White Black America

White Black America

Independence Day Discussion

Just to broach this subject probably would have the left label me racist.  Mentioning blacks in comparison to whites or other minorities appears to be an automatic trigger. But here goes.  I thought too this Independence Day, July 4, was a good time for such a discussion.  As a minimum discussions about races and racism need to take place, even though it may be impossible to not cross the line somewhat, somewhere, and with someone.  

Listening to presentations from fireworks displays around the Country we are reminded of the breakaway America had from Great Britain.  It was the greatest world power at that time and for over one hundred years after as well.  When you look at the faces of those from whom we sought freedom, life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, the British regimens marching against American volunteer armies, there were not many coloreds. Even in Washington’s brigade black faces were not in evidence.  The war of independence was that of peoples from similar heritage, Europeans, with the differences reflected more in religious practices and ideologies than race.  Freedom was being sought from the oppression of governments, governments that were destructive of the powers given them “from the consent of the governed.” (Quote from the Declaration of Independence).   An objective was “Safety and Happiness” of the people in this new land, which was not the case for many in the UK. Despotism had reduced citizens, willing to be governed, to be oppressed, humiliated, and lacking self-esteem.  This as a result of “a long train of abuses and usurpations.”  This was not to be repeated in America. 

The Tyranny to which people were subject to the King is outlined in the Declaration of Independence. (Copy here).  The King sought increasing power, the abolishment of justice, other than his own, limited voting rights, if any, curbing the growth of a standing army other than his own, taxations without representation, and more, applied at home and also to those in our land (America) far from Britain. Dissidents were transported across the Sea as necessary for a trial without jury.  And there is more.  The resulting war gave America and Americans their freedom.  This we celebrate proudly, indeed we should all be saying, “I am proud to be an American….” expressing the words from a Lee Greenwood song.  What is most interesting is that the slaves that were here were not part of this fight, but they were included. From the Declaration, the words as to being free, “truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”  American was to be and remain a nation under God, permitted and gifted by the Almighty, the words from the Bible ringing true for everyone, and every race. 

 

Source of America’s Independence

We have acknowledged the source of many white people coming to America. What about the black people?  That immediately brings to the fore the issue of ‘slavery.’ Africa was the source.  Merchants from Portugal brought shiploads of enslaved persons to the American Colonies, and elsewhere as well.  From “Slavery, Power, and the Human Cost, 1455-1755” (a NYT publication associated with the controversial 1619 project),  “Pope Nicholas V buoyed Portuguese efforts and issued the Romanus Pontifex of 1455, which affirmed Portugal’s exclusive rights to territories it claimed along the West African coast and the trade from those areas. It granted the right to invade, plunder and ‘reduce their persons to perpetual slavery.’… Some 12.5 million men, women and children of African descent were forced into the trans-Atlantic slave trade.” (Read More).  Such trade aided in the growth, development of resources and the wealth in the new world, to include areas other than America too. Yet it was not the blacks that fought to establish America as its own Nation.  They were, at the time, oppressed and used as laborers.  In fact they were not aware of any objective for the places to which they were forcibly relocated.  To survive they simply did as they were told, wherever they were.  I must note that there were white indentured servants as well.  Overtime, however, laws enacted did follow racial lines, whereas punishment for the white slaves was less, or limited, to that of the blacks.  The merchants were the white Europeans while those indentured came from other countries, traded, white or black, as chattel.  Bacon’s Rebellion in the 1600’s had black and white indentured peoples fighting the government and the natives.  The result, oddly enough, created laws favoring the white indentured over the blacks, their terms of punishment limited, while the blacks remained enslaved for life.  That was a racial division and reflection of the leaders, the chosen leaders, at that time. 

Paradox

With the Declaration the paradox of freedom and liberty, enslavement still condoned, began to wane, as States, such as Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey began to address the issue and enact changes.  Changes were slow in coming, but heading in the right direction, as progress, towards that which the Founders had envisioned. There were also those who never wanted to change, dividing the new nation, North and South, the South reluctant, due in all probability to the large tobacco and cotton farms that needed the contract labor.  From the day of Independence for the next hundred years progress continued, and the divisions became clearer.  To preserve and ensure a united Union, the President Abraham Lincoln (1861-1865), led the movement to emancipate all.  The North, having done so, became the Union Army that fought for the freedom from slavery that the Rebels, the South, resisted. The Confederate Army was assembled to fight the Union Army.  To be noted, in 1808 international slave trading to America was forbidden, by Congress.  This led rise to a domestic slave trade.  The armies were predominately white, 99%, fighting to free or to keep slaves.  In the end the Union prevailed, more the 600,000 lives were lost. In January of 1863 the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. Thirteenth Amendment was ratified in December 1865.  Slavery was for a period a State matter, and with the amendment it became a National matter, as all men were made free. Just as the Declaration had made clear.  Progress continued.  A predominately while society was giving credence to the blacks living in America.  There were prejudices that were difficult to erase.  Overtime, however, prejudices have diminished, but there remains a few odd elements.  

