Faking The Funk, Huxtable Style...Redux

By Heru Ammen

Please don't take my criticism of what I term “The Cosby Generation” as an indictment against those that fought, bled and paid with their lives during the civil rights struggle. I will always give props to people such as Dr. King, A. Phillip Randolph, Malcolm, Huey, Stokely, Dubois and all of those that made it possible for me to be sitting here today at this time writing this blog. Without the sacrifice of the aforementioned individuals, I may have never had the opportunity to communicate to my readers as free person in America.

I was born in '58 and although I was born and raised in California, I was intimately aware of the civil rights struggle because my father played an integral role in securing rights for his co-worker's in the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters founded by A. Phillip Randolph. My perspective on the civil rights struggle was shaped by that struggle. My Father fought for the collective rights of all of his co-workers to achieve the best and his sacrifice afforded all of them equal rights so that they could work in conditions that allowed them to achieve excellence in their profession. My father helped to build a platform and an infrastructure that promoted excellence, good pay, and respect for a job well done.

There are a great number of individual success stories in Afrikan American history. However my contention is that when the greater Afrikan American community was finally allowed the freedom to choose either to live in and build up our traditional communities (like our Asian and other ethnic brothers and sisters) or embrace the de-facto rugged individualism found in the suburbs, most of us choose the latter. We did nothing to collectively ensure the health and well being of our traditional urban communities. Once we achieved equal rights, the vast majority of attorneys, doctors, nurses, educators, griots, and entrepreneurs left urban America for the suburbs and all of the resources they provided went with them. What was left was essentially nothing; and nothing from nothing leaves nothing. Or in the case of urban America, nothing from nothing equaled a void that was filled with overt poverty, ignorance, and government mandated dysfunction called welfare and aid to dependent children.

The African American exodus exacerbated what was already (due to slavery, segregation and discrimination) a fragile cultural ecosystem and it eventually collapsed upon its own weight. If the greater Afrikan American community had taken the approach that my Father had taken in ensuring that his "community" of porters, cooks, and dining car waiters had the infrastructural support mechanism to achieve success, we would not have totally dysfunctional urban communities today.

So when Bill Cosby or any other Afrikan American gets upon the proverbial high horse and lambasts those that their generation socially and culturally abandoned, I take issue with that. All of us (including myself) need to look in the mirror of blame for the reasons why urban America is failing - and we also need to sit down at the table of reasonable dialog and develop solutions that will allow those that want and desire to succeed the opportunity to do so.

Any culture and/or socio-economic system that does not materially support the fundamental right of all of its people to at least have an equal opportunity to pursue excellence through education, employment, and entrepreneurship within their community disenfranchises the vast majority of those that could have possibly achieved at a high level and disproportionately handicaps (both mentally and socially) those that achieve despite the lack of support.

What Bill Cosby and the Cosby Generation is complaining about is akin to parents raising a male child from a baby to be a female and then when that male child becomes an adult, they blame him for acting like a woman. Urban America did not happen in a vacuum and the problems in Urban America will not be solved until Afrikan Americans look in the mirror and recognize the culprits of its demise.

The Failure of the Black Church - Part I

By Heru Ammen

In the commentary entitled "A Solution for Socio-Economic Impotence," we outlined the problems that our people are facing within our urban communities and the cultural and social dynamics that continue to exacerbate these issues. In short, a combination of capital disinvestment and black flight are two of the primary factors that have caused the degradation and destruction of urban communities. Another important factor that has precipitated the destruction of urban communities is the fact that many of the individuals, groups, and organizations that exist within our communities do not contribute anything to and for the communities that they supposedly serve. Front and center in their neglect and disdain for urban communities is the black church.

The black church is the worst culprit of what I term purveyors of conscious neglect. This institution, which should be standing in the gap for its poor and disenfranchised constituents represents the worst exploiter of the poor and disenfranchised that has ever existed in the African American community. Its raw embrace of individualism and materialism is couched in a feel good message of salvation and prosperity. Unfortunately the message of salvation and prosperity that the black church promotes seems to only apply to a few of its select clergy and members. That's apparent in the fact that most of its members have yet to achieve anything close to the prosperity that is supposedly free and only requires the initiates unquestioned belief and faith in the Christian God and consistent tithing to their particular house of worship.

