FREEDMEN ABSOLUTE

My Reparations Remarks At The January 7, 2023 Boston SoliDarity Presentation

I was assisted in the posting of my remarks by a bottle of Whitehall Lane – Cabernet Sauvignon Leonardini Estate NV 2015. This a “Complete Cabernet” if you will. This bad boy is usually $80.00 – caught it on sale for $50.00. This is a blend of 94% Cabernet Sauvignon and 6% Petit Verdot. Strong – concentrated structure. Moderate acidity and tannins. Brooding. Dry. Opening with black currants, thyme, and walnuts. A sustain of blueberries, red currants, and vanilla. Ending with raisins, dried plums, and cocoa. Strong – moderately sweet finish.

“After 244 years of free slave labor and the most inhuman, sinister, and barbaric atrocities which pass in magnitude any savagery perpetrated against human beings in the history of the planet earth, and an additional one hundred years of so-called freedom accompanied by terror, the Committee seeking Reparations for the descendants of America’s Slaves, concludes that the payment of Reparations is an absolute necessity if the Government of the United States is ever to wipe the slate clean, redeem herself, and pay for the damages she has inflicted upon more than 25 million American citizens, who are members of the Black Race. The payment of Reparations is the only position America can take in the interest of justice and make an effort to restore the dignity to 13.1 percent of her citizenry.”

Queen Mother Audley Moore

This is a posting of a talk I did on January 7, 2023 at the “Boston Reparations Educational Series Luncheon.” Hosted by Sister Antonia Edwards in person at Hibernian Hall in Boston and simultaneously on a Zoom link (I spoke via Zoom). The luncheon was exiting – refreshing – and educational for those that attended, including myself. Reparationist Nyhiem Lord Abba provided clear information and history on the Government designation “American Freedmen.”

I provided guidance on the dangers of “local reparations” – along with explaining the dirty goals and strategies of The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis.

I did speak – but the fast-moving dynamics of the event did not permit me to finish my remarks in full. So I decided to post my remarks in their entirety here.

NOTE: This talk is a reworked version of an earlier post done on July 21, 2020 titled: “Statement Regarding Local Versus National Reparations.”

To The City Of Boston

Thank You For Having Me – Arthur Ward. I am Vice President of the Freedmen Descendants Of Chicago. I am here at the invitation of my Sister in Reparations – Antonia Edwards. To speak to you on something I regard as important – and to you as listeners to my remarks – I hope you find what I have to say important –

As Well.

This talk is my opinion regarding recent developments in the quest for Reparations. And why the descendants of American Freedmen, as the directly affected group, should be opposed to these new developments.

FAMILY —

I want to start this in clarity: Bringing local equity and economic inclusion for taxpaying Black American communities in terms of a fair share of contracts, school funding, city jobs and other necessities is admirable and legislatively correct. But those actions are not Reparations and should not be labelled as such. Ever. Those actions are supposed to be designated as equity services that should be performed in the normal course of executing local and state government for all citizens.

Reparations are a separate and different issue. Reparations is named as such to address a unique injury done to a specific segment of citizens. Reparations for slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, and other subsequent injuries are crimes that should necessarily and effectively be Federally addressed, and not mixed in with equity issues. Any indemnity for those injustices should be sought Federally, not locally.

The Federal government should be the only intermediary between the people and any reparational compensation. Properly done, Reparations should not and cannot be a state or municipal prerogative. We should be careful in not conflating local equity rights that are for everyone domiciled within a state, county, or municipality with Reparations claims that should specifically be reserved for the American Black descendants of American chattel slavery – properly rendered legislatively as American Freedmen. And specifically demanded at the Federal level – no matter where those descendants are presently domiciled.

Both are important but are different. One is pulling the knife of intermediate local neglect out of the back of any community so situated. The other is to heal nationally, a long-suffering chronic wound carried by the lineage of a specific Black American group. Reparations are the latter.

This is not to say that states and municipalities should not have an assistive role in Reparations conversations and actions. They should. But when it comes to local and state participation, that participation should only be from the standpoint of accumulating and providing data regarding locally-based companies and other entities, negatively impactive ordinances, and discriminating laws that are now and/or were previously on the books – racially-focused laws that were sustained and enforced.

Also – states, counties, and municipalities should be accumulating and providing substantial information regarding religious organizations, educational entities, unions, associations, and other still existing long-established institutions that directly participated in, and/or indirectly profited from slavery and post-slavery deprivative actions. Data that eventually can be converted into resources.

And that data should be provided to the Federal entity(s) and organization(s) that are directly involved with researching, evaluating, and negotiating towards enacting and implementing a national Reparations Act or Law. Why? Because only this Federally-empowered American government has the singular legal power of equal policy establishment, uniform eligibility assurance, non-resistible extraction, and ubiquity of distribution on a National basis. Do you understand?

III

The Federal government is, and should only be, the one intersection responsible for extracting, organizing, and distributing any and all reparational resources from corporate, institutional, city, county, and state entities. That responsibility being done through a resurrected, finely updated, and better organized “Freedmen’s Bureau” as an embedded Federal Agency that mirrors and expands the functions of – let’s say a Federal Agency like the “Bureau Of Indian Affairs.” And not through Pan African created independent non-profits like the proposed “National Reparations Trust Authority” or local “Stakeholder Authorities.” Which would secretly and criminally operate outside of Federal and Freedman oversight.

I call those constructions “Theft Authorities.”

There should not be a patchwork of different municipalities doing different things, in different places, with different eligibilities, and different outcomes. With some people otherwise eligible for Federal Reparations being excluded, and some people otherwise ineligible for Federal Reparations being included. This is explicitly improper. And all of this confuses and will possibly mitigate the Federal demand.

This practice is reparationally dangerous. One “local reparations” attempt is the resolution: “Supporting Community Reparations for Black Ashville” done on July 14, 2020. Specifically in Asheville, North Carolina.

This attempt is classic NAARC (or the “National African American Reparations Commission”), N’COBRA (or the “National Coalition Of Blacks for Reparations in America”), and FirstRepair of Evanston Illinois “local reparations” nonsense.

Family – “local reparations” is “Junk Reparations.” Understand. All “local reparations” schemes are “false flag” operations. Causing some people to believe that “local reparations” are a “first step to” Federal Reparations. When in actuality, all “local reparations” schemes are part of a long-game strategy to mitigate, then nullify the Federal demand. Using our long-time deprivation and hunger to lead us into a “let’s just get what we can get” trap. The term doesn’t even sound right.

Wake Up Family!

When you read the actual resolution, it starts off with accurately describing the historic injuries done to Native Black American people. Then it goes into an apology. Then it calls on folks to create policy and recommendations. Then a “study.” Then it calls on the creation of a commission. More “study.” Then it calls on a report to be created. Fine. Then the nominally specific term “Black” devolves into the even less specific – gray area term “minority.” Then an instruction is in there for a bi-annual update to the city council. Then it goes into the blackness of space with no conclusion or deadlines. This is a game Family.

Reparations should be a clean, uniform, fair, and straightforward Federal-level process. The word “Reparations” in this instance should only apply to Federal-level redress. Nothing else. Any collected data should never be used as a basis to enact mislabeled legislation that would result in local and state equity resources being expended under the label of “Reparations.” Reparations is a FEDERAL issue, responsibility, action, and remedy. If we are sincere about Pure Reparations, let us do this one-shot issue properly. We cannot play with this.

The other thing that municipal, county, and state legislatures could have done to help the Federal process along was to pass resolutions and legislation to support and adhere to the Dr. William A. Darity Jr. edits to House Bill HR40. Those edits should have included his [six] reparations principles and [three] goals, outlined in his testimony to the first HR40 hearing held on June 19, 2019. Those edits were not added, and at this point I would suggest a complete trashing of HR40 and do a de-Pan Africanized restart from scratch with Dr. Darity at the head of the restart. An HR40 2.0? Or a properly worded Executive Order. Let’s do that.

Because it must be done.

Another aspect of Reparations that is necessarily disconnected from “equity” issues is that without exception, applicable eligibility for Pure Reparations travels with the eligible parties generationally. That eligibility is possessed perpetually, and not limited geographically. Eligibility has no distinction between constituent or non-constituent, local citizen or localized non-citizen. Are there provisions in these local initiatives – including Boston’s – that will repair or compensate those that lived in those areas previously but now live in other areas? Including foreign countries? This is not addressed (and won’t be). Would those individuals be perpetually eligible to apply for “local reparations?” Would They? Ya’ll need to ask.

If it can be proven that a resident was governmentally injured that once lived in a certain local area, like Boston – in let’s say the year 1877, would that deceased individual’s descendants that now live in other locations be eligible to apply for compensation? Or, are the “local reparations” scope of Reparations “coverage” limited only to living individuals that are domiciled “right there, right now?” If that is so, then “local reparations” cannot be called “Reparations” at all.

Understand. If any business, government entity, or private individual owed you money while you were living in Boston – and had not paid you while you were living there – would that entity or individual suddenly be absolved of all debtor liability just because you moved to Cleveland? Make this make sense.

Actual justice claims have nothing to do with the current address of a directly injured or descended plaintiff. In a “Pure Reparations” situation, it would not matter if a descended plaintiff is “standing in the shoes” of a relative that was governmentally injured in the late 1800’s, and that descended plaintiff is now living, let’s say, in France as a naturalized citizen. That expatriated person would still be eligible for American Reparations if they can prove LINEAGE from American slavery – and their identity paperwork is straight. That’s It.

A “Pure Reparations” program should not be circumscribed by the present location of descendants, nor limited to living individuals. No “local reparations” initiatives that I know of have appropriate portability provisions nor reasonable geographical extensions. So what are they doing in Evanston? What is being done in Boston? Really? What is anybody doing? “Pure Junk” – that’s what “anybody” is doing.

NOW – Can States, Counties, and Municipalities Have A Role? Certainly. States, counties, and municipalities can and should have a role in compensative justice. But in a different and more appropriate way. Those localities would have to do real and operational history with a practical and fully compensative end.

In addition to incidental and systemic data gathered that would be provided to the Federal government, local governments could establish serious data-oriented commissions to proactively research and investigate specific locally-based historical incidents that were committed, witnessed, verified, and documented within their respective borders. Research and investigation. Settlements – not Reparations!

Research Incidents – such as this very short list of examples:

The Tulsa Race Riot – Oklahoma (1921)
The Rosewood Massacre – Florida (1923)
The Ocoee Massacre – Florida (1920)
The Wilmington Insurrection – North Carolina (1898)
The Detroit Race Riot – Michigan (1863)
The Atlanta Race Riot – Georgia (1906)
The Springfield Race Riot – Illinois (1908)
The Birmingham Riot – Alabama (1963)
The Colfax Massacre – Louisiana (1873)
Red Summer – 19 States (1919)

And those commissions should (this time) produce monetary compensation, set asides, and other special considerations to those directly injured victims or to their “standing in the shoes” descendants. Those compensations should be regarded as locally-based “settlements.” With fair compensation directed to specific individuals and/or their Freedmen descendants. If disaggregated specificity is too complex or if detailed historic information is unavailable – an arbitrated group case approach, or something similar may be necessary. Settlements – not Reparations!

And federal funds should never be used.

An example of proper state-level commissioning and compensation in this realm is North Carolina, which, in 2013, became the first state to pay Reparations to specific descendants of American Freedmen victims of forced sterilization, soft genocide, and eugenics programs through a ten-million-dollar agreement. States, counties, and municipalities should do this. And more. But they should not have called these state-adjudicated and expended settlements “Reparations.”

A strict discipline of language is necessary. Those local and state-level settlements that are sometimes mislabeled “Reparations” are not intended to close any “racial wealth gaps” no matter how substantial or extensive those settlements may be. Any American Freedman recipients of such settlements would and should be fully eligible for Federal Reparations, with no contentions, modifications, or mitigations.

VII

Now Let me speak on what I call – Special Equity Initiatives And The “Separate File.” If states, counties, and municipalities are sincere about materially atoning for historical local injustices towards American Freedmen, they may start by not labeling any special initiatives or proffered policies for them as “Reparations.”

If I may suggest the term: “Special Equity Initiative(s)” or “SEI(s).” I believe that would be an improved labeling of such actions. These SEI’s – if structured properly, would be immovably specific in practice, precisely worded in particulars, documentation, and law, and their provisions and benefits should never be expanded, modified, or overlapped to include other groups in perpetuity.

If you’re sincere.

SEI’s would be, and would remain in a “Separate File” so to speak. Terms that should never be used in crafting these initiatives would include: Black, African-Americans, Minorities, and People Of Color. And the newest inclusivity to nothingness term that should not be used is: “BIPOC” or “Black, Indigenous, and People Of Color.” Don’t use those terms. Those are descriptionally lazy terms.

BUT – terms like: Black American Descendants Of Slavery, American Freedmen, Descendants Of American Chattel Slavery, Descendants Of American Freedmen, Native Black Americans, American Descendants Of Slavery, and even the controversial Foundational Black Americans, could and should be used. All those terms would be descriptionally satisfactory.

That kind of specificity would be needed and acceptable in those actions. That kind of “separate file” specificity would also make it clear what kind of Black person (native or immigrant) would be eligible for SEI benefits. Real important. Those are potential benefits that should only go to Black people that have a lineage rooted in American slavery and were injured by all the deprivative historic injustices as practiced in the United States. Not as practiced in Africa. Not as practiced in the Caribbean. Not as practiced in Central America. Family – do you understand?

VIII

Certain legislators will use “local reparations” labeling to hide their legislative and advocacy shortfalls in accomplishing “equity” (which is what they were elected to do) for their constituents. Thus smokescreening their incompetence. For us Family – this is politically unfortunate, for both short and long-term reasons.

“Local reparations” can also be used as a self-serving “grant grab” for certain long-standing reparations theft organizations (like NAARC and N’COBRA and FirstRepair Of Evanston) to provide an “advisory role” to those same legislators crafting these counterfeit and ultimately counter-productive initiatives. I want you to notice that all members of The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis want to be paid to sit on commissions, when that is not the normal practice. Normally, commissioners are reimbursed for travel and food expenses. Along with possibly a small stipend for their time on the commission. Not the full-blown – top-level annual salaries that members of The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis demand.

Those same Axis organizations only provide dead-end guidance based on self-serving research to those legislators that are both mercifully sincere in helping others – and to those that are politically calculating in helping themselves or covering their incompetence. They will do both – as long as they get paid. But! You know what? I wouldn’t care about them getting paid. If they were doing actual Reparations work. For Us. Actually moving the issue forward. For Us. But to get paid for actually destroying our lineage-based case? Against Us? For actually confusing the issue? Against Us? That’s when I have an issue with payment. Understand?

They have been doing this “advisory role” stuff for years and have not accomplished one dime of reparations. Not One Dime! And before anybody brings it up – the small equity expenditures done in Evanston are not Reparations. Let’s be clear. Don’t be fooled by nonsense. The reason why they have not accomplished anything reparationally is partly a result of advocational and cultural conflation in the minds of the public. With that same public being taken in by “Pan-African” visuals and performance. You know – pseudo-African clothing, quasi-religious rituals, communications sprinkled with choice words from various African languages, pouring libations, flying-in African scholars to talk dumb-stuff at their events, drum beating, and other nonsense. I call it “kufi-stagecraft.”

They present a veneer of “knowing,” with many officials in those organizations holding and flaunting Master’s Degrees, Juris Doctors, and Ph.D’s. This is nothing but Black intellectual window-dressing. Done so that the Black public does not feel inclined or confident enough to question, challenge, or investigate these folks. Because “they know” what they are doing. They don’t. Notice that they use the word “international” a lot in what should be exclusively domestic conversations. What they present is all deceptive political and cultural marketing.

This being done with the historic Reparations figures of Queen Mother Audley Moore and Callie House cynically being used as props in their mis-informational presentations. This being done in total disrespect of, and divergence from, what those figures actually advocated. The very Pan African Queen Mother Moore for example – advocated for Reparations specifically directed to the Black descendants of American Slavery – and Nobody Else. Callie House advocated for cash pensions to be placed in the hands of American Freedmen – and Nobody Else.

People – understand that long-term advocacy for Reparations cannot rightly be equivalenced to an expert ability to formulate a proper Reparations program.

Never. Don’t fall for it.

Those organizations have had a major influence in shaping HR40 into the dead version that we have now. Understand People. It is because of the lack of legal, econometric, and legislative expertise within those organizations that further edits, and further edits, and further edits, are needed to make HR40 reasonably operational (“Operational” meaning HR40 if it had passed, being beneficial in substance, policies, and tangibles for the descendants of American Freedmen). Unfortunately, despite recent modifications, positive operationality of HR40 as written has not occurred as of yet.

Their lack of expertise also shows in the fact that the Evanston “reparations” eligibility standard is partly attached to one’s credit rating or ability to acquire a loan. Thus – making the true beneficiaries of that program the very banks that originally redlined our folks in the first place. Actual Reparations should enable you to transactionally and monetarily separate yourself from your original abuser. In this case – the originally redlining white banks. This program substantially and mercilessly puts you and yours right back into the hands of the enemy.

True Reparations should have nothing to do with credit, mortgages, or home purchases as an eligibility component – or pre-existing property ownership requirements, or any intent to improve property, nor any relationship with a bank. Anything that is associated with anything you have to pay back is not Reparations.

Period.

Those Axis organizations are dangerous to an actual American Freedmen Reparations claim. Because right now, they have the long-standing proximity, familiarity, and influence in the United States Congress and local governments that the grassroots descendants of American Freedmen do not have at this time. And the politicians they do deal with – like Congresspeople Sheila Jackson-Lee, Jerrold Nadler, and Steve Cohen are there to make sure that Reparations does not happen. To keep it contained and controlled and as minimal as possible. Especially Representatives Nadler and Cohen (their function is to do NAACP and Urban League style “nigger management”).

Or if it does happen, Jackson-Lee is there to make sure that any positive outcome is finessed into a “Flat Black” benefit – with Caribbean and African immigrants being prioritized and getting the lion’s share of our reparations. This would be provisioned through the NAARC conceived but as of yet – not constructed – non-profit called the “National Reparations Trust Authority.” This would be the depositorial and managerial entity to administer all reparations resources. Outside of government and Freedman oversight. Family, this is something that a pimp with an MBA would come up with. Now – in Evanston we have a “Reparations Stakeholders Authority.”

Creative!!!

But even with that. Understand that those same Axis organizations have no real understanding of how a Reparations program should be legislatively or legally structured, articulated, or accomplished. That is obvious. Or, if they do understand (which is a strong criminal possibility), then we can only look at HR40 as a bold grifter set-up. With NAARC and N’COBRA using the Reparations issue overall and HR40 specifically as a means to cynically accomplish a substantial bag for themselves, at our deep and historic descendant of American slavery expense. Leaving the grossly injustified forty millions plus of us behind and wondering what happened. Throw in some ancestor worship, some libation pouring, and they will prove to be an embarrassment by political association in the long run.

Do you want that?

The People Shall Not Be Hustled. Well, only If you don’t want to be hustled. That’s on us American Freedmen. Understand, property tax reductions are not Reparations; filling potholes in low-income areas is not reparations; shifting certain tax revenues to melinated Black but undifferentiated people that live in certain impoverished areas is not reparations. Those are things that should be done as matters of equity, the normal course of doing city and state business. But they are not Reparations. Many legislators are legally and/or politically trained. They should know and do better. Our presently seated (as of this writing) Black Caucus representatives at local, state, and federal levels everywhere are quite busy with DACA, Asian, Latinx, and undocumented border-jumper resource delivery issues.

They may not have the time.

XII

Now to the Caribbeans, and N’COBRA, and Evanston. If one dime of local resources under the label of “Reparations” goes into the pockets of anyone that is not descended from American chattel slavery – understand, that is not Reparations. Reparations for what? Just being black? Can we explain theft? Because that’s what it is. That’s What It Is. Evanston Illinois is potentially putting “local reparations” resources into the undifferentiated pockets of Caribbean and African immigrants that are domiciled in that city. That’s reparations theft Family. Understand?

The former Evanston City Counsellor that sponsored this counterfeit initiative, Robin Rue Simmons confirmed this at an interview done at a Chicago based radio show (WVON 1690) on January 5, 2020. While sitting on the same show with Kamm Howard, a leader (at that time) of the Pan African reparations theft organization known as N’COBRA that assisted her in crafting this very, very bad initiative. Afterwards, this was published in the January 11, 2020 online edition of the “Evanston RoundTable” newspaper:

“Alderman Rue Simmons said she had heard from some people that Caribbeans should not get reparations. ‘That’s not where we’re at here, in my opinion. In my opinion, we have to agree on this as a Council. This is a local reparations that is based on damages that were specifically done in Evanston. We have a rich and extensive Caribbean community here in Evanston, and I have no intention of trying to exclude that community.

‘We have to define that as a community. This is not a slavery reparations. There is much overlap because our discrimination is rooted in slavery because of the color of our skin. It dictates some of the discrimination that we have received, and it dictates the redlining and those damages for reparations in Evanston…”

And in the June 16, 2020 edition of the same publication. This was published:

“She [Alderman Rue Simmons] added she has heard talk about excluding Black people who have a Caribbean heritage from reparations in Evanston. She said, ‘Those families have had the same negative impact that African Americans have had. There’s no intention of excluding any Black person from our programming based specifically on where their ancestry has come from. We all have come from the continent of Africa. We all have ancestors that were kidnapped and enslaved… We’re not going to be differentiating between Black people in Evanston.’

Alderman Braithwaite (who happens to be of Jamaican lineage) agreed that Black people will not be differentiated based on heritage. ‘We are all one.”

So There It Is Folks. Robin Rue Simmons and her dismissive statements.

