Note: I am no expert. This post merely states my current opinions, offered here for discussion.
There is no magic cure for racism. No great leader can do the trick. Mostly there is just stuff that the more you do them, the more things will get better over time:
- Learn about stereotypes and White racism. One of the main things holding Black people back is internalized racism: being brainwashed by White racism. One of the best way to fight against that is to learn about it and lay it bare.
- Learn about Black history. The more the better. Not only does it help you understand the world and your place in it (unlike the lies taught at public school), but it also helps to break down internalized racism.
- Create and support Black institutions. Create, work for, support – and hold accountable – Black-based businesses, banks, churches, schools, universities, political parties, news outlets, etc. “For us, by us.” Most Black votes, dollars and working hours strengthen the White power structure: the Democratic Party, Wells Fargo Bank, Hollywood, etc. Even though Blacks are the majority in plenty of cities and counties, there is almost no independent Black power structure to speak of – just Black faces on the White power structure, like the mayor of Baltimore, Black police officers and Black public school teachers. The more you support Black institutions, the less dependent Blacks will be on Whites in the long run.
- Buy Black. This follows from #3.
- Protest. The two main things that have made things better for Blacks in the past have been protest movements: abolitionists in the 1800s and the civil rights movement in the 1900s. We are entering a golden moment in US history: like in the 1850s, the vote that keeps the current racist arrangement of the US in place will soon sink below 50%. After 2050, though, the powers that be will probably have put together a new “White” majority – and gained control of the Internet.
- Push for reparations. White racism is driven by two main things: historic wrongs that were never righted, creating cognitive dissonance among Whites, and bad White parenting. There is little that Blacks can do about the second, but reparations done right (probably something along the lines of the GI Bill) can help to overturn the first – and help close the wealth gap between Blacks and Whites. Blacks helped to build the richest country in the world – they deserve way more than they are getting. The same goes for Native Americans.
- Develop and practise leaderless civil disobedience. The civil peace of US society is in the gift of Black people. This is by far the most powerful lever Blacks have over Whites. They did not care about Freddie Gray or Black churches – but they did care about CVS. Since Blacks are outgunned, this has done with civil disobedience or something like it. But it also needs to be done without being dependent on leaders. The Black movements of the 1960s were pretty much brought to an end through killing, imprisoning, exiling and undermining the leadership of those movements.
- Make common cause with other people of colour.
Thanks to Pumpkin for suggesting this post.
– Abagond, 2015.
See also:
- also in this series:
- other advice for Black people:
- internalized racism
- protest movements
- Ta-Nehisi Coates: The Case for Reparations
- James Loewen: Lies My Teacher Told Me
- Why Whites fear, hate, demonize and look down on Blacks
599
The best way to overcome racism is for Africa to improve – dramatically. You don’t really cover why other races see blacks as inferior in your article… and the answer lies in the motherland. Non-Africans have a generalised and limited view of what is in many ways a great continent, but no one can deny that most African countries have huge strides to take before they gain respect internationally. That’s just the way it is. With well-run states you will find disdain will turn to wonder. AAs will also find it easier to pack up and leave America to be around people who look like them. Right now, whatever you may do to try and get whites to treat you better is futile. You’re still hostages – and without a real base of power that’s all you’ll ever be.
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Last point is the most crucial. Jewish people are the most powerful group in the world financially, can you tell me the name of their leader? Thought so. They have a philosophy birthed out of their constant subjugation which is even older than ours and realized that the White man was never gonna give them anything. Even if he was it didn’t make sense trying to get a job from someone who hated you. Since Jews worldwide adhere to the code of Jewish first they thrive even though they are a minority in every country they’re present with the exception of Israel. It’s time for us to do the same. Get that spirit of Marcus, Assata, Malcolm, Huey, Angela or whoever in you and get ready to work.
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So. it’s all in our heads, if we got our heads straight, bought and acted ‘black’, what ever that is, we’d be ok?! Where have you seen such cohesion in a racial or ethnic group before? who would set the standards everyone would be measured by? What becomes of individuality and objectivity in such scheme?
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Please, Ashnekenazi Jews are White, even Dylan roof admitted that; they are Turkic White converts from Khazaria and they have nothing to do with the Hebrews of the bible. The Sephardic Jews are not as successful as their Ashnekenazi counterparts and don’t hold as much power/influence. This distinction between the two groups can be observed in Israel.
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Solid advice. I can respect most of what’s on this list.
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#7 is on the money. Whoever is playing leadership roles needs to ensure that it is a leaderless movement.
Governments hate leaderless movements. They can control them only through propaganda and media control. That is why there is only a small window of opportunity before the Government takes control of the internet.
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Point # 2.. This is something I’d like to be more proactive about. Abagond, I’ve learned very interesting historical facts through your blogs and appreciate that others offer links and additional information that inspires me to learn more. Your site provides a great forum and resource for knowledge expansion.
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@GulliverFredrich oh lord shem ham and japheth again, glad to know you can base the whole of everything off the bible (not)
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@lotr first you struggle to fight your own demons
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Abagond,
I think you left some very important things out:
1. Believe in and encourage strong two-parent families and taking fatherhood seriously, almost like being on a mission. My father wasn’t there for me so I’m practically obsessed with being a good father to my kids.
2. Focus on education and have a desire to succeed! Become obsessed with getting good grades and focusing on more merit based occupations that depend on results like being a doctor or lawyer, not corporate jobs that is more about nepotism or who you know.
3. Become financially literature and understand how money works. Understand credit reports early and buy property as soon as possible. Get life insurance! Get health insurance!
4. Travel outside the country so you understand that not everyone thinks about us every day and most people go on with their lives.
5. Do not be obsessed with the opinions of Whites or about their feelings. Life is not about gaining their approval.
6. Shun criminals in the community. Do not co-sign bad or destructive behavior for solidarity sake.
7. Read the New Jim Crow
8. Read How to Arrest Proof Yourself
9. Do not wait on White Society to take the lead solving problems in the Black Community.
10. Trust but verify.
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Catholics are the most powerful group in the world financially. Jews are very strong considering their numbers.
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seems quite reasonable and if we (meaning black people!!) did 1 2 and 3 all the rest would follow.
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Interesting post. A few observations:
1. By far the most prolific poster on “My Advice to Black Americans” (and probably on this site in general) is someone who isn’t one, and he tries to make every post about Asians.
2. abagond said “the vote that keeps the current racist arrangement of the US in place will soon sink below 50%.” How has that worked out in countries where whites already live side by side with POC as a minority, e.g., in Central and South America (or even South Africa)? Is it better to be a POC in Central or South America than in the US?
3. lola said, “The best way to overcome racism is for Africa to improve – dramatically… no one can deny that most African countries have huge strides to take before they gain respect internationally.” This is a very perceptive comment. It may be as true 100 years from now as it was 100 years ago.
4. “What can be done to stop the next enlargement of whiteness?” Promise all POC massive reparations–or maybe an ongoing tax on whites (implemented globally so that whites can’t just flee to other countries).
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@ LookingForAnswers,
Very good points.
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@ Kiwi, ditto – except for the point about allying with other people of colour. I agree it COULD be effective, but from experience they often try to make you champion their causes/ beliefs and expect to not have to reciprocate. My Indian/ Bengali colleagues from work did this all the time.
@ Mbeti, I disagree. Public actions don’t automatically follow on from private actions. Even though point 3 is already a public action, it would basically just be building institutions for ourselves. Obviously that’s good but that alone doesn’t necessitate consciously challenging ‘white’ institutions. We could too easily fall into the trap of trying to co-exist with them. Abagond was totally right to mention points 4-7.
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Also would be careful about the ‘white’ allies, Kiwi. Look at Tim Wise.
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@LoM
Although, actually, how does one fight a leaderless battle? Like an army without a general…
That’s what social media is. If person P. twitters about how he/she was wrongfully approached by personnel of the shop Q, then it is very easy to make a trending topic of #boycottQ.
A crowd can easily transform in a destroying monster. Especially on Facebook, Twitter, etc. No general is needed for that; just a reason to be very, very angry. And I regret to say that there are plenty reasons for blacks in the USA to be very, very angry.
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How would reparations be paid?