Blacks were welcomed into the New World, albeit through the slave trade and subsequent victories to free them.  They never sought America as their new home, as did many Europeans, even the Spaniards.  Yet here they were, and free they were, to enjoy what this great opportunity presented.  They were helped by the dominant white population over time to become more part of the whole, a melting pot of races, cultures, and religions.  The goal was and remains, ‘equality.’  To be equal, though, people must strive on their own to take advantage of what is offered and to make themselves, their families, their peers, their neighborhoods, their States and their Nation equal.  People work to improve each other, united in the effort.  Or for some, reluctant to join.  This is unfortunate.   Society has morphed into a mix of achievers and non-achievers.  Yet opportunity remains equal.  Why are so many blacks, as evidenced by the BLM contrivance, so reluctant to fully integrate as citizens.  They are citizens, but more anti-American and more rebels lifting their criminal element higher than those who have attained success and enjoyed the American Dream.  Why are they all too often referred to as ‘Uncle Tom’s’, or essentially denounced by the black poor, underachievers and militants?  Is it a remnant of the past, Europeans versus tribal peoples? Intellectual achievements are to be revered. Why are they not?  A society in the 1700-1800’s that may have been conditioned to regard black people and poor whites (trailer trash) as inferiors has changed, not totally, but progress continues.  Much has been done for the blacks to aide in that progress. 

Congress has acted.  After the civil war the Freedman’s Bureau provided help to millions of black slaves and poor whites. Education was emphasized and provided, colleges and universities established, all to help the oppressed, now free. Today the HBCU’s (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) continue.  Churches also became a beacon of hope and joy, providing assistance and love to promote reform, family and equality. There have been many civil rights laws enacted. Then there was the Great Society and the War on Poverty. Race preferences were given. Housing projects built. School integration was enforced, the National Guard engaged to insure it took place. Segregation was denounced.  Public places could not be restricted. White children were bused to black schools; blacks children were bused to white schools.  Neighborhoods that grew by common association were made open through busing and legislation for open association. The ‘achievement gap,’ poor white and blacks versus what the MSM seems to constantly label the successful or white supremacy class, has been addressed constantly, favoring blacks.  But have the blacks, as a universal culture, made the effort?  Some clearly have, by why such controversy today, even outright denial saying ‘whites’ have not done enough for ‘blacks.’ Reparations are asked for, or more welfare.  Blacks represent 13% of America’s population, but receive 50% of the food stamps. As much as integration was called for in the past, now we hear cries for safe spaces, or segregation.  The hypocrisy is apparent.  This has not been an experiment, but a true desire to have America as a blended society, all equal, regardless of race, religion, creed, et al.  Tolerance was an objective. Peace was an objective.  Progress to continue has always been an objective.  

The Past is the Past

In History the past is the past, it cannot, or should not, be erased. never to be forgotten.  It is how we learn and understand our world, the people in it, their flaws and their perfections. There is no reason for guilt on the part of the early settlers and their families.  Wars were fought and won to achieve a United States, to include a unity of people.  Many hundreds of thousands of white people died to free the black people.  Society as a whole, those who have been successful have striven constantly to open doors and provide opportunity to any who seek, who desire, to make their lives better, provide for their families, who want to achieve for themselves and provide for a greater homeland. Work to do so is required. Not everyone seeks wealth, but everyone, I would pray, wants to live in a safe neighborhood, be able to learn and provide for themselves and their families.  It distresses me the extent to which the family structure has collapsed, and the extent to which our national government seems to pass bills that allow the family unit to be considered less important.  It is the family that makes the whole complete.  The government cannot be a parent.  They can only create chaos as their children have no father figure to guide them, only a collective of ideas driven by the most popular political Party ideology at the time.  God and Family as essential, and that is not government.  Government has its role, its purpose.  It cannot be God.  And it cannot be a mother or father.  The Founders realized this, thus embraced God as the guiding light for America.