In true Caribbean style: “It don’t matter what you people think – I’m TAKING this!” And without a machete! That’s a Bad Sister. Could any Black American go to any Caribbean country and hustle Reparations resources from THEM in this manner? I don’t think so. I wonder if she asked Sir Hilary Beckles whom is the vice-chancellor of the University of the West Indies and chairman of the CARICOM Reparations Committee for the Caribbean when he visited Evanston: “Would there be any kind of reciprocity coming from CARICOM for American Freedmen since we are covering Caribbean expatriates with American Reparations resources here?”

And Family – I don’t know about Boston. But in the Chicago area, Caribbeans and Africans don’t get redlined. They NEVER had a problem in getting mortgages to purchase homes in predominantly white or Black areas. They never have. Never. So I don’t know what Robin Rue Simmons is talking about.

XIII

Black Diasporans – like Yvette Modestin from Panama and Professor Jemadari Kamara from somewhere other than here, have no respect for American Freedmen or their separate and distinct history. Intentionally. Should I rethink my position on Black immigration? I think I should. No more Black immigration. I’m not liking the way our Black Diasporan “Brothers and Sisters” are trying to mess over us.

It is also baffling and disappointing to observe the kind of cold disregard and cynical contempt that The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis practice towards American Freedmen people as well. Those organizations don’t seem to understand that there is a connection between correct responsibility and proper outcomes.

The Caribbeans in Evanston are dishonestly basing their eligibility for reparations on their ability to blend into a rich and unique American Freedmen history that they were not here to make, receive, suffer through, or change. Period. They are able to commit reparational theft under the undifferentially deceptive racial cover of “Black” and “African American” identity ahead of us. An egregious conversion of history. No Nigerian went to jail with Rosa Parks. No Haitian helped the Montgomery Bus Boycott. No Cape Verdian was touched by the Ku Klux Klan.

Never.

This false marketing is being done in the same way that American descendants of slavery are always placed last in line to receive rightful benefits whenever those benefits are flagrantly mis-distributed to others under the “minority” or “people of color” or “disadvantaged community” or “inner city” categories. Same thing. With that, Robin Rue Simmons can dictatorially say to us American Freedmen in so many confident and magnanimous words: “We all came from Africa. We all this. We all that. We all here – and to hell with you Niggers.” And of course, the “Niggers” she is referring to are the descendants of American Freedmen. NAARC and N’COBRA have “collectivized” us without our permission.

Just so you may be clear: Under “Minority” – the hierarchy goes:

White Women
LGBTQ
Native Americans
Latinx’s (citizens and illegal non-citizens)
DACA
Black Immigrants (new arrivals and citizen-generationals)
Foundational Black Americans. Last.

Under “Black” and “African American” – the hierarchy goes:

Caribbean Immigrants (and citizen-generationals)
African Immigrants (and citizen-generationals)
American Freedmen. Last again.

American Freedmen should always insist that their political affairs be dealt with and contained within a “separate file.” Just like Holocaust victims and their descendants, and the Native Americans are. Everybody stays on subject. No more “Black AND Brown” conjuntioning of our issues. A “Separate File” understanding operationally stops any confusion or “gray areas” when it comes to Pure Reparations. That way, nobody can be in the room but us. No Caribbeans. No Africans. No Pan African hustlers of ambiguous provenance playing games. No “Native Black AND Diasporan Black” conjunctioning of this issue.

Simple. Period. And Out.

Understand Family, there are no “local reparations.” This newly created label is an N’COBRA created grant hustle. A hustle for politicians to get out of doing the daily equity and resource delivery work that they should be doing. A hustle for certain Pan-African organizations to grab grant money through sham non-profits and newly created consultancies (like Robin Rue Simmons’ FirstRepair and Kamm Howard’s new hustle called Reparations United) for doing zero-sum research and providing bad advice. Advice which takes a Pure Reparations argument fully off-track.

A hustle by certain Caribbean immigrants in concert with legislators and certain Pan African organizations, specifically NAARC, N’COBRA, and FirstRepair of Evanston to accomplish the redirection of resources that should be for the descendants of American Freedmen over to Caribbeans that live here, the CARICOM organization in the Caribbean by secondary and tertiary means, and as many undifferentiated African pockets as possible. A hustle by certain political candidates for campaign strategy purposes, dangerously using the Reparations issue as a political plaything.

A hustle by closeted Reparations opponents for expedient political window-dressing. A hustle for strategic white liberals to systematically kill or mitigate the National demand by a thousand cuts. We see you.

XIV

Let US focus on Pure Reparations. Actual reparations are not income-based, net worth-based, where-you-live-based, who-you-know-based, phenotype-based, DNA-based, or color-based. It is lineage-based only. It is a DEBT due to a specific ethnic group. Devoid of Pan African intrusions or guidance. Only for The descendants of American Freedmen in this case. To cite an extreme but valid case: Oprah’s lineage is American Freedman. Oprah Winfrey would be eligible to apply and collect on this American Freedmen reparations claim. So is Michael Jordan. So is Beyonce. So is Magic Johnson. So is your rich Black brother-in-law. It is a DEBT, primarily payable in cash. And it should not be innovatively converted into “other forms.”

Cash “directly into my hands” is the working universal language of capitalist America. And CASH should be your language as well. Because I don’t understand “other forms” talk. As you shouldn’t. Lottery players wouldn’t get “other forms” if they win. Would They? Right? Again, not a poverty or relief program.

It Is A Debt.

Also: A Pure Reparations program in fact is not minimizable to city or state resource and governance issues. Any resources expended under a “reparations” heading should not and cannot be for “everybody,” especially those groups that clearly would not be eligible under a federal claim, like American citizens of Caribbean lineage. American citizens of Cape Verdian lineage. How does any “local reparations” end up funding scholarships or programs for Jamaican immigrants in Evanston? How is this?

Conversely, American Freedmen are rightly locked out of the CARICOM reparations claim at all levels. Repeat – AT ALL CLAIMABLE LEVELS. Understand? And we should be, because of nonconnected histories and governments, different slavery trajectories, problematic international legalities, and very real international political logistics reasons.

We Should Have Clarity and Appropriateness Regarding Reparations – Ahh yeah Family. To label distribution and equity activities that should be done on the local level as “Reparations” is conflicting messaging. Purposely done to confuse and deflect. This “local reparations” nonsense can be used as a form of nullification through the strategic interposition of lesser initiatives, which, as these initiatives spread nationally, will potentially undermine and/or eliminate the greater National Reparations case. Do you understand? Local and state legislators may or may not be aware of this. Or may or may not care. Maybe? Ya’ll need to Ask.

But this is the danger again. This “local reparations” can technically be used as a political tool to destroy the possibility of Pure Reparations being expended at the Federal level by Reparations opponents. One possibility is that the Federal government could reduce this Federal demand to a “state’s rights” issue.

Don’t think they can’t.

Some local and state monies necessarily and substantially come directly from the Federal government. And that Federal money – no matter where it goes, who gets it, or how it is used, is always differentiated as “Federal money.”

Understand Family: If even a dollar of that Federal money is designated, directed and expended under any “local reparations” labeling – city by city, county by county, state by state. Everything in terms of potential resource extraction would be reset downward. Step by step. Penny by penny. Dollar by dollar.

Just to illustrate: Every potential thousand dollars in justified recompense from the Federal government could potentially be reduced to one dollar. Because Federal Reparations resources would be already spent at the state and local level. Just to use a hypothetical. This is important: The language we use and the reparational structures we create whether local, county, state, or federal – are critical.

To reiterate: That reset means that if more cities and states decide to do this, the ultimate Federal reparations liability will theoretically over time be severely reduced or possibly nullified. Yes – Zero. Because that Federal money would have already been accepted, designated, agreed upon, expended, and spent through and in states, counties, and municipalities as Reparations. When it is time to talk in reparational substance – and finality – and the correct money at the apex – we are there – the Capitol Hill level – the Federal government can Simply and Legally Say:

“We already paid you Reparations. Go Away.”

For American Freedmen: The time for “getting what we can get” is over. We have to get it ALL this time. But we have to get it ALL in proper legislative order.

XVI

NOW. A word about The NAARC/ N’COBRA Axis. Of which – One of your locals – Yvette Modestin from Panama was formerly a Commissioner with NAARC. And now runs this local organization called “Encuentro Diaspora Afro.” Hold On! We will get to her in a minute. But at this point People – I want you to let these original quotes which were recently modified on NAARC’s website to sink in:

“NAARC firmly asserts that reparations should not be restricted to people of African descent who can prove their lineage to what is termed ‘American’ enslavement.”

AND

“We strongly affirm the right of all people of African descent in the U.S. to receive reparations, irrespective of when they arrived here or their country of origin.”

You See? This is Pan Africanism. Freely giving the recompense from the struggle of our grandparents and parents to any Black person that arrives here like Halloween candy. “Just show up!” This would be the world’s first fly-in reparations program.

Get a check – leave a plantain as a tip.

One of your own local organizations: A “New Democracy Coalition of Boston” posted this interesting article in the January 4, 2023 online edition of Medium.com. Titled: “Boston Can Create New Models for Black Reparations. Let’s Hope the City Doesn’t Blow It.” Blow What? I didn’t know Boston was that kind of town.

OK. So, I’m quoting an excerpt:

“We are morally compelled to trace the historical linkages of those who were directly harmed and ensure that we approximate some kind of justice for them,’ says Reverend Kevin Peterson. ‘These are Blacks who live directly in the legacy of those in Boston whom have been robbed of their wages and culture in this country. — They deserve Reparations first. Black immigrants – from other states or countries throughout the African Diaspora – must then receive compensation or benefit from reparations policies.”

WOW

I’m asking a question: “Reverend Peterson – whom is this ‘we’ that should be ‘morally compelled’ to do something stupid? For example, there are 3000 direct descendants of African slave traders that are African Black that live in this country. Do they get reparations too? Wake up Man. All West African countries owe us reparations as well.

Do ‘we’ pay their expatriates? Everybody. Right? How does that work Reverend?

If West Africans aren’t talking about running our money in THIS direction – the right direction – we don’t have much to talk about Sir. Because we sure ain’t gonna speak on paying THEM any reparations. But that’s another conversation. If Any.”

So Boston Freedmen!!! Whomever this Reverend Kevin Peterson is – you would be doing yourselves a great favor by keeping this ignorant person far away from dealing with any substantive Reparations discussions in your town. He’s a dummy.

XVII

It is well known that the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade was a global event.

Yes It Was. But the question is how the institution of slavery was handled in a separate – a disaggregated sense here, here, and there at each sovereign termination of the Atlantic transit. Every separate time. The question is always: “Where did individuals ultimately land – LEGALLY?” Those landings were accepted AND REGISTERED by traders here, here, and there under different, separate – autonomous governments. Separate and sovereign. Those independent governments had and have their own constitutions, laws, policies, structures, imposed slave cultures, and self-decided abolition timelines. And those other – disaggregated, independent, enslavement operations – AGAIN FAMILY!!!

Had nothing to do with slavery operations in the United States.

Other countries should deal with Their own issues, deal with Their own people, address Their correct perpetrators, and pay Their own bills.

The United States should not be pinned as the world’s default paymaster to compensate for the criminal activities of other countries. Any particular robber is not responsible for all robberies. A justice claim has to equally provide justice for both the victim and the accused. Justice for both the potentially compensating government – and the potentially compensated group. There should be a justice-grounded Federal bill and a Federal commission that in finality – exclusively addresses the historic ills of the descendants of the American Enslaved and the exclusively domestic aftermaths that only American Freedmen have suffered. This compensative legislation being properly rendered, will provide equal justice for both the correct despoiled victims and the correct responsible government.

Full Stop.

XVIII

There ARE NO operating reparations commissions inside or outside of the United States that include even the possibility of American Freedmen being included in their justice claims. None. Like the “Afro Panamamian Reparations Commission” doesn’t include us. “ARE you listening Yvette Modestin?” They make THEIR line-drawn exclusionism quite clear on their websites – like CARICOM. The Caribbean Commission has fifteen countries organized in the Caribbean archipelago and one continental country in South America (Guyana). And again – the United States is definitely not one of those countries. And we are definitely not included in their Reparations issue. They make sure of that. “Ahh… No niggers from America.”

Jamaica’s GOVERNMENT was in the news petitioning for Reparations from the British Government. We took a look at various media platforms reporting this – and American Freedmen inclusion was nowhere in there nowhere. And nowhere else. You See? When NAARC and N’COBRA were asked if they would petition the Jamaican Government for American Freedmen to be included in this claim, the N’COBRA twitter person replied “NO.” Why was I not surprised?

“Why NO reciprocity for Freedmen?”

The main issue with The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis, is having and maintaining an African Diasporan sensibility for Reparations versus those who may be oriented as ADOS, FBA, Freedmen, et cetera – that are grounded in American specificity. Let us get with the facts. The United States has always practiced specificity grounded reparations in the form of compensative legislation or Civil Suit since 1789.

No reparations legislation or the like anywhere on this planet has ever been “Pan” anything. Reparations worldwide has ALWAYS been specific and targeted and Federal. That is not nativist nor xenophobic nor unfair. Unlike the way Axis criminals will lie you into thinking. That is just the way reparations programs that are actually legitimate reparations programs are structured and deployed.

XVIIII

When “Pure Reparationists” participate in these “local” and “state” reparations arrangements – WE REALLY DON’T WANT TO DO THAT. “Then why do it?” Because in actuality we are getting ahead of the mess. Attempting to get control of the mess. And putting out the destructive small fires that The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis have started across this nation. Attempting to re-stabilize their destabilization of the issue – as our advocational and constructive energies have been diverted to a large degree from the Federal case. The most important case.

Our focus should be Federal ONLY. True Reparations is always a Federal issue.

I have a book titled: “The Handbook Of Reparations” by Pablo De Greiff (ISBN = 978-0-19-929192-2). The 1020 pages of text in this book covers the nature and details of every major Reparations program accomplished in the world. Every single program in this book is FEDERAL-LEVEL-ONLY. No “local” nonsense done nowhere in the world. And neither NAARC nor N’COBRA (You Know – “the reparations experts”) are mentioned even once. Maybe they don’t qualify?

The Handbook was published in 2006. N’COBRA has been around since 1987.

Even though N’COBRA has not accomplished reparations at no time anywhere, even after more than thirty years in operation – they fraudulently put themselves and their associates out in front of everything and everyone as the “experts” of reparations. They want to open the “grifitlicious” door for individual members and associates of NAARC and N’COBRA to establish organizations like “Encuentro Diaspora Afro” (I think that’s how you pronounce it) run by Yvette Modestin.

Opening the door to create fake research concerns, and advising but incompetent “non-profits” (like FirstRepair of Evanston) to non-productively “assist” legislators in developing reparational theft policies, systems, and programs.

They are not beyond using long-standing organizations like certain cooperating chapters of the NAACP or “King Boston” as “fronts” to advance their agenda. If things convene in the way that the Axis wants it to – expect to see that growing list of “experts and consultants” to only consist of certain slick Caribbeans, certain bossy Central Americans, and certain grifting Pan Africans.

I am – as you should be as Native Black Americans – of EVERYBODY just coming in from nowhere and taking stuff from us. You should be tired of this.

American Freedmen must proactively STOP this open Pan African DISRESPECT. Ask yourselves Family: “How does Yvette Modestin – a native of Panama; a person that is not lineaged from Lynching; a person that is not lineaged from Slave Rape; a person that is not lineaged from The Montgomery Bus Boycott; a person that is not lineaged from the Tulsa Massacre; a person that is not lineaged from the Emmett Till incident; a person that is not lineaged from The Great Migration; a person that is not lineaged from Racial Eminent Domain; a person that is not lineaged from Redlining – GET TO MOVE TO BOSTON – GREEN CARD AND ALL – and tell YOU Native – American – Black – Freedmen – HOW your Reparations should go?”

How?

She’s the goddamned BOSS NOW? Please…

American Freedmen HAVE NO SAY WHATSOEVER in other Reparations Demands internationally or domestically regarding other groups WHATSOEVER. Adjo Amouzou – a NAARC Commissioner was born in TOGO which is in Africa. She has more say in shaping a Reparations program FOR YOU than YOU DO.

There it is Family – Pan Africanism – in your face!

Both Yvette Modestin and Adjo Amouzou in a properly constructed American reparations program – people that are now shaping OUR program would not be eligible(!) for American Freedmen Reparations. So – ask yourselves Family: “Why and how are these foreign born – very ineligible people all the way up in our reparations business?” “Ya Got a Green Card Sweetheart!?” Ask Them!!!

Now. Whatever they do in Togo – you will never hear of any native-born Black American running, shaping, deciding, or influencing anything in Togo – in Panama – in Nigeria – in Senegal – in Jamaica. NOT NOWHERE!!! But a Togolesian can boat, fly, or swim here and shape OUR reparations? OK? Chinese and Japanese folks are both Asian. RIGHT? But you NEVER find Japanese people running Chinese people’s stuff or Chinese people running Japanese people’s stuff. RIGHT?

And you never will.

Boston Freedmen – TAKE YOUR ISSUE BACK. And render it properly.

XXI

I mean this: I have no NICE words regarding this situation. I am vicious when it comes to our Reparations. The tendency of American Freedmen to be sweet and accommodating to all is the primary reason other groups have walked over and upon us for so long. Your Reverend Kevin Peterson thinks that we have not been walked over enough. Reparations is not inclusive. Reparations is always exclusive. Always focused. Always specific. And our Reparations should not be open to “new models” like some morons have suggested. The old models of specificity are good enough. Always remember that the job of The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis – of Reparations United – of FirstRepair of Evanston, is not to move us forward – but to keep us running in place in perpetuity. To forever keep Pure Reparations out of our hands.

I speak like this because I have no game. I’m just myself. Fully Native American in Blackness. A Complete American Freedman. That’s the Attitude: John Henrik Clarke said it best to me – he said: “My attitude comes from the essential selfishness of survival.” I KNOW that every American Freedmen’s attitude IN our survival should necessarily be set IN that place. Right Now – As Well.

The Pan Africans are making a colossal joke out of our seriously historic issue. They are messing with our inheritance. They are messing with our money. They are messing with the future of our children – our grandchildren. They are messing with a proper historical trajectory – for us. We have been so politically deprived and financially abused for so long that we will blindly sign onto bad deals just so that we can “get what we can get.” Selling 400 painful years of ourselves out for reparational pennies on the dollar.

LITERALLY.

Understand Freedmen – for you to self-identify as a Pan African is a definite downgrade to your own Native Black American personhood. By default you are also unconsciously identifying with a dangerous cabal of organizations. Mainly consisting of: The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis run by Dr. Ron Daniels; Reparations United run by Kamm Howard; and FirstRepair of Evanston run by Robin Rue Simmons. A group of calculators that as a matter of their own unwritten organizational policy – coldly downgrade and de-prioritize American Freedmen’s history, justice issues, and rights to the inheritance their antecedents have created.

A group, that in this country, prioritizes the improper desires and plans of the African Diaspora – over the justifiable needs of American Freedmen. NAARC – N’COBRA Axis-type Pan Africanism is a capitalistic form of intra-Black racism. A coldly cynical – insidious type of racism that prioritizes the value of the lives of the African Diaspora over the value of the lives of American Freedmen.

Just look at what they’re doing.

I say NO to “local reparations.” But IF you must do it. Don’t bastardize it. Don’t inclusionize it. At least do it properly. At least do it right. At least do it rightly for us American Freedmen exclusively. And if this can’t be done properly: Family – have the foundational fortitude to shut it down completely. And start that bad boy over. OR, more properly – kill it altogether. You will have to do that Boston. You must get the proper political will – and bring up the proper ethnic ego to do that.

Boston Freedmen! This is yours. NO to Pan Africanizing this justice claim at any level. NO to Yvette Modestin inserting herself into a business she doesn’t belong in. AND NO to the arrogant Pan African Professor Jemadari Kamara of the University of Massachusetts posing as an expert in something he has no expertise in.

Boston Freedmen. The entirety of American History attests to the justice of our unsatisfied Reparations demand. What amplifies the justice of this demand is the preponderance of the continuousness of the wrongs. Uniquely aimed at US the American Freedmen. In Full Intentionality. Done by this white-supremacist Society. Done By This Government. Federally. State-wise. And Local-wise.

Our exclusively vast, deep, and long-suffering losses were never addressed nor recompensed. Even though our Blood – our DNA is inextricably intertwined, thoroughly infused, and bottomlessly enmeshed to THIS American soil. A brutal, extractive, and unrelenting history done continuously. Since 1619 unfolded and still unfolding under this compromised and deprived and bloodied watch so far – of 146,000 Sunrises and Sunsets. We The American Black Freedmen People – have an unrepeatable and incomparable history. 400 goddamned years. Right Here.

An intense continuum streaming nonstop From Then. Till NOW.

Only the proper Reparations and all accompanying Freedmen-centric legislation with protections is what will FINALLY get us to Full American. Boston Freedmen. This is your responsibility to make. To demand. To conduct. To happen correctly. Established in the here, the present, and the continuous future.

Boston Freedmen – TAKE YOUR ISSUE BACK. And render it properly.

Thank You So Much for listening.

Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976: Allowance is made for “fair use” for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair Use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

The HR40 Breakdown

I was assisted in this reposting and bringing in the New Year 2023 with a bottle of Barbier Louvet – Cuvee d’Ensemble Champagne Grand Cru N.V. 2021 – This is usually about $70.00 per bottle. In Chicago this was on sale for $40.00. Slight but balanced acidity. 12% alcohol. 60% Pinot Noir and 40% Chardonnay. Green apples, apricots, and pineapples is the predominance throughout its opening, sustain, and closing. Moderate effervescence. Dry – slightly sweet finish.

“We cannot allow the [reparations] Commission to be seated and wait until afterward to pressure it to do the right thing. We cannot leave the [reparations] Commission’s mandate for the content of its report open-ended. Too much is at stake. If such a Commission is created, it must be directed to produce the type of report that will lead to a comprehensive plan for reparations for Black American descendants of U.S. slavery. As HR40 currently stands, designed to give N’COBRA and NAARC a significant role in its deliberations, we face a grave risk of getting the wrong model for reparations.