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I hate to be the bringer of bad news but none of your ideas will work. This is a war and its a spiritual war, someone suggested we support America’s enemies, do you know how much criminal trouble this could get you in? Besides the White man already employs that same strategy, he supports our enemies? The traitors amongst us whose lack of morals are opposed to our development. Black on Black crime, house coons are the worst form of Black on Black crime. We will never get anywhere until we can identify the traitors and run them from amongst us. That is how China and Mao Tse Tung got China free. This is what Malcolm X suggested over and over again. That’s why they had to get rid of Malcolm X because Malcolm stood up against the traitors, many who were robbing the Nation of Islam blind. Agents, Blacks who were opposed to the separation movement, Black Nationalism, joined the Nation of Islam, achieved rank and position, then began bleeding the funds, sabotaging the food programs and keeping fights going with the various Mosque communities by spreading rumors. It had gotten so bad that Min. Malcolm X went to Elijah Muhammad about it, while Elijah was in his old age, primarily unconcerned. This is what angered Malcolm X and his attack upon the Elijah Muhammad was Malcolm thought Elijah’s personal affairs were distracting him from doing his job as the Messenger. Nonetheless, no matter how its viewed, the Nation of Islam and nearly every movement to develop our people socially, economically and culturally has been spoiled by the White man employing our enemies within. Until they are dealt absolutely nothing that we do will work. Love, Sango.
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@Sango
I agree. The traitors will be our downfall as they have been for years.
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@ Sango
Right. That is why I talked about leaderless movements.
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@ Kiwi
Thanks. I agree. I did.
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@ababond
8. Make common cause with other people of color.
None will unite with you unless they invite doom upon themselves. Until we deal with the issues of traitors the traitors will only spoil any promising union we could have with others. You fail to understand how this thing has been going on for centuries. They say Blacks are the easiest people to enslave and I say its true. Because the Black slave always has two enemies to fight the enslavers and his own people who work with the enslavers. Traitors. Other groups know it and they don’t want anything to do with that. Black people are afraid to stand up to Sambo Blacks. Blacks are too silent to Black on Black crime. Too soft to haters. Other groups don’t act like this, they hang their traitors. Even Mexicans run out no good Mexicans from their company. The ones who you just can’t work it because they’re too greedy, too immoral, too selfish and too against everyone else and all for themselves. I hear other groups talking all the time about how Black people treat each other, when all they are saying is how can we allow treachery to persist unabated. One time another African American male and I were the only two Blacks in the entire plant in Seattle and he was talking badly about me all the time and we worked different areas. I didn’t even know this guy or that he was doing this until the Samoan guys told me what he was doing. They couldn’t understand it, how we hate on each other for no reason, he was backstabbing me just so he could be seen good to the White manager.
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“The Black movements of the 1960s were pretty much brought to an end through killing, imprisoning, exiling and undermining the leadership of those movements.”
And yet the racist, far right terrorist of the white supremacy movement are allowed to function and perpetrate violence with impunity for the most part. If organizations like the Patriot Movement, Aryan Nutsuckers or whatever they’re called, were black, they would have been destroyed already. This is what we’re up against as black people. I agree with your advice completely, Abagond.
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@ LookingForAnswers
Do I believe that Blacks should get a good education, be good parents, avoid criminals, etc? Of course. I am not a degenerate. Do I think that kind of stuff will lessen racism or its effects? Not by much:
And, as if to prove my point, three months later:
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@ lola
It is implicit in what I said about reparations, but I cover it explicitly, at greater length here:
That post in turn links to other posts which give more detail and so on.
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@ gro jo
Where did I say it was a magic cure? Where did I say anything about “acting Black”?
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Thank you! Love this advice, total agreement with LookingforAnswers. I would add:
1) Loving yourself *instilling high self-esteem early*
2) Limiting TV/screen time that focus on Whiteness as the default (re: children-it’s the gateway to white supremacy via propaganda) -that’s why I love your tumblr Abagond and YouTube for alternative examples of beauty/intelligence etc..(so many beautiful examples of us)
3) Seeking out living examples-mentors that are making a positive difference in local community, being involved on some type of level no matter how small. (which is truly a subset of Abagond’s list #3)
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@ Sango Kiande: Two comments deleted for using a racial slur.
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Looking for answers said
4. Travel outside the country so you understand that not everyone thinks about us every day and most people go on with their lives
I agree and, it will be essential if as King and then Abagond states
Make common cause with other people of colour.
Probably you cant learn about them without experiencing how and where they live on some level.
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@ lifelearner
I would go so far as to say cut out the TV altogether. It’s just empty calorie “entertainment” strung together by car/ hair and make up (for whites)/junk food commercials. Whatever there is of value can be found via internet. Been TV free for years and have no regrets.
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@Gen
I agree. I have drifted back into the TV scene, but I seemed to be better about myself without it.
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Another awesome post. In fact, it is an imperative one to Black people. It’s now or never, Black people. Ashe, Ashe, Ashe!!!
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This is great advice. I absolutely hate that so many black Americans are so loyal to the Democratic Party, which has historically been one of the most racist political organisations in the world. Today, they do nothing for blacks despite their unending, loyal support for over 30 years. If Democrats weren’t 100% sure they would get 95%+ of the black vote, they’d court and cater to blacks like they court and cater to women and Hispanics.
That said, I only disagree with #8. I hate to put it bluntly, but no one else likes blacks. Even though Asians, non-white Latinos, Irish and just about every other non-Wasp in America has benefited from the hard work of black activists who tirelessly fought for human rights for non-whites, most other non-whites refuse to give credit to black Americans for the rights they enjoy. Instead they ridicule blacks, take their money, and treat them poorly.
Like Dr. John Henrik Clarke wisely said, “You have no friends.”
I agree with Lifelearner and would add a #9. Cut off the TV.
I would also add a #10. Dump Christianity. Yes, dump Christianity!
As Dr. Clarke also noted, “Nothing that ever came from the European mind was meant to do anything but facilitate European domination of the world…every so called religion was meant to dominate and control.” It doesn’t matter that Christianity has African roots. Christianity practised in the West is not African.
It is the biggest reason blacks are so internally racist and put whites closer to God. You may say you don’t believe Jesus was white, but if I put this image before you, whose name comes to mind?
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRGYPVSnN9c_diRhNxfPBgtVuKDfA8ypuZsOSLql3RGr1HQHN-n
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Why are you stressing the least important part of my comment? You are calling for blacks to demonstrate the kind of cohesion that no other race has managed, why would blacks who hold high positions just abandon everything they worked for?
By acting black, I don’t mean what’s usually understood by that term, but being ‘role model’ types that every black kid can look up to. In my view, such demands are unrealistic, blacks, whites, yellows, browns, and every permutations of them will continue to display the same diversity, from saints to scumbags, they always have. Speaking of scumbags, I see that Biff saw fit to distort the history of the black race by excluding some of its achievements such as the Nile Valley civilizations, the kingdom of Mali, which was larger than Germany, England and a good chunk of France, The contributions of blacks to science and engineering, etc.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mali_Empire
Africa is trying to stand on its feet again, African-Americans love cars, they could help Africa by investing in the nascent African car industry. Uganda and some other countries are planning to manufacture cars on the continent, talented black engineers might want to take an active part in the process and even start businesses that could contribute novel parts to the African effort.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLiSyntLs3E)
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y39WNUdbkM)
I think that such practical approach would be more productive than a discussion on leaderless movements, a race of perfectly behaved people and other Chimeras.
Scumbag Biff notwithstanding, some Africans are doing pretty spectacular things, such as this gentleman, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yacouba_Sawadogo
Biff, my ‘superior friend’ tell us how your achievements compare to this “simple” African farmer who managed to reclaim several acres of land from the process of desertification with no white ‘high-tech’ equipment?
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@ Kiwi
You couldn’t have said it any better.
The non-Whites who claim to hate Black people are the main ones at a NBA game dying to touch the hand or get a cellphone picture of LeBron James or Kevin Durant as he leaves (the court) to head into the team’s locker room. I’m glad my parents taught my siblings and I that those are the main people NOT to trust.
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@ Kiwi
Do you know who Scot Nakagawa is? Like Abagond, Nakagawa informs many people on systemic White supremacy/racism.
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@ resw77
I agree with you, totally. Christianity – with its African roots and all – is taught to people (of all so-called races) from a falsified, Eurocentric perspective. My Egyptian-American friend, Jebrel, told me that the Egyptian Coptic Church, which is hundreds of years older than Western Christianity, has become Westernized with not only pictures depicting Jesus as a Scandinavian-looking White man but with White missionaries filtering in White supremacy in the church’s tradition. The same religious criminality is being done to the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church as well.
