Need2riteFaster

After a recent unusually high number of black-on-black murders in Montgomery, Alabama, the local police department declared itself utterly clueless.  

“Police Chief Kevin Murphy says police cannot stop these violent crimes until they understand them. But it's easier said than done, so police are getting help from other professionals to devise a plan.”

So they hired a Afro-American professional.

Earnest H.R. Blackshear Jr., Ph.D.,  Assistant Professor of Psychology at Alabama State University and Director of The Community Violence Laboratory at Alabama State University, has been appointed chairman of the Montgomery Police Department’s newly formed Montgomery Task Force on Community Violence.

He is a mugshot of the good professor:  http://hbcubuzz.com/asu-partners-with-montgomery-police-to-combat-crime/

From the articles linked below, here are the good Professor’s theories and ideas so far:

"We have to work on awareness campaigns to make it okay for people to understand that it's not the police's job to prevent homicide," he says. "The police's job is once a homicide occurs, to find the perpetrator."

“In communities filled with people released from prison, Dr. Blackshear says the moral code goes away and, what he calls the "street code," becomes law.“
 

“He says most people committing violent crimes grew up on the streets watching them happen, and because of that, suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).”

"I'm saying the personality configuration of these young black males who live in these islands of concentrated poverty have the same configuration of a combat veteran except they don't have the treatment facilities and the assistance of diagnosing and treating."

And here are the good Professor’s interventions and treatment plans:

"Prevention is the responsibility of the mental health community because it's a problem with impulsive control, a lack of impulse control and a lot of aggression."

“We need to look at what are the precursors that allow individual to get that angry to shoot another human and end their life and not have any remorse about it.”
 

“He says those with mental illness lack conflict resolution techniques and become dangerous when armed. Dr. Blackshear says treatment is vital in the fight to stop the violence.”
 

And finally in a brainstorm of brillant empirical knowledge that can only be lumped in the category of he should return his Ph.D. to the local 7-11 store from whence it came:

“Dr. Blackshear told us Montgomery Police are putting together a basketball tournament called Operation Nebula, where authorities will play against young men in these inner city areas in an effort to create better communication.“

Now I have no indepth knowledge of intricacies and nuances of psychology and psychiatry. However, I just have to believe that mentally ill people playing basketball with police officers cannot, in no way, be therapeutic.  

Or maybe this so-called psychologist has limited experience and is simply masquerading as it seems he was just dropped onto the planet the week before he was appointed to this task force. 

Background links:

http://www.wncftv.com/news/video/5-Murders-in-5-Days-Montgomery-Police-Create-A-Plan-to-Stop--173978161.html

http://www.waka.com/home/top-stories/ASU-Professor-Explains-Theory-On-Montgomery-Homicides-198376311.html

@anika99, regarding the second video

Well…sort of…kind of redemption for you with that one….but…really…he’s seem just a wee bit paranoid!!  

Nonetheless, the brilliant thing about really good conspiracy theorists is they cannot be dismissed whole cloth because there is always, always a grain, albeit tiny most times, of reality and/or truth that they might be onto something.

But better him than that no-common sense Negro guy.
  

@Troy

Nice overview article on Chavez.  I still think his comment at the U.N about Bush, “The Devil Was Here,” is poetic and priceless, regardless of political views.  

Certainly Chavez had his fault, but the same can be said for leaders of many nations.  Witness the many nations in the European Union that are going bust.  It cannot be said that Chavez bankrupted Venezuela.

That is why I always seek information outside of the American corporate-controlled, protector-of-the-status-quo media as they always echo the foreign policy of whatever presidential administration is in power.

@Pioneer 1  Intriguing comments.

But…well…according to protocol of European colonizer and the American KKK-inspired one-drop rule, Chavez’ skin was dark, so he was Black!!

Since you are keen to Chavez social policies, are you then aware of the parallels with Fidel Castro and Afro-Cubans?

Afro-Cubans were widely discriminated against before Castro came to power.

In fact there are some accounts that it was mostly so-called white Cubans who fled when Castro seized power.  Nonetheless, that parallel with Chavez is an untold story.

@anika99 thanks for posting the video.

This guy scares me because it seems he is a ruse, a plant, a troll.  Across the Internet, there are many so-called “Black commentators” who are actually underwritten by racist, white conservative groups. This is made clear to me from viewing his web site where he take extreme, right wing,
conservative view on every issue, every issue. 