As HR40 currently stands, it is the wrong legislation for this important moment. – While still wrapped in naivete, I assumed there would be a good faith effort to evaluate HR40 and revise it accordingly. I am beginning to believe it should be scrapped altogether. – The goal is Pure Reparations. The bill as currently constituted will not get us from here to there.”

Dr. William Darity Jr.

This post is for those that want me to reiterate my oughts regarding HR40 and The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis. This is it. Myself – Roslyn Mickens – and Angie Of Baltimore did a Twitter space on February 6, 2022. A second space was done on February 13, 2022 regarding: “Why We Say No To HR40?” This was sponsored by: “By The People Media.” We explained HR40 line by line with commentary and questions and answers from others in the room. Here they are:

Part I – What’s In The Bill?

Part II – Who Benefits From The Bill?

Part III – What Do Freedmen Think About This Bill?

Part IV – Why We Say #No2HR40? (1)

Part V – Why We Say #No2HR40? (2)

Part VI – Why We Say #No2HR40? (3)

Readings on this blog:

An Open Letter to American Freedmen = https://freedmenabsolute.com/2022/04/30/an-open-letter-to-american-freedmen/
Reparations Defined by Attorney Dr. Robert L. Brock = https://freedmenabsolute.com/2022/04/09/reparations-defined-by-attorney-dr-robert-l-brock/
The Mascotting of Queen Mother Audley Moore = https://freedmenabsolute.com/2022/03/06/the-mascotting-of-queen-mother-audley-moore/
The Sadducees And Pharisees Of Reparations = https://freedmenabsolute.com/2021/08/06/the-sadducees-and-pharisees-of-reparations/
Statement Regarding Local Versus National Reparations = https://freedmenabsolute.com/2020/07/21/statement-regarding-local-versus-national-reparations/

Associated With “By The People Media” – Link Below:

https://www.youtube.com/@bythepeoplemedia

Seven Contained Thoughts Page One

I was assisted in writing this post by a bottle of Treana Cabernet Sauvignon 2020. An inexpensive Paso Robles California contender. Powerful entrance. Dry but faintly sweet. Moderate but balanced tannins. Quiet acidity. Leading in heavy with vanilla, oak, and chocolate. A sustain of blackberries, nutmeg, and black cherries. Ending in cocoa, honey, and tobacco. Long – elegant finish.

“Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”

Aristotle

I will be periodically posting random – contained thoughts and observations centered generally on reparations in batches of seven. First Page.

The reason I am encouraging study circles with “From Here To Equality” (ISBN 978-1469671208) and “The Black Reparations Project” (ISBN 978-0520383814) is because I would like to see an organic but precise “reparations mentality” to grow within the Freedmen community. The Pan Africans have no materials for the people that serve this purpose. Correct reparations thought. The specificity reparationists have an advantage in this regard and that needs to be exploited.

For those that do Kwanzaa or Christmas, give these books as presents. This information and the subsequent mentality that these actions will generate must be spread as widely as possible within the Freedmen community. Like Now.

Observe Family. Eight Nigerian-Americans won congressional seats in Georgia, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota. Will this be good for American Freedmen? No. Nigerians are probably the most anti-Freedmen group of the Diaspora generally. They are solidly tribal and will readily side with white supremacy against us. You cannot expect these legislators to support reparations unless this issue is “Pan Africanized.” This is a troublesome development that we must be concerned with. It is possible to be entirely Black – but only do policy favorable for some Blacks.

III

I do appreciate Gilad Erdan – Permanent Representative of Israel to the United Nations for releasing this November 3, 2022 Tweet:

“The Nets are showing no tolerance for hate. We can’t pick and choose when we want to stand against injustice. Kyrie hopped on the trend of being anti-Semitic & was put in his place quickly. I hope he opens his eyes beyond the conspiracy theories he spreads & can educate himself.”

“Put in his place quickly?” That’s some high-handed shit ain’t it? But don’t get angry at the ambassador for speaking his truth. I’m not gonna wear my mind out with some “what’s his place?” type unspoken retorts. “Put in his place quickly” is a 400 year old attitude and practice that only applies to American Freedmen – and comes directly from the core of a racism-white supremacy mindset. It looks like things are changing and the Black community is starting to show some teeth in response to attitudes like this. That should serve as a warning. But! Certain groups are so supremacist-minded and arrogant that they will keep poking the bear. OK? It will not be until that bear fully awakens and things get dangerous (and possibly deadly) that folks will get respectful. Respect with teeth is where we want to be.

Let’s take this further – the good thing (I hope) about the Kyrie Irving situation is that it could be (I hope) making us do a substantial reset as to how we move as a community in all respects. Politics – Economics – Business. Everything about this issue ties into those three areas. I want everybody to thank NIKE for showing its true mentality by showing its true hand. I will never buy another NIKE product.

Why? Because I have unapologetic self-respect and I’m not going to spend money with a company that openly spits on my people and on my people’s issues. We’ve had a long but lopsided marriage with NIKE. Our folks provided uncompensated marketing and devoted customership – while Phil Knight and his associates have enjoyed the collection of unlimited profits. Undeserved abuse and racial insult has occurred. Divorce is sometimes necessary when a relationship turns sour.

Time to research Black-owned athletic shoe companies, and spend our money with our own. If we moved correctly as a community – we would anathematize NIKE immediately and finally (the same way the Jewish community has anathematized Kyrie). And shift to developing our own shit. And shift to spending with our own. And shift to developing and raising our own power. OURS!!! #DontGoBack.

Do I have any faith in what I’m saying here? Absolutely Not. American Freedmen have a unique self-destructive, self-disrespecting psychology that’s hard to beat, understand, or explain. But I do understand this – it wouldn’t matter what NIKE does to Kyrie Irving. Black folks love to spend money with folks that disrespect and shit on us. Korean beauty supply stores? Vietnamese nail salons? Palestinian liquor stores? And now NIKE turning its ass up at us. I mean other communities can literally take a shit on us – and we’ll be right back at their doors (with a smile) to spend money with those motherfuckers after we clean the shit off. It’s weird. At the same time – I do hope I’m wrong on this. I would be totally gratified if my folks flipped the script on my ass and proved me wrong – changing this dynamic.

I now look at the NIKE swoosh the same way the Jews look at the Nazi swastika.

Family – please study this video carefully. The Hasidic Jews in practice move the way we should move on the local level. This is a living blueprint. A blueprint on the economic, community, educational, self-protection, networking, gates up, and On Code basis. Man – I hope we wake up to the point that we can move like this.

I want all of us to notice that the same communities that are the most fixated on professional sports are also the most impoverished. Ninety-five percent of the owners of teams have never played sports themselves ever. They were fixated on BUSINESS – LAW – ACCOUNTING – MARKETING – MANAGEMENT. Adam Silver (The 5th Commissioner of the NBA) got his degree in political science from Duke University and his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School. While others were busy bouncing balls. Understand. We hardly ever give our children useful epiphanies. If some guy in a suit is able to pay a single guy in a jersey $40 million in a year – then what is the guy in the suit making? Right? OK? This, in addition to highly compensating the rest of the team and support staff?

And still making a profit?

That’s one thing. There are those that suggest that we ought to construct our own leagues. Totally understandable. But check this, in these times I think we need to divest from professional sports in all respects. In addition to politics – I think our new fixations should be the fixations that I cited above. Time to get serious.

“Government is the game and politics is how you play it” (Brother Logic). Politics is the only process by which you gain or lose protections, set-asides, community resources, and individual considerations. Goals are accomplished depending on how you participate, how much you participate, and how well you play.

VII

“The president of NIKE – John Donahoe said: ‘Without Black athletes and the Black culture, NIKE would not be where it is today.”

Athletic shoes alone generated $70 Billion last year. Black consumers accounted for $23 Billion of that (but see how they regard us?). And Black retailers saw extremely little of that. OK? There is nothing sexy about helping to build businesses that other groups own. Especially those group-owners that fundamentally are hostile to you and your group. But are just civil enough for a few minutes to get your money. To induce you to sign hyper-predatory contracts. To contain you and your children within new forms of slavery with multi-million dollar checks. OK? Consequences? Giving them the power to use, abuse, and disrespect you. We require a “revolution of the mind.” It is insanity to finance your own disrespect. Jewish folks, NIKE, and the NBA wouldn’t have that kind of power over us if we hadn’t given it to them.

Suggestion: BURN NIKE products and post those burnings on social media.

Another resetting thought: LABELS. I don’t know what started this trend. But this is another avenue by which the enemy extracts commercial value from us.

Think about it. Why are YOU paying for clothes that are actually billboards for clothing companies and sports teams without being compensated? NIKE – GUCCI – VERSACE – CHAMPION – ADIDAS – LOUIS VUITTON – PINK – PELLE PELLE – WHITE SOX – RAIDERS. Not me. Not that I am against it per se – but in my case, for me to be a walking billboard for any company, a check has to be attached.

The trick is that you have been marketed into thinking you are trendy and chic while actually being an uncompensated marketing mule for sports teams and clothing companies. Some folks have on so many labels simultaneously that they look like walking clearance racks. If the label that’s on the clothes is the only thing that “makes” the clothes (and you ain’t getting no check), that’s fucked up.

Family. Self-enslavement can come in many forms and be done in many ways.

END OF POST

The Ethnocide Mixtapes

I was assisted in writing this post by a nice bottle of Bodega Noemia A Lisa 2020. A Rio Negro Argentinian Malbec. Deep ruby ink. Mineralistic structure. Soft tannins. Balanced acidity. Leading in with Merlot-like cherry and blackberry notes. A sustain of oak, black pepper, vanilla, and ripe berries. Ending with ripe apricots and mineral notes. Long, beautiful finish with juicy fruits and cocoa.

“When you are dealing with an opponent who doesn’t value honor, there are no moral rules of engagement when defeating them.”

Makandal

The loud obviousness of the liars and fakers is finally becoming obvious to the average American Freedman on the street. Incredible. Those “Black and Brown” lies are so over the top, ahistorical, and fact-checkable that the streets are boiling.

The white paymaster commanded – history-bending propagandists against Freedmen ownership of Freedmen culture and politics are stuttering when the racially in-sulted and gerrymandered out are doing a metamorphosis. Aggressive cultural appropriation and political takeover are the managed precursors to actual genocide. There are steps to this thing. Study the project management of the Holocaust in Germany. Death. Remember – there are steps to this thing.

Mental Reset: How many American Freedmen reading this post takes issue with the Felix Tijerina quote reiterated below? If you do – YOU have a problem.

“Let the Negro fight his own battles! His problems are not mine. I don’t want to ally with him.”

Felix Tijerina (Mexican-American president of LULAC from 1956 to 1960)

We will get back to this quote and go over why it is important to absorb this statement properly. Before I move further, burn this into your mind: The most important things to keep in mind are three interconnected areas. And they are these: Politics, Economics, and Business. They are as inseparable as the head, tail, and edge of a coin. Understand that every other discipline, practice, or field of study is a sub-category of one or more of these areas without exception. AND – there are three things that individual elected officials are supposed to deliver to their constituents. They are as follows: 1. Resources. 2. Security. And 3. Quality Living Space. Do you understand Me Family? If they are not representing and producing these equity benefits In Full, they should be replaced. PERIOD.

American Freedmen Reparations (the specific and justified infrastructural return of resources plus interest, protections, and policies) is a sub-category of economics.

Dangerous Resilience

The other thing I need you to burn into your minds: American Freedmen and their descendants have proven themselves to be Dangerously Resilient in their own way, against, around, and through the white power structure. This, done with no money or protection or policies. This Shit Happened. Internally and naturally producing superlatives of innovation, native skill, and creativity that are ethnocentrically out of the reach of others. A separate artistry, inventiveness, and logic that could not and cannot be captured, convincingly imitated, nor duplicated by other humans.

Never.

The African royals and professional traders that sold us to the Europeans did not expect us as an export to survive. Washed hands. A deep line was drawn as the slaver ships left that dark African shore. They did not expect us to pop-off over 300 (recorded) slave revolts. That’s just the recorded ones. OK? They did not expect the Deacons For Defense. OK? They did not expect the open defiance of Emmett Till’s mother. They did not expect a politically unrelenting Fannie Lou Hamer.

They did not expect the superblack standing of The Nation Of Islam. They did not expect our creation of and original establishment of “Blackness” itself. And from the greasy way our Diasporan immigrated “Brothers and Sisters” have behaved towards us in this country? Observe: It is not unreasonable to believe they still wish death upon us. I do not trust any kind of “Pan Africanism.” Trick bag? 400 Years?

I Remember 400 Years. I absolutely refuse to be a “mule” for the Diaspora.

Please digest the fact that certain “Pan Africanist” organizations such as NAARC, N’COBRA, FirstRepair of Evanston Illinois, and now Kamm Howard’s Reparations United are anti-Reparations contractors for the Democratic Party. Don’t be taken in by their false propaganda or their daishiki-stagecraft. Their calls for “unity” should be ignored. Those “calls” are ethnically dangerous. No more taking us away from a purely Foundational Black American focus. My Black tribal allegiance is HERE.

I will always say “NO” to Africa. Watch.

Any kind of forced or feigned “reconnection” with Africa is no different than some pushy social institution trying to “reconnect” a now thirty-five year-old woman to a mother that sold her to a pimp. And that travelling pimp took her completely away from home when she was fourteen, for a total of twenty-one years(!!!). Put her on foreign streets to work eighteen hours a day. Forced her into pornography. The woman fortunately escaped, and is presently in a drug rehab facility. She is still suffering heavily and trying to recover from Battered Woman Syndrome. Any kind of “love connection” with that mother would be kinda hard to muster up. Right?

That’s our reconnection to Africa.

Dechattelization does not mean the end of slavery. We have been designated by the White Power Structure in perpetuity to be low human entities allowed to exist only for labor, entertainment, servitude, concubinage, and economic extraction. At one time, that allowance was only open for whites, Jews, and certain Mongoloid Native Americans (like from the “Five Civilized Tribes”) to exploit. Fifty years ago the East and subcontinental Asians [Indians] were invited into this exclusive club. The East and subcontinental Asians as of now are in a grey area. They still need us to make money. But there’s an arrogance there. I once overheard a Middle Eastern looking person at an airport refer to the money they make from us as – “niggerdollars.”

Think about that Family —— NIGGERDOLLARS.

But if things get too hot or barren here, they have places to escape to. A plane ticket away. Of late, the Hispanics and Black Diasporans have been invited in to kick our asses as well. Understand the current “Black and Brown” conditions: The Hispanics want to flat out eliminate us. There it is: Just us American Freedmen – surrounded for final elimination by the Government, whites, Jews, Hispanics, and Diasporans.

When the Asians are finished with us? Gone as soon as possible. And Done.

In this mix – the Black Diasporans are special. They host a grand double-fuck party that American Freedmen are nicely invited to. Not only did their antecedents profit first from selling us to the Europeans. But they as the descendants get to profit over again as Blacks from the policies and resources we fought for – us being deprived for so long after we were released from the slavery their antecedents sold us into. Presently, Black Diasporans want a piece (if not all) of our Reparations. (!) Business and social-wise, Black Diasporans don’t want to have a fucking thing to do with us. They show us and tell us every fucking day. We internally have an N’COBRA Axis believing that the African Diaspora deserve our Reparations more than we do.

Beautiful.

We have forty-plus millions of American Freedmen to mentally clean up and get On Code. There are new weapons being utilized against us. Unfortunately we are not On Code enough to utilize our power. Even without money, our constructive communication and our getting On Code is free. This Family, we need to change. Seriously – This. We need to change. Anytime that we have real Foundational Black Americans (mostly Conservatives) – them sincerely believing that we should not get Reparations? Yep. OR – if we do receive Reparations, the recompense should be institutionally managed. Because Black individuals are “too dumb” to do the “right thing” with their money, within their judgment? This Family – A Needed Change.

If this isn’t the “Time” for “Nation Time” – I don’t know what is.

The Final Solution

“On my last and final meeting with Bob Cohen – he told me: ‘If You keep up anti-Semitic rhetoric you’ll lose custody of your children.’ So let me get this straight. If I complain about Jewish business practices, it’s considered anti-Semitic. So my custody lawyer was basically telling me if I complain about getting done wrong in business – I will lose custody of my children. And this was the guy on my side.”

Kanye West – via Instagram

Let me make this clear: Every group has the right to do whatever it takes to get and or stay on top. The Jewish people are the best example of how we should operate as a minority. See? As an historically affected group, whatever they deem to be anti-Semitic should be understood to be anti-Semitic, and that understanding should be respected. And, whatever we deem to be anti-Black should be understood to be anti-Black, and that understanding should be respected as well. Everything that has happened to Kanye West is what is supposed to happen when a group believes it has been threatened or insulted at any level. That’s not like or dislike – that is one outcome of the game. Examples are created all the time. Ya Dig?

When he [Kanye] spoke greasy about our liberational heroes, and about certain ugly historic chapters being “a choice” – we should have cancelled his ass ourselves then. OK? The same way we should have cancelled “gangsta rap” that promotes fratricide and community destruction for Black men only. The same way we should have cancelled “bitch rap” that promotes whore culture for Black women only.

The same way we should have cancelled some “fuckboy rap” that promotes extreme hedonism and profligacy against the building of Black family only. The same way we should have cancelled “drill rap” which promotes Black on Black animus and straight up murder as an operational virtue for Black people only. We see what Jewish limits are. But what are our limits? OK? What are our limits? Tangible contributions to white supremacist talking points? Self-destruction as a Black virtue? The game ultimately is about power, dominance, and control.

About who ultimately wins. I don’t hate. I observe, I study, I learn.

What I am learning is that recent events should cause the Freedmen community to do a wholesale reassessment and reset of everything. This Is It. Fill in the blanks.

Right now – we are witnessing and experiencing a primary phase of a process that can potentially end in an American style “Final Solution” with Foundational Black Americans This Time being the ones up for elimination. Facts. That potentiality is certainty coming to pass if we don’t change the way we move. The power structure fifty eight years ago as of this writing, decided that we have came to the end of our usefulness. We left their plantations. We demanded Civil Rights. We demanded full capitalistic access. The Enemy can’t get us to clean their houses anymore. We now consider serving them to be an insult. They beefed up our sports and entertainment utility. They believe they are paying us way more than we deserve. And Now? We have ginned up the temerity to demand some Reparations? “Some Niggers?”

And the white supremacists respond like:

“Oh Hell Naw!!! You motherfucking Niggers deserve no less than death!” Yep. We’ll give you Niggers some guns. We’ll help destroy the minds of Nigger youth with “gangsta rap” culture. We’ll give you Niggers some fucking blunts. We’ll give you motherfucking Niggers “Planned Parenthood” instead of some health care. OK? We’ll occupy your children’s intellectual development time, your business development time, your community development and planning time with video gaming. Now – the only serious intellectual exchange between Black men is usually regarding the NBA playoffs, blunts, the NFL, assorted dumb shit, and pussy.

“Got it motherfuckers.”

OK – so death it is. Ahh… But not so fast. Now, one must remember that during the Jewish Holocaust years (1933 to 1945) there was no social media or the here and now utility of smartphones to immediately inform the world of the atrocity. The Holocaust apparatus was loading people from their homes onto various transports. And then doing direct conveyance to gas chamber elimination. Horrible. At the same time, don’t ever think that the Jewish experience will ever translate into any kind of empathy towards American Freedmen from the Jewish community. They don’t even look at us as human beings. Why should they? To that community, at best – we are no more than “talented animals” only existing to be monetized. For Them. Only existing to be economically and politically exploited. For Them.

Any “favors,” “charity,” or “assistance” that certain members of/or groups in the Jewish community may expend in our hard racial direction is done strategically for buffering, containment, and systemic reasons. Emphathy has nothing to do with it.

Know: You cannot intentionally display excellence to the dominant society. Black Excellence and expertise breeds jealousy and contempt from white men. Unless that excellence is captured and controlled by white or Jewish men via slavery or contract – they will find a way to destroy it by destroying you. That’s History.

But!!!

You know what? That’s OK. We are not them. And they are not us. The important thing is how we view ourselves. Listen and absorb this Family: How you view yourself and your community is the biggest factor in whether your community goes from busted to billions. There is a deep simultaneity between how you view yourself and how you view your community if you understand that our proactive interconnectivity is a Reparational necessity. This is also a universal principle.

One Day we’ll become wise enough to stop playing in and supporting the NBA. One Day we’ll become wise enough to be fully engaged politically. One Day we’ll become wise enough to unify and develop a parallel economic network. One Day we’ll proactively pick up the garbage that is on the streets and along the walks in some of the areas we live in. We deserve the smell of flowers too. One Day?

The Jewish community has a very high level of racial and group self-esteem. That’s a good thing. Listen to this Family: A hardened positive self-esteem breeds and incentivizes in-group inter-business networking, operational group economics, and tight community cohesion. That is not something to be hated. That is something to be emulated. Our hardened racial self-esteem and in-group operationality at some point must match or exceed theirs, if we are to survive and prosper as a tribe. We Foundational Black Americans are a potential twelve trillion dollar net worth tribe waiting on our wake-up and unification. Will I see that happen within my lifetime?

Our relationship with the Jewish community has always been fully extractive or one-sidedly transactional. That includes our enslavement under Jewish ownership. That includes the Jewish community as being the largest white factor as to whether or not we get Reparations (they of course don’t want Reparations to happen – and they cleverly play both sides of the issue with all-good Pan African assistance). And regarding those good Jewish individuals and organizations that claim they support Reparations? Notice that every time they express their support – they go into long paragraphs explaining what they think Reparations should look like. What justice for us makes THEM comfortable. Ain’t that some arrogant motherfucking shit?

Opposition?

