Don't Believe The Hype

As the United States economic woes have gotten worse, the poorest African Americans, as in the past, have been made the scapegoats. Instead of placing the blame where it belongs - Federal Reserve and International Banking Cartels that control the money supply and create recessions to fit their needs - the fault has been laid on the poor and lower middle class.

In 1976, when Ronald Reagan pursued the Republican Presidential nomination, he repeatedly told the story of an African American woman named Linda Taylor, claiming she was earning more than $150,000 annually by cheating social services. Reagan used Linda Taylor as an example of liberal policies gone awry.

The story grabbed national attention - 'Welfare Queen' Becomes Issue In Reagan Campaign - but had little to no basis in reality. Taylor was a con artist and not in the least representative of the typical welfare recipient.

Brittney Cooper, Professor of Africana Studies at Rutgers, in the PBS Documentary, "Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise" stated, "The Welfare Queen image is a manufacture of Ronald Reagan's republican party using one, only one story from Chicago, in the 70's from one woman who scammed something from the system and it's not entirely clear all that she scammed."

Political Strategist, Donna Brazile went on to say, "The notion that 99% of the welfare money in this society has gone to Blacks and Hispanics is wrong, it's bogus. The majority of people on welfare are white, the majority of people on food stamps are white."

Reagan's attack on Welfare marked a significant change. Since the Great Depression, the Federal Government offered aid to poor people, most of whom were Caucasian. After the republican's diatribe directed at low or no-income African Americans, in financially insecure times, Reagan argued that those programs, paid for by tax dollars, were only aiding black people and he promised that "cutting them would help fix the economy."

Reagan's 1980 campaign for president, had an eerily similar theme as that of Donald Trump in 2016. Both politicians campaigned on the rhetoric of returning America to a better, bygone era, with the slogan, "Let's make America great again." Well, the bygone era they speak of, was not too 'great' for people of color. The not so subtle directive of these type statements, coupled with, "we have to take our country back," implies that we have to 'put black people in their place'. Reagan and Trump appear to be birds of the same racist feather. But of course, no one is a racist, at least no one has ever owned up to being a racist.

All in all, African Americans in the 21st century have no other choice but to pull ourselves up by our collective bootstraps. We must use our smarts to come up with creative ways to extrapolate ourselves from the quagmire of racism and second class citizenry. For over two centuries we have begged, pleaded, marched, and died for equality, for assistance from White America. We must know by now, that assistance is not going to come, at least not on the level needed to make a difference. We must do so ourselves. Period.

The change starts with education and self-respect. Major props to Lebron James. The networks often show NBA and NFL players in street clothes as they enter the stadium. Yesterday, 03/01/2017, before the Cleveland Cavaliers game with the Boston Celtics, they showed Lebron James walking in, reading "The Godfather." Doesn't matter the type of book, what matters is the powerful message sent to millions of black kids that idolize Lebron. We need more of that! We need more African American athletes and entertainers to promote reading and education by simply being seen with a book or books in their possession.

The first book I read after high school, that was not required reading, was a book entitled, "Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America" by Nathan McCall.

The book was extremely entertaining because it reminded me of my childhood. After I finished, it dawned on me that, reading a good book is better than watching a movie. Books entreat you to to imagine, to think, to laugh, and sometimes cry; thus broadening your knowledge, awareness and nourishes the soul.

The African's tragic history in America has proven beyond the shadow of a doubt, that we are a powerful race. Attempts at genocide of the black race have failed. Unfortunately, because we lack the ability to come together (Christianity and Politics would be the main culprits in keeping us divided), because we 'hate on' and disrespect our very own race, the dismantling of the black race, if it were to happen, would come from a collective self-implosion. You must know your history - through reading - or you are doomed to repeat it. And you must know the true history, not history as defined by another race.

The maxim, "History is written by the winners," is accurate because a society is historized based on the accounts of those who triumphed, rather than those who lost. Not since the times of Akhenaten and his consort Nefertiti (1353–1336 BCE), or African King Musa Keita I of the Mali Empire (known as the richest man to ever live), has people of Moorish decent been able to define and write history - and theirs was not American history. Even their rich African history has, for the most part, been destroyed by the Caucasoid race (or at least kept from the public by any means necessary).

There are pockets of black people who absurdly believe the Bible to be somewhat of a history book for African Americans. Don't think for one moment that this particular book is accurate because if it were, you can best believe it would not be the best selling book across the globe. If the Bible clearly delineated the true history of Africans, the world would know the power we possess, rather than the antithesis of the truth.

Reading will help us to comprehend these irrefutable facts and force us to realize, we do not need White America to succeed, all we need is each other.

References:

• "Black America Since MLK: And Still I Rise" PBS documentary hosted by Henry Louis Gates Jr. 
• "Makes Me Wanna Holler: A Young Black Man in America" by Nathan McCall
• "The Politics of Disgust: The Public Identity of the Welfare Queen"