Black Boycott

The definition of RESPECT is, "a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements."

"The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865."

The late Black Scholar, W.E.B. Du Bois stated, "The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery."

"We have not ended racial caste in America; we have merely redesigned it."

Michelle Alexander, author of "The New Jim Crow" stated, "Black people found themselves yet again powerless and relegated to convict leasing camps that were, in many ways, worse than slavery. Sunshine gave way to darkness, and the Jim Crow system of segregation emerged - a system that put black people nearly back where they began, in a subordinate racial caste."

One might wonder how a racial caste system (class structure that is determined by birth) could exist if most Americans, regardless of ethnicity, oppose race discrimination. Racial caste systems do not require overt bigotry to thrive. As Dr. King exhorted, "class structures require only racial indifference to flourish."

The status quo would like you to think that we reside in a colorblind America. However, when one incorporates the loophole embedded in the 13th Amendment - "except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted" - with mass incarceration that "operates as a tightly networked system of laws, policies, customs, and institutions," as Donald Trump predicted, this country is regressing to a time when "America was great!" From a moral perspective, back to its inception (hijacked from Native Americans), America has never been great for people of color.

The Trump presidency does not evoke racial indifference, his regime actually promotes racial provincialism. Socially and politically disenfranchised individuals must command respect, not by singing songs and marching, but by economic sanctions.

Read further and the article writer will delineate the simple steps needed to get the respect African Americans so richly deserve. 

Because of America's greed, insolence and incompetence, at the highest levels of government, she is growing weaker by the day. African Americans have begged, pleaded, prayed, sang, marched, cried and died for respect and equality, and it has not happened. 

The primary reasons that led to the fall of the Roman Empire, after a nearly 500-year run as the world’s greatest superpower, are outlined below. The events that occurred in the late fourth century, are eerily similar to 21st century America.

Factors Contributing to the Fall of Rome:

1. Major financial problems: Even as Rome was under attack from outside forces, it was also crumbling from within, thanks to a severe financial crisis. Constant wars and overspending had significantly lightened imperial coffers, and oppressive taxation and inflation widened the gap between rich and poor.


2. Division: The fate of Western Rome was sealed in the late third century, when the Emperor Diocletian divided the Empire into two halves—the Western Empire seated in the city of Milan, and the Eastern Empire in Byzantium, later known as Constantinople. The incompetence and absurd shenanigans of the 45th president of the United States, has contributed to an unparalleled division in the United States.


3. Military overspending: Rome struggled to marshal enough troops and resources to defend its frontiers from local rebellions and outside attacks, and by the second century the Emperor Hadrian was forced to build his famous wall in Britain just to keep the enemy at bay. Hadrian's biographer wrote "Hadrian was the first to build a wall 80 miles long to separate the Romans from the barbarians." Theories have been presented by historians, mostly of an expression of Roman power and Hadrian's policy of defense before expansion.


4. Government corruption and political instability: Ineffective and inconsistent leadership led to the political rot which also extended to the Roman Senate. The Senate failed to temper the excesses of the emperors due to its own widespread corruption and incompetence.


5. Christianity and the loss of traditional values: The decline of Rome exacerbated with the spread of Christianity. Some have argued that the rise of a new faith helped contribute to the empire's fall. The Edict of Milan legalized Christianity in 313, and it later became the state religion in 380. These decrees ended centuries of persecution, but they may have also eroded the traditional Roman values system. Christianity displaced the polytheistic Roman religion, which viewed the emperor as having a divine status, and also shifted focus away from the glory of the state and onto a sole deity. Popes and other church leaders took an increased role in political affairs, further complicating governance.

From History.com - 8 Reasons Why Rome Fell

Black Boycott and Economic Sanctions - July 4, 2017 through August 4, 2017

According to Nielsen, African-Americans currently hold a buying power of $1.3 trillion annually. Adhering to the steps below will not be detrimental to your health, nor debilitate anyone physically, mentally or spiritually.

