The following is Blog number thirty-eight and is part of the ongoing Racial Reconciliation in America Series. It is entitled: Race in America – How White Men Have Offended The Black Man.

RACIAL RECONCILIATION

RACE IN AMERICA – HOW WHITE MEN HAVE OFFENDED THE BLACK MAN

It was President Kennedy who first coined the phrase: “Affirmative Action.” President Lyndon B. Johnson, in league with Martin Luther King Jr., and other stalwart change agents, who challenged the nation to engage in a War on Poverty, moved the ball forward! Then, it was President Richard M. Nixon, who attempted to move the ball forward even further, through the implementation of the “Affirmative Action Program.”

These efforts were Post Jim Crow Law policies that were created to thwart a perceived impending Black male anarchy coming out of freedom movements of the 1960’s. From the FBI’s J. Edgar Hoover to President Richard M. Nixon there was anxiety that “Black Panther Party gun carrying Revolutionaries” were a threat to the civility of the nation.

We contend that the philosophy and momentum of Malcom X and the message of self-preservation within Black Muslim Theology struck fear in the heart of Hoover and Nixon.

The many riots in cities all across the land post-MLK assassination gave cause to fear a Black uprising that would become uncontrollable. Certainly, the “War on Poverty” and “Affirmative Action” policies were an outgrowth of this fear and they were both good ideas. We contend that the initial goal of these programs was to change the lot of the Black male in America, and thus the Black family.

We contend further that the orchestrated failures relative to policy implementation, by White men, who felt threatened by both polices, particularly “Affirmative Action” has in our judgment left this nation in great peril, socially. As the plight of the Black male continues to deteriorate, we will not be at all surprised if there is a return to the kind of Black male self-preservation efforts of the Sixties. The current level of hatred and violence toward Black men and boys has grown not retreated. Indeed, not since the late Sixties have racial tensions been at current levels.

The aforementioned public policies were good policies. They were properly focused; yes they were and they were working, perhaps too well and too rapidly. That is what led to their demise.

Flawed implementation is what caused these two programs to become failures; if goal achievement is any measurement of success. America remains a race-focused society; is not colorblind as some might like to declare. Over the past forty-years, the marginalization, of the Affirmative Action policy to change the state of Black-America; combined with its challenges to White privilege, have furthered the divisions between the races.

Anybody ever heard the phrase: “Forty Acres and a Mule?” It actually is a true story of 1865. All programs since the first failed program of restoration of the Black Family have gone the same as this promise!

[http://www.archives.gov/publications/prologue/2010/summer/slave-pension.html  “Land Allocation Efforts Stymied by the Johnson Administration. In the late stages of the Civil War and in its aftermath, the federal government (primarily Republicans) tried to relieve destitution among freedpeople and help them gain economic independence through attempts to allocate land. These efforts, both military and legislative, help explain why African Americans thought that compensation was attainable.

Special Field Orders No. 15, issued by Gen. William T. Sherman in January 1865, promised 40 acres of abandoned and confiscated land in South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Florida (largely the Sea Islands and coastal lands that had previously belonged to Confederates) to freedpeople.

Sherman also decided to loan mules to former slaves who settled the land. But these efforts were rolled back by President Andrew Johnson's Amnesty Proclamation of May 29, 1865. By the latter part of 1865, thousands of freedpeople were abruptly evicted from land that had been distributed to them through Special Field Orders No. 15.

Circular No. 15 issued by the Freedmen's Bureau on September 12, 1865, coupled with Johnson's presidential pardons, provided for restoration of land to former owners. With the exception of a small number who had legal land titles, freedpeople were removed from the land as a result of President Johnson's restoration program.”]

The following is Blog number thirty-seven and is part of the ongoing Racial Reconciliation in America Series. This blog entry seeks to posit Racial Reconciliation in America and is entitled – Racial Reconciliation in America – What is it?

RACIAL RECONCILIATION

WHAT IS IT?

AS IT IS WRITTEN: “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.” (Matthew 5:23-25 : KJV). These are the words of Jesus Christ.

