeing with public rumor and public legal record, surprised Silver.

It is surprising, however, that the NBA ignored decades of Sterling’s inappropriate public actions, only to ban him now for private statements.

Silver was questioned about that during the news conference:

    Jovian Wei of Fox News asked, “Should someone lose their team for remarks shared in private — is this a slippery slope?”

    Silver responded, “Whether or not these remarks were initially shared in private, they are now public, and they represent his views.”

Which is, of course, chilling. First of all, privately-held racist, or any other, views are neither illegal, immoral, nor unethical; those characterizations are reserved for public behavior… which, again, in Sterling’s case, the NBA ignored.

Next, there is the matter of punishing people for what they think that is no one else’s business. Much is made about the statements coming to light, and that therefore it is appropriate to act upon them. However, that is an odd notion.

Private communication generally cannot be used to convict a person of a crime. If it cannot be used to take away a person’s liberty, then how should it be the basis to take someone’s property, especially when criminality is not even alleged? Should Sterling indeed go down, will the Orlando Magic owner, who donated private money to support traditional marriage, also lose his team, especially after the NBA gushed so publicly over Jason Collins?

The question is this: not whether private statements or actions might become public but, even if made public, whether a person’s noncriminal private deeds should be used to deprive them of benefits from properties and investments?

While the answer is, and should remain, “No”, the NBA now works to legitimize the authority of “thought police”, or political correctness, to punish people, materially, for “inappropriate” private beliefs, not inappropriate public actions, individual liberty consideration be damned.

Of course, Sterling’s history includes many appropriate actions, including: making millionaires of scores, if not hundreds, of young black men over the course of 33 years; hiring and keeping a black vice president of basketball operations for 22 years, despite a losing record and only one playoff series win during that span; donations to many charities, who are deciding what to do with the money.

And it includes longtime support of the Los Angeles Chapter of the NAACP. Shortly before Sterling paid a multimillion dollar settlement in the Justice Department’s housing discrimination suit against him in 2009, the Los Angeles NAACP presented Sterling with a lifetime award. They were scheduled to fete Sterling again, this month, before the Sterling audiotape surfaced. None of that matters now.

In another unsurprising move, the head of the Los Angeles NAACP, a man with a past as scurrilous as Sterling’s, has resigned…but the NAACP’s integrity, or lack thereof, is another matter entirely.

Sacramento Mayor and former NBA Player Kevin Johnson made a telling statement in his remarks:

    “I believe that today stands as one of those great moments: where sports, once again, transcends, where sports provides a place for fundamental change on how our country should think and act.”

Of course, the NBA did not identify any inappropriate action, on Sterling’s part, against either the NBA or its players. So is Mr. Johnson looking to control thought? Through sports?

Magic Johnson said, of Sterling’s remarks, “…there is no place in our society for it…” and, of Sterling, “…he should stand up and say, I don’t want to own a team anymore…”

Hmmm…

So, a sports league should dictate to the nation: how it should think and act; what things do, or do not have a place in society; and who should be allowed to invest in what…based on how they feel about what others may think, which is none of their business?

If that does not subject individual liberty to collectivist thought, then it is difficult to say what does.

Not surprisingly, the race pimps have appeared. Jesse Jackson is already looking to coax cash from Hewlett-Packard, so he’s busy. However, Al Sharpton and the NAACP (you cannot make this stuff up) want to shake down the NBA regarding diversity…perhaps they will demand more white players?

One thing is certain: the push for “what we think” over “what is right” will continue, so long as you have thinking like this in the black community: [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgKiMRpufoM[/youtube]

Regarding One Thing Missing for Black Males

Since Trayvon Martin’s death, momentum builds toward a racial “showdown” in this country, with one side outraged that a “white” man got away with “murdering” an innocent black child, while another side counters:

    1. Zimmerman is not white,
    2. A jury found there was no murder, and
    3. A teen-aged MMA enthusiast with ongoing school and drug problems is not everyone’s definition of an innocent child.

The first side, Side “A”, makes racism the issue, though the FBI and the Zimmerman jury said race was no factor. The month after Martin’s death, his parents formed a foundation to advocate for crime victims and their families (though the jury effectively said there was no crime), and, with the Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys of 2013, to challenge “Stand Your Ground” laws, though Zimmerman never invoked Florida’s version, and such laws are popular.

How did Side “A” come to create its own issues while dismissing others? In 3 acts:

ACT 1. In 1995, the Nation of Islam sponsored the “Million Man March” on Washington, D. C., to focus attention on black issues. Varying attendance estimates distracted from the event’s message, and determining what it accomplished is more problematic now than was counting heads then.

ACT 2. Nevertheless, the Million Man March inspired Washington, D. C., Congressional Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton, in 2001, to form the “D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys” to reveal and help resolve issues that (D. C.) Black men face, such as high school dropout rates, criminal justice issues, HIV and AIDS, and marriage and family issues. The commission met many times over the next decade. However, like the Million Man March, its accomplishments are difficult to find.