Locate and Bookmark and Study the very Jewish Edward Blum. The very Jewish Dennis Prager. The very Jewish Ben Shapiro. The very Jewish David Horowitz. The very Jewish Ezra Klein (we see you). Anti-Black AND anti-Reparations. There’s a long Jewish list. I have NEVER seen the global nor the domestic Jewish community ever push back against these very Jewish – openly anti-Black racists. (Oops…)

This relationship has always been a matter of our usefulness to their businesses and as bullet-absorbing buffers between them and the enthusiastically homicidal anti-Semitic white people. You know. The ones that shoot up synagogues. And the ones that want to shoot up synagogues, but as of yet haven’t because they don’t want to go to prison. If they can’t find a synagogue – a Black church will do. Same effect. Same high. That’s what nice Jews and good Black folks have to deal with out there.

Whenever some proactive racist produces a pre-mass murder “manifesto,” most of the time, infuriated rants specifically complaining on Blacks and Jews replacing them are carefully included in the same screed. So there is some degree of equality there. Right? Some of those hot white folks are policemen. Protecting and Serving. We’ve always been served by the police. Protection was never on the menu.

But to be clear, white anti-Semitism and racial animus towards Blacks are two different things. Understand People? RACISM itself is a system-based economic tool used to circumscribe and kill Foundational Black Americans Only. “Racism” does not apply to Latinos. Latinos are becoming white. “Racism” does not apply to Asians. Asians are provisional whites. “Racism” does not even apply to Diasporan immigrants. Diasporans are critical for giving the diversity scam propagandistic legitimacy. Hell No. And white supremacy continues. There is a wide difference between RACISM and the point to point inter-tribal animus that comes from inter-tribal competition. Like the economic competition between white elites and Asians for example. Do we have Blacks and Jews? OR – Do we have – Jews and Blacks?

Our racial trajectories from launch till landing are two different things. OK?

Ultimately going to two distantly different places – with two different economic potentialities and manifesting in this very real here and now with two obviously different eventualities revealed upon landing. At this point, I hope we understand that those trajectories and landings are not relatable in the least. See? Our historic interactions have never produced relatability. We have not a motherfucking thing in common with any-goddamn-body else. Especially the strategically-minded Jews. We’re the only ones enslaved and post-enslaved here in America by the dirty-assed whites, the dirty-assed Jews, and the dirty-assed Mongoloid Native Americans.

Do You Understand?

Our separate group positionalities and powers (or lack thereof) in this society and elsewhere is an obvious testament to the truths I’m stating here. Just look. And as far as our true relationship with the Jewish community, at the very least, we are not “brothers.” No more than a handshake. No more than a predatory contract signed. And in some cases – no more than a fuck. YOU ain’t Nothing BUT a Nigger – in the mind of the typical Jewish person. In the ethos of the global Jewish community. My American Freedmen are individually seen as either a potential asset or potential liability on their Jewish individual and corporate balance sheets. That’s Really It.

“Can ya’ dribble a ball? Can ya’ sing? Can ya’ buy my sneakers? – Niggah?”

But getting back to the point, even though the power structure would like to, they could not globally get away with direct conveyance to gas chamber elimination of forty plus million American Freedmen in five years. Like the Germans did with six million Jews between 1941 to 1945. Can’t happen that way. The white folks don’t need another George Floyd-level global backlash. (!) They don’t neeed some 1.3 Billion continental Africans becoming genocidally aware and proactively nervous.

(Oops!) Too many smartphones. Social media has infinite reach.

The Holocaust as we know it actually began from a propaganda and political reset standpoint between 1933 to 1939. There was some killing, but the mass killing did not happen right away. There was an actual project-managed preparation period of sorts. This inconceivably efficient persecution to grave process was done in stages.

Let’s look at those stages:

Concentration camp building and operations done from 1933 till 1945.
Elimination of political opponents started in 1933.
Passing of the Enabling Act (A law that gave Hitler the power to make and enforce laws without the involvement of the Reichstag or lower legislative house of the Weimar government) that happened in 1933.
Government ordered isolation of the Jews from civil society started in 1933.
Government sponsored boycott of Jewish businesses began in 1933.
Enacting the Nuremberg Laws (A series of antisemitic and racist laws that were enacted in Nazi Germany on September of 1935).
Kristallnacht (the “Night of Broken Glass”) – in 1938, Jewish businesses and other buildings were ransacked and/or set on fire throughout Germany and Austria.
The setting up of ghettos (sound familiar?) to segregate Jews started in 1939.
Thousands of camps and other detention sites established across German-occupied Europe. Building started in 1939.
Paramilitary death squads called Einsatzgruppen murdered 1.3 million Jews in mass shootings and pogroms activated in 1941.
The policy of Jewish extermination the Nazis called “The Final Solution to the Jewish Question” was discussed and finalized at the Wannsee Conference in Berlin in 1942.
The segregation of Jews in ghettos culminated in the execution of the policy of extermination called “The Final Solution” done from 1942 to 1945.

History is repeating itself as we speak. But we are the “Finals” this time.

OH!!! And let us not forget – The Holocaust was legal. Like Jim Crow was.

Check this out Family: The same minds that occupied and ran Nazi Germany are the same minds that occupy and run the United States. (!) The same minds that occupied and ran the British Empire are the same minds that occupy and run the United States. The same minds that occupied and ran the American Slaveocracy from 1776 to 1865 are the same minds that occupy and run the United States Right Motherfucking Now. Together. The only exception is that the Jewish community in these United States has always and up till now been a part of the American white power structure. Understand? Now, at the same time, just like the majority of American citizen-type white people in this country are anti-Black, the white elites that come out of those same people are also strategically anti-Semitic. See?

The only real working difference is that, because the Jewish community is a vital component of the financial, political, scientific, intellectual, and news propaganda infrastructure that helps to run the systems and complete the objectives of white supremacy, the Mayflower White Elite will always protect this community from the open racists and anti-Semites that want to literally kill them. Up to a certain point. They will protect as long as they stay On Code and retain their particular functionality within the elite white power structure. Occasional synagogue shoot-ups are allowed by the government to remind the Jewish community not to get too out of pocket – Understand? Nazi mindsets still run this country. But those nasty mindsets are more politically strategic and operationally nuanced than the globally unappeasable mindsets that at one time dominated the 1930’s and 1940’s.

Oh – and Jews are still white (careful).

Just to be clear Family – I am not anti-Semitic (Do I have to say that?).

But for us as Freedmen to fully come into our own, good, post-Reparations standing (safely) – it is upon us to, and absolutely necessary to contractually, managerially, and commercially divest from other communities. That’s not violence. That’s not anti-Semitism. OK? That’s about leaving other folks alone (reread that Kanye West quote above to drive this point home firmly in your Black heads). And standing fully on our own two Black feet. We have to quickly learn and seriously do for ourselves in all Black respects. Reparations is automatically implorative to do self-improvement, to do self-management, to do self-sufficiency.

That self-improvement must include self-ownership – self-possession. Our own knowledge and expertise has to undergird our Reparations. Period. We have our own beautiful financial, social, and political networks to build. Thinking Aloud: Could the activated goal of a properly revised Freedmen’s Bureau be a catalyst to actuate and sustain Black economic, financial, and political independence? Would that be possible? Understand Family: They Have Theirs – We Require Ours.

With Reparations, it is absolutely essential that we do this. Think: How can a community that once participated in your enslavement – give YOU good advice? Or? How is it conceivable that they will look out for you? To even notion this would be insanity on our part. They have an obligation to their community only. There is nothing wrong with them supporting THEIR team. And there is nothing wrong with you fully supporting YOUR team. That is no reason to hate anybody. But as a team, there are certain things that we should not do with certain people anymore. Especially when it comes to political, economic, and logistical matters.

At this point – agendas are definitely more important than money. Why? Because the agenda must be in place to provide a starting point of getting to the money. The Lakers don’t hate the Warriors. Right? But on the court, they just play the game.

It’s About Business.

We have a bad habit of feeding other communities over our own children. (!) The Korean community is one of the communities fed by us. Tacos are easy to make – you can do those yourself. Jewish coalition-created organizations like the NAACP, the Urban League, and Black Lives Matter are now quite detrimental to us (we all know this), and must be anathematized for our own political and economic good. The NAACP has become a slow-death gas chamber for us. It must be shut down.

But this is not to say that you should not have a glass of wine and participate in good philosophical and political discussions with certain Jewish individuals. Some of them (of course) have shown themselves to be quite decent associates (?) and civilized in certain intelligent face to face exchanges. But that does not mean that contracts have to be signed – or that you have to work at businesses that they own, or appear on their platforms, or buy certain products that are at this time insanely popular with young American Freedmen (Ahh… You know what they are).

And all of us should stay off Vlad TV. Stop allowing ourselves to be interviewed by them. Why are we telling THEM all of our inside business? Why? When it comes to THEM and their business whether it be inside or outside business – they don’t tell us shit. Not a motherfucking thing. Nothing. Why should they? Why should you?

At the same time – some emulations can be useful. Yep. The wheel does not have to be reinvented in every case just because the mechanical applications or the goals involved may be different. Understand? One of the things that I love about the Jewish community is their openly operative policy of non-forgiveness. They don’t leave any potentially anti-Semitic loose threads unaddressed. Definitely a good and effective thing to do. Definitely a good and effective thing that we must practice on persons and groups outside of our own. Once another group or individual outside of their [Jewish] group insults, trespasses, or misstates anything about them? There is no forgiveness! No Jesus. None. They do not forgive. And we shouldn’t either.

Turning the other cheek is meant to be practiced WITHIN The Tribe. Not with The Enemy. To those that are Biblically oriented – read this useful truth in context.

I personally cannot forgive slavery, Jim Crow, redlining, lynching, nullification, and the partitioning of Freedmen from rightful Social Security and GI Benefits.

You should never forgive nor forget that (and pay my Reparations). The Jewish community is at the top of the list of American groups that cannot be criticized or examined no matter what they do or say. I love it. Understand that non-forgiveness as a Tribal policy is a hard but beautiful political strategy – not an emotional thing. This is a damned good mindset Family. We need to practice this same hard policy. “If you have messed with one Freedman – you have messed with all Freedmen.” (!) That’s Malcolm X. George Zimmerman would not be walking around in sweet comfort, in beautiful safety, in breathtaking freedom if his victim were Jewish.

And that same unforgiveness should apply to ANY criminally wayward Freedman that robs, rapes, or murders anyone within the Family. Gangbangers and Black-on-Black criminals are nothing more than helpers to the objectives of racism-white supremacy. No better than a fucking Klansman – they both send OUR children to the cemetery. They both DESTROY our peace. If Derek Chauvin couldn’t get a pass after pressing a knee on a Black man’s neck until he died? Why should any Pookie or Ray Ray get a pass for shooting up the block? Something that the fucking Klan would do? OUR homes where OUR grandmothers rest and OUR babies play? They’re not going to the white community doing that shit. Right? If we American Freedmen really can’t find a safe place within our community – amongst our own? On our home block? Where can any of us find a safe place? Just Asking Family.

Cemeteries equally accomodate those that are deleted by Klansmen or Pookiemen.

The late financial arch-criminal Bernie Madoff is Jewish. OK? No Black person can criticize even him without consequences. This is not hyperbole. This is just a fact.

The Jewish community provides a great blueprint (with great results) as to how a marginalized group should operate in a mostly hostile environment. A reality that is worth studying. They understand that existence, power, and prosperity are team sports that cannot be won unless you and your folks are On Code. Please Notice Family: That Jews always remain unified tribally even when they may in some cases, be disunified interpersonally. That’s an essential tribal art that we must urgently master to make and keep our Black community fully operational and safe.

That blueprint ties into why Reparations are sorely needed. Other groups hate us BECAUSE we’re American Freedmen. And that’s OK. Hate On Brother. But they are able to hurt us because we do not have our independent and semi-independent political and economic networks operationally in place. Racial animus from others becomes inconsequential if your enemies are not able to starve you into submission because you did or said something they didn’t like. Racism? Our independent economic strength and political cohesiveness can mostly mitigate or eliminate that.

Racism is an economic weapon – no less than spectator sports is a distractional political weapon. Control of one’s economics is a form of community defense – and strategic offense, in a capitalist country. This kind of control is even more powerful than the possession of rifles and swords. The Jewish and Korean communities are able to heap any kind of of abuse they want on us mainly because we are politically and economically disorganized; and because we consistently give them the hard cash economic resources through our unenlightened patronage to brutalize us.

The next time your father is forced to fall to his knees and grovel for mercy at the financial feet of the untouchable community; the next time your mother is beaten to bloody at the Korean-owned beauty supply store; the next time your daughter has been impregnated at the Palestinian-owned liquor store, then support-abandoned;

don’t forget who paid for it.

Family! Any directly targeted anti-Semitism or anything that could be perceived as such, presently coming from us, is not only stupid, but also non-productive. These are times for us to observe, study, and learn. Even though they are white, there are many useful things from that community that we can absorb right now, modify to our usefulness, and do. Note: universal laws universally apply to everybody.

They did get THEIR Reparations – Didn’t They?

Oh Yeah!!! As an aside – pick up a copy of: Judah Benjamin – Counselor to the Confederacy by James Traub (ISBN 978-0-300-22926-4). Mr. Benjamin served in the Confederacy as Secretary of War and Secretary of State. He was also a slaveholder and advocate for slavery. An interesting individual that happens to be Jewish.

Ugly And Beautiful Trajectories

From 1865 till 1965 our emancipation to Civil Rights trajectory per the elite power structure, was not that of elimination. Why not? Because we were still highly useful commercially, politically, sexually, and psychologically to the dominant society.

Hard racial circumscription is the rule. At the same time, that circumscription is disaggregated and intersectional. With many large and small intersections that are complex, but well understood by everybody. Obvious – but lots of grey areas. “But those Niggers are needed.” Why? Because for a white man to be fully secure in his good white superiority – a Nigger “shoe shiner” has to be somewhere around.

A “Yasss Suh” issuing from a Black face has to be heard on daily. When I was a child, I remember seeing white men that would get their shoes shined, and not because their kicks needed it. Understand? That shoe shine sit-down was done because they needed that psychological boost of a “Nigger Fix” every day: “Yasss Suh – how ‘ya feelin’ today Suh..?” They would tip generously, and leave those shoe shine chairs HAPPY. That shit’s over. But!!! The degenerate and fratricidal intensity of “Gangsta Rap” firing up a white guy’s earbuds, I truly think, at least on some deep and primal level, fulfills that same “Nigger Fix” purpose today. We also have Black women – speaking on social media platforms on how much better it is to date white men over Black men – this also serves that same racialized purpose.

Now, there were always periodic dust-ups between the races during this nasty timeframe. But the period of extreme keep-those-Niggers-in-their-place-ism from my reckoning took place between the hot years 1868 to 1925, and that includes the infamous “Red Summer Of 1919.” That fifty seven year period was a continuous “Black Kristallnacht” for the American Freedmen. The tightly combined forces of the government and white citizens unleashed an orgy of lynchings, burndowns, mass murders, rapes, robberies, assassinations, benefit nullifications, forced labor, justice miscarriages, partitioning of constitutional rights, torture, and theft with no legal recourse. As an aside – the Nazis solicited suggestions on how to treat Jews from Southern racists. Nazis rejected some of their suggestions as “too racist.”

I wonder why?

“Black Ethnocide?” Remember, there are steps to this thing. The main thing that caused white people nationwide to regroup and get On Code after the Civil War was our extremely quick ramp-up in politics, business, economics, trades, and education. Done in a few months after emancipation and no money: “How’d Black Elijah learns ta reeed? Hah? How!? He’eez mah slave – I nevah teach em’ a thang but how’ta plow. He’eez a lawyah?” That scared the shit out of white people. The agreed upon ruleset of the dominant society is this: Black excellence cannot be fully expressed unless it is monetized under white or Jewish control. If that control isn’t there, it must be imposed or captured in some way – so that excellence can flourish in the way THEY want it to flourish. If not, that excellence must be destroyed. You can clearly see this today in the management aspect of the Rap Music industry.

White Society Today: “Nope. We’re done. Black people must be erased…”

This measured, diabolical erasure actually starts in 1964. American Freedmen were getting “too many” rights(?!). Making too many demands of substance. Too much political enlightenment. Rising up too fast. Here is the true “Great Replacement” – and just like the Jewish Holocaust, there is a methodicalness to this thing. Timing. The list below is purposely not put in order unlike the list above. Everything below occurred not as a progression – but as a slow, poisonous, evil, overlapping, quiet, aggregation. You see? Schedules. Deadlines. All components listed have effectively modified and adapted over White Standard Time and are at now, still operational:

The Great Society (Welfare) = A multi-level, multi-program strategy to destroy the most basic political and civil rights activism unit – That Is the nuclear Black family. Replacing the father (head of household) with The Government. Has caused some Black women to love The Government over Black men. This was quite successful.

Redlining And Urban Renewal = Redlining is another term for intentional ghetto planning and creation. Containment. “Urban Renewal” is a polite way to describe Black displacement and destabilization programs. Keep those Niggers moving!

Feminism = An ideology we had no business getting involved with. Basically a power struggle between white men and white women. That is their business. Feminist ideology was an additional factor in helping to disunify Black men from Black women, along with disrupting positive Black community dynamics. When power is taken away from fathers – a community can easily be destroyed.

Feminism was also a way of promoting the community-destructive idea of the “independent Black woman.” Individualism on the part of either men or women destroys community cohesiveness. One manifestation is the explosion of single motherhood in our community starting in 1965 till now. A near guarantee of producing thousands of dysfunctional children. Again, a strategy to destroy the most basic political and economic activism unit. The nuclear Black family.

Marginalization – Intimidation – Assassination = Marginalization (mostly financial) via government policy and white micro-aggressions. Intimidation by the police, white supremacists, and certain white sub-groups. Assassination of certain individuals that are deemed by The Government to be “dangerous” or “radical” or “problematic.” When these assassinations happen, they hammer into the Black psyche their mortal vulnerability if they “get out of line.” Assassination is also a wholesale intimidation method to discourage others from trying to make the changes that’ll make our people truly competitive within this American system.

To discourage others from trying to make those consequential changes that will finally bring American Freedmen to being and living as full Americans.

The War On Drugs = Racism-white supremacy needs to fill up those private prisons. Understand? There are international objectives to be accomplished. There are shareholders that must be satisfied. Though this is international in scope, the main domestic targets are Black people. The Government brings in the drugs. The Government puts those drugs into the right hands to sell. The drugs destroy the self-esteem, personhood, and intellects of the buyers – thus breeding more crime – thus breeding active citizen outrage – this requiring larger police budgets – which in necessity facilitates more arrests and convictions of Black people. To ultimately and profitably remove the problem of Black people from this American society.

Private prison shareholders required the construction of a preschool to prison pipeline because more efficiency and bodies are needed. Shareholder net worth is much more important than the preservation of Black lives. The “war on drugs” includes the partitioning of Black people from the legal cannabis industry. That’s The Government establishing systems. See? And don’t forget the imprisonment to Constitutional slavery speedbump originally put into the 13th Amendment.

Feminization And Emasculation = It has been a quiet and methodical progression. Media created propaganda pushing the emasculating myth of Black men deploying “toxic masculinity” in the course of just being ordinary men. Shaming Black men from being what they are. Men! Feminization – I want Black men to notice that the top guys that run empires do it in suits with no earrings. Those men do not appear in fashion magazines wearing skirts. The media is pushing this new psychology to our children that the ideal Black man wears black fingernail polish and earrings. No shade towards the gay community. (!) None. But Saucy Santana on politics?

Ahh… No.

It’s sick out here: “Brother – you forty-seven years old and still saggin’ yo pants?” Sorry Family – to me saggin’ remarkably looks like you’re selling ass. Busted as fuck. Not for grown men Family. To a degree, one’s appearance both reflects and reinforces one’s state of mind. This psychology sets up how your environment initially interfaces with you. That understanding was part of the Nation Of Islam’s training consisting of the bow tie and business suit. Imaging oneself to the world. The Enemy counts on the complete feminization and infantilization of Black men. Many hated Kevin Samuels – but his presentation is something worth emulating.

Now – young Black mothers pierce the ears of their infant sons. Just like girls.

Benign Neglect = Is actually municipal disinvestment. It’s an active urban planning process in which a city or other municipal entity decides to abandon or neglect a particular Black community. This happens when a city chooses to allocate fewer resources to Black communities. Choking them to death. Those Black communities are then slated for demolition, the strategic relocation of current residents, and then their eventual replacement. Is that called gentrification? This nasty practice (done mostly by Democrats) has been a continuous thing throughout our history.

Benign Neglect also shows its ugly face in how our so-called representatives (Democrats) legislatively and policy-wise do nothing for us. We have bitch Black legislators at all levels that do more for Hispanics and illegal aliens than they would ever think to do for the folks that consistently put and keep them in office.

Abortion = I personally am pro-choice. But the only group this is being PUSHED on are American Freedmen. Black women are aborting like it ain’t shit. Hispanics and others are pretty much not going there. Don’t forget Margaret Sanger’s plan to use abortion as a means to get rid of us. That plan is still in place – just for us.

In 1960 85% of the United states population was white and 11% was Black. Less than 4% was Latino. As of the 2020 Census 19% of our population is Latino. What percentage would ours be without abortion? Are we heeding the dying wish of Margaret Sanger? The 2020 Census says that Freedmen are now at 12.4%. We going back to 11%? My understaning is that since the legalization of abortion – twenty million Black babies have been eliminated via that method. And the Latinos have now overtaken us in population numbers. Are we sure we want to keep doing this?

Let me clarify – I support pro-choice abortion rights for white and Latino women.

Organization And Institution Weaponization = The NAACP, the Urban League, the Rainbow PUSH Coalition, the National Council of Negro Women, the Congress of Racial Equality, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the National Action Network. All of the aforementioned organizations are extensions of the Democratic Party. And operationally detrimental to our push for Reparations. The fully weaponized Congressional Black Caucus represents Hispanics over us.