The grandiose cathedrals and makeshift storefronts that are in or near our urban communities are diametrically contrasted against a backdrop of decay, violence and ignorance. Some of the largest and most influential black churches exist in communities that are the most violent and dysfunctional communities in America. Cities such as Atlanta, Dallas, Charlotte, Houston, New Orleans, Chicago, Los Angeles and New York boost some of the largest black churches in the country; with active memberships ranging from 5000 members upward to around 30,000 members. Yet these same cities are always at or near the top in African American related homicides, rapes, poverty, illiteracy, single parent households, drug abuse, child abuse and other socio-economic ills.

Their are approximately 70,000 black churches in the United States. Partial statistics show us that the median-average income of black churches is $200,000 annually. With a combined annual income approaching fourteen-billion (or more), the black church has the financial capability to effect change within our urban communities on a scale that is as wide as it is deep. Yet the evidence is clear that the black church has utterly failed the people it is spiritually and morally commissioned to serve and uplift.

Additionally the black church exacerbates and in some cases exploits the schisms that exist within our communities. By promoting a message of intolerance of differing intra-faith doctrines, preaching and teaching denominational and spiritual exclusivity, promoting passivity in regards to social issues, and engaging in spiritual bigotry against those whom embrace other belief systems, the black church is continuing the systemic destruction that was perpetrated against our people originally by Europeans during the African Holocaust and later by American Caucasians during the slave and Jim Crow eras.

In part 2 of this series, I will offer evidence which will show that the black church was designed on the slave plantations of North and South America, Europe, and the Carribbean exclusively for the purpose of destroying African culture and all of its liberating benefits. Stay tuned...

Now a Brother Can't Even Go To Church...

By Heru Ammen

Barack Obama's association with Trinity United Church of Christ is an asset. Although a few white neo-conservatives are trying to make something out of nothing regarding this, most Americans "overstand" that Black love and unity does not equate to white hate. Nor is it the proverbial slippery slope to that end.

It's interesting to note that other cultures that exist in this country (Asians, Latinos, Jews...etc.) teach and preach the same type of cultural unity and love message in their communities, churches, temples and synagogues and their isn't any negative connotation associated with their message and that is as it should be. To this reader, its more of the same "fear of a black planet" syndrome that some whites have when it comes to anything positive coming out of our communities that seeks to empower the people that exist them.

Their has always been and probably will always be whites and like minded Afro-Saxons who will complain about the problems in African American communities (as they continue to place the blame upon African Americans for the conditions that currently exist in urban communities). What's ironic is they also complain when organizations or individuals actually stand in the gap for and create empowerment opportunities within our communities.

A Solution For Socio-Economic Impotence

By H. Jerome Williams, II

Urban communities in American are being destroyed. Poverty, ignorance induced-mental atrophy, crime and violence has penetrated, permeated, and obliterated what were once culturally enriching and economically viable areas. The reasons for this deterioration are many-fold. Economically, urban areas lack the commercial infrastructure to support economic growth and vitality. In nearly all urban communities, commerce beyond food, guns, alcoholic beverages, illicit drugs, hair care, and entertainment is virtually non-existent. Financial institutions in most urban areas are limited to check cashing facilities, tax return storefronts, and high interest charging pay-day lending "institutions."

Educational opportunities are limited at best. In most urban areas, less than fifty-percent of the majority population of African Americans and Hispanics are homeowners. Additionally property tax values in urban areas are ten to thirty percent less than property tax values in the suburbs for comparable housing. This disparity contributes to the lack of adequate funding (tax dollars) for schools in urban areas, which directly affects the quality of education in urban areas. Employment opportunities in urban areas are scarce as businesses have left/are leaving and relocating to the suburbs only to return when urban areas go through the process of gentrification.

Many African Americans from academia, religion, and politics have discussed and continue the discussion ad infinitum, of "what to do" about urban America. As they talk (and posture I might add), the problems in urban areas get worse. A few organizations and individuals have actually developed successful programs to combat the lack of education and economic opportunities in urban areas. Unfortunately funding issues hamper many of these programs and severely limits their scope of operation and outreach.

As our educators, clergy, and politicians continue to discuss, preach, have meetings, and attend seminars pontificating about the problems that exist within our communities, African Americans continue to die, continue to be incarcerated, continue to be abused, continue to be under-educated, and continue to live in poverty stricken and systemically violently communities. If hot air was a commodity, our so called black leaders would be some of the wealthiest individuals in the world. Unfortunately for our communities, hot air is less effective and worth less than cheap air freshener in a greyhound bus station bathroom.