Webster’s Online Dictionary defines “racial” in this fashion: "ra·cial

 adjective \ˈrā-shəl\

: relating to or based on race

: existing or happening between people of different races Full Definition of RACIAL 1:  of, relating to, or based on a race <a racial minority> 2:  existing or occurring between races <racial equality>"

Webster’s Online Dictionary defines “reconcile” in this fashion: "rec·on·cile

 verb \ˈre-kən-ˌsī(-ə)l\

: to find a way of making (two different ideas, facts, etc.) exist or be true at the same time to cause people or groups to become friendly again after an argument or disagreement rec·on·ciled rec·on·cil·ing Full Definition of RECONCILE  transitive verb 1a : to restore to friendship or harmony <reconciled the factions> b : settle, resolve <reconcile differences>2: to make consistent or congruous <reconcile an ideal with reality> 3 : to cause to submit to or accept something unpleasant<was reconciled to hardship> 4 a :  to check (a financial account) against another for accuracy b :  to account for"

Raced based reconciling in the United States of America is a quest that has never been undertaken; it was a missed opportunity at the end of Slavery, Reconstruction of the Union and at the end of the Jim Crow Laws. So we reckon that as a historical matter, harmony is by no means a description of the interchange between White folk and Black folk in the United States. The interchange of these two cultures has ranged from brutality to animus with un-forgiveness. Therefore to put in harmony that which has never known harmony fits the description: problematic. Yet, to reconcile the Black and White race is truly an amazing idea that must beg the question: what is it? What is racial reconciliation in America?

Is racial reconciliation in America a quest to create harmony between Blacks and Whites? Is this some resolving of past hatreds wrong doing and un-forgiveness? Is it an accounting, a time of reckoning between these two very different cultures? Is it merely a setting right of the historical grievances between the two races?

Perhaps racial reconciliation is all of these things. One wants more than to simply say racial reconciliation is something that people will know when they see it! Allusive like other very difficult concepts that one might speak of and has never actually seen to exist, racial reconciliation embodies the concept: miracle. We desire over a series of commentary to paint a picture of what racial reconciliation should at least look like for the sake of hope if nothing else.

Let us posit for now that racial reconciliation: is as a movement in America with goals and objectives. Included in these are:

1.  To rein in the principles behind the race based practices which pit one race against  another in America.

2. To curtail the methodologies that minimizes access to The Resource Bundle in  America.

3.  To unleash practices that will actually make America a more perfect Union.

The following is Blog number thirty-six and is part of the ongoing Racial Reconciliation in America Series. A number of posts will be made in this segment of the Series as we discuss The Black American Family. This post is entitled: The Black American Family – Enduring Foolishness.

RACIAL RECONCILIATION

THE BLACK FAMILY

ENDURING FOOLISHNESS

Webster’s Online Dictionary defines the work “foolish” in this fashion : “having or showing a lack of good sense or judgment”

Full Definition of FOOLISH : 1 :  lacking in sense, judgment, or discretion 2 a :  absurd, ridiculous b :  marked by a loss of composure :  nonplussed 3 :  insignificant, trifling — fool·ish·ly adverb

http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2014/03/13/ryans-inner-city-comments-sparking-backlash/

You know America, there are times that watching the news is just not a good idea! We saw a report of Paul Ryan’s most recent foolishness on CNN yesterday. This is what makes our quest of Racial Reconciliation in America so necessary, next to impossible and interestingly enough very timely. We are undeterred.

You see this is the foolishness that makes America bend one way versus another in her opinion regarding Black folk generally and the plight of the Black family specifically. This type of propaganda communicated by those with the microphone such as Bill Bennett and Paul Ryan develops in other White folk: 1) a perception of Black sloth, 2) Blacks as an immoral people, 3) Blacks as intellectually weak and 4) Blacks as a violent and dangerous culture.

This is not new. This White propaganda about Black folk has always been. Even when White folk were doing all the violence while watching Black Slaves do all the labor they called them lazy. What is most foolish is that White folk like Ryan and Bennett take no consideration of the danger that they represent for today’s America.

As a nation we will choose to change our thinking about Black people and the plight of real suffering and struggle or we will continue along the path of our destruction. Some White folk may foolishly choose to believe Ryan and Bennett.

These men believe the plight of the poor has nothing to do with public policy, but rather some foolish survival of the fittest notion, as though this is a Godly thing. This is certainly not a social construct for human beings! These men and their constituency actually believe that it is the governmental social safety net that is the actual cause of urban poverty. Proclaiming get a job while not producing one piece of job creating legislation! Utter foolishness this is.