For example, in the first article, he calls the Palestinian Authority a terrorist group, which is odd for a person of color because any reasonable analysis of the current Palestinian situation shows that the U.S. gives Israel $2 billion a year to maintain an apartheid system against people of color.

Second he seems to echo the talking points of the right wing, conservative media with his references to Jesse Jackson, Sharpton, and Ann Coulter.  That he alludes to Ann Coulter is indicting for me that he is right wing nut job. In fact go to any conservative web site and you will read/hear the same comments about Jackson and Sharpton and Dr. King. This is a standard, longstanding ploy by conservative media to discredit any
black leader, real or imagined.

And I would agree with @Troy that he does not offer an alternative voice because if you are getting information and “truth” from corporate-controlled media, be it Fox, MSNBC, CBS, etc., you are getting narrow viewpoints.

Finally, as I empirical rule, I immediately disregard anyone who calls people stupid and ignorant when they have survived 300-plus years of slavery, oppression, Jim and Jane Crow, racism, discrimination, etc. 

I voted for Obama, sure, but what other choice did I have with the rigged two-party electoral system? And I always vote because people died to secure that right?  There will never be real choice until there are one or two more political parties in America.

To be sure, Obama has been disappointing. But there are more reasonable, nuanced, thoughtful criticism elsewhere, seemingly anyplace else as it seems that indeed common sense bypassed this charlatan.

One, of many, good places to get smart, reasonable takedowns of Obama Administration policies is at http://blackagendareport.com/

There you will get fact not irrational, immature, disrespectful rants.

I originally read Things Fall Apart over 20 years ago and have since reread it at least twice.   

Basically, things fall apart in a culture when Christian missionaries show up. The novel is a representation of the destruction of African cultures by European Christians and other dehumanizing and genocidal effects of colonization of Africa.  

A fascinating read in which I think is the first for a African writer (or Afro-American to be sure) to illustrate the disastrous effects of European Christianity on African cultures .

I will have to reread soon.

Well, not me, really, as I am secular and don’t find such exercises useful, yet I am certain worldwide millions of misguided people of color are praying.

A conclave of Cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church will meet very soon to elect the next pope (see, proof that popes are not divine and chosen by God), and speculations abound that two black Cardinals from Africa have a chance.  

Some background: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2277047/Will-pope-black-Ghanaian-Nigerian-cardinals-lead-race-Vatican.html

I say, oh, please, go away, that will never happen.  

Every pope has been old, white, male (of course), and European. And since a great part of Catholic theology is to tramp around the world and convert the black and brown savages, I doubt that a conclave of predominantly white European males would elect a savage as pope.

However, my excitement is that if it were to miraculously happen that could be a catalyst for the demise of the Catholic Church, a worthwhile outcome considering the devastation, destruction, and murder of people of color that Catholicism has perpetrated worldwide over many centuries.

And because over 100 years (probably centuries) of priests raping young boys has not shattered the Catholic faithfuls, perhaps a black pope will sending Anglo Catholics fleeing by the millions.

I can only hope.

Here a Rastafarian reveals how the recently resigned pope has assured that there will not be a black pope: http://www.africaresource.com/rasta/

There are many brilliant, deep thoughts in this thread: @Troy, @Delano, @Cynique.

I am inclined to agree, as Troy smartly notes, that identity (what we call ourselves and/or what we accept) has created deep societal implications; for example, acting white, black community, “the hood,” brothers, etc., (no one called Harlem “the hood” when it was mostly Dutch or Jewish).

Indeed, there is no monolithic so-called black community because even in America for the most part economics trumps race. For example, in my neck of the woods, an Afro-American living in affluent Bethesda, Maryland, or wealthy McLean, Virginia, has no “community” connection with an Afro-American living in a lower income neighborhood in Southeast D.C. None. Nada. And folks need to stop deluding themselves that it does.

Skin color does not denote background, community, commonality, worldview, cultural attachment, religious views, taste in music, taste in books, taste in food, or all the other lies.

Perhaps, as Delano suggests, colored is not a bad concept. Taking that point further, I think black and blackness should be ditched as they have no cultural redeeming value whatsoever and instead have created much unneeded psychosis.

Perhaps simply mixed-race people is an easier, more accurate way out of this naming puzzle that Afro-Americans have created mostly by  themselves.

And, yes, I know, that too has limitations as it expresses no cultural or historical connection. Truly a complex mess made in America.  

Count me in, @Troy and @Cynique

When there is talk of righteousness, superior race, and what someone’s God prefers, whoa, danger always lurks.