Cultural Commandeering = The ownership and other-shaping of Black music and domestically generated Black culture by other (possibly hostile) groups. Fill in the blanks. Understand the psychological power of music and warfare marketing. Fat Joe? Fill in the blanks. Who Else? What are we instilling in our children? We must be honest about the death culture promoted in some forms of Hip Hop. This, which is mostly owned by a community other than our own that can’t be criticized. The anti-critical thinking music and media targeted to our community is a callous form of slick social engineering. A weapon of mass mental destruction. Fill in the blanks.

Blind Coalitionship = The anti-Black and Brown exposure and blowup via Nury Martinez and her associates in Los Angeles tells you all you need to know.

Integration = Are You Kidding?

Pan Africanism = One of the worst political ideologies to infect the community of American Freedmen. A diversional threat that is poisonous to the proper formation of an American Freedman political philosophy and ethic. A dead ideology that is globally impractical, solely because only American Freedmen embrace it, while the Diaspora to a man wholly rejects it. We all see this shit. Pan Africanism is operating nowhere in Africa(!?). Nowhere. A horrible waste of intellectual and advocational time. A needless distraction away from what we need to do and accomplish here. If you think about it – Pan Africanism is an arrogant form of Black on Black racism.

I will explain that arrogance in detail in a future post.

There are probably more components, but I think I covered the major parts. It is up to us to mentally reset and divest from the power of these ideas and actions.

The Latino Dynamic

“Fuck that Guy – He’s with the Blacks…”

Nury Martinez

“Mejorar La Raza Motherfuckers!”

I would like to thank Nury Martinez, Kevin de Leon, Gil Cedillo, and Ron Herrera for helping me explain that there is NO “Black and Brown Coalition” with receipts. And there never was. A Democratic Party generated political nonsensicality. A wonderful story worthy of Disney. Coalitionship? I have been speaking against this obvious political and economic lie for twenty years. Maybe more. (?) Playing slick game on individuals and groups is part of the political process. For real. If you (or we) fall for the okie-doke – the banana – that’s on You (or Us). That’s the way it is. This is why gainful political education and focused proactivity is so essential for us.

“Fairness” is for little girls playing tag Family. There is a substantive consequential difference between doing playtime games and doing serious games Family. The heavy consequence with the serious game is who walks away from the table with the money – and who doesn’t. You don’t coalition, ally, or sweetheart with your opponent(!). You improve your game against your opponents. (!) Opponents must exist – but they must exist only for us to vanquish, eliminate, or subsume. That’s it. Every time I hear someone speak that dreamy term “Black and Brown” – a vision of the Reverend Al Sharpton’s pompadoured majesty appears in my mind. Terrible.

Wake-Up Shot: Fat Joe (a good Puerto Rican) – “Fuck You!!! Hip Hop was created by Latinos and Blacks (notice the order) FIFTY – FIFTY!!! Move over Niggers!”

Digest that yet? OK. Well let’s get to it:

After the 2020 election, President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. vomited on a group of “Black leaders:” Instructing them to (now I’m paraphrasing): “Understand that in order for ‘you people’ to get anything for yourselves – you have to learn to put your Black faces firmly between the butt cheeks of the fucking Hispanics and deeply inhale the fragrance. I got your back Niggas – how far can I stick it in?”

Well? That’s what he said.

Now that the “Black and Brown” covers were blown off in Los Angeles, I hope that good Freedmen everywhere are realizing that we are the least in need of alliances, coalitions, mixed-ethnic caucuses, and partnerships. Especially when it comes to politically fraternizing with Latinos anywhere in this country. Nury Martinez, et al were saying nothing anecdotal or aberrational. Now we know they have plans

OH – and don’t forget. These are Democrats.

Those common conversations have been going on as long as there have been Hispanic politicians in this country that must deal with Blacks. It’s just that this one got out. Those same conversations will continue. The Hispanics will just move those same profane chop ups to their home living rooms, or talk on the side of the soccer field – instead of speaking freely and secretly negotiating in (possibly hot) meeting rooms within government buildings. An expensive lesson learned.

Did you see Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s fucked up attempt at damage control?

It was amusing and satisfying to watch Hispanic politicians in major cities with substantial Black populations do damage control. Incredible. First Wave: In Chicago, there was a press conference given by eight prominent Hispanics (a US Congressman, five City Councilmen, and two glib representatives from Hispanic community organizations), and four Freedmen (two City Councilmen and two pastors). Saying stupid crap – spitting the usual boilerplate bullshit – about “that does not represent all Latino politicians” – and “we must use this time for healing” – and “let us use this as a lesson for our communities to come closer together.”

Why? So we can make collard green tacos? Get The Fuck Outta Here…

Second Wave: Then you have the usual mush-mouthed Black politicians following hard Pelosi orders and speaking on how we all “should work together” – and “talk bullshit together” – and “fuck Niggers together.” Third Wave: bringing up the rear, closing this shit out properly – you have Democrat Party bought and trained Black pastors offering palliative religious nonsense uniformly centered around “prayers and forgiveness.” With still too many of us listening to these ordained charlatans. Devotionally bringing us back into that dangerous “Black and Brown” – delusion.

Fuck that. The Family at this point is growing into political maturity (I hope).

Didn’t Dr. John Henrik Clarke tell us that “we didn’t have any friends?” Didn’t Felix Tijerina firmly tell the world to “Let the Negro fight his own battles… I don’t want to ally with him?” Dr. Clarke and Mr. Tijerina both meant what they said Family. We NEVER had any friends. Nobody. Latino anti-Blackness cannot be blamed on Latinos absorbing racism-white supremacy from the dominant society in the United States. The dynamics of this point is something I want you to get and be real clear on. What we see is a racism that was internally and independently generated and weaponized in Central and South American countries long before Latinos arrived in any appreciable numbers within these American borders.

A normalized (and possibly lethal to us) Latino inner and outer societal-racialism that is more openly violent, virulent, and visceral towards Blacks than the daily white fragility-type racism we usually experience now. Just ask the Afro-Latinos. We could have asked Trayvon Martin – but it’s a little late for that. Get the point?

We must wake up Family. The presence of melanin in another community does not automatically translate into ally-ship. Never. If that was the case, our antecedents wouldn’t have been sold away from Africa in the first place. That’s the real deal. We were sold away by other heavily melanated people. (!) And I still find it hard to believe that all forty-plus millions of us have not operationally embedded this real racial reality into the center of our racial consciousness. Family – if you can digest the graphic hypothetical laid out below. I want you to understand the situation.

The Situation:

This: Imagine being grabbed, handcuffed, ankle cuffed, gagged, and blindfolded at gunpoint. Shoved into the back of a van. You are then two-hours transported to the remote edge of a dark forest. You feel the van entering the forest. After a half-hour of rolling over rough terrain and rustling vegetation, the van finally stops near the hilled boundary of a deep – pre-dug grave. Remember Black person – this is YOU. They remove the blindfold. They yank you out of the van – then drop you into the grave face up. They want you to watch your fate. You watch in bottomless horror and gagged screams as you witness yourself being moved closer to eternity – with each heaping shovel being emptied upon your immovably tethered being. Death. When the job is done – your Latino captors take a few moments to relax from their labors at the gravesite. Leisurely consuming a twelve-pack of Coronas drawn from a cooler. Afterwards? They gather themselves. And finally drive away.

This, literally and figuratively is what the “Browns” want to do with and to us as a collective. Understand Family – to the Hispanics, we are in their way. There is no doubt that they want to literally sweep us off the face of the earth, or bury us deep within it. Whatever is most expedient. Dig? They’ve already done this elimination in Argentina, Venezuela, and several other South and Central American countries. That history is readily available. Look it up. We are in their way living space wise – employment wise – resource wise – political power wise – culture wise – even down to person wise. Taking everything they can from us. Even our fucking music (Fifty – Fifty!!!). Don’t forget our good Bronx friend Fat Joe. He was also in the van.

Notice that the grave was pre-dug. They got plans.

I don’t know how I can hammer this any harder. All of what we are presently seeing is about some motherfucking team sports. Not about who likes who. Not about no one-sided fellowshipping with slick motherfuckers from other groups. Latinos, as we speak are sabotaging Freedmen as far as jobs and resources. White folks numbers are diminishing and they are allowing South and Central America to stream their populations to here for backup. And now putting policies in place over us one by one. We are witnessing a kind of Twenty-First Century Homestead Act.

The Hispanics are operationally aware that there ain’t no “Black and Brown” no – nothing. Those sonofabitches are laughing at us over their beer and burritos. The “Browns” are power hooking up with the Asians as we speak. It’s called the “Asian & Latino Coalition PAC.” They are skillfully playing a hard and ugly political game economically for themselves and politically against us. Against Us. Facts. Unlike the fake, Democrat created “Black and Brown” coalition, this is a real, operational coalition people. Check out this honest voice that was posted on Reddit – 10/2022:

Latino-Asian Alliance in Future?

Long time lurker here. I’m Mexican-American and grew up with many East/Southeast Asians.

In light of LA City Council member Nury Martinez’s racial comments (this is an obvious ploy by white liberals to sack Latino political power in an already underrepresented demographic) – it seems like whites will use the sacredness of Blacks as a battering ram against all non-whites. This doesn’t just affect Hispanics, but obviously Asians too as they realized their ranking in the racial hierarchy during Harvard [University] admissions and anti-Asian crimes.

What I’m getting at is [that] we need a Brown coalition – [an] Hispanic/East Asian/South Asian/Middle Eastern [Coalition] to combat the tactics white liberals use to keep us in place. I know Mexicans and Asians don’t always get along, but this is often due to [the] more ghetto mentality [of certain] Mexicans who disparage Asians. However – a united Hispanic/Asian Front (with possibly other ethnicities) could easily withstand the Black/white power dynamic that seems so out of place in a city that is 49% Hispanic. We know that a certain demographic is always the common denominator in racial tensions (1991 Crown Heights Riots with Jews, 1992 LA Riots with Koreans, etc.), but for the most part we can get along. This kind of unity is something I want all Asian communities to consider.

Ultimately – I hope the gap between Hispanics, Asians, and other non-Blacks & whites can be bridged so we can see real progress for ourselves. We have to recognize the danger of our not doing this – the Blacks for sure are our common problem. I can’t say we’ll always see eye to eye, but if we stick to our blue collar roots and remain unfeminized, it would be a better outcome for everybody…”

Nice to hear from the ordinary Hispanic rank and file. The Asian – Latino Coalition is now operational as we speak. He knows that there is a racial pecking order here. And he plans to fully exploit it. Did ya notice that this guy is completely opposite – hostile even to any relationship with “the Blacks?” Motherfucker (excuse me). And what is his version of a “better outcome for everybody..?” (!) Y’all better question.

When it comes to me sounding the alarm (years ago) that there is NO “Black and Brown Coalition” – don’t listen to me anymore. Listen to them. Listen to the hostile Hispanics in Chicago that told us to our faces that they are GOING TO push us out of our neighborhoods. For Real. Listen to Felix Tijerina. Listen to the hostile post writer above. Listen to Nury Martinez and her cabal. Family, don’t only listen to Ms. Martinez’s direct words. Extrapolate on those words and consider everything else they could politically mean. With their potential political ends. There it is.

Don’t focus on her racial offensiveness. Focus on what she was politically doing.

Family, every “strategic” sit-down, every political meeting, every “friendly” rally with Hispanics, may seem “coalitional” to us. OK? In actuality, those meetings are nothing but sweet opportunities for Hispanic groups to gather political intelligence against us. Understand? It’s time to believe your eyes and ears Family. Now that we KNOW what goes on behind closed doors, we need to independently construct a new political strategy. We have a beautiful forty-plus millions of us to unify.

False allies are not needed. We must rescue ourselves for ourselves Family.

The Lakers versus The Golden State Warriors

“And ye shall take them as an inheritance for your children after you, to inherit them for a possession; they shall be your bondmen for ever; but over your brethren the children of Israel, ye shall not rule one over another with rigour…”

Leviticus 25:46

Let me get one thing clear before I commence with this closing section.

The issue of lineage-based, cash-expended Reparations is non-negotiable. And any motherfucker speaking otherwise can get the fuck out my face. No one outside of the American Freedmen community has the right to dictate nor even suggest to us what Reparations should look like. It’s none of their fucking business. The best that others can and should do is to ally with us to get our Reparations done. That’s It.

Just so we can be real clear (especially if you’re non-FBA): What Reparations should look like and ultimately be is exclusively a convo between our chosen Foundational Black American representatives and the motherfucking United States Government.

That’s It.

That’s out the way. Now on to the subject: Above – that’s a lovely verse from the Old Testament. Isn’t it? A beautiful synthesis about how members of the other tribe(s) should be seized and enslaved forever. Yeah. But when it’s time – that one’s children should inherit the enslaved for their own use. (!?) And conversely, how sweetly one should treat the members of one’s own tribe. Not with enslavement, but with kinship and fairness. This Family, is not only how white ethnic groups look at us in relation to themselves, but how all ethnic groups (except us) look at all other ethnic groups in relation to themselves. That is pure political reality folks.

Ethnic groups other than our own seem to have a more visceral sense – a more active sense of advantage and survival than we presently do. I could be wrong. Our sense of competitiveness cannot only be displayed on the basketball court. If I am wrong please correct me in the comment section. As I write, every single ethnic group in this country, without exception has us slated for elimination. Just this morning on Black talk radio, I heard a Black union leader talking that irritating “Black and Brown” shit. After Los Angeles? After Nury Martinez? After That?

Still talking that “Black and Brown” stuff? I don’t understand why a certain many of us are so slow on certain subjects. This slowness has to stop. Note Family: There is absolutely not nothing stopping the fucking United States Government from declaring all Foundational Black Americans to be an inner security threat – then picked up – then transported to death camps – then transformed into fertilizer.

And the “Brown” world wouldn’t lift a finger to stop our erasure. As a matter of fact – the Latinos would jump in and help. Latinos love to kill Black people.

Fat Joe knows this (“Rap’s still good – might as well lay claim to it now…”). We have to ramp-up quickly and get into the game Family. Some of us are already in – but at this point we need at least a few million. Us, getting On Code and sincerely working now to secure our survival AND Reparations is the way that we can win.

That requires us to understand that politics is a team sport. Emotions are not involved. Hate is not involved. Anti-Semitism is not involved. What is involved is us getting to understanding the game – strengthening our team – getting on the court – and winning. “These Niggers can’t hold me back?” Those days have to be ended. Now. We have to stop pulling on each other. Now. And seriously get out of our own way. Now. Become a united front, as a united front. And a united middle. And a united rear. Otherwise? The next stop will be the cemetery. See? We are at this time, an aggregation of individuals pretending to be a group. A disorganized neighborhood rather than an operational community. There is a difference Family. Could the deep recognition of our barely known but closely-tied kinship be the key to creating operational unity? I still hope for the best. I just spelled that best out.

There is a book, titled: “Help Me to Find My People – The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery” by Heather Andrea Williams (ISBN 978-0-8078-3554-8). This profound book is a wrenching account of slavery, force, loss, subjugation, trauma, longing, searching. And as Dr. Darity states it: “… one of the deepest prices paid by those subjected to enslavement.” After reading this book – I had to pause heavily. And reassess what my true connections might be to other Freedmen.

This book lays out history, situations, and narratives. When I opened that book, I was looking for a certain number. In the course of looking for a number, I learned a lot. Some of the things in that book are absolutely chilling. It’s hard to believe that some of the things that went down in that book were conceived out of real human minds. But then – white people are known for always pushing the envelope.

Back to the number. The book did not give me that number (that was not its purpose). The number I was looking for was: “What was the percentage of Freedmen that found their relatives after slavery?” That led me to a 2017 NPR article regarding the subject: “After Slavery, Searching For Loved Ones In Wanted Ads” by Ari Shapiro and Maureen Pao. Want ads in Black newspapers were the primary way that ex-slaves were looking for kinfolk that had been sold away during slavery. More than 900 of these “Information Wanted” notices have been digitized in a project called “Last Seen: Finding Family After Slavery.” The ads in this project date from 1863 to 1902. They were placed in six newspapers:

The Christian Recorder – Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
The Black Republican – New Orleans, Louisiana
The Colored Tennessean – Nashville, Tennessee
The South Carolina Leader – Charleston, South Carolina
The Free Men’s Press – Galveston, Texas
The Colored Citizen – Cincinnati, Ohio

I still never got the exact success rate for finding family members from a bunch of other sources that I consulted either. But let’s use our imagination of probability and statistics based on what we have to work with. Because that’s all we have to work with. And the days – the years were ticking away. Let’s also include in this loose calculus that these tearful ads were placed long before the information and telecommunications era as an insurmountable handicap. – No Instagram. No Facebook. The extreme poverty and mobility constraints suffered by those that placed the ads must be considered as well. But they still tried. Still. The Chicago Defender was still publishing these ads well into the mid-1960’s – a whole century after the so-called Emancipation Proclamation. A whole century of searching.

The killer is this Family: Out of the 915 ads currently in the database, only two have been identified so far as resulting in found family. That is it. To extrapolate that result to a logical place? As we look across the forty-plus millions of us, we literally don’t know who we are kin to. But that kinship is buried in a group subconscious that spans over and ends within the borders of this country. So easy for us to call each other brother, sister, and cousin. Right? Because it’s there. So easy for your mother to have a strong connection to her best friend’s child and freely call her a “play daughter.” Right? Your on the block “homies” are called “family.” Right?

I would like everyone to consider these possibilities and remind yourself of these unconsciously known ties of kinship as a legitimate basis to unify and get certain essential things done by and for us as a community. Quickly and Right Now! We must overcome what was legitimately expressed in a recent Instagram comment:

“It’s backwards to think a Black president should have a Black agenda when Black people [themselves] are too scattered to have their own agenda. The individual desires for external validation [and entree] ethers any collective desires for internal sustainment. With no collective unity amongst a community, that community cannot expect an external community to have it for them. Order matters. Without it there’s no [operational] lineage. Black people, namely – American Freedmen, are the only ones that struggle with the concept of closing ranks. Even amongst our differences, [Foundational Black Americans] do not know when or how to close ranks to push an agenda. Gotta close ranks. I know one thing – we’d better learn. Family – this is the crux of self-determination and we just can’t seem to get it…”

With the exception of certain activists within the Reparations movement – this is where we are. Understand? If you get that understanding, let us from this point forward in this post – we will use the words Family, Freedmen, and Community interchangeably. OK? Now get this: Your community in this American society is going to reflect what you arrive for. Look: If your establishment is apolitical-ness, anti-intellectualism, partying, off-codedness, prioritizing the coalitioning with other groups over unifying with your own, turning-up, bullshitting, hanging-out, getting lit, getting crunk, irresponsibly creating broken families, reducing our population numbers through using abortion as birth control, and not critically paying attention to the fundamental things you should be paying critical attention to as a people? Realize Family: Your results are going to show that every time.

In the meantime, we are up against a consortium of hungry groups. Some long established here. Some flying in from Africa and the Caribbean. And some that are coming from South of the border. They are trying to get established substantially in business, in politics, and in living space. And with those new groups – laying the foundations of an economic stranglehold within their communities is a primary priority. And even though these normally disaggregated groups also compete with each other – when these disaggregated entities temporarily convene and consort – this finely unified consortium agrees that getting rid of “The Blacks” should be a cooperative endeavor. So Family, while too many of us are bullshitting – The Final Solution tailored for us is what will be knocking at our doors sooner than we think.

Put this into your minds as a survivalist exercise: Jews recognized that no matter where they immigrate throughout the world, they would never have the numbers to control anything via majorities, or to protect them. So what they did was focus on developing their economic and political standing. Their economic and political networks. To stranglehold those areas. Then population numbers cannot be used against them in the same way. Especially in the United States. They understood that they needed to have something else. What they have are three things that are not impossible for us to emulate: 1. A rock-solid CODE of conduct. 2. A rock-solid economic and political agenda. And 3. A rock-solid tribal network. Got It?

Those operational things work for all tribal groups. Universal Laws.

They understood what the odds were. When they came out of World War II they realized that society really will kill them down to the last child (sound familiar?). They focused on the seven main disciplines that the Nazi’s used to hurt them and became entrenched in those disciplines – so they would not get hurt again:

Politics
Law
Business
Finance
Economics
Media & Entertainment
Mathematics & Technology

Sounds like the stuff we need to be overrepresented in. Doesn’t It?

At this important point Family, we had better get damned serious about getting ourselves into positions of power – and actually representing and defending our Freedmen. Building and expanding our Local, Regional, and National networks as a Family. Politically and socio-economically. Brothers and Sisters up close – first, second, and third cousins at length. Facts. Practicing a practical consciousness of our historic, genetic, and relational ties and extensions. That understanding is supremely and operationally important if we are to survive. I mean SURVIVE.

And be careful: Pan Africanism is an infiltrational white supremacist and Democratic Party political tool, designed to take our focus off of OUR American business – and to put our focus on SOMEBODY ELSE’S African business. Pan Africanism will not and can not ever contribute to the political and economic unification of Foundational Black Americans. Understand this As A Tribe.

We must be in and dominate certain industries, not only just to individually prosper in – but so they can’t be used against us as a collective. Understand? This Is About Survival. Government productively responds to business, organizations, educational entities, unions, PAC’s, and think tanks. Not to individuals. And with that being the case, they understood why they have to have that economic base. When you control your economy – you control your politics. That has absolutely nothing to do with whether someone or a group “likes you.” Please Stop That. If we as a people have a strong economy in and of ourselves, we do not need to worry so much about our total numbers – or “likes.” Asians and Jews have proven that.

A productive politics cannot simplistically be reduced to just voting.