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@ Abagond
I agree that my first 2 points won’t lessen racism but it will lessen the impact of racism because society uses those circumstances and the consequences of those circumstances as a proxy to inflict institutional racism and justify things in a color blind way. In a society where black kids are view as adults and must behave flawlessly, being a hovering father is imperative because our kids have no margin for error. You can’t have the talk about how to deal with
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with cops with your son if you are not there…
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Very interesting and progressive post. I think the creating and supporting our own will be the most difficult hurdle to jump over. Unfortunately, America’s colorblind atmosphere will twist black institutions as “reverse racism” and internalized racist attitudes will make it hard to find support. This is why i appreciate your first to suggestions.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ujamaa
it’s fungible, you know that word?
inclusions, in a group, and so forth,
it is proven and discussed in a group (social circle etc.) there is always someone that gets picked on i talked about this here before, politics hate to say it’s just writ large, guns and ships, and down the rabbit hole ‘gin
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So instead of Abagond’s talented blacks, we should follow yours? Come on son! Invest in African cars? Ever heard of Comparative Advantage? Guys are making 300 dollars off every 30000 dollar new model. That’s no way to industrialize.
Abagond has finally got the courage to Advance a program. Of course, it will be lame. At first. Especially at 500 words. That’s like trying to summarize the Bible in one Tweet.
What he can do is set out his points on a series of blog posts. We can comment on them as best we can. But by putting together something, his blog has already gone to another level.
The real problem is the assumptions that Abagond and others have made without even realizing it (unstated assumptions, unknown knowns). Let’s tackle those first
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There was a small window of time during the late1800s that could have made a huge difference and possibly change the course of history but it never was. I saw this documentary on PBS. I visit and sometimes troll many forums and many ‘reformed or naturally socially progressive’ whites would have welcomed this type of political power to have evoked and occurred for the betterment. I’m not sure if some of these people just didn’t want the burden of ‘white guilt’, as i’m sure they thought this would have helped curb the demonizing aspect of slavery and other socially white dominated ills but it was a critical turning that who knows. I know as an Asian, somehow, this would probably have shut the borders to the far east and rest of world. I just know that if the course of black struggle had changed at a much earlier time the rebound effect would certainly have been a Black & White America with the term “Hispanic” and “Latino” resolved into just Black and White regardless. Just my take.
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I would like everyone to know that Abagond does not believe in free speech. My comments have been censored, my intelligent cries muffled. I am not sure if I belong here anymore. Especially with the recent tyrannical style of moderation. Remember, just go with the flow people. Just go with the flow.
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The list is fine except for number six. As soon as many of us stop thinking that the world (in general) and America (in particular) owes us a damn thing, many of us will begin to get things for ourselves.
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I’m about to hit this post with a really big comment. This does not apply to all Black men and women and all other races and genders, just my oberservation adn research.
You can make allies with other POC and Non-WASP but don’t hesitate to screw them over if they don’t have your back when it is their time to help us. East Asians, Irish, Jews, Hispanics, Indians and etc were with us when they were getting treated like crap by Whites and were behind us in Civil Rights movements but the second Whites considered them equals or treated them better than Blacks they no longer had our back and even started becoming racist towards us. They’re really only our “friends” when they’re being discriminated by Whites or we’re giving them our money and supporting their businesses. Have them fight their own battles stop being their meat shields.
We need more Black politicians, lawyers, doctors, STEMs and entreprenuers. Stop getting worthless degrees, stop trying to be athletes or entertainers it only perpetuates the stereotype that we can only get rich by entertaining others and even with all that money you make you’re only able to make it because Whites allow you to and you still have no real economic influence. We need to share our knowledge with our African bethren.
Owning our own businesses will allow us to call the shots and if we support our own businesses enough to get them to Fortune 500/1000 level we will garner more respect and Black customers and employees will be respected more by White and Asian owned businesses when they know a Black person is in town with a business doing just as well as theres and maybe better. We need to teach our Black youth business smarts. I was watching Peter Schiff at Occupy Wall Street a young Black male that is in the same age range/generation as me came up to him all asking for money for his business when he didn’t have to show to give him any idea of what he is investing in and got upset that he didn’t give him money when he didn’t do what a was written early and Peter was clearly being overwhelmed by everyone else trying to talk to him and over him. Peter told him only knew him for like 5 minutes and met him in a park.
Also I have also seen many times young Black males wear suits and other business attire as hood clothes sagging their pants and wearing ties loosely, wearing sneakers and overall looking more like they’re going to a court room as a defendant than a interview. Many Blacks seem to lack customer service etiquette as they treat their customers like random people from the hood and do not hesitate bringing their bad attitudes out. It will be hard for Blacks to support each others businesses if they continue to act like this let alone have other races support you. We also need to learn about investing in the stock market, Michael Jordan said to buy a share not a pair but we didn’t listen.
Good Black men and women need to stop settling for trash Black men and women. Yes there are more Black women than Black men but we need to seek each other out if we’re good people instead of just settling for whites and trashing the opposite gender of our own race like tools. Raise our standards and the trash will wave to make themselves qualify. Don’t be desperate for a man or woman to the point where you’ll take the loser that has no job and does drugs (unfortunately my aunt was one of those woman who despite being successful had married a poor excuse of a man who cheated on her and was doing drugs behind her back). Black woman stop being the “Strong Independent Woman Who Needs No Man” when you clearly want one and settle for anything.
And even if you don’t need a man your children still do as father figures are crucial to children and almost every single messed up Black male had no father figure in his life you can even find lyrics in rap songs that relate to them having issues of having no father and how their mom seeing them reminded them of their good for nothing father. Also stop trying to keep fathers that actually care about their children away from them and putting them on child support only for revenge. It also becomes very questionable in the “BlackLivesMatter” when Walter Scott turned out to be a man that has been jailed for owing child support and it would have been avoided if a Black woman hadn’t forced the system on him.
Black men you are not scott free, stop fulfilling the White man’s stereotype of us being men that only think with their junk. Have ambition and life goals that isn’t how many women you can get inside of. Stop having sex with multiple women and not marrying them, a woman should only be a single mother by divorce or being widowed. We end up with cases with 59% of Black American women having children with multiple different fathers. Also STDs getting spread out since you’re having sex with multiple women, you’re basically killing yourself and our race till we can find a cure. As of 2011 Black men count for 42% of HIV cases diagnosed among men and Blacks overall are getting hit with STDs much worse than whites. Syhpilis rate among Black men has increased 134% from 2006 to 2010. We make up 69% of reported gonorrhea cases and half of syhpilis cases and 35% of chlamydia cases reported. 72% of Black women in America are single/unwed mothers we have to take care of our dang kids or will continue the cycle of black youth without father figures going rotten.
Black women have to go natural, relaxing your hair and getting weaves is self hate. Sure other races of women wear weaves but everyone can damn well tell the straight hair on your head is most likely not yours or only achieved through chemicals and heat. And you don’t see White and Asian women paying top dollar to put Afro hair on their heads. You don’t realize it also hurts your daughters self esteem when they see that their mother and many other women that look like them are wearing hair that isn’t like theirs that is if their mothers haven’t tried putting weave or relaxer on them yet.
The concept of good hair in our community is hair that isn’t ours. Good hair in our community should be our own hair that is properly taken cared of. Stop making excuses like natural hair is hard to maintain or people won’t hire you with your natural hair. They don’t want you anyway, your hair is just an excuse for them to not hire you and if not make you conform to their ways of “right” in appearance. We should protest and boycott all businesses that discriminate against African hair and continue to call them racist and superficial for not seeing past the hair some people are naturally born with.
Our hair is unique we should love not damage ourselves with acids to make our hair straight and give billions of dollars to races that don’t have to do this and still consider us inferior. You know it is a seriously problem when no matter how poor a black women is she will make sure her hair is done even if the kids are in rags. It is also said that she will put more effort into her hair than her body, they consider themselves unpresentable with their natural hair but if they have straight hair on they do if even if they’re overweight/obese. What good is that hair when you’re incredibly fat!? This isn’t all Black womens responsibility us as Black men have to love our women with their natural it ain’t right if a White guy likes a Black girl’s natural hair more than a man from the same race as them. The most beautiful Black women I find wear their natural hair proudly.
We need to stop praising ignorance. Ostracize any rappers that promote drugs, unprotected sex with multiple women and crime in general. Shame coons that act like stereotypes on TV as it shows they value money more than their own race’s image, do not watch or go to anything they’re in even if they’re not acting like a coon, acting like a coon is only tolerable if it is a satire. Do not support black businesses/products that get bought out by non-blacks like BET or get promoted by Blacks but are not owned by Blacks like Nike/Jordan.