The only way to accomplish a good measure of respect and equality is through unity. We need a collective effort as we spend our dollars (whenever possible) in the black community. The article writer is imploring African Americans to take a stand. July 4th is not "Independence Day" for black people.

Starting July 4th through August 4th:

1. Do not purchase liquor or tobacco. You can do it, especially if you consider the intoxicating agent in alcohol is ethanol (used in gasoline), which means you are literally drinking poison.
   
   The dangers of smoking are: lung cancer; pulmonary and heart disease; stroke; asthma; premature, low birth-weight babies; diabetes; blindness; cataracts; colon, cervix, liver, stomach and pancreatic cancer.
   
   Feel free to continue to kill yourself after August 4th. In the 30-day time frame, the financial effects will be felt nationwide, that is the goal.


2. Market research firm Mintel estimated the size of the 2017 Black Hair market at $761 million. Hair is an important aspect of Black female culture, so it’s not a surprise that African American women spend so much money on hair.
   
   For 30 days, do not patronize Asian Beauty Supply Stores. Do your own manicures and pedicures unless you're spending your money on Black owned businesses in the aforementioned markets.


3. All you name-droppers on the various Social Networks (Facebook, Linked-In, Twitter, Instagram, etc.), if you really do know this particular singer, actress, athlete, entertainer, please tell him or her to tell his or her associates to STOP SINGING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM! That's not just for 30 days, that's forever, unless the third stanza is removed and African Americans receive a national apology (we know cows will fly before White America apologizes to Black America).
   
   "And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
   That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
   A home and a country, should leave us no more?
   Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
   No refuge could save the hireling and slave
   From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
   And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave,
   O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave."
   
   From the article, "The Kaepernick Controversy," taskeinc states:
   
   Astonishingly, the song itself was clearly not written for people of color, it was initially a poem written by Francis Scott Key. American slaves, after being promised their freedom by Great Britain, decided to join forces with the British in the War of 1812. Key was perturbed because Black soldiers, along with the British infantry, got the best of American forces. To top it off, when the treaty was signed, America had the gall to ask for their "property back" - meaning the 6,000 or so slaves who joined forces with the British.
   
   Fortunately, Great Britain did not hand over the former slaves, because we all know that every last one of those brave soldiers, would have been beaten, publicly humiliated (as an example to other enslaved people), hung and their bodies burned. No African American, male or female, should sing the National Anthem again. Sure, Caucasian Americans say, "we don't sing the third stanza." No, we don't, but it's part of the song. If the song, "Lift Every Voice and Sing" by James Weldon Johnson - the Black National Anthem - had one deleterious word directed at Caucasian Americans, the song would have been banned long ago.
   
   STOP SINGING THE NATIONAL ANTHEM!

Speaking of Colin Kaepernick, we sure did let him down. He basically stood alone in his quest to bring attention to police brutality. As of 05/31/2017, no NFL team has signed Kaepernick to a contract; even after assuring would-be employers that he would stand for the anthem. Not only should no black athletes stand for the anthem, they should turn their backs while it's sung. It is an affront to all people of color - plain and simple.

African-American baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson wrote in his autobiography that he couldn't sing the anthem or salute the flag because "I know that I am a black man in a white world." His sentiment is as true today as it was on April 15, 1947, when he broke the color-line in Major League Baseball.

Unfortunately, there are no more Jackie Robinson's, Muhammad Ali's, John Carlos and Tommy Smith's (Black Power salute at the 1968 Summer Olympics), athletes who courageously took a stand for change. Jim Brown and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar are still around but father-time has been knocking for quite awhile and their voices, although not silent, don't carry much weight anymore.

Sources:

• Akhenaten: The Heretic Pharaoh
• Ethiopia and the Origin of Civilization
• Intellectual Life and Legacy of Timbuktu
• Mansa Musa and the Empire of Mali
• The End of Empire: Attila the Hun & the Fall of Rome
• The Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism
• The New Jim Crow
• The Rise and Fall of Black Wall Street