PBS show "Open Mind": Race Relations In Crisis

[Waterstar]

[Waterstar]

The show actually is made up quite a few panelists and Brother Malcolm is but one, so the title doesn't reflect this. This is a very interesting show, especially in that the relevance of it can be seen so clearly today. Even somewhere in the first 3 minutes of this sounds like a current commentary of the events surrounding Trayvon Martin's death, yet this was filmed in the 1960's.

[Troy]

Thanks for sharing this. lately, when I watch TV I tend to watch youtube, netflix and other internet derived programming. i will watch this soon.

Recently I watched France Cress Welsing on youtube (an old Donahue segment). Her advice, also found in the Isis Papers, was truly prophetic. In the 70's she recommended that Black men do not get married or have children before the age of 35 and women 30. This was to hold off a then growing trend toward single parents, teenage parents, or parents who could otherwise not take care of their own children.

[Cynique]

I have lived long enough to see things come full circle in the black community. During the late 60's and 70s and mid-80s in the area of race, an era of good will peaked and then slowly reversed in the ensuing decades when integration proved to not be all it was cracked up to be.

The emergence of a viable black middleclass was rivalled by an expansion of a black underclass phenomenon that spawned a "ghetto" culture that took root and began to thrive even as it regressed to a state of negativity. All of the progress made by the civil rights struggle of the 50s began to deriorate and racism replicated itself.

It's debatable what rationale applies to why gangs and drugs and amoral behavior became so dominant among under-classe Blacks but it's obvious that its members have become self-destructive and are playing into the hands of their oppressors with their violence and flawed value system, making things harder for others of their race who want to better themselves.

If black folks want to salvage their future, they need to develop a Plan B or fall back and re-group. I know this sounds elitist, but at some point, certain things have to be conceded because being in denial is counter-productive. As Chris Rock so succintly declared. "I love black folks, but I hate niggas." Having said all of this I am left to stew in the frustration of abhoring Black Conservative Republicans almost as much as I do white ones.

BTW, the latest figures show that the white race in America is also in trouble, it being on a collision course with becoming extinct, thanks to the rise of minorities of color. The great white hope might soon be a flag of surrender.

Looks like God has forgotten to bless America....

[Waterstar]

I've got to check Dr.Cress-Welsing's interview out. (I bet you have the best collection of books, videos, AND music! I would LOVE to go through your stash!)

Cynique, the things that you are speaking about are very important yet understudied topics. Actually, just last week, I was thinking about integration, that if it was any kind of blessing, it was at best a mixed blessing.

As far as drugs, the undoing of much re: sociopolitical movements, and a completely different black community, that topic is wayyyy too understudied, so much until most of us have never even HEARD of a COINTELPRO. I don't think most of our people realized its mission and part in all of those things that I just mentioned and I definitely do not think that most of our people know now or even want to know. This type of stuff did not just affect the more radical black leaders/movements. It also affected nonviolent civil rights leaders and movements . (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. as one of many examples.) This type of stuff is not simply about the past, either. "Listen to me now, believe me later on."

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[Troy]

I watched the first program last night. They don't have programming like this any more, do they?

It was fascinating hearing James Farmer and Malcolm X debate. After listening to Farmer I also have a better appreciation for the birth of Affirmative action

I also really enjoyed seeing Farmer and Wyatt Tee Walker revisit the interview 30 years later. They both recognized that they did in fact get rid of Jim Crow but were both overly optimistic about the rest of the required gains.

I bet y'all did not know that Mosque #7 which Malcolm X ran and Canaan Baptist Church of Christ where Wyatt Tee Walker ministered for many years are on the same street literally a few doors from each other. I passed by Mosque #7 every Sunday on my way to Canaan most Sundays, where I was baptized by Wyatt Tee Walker about 40 years ago.

What the US did to the Black Panthers was criminal. I'll check the 2nd video later.

[Cynique]

The Feds murderd my hometown boy, Depeuty Chairman of the Illinois Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton, who was betrayed by an undercover black Judas in the action.

Covert operations exist not to win friends and influence people but to destroy threats or perceived threats to the establishment. So I am never surprised at what the powers-that-be do in the name of protecting this nation from revolution be it a social one or a militant one. The same kind of operation that brought down Osama bin Ladin was and will be waged against any one or organization that smacks of terrrorism. or overthrow of the government. It's not about justice, it's about maintaining control.

Currently Chicago has been descended on by protesters from all over the world, all here to demonstrate against the gathering of NATO leaders. It's interesting to see all the groups that are represented. The police just arrested a small cabal of anarchists who were planning to blow up the Mayor's, office and Obama's campaign headquarters, among other strategic places. They looked like college boys about to execute a prank. I was kinda impressed with them because they are dedicated and fearless and totally outraged by what Capitalism has wrought.

[Waterstar]

I watched the first program last night. They don't have programming like this any more, do they?

It was fascinating hearing James Farmer and Malcolm X debate. After listening to Farmer I also have a better appreciation for the birth of Affirmative action

I also really enjoyed seeing Farmer and Wyatt Tee Walker revisit the interview 30 years later. They both recognized that they did in fact get rid of Jim Crow but were both overly optimistic about the rest of the required gains.

I bet y'all did not know that Mosque #7 which Malcolm X ran and Canaan Baptist Church of Christ where Wyatt Tee Walker ministered for many years are on the same street literally a few doors from each other. I passed by Mosque #7 every Sunday on my way to Canaan most Sundays, where I was baptized by Wyatt Tee Walker about 40 years ago.

What the US did to the Black Panthers was criminal. I'll check the 2nd video later.

Oh don't get me started on Brother Malcolm. Words can't even express... You know, Sonia Sanchez was speaking about going to see Bro. Malcolm speak for the very first time. After the speech, she told him that she agreed with many things that he said, but that she did not agree with some. He smiled and told her, "One day you will, Sister... One day, you will." To this day, so many of our people shun Malcolm. I tend to believe that this is more out of perceptions shaped more by Media than experience or self-research. Then, there are some who understand and agree with his words in private but will never, ever come out and say it. Surely, our people are still so much under the control of the dominant culture.

Troy, perhaps if more of us understood what happened, they would know the effects and remnants when they look at them. To this day, Assata Shakur is vilified. Mumia Abu Jamal is in prison.Sundiata Acoli, countless others. Political prisoners who were saying or doing too much to help change the miserable condition faced by those of the other America. The voice of the media has been louder than the evidence that screams out about trumped up charges. It never helps when our people are so trained to turn the other way anytime it involves those individuals and movements in opposition to a the status quo of oppression, repression, corruption.. .

Oh yes, Cynique. I know that being out and trying to get home has probably been crazy there. They probably chilled out on havin all dem Hummers drivin up and down the city. Gas ain't no joke. Let me know if you see Obama ridin in a 1982 Chevette. (I wonder who got one a those. Probably costs like $20 to fill them things up. lol)

SALUTES @ Bro. Fred Hampton. His son has taken up the torch.

This "Democracy Now!" interview sheds much light on govn't covert operations and the assassination of Fred Hampton.

http://www.democracy...adow_government

(I hope it appears automatically like the youtube videos do, but I'm computer illiterate danna mug, so just click if not. :-/ )