Black America within but without White America

[serenity_24]

Seeing President Clinton give his farewell address last night was a crude reminder that a great change is ever so near and once again feer consumed me.

Since Nov. 7th, my emotions have been tossed back and forth like a ship on troubled waters watching florida go from red to blue and back again. For weeks I held on to a glimmer of hope only to have my worst fears confirmed... George W. Bush would indeed be "S"elected president of the United States. Just as I began to come to terms with the news, he pulls the Ashcroft card and revives my initial fears.

Well people, Im tired of it!!!! Im tired of living in fear and feeling like my livelyhood and the livelyhood of my people depends on whether or not white republicans or white democrats (whichever is the lesser of two evils) are running the show.

My question to you is this:
Why can't African-Americans create a Black America within but without white America.

What ever happend to Black Wall Street; where blacks owend d**n near everything in town? Bus stations, Airports, Banks, Schools, and clubs were all owned and supported by blacks as well as those whites that were in need of their services.

What is keeping us from having this again?

What are your thoughts?

[Poplife]

I really feel you, Serenity.

I think other communities have managed to do what Malcolm said WE should do because they tend to be more self-contained. Black-Americans are very spread out. I have noticed that where ever there is a large concentration of a certain immigrant minority there are so many of them they can have their own EVERYTHING.

Of course there are black communities, but "other people" set up there because THEY CAN. Most of their communities use a non-English language (amharic, tagala, spanish) so that alienates other people and keeps them from "moving in". Many immigrants learn English and know it well. They just don't have to use it much because almost everything is in their language.

I know this point is very worn out, but a lot of is has to do with the black community not uniting. Some folks out there think that if we are going to live, we HAVE to live right alongside white people. In a way that's quite true, but let's just say that 85% of black people decided that we need to make our own nation within a nation. I really and truly believe that we could do it. Sadly, I sense that some black people are somewhat dependant on white people. They feel they have to learn from them to be smart successful, that blacks cannot teach blacks. This is a mentally that MUST GO.

Hope I wasn't too militant. I tried to be calm this time. I really did!

[The Original Ape]

Originally posted by serenity_24:
Seeing President Clinton give his farewell address last night was a crude reminder that a great change is ever so near and once again feer consumed me.

Since Nov. 7th, my emotions have been tossed back and forth like a ship on troubled waters watching florida go from red to blue and back again. For weeks I held on to a glimmer of hope only to have my worst fears confirmed... George W. Bush would indeed be "S"elected president of the United States. Just as I began to come to terms with the news, he pulls the Ashcroft card and revives my initial fears.

Well people, Im tired of it!!!! Im tired of living in fear and feeling like my livelyhood and the livelyhood of my people depends on whether or not white republicans or white democrats (whichever is the lesser of two evils) are running the show.

My question to you is this:
Why can't African-Americans create a Black America within but without white America.

What ever happend to Black Wall Street; where blacks owend d**n near everything in town? Bus stations, Airports, Banks, Schools, and clubs were all owned and supported by blacks as well as those whites that were in need of their services.

What is keeping us from having this again?

What are your thoughts?

The economy drives this country, and is the most important factor in the lives of every american. Technology(pagers, cellular phones, etc) has made it easy to create our own world; and thus, no one has time for causes. Everyone's thinking individually now. In years past, we would come together and struggle over issues that impacted us negatively; but we did it out of our immediate need to survive. Now, black folks think we don't need each other to survive. We think Protesting is what "old folks" did. We think "it wont change nothin'", and our hoplessness and spirit of individuality is reflected in our music. It's about gettin' ova, comin' up, however you say now.

There can never ever be another Boley, Oklahoma because WE DON'T TRUST EACH OTHER.



[This message has been edited by The Original Ape (edited January 20, 2001).]

[AKA_Monet]

Serenity and some others,

We are not allowed to do that in amerikkklan... It will never happen. You asked what happened to "Black Wall Street"? "THEY" burned it down because we were making too much. Why did the Talented Tenth families have difficulty conceiving children??? Why was Marcus Garvey's Black to Afrika movement shut down by the NAACP???

We all have to do some research in this issue because there is stuff out there---That is, well, unbelievable.

"THEY" damn sho didn't want the Native Americans to be "self reliant" unless their hand was in it... They are damn sho not gon' let us do it!!!

As far as the other persons of color "making" it in this country: I was thinking about that. If Rosa Parks didn't say no, if MLK didn't start the bus boycott, if, if, if... We are lucky that some of our parents marched in front of German shepards, batons, police in riot gear and hoses so that we would never see a restroom for "whites" only or "colored" drinking fountains... While I spent MLK day working, unfortunately, I had read that MLK was arrested and jailed 39 times!!! Just think if that happened today? He would be unheard of, a whiner, a troublemaker--A CHILD AT RISK...