Quit the shallow materialism especially when you’re poor. It ain’t right that the majority of people waiting in line for the new release of Nikes/Air Jordans are poor Black people and violent conflicts always come a rise. They’re mainly seen as a status symbol by us when it ain’t status when you’re still dirt poor. An example was a Black teen in Detroit that got shot 3 times for his Air Jordans, he survived but complained about how his family didn’t have household appliances and a furnace even though he spent $410 on the Jordans he bought and he bought a pair for his mother and sister which adds up to $1,200. His mom tried to justify his purchase saying he deserved to splurge on himself and save money for shoes. Quit trying to look wealthy you’ll just get ultimately destroyed when people that are actually wealthy buy real status symbols. Your leased low end over priced BMW is nothing compared the latest Lamborghini, stop the “Fake It Till You Make It Crap” what are you going to do when you don’t make when you put more effort into faking it than to actually try and make and this advice should to apply to people regardless of race.
If you chant BlackLivesMatter but are nowhere to be found for all the Black on Black crimes don’t bother, how can you expect other races to respect us if we don’t respect ourselves. Stop protesting and throwing riots over worthless Blacks like Freddie Gray. How can you complain how no one wants to bring business to your area when you destroy them. We kill our own kind because we wanted their limited edition Air Jordans. We can’t have nice things around each other if we’re willing to kill for shoes.
We need also need to stop being dependent, lots of poor Asians I know refuse to go on welfare they simply just get more hours or another job. Everyone likes to politically correct and point out that there are more Whites on Welfare than blacks but this is something to think about, White people are currently 63% of the population while us Blacks are 13% of the population if you look at the percentage for Welfare recipients Whites are 40% while Blacks are 25% Blacks. Hispanic population is 17% but welfare recipients being Hispanic is only 10%.
There are more Hispanics than Blacks in America but more of us are on welfare than them and White people significantly outnumber us but we’re almost close to them in being on welfare you realize our population was few percents bigger we’d be at the same number as Whites and surpass them if we were half their population size. Many women on welfare continue to pop out babies from differents fathers that aren’t in their life and will continue to do it as they get no consequences and are even rewarded for it. My belief is “If you can’t feed it don’t breed it!” after the 2nd or 3rd child I believe mandatory sterilization unless you can prove that you are making progress in becoming independent.
National parks tell you to not feed the animals because the animals will become lazy and dependent on human handouts to survive this applies here. Democrats and Liberals are basically buying our votes with welfare and other “free” stuff. I find it insulting as they believe we can never take care of ourselves.
It is hard to get the image of the African continent as nothing more but people sticking their hands out waiting for you to give them something. Africans do not need money, they need education and businesses so they do not have to keep begging. A continent so rich in resources should not be so damn poor there should at least be a super rich group like the Middle East and Dubai. We need Africans to start manufacturing products made by African owned businesses and sell to them rest of world just like Asia does. We need the African Sony, Samsung, Dell, HP, Lenovo and etc equivalent. I have much respect for Akon for using his wealth to help get 600 million Africans solar powered electricity.
We need to stop the tribal war crap, to the rest of the world you’re just a bunch of dumb Blacks that can be easily manipulated into killing each other look at Rwanda’s Hutu vs Tutsi and Sierra Leone’s civil war over the diamond resources Whites were taking advantage while they were dying and even providing them weapons to kill each other.
We need to abolish such savage and primitive “culture” like voodoo magic which allows people to get easily manipulated and killed look at trokosi slavery and Albinos being killed because they believe their body parts are magical, Blacks are not dumb it’s the environment and culture that we’re placed in that makes us that way. We need to get rid of corrupt governments and warlords they are the biggest race traitors and why Africa can’t progress. They take all foreign aid money use it on themselves and kidnap Africans sell them off as slaves. Stop asking for foreign government to handle it, start civil wars (with real and meaningful causes), asssinations and etc. We need to make incredibly harsh examples out of them. Nigeria banned females genital mutilation just a MONTH AGO. This is the same government basically begging western nations to get their girls back for them not too long ago.
African countries constantly asking for help is why they’ll never get respected as much as Asian countries who have proven themselves to be significant threats to Westerners and show self reliance even when they still have a lot of poor people. Some other good news in Africa developing is China making deals with African countries for their resources and labor. But I still have some trust issues with that as back in South Africa being colonized the Chinese there were complaining that they were being treated like the Africans and were talking about how their whiteness should allow them qualify like the Japanese as honorary Whites so Whites made them honorary Whites and the Chinese basically did not help the Africans at all they just wanted to cling to whoever had the power.
Kenyans need to stop worshipping Obama he is not their president and as far as I know America hasn’t done jack for Kenya while Obama was in office and Obama’s Kenyan deadbeat father was not present in his life and his name is basically his only connections with Kenya. A White women raised the main they praise so much same for us Blacks in America our first “Black” president is half white and was pretty much only raised by his White half.
We also need to get rid of the skin bleaching, hair relaxer and weave products in Africa, you can’t succeed and achieve as a country/continent if you basically hate how 99.99% of your own people look, almost every country I look at that is poor and failing has a lot of self hatred. The White influence has gotten to them, when I see South African magazines the majority of the models are WHITE even though they’re the extreme minority, so even when Whites are the minority they still manage to have power and influence.
Go ahead and google South African models you’ll find mostly White girls. One White Girl model posted a racist tweet about a Black man she met in a supermarket, pretty damn bold and stupid at the same time to trash Black people when you’re such a small minority talking bad about the race that is the vast majority and is their homeland.
An African singer Denicia is promoting a skin bleaching product called Whitelicious and is even using it on herself it is even worse how skin bleaching is growing as a trend in West Africa. At least with Asians they valued light pale skin long before they came into contact with Europeans.
Yep if anyone has anything to correct or argue with I’m open to it.
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@satanforce
Lmfao bruh quit the dramatics. It’s not that serious. Freedom of speech applies to the government, not an Internet blog lol
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@ satanforce
Your comment was in the spam filter. It is now up.
@ ken williams
I delete comments that are in ALL CAPS:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/comment-policy/
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Not dramatics. Sarcasm.
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No one will be able to reply to that long ass post. Ask Abagond to split it up.
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SnailHail
I will go through most of what you said when I have more time, but I agreed with you for the most part. The problem is that you seem to base you theme on what white people deem as acceptable. How can you be about turning on white allies if they are not for us, but be abut tailoring yourself to white people?
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If nothing else we do on this planet- Black woman, love yourself.
Black man, love yourself.
Black man
love, respect, honour, protect, revere and listen to
your Black Mother(and Sister and Grandmother)
Understand utterly that all our problems
come from not listening to our Black Mother.
Indeed, its the genesis of our world’s problems.
Listen to her. Listen.
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I’m not lazy, I just have porn in my other window. Never mind relearning (multivariable) calculus.
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Ok, just finished reading SnailHail’s long ass post, and I don’t see how any sensible person can take it seriously.
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@snailhail
Stop believing stereotypes about black people. There are plenty of decent black folks in the US and the ones who are not, are not holding decent blacks back. A lot of what you described is the result of the concentration of poverty. Telling people to pull up their pants isn’t going to make things better..
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“So instead of Abagond’s talented blacks, we should follow yours? Come on son! Invest in African cars? Ever heard of Comparative Advantage? Guys are making 300 dollars off every 30000 dollar new model. That’s no way to industrialize.”
Comparative Advantage is for the lazy and stupid who have never heard of high tariffs and import substitution programs, in other words, economic nationalism.
Apparently, it escaped your ‘eagle eye’ that the point of doing the things shown in the videos is to build the expertise to launch the takeoff of Africa in the 21st century. Oh, great and wise one, show me a nation that took the bs about comparative advantage seriously, and I’ll show you a nation doomed to fail. The only comparative advantage one nation has over another, is the quality of its people. The only way to test people is to create the necessary conditions to let them succeed or fail at something.
My proposal has the merit of taking blacks as they are and not as some ideal type that can exist only in the imagination of the so-called reformer whose panacea is supposed to cure everything. Why don’t you jump in and bring to light the hidden assumptions in Abagon’s utopian scheme?
I’ve already stated what I think is wrong with it. The type of regimentation called for is pretty alien to the inclinations of most blacks. Why do you think that Black Muslims, Garvey, and other self-appointed saviors managed to accomplish so little?
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I ‘m glad you recognize that I am great and wise though your attitude seems to change as I scroll down further. So let me teach you something about economics, and black history in general.