There is a reason that Jews and Asians (and even Black immigrants) don’t get harassed like Black people. We have the population numbers. We have the voting numbers. But they have the socio-economic numbers. Over Us. We vote. But they do the politics. They have embassies and counsulates and whole countries with treaties and protections and agreements with the United States backing them up. We have Democratic Party bought and paid Black preachers, NAACP’s, and Urban League type shit taking us backwards. A different dynamic. As an aside – other groups, organizations, institutions, and governments will never actually respect us as long as greasy-assed PREACHERS are held up to be, and used as the leaders of our community. They have no reason to take us seriously. Let’s change that.

We also have a NAARC, N’COBRA, Reparations United, and a FirstRepair confusing our Reparations demand with Pan African bullshit and scholarized distractions. But this we can also change right here as well. How? Knowing that the United States is our ethnogenicized point of origin and ethnotribal place of ownership. With us moving forward from that tribal point of origin to a place of understanding towards a reclaimed possession. In This America. Right Now.

Yes we are at war. I know many of us are not aware because tanks are not rolling down our communities (as of yet) and bombs are not being exploded (as of yet) – but yes there is a war going on. That war happens to be economic. It’s the only kind of war that counts in a capitalist society. The winner is whomever walks away from the table with the most resources to enjoy – and the most power to protect and control those resources. There is nothing stopping us from getting into the game and winning. This is ultimately about survival. Understand? The question for us – at this point is: “When will WE get serious about winning?”

An aside added 11/16/2023: We ARE at war HERE. Family – do not allow any community to stampede you into a position regarding their internecine struggles that they may have with another community in other parts of the world or here. If you do that – you will make yourself a target by those they are in opposition with. That can be quite lethal. Neither the Jewish, Latino, Asian, nor Palestinian community is in solidarity with us. And those communities have nothing for us politically or economically in terms of making us whole in these United States. Nothing. Those communities don’t want us to be whole. Straight Up. We must stop the very bad habit of supporting those that don’t support us. Their bad situations are not our fight Family. Stay out of fights that don’t belong to you.

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Three Internal Questions

I was assisted in writing this post by a rich bottle of Masseria Li Veli ‘Askos’ Susumaniello – Salento 2020. A Southern Italy red blend. Opulent. Bold. Earthy. Moderately dry. Soft acidity. Medium tannins. Fluid structure. Leading in with smoke and sweet raisins. Sustaining hard with plums, blackberries, and black cherries. Ending with complex cocoa, wood, and tobacco notes. Long – dry finish.

“The ten million Negroes of America form a group that is more essentially proletarian than any other American group. In the first place, the ancestors of this group were brought here with the very definite understanding that they were to be ruthlessly exploited. And they were not allowed any choice in the matter. Since they were brought here as chattels their social status was fixed by that fact. In every case that we know of where a group has lived by exploiting another group, it has despised that group which it has put under subjection. And the degree of contempt has always been in direct proportion to the degree of exploitation.

Inasmuch then, as the Negro was at one period the most thoroughly exploited of the American proletariat, he was the most thoroughly despised. That group which exploited and despised him, being the most powerful section of the ruling class, was able to diffuse its own necessary contempt the Negro first among the other sections of the ruling class, and afterwards among all the other classes of Americans. For the ruling class has always determined what the social ideals and moral ideas of society should be; and this explains how race prejudice was disseminated until all Americans are supposed to be saturated with it.

Race prejudice, then, is the fruit of economic subjection and a fixed inferior economic status. It is the reflex of a social caste system. That caste system in America today is what we roughly refer to as the Race Problem, and it is thus seen that the Negro problem is essentially an economic problem with its roots in slavery past and present…”

Excerpt from: “The Negro And The Nation” by Hubert H. Harrison (1917)

As a people for over four hundred years we have functioned in the shadow of a dark and unpredictable hurricane of death. I don’t think it has to stay that way. Those forceful winds of domination, deprivation, and despair will not ever cease until we march squarely towards the source of the gale. And vanquish it through unity, understanding, and determination. No Choice. This we must do Family.

Conversation: At a downtown bar with an old friend sipping on Bulleit Bourbon on the rocks and chopping it up on my three favorite subjects. Reparations, politics, and stereo components. We’d go deep on one thing for awhile, then switch it up to the next thing. Back and forth: “Hey Bartender – we need another hit!!!” When we slid back into Reparations, my dude asks a serious question: “I want reparations too Man – but where we are, in this country, these white folks. I don’t know. Man you sure you ain’t wasting your time on this? ‘Cause I don’t see it happening…”

A typical Chicago dialogue.

I get those kinds of questions and sentiments quite a bit from my Baby Boomer contemporaries. Wait a minute – I get this from Millennials and Generation Xers too. Damn. Nobody Believes! Will Generation Z provide a renaissance? I do facts – not hope. But getting back to the question. I’m never sure how to respond to that question. I look at fighting for the manifestation of group interests as something that should be natural for any member of any group. Especially when that interest involves something as fundamental as bodily and economic survival. Ya Think?

He might as well have asked me if playing with my grandchildren is a waste of time. Or – if listening to Jazz is a waste of time. I’m sure I could survive if I were somehow, for some good reason circumscribed from doing either. I’m not making any money when I do those things, but doing those things are definitely worth it. Right? An inability to predict outcomes is no excuse for inaction. Your child. Yes – YOUR child, may grow up to be a mogul or a murderer. An absolute inability to know how your child will eventually turn out is no excuse for you not to do your absolute best as a parent. The same thing applies to me as an activist member of an oppressed and deprived group. The thing that definitely applies to the rest of us.

Does it not? You tell me.

I get really tired sometimes dealing with Reparations. (Oops!) When my children were still growing up, I used to get tired of dealing with their asses too. But that didn’t stop me from parenting. My love for my children kept me going to keep parenting even when I didn’t want to. And fortunately – both of them turned out just fine. I could be wasting my time with this Reparations issue. Could Be? None of us in this movement knows how our efforts will turn out. That’s irrelevant.

The same reasoning could be applied to those that want to start businesses. As you know, most businesses fail. But that is not an excuse to not at least try. Most of the people reading this post are probably working at a business that somebody took a big risk to start and then eventually developed to success. Was that not worth it?

The Reparations movement is about a high-quality goal that is absolutely worth the time and attempt to accomplish. OK? Those American Freedmen that are actively in the dirty trenches to get this done are the best examples of what it means to be an American Freedman. They’re the vanguard of the corrective forces that will get us to full repair. This issue is larger than all of us. This issue connects all of us.

I still never satisfactorily answered my friend’s question. OK. Fine. But whenever I am presented with questions such as those – I will ask myself three concentrated questions. Questions that cause me to intelligently pause and stay strong in this correct purpose. Questions that force me to keep moving forward and challenging my political and social environment. And those questions are constant, running as if on a continuous tape loop. Through every dawn and sunset – I answer myself as well. I heard that you are not supposed to answer yourself. Self-responding could be an indicator for needing mental therapy of some kind. I’m supposed to be crazy anyway. Right? Below are the questions and the answers I apply to myself:

Question I: “Is It Just?”

Slavery + Reconstruction + Jim Crow + Redlining + Constitution = Reparations.

The need for justice is in my face every second of every day.

The entirety of American history attests to the justice of this Reparations demand. To reiterate each word that attaches to every atrocity and deprivatory policy would be redundant to my audience. You all know very well what they are. Correct? What amplifies the justice of this demand is the preponderance of the continuousness of the wrongs. Uniquely aimed at us. By this government. Redlining never stopped. It’s just been modified and streamlined. Our deep and long-suffering losses were never addressed nor recompensed. Reparations and all accompanying Freedmen-centric legislation is what will get us to full American. This is our responsibility to make to happen. Established in the here, the now, and the continuous future.

We did 400 Years. The Government can do at least a Hundred.

And no matter what you do, to attempt to escape that responsibility is impossible. The attempt can come in the distractive forms of indifference, nigger contrarianism, willful ignorance, Pan Africanism, philosophical excuse-ism, arrogance, blunts, the fucking NBA, various hedonisms, et cetera. As an American you have the freedom to do whatever the fuck you want to do. Or whatever you fucking don’t want to do. But your infantile wants really don’t matter Man. Fuck your wants. For our people and your children? The responsibility remains. For you to accept the challenge.

That last paragraph? That’s me talking to me.

Question II: “Is It Worthy?”

“Closing the wealth gap?” Is that worthy? Making our foundational-ness to this country mean what it is supposed to mean. Is that worthy? Securing the prosperity of our children and grandchildren. Creating a historic legacy for oneself. Is that worthy? Being an activist for this issue is so very correct, so noble that I don’t stress about when, or how, or if Reparations will happen. Is that worthy? Come On!!! How is “worthiness” even a question when it comes to this? This is for my people and your children. Even though I am a true Atheist; at this age (68) I feel especially close to my extended interpretation of this prophetic Martin Luther King Jr. quote:

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I am not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the promised land…”

This was the most beautiful and encompassing rendering of immovable purpose and mission uttered during my lifetime. Impenetrable and Unimpeachable. This.

At the same time – I am not a believer in God. So, every time I read this. As the streamed disaggregation of each word-meaning this paragraph comprises travels through my mind-space, there happens a metaphysical (if I can use that word) expansion. A re-application of what he means within my own mind-context.

Thus:

“Well, I don’t know what will happen now. We’ve got some difficult days ahead.” Correct. We don’t know what will happen now. That is the Reparationist life. That will always be the Reparationist life. And I love every second of it. “Difficult days?” We can’t afford weakness. What is the game without challenges? How does one grow without worthy opponents? The “worthiness” of this goal in itself is enough of a reason to continue. One’s racial self-esteem is a large factor here as well.

“But it doesn’t matter with me now. Because I’ve been to the mountaintop…” The vision of a fully accomplished and implemented Reparations program arose within me five years ago. Reparations is all that occupies my consciousness from 12:00 AM to 11:59 PM. The vision is too right to be left behind. Too beautiful to stop the work. Our children. Our grandchildren. Your legacy. The history books. Our money.

“Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I am not concerned about that now.” As of this writing I am sixty eight years old and over. So I am definitely not concerned about any “longevity.” I am only concerned with doing as much as I can for this mission as far as my time and health allow.

“I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the promised land…” Understand. I won’t do any other’s will but my own. My will alone is sufficient. But I do in an expanded sense understand what he means globally. “The Promised Land” in my mind concretely translates into “The Noble Accomplishment.” And I’ve seen through my own eyes “the accomplishment” through communing with my fellow Reparationist activists. Every face to face encounter with them IS ascending that great mountain.

To the American Freedmen: I am grateful you have allowed me to climb up.

“I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we as a people will get to the promised land…” Above me. The crescent moon has fixed itself bright as a blue dominator of a cloudless night. Yes: “I may not get there with you.” A statement so stark and individually inevitable. Yet so evanescently contextual.

And for me personally? I may not get there with you. So What? It is the: “we as a people” getting to where we need to be that is my driver. “We as a people?” Each of us, working on the “promise” that we have established for ourselves as a noble goal. Each one of us, no matter what, the Mission Continues. Understand Family. That even though I personally am not doing this for nothing – whether or not I personally see anything is not important. It really is not important Family. Nor should it be. This work must carry on to its necessary and recompensitive end.

No matter “who” is with us. Or not.

Question III: “Is It Constitutional?”

The first three words of the Constitution: “We the People” does solidly affirm that the government of the United States exists to serve its citizens. Point Blank.

The American Freedmen are not only the actual co-owners of this country, along with Foundational White Americans (Europeans that came and settled on this land from between 1619 to 1865 and their white descendants. White immigrants that came after 1865 don’t count. They don’t.). But we are also the original owners of the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments. Know. We actually do own the original meanings of all Civil Rights Acts: 1866, 1871, 1875, 1957, 1960, 1964, 1968, 1990, and 1991. Their original intents have as of late been modified, expanded, and passed out to others. While we have been legally “redlined” from useful access. We must get on our legal and Constitutional jobs and re-legislate those exceptions back into our exclusive favor. To pointedly restore to our usage alone, the all-important Civil Rights Act of 1866 for one. We have a lot to reclaim and repossess Family.

We also have a lot to kick-start into operationality.

Like petitioning the government for a redress of grievances. So! Let us see Family: Among The Civil War Amendments, we have The Thirteenth Amendment of 1865 that abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, and authorized Congress to enforce abolition. The Fourteenth Amendment of 1868 established citizenship to the Freedmen and to all persons “subject to United States jurisdiction.” This Fourteenth prohibits states from violating a citizen’s privileges and immunities. This beautiful Fourteenth Amendment provides due legal process and a full guarantee of equal protection of the laws. This – “…and subject to the jusrisdiction thereof…”

And finally – this Fourteenth Amendment established birthright citizenship for the newly freed slaves and their descendants. Only. Definitely was not for Mai Ling and Milagro to anchor. The Fifteenth Amendment of 1870 prohibits the use of race, color, or previous condition of servitude in determining which citizens may vote.

Nothing reparational there.

These Amendments secure the completion of Constitutional rights.

So – we have to run right back to The First Amendment, where that “Right To Petition” is clearly laid. (!) And this specifically prohibits Congress from abridging “the right of the people to peaceably assemble, and the unrestricted right of the people to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” Listen People: That “redress of grievances” for Foundational Black Americans includes a demand for Reparations. Now we’re getting somewhere. Starting at the beginning is usually a good idea. Since the Constitution was written, the Congressional Research Service (a public policy research institute of the United States Congress – working directly and primarily for members of Congress and their committees and staff) wrote this:

“… the right of petition has expanded. It is no longer confined to demands for ‘a redress of grievances,’ in any accurate meaning of these words, but comprehends demands for an exercise by the Government of its powers in furtherance of the interest and prosperity of the petitioners and of their views on politically contentious matters. The right extends to the ‘approach of citizens or groups of them to administrative agencies (which are both creatures of the legislature, and arms of the executive) and to courts, the third branch of Government. Certainly the right to petition extends [and applies] to all departments of the Government. The right of access to the courts is indeed but one aspect of the right of petition.”

Quite an excerpt. Those are the words generated by the Government. And this line: “… but comprehends demands for an exercise by the Government of its powers in furtherance of the interest and prosperity of the petitioners and of their views on politically contentious matters.” Furthering interest and prosperity sounds exactly like what we are trying to get the Government to “comprehend.” Doesn’t it? I think we would all agree that Reparations is a “politically contentious matter.” Correct? So. This movement is on the right track. Since all the Constitutional, legislative, and legal infrastructure has already been laid, that assures me that I am not “wasting my time.” To myself, all three questions have been comprehensively answered.

The only thing that I need to do is continue the work.

Just and Constitutional? OK. Remember Family, this entire country is tricky. Nothing played in this motherfucker is “fair.” The terms “justice” and “fairness” have a tendency to be used interchangeably. Understand. “Fairness” is a bitch concept. “Justice,” when used within the context of a recompensive claim only gives you a legitimate ticket to enter the game. Yes. Just to ENTER the game. Entry in itself is no guarantee of the desired outcome(s). But the deal is to WIN. That’s it motherfucker. The game? Whatever it takes politically. Not a place to be “sweet” and “fair.” The Challenge? MMA is the appropriate analogy here.

Only merciless pressure and ass-kicking is respected in this political space.

This latter-day Reparations movement is the latest entry on the great American political chessboard that has important global implications. Reparations being accomplished in America will be the hot epicenter of a worldwide economic shift. Our game heads need to be fully on. All synapses need to be firing heavy. We have to politically ramp-up fast and hard. I plan on seeing this shit through.

It’s about to get real. Where the fuck are You?

To The So Called “Pretendians”

I was assisted in writing this post by a bottle of Wapisa Malbec 2017. A rich 95 Point, high-altitude Argentinian from Patagonia. Complex and flavorful. Inky and dry. Full body structure. Leading with ripe cherries, jasmine, black currants, and oak. A sustain of plums, apple, vanilla, and toast. Light tannins, moderate acidity. Closing with smoke, vanilla, and walnuts. Long – plush finish.

“One of the greatest handicaps among the so-called Negroes is that there is no love for self, nor love for his or her kind. This not having love for self is the root cause of hate (dislike), disunity, disagreement, quarreling, betraying, stool pigeons and fighting and killing one another. How can you be loved, if you have not love for self? And [with you being in] your own nation and [you in] dislike [of] being a member of your own, then what nation will trust your love and membership? – You say of yourself, “I love everybody.” This cannot be true. Love for self comes first. The Bible, the book that you claim to believe says; “Love the brotherhood” (I Peter 2:17). “Love one another” (John 15:17). Love of self comes first. “The one who loves everybody [other than his own] is the one who does not love anyone…”

Elijah Muhammad (“Message To The Blackman”)

Some people speak in inappropriateness to the detriment of their own goals.

I am not sure if I understand this. Maybe not this. OK? But, the way I was raised, I do understand, that depending on the potential positive or negative impact to one’s household – some home conversations can be spoken about with others outside of the household; and some conversations should stay in the house. Understand?

It would seem to me at this point in the reparations movement that the total focus should be getting our hands on the bag – policies – set-asides. What happened to that? Look, I am no geneticist. But every single person that can neatly fit under the broad terminology of “Foundational Black American” is either bi – tri – or quad-racial. Both old and new mixes. Just to keep things real fucking simple. And some of us do indeed have some Native American genetics, some of us have pre-slavery period Black indigenous genetics, and only some of us have Black never-enslaved Freeman genetics. True. Yep! This is great stuff to know. And!!! Possibly undeniable history? OK. This is also great stuff to keep between and to yourselves AT HOME.

Think Strategy Family.

At this point – I have to ask: “What is the ultimate goal in publicly discussing this?”

Because I have to bottom-line ask: “Is this ‘Indian’ talk getting us closer to the bag or not?” I am sure that a good number of the people reading this post have at one time or another; lied on various applications; dressed up resumes; intentionally omitted certain aspects about oneself in interviews to make it past certain barriers. Right? So why in this instance are certain groups within the reparations movement digging up and broadcasting information that can possibly mitigate or extinguish our reparations demand? Is this talk about some “high” in declaring yourself as “Indian” – OR securing the bag? What can you take to the bank? “Indian-ness?”

In this Freedmen’s Reparations Era – what do you think will spend Family?

When reparations does happen – those conversations could have thousands of us self-eliminating ourselves from eligibility. Ammunition. I think you forget that white reparations oppositionists are absorbing every word and possibly developing a shutdown strategy based upon these public conversations. At many times in our racial history we have been denied rights and benefits through racist strategies of legally added complexity. This time, WE are handing over workable complexities that can be weaponized against us by our enemies(!?). We must overcome strategic blindness (ours). One of our historic downfalls as a people is us talking too much.

YES – talking too damned much. Scenario: Just like The Bureau of Indian Affairs has white people working there, The Bureau of Freedmen Affairs will have some white people working there as well. Just a reality of federal administration. You are standing in line, this >I< close to getting that $350,000 or more wealth gap closure check cut, drawn from the United States Treasury, and placed in your hand. The white intake clerk requests a sworn establishment of lineage. You answer: “Indian!” The clerk then directs you to the line that will be escorted to The Bureau of Indian Affairs. You can make your demands there. How will that conversation go?

Ahh…

So LOOK: If you believe you are an Indian – Cool. But I would suggest you lose Dane Calloway for a minute before he fucks up your money. OK? I support your “Indian-ness” or “Indiginous-ness.” OK? But if your official paperwork as of now says – Black, Negro, Colored, African American, AND if anybody ever at any point in your life has ever called you a “Nigger” – that right there should temporarily be your eligibility standard. Let’s focus on the money Man!!! Do you understand?

If you want to be an Indian – be an Indian. But at this time, I would say: “Keep your mouth shut.” And make sense for yourself. Let us work in unity with the specificity Reparationists that are trying to get the bag for all of us. AND LET’S GET THAT FUCKING CHECK. Once you get that check – you can buy all the feathers you want. Get a peace pipe. Yes! You got some fucking money! Then you can get that peace pipe poppin’ with some real good shit. Got a backyard?

Amazon sells all kinds of teepees – some are fireproof…

I can’t tell anyone what to do. Just consider what I’m saying here. That’s All.

The Juneteenth Standard

I was assisted in putting together this suggestion by a bottle of The Prisoner Wine Company – Unshackled Cabernet Sauvignon 2019 – St. Helena California. Dark. Dry. Sharp structure. Moderate tannins and acidity. Leading in with cocoa, vanilla, and ripe blackberries. A sustain of plums, tobacco, and oak. Ending boldly with cherries, apples, and raspberries. Long – moderately heavy finish.

“I am for the acquiring of knowledge or the accumulating of knowledge – as we now call it; education. First, my people must be taught knowledge of self. Then and only then will they be able to understand others and that which surrounds them. Anyone who does not have a knowledge of self is considered a victim of either amnesia or unconsciousness and is not very competent. The lack of knowledge of self is a prevailing condition among my people here in America. Gaining the knowledge of self makes us unite into a great unity. Knowledge of self makes you take on the great virtue of learning.”

Elijah Muhammad (“Message To The Blackman”)

The picture above is of the State Flower of Texas – the Texas Bluebonnet (Lupinus Texenis). Beautiful? It is a species of lupine – a genus of flowering plants in the legume family Fabaceae. The genus includes over 199 species, with centers of diversity in North and South America. Lupinus Texenis is found in Texas, and the Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas.

At the time of this writing – it is the first week of June 2022. Juneteenth became a federal holiday on June 19, 2021. That was a good thing – actually. Lately, I have been listening to various Twitter spaces, and reading a few articles online. There have been legitimate complaints from Freedmen, Foundational Black Americans, B1’s, ADOS, and others regarding the commercialization of, the co-opting of, and the perceived mishandling of Juneteenth. The flash point that ignited the Freedmen community was Walmart selling – then recalling “Juneteenth Ice Cream.” The recall came as a result of a backlash primarily done on social media. Wonderful. We get what we want when we unify and focus. Now, the complaints are valid to a point.

