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Agreed. That's the whole point of this book. On the one hand, we must know how the mainstream has been taught to regard themselves and us, then we must teach ourselves our own history and culture so we have the tools to battle their toxic indoctrination. No one is suggesting that we ignore race, just that we refuse to submit to it. I think we need to teach ourselves to live in the often-racist society we have vs. pretending that we will, any day now, reach the colorblind shangri-la with which too many in the majority credit themselves.

I, too, was raised in a military family and spent time in Germany. My parents were also strivers, but that was back in the early-mid 1960s. I wrote this book because they struggled and fought all their lives to keep their children from succumbing to the image whites might have of us. Their goal was admirable, but they didn't have the tools to go about it in a way that didn't do almost as much damage. As DuBois said, if you constantly look at and measure yourself through the eyes of those who despise you, you are doomed. My parents could not yet see Afro-Americans as a cultural force second-to-none. They were still fighting for basic respect in the workplace and the right to shop and live where they wanted. I believe we have an enormous amount to gain by shedding some of the mindset of our past. Some of that mindset has served us brilliantly, but it's time to move forward as opposed to constantly looking back. We now have the cultural tools to teach ourselves who we are and stop looking at ourselves through others' eyes. Political equality is all one can ask of politics. Cultural equality is a demotion. We are have come farther and accomplished more than any other group of Americans. I think it's time we acknowledge that, and teach ourselves this brilliant history and culture we've created, instead of waiting for those who have spent a history despising us to fill that role.

@Cynique Would that be to maintain the wealth such as Jay Z mentions in his song "Family Feud"? Because even as a divorced mother who also has a baby daddy I can see how this is definitely a strategy if our goal is to maximize wealth in the black community. Jay Z even has Beyonce listed as songwriter on this track - so again the intellectual property money stays in the family. Nah, I can't see your statement as negative - I see it as strategic and adds to the motif of "focusing on culture to take us forward."

I would be remiss if i didn't take on the role of a polemicist. Everybody makes good points. Everybody also refers to the how and what white people do and will do, which is what they have done and continue to do. So what is the "black" minority going to do about this - other than talk and reinforce each others ideas and assume that the "average" black person needs only to be informed about this manipulation, as if the effect of this will so intimidate "white" people that all of the blatant and subtle privileges that represent the pillars of institutionalized racism will magically disappear. Puleeze. "Know thy enemy." I think all of this rhetoric could be encapsulated in 2 words "stay woke". Woke to what? That there is only one race but "white" people have fractured this truth into the falseness of many races in order to promote the white superiority that has enabled them to do this. So black strategy should be - what? To accept what whites have deemed us to be because this will give us an opportunity to deceive them the way they have been deceiving us? And the impact of this appeasement on whites will be - what? Talk is cheap and white folks have all the wealth. Debating the concept of race is an exercise in ambiguity. Black folks are actually who they choose to be, and are just as distracted by materialism as they are damaged by racism. I anticipate the response to my "negativity" will be that the goal is not to make an impact on whites, but on blacks. I think we need to get our priorities in order. Black folks should do some manipulating in order to stop the self destructive behavior and the baby daddy/baby mama life style that has destroyed the black family and filled prisons with black males who have grown up fatherless. Living in a suburb of "Chiraq" is what inspires this perspective. Just the thoughts of a "been there, done that" senior citizen.

@zaji, the “yellow shirt” analogy was great. But we'd also have to consider that fact that the yellow shirt itself is subjective: to some people the yellow shirt might appear be to mustard or gold... or simply passing for yellow. The lunacy is perfectly normal give the American culture. How does one treat lunacy? @leonceg, thanks for sharing your thoughts.

This is where I think a lot of folks get confused. For example, I don't ignore "gender" constructs; I simply refused to submit to it. In fact, when I hear someone discuss gender, I give them the side-eye and keep it moving. Those who embrace constructs and labels as if it's a badge - tell me all I need to know about their level of engagement.

Troy There's a lot to chew on in this thread. Let me check it out a little more carefully when I have more time, but I will say this much....... It's funny to see people of color sitting around attempting to decided whether or not they will accept a concept that not only THEY didn't even invent and was invented by White people and used to enslave and exploit them, but a concept that they can do little about removing whether they accept it or not. It's like a bunch of prisoners sitting around in their cell having philosophy sessions about whether or not the concept of prisons, wardens, and inmates really exist. They can sit around and ponder all day long but at the end of the day the the prison is real, they are in it, and they have little power to change this because they didn't invent the system and don't know how to get themselves out. In other words........ IT DOESN'T MATTER whether or not BLACK PEOPLE accept the existence of race or not....WHITE SUPREMACISTS DO. THEY SEE different races. THEY SEE themselves as "White" and superior and people of color as a different race and inferior. And until YOU get more power than THEM....you would be wise to atleast familiarize yourself with the concept of different races whether you really accept it or not.

