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!

Urban Victims, The New Crack Syndrome – Part I

Part I of a four-part series entitled “The African-Centered Family.”

By Heru Ammen

”As for the man without experience who listens not, he effects nothing whatsoever. He sees knowledge in ignorance, profit in loss; he commits all kinds of error, always accordingly choosing the contrary of what is praiseworthy. He lives on that which is mortal, in this fashion. His food is evil words, whereat he is filled with astonishment. That which the great know to be mortal he lives upon every day, flying from that which would be profitable to him, because of the multitude of errors which present themselves before him every day.”

Excerpted from “The Precepts of Ptah-Hotep”

The negative cultural dynamics that affect our urban communities are played out daily in the form of negative words, deeds, and actions. Violence and abuse (mental, physical, and especially sexual) which is primarily directed at women, children, and teens perpetuates a destructive template that desensitizes and dehumanizes its victims.

Those that survive the above madness often suffer from a post-traumatic syndrome induced malaise that numbs them to the effects of abuse and violence. The abuse and all that accompanies it has become the normal socio-psycho template for urban communities. Because the aforementioned abuse will likely occur over and over again, the resulting malaise is a survival and coping mechanism that insulates the victim from having to suffer through the natural emotional stages (i.e., hurt, anger, realization, healing) associated with being constantly abused.

Society cannot reasonably expect the majority of the individuals that exist within this type of urban environment to come out of it unscathed. This is especially true regarding children. Children are the most vulnerable and are the ones that are most likely to be abused. Young boys and girls are often the target of sexual predators. They are preyed upon by teens and adults; many of whom were once themselves victims of sexual and physical abuse. I believe that the rise in African Americans under the age of thirty-five identifying themselves, being labeled as or exhibiting the behavioral characteristics of a bisexual, gay, lesbian, pimp, ho, or player, is directly related to the sexual abuse that they endured as children and teens.

Before anyone goes on a tangent and accuse me of gay bashing, let me be clear regarding my position. Since the days of ancient Greece, there have always been and will always be a small percentage of individuals that identify themselves as gay or lesbian within what was once ancient African and is now the African American community. Whether one is born that way or makes a conscious choice to be gay or lesbian does not matter (to me). However there is a difference between being born and/or choosing to be gay and being sexually abused as a child and continuing that behavior as an adult. The former is a conscious decision based upon a genetic predisposition and/or a choice. The latter is a learned behavior based upon forced coercion and abuse.

This cycle of abuse and the resulting predatory behavior is so prevalent and entrenched within urban America that it has become a culture unto itself. Yet we find nary a public figure, minister, or so called Black Leader addressing this issue with the fervor and the sense of urgency that it deserves. Urban America has become an environement which perpetuates the generational condition which I term the New Crack Syndrome; where one is born as nothing more that a potential victim of physical and sexual abuse and grows up to emulate the behavior of their abuser.

The African-Centered Family - Introduction

“When a son receives the instruction of his father there is no error in all his plans. Train your son to be a teachable man whose wisdom is agreeable to the great. Let him direct his mouth according to that which has been said to him; in the docility of a son is discovered his wisdom. His conduct is perfect while error carries away the unteachable. Tomorrow knowledge will support him, while the ignorant will be destroyed.”

Excerpted From “The Precepts of Ptah-Hotep”

Introduction to a four-part series entitled “The African-Centered Family.”

By Heru Ammen

There are moments when a man’s spirit and soul are tested to the very core of his being. It is inevitable that if a man lives long enough he will come upon a moment when failing to answer the call of one of life’s many challenges is not an option. As such, there is no challenge greater or one that has more significance in a man’s life than accepting and embracing the responsibility to shape and mold his son into a man. In America, no job is harder or more demanding for an African American male than to traverse the system of blocks and obstacles placed within his path and maneuver his male progeny into a position to succeed in life.

An excellent example of the quintessential African-Centered father can be found in the person and progeny of the late Earl Woods. The world saw the culmination of his handiwork on display this summer at the British Open Golf Tournament in the person of Eldrick “Tiger” Woods and it was a masterpiece to behold. The greatness that is Tiger Woods is a direct reflection of and in direct proportion with the greatness that was Earl Woods.