Now some White folk may even believe that the plight of the Black family is caused simply by Black sloth. We do not accept that the majority of White folk believe such foolishness. What we do believe is that the Will of White men like Paul Ryan must succumb to actual truth. We believe in a Holy Ghost truth not the atheist Ayn Rand's philosophy of survival of the fittest that Paul Ryan yet seems to follow as his truth!

Paul Ryan's policies and practices show an ignorance to truth; sustains a damaged Godless Will and must be bent unto righteousness. Now, in the dictionary a word related to the word foolish is the word dumb. White men like Paul Ryan represent a dumb and woeful foolishness of the true Black culture. Though Mr. Ryan may have dated a Black female and is rumored to have a Black sister-in law, just like Mr. Strom Thurmond who fathered a Black child, Paul Ryan clearly lacks understanding of and caring for actual Black life. He is ignorant of:

1.   The true mores of the Black man, who is actually very paternal.

2.   The awesome, painful everyday struggle of the Black family and more generally the working poor.

3.   The high intellectual prowess of the Black people historically and present day.

4. The Will of Black folk to endure the circumstances of life, endure dumb ass  White men who may be in control of power, and still rise in spite of both.

5.  The strength of Black women who must endure a society in which her boys and men represents a new form of Slavery that is the American Pipeline to Prison.

The following is Blog number thirty-five and is part of the ongoing Racial Reconciliation in America Series. A number of posts will be made in this segment of the Series as we discuss The Black American Family. This post is entitled: The Black American Family – Complete the Puzzle.

RACIAL RECONCILIATION

THE BLACK AMERICAN FAMILY

COMPLETE THE PUZZLE

The difficulty in this stage of our discovery process on the Black family is our requirement for absolute authenticity. To a large degree the revelation requires focusing on Black disadvantage. It’s a bummer man! Such focus brings negative thought; an energy force thief! There is the urge to just say, “So what” or “What damn difference does it make” going on and on about the historical realities of White folk advantage versus Black folk disadvantage? Some might say that such a commentary as has been put forth here is really just making excuses for Black folks living in poverty and disadvantage.

As one who grew up in poverty and also overcame poverty, frankly we get it when folk say so what! There are times when we too have just said so what. You can just get tired of the discussion; however real, the facts just seem irrelevant, as they really do nothing to advance the cause of change. Then, someone else asks the question is this really true?

Is the cause of change advanced or hindered by revelations of historical White and Black interchange? Is there something to be learned from a race based discovery process? Have we not heard all of this before, meaning Blacks were Slaves and treated badly and Whites were not? So what the Civil War ended 150 years ago, and folk have been talking about that for 150 years!

            Well, therein is the American color line puzzle. We all know about the problems and what have we all done to fix the problems? How does a nation as incredible as America is; abide 150 years of talking about the devastating affects of Slavery on Black people and still allow the affects to exist? Is the answer yet another question of who cares? Perhaps the answer is simply the statement: “Fella you just can’t get there from here!”

How is it that a race based economic system that required the decimation of one people comes to an end; yet after a century and a half we have not been able to restore the progeny of the decimated? Are the progeny also being decimated? Is the economy still a race based one or just a low wage dependent low wage driven economy? Have the Brown people replaced the Black ones? Are these Brown a truly free folk; a folk who are living to work without a true homeland, as they toil daily in fear and social turmoil? Is this still a race based economy?

How is this possible that we have not fixed the Black folk problem in America considering our greatness as a nation? How is this possible? What is behind this conundrum; this racial and truly tiresome Black and White puzzle? Surely we all know it is one puzzle that this nation must complete.

What has not been tried, what puzzle pieces have not been found; if the pieces are known how can we manage to fit them together that we all be complete? When in America do we get to shout collectively: “Eureka we completed the race puzzle that our forefathers could not!” Why did we do what they did not? Well because we wanted to and they didn't! That’s why.

The following is Blog number thirty-four and is part of the ongoing Racial Reconciliation in America Series. A number of posts will be made in this segment of the Series as we discuss The Black American Family. This post is entitled: The Black American Family – Barriers to Entry.