But!!! I think that some of the culpability is misplaced.

Why? Well Family – we cannot expect other groups to do the proper thing in this Juneteenth space because of two reasons. Reason One: The United States is an unabashedly capitalist country in fact and practice. We cannot legitimately allow anger to lace up our thoughts and words if WE have not established control and ownership of this Juneteenth issue, which is clearly being mishandled. Let us also understand that serious consequences have their place when interlopers interlope. We must be ruthless and uncompromising in that respect. Understand? People are going to commercialize and transactionize anything that is potentially or currently profitable and will have no circumscriptions, taboos, or restrictions while doing it.

Just the way it is.

A law of the universe.

Reason Two: Because WE as a Freedmen community HAVE NOT established hard standards, unimpeachable protocols, and responsible ownership. Full Stop.

Family – no line has been drawn. No prohibition has been enforced.

So. What should we do about this? What is it that we need to know? Well, what is going to be discussed here are suggested attitudes and actions to get control of this very important day. Just American Freedmen type Suggestions! OK Family?

What Is Juneteenth?

This Juneteenth, which is now a federal holiday, commemorates the secondary emancipation or complete enfranchisement of Foundational Black American slaves. It is also observed for celebrating American Freedmen culture. The final landing of a 900 day legal manumission trajectory starting from January 1, 1863 until its ending on June 19, 1865. Juneteenth originated in Galveston, Texas. It has been celebrated annually on June 19 in various parts of the United States since 1865. The day was recognized and established as a federal holiday on June 17, 2021. President Joseph Biden signed the “Juneteenth National Independence Day Act” into law.

Juneteenth’s commemoration is on the anniversary date of the June 19, 1865 announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army general Gordon Granger, proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas (many of those slaves were held by Native Americans). This was the last state of the Confederacy to operate with openly enforced and legally sanctioned institutional slavery.

The Emancipation Proclamation, issued on January 1, 1863, freed enslaved people in Texas and all the other Southern secessionist states of the Confederacy except for the parts of states not in rebellion. Although the Emancipation Proclamation ended slavery in the Confederate States – it did not end slavery in states that remained in the Union. The last enslaved people present in the continental United States were freed when the enslaved people held in the Indian Territories that had sided with the Confederacy were released, namely and mainly the Choctaw Indians in 1866.

Celebrations date from 1866, at first involving church-centered community gatherings in Texas. These events then spread across the South and became more commercialized in the 1920’s and 1930’s, often centering on a plethora of food festivals. The participants in the Great Migration out of the South carried their celebrations to other parts of the country. During the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960’s, these celebrations were eclipsed by the nonviolent determination to achieve civil rights, but grew in popularity again in the 1970’s with a strong focus on African American social freedoms, political empowerments, and economics.

Beginning with Texas by proclamation in 1938, and by legislation in 1979, each state and the District Of Columbia have formally recognized the holiday in some way. With its adoption in certain parts of Mexico, the holiday became an international holiday. Juneteenth is celebrated by the Mascogos, descendants of Black Seminoles who escaped from slavery in 1852 and then settled in Coahuila, Mexico. But that Seminole-Mexican celebration has a different meaning and substance than our American Juneteenth. And that difference is exclusive to American Freedmen.

Why It Should Be Recognized

One “Why:” Juneteenth is not only a time to commemorate, remember, and reflect to be sure. It can also be regarded as a practice run – a political test to see if we can responsibly handle one of the responsibilities of reparations (taking it back from others). Many of the same challenges and requirements are held here. Exclusivity, specificity, pulling the gate up, ownership of the issue, drawing Tribal lines, and ultimately shaping the narrative. The Other “Why:” Follow me here: For those that are religious, you have religious holidays and observances. Many people on those days do, let’s say “spiritual resets” and recommitments. For those that are married, you have wedding anniversaries. And some couples use that day to renew their vows and “reset” their commitments to each other. Understand?

Juneteenth is a serious political day. Being released from slavery is a political act. Identifying who are members of our Tribe is a political act. Got It? Strengthening, expanding, reuniting with, and operationizing the family unit is a political act. Doing research on your Tribal history and learning the details of your lineage is a political act. Working on improving our Tribal interpersonal relations with each other as American Freedmen – and becoming more acceptable to each other is a political act This: Something that MUST be accomplished for our survival.

Our unity is a political act (to nail the importance of that – in the 1960’s the late FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover stated: “The greatest threat to the United States is Negro unity.”). You See? Juneteenth is a time of political education and reset for American Freedmen. That is why it should be recognized. Everything about our existence is political. From birth to death. Even where you will be buried is a political act.

Juneteenth is our political reset day.

How Should It Be Recognized

The “How” in this instance starts with the “Where.” And that should be AT HOME.

Yes – AT HOME. Or, at “Big Momma’s house.” Right? You know how we do. Starting with preparing a menu. With meals consisting of a healthy “soul food” (hopefully vegan) layout with dishes traditional to Black culture and Juneteenth (like red velvet cake and red-hued drinks). A commemoration can also take the form of a family reunion style outing at a city or state park. Some cases may be done at a banquet or party hall. Depends on the participant situation.

This should be a memory and reset day regarding the emancipation of our people and the struggle we have and continue to endure as we fight for our full liberation. We must reestablish this as a day of reflection and strengthening the awareness of the labor and pain Freedmen sacrificed to build America. This is important Family: There should be no parades or festivals. Maybe Juneteenth could be regarded as a kind of “political seder” – like for Passover. This is serious Family, not playtime.

The colors of Juneteenth are Red, White, and Blue. Flags? The meaning-filled Juneteenth Flag, the American Flag, the Black American Heritage Flag (created in 1967), and a possible American Freedmen (“F1”) Flag would be proper. Anything purchased to perform the holiday should be purchased as intentionally as possible from American Freedman owned businesses or community members. American Freedmen that possess craft skills can assist in making items to not only personalize their family’s commemoration – but that move also helps to protect against the wholesale co-opting of Juneteenth by non-Freedmen individuals and businesses.

Those Freedmen with appropriate skills should dedicate time to offering paid services and goods to the Freedmen community for Juneteenth. Goods can be specially made once a year for the Juneteenth holiday. A national Freedmen Juneteenth merchant registry should be developed if one does not already exist.

A Juneteenth To Do List:

Add to the family lineage notebook or tree with new entries or new information regarding ancestors. Also – making sure that family members have information on genealogy services, databases, and DNA testing facilities.

Promote firearms acquisition, licensing, and training. Along with discussing survivalist knowledge and crisis handling (remember Buffalo Family). I am, admittedly am a bit conflicted making this suggestion. Because I have Buddhist sensibilities. But this is not Japan. And in America, we should not be sitting ducks so that strapped-up racists can use our grandmothers and children as target practice without some mutual ability to respond with deadly force.

Making sure that all eligible family members are registered (as independent and able to vote in any primary if possible in one’s state) voters. And to implore all members of the family to participate in the national Census.

Promote and implement family business start-ups, pooled family investments, and proficiency in the realms of finance and money. Make Plans! June 2022 can be the foundational year of the idea and inaugural execution of “Economic Parallelism” (details to be explained in a future post). This is also a suggestion for us to make practical steps to develop an exclusively (and for us, absolutely necessary) Foundational Black American in-network currency, local finance networks, and a Black cybercurrency (“Economic Parallelism” at work).

Promote the finding of and making the connections with as of yet unknown members of one’s extended family. Connecting with family members that are militarily deployed, hospitalized, out of town, or incarcerated. Reverse migration to the South is something that should also be discussed.

Discuss the latest developments regarding the Reparations issue – and encourage active participation in getting Reparations accomplished. Make clear in these discussions why NAARC, N’COBRA, Reparations United, The Taifa Group, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, NAACP, and FirstRepair Of Evanston Illinois are at present the enemies of Pure Reparations (tools of the Democratic Party). It’s important to let your Family know that those aforementioned organizations and the individuals that run them are enemies to the receipt of full political and resource equity for American Freedmen. Point Blank. Those organizations are financed by bottomlessly wicked white individuals, associations, and white-run grant-giving organizations that in actuality do not want Reparations to happen.

Discuss politics, pending bills, candidates, and equity issues – and encourage active participation in Freedmen politics. Discuss (and implement) working on better interpersonal relations with your American Freedmen neighbors and establishing strong Freedmen community networks locally and nationally. Also – in those discussions, make it clear that Pan Africanism itself is a political and economic distraction. A negative factor to our progress as a people.

Juneteenth is a get-together to get it together day Family. The reunions. The hugs. The kisses. An Aside: Let me make a wild but doable suggestion which also makes an internal reset and external economic statement: Stop doing – Valentine’s Day, Easter, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Keep your money from The Enemy for a change. Invest that withheld money into an index mutual fund. Do everything you would have done on those particular holidays on Juneteenth.

And don’t forget to have a minute of silence for the Ancestors.

What Juneteenth Is Not

What Juneteenth is not? Well – for starters, it is not in any way ever about Pan Africanism. Stop It. The Red, Black, and Green colors of Pan Africanism should not be anywhere near Juneteenth. Anathema. Disrespectful. This day absolutely has nothing to do with the Caribbean or Caribbeans. Nothing to do with Africa or Africans. There are attempts now being made from ignorance and/or intent to “Africanize” Juneteenth. To “Caribbeanize” Juneteenth. This we cannot allow.

And this is within our power to stop. Juneteenth is wholly a Foundational Black American Domestic Affair. Wholly contained within the context of this American history. This sacred holiday – is and should exclusively to be shaped and executed by the Black American Freedmen. Full Stop.

A quote from Sister Soldier Morgan Malachi:

“Juneteenth is not a holiday for all people. It is a day for Freedmen in Texas [and Freedmen nationwide]. No individual or company [outside of the Freedmen community] should be able to co-opt the message and history of this historic American Freedmen event. We cannot allow grifters to corporatize Juneteenth or change its meaning to the Freedmen community. Many examples of how American Freedmen throughout history honored the holiday point to the use of Red, White, and Blue at these Emancipation Day celebrations by formerly enslaved people. We cannot allow those outside of our community to dictate how we will practice our sacred traditions. All Black people are not American Freedmen. All People of Color are not American Freedmen. This is a notice to all non-Freedmen. You will stop the blatant disrespect of the history and sacrifice of our community.”

As you can see from this quote, I am not the only one that is peeved about this situation. Morgan Malachi encapsulates the proper attitude and goals in the above quote. Is this attitude something that the Freedmen community can adopt?

Even though friends and family gathering is part of what Juneteenth is about – it is not a “party” or “celebratory” type of thing. It is, or should be, an upright formal commemoration and reset. Rendered with the same solemnity and dignity that the Jewish community performs and respects Passover. Here is another Morgan quote:

“Juneteenth needs to return to its roots. Juneteenth should not be commemorated by a parade or festival until ALL American Freedmen get their justice claim which is lineage based reparations [Full Stop]. There is nothing to celebrate at this point in our history. We owe it to the Freedmen community to be clear and intentional about winning the battle for reparations. We must be [openly] unapologetic and [unreservedly] confrontational about our ethnic boundaries. This starts now.”

And that takes an attitude of OWNERSHIP. Do we own our commemoration or not Family? This is what we have to decide on – and move on. Let’s lock it up.

Gates Up

Since the days of Booker T. Washington – American Freedmen have always been passive Pan Africans. We never cared where you were from. If you’re Black, you are MY Brother – If you’re Black, you are MY Sister: “Are We?” We established a Flat BLACK and projected that powerful idea across the world. The center of world Blackness is America – Not Africa. The American crucible fired by the combustibles of slavery and racism-white supremacy burned away any lined notions of operative tribalism within us. And an honest Black trans-tribalist network operates nowhere in this world. That burning was and is now – to our mental, political, and economic detriment. We are at this late – but not too late date, now waking up to that fact.

Now, to me – I mean, if you want to sub-categorize American Freedmen, I think there are three kinds of “mixes” in this country that were born amongst us. I have my own terminology. There are: 1. Early Mixes (born from 1619 to 1867 – the slave rape period), 2. Middle Mixes (born from 1868 to 1960 – the miscegenation period), and 3. Late Mixes (born from 1961 to the present – the mostly consensual, but-be-sure-to-check-anyway period). Hey – there you go, we’re all mixed. That “mix” is one of the main markers of “American Freedmen-ness.” Rape – You Know?

And to hell with “Biracial.” I roll with the “one drop rule.” Where’d that “Biracial” come from? I roll that way because yes, there may be several genetic categories to identify and classify, but there was and is in this country – AMERICA, depending on where one is on a perceptual, phenotypical, and/or self-identification scale – only two kinds of American treatment: White Treatment, and Nigger Treatment.

Nigger Treatment is the basis for Reparations.

And notice that Caribbeans and Africans are not a significant part of that Middle and Late Mix calculus. That is because Black Diasporian residency in this country was to the right of the decimal point before 1965. The bulk of Black immigrants did not arrive here until after 1980. Got Here Good – after the racial smoke cleared. White friends and lovers. Able to attend university in peace. Coffee at Starbucks. Only a few recent genetic connections to us. The Diasporans – strategically hostile to us. Socially partitioned from us. Economically separated away from us.

Either you are a Foundational Black American or you are not.

One must also consider, from 1619, till now, the racial mozaic that we now call “Black” comes from the genetic “early and middle period folding in” of European and multi-tribal African DNA. And the “late period re-folding-in” of genetic traits from different African ethnic groups, American Indian, Hispanic, Asian, and the further addition of occasional (consensual) European-American infusions. And that still expanding mozaic is as it is, from just us having relations with each other.

We are a new and exceptional people.

Because of the unique racial deconstruction and reformulation that we have gone through – this was contained only in this country. We must establish certain rights, delineate certain distinctions, and make certain demands based on our completely American lineage. Not only did we provide the basis for the economic and cultural richness of this country – but our DNA is inextricably enmeshed to the soil of this land. Some Nazi said: “Blood And Soil?” NO! That tribal phrase is an appropriate descriptor of us and OUR Holocaust. A Holocaust that started the first minute of the year 1619. Going nonstop through every second of every day of every year.

Till Right Now.

I use “Blood And Soil” without apology. That we cannot escape, nor can anyone replace that fact. We – along with the Mayflower Whites (the ones that arrived and stayed and enslaved AND – between 1619 to 1865) are the true “Paid In Blood – Invested In Full” co-owners of this country. American Freedmen are the other co-owners. Just KNOW – it is only the American Freedmen that are exclusively owed.

And the Diaspora knows this deal as well. But the 400 year ferociousness of racism-white supremacy created a flat-Blackness in our Freedmen consciousness out of a sheer but presumed racial necessity. Brothers and Sisters. Protection. Economics. Racial Militancy. Global Black Unity. Out of that Black racial consciousness and sweetness of heart came Pan Africanism. Black Freedmen created Pan Africanism.

OK? Felt Good. Sounded Good.

But there’s a problem: The promotion and beating heart of Pan Africanism has always been one-sided. The American side. Of course, there have been a few non-American Pan Africans like George Padmore, Julius Nyerere, Kwame Nkrumah, Jomo Kenyatta, and the controversial Marcus Garvey. But they were anecdotal outliers. With the exception of Marcus Garvey, Pan Africanism was not a part of the consciousness of the people they originally led, and/or associated with, and/or came from. That’s why most African leaders that expoused Pan Africanism were assassinated or exiled. Continental Africans didn’t want it. Retrograde tribalist attachment trumped any kind of progressive transafrican and transdiasporan unity. Pan African philosophy was ninety-nine percent a part of the beautiful, generous, and embracing consciousness of American Freedmen only. Not Good.

And as far as their activities in Reparations politics? There has been reparational theft by the Pannies. The inappropriate intrusion of Democratic Party controlled and financed Pan Africanism has proven to be a guaranteed political wreck.

Say It Loud: “Juneteenth Has Nothing To Do With Africa!!!”

Tribalism is the Diasporic norm outside the community of American Freedmen. Pan Africanism at best means fake cooperation and reciprocity in name only. In clear truth – the Diasporans see the Freedmen as another tribe. As a “Them” – not as an “Us.” Economically seen as A Lick. Suckers – to be tribally screwed over.

Aren’t we “Brothers?” Ahh NO… We have no brothers nor sisters Anywhere.

Pan Africanism has never been good or operational for American Freedmen. And with certain exceptions – the Diaspora both domestically and internationally have shown themselves to be an undermining collective. Happily joining with the forces and systems of racism-white supremacy to derail the access to and enjoyment of our birthright. The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis of today is primarily responsible for opening that dirty door and facilitating this ugly mess. It is our first responsibility to understand what we are politically, culturally, and economically dealing with.

The NAARC/N’COBRA Axis feels that our reparations should rightfully belong to all Three Billion Six Hundred Million members of the Diaspora – with American Freedmen being hung-up at the back of the line. Forcing us to release OUR justified recompense – a due allottment from centuries of pain and deprivation here to fulfill some kind of Wakandan – Pan African fantasy that has NOTHING to do with us.

Making Freedmen the “mules” of the Diaspora. That is what we are faced with.

We as a people are far too civil with other-colored “strangers,” and friendly-presenting but strategically-minded white oppressors. We must develop hard self-esteem and Tribal pride about ourselves. Work with each other, and put up a stratospherically high, fully encompassing, uncompromising, and impenetrably hard tool steel gate Family. Understand – we must do the basic work of raising the consciousness and political viability of the 40 plus Millions of our Black Freedmen Tribe. Right Here. Within, upon, and throughout OUR American Homeland.

And Lastly – No Intersectionality. Don’t Let Them. You have certain white and other run organizations trying to tie in Juneteenth with the LGBTQ cause (!?). The Latinx cause. The This cause. The That cause. And anything else that they can find to ultimately take the concentration – the focus off us. Lawsuits, Irate phone calls, aggressive picketing, and on-the-ground-in-your-face cuss-outs would be in order.

Complacency Equals Death.

No Commercialization

Commercialization without permission or guidance is point-blank disrespect. We’ve been commercialized and commodified for over 400 years. Aren’t we a little tired of this? Whenever commercialization happens – whether the commercializer is Caribbean, African, or white. The hive should come out of every woodwork and sting, call, email, and confront offending commercializers into submission. We need to seriously get super nasty with disrespecters. Because nastiness and confrontation in many cases are the only thing folks like this understand. Lawsuits, cease and desist orders, and circumscribing legislation should also be a part of our toolbox.

Commercializers only respect legal power and the possibility of getting fists.

Don’t be ashamed, embarrassed, or feel that you have to be restrained in your disapproval. Take a lesson from the Jews. Commercialize their stuff without permission – and see what happens. Insult them – and see what happens. One wrong or misplaced word (Whoopi Goldberg) even in support of their community – and they will unrelentingly injure you financially and socially. No Discussion. No Compromise. No Nothing. The Jewish community as a tribal collective will get On Code and stomp you six feet into the ground with no hesitation, reserve, or mercy.

On Coded-ness gives them the power to slap you around whenever they feel like it, humiliate you whenever they feel like it, force you to your Nigger knees in tears, while breaking your personhood legally, could separate you from speaking to your own mother. As per their orders. Orders that will be surely enforced in certainty through their positionality in this country and their global networks. OK? A single Jewish phone call can enthusiastically and thoroughly erase you politically and financially from all of your Black earthly existence. Disappeared. Buried. Gone.

I respect the fact that they can do this.

The Jewish community shows what can be done when you are 2.4% of the United States population and unreservedly On Code – as opposed to what can’t be done when you are 13% of the population in this country, and mostly Off Code. They respect themselves – and will not allow others to run over them without substantial and permanent consequences. That’s the right way Family. We should be the same.

NO Forgiveness, Reconciliation, or Compromise. None. Leave that for Jesus.

Our Genetic And Tribal Interrelatedness

Folks in our community say: “We’re not a monolith…” But the way things are unfolding and coming at us American Freedmen now – on some very important and consequential things, we should be. Because everybody else is. Understand? Football teams don’t win as a set of individuals. Monoliths win. Individuals lose. Corporations move into the billions. Proprietorships mostly stay in the thousands. Out of the estimated 12,500,000 enslaved that were shipped from Africa to the New World – only 388,000 of our antecedents were brought to the East and South-coast areas of North America that are now parts of the present-day United States.

We went nowhere. And here? The most unique ethnogenesis in human history occurred in this land. 95% of our lineage over the span of 400 years has remained here in this North America from the beginning. Here. Till the establishment and continuously unfolding creation of the United States in the now. We – the forty plus Millions of us are a tight genetic fusion of forty five West and Central African tribes (mostly from the Yoruba, Igbo, Akan, Kongo, and Mandinka tribes). There’s More!!!

Along with indigenous Black peoples that were already here. Along with free Black people that were never enslaved. Along with the unrelentingly forced injection of European genetics acquired through rape. This, in addition to smaller genetic contributions from Native Americans, Asians, Latinos, and others. We are a new and special people. Even though the most substantial and influential parts of our genetics are African – we emphatically are not African. We absolutely cannot be.

Our now so-called African “brothers and sisters” captured, confined, and sold our grandparents to the Europeans. The Africans decided – that we were not Africans. We were converted from humans beings to farm equipment – things just valuable enough to be monetized and traded. Once our antecedents stepped onto those slave ships – a permanent line was drawn. That’s the moment we stopped being African.

“A Perdurable Break” was established.

We became the original Americans.

It is about time we owned our ownership.

Now Remember – 40 Million plus of us came out of 388,000 people. During slavery – families being broken up and sold off was an everyday occurrence. Most of those families never found each other. Breeding farms were established (which caused further familial confusion, anonymity, and dissipation). Infant snatchings. But 95% of unmoved Freedmen lineages are still standing in this country. Outside of your immediate and known extended family – you really don’t know whom you’re related to. You Don’t. As you step up the street downtown and down the street uptown – you walk past anonymous family every day. No matter where you walk, drive, or fly within this vast country. This – within your normal sight and hearing.