You say that the only qualitative difference among nations are their people. That cannot be true. Natural resources and the availability of current capital have played a big role throughout history. One example is Nazi Germany, which produced some of the most technologically advanced weaponry (firsts include guided, cruise and ballistic missiles, the first true submarine, jerrycan, jet fighter) as well as synthetic oil and rubber, but still had their asses handed to them. Their wonder weapons did not save them, and they could not produce enough oil to move to conduct major operations. There will also be a need to obtain necessary machine tools and physical infrastructure, if one is to invest in the continent, especially the Francophone center. In order to do any kind of development, there will need to be trade, but with selective tariffs, just like the American System of Economics works.
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This almost seems like a “farewell” blog. Are you leaving the blogging world Abagond?
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Satanforce, you joker you, I needed a good laugh, so thank you. So, Nazi Germany disproves my point because they lacked the necessary resources to win the second world war? Silly bugger, they lost the war because their enemies were more powerful industrially. Did you forget that the USA was the most advanced industrial nation at the time?
I see you’ve dropped your absurd Comparative Advantage for the more realistic claim that “In order to do any kind of development, there will need to be trade, but with selective tariffs, just like the American System of Economics works.”
Very good, for a moment there I was beginning to fear that too much “…relearning (multivariable) calculus.” was rotting your brain as well as ruining your eyesight. Those damned triple intergrations will drive you nuts! Have you started that petition to rename Geffrard Place, if yes, how is the campaign going?
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Nah, just started. Practicing partial differentiation. No, Nazi Germany disproves your point because they were only able to go 300 km into Russia for about 2 months due to their limited resources. The only reason they could wage offensive war was because of the oil Russia was selling them. The idea that a nation can, or should, rely on itself for its (non-strategic) assets is silly. We tried something like that back in the ’70s after our Prime minister pissed off America for no reason. Didn’t end well.
My version of economic nationalism does not involve the autarky that I would hope you are not advocating. The countries in Francophone Africa that I am thinking of would still need technical assistance and to secure trade deals. But instead of the whole Lumumba lameness, the people of the nation would come first.
There is no need for symbolic silliness like changing the name of Geffard whatever. The situation is good already. We keep those Haitians like helots at best and slaves at worst. That way, they don’t mess up our gene pool. We’ve stacked the Game against them. We may even do something akin to what is happening with the Confederate flag, to give them false hope in the same way.
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What is so wrong with that? He is a villain. We need more of them on the blog.
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Think another got stuck in the spring filter.
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Lordy, “you joker you.” Learn to mind your business. Your blog is a shrine to the racist mass murderer Napoleon Bonaparte, yet you have the effrontery to try to pass as an anti-racist! I think your phony anti-racism is deserving of derision. Do you have a comment on the debate I’m having with Satanforce, if not just shut up?
I’m surprised Abagond let you post this nonsense since it’s off topic. I’m I still banned from your blog for pointing out the gaps in your knowledge?
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The more I read you the more I like you Satan. “We keep those Haitians like helots at best and slaves at worst.” That claim would come as a surprise to Thomas Desulmé, the owner of Thermo Plastics, a pioneer manufacturer of plastics in Jamaica that employed 600 Jamaicans at its peak. A slave or helot who signed the checks of his Jamaican masters, very strange. When he died even the PM of Jamaica came to pay his respect. http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20131006/news/news3.html
Let’s see what other nonsense you’ve come up with. “My version of economic nationalism does not involve the autarky that I would hope you are not advocating.” Please indicate where I advocated autarky? Too much porn is making you dull, how can you suspect me of advocating such thing when I wrote: “Uganda and some other countries are planning to manufacture cars on the continent, talented black engineers might want to take an active part in the process and even start businesses that could contribute novel parts to the African effort.” I provided a link to Lonnie Johnson’s TED talk as an example of an African American who could contribute something of value to Africa without moving there. How you managed to read autarky in my call for black investors to invest their money in African manufacturing is beyond me.
“The countries in Francophone Africa that I am thinking of would still need technical assistance and to secure trade deals. But instead of the whole Lumumba lameness, the people of the nation would come first.”
By Lumumba lameness, I guess you are talking about his blunt statement of the fact that Belgium raped his country to the face of the Belgian king. If you are so concerned with the fate of Francophone Africa, I’d like to hear what you have to say on their financial enslavement by French financial capital.
“He is a villain. We need more of them on the blog.” How am I a villain? I’m not the one making racist remarks about other nationalities as you’ve done for Haitians. Strange that Abagond’s sanctimonious anti-racism filter has allowed you to post the crap you post.
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I totally love and agree with all the Useful and Attainable points listed here, Abagond! @Pumpkin-good add-on tips, as well!
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@ Grojo Jojo
Let us look ata chimpanzee at a zoo. The little chimp has his zookeepers. It is because of the chimp that the zookeepers has a job, and gets money to feed his family. But the chimp is still a chimp. And that chimp is giving the zookeeper its money – not its fellow chimps.Now, I am not saying that chimpanzees are Haitains – that would be wrong. But I’m sure you get the point.
Your foolishness about “high tariffs” and “import substitution” will only get you blocked by large economic zones who you are trying to sell things to. In a globalized world like this , those policies will fail, unless you’re a subcontinent with massive resources, and that is just asking for a defacto self0embargo. Get real! This isn’t Civilization or SimCity. Then you want engineers to contribute to a car industry that is going to get sodomized by cheap Chinese imports. For Why?Yo put up YouTube videos, and TED videos at that. And you want me to interrupt “There’s a Negro in Mom!” for that? I really don’t think anyone wants to watch what you have on offer. You are a villain, remember?
So is it that Comparative Advantage is B.S. , or that the labour force is the only Comparative Advantage? Because the Japanese and the Asian Tigers agree with the latter argument. Never mind that sugar cane is as easy to grow in Saudi Arabia as oil is as easy to find in Jamauca.
Your proposal has no merit.
Yeah. Much good that did the Congolese.
I live in the real world. Not some fantastic utopia where REalpolitik doesn’t matter, industrial development can ignore the advantages of your economy, or some C.L.R. James fantasy where Haitians can be anthropomorphized. If you want to be a proper villian, instead of some effeminate sissy henchman – go there.
I’ll deal with Abagond and the others soon enough.
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“I live in the real world. Not some fantastic utopia where REalpolitik doesn’t matter, industrial development can ignore the advantages of your economy, or some C.L.R. James fantasy where Haitians can be anthropomorphized. If you want to be a proper villian, instead of some effeminate sissy henchman – go there.I’ll deal with Abagond and the others soon enough.”
WOW, Sat, all that porn, er, multivariate calculus has rotted away whatever brains you were born with.
“villian” Sat? Try “villain” instead and the rest of humanity might have a chance to understand what a chimp like you is trying to say. Like all idiots of your caliber, you’re good with cliches like “REalpolitik” etc. Why the strange silence on the Franc CFA (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CFA_franc), the tool of France to keep Francophone Africa under its thumb? After all you were the one who brought up Francophone Africa in this conversation. I wanted to give you a chance to demonstrate your ‘vast’ knowledge on the topic, instead you give us this diatribe, very disappointing.
As an “anthropomorphized” Haitian and “effeminate sissy henchman”, I haven’t got anything else to say to you except to continue to stir in your stupidity and ignorance.
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@Michael Cooper
Yes it’s sickening what they’re doing in Ethiopia. This is precisely why leaders of yore such as King Fasilides kicked out the Jesuits and exactly why the Tewahedo Church needs to kick them out again.
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@sharina
Black people are too invested in the system to beat it. We sold out a long time ago. We voluntarily “integrated”. We’re all in.
MLK:
“I’ve come upon something that disturbs me deeply,” he said. “We have fought hard and long for integration, as I believe we should have, and I know that we will win. But I’ve come to believe we’re integrating into a burning house.”
http://www.scu.edu/ethics/architects-of-peace/Belafonte/essay.html
For some, the vision of “success” is for us to complete oreo-fication on a global, cultural level. If that’s the vision, there is nothing to fight for.
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Advice of the NoAnswerGuru:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Pamela: Guru, I believe that I’m not getting that promotion at work because I’m a woman.
NoAnswerGuru: I have an easy solution to that problem: become a man! Next!
Christine: Guru, I’m playing a card game with by brother. I’ll win if I pick the queen but I believe he took them all out.
NoAnswerGuru: Keep playing. One day you might win! Next!
Jason: Some men stole land that we should have inherited from my grandparents and they’ve been taking all the farm produce since then. We finally stood up to them and they said we can have it but we owe them back rent that we have to work off! We can’t pay them fast enough and it’s gaining interest! I think we should refuse and figure out how to become independent of these crooks!
NoAnwerGuru: No, don’t be lazy! Work harder to get yourself out of debt.