RACIAL RECONCILIATION

THE BLACK AMERICAN FAMILY

BARRIERS TO ENTRY

Now, for the White human being, generational wealth is the crucial nexus of its ruling class structure and cultural stability as the Control Norm of Western Society. It is the Just Us Philosophy as we have already discussed that has over the process of time created the phenomenon called White Privilege. Some White folk deny that there is such a thing as this and some accept that it is truth.

          We contend that the phenomenon is absolutely real. We contend further that this phenomenon more than any other reality is what maintains the gap between Black and White achievement in every component of life in America.

Progenitors of our current generations traded on the sweat, goodwill and invention of the African Slave in America. There was a pass through of wealth. This progenitor wealth and its pass through, as an inheritance represented more than capital, property and all things material.

The White progenitor wealth pass through that has benefited their progeny the most; with profound and lasting affect, is the establishment of barriers to entry into opportunity. From our nation’s beginning up to now, it is the barriers to opportunity that has represented the greatest negative affect on the Black family.

The lingering affects of the Just Us Philosophy as it relates to opportunity is an inheritance. It is a wealth pass through unto all White folk living in America. Including poor White folk who may think that they have inherited nothing!

This wealth pass through is the essence of White privilege. Something inherited rather than earned; it is represented in: family name, ancestry, innate expectation to dream big, freedom of thought, movement, benefits of doubt, acceptability, financial access, trustworthiness, influence and things of authority and power.

Is your mind free to be anything desired; unfettered by the distractions of your race? Are you without the energy drain of thoughts associated with predictable racial disadvantage? Have you ever felt a loss that you could justifiably argue was due to your race? Do you spend any energy at all on your race during the day?

One is inspired or distracted by the condition of emotions, resulting from our thought life. We only have 100% of energy force to give during a 24 hour day. The ancestral pass through, of inherited White privilege, brings with it a quintessence of natural hope so powerful and so profound that it is rarely recognized nor thought of, but simply taken for granted as one lives life.

It is like unto a natural condition unrecognized. This is a hope, which precedes dreams; realized by the innate egalitarian freedoms existing solely amongst White folk. From an expectation to dream big, there is an implantation within the White psyche of a natural faith; not a spiritual faith, but a faith in the self, family or sphere of influence promise, that somebody knows somebody with some help.

The combination of this faith, hope and expectancy to dream, allows those of White privilege, to have a focus on their dreams without some deviant disadvantage to ever think about!

For Black folk, as a matter of history there has been a consistent barrier to entry into opportunity, particularly in the area of asset creation. For White folk this is a progenitor provided competitive advantage.

The result is a gap in financial equality and generational wealth achievement between Black and White families; this gap particularly in asset creation may never be overcome.

The following is Blog number thirty-three and is part of the ongoing Racial Reconciliation in America Series. A number of posts will be made in this segment of the Series as we discuss The Black American Family. This post is entitled: The Black American Family – Progenitor Connectivity, a Wealth Pass Through.

RACIAL RECONCILIATION

THE BLACK AMERICAN FAMILY

PROGENITOR CONNECTIVITY, A WEALTH PASS THROUGH

The progenitor connectivity experienced by the Jewish people is not a historical reality of the Black-American! No, for Black folk, there is no written record, from which to draw strength of culture, ancestry, and familial blood bond. The vile impact from African Slavery in America is not limited to the “Mark of Oppression;” it includes a negative psychic pass through, that facilitates this “Mark of Oppression.” Indeed, it is the loss of ancestral connectivity, that most contributes to this negative psychic pass through. Progenitor wealth does not exist for American born Black folk!

We contend that there is nothing beyond Salvation through Jesus Christ, which is more important spiritually to the individual, than family and cultural affirming generational connectivity! Progenitor connectivity that is so real and beneficial for the Jewish people; due to Slavery in America, this is something dispossessed of the Black-American. We contend that this is a most egregious reality and a suffering of the Black family in today’s America!

Now, as a practical matter, there is also the principle of progenitor familial wealth pass through, which has a profound affect on an entire culture or race of people. The ability of a family of people: to sweat and toil, to produce both capital and property assets, affects their progeny’s creation of capital and material wealth in the form of familial assets! The progenitor provides a base foundation on which the progeny further builds.