@Troy During slavery, the nuances of “the yellow shirt” were irrelevant. If you had even a hint of black, you were a slave, period. House slave maybe, but still a legal slave with no freedom. And for women, the added horror of being raped by the “master”. Quiet as it is kept, most prevelant in the West Indies was the rap of melanin rich men by white male slave owners as a form of humiliation and emasculation. Today, the nuances still don’t matter much. Lighter skinned melanin rich people are given better opportunities across the board, but they better know their place in many circles and not say or do the “wrong” thing. Mind numbing and controlling media (one of many methods) has become a new tool to strip us of our culture and common sense. Regardless of the shade of yellow, the lunacy persists. They still see yellow and its shades, and don’t like it/them. Then oppress us in various was because of it. Then they throw us the “hope” bone to pacify us. Us trying to get each other to change how we use labels given us does not address their madness. We can talk about it, nothing wrong with that, but we need to land our words and actions squarely on their behavior. During slavery we were not oppressed because they “called” us nigger. We were oppressed because they put us in chains, denied us basic human rights, beat us, killed us, erased our history. If they decided tomorrow to beat me, enslave me, then call me a filthy no good cat, or filthy no good apple, then apple would become the word we claim to hate...as though the action isn’t the issue. They can call me apple, cat, dog, orange, nigger all day long. Their actions have and always will be the problem. A psycho is hanging us from trees because he doesn’t like the color of our shirt/skin. It is madness and so many of us want to live around the words they use rather than challenging them on their psychosis. Before the word negro entered the lexicon they were enslaving us. So the word is not the source of their behavior. They have mental issues. What do i care if someone doesn’t like the color of my shirt? I begin to take issue only when they begin to use that dislike as an excuse to abuse me. Hate yellow all day long, but leave me alone. @Troy As for treating lunacy...well, the first step is to stop treating them as though they are sane. One cannot cure a cold or flu by pretending they aren’t sick. If someone believes they are Santa Claus, how long do we go on humoring them? At what point do we say, look sweetie, you are not Santa and you most certainly cannot fly. We are treating lunatics as though they are sane. And because they are in a position of power, it causes cognitive dissonance in us, leaving us actually believing that the insane are not running the asylum. They are! Once we admit and realize that, then our conversations will change and we won’t let them get away with childish yet cunning wordplay that never leads to solutions.

I'll need to look into this bugs -- thanks for pointing them out. Yes I earn a commission from Amazon, for book sales, but the most important thing is that the book is purchased. If you buy it from the author, publisher, or indie bookseller that is the most important thing. I've also decided to simply sell books directly. Turns out I don't have the time, resources, and energy to corral the entities together to make the indie affiliate program work. Still I think it would be a much better long term strategy, but the coordination required is too much for me. If there is a book you want there me know what it is and I'll have it shipped to you. No tax, I can swing a 10% discount off list and you'll get it in a few days. I'll invoice via PayPal or Square. Thanks for your support @Mel Hopkins!

Yes! I would gladly host and participate in this discussion because damn, lawd knows these "yellow shirt" hating folks spend an inordinate amount time figuring out ways to harm us and take our "lunch, and lunch money" !!!

I tell folks this all the time. We can talk about it all day, but physical things are being done to us based on that which we wish to rename, reclaim, erase, et al. That is why i wrote my piece on Racism. I attempt to show that Whites have cunningly used our “race” as the excuse and cover for their psychological issues. And as their outlet for their collective violent tendencies. We are so busy worrying about them calling us negro, calling us nigger, calling us black, etc, and we calling ourselves these things, that we fail to address and discuss the fact that the ones focused on how we look are simlpy doing that to steer the conversation away from the fact that they are sick in the head. If someone walked up to you, me or anyone sensible and said i hate you because you wear yellow shirts and i am going to hang you because of it, you would evidently think that they are a lunatic, not that they are yellow shirt haters or prejudiced against yellow shirts. They wwould simply be a manic spouting some trivial nonsense as an excuse to express their madness. That person would immediately be seen as someone who requries psychiatric help. Whites have picked something about us to focus on and we have been brainwashed to have real discussions about it rather than recognize that for them to use my melanin as the sole reason to dislike me is the behavior of a psychotic person with no logical and reasonable grasp on reality. And all discussion should focus on hiw to protect ourselves against their psychosis, rather fiddling with words they use to divert us away from the real deal. Cunning game they are play with words. Deeply cunning. Bottom line, we can say all day that my yellow shirt is beautiful, I won’t use the word yellow to describe my beautiful shirt and such things, but the psycho sees my yellow shirt (my melanin), hates it, wants to do me harm for it, and as with all psychos needing psychiatric/psychological help, my words won’t change their feelings or behavior in the moment. They need long term, possibly lifetime help. In the meantime, they need to be locked away so they cannot do me harm because i wear a yellow shirt. Or in this reality, wear my melanin that i cannot take off. When i hear too many labels being used i zone out of the comversation.

@Mel Hopkins it also worked in reverse. I woukd go back and read articles on magazines by authors i liked.

I'm willing to close my Kindle account and remove my books from Amazon Createspace and publish with you Troy. Just tell me what to do. (I need to remember to log in more often.)