We are in actuality unrecognized cousins and brothers, sisters and granduncles much more than we think or know. That Close. – Survival. We must assume and embrace our unknown Family ties and move forward in substance on that basis.

So let us proceed from THERE and commemorate Juneteenth.

On The Juneteenth Flag

The Juneteenth Flag is THE symbol for the Juneteenth holiday in the United States. The Flag uses the colors of Red, White, and Blue from the American flag. The flag features a twelve-pointed bursting star that represents a new beginning for all American Freedmen. The five-pointed star in the center refers both to Texas and to the freedom of defined Foundational Black Americans or Freedmen in all 50 states. The arch representing the horizon shows blue above and red below is symbolic of the soil soaked with the blood which was forcefully and murderously extracted from the African Americans that were both enslaved and emancipated in the United States. Our Blood And Soil – right there. The Red, White, and Blue is also meant to convey that all Black American free, indigenous, enslaved, and formerly enslaved persons and their descendants are Americans.

President Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of June 1, 1863, declared that all slaves in the rebel Confederate States were free. The State of Texas rejoined the Union at the end of the Civil War on April 9, 1865. On June 19, 1865, Union General Gordon Granger arrived at the Port of Galveston Texas and announced that slavery had been ended with General Order No. 3. The Juneteenth Flag has the date of June 19, 1865 displayed on it. One year later (do you see it?) – freed slaves in Texas celebrated the first Juneteenth (then called “Jubilee Day”) on June 19, 1866.

Blood And Soil – Family.

The American Freedmen that are direct descendants of Chattel Slavery in these United States must support the original Juneteenth Flag using the colors Red, White, and Blue. Any deviance of colors in this context is not acceptable. Creativity is wonderful – but creativity can be inappropriate in some instances. See? The Pan African Flag represents the African Diaspora. If you follow what I mean – we are both a part of – and not a part of the African Diaspora. Juneteenth is not, and can never be, a Pan African affair. Don’t do it. And don’t let them do it. Anyone, Black or otherwise that tries to turn it into one is either a dummy, a grifter, or a liar.

Red – White – Blue.

In this very important case of colors – conversions, commissions, and omissions are either evil and/or ignorant acts. No Pan African Flag nor any African Flag, nor any Caribbean Flag in any form should ever be used to represent the heritage of Black Americans that are direct descendants of Chattel Slavery in these United States.

On The Black American Heritage Flag

The elegant Black American Heritage Flag (also known as the “African American Heritage Flag”) represents the culture and history of Foundational Black American people. We are also known by some people as “Soulaan” or “Soulaani People” (Foundationals that are Descendants of Chattel Slavery in the United States). This Flag was created in 1967. Each color and symbol on the Flag has a significant meaning that was developed to instill pride in Freedmen Americans, and provide a symbol of hope for the future in the midst of their struggle for Civil Rights.

On the Flag – the rich Red color represents the blood shed by American Freedmen for freedom and equality in America. The elegant color Black represents pride in the Foundational Black American race. The operationally valuable color Gold represents a practical intellect, community prosperity, and a meaningful peace.

The wreath of golden fig leaves represents the sustenance of life. And centered within the wreath is a blunted Moorish boarding sword – representing the strength and authority exhibited by a Foundational Black American culture that made many contributions to the world in mathematics, the arts, medicine, and the sciences. Overall – this Flag is a representation of the pain remembered from the degrading days of slavery to the undeniable contributions of American Freedmen to the history of the United States. This Flag is appropriate for use on Juneteenth.

On The American Flag

This Flag – the Red, White, and Blue is a statement FOR US on both obvious and not so obvious levels. A symbolic reflection of our deprivations and triumphs. Its creation and persistence is profoundly co-existent with our sojourn here. There are only two entities that “own” this Flag. The Foundational White Americans that ahh – “founded” the country. AND – The Foundational Black Americans that actually built the country. That’s It. Everybody else are only “borrowing” the privileges and rights and protections this Flag represents. Some Asian and Hispanic newcomers have inappropriately appropriated what that Flag means to American Freedmen. And have made full use of the constitutional establishments and National policies that were exclusively provided to the Freedmen. That conflicted Flag is ours.

I don’t respect any expansions or reinterpretations – or new ownership.

Some of us – because of the brutal racial history of this country, may not want to recognize this Flag. And that is totally understandable. That valid attitude is not to be criticized. We as a Foundational Black American people have been through a too-damned-much. For too damned long. Understand? Leave them alone. Let Them express Juneteenth in a way that is do-able For Them. Those individuals have two other beautiful Flags that can be used without anxiety, conflict, or flashback. We all have our own racial experiences, our own family histories, our own reflections, our own tolerances, and so many – too many, diverse healing timeframes that we all must individually process and deal with. It is deep. It is painful. It is complicated.

It is Us Family.

Yeah – It is Us.

An active understanding within can be a unifying tool that we must generously utilize with, for, and on our Tribe. But Conversely Family – And despite our pain:

You’d better know this: That Flag crystalizes our absolute American-ness. Now and Ever. Our 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendment established Federal Supercitizenship. Our well-deserved and ultimate co-ownership of this country. Now and Ever. Do You Understand? Now and Ever. We should own all of THAT. Now and Ever.

Therefore – and despite our heavy history here. And despite our in this moment reservations and conflictions – this Flag is appropriate for use on Juneteenth.

The Responsibility Of Freedmen

Family!!! We must get On Code and TAKE BACK our stuff. We as a Tribe are way too Loose – Casual – and Distracted Family. We are at a racial tipping point.

We must respect the Laws of Survival.

Because we have failed to exercise an operational respect for each other specifically and our Tribe generally – we have lost out on us and everything on so many levels including control of our commemorative representations. Never forget that the way we handle the things that represent us and the milestones in our history as a people is just as political an act as securing voting rights and demanding specific policies for American Freedmen. Please let that operationally sink in. It’s important.

Yes Family – commemorations and observances ARE POLITICAL. Your political attitudes – involvements – reasonings – demands – persistences – and resource goals reflect your degree of political groundedness and political self-respect. We must handle politics with enlightened selfishness and uncompromising ownership.

Gates Up Family! By Our Hand – Juneteenth must now be disaggregated from the mis-colored Pan African Diaspora, and reset By Us to its proper ownership.

END OF POST

I would like to thank Sister Soldiers Morgan Malachi of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Rose Cannon of Evanston, Illinois for their timely and intelligent contributions to this post.

Associated With “By The People Media” – Link Below:

https://www.youtube.com/@bythepeoplemedia

Meleika Speaks On Evanston

I was assisted in this reposting by a bottle of Frisson – Falcon Ranch Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon 2019. Dry Creek Valley. Young but excellent vintage for this wine. Strong – bold structure. Dry. Moderate tannins and acidity. Leading in with notes of oak, toasty vanilla, and chocolate. Earthy sustain, with rich fruits. Ending in tobacco, plum, vanilla, and chocolate. Long – silky finish.

“Money in its proper place is a worthwhile and necessary instrument for a well-rounded life, but when it is projected to the status of a god – it becomes a power that corrupts and an instrument of exploitation.”

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This May 30, 2022 post – written by concerned citizen Meleika Gardner, is part of the continuing saga of the Evanston “reparations” program. Written by an actual resident of Evanston, Illinois. This repost is taken from the nicely done Meleika Communications Blog (www.meleikacommunications.com) “The Voice of the People.” The right questions to the right people are being asked here. Hopefully, properly aware Evanston Freedmen will flex the power of their constituency and shut this travesty down. This mess has gone on long enough.

Here It Is:

Evanston Reparations: Unanswered questions continue to grow…

No one can answer after three years; how much money is in the Reparations Fund? And why would the Reparations Committee be entertaining getting anything that resembles a loan for Evanston Reparations? Because so many questions have been left unanswered regarding Evanston Reparations, which is leading more residents to further not trust the Reparations system, I wrote yet another email on May 23, 2022 to Evanston City Council:

Dear City Council:

CPAH* made clear they were working for free. At the last Reparations meetings, a Committee member asked if the $269K from the City’s general fund be transferred to the Reparations Fund. It was explained that people might have to get paid for their work in Reparations with the 16 recipients. Who are these people getting paid and how much? Are they already on City salary as an employee? Is CPAH changing their terms and want to get paid now?

It was also asked if the public can finally get the amount from the cannabis taxes. The response was that it was still against the law to reveal that amount to the public. The public is not asking for monthly updates. A Committee member said it’s been three years now with expenditures… the public has a right to know at this point.

The public in Evanston and cities around the country are still waiting on a response from Evanston City Council on what happens when a recipient does not use all of their $25K on home improvements? Who pockets the remaining? The language was changed to “up to $25K”, but the promotion in the media and what was promised in the commitment was an allotment of $25K to each individual.

And, as much as you all are excited about the Tribeca Film release coming in June on the Big Payback, we know it’s about money and career advancement for Erika Alexander, Whitney Dow, Joy Reid, and the rest of the production. I worked in Los Angeles for many years. The industry will sell out Black people for a dollar all day everyday. This is just another example of selling a lie for the almighty dollar in Hollywood. The documentary is not going to tell the truth of Evanston Reparations.

Mayor Biss, Black people would much prefer cash payments like your grandmother received until the day she died over receiving new windows as a form of Reparations. I know you and others on the Council like Melissa Wynne believe we should be celebrating new windows as a start when your grandmother received payments until her passing to help her family/community. You say those payments were nothing. But did your grandmother refuse any of them? Did any Jewish person refuse their cash payments? A white man just destroyed a Black family… take these new windows as a start. Sounds fair.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,

Meleika Gardner

END OF POST

*CPAH – Community Partners for Affordable Housing.

www.cpahousing.org

About The Author: Meleika Gardner is a Community Engagement Specialist, the owner of Evanston Live TV, and a board member of Art Encounter and WE WILL, an organization dedicated to involving women and children in the legislative process. Meleika is also the co-host and producer of the Chicago Heal with State Representative La Shawn K. Ford, addressing Chicago violence, trauma, and mental/emotional health services on iHeart Radio WVON, WCPT Progressive Talk Radio, and CAN TV. Support Her Project Space:

www.meleikacommunications.com

Reparations International?

I was assisted in the transcription and commentary of this article by a bottle of Chateau La Tour Carnet Haut-Medoc (Grand Cru Classe) 2018. Yes – this baby is $65.00. And worth every penny. This is a superfine Bordeaux Medoc blend. Solid and tight structure – crisp tannins, moderate acidity. Strong lead-in with notes of blackberries, plums, and elderberries. A sustain of oak, vanilla, and tobacco. Closing with leather, earth, and toasted vanilla. A clean but moderate finish.

“I get tired of others, including our Black elected representatives always pushing hard to make the descendants of American slaves the “MULES” for all other groups. Including Black immigrants. This is ridiculous. My lineage does all the work – absorbs all the pain – suffers through all the deprivation. But when it comes to some kind of justice – some kind of recompense. We are supposed to step to the back of the line and allow Caribbeans and Africans to be prioritized? Taking this long to decide on something that should not be a question in the first place is an insult. I see how Pan Africanism works – I am against Pan Africanism.”

Arthur Ward

This strong and positive piece was written by my darling Cynthia McDonald.

Freedmen First!!!

You Know? I am sick and tired of Pan African and Diasporan impositions and intrusions on this purely domestic issue and grievance. Unlike my lady, Ms. McDonald (the author of this article) – I do claim to be a xenophobe and nativist (she’s more “fair-minded” than I am). I also can’t get the fact out of my head that some Africans SOLD US into this racial crucible now called America. There is also that confusing “Akata” issue. You See? Right? For myself – I’d really like to see an active xenophobia and nativism growing amongst our people – especially when it comes to our reparations. This is a much more balanced and thoughtful article on the subject than I could ever write regarding Pan Africanism and reparations.

Read, learn, and think:

Would Reparations Fare Better With An International Movement?

By Cynthia McDonald

Recently Dr. Ray Winbush, a professor of Morgan State University and author of several books on reparations, was on Black Power Media being interviewed by Dr. Jared Ball, professor and author of the Myth and Propaganda of Black Buying Power. Here, Dr. Winbush stated that Reparations needs to have an international push or movement instead of a single-minded focus only on the United States. This particular statement made me reflect on his words and ponder on it possibly being something that is proper or even practical. As American reparationists continue to fight to achieve the justice claim for the Descendants of Freedmen, it would be proper to start exploring different strategies to make a 155 year old topic a reality.

Is one of those ways to productively unite with the Diaspora is to make reparations an international movement? Should Freedmen internationalize? Well – let’s see…

Lately there has been much talk about reparations for chattel slavery in many mediums. We have seen reparations talks being organized on several Zoom platforms by organizations who support such a measure. We’ve seen the subject explored on TED Talks, the DNC debate stage, and even had two hearings in June of 2019 and February 17, 2021 in the House Judiciary Subcommittee of Congress. HR40 – the bill to study reparations was first introduced in the late 1980’s.

As of this writing, this HR40 bill has 173 co-sponsors in the House and has a companion bill in the Senate. With the onset of the American Freedmen reparations movement and the highlight of extreme actions of vigilantes and police that led to the deaths of, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, and George Floyd – there has been a powerful outpouring from various voices that reparations can wait no longer.

Reparations for Slavery is not a new topic.

There have been discussions of reparations since before the Emancipation Proclamation. The first affirmative action for reparations was Special Field Order No. 15. This was a military order issued during the American Civil War, on January 16, 1865, by General William Tecumseh Sherman, commander of the Military Division of the Mississippi United States Army. This provided for the confiscation of 400,000 acres (1,600 km2) of land along the Atlantic coast of South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida and the dividing of it into parcels of not more than 40 acres (0.16 km2), on which were to be settled approximately 18,000 formerly enslaved families and other Black people then living in the area.

General Sherman issued his orders four days after meeting with twenty local Black ministers and lay leaders, and with the U.S. Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton in Savannah, Georgia. Brigadier General Rufus Saxton, a strong abolitionist from Massachusetts who had previously organized the recruitment of Black soldiers for the Union Army, was put in charge of implementing the orders.

After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, the order had little concrete effect. President Andrew Johnson issued a proclamation that returned the lands to southern owners who took a loyalty oath. Johnson granted amnesty to most former Confederates and allowed the rebel states to elect new governments.

These governments, which often included ex-Confederate officials, soon enacted what are called Black Codes. Measures designed to control and repress the recently freed slave population. General Saxton and his staff at the Charleston South Carolina’s Freedman’s Bureau’s office refused to carry out President Johnson’s wishes and denied all applications to have lands returned. In the end, Johnson and his allies removed General Saxton and his staff. But not before Congress was able to provide legislation to assist some families in keeping their lands.

Since the rescinding of Special Field Order 15, there were other reparations activists that emerged. Examples are Callie House and Isaiah Dickerson, who chartered the National Ex-Slave Mutual Relief, Bounty and Pension Association in 1898, to Queen Mother Moore who was a civil rights leader, Black Nationalist, Pan African activist, and founder of the Republic of New Afrika. Mother Moore was also the founder and president of the “Universal Association of Ethiopian Women,” as well as the founder of the “Committee for Reparations for Descendants of U.S. Slaves.” Moore actively promoted U.S. Freedmen reparations from 1950 until her death in 1997.

Other organizations have also emerged to help continue the work of achieving reparations(!?) such as “The National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (N’COBRA),” “National African-American Reparations Commission (NAARC),” and ”The Caribbean Community (CARICOM).” The aforementioned organizations share a Pan African (a global cultural and political movement aiming at strengthening bonds of solidarity between all indigenous and Diasporic ethnic groups of African origin) ideology and objective. I can accept those goals.

But!!! Let’s look at the “international” aspect:

These organizations also coalition in some respects with one another. However, CARICOM is uniquely specific within the Pan African space concerning the community they are advocating for when it comes to reparations. There are fifteen countries that are included in the advocacy pool within CARICOM’s community. But the United States is clearly not one of them. CARICOM states on their website that they promote and support a unified Caribbean Community that is inclusive, resilient, and competitive; sharing in economic, social, and cultural prosperity.

As of late the issue of SPECIFICITY when it comes to reparations in the United States has been a source of some contention between those who garner a Pan African philosophy versus those who are considered “Freedmen First.” Starting from the emergence of the ADOS Movement, with the criteria established by Duke Professor Dr. William “Sandy” Darity and co-author of “From Here to Equality.” The specificity faction advocates his criteria. Dr. Darity’s work properly lays out whom should be the group that qualifies for reparations in the United States.

His criteria is a person who has identified as “Black” or “African-American” or “Negro” on government documents for at least twelve years before a reparations legislation has been enacted and can trace their lineage through at least one parent to United States Chattel Slavery. Simple? Fair? Proper? Right?

Apparently there are those of the Pan African sensibility that have tried to conflate the criteria to a blood quantum rule or the possibility of DNA tests. None of these claims are factual. The claims, however, seem to raise a larger argument that because those who are of an ADOS or Foundational Black American or Freedmen First sensibility, that locks out others from the African Diaspora who happen to be in the United States. Arguments such as “White Supremacy is global” or “racism affects all Black people” are often raised, sustained, and even conflated with the aforementioned statements that Dr. Darity’s criteria is xenophobic because it excludes Black people whom are not American Descendants of Chattel Slavery.

This Is Nonsense.

The facts are that every reparations program be it by legislation or lawsuit has always been specific. Some examples include:

● The Pueblo Lands Act of 1924: Congress authorized the establishment of the Pueblo Lands Board to adjudicate land title disputes, along with a payment of $1,300,000 to the Pueblo for the land they lost.
● The Shoshones: Were paid over $6 million for land illegally seized from them.
● The Indian Reorganization Act: This ordinance authorized $2 million a year in appropriations for the acquisition of land for Indians (except for the state of Oklahoma and the territory of Alaska until 1936). Congress made appropriations until 1941. In total $5.5 million was appropriated for 400,000 acres of land, and further legislation added 875,000 acres to reservations. One million acres of grazing land and one million acres intended for homesteading were returned to the tribes.
● The Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Act: This was passed – authorizing an appropriation of $88,570,000 over 10 years for a program benefiting the Navajo and Hopi, including soil conservation, education, business and industry development on reservation, and assistance in finding employment off-reservation.
● Civil Liberties Act of 1988: President Ronald Reagan signed a bill providing $1.2 billion ($20,000 a person) and an apology to each of the approximately 60,000 living
Japanese-Americans who had been interned during World War II. Additionally, $12,000 and an apology were given to 450 Unangans (Aleuts) for internment during WWII, and a $6.4 million trust fund was created for their communities.
● In the United States Court of Claims case Tlingit and Haida Indians of Alaska v. United States: The plaintiff tribes won a judgment of $7.5 million as just compensation for land taken by the U.S. Government between 1891 and 1925.
● The Tuskegee Experiment: A $10 million out-of-court settlement was reached between the U.S. government and Tuskegee victims, Black men who had been unwitting subjects of an evil and heinous study of untreated syphilis, and whom did not receive available treatments.

All of these claims have in common the naming of a specific group for a specific injury. There has been no precedent made in the United States (or elsewhere) where reparations was non-specifically paid to a blanketed group of people. I as a descendant of American Freedmen cannot stake claim to the Civil Liberties Act that paid Japanese Internment Camp victims from WWII. I would not qualify to receive redress from the Navajo-Hopi Rehabilitation Act, since I am not of that lineage, nor a member of those tribes. Makes sense, does it not? The injured party from a specific injury is the one who should receive the appropriate redress and repair.

So let us revisit Dr. Winbush’s strong statement of reparations needing to be an international movement. The other claim that is often made by Pan Africans is that being “specific” concerning U.S. reparations immediately means that advocacy from and to the Diaspora is immediately cut off. I personally push back on this claim, because Freedmen have always advocated for justice for the Diaspora.

American Freedmen leaders like W.E.B DuBois advocated against exclusionary tactics by the United States Government to keep Africans and African Diasporans out of the country. Also it has to be mentioned how American Freedmen seriously advocated to end Apartheid in South Africa, calling for American Companies to divest from doing business in that country. That and other demonstrations in the United States and in South Africa led to the collapse of the Apartheid system.

Specificity does not have to be an enemy to international advocacy.

In South Africa, The South African government was to pay reparations to thousands of people identified as victims of Apartheid by the country’s truth and reconciliation commission. At the time, South African President Thabo Mbeki has said that his government will make a payment of 30,000 South African Rand ($3,890) each to more than 19,000 people identified by the commission as victims of gross human rights violations. Should I be a part of that claim? Or not?

Those of us in the United States support and applaud that effort. But I would not expect to receive any of that payment, because even though I am Black – I was not a victim of apartheid. That does not mean as a member of the Diaspora that I can’t support South Africa to do right by its citizens that were harmed by the Apartheid policy. The same can be said for the Descendants of American Chattel Slavery.

Although all Black people living in the United States would not and should not qualify for reparations if not a descendant of United States Chattel Slavery, the international community (within and without the United States) can and should enable and supply support for the Freedmen’s descendants to get the full measure of their justice claim. This – only the right and proper Diasporan thing to do.

I agree with Dr. Winbush’s statement that reparations can and should be an international movement. It is quite apparent that members of the African Diaspora have been harmed by white supremacy on many levels and deserve justice from oppressive government policies all over the world. Even though this is the case, redress and repair is going to look different based on whom and where the injury exacted. I cannot expect reparations to look the same in Brazil as it would in Jamaica. Although slavery was practiced in both countries, the governments that enacted those institutions are different. Brazil’s claim would be from Portugal and Jamaica’s would come from Great Britain. We can and should implore all from the Diaspora to support one another in our justice claims, but keep in mind that our claims are specific to the countries we are in. Reparations can be supported globally but should without exception be an issue respectfully handled domestically.

See? No venom. Just reason, logic, data, and good sense.

Marcel For Congress

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