As a family gains wealth, it is able to pass any remaining wealth forward unto its generational lineage as a legacy. It is a powerful thing to be able to say: “My grandfather left me this trust fund!” Or “This property has been in our family for generations!” “Our family served in the Revolutionary War!” “My daddy’s great, great grandfather was a General in the Confederacy and we kept this plantation!”

There are limited few Black Americans alive today who can make these claims! Pride of accomplishment inventiveness and the wealth or property pass through is a progenitor decision. For American born Black folk theft is the reality of ancestral pass-through!

Indeed there are American citizens alive today, whose progenitor’s wealth creation came as a result of Black-American Slavery; in fact, from the trading in slaves. The historical war of White folk against the Black familial structure and stability has profoundly impacted negatively upon Black-American wealth creation. We dare say that it has prevented it!

The theft of sweat and invention; its devaluing as an equity asset is a most egregious offense! Think about the affect of centuries of not passing through the profits from your sweat, goodwill and invention. Think about someone else’s progeny benefitting from this offering to the world, but not your progeny. It could cause a sense of rage to a right thinking person, who is alive and possessing this knowledge.

Therefore it is wise to keep this knowledge buried, indeed the entire lineage hidden. When compared to the White human beings in America who have benefited greatly from the wealth of an ancestry; who in their own sloth, lived off of the sweat of Black folk: well it is a great wonder that Black Americans fare as well, today, as they do.

But for God, and a deep spiritual connection with God, in the majority of the ancestry of Black people since landing on this continent, their lot, would, likely, be total madness! If one considers the matter of Black on Black crime today, one could say that there is certainly some element of self-destructive madness within the Race.

The following is Blog number thirty-two and is part of the ongoing Racial Reconciliation in America Series. A number of posts will be made in this segment of the Series as we discuss The Black American Family. This post is entitled: The Black American Family - FAMILY IS A BASIC NEED.

RACIAL RECONCILIATION

THE BLACK AMERICA FAMILY

FAMILY IS A BASIC NEED

Surely there is little debate that familial structure in some form is important; who would think a stable family is not a good thing? We contend that there is nothing: about a people’s cultural development, vitality, unified strength and indeed the forward march of a people than familial stability. Stability leads to strength! Further, a peoples knowledge about their progenitors, ancestry and historical familial hierarchy matters greatly.

To current generations the presence of a mom and dad is typically accepted as a good thing. Of course today there are varying opinions of this traditionalist view.

We contend there is a good purpose to be found in knowing one’s grandparents and great grandparents, if, this is at all possible. On both sides of the gene pool a productive relationship with one’s progenitor is priceless in our judgment both spiritually and as a practical matter.

Having a connection with the uncles and the aunts on both sides of the gene pool is also a good thing, if, this is possible. Family is a basic need for the overall common welfare of any culture!

We dare say that one of the most profound spiritual and character strengths of the Jewish people, by way of example, rests upon their progenitor knowledge. Intimate knowledge of: one’s lineage of challenge, historical achievements, social investment, victories and defeats as a whole people cannot be priced. Familial legacy matters!

The Jewish culture, which man has attempted more than once to wipe from the face of the earth, is God’s picture of the profound importance progenitor connectivity plays, in cultural strength on every level. Progenitor knowledge advances cultural survival.

We do not doubt that more than any other peoples the lineage of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is a traceable lineage, a multiple millennial ancestry, if you will, that is to some individuals traceable.

To an equal degree, we do not believe this to be more true of any other people. This, in part, explains their resiliency in persecutions; in their falling and rising as a collective Jewish people.

The reality that one has not, in present day met any “ites” except an Israelite; demonstrates the hand of God that is upon this people! The Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites and all of the other “ites” who warred against the Israelite familial structure did not survive a unified history.

Though, at numerous times, on the historical stage, the Israelite people have been an oppressed people; if there is a “Mark of Oppression,” it is very hard to see the negative affects of it!

We contend that the importance of familial memory and ancestral knowledge of legacy has played a principal role in the forward march of the Jewish people.

The profound capacity, of the Jewish people to pass forward the history of their lineage; by using the capability of a historically secured written record, is likely, one of the most impactful events in all of human history.