What we need is less talking and more action focused upon eliminating the causes and effects of poverty. This can be accomplished through cooperation and collaboration among groups and individuals from academia and business at the community level. One needn't look no further than the web to see the effectiveness of a group engaging in actions that are focused in solving issues to reach a common goal. The world wide web is an excellent example and a direct result of (mostly) voluntary based cooperation amongst large groups of people. Common Based Peer Production is a term used to define this type of cooperation. In the PDF formatted book "Common Based Peer Production and Virtue" written by Yochai Benkler and Helen Nessenbaum, "the hallmark of this socio-technical system is the collaboration among large groups of individuals...who cooperate effectively to provide information, knowledge or cultural goods without relying on either market pricing or managerial hierarchies to coordinate their common enterprise."

Paraphrasing Mr. Benkler and Ms. Nessenbaum, the hallmark of addressing the socio-economic and socio-technical disparities (if you will) found within our urban communities will be the collaboration among groups of African American educators, technophiles, entrepreneurs, and clergy, and motivating them to cooperate effectively to provide information, knowledge, funding, and goods and services to our communities without relying upon traditionally ineffective black leadership and group think hierarchies to coordinate their common enterprise.In other words, we must disengage ourselves from that which has proven to be ineffective and embrace a system of cooperation and collaboration that relies upon the unfettered dissemination of knowledge, goods and services.

We cannot continue to support the so called black leaders and organizations that are ineffective in addressing and fomenting solutions to eliminate poverty within our urban communities. They've had forty years to "talk" about solutions. African Americans communities need tangible solutions now! Quite frankly, I'm tired of watching the impotence exhibited of our so called black leadership. We have the resources, financial and otherwise to bring change to our communities and it is time we put those resources to work for the betterment of our communities.

The Constructs of Racism

Institutional racism in America is perpetuated through the constructs of religion, culture and communication. Institutionalized racism results primarily in a skewed perception of self by the victim. In America religion and culture have become symbols of the perceived superiority of the european mindset. Because of the effects of racism, people of color; especially a great number of African-Americans, identify themselves through a European mindset in terms of their religious beliefs, cultural edifices, and icons. Thus if anything or anyone challenges that mindset, the aforementioned African-Americans will react as negatively and vociferously to and against that challenge as would the white racist.

We see the aforementioned reaction anytime an African American stands up against the status quo. When Dr. Martin Luther King took up the banner of civil rights in the 1950's, there were only a handful of Black churches and organizations that stood with him. An example of that fact is that out of the hundreds of black churches that existed in Birmingham Alabama in the fifties and sixties, only 14 allowed Dr. King and all of the other civil rights leaders and organizations to meet in and use their facilities. This ratio was par for the course throughout the south.

When Muhammad Ali and Malcolm X began to teach and live the NOI's version of Islam, so-called black leaders joined white apologist in condemning both men as black racists and accused them in engaging in hate mongering. When Jim Brown, (who was arguably the greatest running back in NFL history) abruptly retired from the NFL at the peak of his physical ability, (due to his lack of freedom to pursue an acting career) he was roundly criticized by whites and blacks alike for his perceived arrogance. Other African-Americans from Marcus Garvey to Dr. Huey P. Newton to Minister Louis Farrakhan faced the same criticism and contempt by their own people for stepping outside of and/or challenging the status quo of institutionalized racism.

The constructs of skin color, class, racism, and religion is what defines modern white culture. These constructs were/are created to define who whites were in relation to who they "perceived" others to be. Color definitions as defined by and through a european/white mindset, and the resulting institutional racism borne from a sense of cultural and intellectual superiority established within that mindset has been used to marginalized people and cultures of color.

The fact that institutionalized racism still exists in America can no longer be used as an excuse to not move forward by those of us that know better. We cannot continue to sit upon the sidelines watching the socio-economic destruction and the spiritual debasement of our people. We who call ourselves enlightened must begin to engage and discuss; and then we must act.

We must engage, discuss, and act from an African-Centered Mindset. That means we must embrace those things we have have in common and stop bickering over the few things that keep us separated. We must also redeploy our assets and rebuild our communities through education, communication, and commerce. We must agree not to impede the progress of those that we may have philosophical or religious disagreements with as long as they bring assets we can all utilize and build upon. This is the African way. Live it, embrace it, and prosper from it!