NoAnswerGuru: Well, that’s all the sage advice for today folks. Always remember, my students, that Peace is more important than Justice.
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In case it isn’t obvious I’m alluding to the general stance of many black people NOT abagond post.
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To all the blacks who are too invested in the system to beat it, and have the money that shows their commitment to said system, you might consider donating some of that cash you managed to squirrel away to creating a museum to house Mr. Eric Edwards’s collection of African arts. He’s only $28,442.00 short of his $35,000.00 goal.
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Lordy, thanks for the info. With Mr. Edwards’s collection Brooklyn will have one of its own.
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On point (7): develop and practice leadearless civil disobedience.
The solution to the problem of how to be effective while “headless” rests on cultural ideology. We can learn a lot from white racism in this respect. White people do not need leaders policing them and telling them to be racist. In fact, whites can SAY they’re “not racist” to protect their image and still practice it. They’re committed to white supremacy. It’s in the culture.
This is where we’re at a huge disadvantage due to centuries of slavery or colonialism. We’ve lost our will to be anything but guests in someone else’s house. We don’t have an implicit understanding around which we’re all united. “Respectability politics” comes closest to being a shared understanding but that won’t liberate us. That’s just hoping to avoid whippings though good behavior. But if you can’t actually limit their power they can and will whip you for no reason at all.
The problem is huge because we’re tied up and dependent in so many ways thanks to systems that have been in place for generations. They even brought us the Word of God!
Sigh.
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xPraetorius wrote a post about my “moronic codswallop” and SnailHail’s “clear-eyed perspective”:
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@ ken williams: Comment deleted for using ALL CAPS.
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Abagond, why do you even bother with xP? The poor guy is so stupid, he thought that the $1.2 trillion Black American share of the GDP was welfare and other handouts that you and your ilk managed to extort from the rest of America through blackmail, as agents of the Race Grievance Industry(RGI).
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@ gro jo
What, you don’t believe in comic relief?
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He is still obsessed with you after all this time? Smh…
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“@ gro jo
What, you don’t believe in comic relief?”
But is it nice to make fun of the feeble-minded? Isn’t that a violation of his human rights to use him that way? Aren’t you turning the guy into a modern day Hottentot Venus or Ota Benga? Aren’t you skirting violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)?
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I left him a pithy response. No telling how long he will keep it up as it is also obscene to many people. It’s a good thing obscenity is my second language! This person brings tears of mirth to my eyes!
On a serious note, I wonder if the ‘Race Grievance Industry’ caused Roof to slaughter nine people? I wonder if this clown ‘x’, wrote any long winded articles about this?
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It is okay to mock this person as he/she is willfully obtuse and disingenuous. Perhaps he/she really does have a form of feeble-mindedness, whatever the case, he/she knows haw to type reams of bull crap on a computer so is fair game!
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I am thinking that disease XPraetorious the delusional fool probably thinks the church shooting in Charleston is just an isolated incident. #XPrae So Stupid.
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@Lord of Mirkwood
There’s already a museum of American History at the Smithsonian, but has that stopped anyone from building other American history museums across the US?
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Herneith, what I wrote about xP was done in jest.
resw77, don’t be too harsh on Lordy, the poor kid’s confused, he thinks that worshiping a warmonger and slaver like his hero Napoleon is compatible with being an “anti-racist”! I’m sure he would have found it appropriate to erect a museum for that bastard.
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I so approve of this post i especially am trying to put into practice #1and #2 and Learning about black history and the history of this country in tandem. And i am learning and reading books about the history of Black people in America and the History of Africa and Caribbean history as well. I am all for creating and supporting black businesses. #5 protest Black Lives Do Matter.
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Interesting discussion,if you can iqnore the antagonistic and mentally ill as a natural consequence of having such discussions (indeed any substantive discussion but esp one involving a popular issue such as race,etc) in public.
1tawnystranger said
@ Mbeti, I disagree. Public actions don’t automatically follow on from private actions. Even though point 3 is already a public action, it would basically just be building institutions for ourselves. Obviously that’s good but that alone doesn’t necessitate consciously challenging ‘white’ institutions. We could too easily fall into the trap of trying to co-exist with them. Abagond was totally right to mention points 4-7.
What suprised me was that
just 1 to 3
1.Learn about stereotypes and White racism.
2.Learn about Black history.
3.Create and support Black institutions.
do not automatically lead to
4.Buy Black. This follows from #3.abagond even said it himself.
The whole reason we African americans would even consider such a list is due to what was done to us
2.Learn about Black history.
however these
5.Protest.
6.Push for reparations.
7.Develop and practise leaderless civil disobedience.
8.Make common cause with other people of colour.
are tactics and strategies of a hostage/captive people.
if we got here by (#2 black history or world history specifically related to african people) invasion and war.
It does not seem likely we will get out it i.e. free of white people without fighting a war.
To me a big part of 1.Learn about stereotypes and White racism.
is the “we don’t have the numbers” or the weapons or the infrastructure and my favorite forgive them no matter what they do — ah la – south africa and most recently after a blatant multiple homicide.
but whereas its obvious if you have been forced through continuous violence to adopt and adhere to another groups beliefs and way of life but with the clear distinction that you will always be subordinate then its understandable.
I also like the reject Christianity comments ,it seems a certain type of “ressitsence” will come from africans who have embraced the religion of their enemies esp as I say again you must inherently and permanently accept a subordinate role in lfe.
remeber abagond is not just a christain as is most african americans but a catholic i.e. the most conservative orthodox type of christain there is.
btw I’m not blaming you abagond for your christainty nor the type of.
I find it a bitter pill (among many) that I have to sollow that we black people (and if we are human it applies to all people.) do not have the agency we are told (lied to!!)
that we have or that we “should” have.
we can’t choose where we live ,who or if we mate and marry,etc etc and even what we think and believe.
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Abagond,when I read the heading : My Advice to Black Americans, my mind completed it with: On how to end racism.
I stumbled on your blog a while ago: I wanted to understand the broader world shaped by white supremacy and racism. I had figured many things by questioning everything. Learning and educating one’s self is never-ending. My mind is blasted away from learning about African and Africans in diaspora history . The more one finds out and read about the more one can understand the whole structure of lies.
I had tried a few South African blogs and some unmoderated forums and was confronted with unmitigated hatred from white commenters. Let a Black person talk about the wrongs of Apartheid and what life is like for a Black person and hundreds of white people of different stripes say the most odious things, who can put some of the American racists on your blog in the shade. Trevor Noah said that apartheid was the perfection of racism. Totally. But you will not find one white person who supported or voted for Apartheid,although in a recent survey the majority of whites do not think that Apartheid was a crime against humanity.
I agree with all your points and find they have much relevance in my life in South Africa.
I would highly recommend your blog in many learning institutions. Some of the voices on this blog I have come to value: Trojan Pam for being so accurate and truthful. Others and no less valuable : Matari, Origin,Brothawolf, Tyrone, Diaryofanegress, Linda, Ann, Mbeti, Kwamla.Gro Jo, Peanut /Pumpkin,Sondis.King.I might have left a few out.
I could say the scales have fallen from my eyes.
I have come to believe that racism will not end( it does not make me happy to say this).
One could sooner holiday in the Kuiper belt than it will end.
For me, whether young men wear their pants down or wear bellbottoms, whether one is Black Christian, atheist( I am agnostic atheist) or ‘savage’ (I would rather be a ‘savage’ in an impenetrable jungle with no chance of being discovered- I mean interfered with by white people) will white supremacy end. It only mutates into a different beast.
My thinking is that the evidence of our suffering is around them(white people) , if only they would get a heart( not a change of heart).
Seas of tears,rivers of our blood,sweat from our brow, cries of pain.
We have begged and pleaded, pandered to them, reasoned and forgiven them and it has fallen on deaf ears. I have come to understand that white people the world over are incorrigible as regards to racism.
Racism can only end when racists(white people) stop being racists. That is not to say that we must do nothing about it.
Two points I would add is : get angry , very angry against racism. I had wasted time trying to soften my anger. And listen to your elders – they have experienced many things that could be a learning curve for you.
Mbeti, my biggest regret is forgiving white people and I am paying a very, very high price for it. Yes,no leader has the answer.To my mind, Archbishop Tutu and Nelson Mandela, by exhorting us to reconciliation and forgiveness, have got South African whites off scot free. Although, I love and revere both men. I disagreed with Nelson Mandela’s soft approach to white South Africans and now, Archbishop Tutu’s call (when Apartheid ‘ended’) for forgiveness.