Homicides, district-wide, decreased to a 50-year low 88 in 2012, but the credit belongs to local government and police. However, in D. C.’s 93% black Ward 8, unemployment averaged 22% in 2012; in 2000, it was 21%. Regarding other Ward 8 “measurables”, between 2000 and 2009:

    • Poverty went from 35% to 34%,
    • Child poverty went from 46% to 48%,
    • Persons lacking a High School diploma went from 33% to 20%,
    • Overall unemployment went from 21% to 17%,
    • Unemployment for those 16 years old and older went from 45% to 48%, and
    • Average family income decreased 5.2%.

And between 2000 and 2012:

    • People on Food Stamps increased 75%, to 42,888 (total Ward 8 population: under 71,000), and
    • People receiving TANF increased 6%, to 17,579.

Lastly, black illegitimacy in D. C. was 77% in 2002; in 2008, it was 79%.

While these things occurred:

    • The D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys of 2012 discussed Lessons from the Life and Death of Trayvon Martin and focused on local experience with and problem-solving for the negative branding of African American youth and men because of the color of their skin,

    • The D.C. Commission on Black Men & Boys of 2011 featured former rival gang members and violence intervention workers, and accepted testimony from residents,

    • The D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys of January 2010 took 17 young fathers out for an afternoon of mentoring and job preparation,

    • The D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys of August 2010, responded to the particularly difficult time Black men are having in a job market that is sometimes unreceptive to them, especially in today’s unprecedented economy,

    • The D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys of 2007 discussed national efforts to support the “Jena 6,” six Jena, Louisiana high school students, all African American males, who face discriminatory treatment in the criminal justice system…

ACT 3. The Congressional Caucus on Black Men and Boys of 2013, formed after Zimmerman’s acquittal, was modeled after Norton’s D.C. Commission on Black Men and Boys. Its mission: to be a “vehicle for raising consciousness” on issues disproportionately affecting black men and youth including job training, HIV/AIDS and the breakdown of the family. Sound familiar?

So, organizations, modeled after gatherings which did not resolve issues in the last decade, which were inspired by an event that did not resolve issues in the decade before that…will resolve issues today? What is Einstein’s Definition of Insanity, again?

Meanwhile, Side “B”, seizes on black illegitimacy and family decline, the criminality of young black men, etc. They cite statistics with irrefutable implications. They identify a “grievance industry” which they believe facilitates and exploits the adverse state of black affairs, and frustrates honest race discussions. They also show little fear of the nuclear option of political discussions: being called “racist”.

Unfortunately, Side “B” mis-spends their courage. Standing up to Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and national NAACP official won’t influence the majority of blacks for whom those gentlemen do not speak. Side “B” needs to take its message to suffering black communities, showing the respect of direct conversation, not just the courage of broadcast monologues.

Side “B” also fumbles their facts, letting spinmeisters confuse issues and change subjects. If Side “B” says, “Blacks commit 93% of black homicides“, Side “A” counters with “Whites commit 86% of all white homicides“; that blacks, at 13% of the population, commit 52% of all U.S. homicides, including 59% of felony murders, gets lost in the noise. Should one say, “Black illegitimacy is at 73%“, another will counter, “White illegitimacy is increasing at a faster rate“…and so it goes…

Both sides miss the point: Side “A”, by putting energy into window-dressing events and off-topic efforts that do not improve the black condition; Side “B”, by being courageous with the wrong black people, and by letting objective facts become subjective banter.

The point? The black community does not hold black males accountable for their behavior.

For contributing to black illegitimacy, he appears, not before other black fathers, but before family court, while by-standers laugh:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_vcsJ5KNQQ[/youtube]

He is not taken “out back”, but taken in, to criminal courts:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQy6KNx4d-s[/youtube]

Dealing with this young black man fell to a judge because his community did not check him long before. When a man abuses a woman publicly, it is not the first time, and his behavior is no secret. People knew, and gave him a pass, because “he could ball”.

Black male misdeeds are not even privately considered by the black community; they are broadcast via social media:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gelk2eIWsPY[/youtube]

These things happen also to whites, hisanics, and asians. However, those groups do not have 3 of every 4 children born out-of-wedlock, nor does any of them, alone, commit more than half of U. S. homicides.

Black communities used to deal with their young men, handling complex issues and dispensing consequences that punished and deterred bad behavior. Now, they outsource that responsibility to schools, police, and courts. The result:

    • The schools are less safe;
    Blacks fear the police, perhaps more than they respect them; and,
    • In 2009, there were 2 black males incarcerated for every 3 in college.

Such is the legacy of black communities not holding black males accountable for their behavior.

While Sides “A” and “B” debate, the men of a great people lack what they need most to succeed, or even live well. It is not employment, not education, not acceptance by whites. It is accountability, to those who best understand them. Accountability, to those who can best build and correct their character. Accountability, to those who look like them. Should that return, the other issues will heal, quickly.

There are communities that manage their young men by the power of community expectations. Blacks should strive be one of them…again.

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