Conflict Culture

As America the Beautiful and Great, are we the wrong culture for blacks.  Plenty has been done for them.  Cities having large black populations are in turmoil.  And it is black on black crimes, to include murder, that prevail. Lawless societies that exist in the heart of a great nation.  Using identity politics these black turbulent areas are being used by politicians to help them gain power; they are being used as brainwashed pawns being told they remain as slaves, their living condition a result of continued historical oppressive practices by whites.  Yet we are no longer a slave owning society.  They need to be told they are free and can do and achieve whatever they want.  They need encouragement, not discouragement.  Their lives do matter, as Americans. What do they have to be angry about?  Why the resentment? Who is responsible for their failures today?  Well I can say this.  It is not our Society.  It is not America.  They can only blame themselves and those that prefer they remain oppressed so they can be exploited for political ambitions and purposes.  Remember 13% of our Society is black.  50% of violent crimes in America are committed by this 13%. 

There are many people of different colors and races and nationalities succeeding in America.  We are a Nation of Immigrants. And recently, from an article credited to the Baltimore Sun, the author Ian Duncan, “…since 1965…the Third World, immigrants from Asia and India, people who are not white, not rich, and not connected have quietly succeeded….the children of these people are winning spelling bees and getting top scores on the SAT, (while) black youths are committing half the country’s violent crime….”

With police activities reducing by the cry of BLM, the increase in violence, interestingly, is in black neighborhoods. Are the blacks just prone to tribal violence in spite of 400 years away from their foundations? 

Lives Matter

The BLM movement of late created many disturbances, to say the least, protesting police brutality against blacks.  What they were not protesting, or even concerned about, is black on black crime.  Subsequent to the George Floyd (GF) Minneapolis suspected murder protests across the Nation have caused the police, it seems, to back off.  Black communities have taken control, bearing arms, shooting, even killing, collateral damage, many children. Black children. These children have not received the national notoriety or funerals that GF received, at a time also during Covid when Americans were asked/told not to gather for funerals. But black leaders have been appearing on TV and in media claiming black-on-black crime is not the issue.  Don Lemon of CNN made that clear.  Black on black is as a tribal culture gone wild.  Are they not compatible with Americans?  Black on black crime far exceeds that of police or even white on black crimes.  In spite of all that has been provided to create opportunity the blacks still fail. Why? Do not ask a Democrat as they have been most obvious in that they want it that way. And thus the protest is against the police, when police actions become violent, especially against blacks, and not against the tribe or tribes, who wantonly destroy each other, one tribe seeking to gain an upper hand on the other.  BLM succeeded in having the police back-off, providing less of a presence in the tribal communities, thus giving free-reign to the internal strife, to quests for corner control and the use of illegal weapons against their brethren.  

1619 Project

The New York Times initiated a Project which many are embracing. Armstrong Williams wrote on June 20, 2020 on the townhall.com website, “‘The New York Times' controversial 1619 Project... propagates a popular narrative, which has taken hold among many in the media, politics and education, to link the foundational origins of the American experiment not to the context of the American Revolution of 1776 but to 1619, the year that enslaved Angolans arrived on the shores of colonial Jamestown, Virginia.”

Slavery is not the origin of the referenced ‘American experiment.’ America is not an experiment, but an effort by Europeans, Brits mostly, fleeing their country voluntarily seeking freedom and relief from the practices of a despotic monarchal system. They sought an improved, more open, and objective system of government that legislated for all of its citizens, not select or favored groups or individuals. They arrived after a risky ocean journey with an awareness, knowledge, and a desire to create a new life for a citizenry united in wanting a more democratic governing body and laws, common laws, that were equal and respectful of the rights of all humans. 

These settlers established homesteads under difficult circumstances. It was not unusual for raiding parties to steal, rape, pillage and burn other’s property. It was easier than working. Brutality in the New World was common. People formed their own enclaves and defenses against the marauders. White on white crime was common.  Raids by native tribal Indians was a constant threat. 

The slaves were brought on Portuguese ships as assets to be purchased to do the work of which progress, creativity, invention, and advances in technology now do with equipment, tractors, mowers, reapers, the cotton gin, et al. The enslaved Angolans came as chattel and forced labor. They had no ideals for a new life or government; many were thankful to have survived, and few probably had any idea where they landed and would now be living. 

This was never an experiment by merchants wishing to make citizens of these slaves. It was for profit and to do the work necessary to make large farms and plantations productive. As and when a better way was found then the need for the slaves would be no more.  Or as more Christian, more humane thinkers, came to realize, slavery was no way to treat any human. We are all children of God to be treated equally. 