I find self revolution and trying to free myself from all kinds of slavery is a very painful yet rewarding journey.
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I apologise that my post is all over the show, going off-topic and off on a tangent.
And for any typographical errors.
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I forgot about Mary Burrell and Sharinair. There are few others names that might come to me in the middle of the night
.
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Abagond said:
“Like in the 1850s, the vote that keeps the current racist arrangement of the US in place will soon sink below 50%. After 2050, though, the powers that be will probably have put together a new “White” majority – and gained control of the Internet.”
I agree that control of the internet is coming. Controlling information and keeping tabs on dissent is key to maintaining State power.
I also think their is an assumption that once whites become a statistical minority that somehow their will be less oppression in the justice system and that white racism will be in decline. I think whites experiencing economic hardships from an increased non white majority will become more vocally racist and well see more lone wolf Roof type events.
We will see more non white majorities sitting on the boards of major corporations but don’t expect any plans for any kind of wealth redistribution. We will see non whites maintaining the white supremacy based system because doing so gives them special privileges.
The criminal justice system will continue to incarcerate non whites at their current levels and we may see an expansion of the prison system. Even if you took racism out of the criminal justice system it is still an OPPRESIVE system.
If you look at Baltimore with its 47% black police force as well as many blacks holding political positions their you will notice that the level of oppression has in no way decreased over the last couple of years. The only exception to that is the D.A. Mosley but typically D.A.s are closely allied with the police.
Similarly in South Africa the length of incarcerations have increased dramatically since the fall of apartheid and the return to black rule. Since 1995 sentencing of 5-7 years have decreased by 44%. Sentences of 10-15 years have increased by 238%. Sentences of 15-20 years have increased by 355%. Sentences of more then 20 years by 443% and life imprisonment has increased by 2197%.
What I’m getting at is that the statism behind white supremacy isn’t affected by democracy or reform or changes in non white populations. The justice system with its Eurocentric roots remains oppressive because its designed that way. A country is considered “developed” if it follows a Eurocentric justice system.
If we look at reforming the Justice system here in the U.S. we see that even the congressional black caucus is compromised.
In 2009 the Congressional Black Caucus sent out a letter to community leaders requesting their input in regards to community problems. The letter listed 35 topics it thought important but the one topic missing was the criminal justice system and the high incarceration rates of black males. Why? Because prison guard/police unions helped elect them and therefore are indirectly controlling the conversation.
In California Congressional Black Caucus member Karen Bass (D) recently worked to change legislation on behalf of lobbyists.
“In response to lobbying from law enforcement, Speaker Karen Bass, D-Los Angeles, added a provision that invalidates any recommendation by the sentencing commission that does not have the approval of two commissioners that are from law enforcement. And there may be more changes before the week’s out.”
“When we arrive at a responsible plan that can earn the support of the majority of the Assembly and makes sense to the people of California,” Bass said in a statement, “we will take that bill up on the Assembly floor.”
The changes have already attracted the wrath of criminal defense attorneys.”
“This amendment will eliminate any independence of the proposed sentencing commission,” Ted Cassman, president of California Attorneys for Criminal Justice, said in a statement. “A single interest group should not be able to hold sentencing reform hostage in California. (7)
The United States has 5% of the worlds population and 25% of the worlds inmates. Their are more black men in American prisons today then their were locked up in South Africa at the height of Apartheid.
It was the Democrats along with the prison guard/police unions that lobbied to build the prisons. It was the Republicans with their tough on crime, three strike laws that filled them up.
The system will offer non whites a seat at the table of white supremacy. I say blacks need to reject that and build their own table.
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@SnailHail
I will add my observation and research to the mix.
“Black customers and employees will be respected more by White and Asian owned businesses when they know a Black person is in town with a business doing just as well as theres and maybe better. “—I believe this to be half true. Whites and even asians may visit the business or use it, but I doubt respect said black person. Asians may, but a white person…hmmm…
“We also need to learn about investing in the stock market, Michael Jordan said to buy a share not a pair but we didn’t listen.”—-We need to create a stock market and invest in our own. The main reason we are in the situation we are in is because we are investing in white people’s stuff. We are making them rich.
“Also stop trying to keep fathers that actually care about their children away from them and putting them on child support only for revenge.”—I use to believe this, but child support is not a revenge tactic. No good men and no good women end up together from what I have seen. In those cases said woman usually needs that child support. Educated women (according to black men) think they are too good for less than par men, so the likelihood of that being a union is slim, especially where I live.
“It also becomes very questionable in the “BlackLivesMatter” when Walter Scott turned out to be a man that has been jailed for owing child support and it would have been avoided if a Black woman hadn’t forced the system on him.”—Questionable for who? Whether the man owed child support was irrelevant to being shot in the back and framed while dead.
“59% of Black American women having children with multiple different fathers.”—Yes, but I don’t think I will chastised people here. Simply because this number includes women that may have come to the marriage with a child and proceeded to have kids with a husband. Seeing as on average black women only have 3 kids.
“72% of Black women in America are single/unwed mothers we have to take care of our dang kids or will continue the cycle of black youth without father figures going rotten.”—-Well, I can say it is a lot smaller than the 95% it once was. Though it is an issue only because fathers are needed in the home. The real question is why is it an issue? Why the obsession with black people having kids and how many? We need to produce, but we need to create family unites for strong values.
“Black women have to go natural, relaxing your hair and getting weaves is self hate. “—I have not found this to be true in full. Some women have this issue and it is apparent, but some women actually do it because it is easier to deal with than natural and because some jobs will not allow for the natural. Check youtube or do a web search. White and Asian women have been caught trying to do natural looks. I won’t say it is a large sum for Asians, but I will say a lot of blogs are popping up with white women claiming to go natural. Part of loving oneself is being comfortable rocking whatever style fits them. That is the beauty of black hair. It is versatile.
“how can you expect other races to respect us if we don’t respect ourselves.”—Why are we still waiting and expecting other races to respect us? This is what I feel is the key dysfunction in the minds of black people. We are screaming about doing better for the wrong reasons. Do you realize that if you put on your suit right, comb your hair right, speak right, that white people will still see you as a n-word. A well dressed n-word who speaks well and was raised right. Worry less and care less about what they think. Happier better person
“veryone likes to politically correct and point out that there are more Whites on Welfare than blacks but this is something to think about, White people are currently 63% of the population while us”—-You can’t just look at the numbers here. Most blacks that I have encountered do not even need welfare. Those household also have fathers in them who do not marry so as the woman can continue to get welfare and their family can stay ahead. I was so fortunate as to meet a family that was married and still getting it because the spouse applied and said she was divorced. The numbers do not show that at all. Keep in mind the husbands are working, but the food aspect of the check is removed. It is called the welfare hussle.
“Africans do not need money, they need education and businesses so they do not have to keep begging.”—True, but the image of poor Africa is not a realistic one. The richest woman in the world is an African. Africans are our model minority. Culture is what makes them less likely to fall into the westernized mindset. I don’t want them to abolish their culture to be more Americanized and then more concerned with the wrong things in life (consumption). Western culture consumes, but fail to truly produce.
“Stop protesting and throwing riots over worthless Blacks like Freddie Gray”—Every black person is worthless to whites. So my question for you is what makes him worthless to you?
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@ Abagond
To which I left the following:
I’ve probably said it before somewhere, but white people are only comfortable with black people if said black people constantly kiss up, brown-nose and worship them. White people, by far and large, are exceptionally insecure.
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I stumbled on this yesterday:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/vast-scale-of-british-slave-ownership-revealed-10383768.html
”
Vast scale of British slave ownership revealed
A five-year project by University College London has compiled the identities of 46,000 Britons who owned slaves, mainly in the West Indies, on the day slavery was abolished in 1833.
David Cameron, Benedict Cumberbatch, Ben Affleck and George Orwell are just some of the high profile descendants of the slave owners revealed in the files.
Records from the Slave Compensation Commission show that some 800,000 Africans were freed upon abolition after being kept as legal property.
Upon their liberation the Commission paid out the modern equivalent of £17 billion in compensation to the UK’s tens of thousands of owners – the largest government pay-out prior to the bailout of the banks in 2009.
”
Black people who say they don’t want reparations should read this. BRITISH SLAVE OWNERS GOT COMPENSATION FOR “FREEING” SLAVES! That transaction doesn’t actually sound like liberation at all. It sounds like the government bought black people from their private owners.
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Hey Origin,
Why are you stirring up the hornest’s nest!