For this writer greatness is not quantified by how many golf tournaments Tiger wins. The greatness that is Tiger Woods is quantified by his success at meeting the challenges that fame has brought upon him. There is no doubt whatsoever that his golf game is superior. However what impresses me is the humbleness and humility of his persona. It would be easy for Tiger to toot his own horn. But the fact that Tiger goes about his business with a quiet and Zen like discipline is a testament to the values that his father, the late Earl Woods instilled within him.

What a man teaches his son will affect the global family. When there is no man to teach the son the principles of how to order one’s conduct as a man should, the global family suffers. Our communities suffer because at this point in our history there are very few male-female familial infrastructures that exist within our communities. A women, even one who is spiritually strong and lives within and teaches right knowledge cannot offer her male child all that is required for him to become a man. Intuitively a male child will be drawn to the actions and mindset of the males that culturally predominate his community. As such, he becomes that which he sees and experiences and much of what is seen and experienced today is of a negative nature.

In the next the weeks to come the Urban Village Blog & Commentary will explore the issues that have hurt the traditional African American family and caused it to become almost non-existent within our communities. We will also explore the solutions that can be employed to reconstruct the African American family unit into the spiritual and economically viable entity that it once was, and how doing so will cause the reformation of a great African-Centered culture and society.

Another Example of The Afro-Saxon Mentality

Star Parker, the writer of the above linked article pontificates eloquently about her disdain for the Spike Lee documentary that clearly exposed the ineptitude of BushCo. Like most Afro-Saxons, she would rather wax nostagically about so-called traditional american values as opposed to seeing the facts as the vast majority of Americans clearly saw them.

The fact is that the Bush Administration sat on their rosy scented posteriors for five days and did nothing while Americans dehydrated, drowned, starved, died, and marinated into premium maggot feed in the hot Mississippi Delta sun. There is absolutely nothing one can say to dispute the above facts and no amount of obfuscation, victim blame game, or thinly veiled and/or glibly lame racist rhetoric will ever take away from those facts.

In her attempt to appease her neo-con base, Ms. Parker fails to recognize the harm done to the African Americans by a system that first enslaved us and then failed to deliver to us a modicum of the promise of freedom, liberty, and justice until just over 40 years ago.

Ms. Parker believes that somehow a people that have had their culture, familial rights, and human dignity systematically stripped from them for over 340 years is somehow prepared to totally extricate themselves from that condition after only 40 years of so called freedom.

As a comparison, it took europeans over 10,000 years after Africans had developed several noteworthy cultures and over 3,000 years after the African High Culture Civilizations were in existence to finally formulate a culture worthy of history's voice.

Just like the Europeans that engaged in the wholesale slaughter and enslavement of the African, the Afro-Saxon sees no harm in the destruction of the African American. This is why Ms. Parker can set at her keyboard and poo-poo a documentary that clearly went to great lengths to let those affected by Katrina tell their story.

It is Afro-Saxons like Ms. Parker that have true African-Centered Conservatives (like myself) constantly reaching for the maalox. It appears that she is neither a student of history, nor does she appear to have compassion for her fellow brothers and sisters. But then again, ignorance and indifference is another feature of the Afro-Saxon mindset.

Payment Due

By Heru Ammen

In 1947 the State of Israel was formed over the objection of all of the Arab nations. The U.N mandated 1947 U.N. Partition Plan divided the Palestine territory into two states with roughly 55% of that territory belonging to the newly formed State of Israel. This partition plan was summarily rejected by the Arab League primarily because the plan forcibly displaced the indigenous Arab population. The partition and the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel lead to the displacement of over 700,000 indigenous Arabs; with some estimates placing that number as high as 900,000.

The official reasoning for establishing the modern State of Israel can be found in the aforementioned Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel where it reads “…the Land of Israel, was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.” By stressing their own religious beliefs and history as the foundational premise for the establishment of modern day Israel, the Jewish people (with the approval of the U.N., Europe, Russia, and the United States) effectively dismissed the spiritual, religious, and political identity of the entire Arab world. Not surprisingly the Arabs reacted violently to this declaration. The interjection of a Jewish state in what was for over 1800 years Arab territory was followed by the first Arab-Jewish war. Since that period tension between Israel and its Arab neighbors have ebbed and flowed with atrocities being committed against the other by both parties.