Particularly, people of the African Diaspora should fear such notions since for hundreds of years European imperialists sent explorers
and clergymen to enslave and destroy their cultures based purely on the Christian concept that people of color are inferior races.

And, surely, who has forgotten the consequences of Hitler’s Aryan race movement.  

I am reminded of an old saw: One man’s God is another man’s oppressor.   

My hunch is yes because it seems our mixed-race President is incapable of mentioning let alone shining light on issues facing Afro-Americans in the United States.

Ignoring the images of Hugo Chavez portrayed in protector-of-the-status-quo news media, you will find that Chavez was a champion of rights and inclusion for Afro-Venezuelans. Chavez was the extremely rare Latino leader who acknowledged his African roots and sought full recognition of Afro-Venezuelans in the culture.  

From Al Jazerra: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/03/201336151053865910.html

From Black Agenda Report: http://blackagendareport.com/content/hugo-chavez-new-world-rising

Perhaps quite unknown to some Americans, racism and discrimination against people of color with darker skin in South and Latin America countries have followed a similar trajectory as in the United States since most Latino cultures have been dominated by European imperialists and/or Europeanized white Latinos for hundreds of years.  

Professor Henry Louis Gates explores histories of racism and discrimination in Latin and South America countries in his 2011 PBS series Black In Latin America, which can be viewed online at http://www.pbs.org/wnet/black-in-latin-america/

Surely. Rev. Jesse Jackson’s eulogy delivered at Chavez’s funeral tells what should have been widely known all along. His interview on Al Jazeera is even more telling, revealing how Chavez sent thousands of electricity generators to New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina before the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was able/willing to deliver any aid.

Jackson’s Eulogy: http://www.mediaite.com/tv/jesse-jacksons-tribute-at-hugo-chavez-funeral-he-fed-hungry-lifted-poor-helped-people-realize-their-dreams/

Jackson’s interview on Al Jazerra: www.aljazeera.com/news/americas/2013/03/201339124113339.html

Yet Chavez haters cannot be ignored when pointing out the contradiction that the former military officer, so-called socialist, and champion of poor and marginalized communities had a net worth of nearly $2 billion when he died.

Nonetheless though, ultimately, there has to be great admiration and respect for a president who is proud of his nappy hair and other people with nappy hair.

Great information.  

While this phenomenon is harder to spot in a Google search, it is plain as bright sunshine on YouTube (owned by Google)
videos.

Test it out like this.

(1) Perform a Google search of, for instance, music videos of your favorite artist. For example, “video Hank Crawford greatest alto sax player ever.”  

(2) Select a YouTube video from the search results.

(3) Now perhaps play a couple of videos.  Notice the lineup of recommended videos in the sidebar on left side of your screen.

(4) Next: Leave YouTube.  Return to Google search. 

(5) Search a completely different matter, say, videos on instructions for a computer program.  

(6) Select a YouTube video from the search results. 

(7) Look at the sidebar on the left side of the  page. You will see videos from the search of your favorite artist mixed in as recommendations with videos from the computer instructions search.

So, yes, that degree of tracking by Google.  Every move you make, they're watching you.

To get better results find a search engine or database that is specific to your subject matter.  Or just ditch Google.

Here are some ideas.

http://www.businessinsider.com/alternative-search-engines-2011-3?op=1

http://arstechnica.com/business/2012/05/private-the-search-engines-that-make-money-by-not-tracking-users/

At the Web site The Root, eminent scholar/historian/researcher Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. has posted a
fascinating, provocative piece about genetic lineage of American descendants of
African slaves.

Link: http://www.theroot.com/views/exactly-how-black-black-america

In this evidence-based piece, using genetic analysis research he explores and exposes lies and legacies of slavery, racism, and Jim and Jane Crow in America.

In the process, he blasts Grand Canyon-sized gaps in longstanding myths and folklore, drawing startling but verifiable conclusions:

(1) A whopping 35 percent of all African-American men descended from a white male ancestor who fathered a mulatto child sometime in the slavery era, most probably from rape or coerced sexuality.

(2)  African Americans and Native American ancestry is a myth. 

 So that Native American grandmother or great-great grandmother talked about for generations in your family was really a white woman.  

(3) The racist “fixed race” pseudoscience of the 18th century was simply a ploy to justify slavery

Perhaps, this analysis could be a catalyst to a move away from referring to people by Crayola colors.  

In the 18th century and earlier, terms like mulatto, quadroon, octoroon, Creole, mestizo were used to described people of mixed-race heritage.