There’s an inordinate amount of posters here, both black and non-black, who believe that black folks can’t properly handle their use of a CASH reparation payout and as such black reparations should come in a form of anything that’s not cash!
Talk about mental slavery and controlled colonized thinking. These are always good behaving negroes who seek going through the back door in the alley rather than the front door everyone else walks through!
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I definitely support reparations. It’s not a silver bullet but I support it. If I argue against reparations (as a kind of devil’s advocacy) it’s so that we consider it a minor victory.
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@ Mack Lyons
I did not write my post for people like xPraetorius at all. With fewer trolls on my blog, I write less “defensively”. This post, for example, assumes (unlike xP and probably at least half of all White Americans) that racism is still a big issue in the US and that Blacks are a legitimate part of the US.
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@ Origin Really? They were compensated for owning slaves, then definitely the descendants of slaves deserve compensation. Cold hard cash suits me just fine! We all should get a big fat check. It doesn’t matter if some fools want to blow it at da club or buy a business. Their choice. The payout should be made. Myself, I would invest and retire early then travel the world.
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“They were compensated for owning slaves, then definitely the descendants of slaves deserve compensation. Cold hard cash suits me just fine! We all should get a big fat check. It doesn’t matter if some fools want to blow it at da club or buy a business. Their choice. The payout should be made. Myself, I would invest and retire early then travel the world.” @Poetess, You betta preach!!!
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@SnailHail,
1) Your comments (specifically your brilliant advice to Black women on hair) demonstrates Black male ignorance on how racism is practiced against Black women. Stay in your lane and keep out of Black women’s hair.
2) Learn the meaning of the word “misogynoir”. You have been infected by it.
@Abagond,
1) NTRA-racial issues (misogynoir, ableism, classism, colorism, etc.) will make #3, #4, #5, #7, and #8 impossible.
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We have taken on many characteristics of the dominant culture as part of our assimilation process. Part of the effect has been the destruction of true community. The result is a collection of people united more by the shared experience of racism and less by the organic connections of a true community. Within the bubble of outcasts lies the people who’ve been denied the right to be fully white but ultimately aspire to be so. Colorism, for example, is an inward manifestation of the racism of the wider society.
Within the African diaspora (and even to some extent within Africa) many black people speak European languages, worship within their organized religious frameworks, and work within their corporate institutions. Given their similarities to whites they may wonder why they’re consistently discriminated against. However, it’s important to remember that “Europeanization”, which resulted in the above, was a process executed with almost unrestrained violence for the purpose of making it impossible to conceive of any reality except one with them in charge.
So after having violently reconstructed the African in his image so that she’ll depend on the same oppressive institutions he depends on for his dominance he tells her that she’ll never be good enough to be him. Obviously! The purpose of Europeanization is not equality with the European. It is to generate beings that are made in his image but will never be considered equivalent (some would say that’s an inversion of actual reality driven by an inferiority complex, but that’s another story). His entire self-worth is derived from exercising dominance over others so those lesser ones are necessary. Such an individual, placed on a level playing field, will rob dirt from the other side then tell the others that it’s their fault it’s missing (bootstrap myth etc).
They believe him.
This is why I think that a cultural revolution by black people will have to precede any true success in defeating white supremacy racism. It would have to involve the rejection of whiteness as a value and a determination to end our learned complicity in our own oppression. We’ve tried it, but it was undermined and lost steam. Ultimately other, less productive, ideas won out.
Integration, for example, was voluntary cultural destruction. Were white children being bussed to black schools? No. The black schools were closed! In retrospect what we should have demanded was equal funding not the right to have armed guards escort our children past an army of bloodthirsty whites. What an excellent learning environment! Fast forward to 2015 and we see the school to prison pipeline and higher incarceration rates than ever. De novo segregation! That’s the white response to integration!
They know what they’re playing for and we don’t. They, as a group, don’t want us around except as objects of their derision. However, we don’t want to be free of them; we want them to accept us! Respectability politics! As long as that’s the case the ball is in their court. That’s why there are occasional outward indications of progress towards “acceptance” while racism surreptitiously adapts its means to maintain the status quo. The wriggler becomes the mosquito yet it’s the same organism. We think it’s new. So nine people can be massacred in a church because of their race and the “solution” is the reverential and ceremonious transportation of a piece of cloth from the state capitol to the museum. It is indeed symbolic but symbolic of what? Symbolic of racism’s resignation to the background where it may be less visible but no less existent and hallowed.
So if a cultural revolution is needed how is that done? Cultural productions that can move people en masse would play a huge role. Music is foremost among those and many black musical forms emerged as protest music. However many of those forms have been commercialized and coopted to promote the ideas of the system they started out castigating. Instead of producing people who want liberty they want sneakers. Instead of rejecting historical depictions of black women (there were actually laws which said black women could not be raped because they’re promiscuous) they’re called demeaning names. What has happened to the art that speaks out in protest? We need to combine catchy with uplifting again.
The natural hair movement is interesting and positive. The fact that black women face such social and emotional hurdles just to wear their hair as it grows from their scalp is indicative of the heavy weight of this racist system on black existence. I think today’s movement is driven by a confluence of concepts of self-acceptance, health, and a reclamation of what is beautiful. I vaguely remember a glamor article that got some heat for claiming that Afros and Locks were “political” hairstyles and had no place in the office. It’s disgusting but she’s right in a sense. Simply loving yourself and being unapologetically black is political when it happens in the context of white supremacist structures. Even if you aren’t explicitly trying to make a statement you are, and that’s part of the burden that has to be borne. When a magazine wanted to depict the Obamas as terrorists they drew Michelle with an Afro. That tells you more about how white culture sees us than it tells you about the Obamas.
Who do they fear?
Now imagine a black community filled with people like that. That would need to be the starting point for applying many of the points in abagond’s post.
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Origin
Well said.
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@Origin,
I think you’re right. Aggressive cultural appropriation by non-Black people might be used to undermine a Black American cultural revolution. Too many Black people are flattered by white cultural appropriation.
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If you do leave America, you should definitely consider Eko Atlantic, a city being planned in Nigeria to become the new Financial hub of the country and perhaps of all of West Africa. This is quite real. A Black, First-World, seaside City in Nigeria.
http://www.ekoatlantic.com
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^ A little more info on it.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CO9uS7kUXI)
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One last thing. The Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/EkoAtlantic
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@ LookingForAnswers
I have been trying to tell black people the same thing. The problem is that only so many blacks are actually awake enough to realize that they have to be smart and use this system to their advantage. They still put out pleas to save white people. I am sorry but not all white people deserve to be saved. Not all white people can be saved and that is what blacks have to accept.
The public schools were making me kid dumb so I pulled her out and homeschooled. Worried about black health. I decided to go back to school to get a medical degree. The list goes on, but I personally feel like a lone woman to outsmart the system.
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@bygodsloveandgrace
I am just going to throw in my 2 cents, but my solution has always been to start focusing finances in the black community. Globally. We need to stop putting money into the hands of white owned companies. I am not saying we simply block white people out, but we need to have a base. We need to take care of our own.
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Economic power is black power.
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What’s ‘black’ about Eko Atlantic when the developers are Arab Nigerians (Gilbert R. Chagoury and Ronald Chagoury) from Lebanon? How much resources were siphoned off to create this “evil paradise”, as Mike Davis described these types of real estate boondoggles? http://www.amazon.com/Evil-Paradises-Neoliberalism-Mike-Davis/dp/1595583920
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@Mary Burrell
I had a white person call me racist for speaking on economic power among black people. I laugh till this day because it reminds me of the very thing they fear.
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@sharinalr: Maybe you should use your knowledge about “white fragility ” there is much truth in that post. Many racist are just stupid and it can’t be fixed.
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economic viability is futile without a military infrastructure to defend it.
a reacurring theme I see esp from 1492 but it through history – technologically superior groups always dominate less technologically advanced groups.
African/black people need to focus on science and technology and expect that european/white people will do everything they can to stop us,but they are not the universe just a part of it.
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@Mbeti
I agree. I am usually a strong believer in following your dream, but I do believe we need more blacks to aspire for technological advancement. Individuals with a desire to built the black community.
Even if they try to stop us let them simply be a stumbling block.
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I wholeheartedly agree that Black Americans need to pursue fields in STEM especially in technology. Technology is the future and black folks needs to on par with other racial groups.
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There is money in the black community but black Americans need to put their priorities in the right place. Instead of spending money on high dollars items sports shoes and ladies i am so glad many are going natural. And we need to own those nail and beauty supply businesses.
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Get rid of those damn payday loan stores those are what keep folks in financial bondage.
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