Due primarily to its close relationship with the USA, Israel has always held military superiority in that region; which has enabled it to withstand all incursions from its Arab neighbors. Arab militants bent on the destruction of Israel have always known that America had Israel’s back and that threat has acted as a stern deterrent to any nation wishing to impose its military and political will upon Israel. That is up until now. Because of the war and the subsequent occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan there is a perception amongst Arab militants that America is no longer in a position to readily assist Israel at this time.

Additionally the arming of the Hezbollah and Hamas militias by Iran and Syria has changed the military dynamics of the region. So while America continues to be bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, Israel is now faced with the prospect of fighting a war on multiple fronts without that (perceived) American military advantage. Needless to say the perception that America is not in a position to readily assist Israel and the upgraded military prowess of Hezbollah and Hamas may result in an escalation of violence in the Middle East to unprecedented proportions. Israel may have acted as it did (some say disproportionally) due to this perception.

Another factor that is in play in this drama is the fact that in the past when tensions have spilled over into violence between Israel and its neighbors, America was in a position to offer a diplomatic solution. Unfortunately the Bush Administration is arguably the most diplomatically inept administration in modern American history. Also the fact that this administration is now perceived to be unethical, dishonest, and untrustworthy by most Americans and Europeans alike does not bode well for an American led diplomatic solution to this crisis.

In my last commentary I discussed the (metaphysical) consequences of wrong actions. A simple analogy one can take from that commentary is that an individual or even a nation cannot engage in acts contra-posed to justice and peace and escape the consequences of their actions. It is inevitable that at some point in time the universe will (sometimes violently) re-balance itself in some form or fashion and that is a sobering reality that the world will have to deal with.

Metaphysical Consequences of Wrong Actions

It is a consequence of the principles of physics that for every action, there will be an equal and opposite reaction and/or force applied against the original action from the opposite direction. For those that are so inclined, the principles of metaphysics act in the same manner but are generally slower to develop and materialize within the plane of thoughts and actions. The laws of metaphysics (The African Branch: emphasis mine) dictates that no individual, group, or even a nation’s government can consciously (i.e., with malice of forethought) engage in evil (war, economic and social oppression, selfishness, bigotry, discrimination, lasciviousness, and other obscene behavior) and have good (peace, harmony, righteousness, justice) to result from the evil that was engaged in. Based upon recent world events, it appears that our world leaders have forgotten that axiom or have chosen to ignore it.

In direct opposition of the laws of metaphysics is the dogma of religion. Religious dogma, especially the western flavor, presupposes that God choose a certain individual or group to speak and act in God’s name and those that don’t, won’t or cannot go along with the program are enemies of God and are subject to the “will” of God which is invariably carried out by its followers with God’s help and blessings. The vulnerability associated with religious dogma lies in the fact that he who has the biggest sword ultimately dictates what constitutes religious dogma. As such, religious dogma is subject to the whims and various ideological constructs of an ever changing social order.

We see this type of religious based drama being played out daily all over the world. The war in Iraq precipitated the Muslim insurgency which precipitated sectarian violence, which precipitated saber rattling between the leaders of Iran and America which could possibly lead to another war. Israel occupied Palestinian territory which precipitated attacks against Israel by Palestinians Muslims, which precipitated counter attacks, which precipitated saber rattling between Israel and most of the Muslim world and has Israel gearing up in preparation for war. This drama includes the murder of Iraqis by Iraqis and betwixt Arabs of different Muslim sects is a direct result of ideological differences based upon religious dogma. Here in America that drama plays out mostly within the political arena. However the result are similar in that certain individuals and groups are marginalized in an effort by religious and racially motivated dogmatists to make over America into the country they believe God wants America to be.

Western religions point towards a time of retribution and tribulation followed by a final reckoning. The violent actions and the subsequent reactions that are taking place throughout the world have many western-religious based dogmatists believing that we are now witnessing the end of the world and the forthcoming of a new and Godly world order. The only problem is that they can’t agree, even amongst their own like-minded, religious brethren on whom will God save and whom will God destroy. But instead of allowing God to make that decision, they’ve taken matters into their own hands and declared war against those individuals and nations that embrace beliefs that are in conflict with their beliefs. From a psychological perspective one could argue that individuals who embrace this type of mindset suffer from clinically defined insanity. One thing is for certain. If we continue to allow ourselves to be defined by a religion, society (as we know it) will ultimately be destroyed by it.