It was not until the 20th century with the enactment of Ku Klux Klan-promoted racial purity laws (one-drop rule) in Virginia (1910) and Tennessee (1924) did the notion that Americans were either black or white became a national standard.

So maybe a return to terms like mulatto is long overdue.

Or perhaps simply mixed race or colored would cover all darker skin shades. .

Links: http://www2.vcdh.virginia.edu/encounter/projects/monacans/Contemporary_Monacans/racial.html

http://www.mixedracestudies.org/wordpress/?p=14135

@Troy  

Excellent post.  Like your post on Dr. Clark, Cheikh Anta Diop brings to mind several scholars from the 1970s who were researching histories of African civilizations and the African Diaspora and trying to expose them to the general public.    

Yosef  Ben-Jochannan (Africa: Mother of Western Civilization), George G. M. James (Stolen Legacy) and Ivan Van Sertima (They Came Before Columbus) are other giants from that period, but there are many forgotten others.

At the time, there was hope that the efforts of these researchers/historians would lead to incorporation of African cultures and civilization into grade school curricula. Unfortunately, 40, 50 years later, the same forces of resistance are still being encountered from academia and American school systems generally. 

So for the most part in America, children are not exposed to histories of African civilizations in a formal setting until they are at the university level. Thus, sadly, many Americans will go through life with the mistaken worldview that Roman and Greek institutions were the bedrock of Western civilization.

@Cynique

Nicely done, "American Africanism," nice term.  I agree with all of your post.

Perhaps at the dawn of the black self-determination movement in America developing a concept like American Africanism would have been more helpful in the long run than so-called Black Nationalism. 

But to answer the provocative question posed by Troy: Pan-Africanism is beyond a myth – it's a sick joke played in defiance of the realities of histories. Why?

The Arab Islamic nations of North Africa have no interest in the causes of black Africans nations. Smartly, their interest is in their own nations and cultures.

However, Gaddafi had been the driving force in Pan-Africanism for over 40 years. Here is a starting point:

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/10/as-qaddafi-died-so-did-his-craziest-dream-and-mistake-pan-africanism/247247/

In the end though, frustrated with not being able to influence Arab nations (see his history with the Arab League), he gave up, went solo, and started financing many of the sectarian and tribal wars in African nations, like Ethiopia, Uganda, Central African Republic, and Chad (basically financing black Africans killing other black Africans).

Nations are bound by national interest, not continental issues.  For example, an Algerian is more concerned with issue that affect Algeria and would not give a flip for what is happening in Ghana, Nigeria, Togo, etc.

For unlike the silly Pan-Africanists,rational people know that Africa is a continent, not a nation!!  

@anika99

Respectfully, I think I get this gist or intent of your comment.

However, it seems this thread is not about greed.  There is not a post that mentions the slave trade or any other commerce implications.

From my interpretation, this thread is about hegemony, cultural hegemony specifically.

To be sure, the imposition of hegemony leads to confiscation and acquisition of properties of other cultures, which could be considered greed.  

But the main thrust of the Muslim conquest of North Africa, the Sahel, and sub-Sahara (there is a link in my first post) was to "spread Islam by the sword."  The acquisition or stealing of resources was, if you will, collateral damage.

A major tenet of Islam is that other cultures and religions are inferior and the infidels and their cultures must be destroyed.  Islam was/is about destroying not coveting other cultures.

The destruction of the libraries and sites at Tombuctoo and the blowing up of the Buddhas of Bamiyan are recent examples of this principle in action.

Nonetheless, if you were to start a thread about greed (particularly the African slave trade), it would apply to the same apologists and deniers being addressed in this thread.

In particular, it would apply to the folks over at http://www.arabslavetrade.com/ who produced that lying, slanted documentary Motherland and who make silly arguments that Islamic slavery of black Africans was better for the slaves than American (read Christianity) slavery. 

I guess that would be akin to a women being half pregnant.

Much respect.  

@Troy

Oh, my, you are connecting all sorts of dots today!!  Thanks for sharing this blog.  Was not aware of it. 

Very poignant article.

This line from the article "You will also discover that many Afro-American Nationalists who are concerned  about Africa’s problems today are more confused than the activists in the 19th century" is priceless and spot on.

It's amazing that this Pan-Africanism mumbo-jumbo has survived this long. 

Perhaps now that Gaddafi (major funder of Pan-Africanist causes for 40 years) is dead Pan-Africanism will rot on the vine. He squandered a lot of Libya's oil wealth on trying to become the "King of Africa."