It seems to me, more and more, that we need to try to reach a spirituality, rooted in our native lands. A spirit that is Afrikan Centered--our cultural asili... Only then will we be redeemed from our mental and quite possibly soon to be-- physical RE-enslavement.

We have no choice but for spiritual re-invention and renewal. I don't know the way, but I have seen the vision. I may not ever live to see it come into fruition, but I know it exists and is immutable...

As long as we continue to strive for parity in a europee-on social contruction, we will always be separated from our true inherited asili...

Y'all need to read Dr. Marimba Ani's, "Yurugu", then you will begin to understand the "nature of white supremacy"...

[Poplife]

http://www.allposters.com/images/IMA/C293.jpg

Trying to be YOURSELF in a country that wants to assimilate you...

[1 Woman of Virtue]

I had a great discussion with some bro's and sista's this weekend and we were talking about this and many other things. I truly believe, (and you may call it militant...i call it survival) that when Afrikans in amerikka collectively decide that we would rather die free, than to live as slaves, we will be truly liberated. I do not believe that our success as Afrikans, is dependent on whether or not Whites in this country cooperate. Our freedom is now, OUR RESPONSIBILITY. Reading books like Yurugu is the first step. The book will OPEN YOUR MIND. White amerikkka can only hold power over those who GIVE THEM THE RIGHT TO DO SO. Our freedom will continue to be dominated by White amerikkka until WE STOP GIVING IT TO THEM. When the oppressed make up their mind to remove the oppressor, the voice of the oppressor is rendered null and void.
As stated by AKA_Monet "As long as we continue to strive for parity in a europee-on social contruction, we will always be separated from our true inherited asili..."
We cannot expect to find freedom within a system that was never designed to give it to us. As Afrikans looking for freedom, we must think outside of this box.

[serenity_24]

I hear what you all are saying, but I don't think I understand. Are you saying that it absolutely can not be done. If so, I hope it is not true.

I believe there is a way. I see it happening in some places. There have been successful charter schools built, Black communities that have gotten together to raise money for their kids to go to any HBCU of their choice, and a few other initiatives derived from the collaboration of African-Americans.

If we are giving them power, I want to know how to take it back.

Here's a challenge for all of those who have not read Yurugu by Dr Marimba Ani:

Read the book and come back and discuss what you've learned. Maybe open discussion about how to take back the power we have given them will lead us to answers to the question.

[Optimistic1]

Hey everybody,

I have not read the book Yurugu, but I do think that economics plays a big role in the formation of any unified community. I'll admit that I am not for TOTAL segregation and separation, but it would be nice to go into a Black community and be greeted by Black-owned businesses. And I mean more than the churches and liquor stores that seem to frequent our communities.

In Chicago, where I'm from, African Americans are not that spread out. As many of you know, Chicago is one of the most segregated cities in the country. Despite this, most of the businesses in the Black communities are not Black-owned. In the South Side community where I grew up there is a HUGE shopping area that spans for blocks. To this day, 95% of these stores are owned by Asian or Middle Eastern people though 98% of the community is Black.

I think that Black people need to realize how important the Black dollar is. This can be done through education. We should also make an effort to support those businesses that support the Black community. If there is not a business like that in your community, help start one. I know that is SO much easier said than done, but initiative, motivation, and probably a few Small Business Administration (SBA) loans can make many of these entrepreneurship dreams a reality. There also needs to be a way to ensure that once Black businesses open up, these same businesses donate some money back into the community.

A large part of these problems are a result of the lack of unity among most of the Black community. It goes back to what The Original Ape said: there can never be another Black Wallstreet because "We don't trust each other." Many Black people have no problem buying from "others," when a lot of these same people won't even consider buying from another Black person. Many have this screwed up notion that everything European, Asian, etc. is better, while everything Black is second-class. We need to educate people, through programs, volunteer work, etc. that these notions are wrong.

To sum up my rambling... :-) I think that we can take back the power we lost through education, economic support, and entrepreneurship.

[1 Woman of Virtue]

Originally posted by serenity_24:
I hear what you all are saying, but I don't think I understand. Are you saying that it absolutely can not be done. If so, I hope it is not true.

No, I am not saying that at all. I don't know if you were talking about my post, but I just wanted to clarify to avoid any potential confusion. I KNOW it is possible, and I KNOW that in small pockets across teh country, it is happening (Blacks attaining freedom). But it is successful only when we realize that it is either freedom or nothing. When we try to compromise with the oppressor, then we will only get a compromised freedom. I really think integration did more harm than good in a lot of ways. Now I contrary to the down tone of this post, I am very optimistic about our future. There are too many of us (although not enough) who are waking up for us to remain behind for long. There is a LOT of work to do, but that just means that those of us who care will never be without something to do!

[serenity_24]

I resurected this one because I felt it was along the same lines as the Leadership post by MN. And I didn't feel like typing what I said over. (Lazy )