@Troy

Brilliant, wonderful reference to Dr. Clarke.  Wow, and the video! I am going to enjoy it. Thanks for the share.  Clarke and others many years ago gave heat and light to the destruction of black African cultures by Arab Muslims. It’s out there for those not afraid to seek it.

Over the years, it has always been disturbing to me that many black Americans seeking a connection to their African heritage drifted to Islam.

My theory is that although there is general exposure and knowledge of the Nation of Islam (NOI) many do not appreciate that NOI is not traditional Arabic Islam and is not recognized by Islamic scholars.  In fact most Islamic scholar have been/are extremely hostile to NOI.

NOI was founded as a black American self-determination group and counterpunch to the evils Christianity foisted on blacks in America.

But then again, with NOI you get (history repeating) black folks worshipping a white messiah.  NOI was founded by a white man (well, let’s say at least not black – just like Obama!) who is still revered  in NOI.  

Perhaps, if after the end of slavery in America day schools to teach African history had been established in black communities (on the Jewish day school model), the comprehensive history of black Africa and the African Diaspora would be more widely known.  

Let's not hold our breaths for this to ever happen.

Unfortunately, the black Christian church was/is too busy teaching the history of Hebrew civilizations instead of African civilizations.

@ Pioneer1.  Appreciate the comments.

Truly, any interaction that Arabic Muslims had with black Africa cultures resulted in sheer annihilation and destruction of African cultures.  

Link: http://www.historytoday.com/eamonn-gearon/arab-invasions-first-islamic-empire

The libraries were established by Arab Muslims after they invaded and forced Islam with the point of the sword on ancient black African civilizations.

Link: http://web.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/hum211/timelines/htimeline.htm

Despite what is said in recent news reports, some of the documents in the libraries are written in languages of black African cultures (sorry, don’t have a link).  So it may not be completely accurate to call them Islamic libraries.

Ancient civilizations of North Africa, the Sahel, and sub-Sahara were not Islamic. They practiced many types of Animism and other long-disappeared religions.  Islam is not an African religion. Its origins are in Arabia, so an Arab religion. 

There were many, many black African cultures that predated Islam but were destroyed by Arab Muslim invaders, like this culture that is still trying to hold on in Mail today:  http://sacredsites.com/africa/mali/dogon.html

As  an example, present day Egypt is mostly Islamic, but the ancient Egypt of the pharaohs (over 5,000 years ago) was not Islamic because Islam had not been created.  Such is the history of the Sahel and sub-Sahara regions.

Link: http://exploringafrica.matrix.msu.edu/students/curriculum/m7a/activity2.php

If you ever have time to delve into histories of ancient Africa cultures, take care to find resources that accurately assess the Islamic influence that is
seen in present day black African countries and cultures.

There are boatloads of Islamic deniers and apologists (even in history departments at elite universities around the world!!) who would have
you believe that Islam was a positive influence on black African civilizations.  It was not – and still is not.  Watch out for the Islamic propaganda.

A couple of missing thoughts:

The invasion in 1519 destroyed documents from it is believed early 1000 CE or earlier.  So Arab Muslims have destroyed documents covering over a thousand years of black African culture.

To supplement my original sentence: Today in Mauritania and other countires in that region white Arab Moors enslave black Africans.

Actually, the old saw about history repeating applies here. This current situation is the second time that Arab Muslims have destroyed the famous libraries of Tombuctoo. The first destruction was in 1519 when Arab Muslims from Morocco invaded.

A link is below.

As a repentant survivor of the insanity of Pan-Africanism dogma, over the years it has amazed me that so many people of color from the Africa Diaspora hold Arab Muslim culture in high regards when in fact Arab Muslims probably destroyed as many black African cultures as the European Christians who arrived to the continent much later.  

Even in the modern era, today, right now, yes, white Arab Moors are enslaving black Africans.

Yet to this day, many Pan-Africanism followers are in denial of this history of Muslims destroying black African cultures. .

http://patachu.com/songhay-empire-moroccan-invasion-1591/

@ Pioneer 1:

Thanks for the tip on "The Big Payback" in the soundtrack. I'll have to see the film now just for context.

I had no intention of seeing the film as I have always avoided Tarantino’s productions because of the mindless, gratuitous violence meted out by some of his characters.

However, since slavery in America was essentially gruesome, bloodthirsty, gratuitous violence unleashed on Blacks/Negroes/Africans/people of color, Tarantino's style seems appropriate in this instance.

Thanks