As the frontier became less barbaric, in fact the process of making it safer, the need for structure and protection was demanded, society grew more unified in needing and requiring fairness, safety, and security.  Local political bodies became important and police or sheriff departments were formed and the universal concept of equal rights was adopted. Governments grew, were layered from local to city to county to state and further, and so too did the voice of freedom grow for all people, to include indentured persons, white and black. They were to be paid, as jobs, not to be enslaved. That was fair. That was humane. It led to the Declaration of Independence and 100 years later to the Emancipation Proclamation . It was an evolving process. Not an experiment seeking an outcome, expected, and to be proven or to fail.  This NYT 1619 project is either political, misguided, or a tantalizing fictional recreation. It is not why America was founded, or the basis for our establishment as a free nation. We are still a work in progress. We have advanced and now are experiencing some setbacks. We must work hard to get this great train back on the right tracks. 

America’s Origins

Certainly the origins of America were not instantaneous, as the 1619 projects suggests 1776 as the start.  As if 1619 was the start? The origins for all practical purposes began prior to the explorer’s arrival.  The concept of liberty and self-government took time to evolve. They took root in Europe, with a revolt occurring due to despotic oppression and a lack of freedoms. Many religious groups aspired to practice their faiths openly and freely.  They needed to find a place where that was possible.  Individuals led the way. Writers and thinkers in Europe introduced studies where human rights, ‘natural rights’, were suggested. The Bible was a significant influence. The protection of life, liberty and property was presented in the early 1200’s in the Magna Carta in England.  It found a new, and improved, voice in America’s Declaration of Independence and Constitution.  But it was being shaped well in advance of arrivals to Jamestown and elsewhere.  Those arriving brought with them documents from their homelands and sought to make the improvements needed.  History was essential to the foundation of this new world, so as not to repeat the sins and errors of the past. 

And we cannot forget Leif Erikson in 1000 coming to America.  Columbus’s 4 voyages never reached the shores of what is the United States, but extensively explored the Caribbean and the Dominican Republic. Amerigo Vespucci (1454-1512) was an Italian (from Florence) sailor, explorer, and trader who followed and his name became associated with the new land, or America.  He declared this land as ‘new,’ and not a border of Asia as Columbus had suggested. John Cabot (explorer Giovanni Caboto) discovered continental North America on June 24, 1497. His son (Sabastian) continued exploring and mapping the coast.

Compatibility

The question - Is American black culture simply incompatible with a great society? Do they possess that much hatred of non-blacks that they are in denial, they refuse to assimilate.  Do they care that little for each other, those of the same race, that their habits reflect only their gang, tribe, or bully-culture-group succeeding, of just for the moment, just at the time, their shooting results in a successful kill shot?  Who dies does not matter. Yet they want whatever they can get, by whatever means possible, from politics to violence. 

I do not have the same problem with black people as they apparently have with me.  Yes, I am white.  Yet my background was not privileged, more from the lower end of the middle-class, never had sports equipment other than used or gifted, and grew up on the streets of a large city.  But I had family, encouragement at home, public schools that taught, church, a willingness to work, and a love for America.  I attended a reasonably priced university, and joined ROTC. I left the big city, first time at 19, and had a desire to live a good life. After my military service I worked, while also attending night school (college), for six years.  I also had my faith, which admittedly became more fully developed, as a convicted believer in Christ, later in life.  America made possible what I am today.  Not rich, but secure, happy, and yet concerned for my safety, surprised and upset about the lack of patriotism, respect for others, and distain for family and God that seems to be seeping into more and more corners of our USA.  Are we still united? I love our flag as it represents what is possible.

The Exploiters

Who are the elites that exploit the blacks? Who allows, encourages, or enables the underachievers, the losers, the homebound basement dwellers to show such animus towards those who have done something with their lives? How much comes from within this community or outside?  We are a rainbow society, from race, to sexual orientation, to common interests, to religion, and more.  But the rainbow arch spans the entire country.  There is the rainbow of losers and underachievers.  There is the rainbow of the successful, the achievers, those that have grown intellectually.  There are among them the bitter, discouraged, poor and underachieving, some addicted, and others that consider themselves culturally incompatible.  They are among the rainbow of losers. There is the rainbow whose colors are many, some distorted, and others whose colors are red, white and blue.  Today it is not about racism.  It is the ends of the rainbow, the one not in the pot of gold, that is fighting and fighting and resisting the reality of their own lack of ambition and success, inducted into the dependency hall of shame created by our government overtime, the liberal side, ironically referred to as progressives, causing their station in life to be a tool.  

How the Main Stream Media became such a champion for the liberal users of the losers is beyond understanding?  But you must consider who taught these non-journalists that appear as opinion-istas on the likes of CNN and MSNBC, as well as historically newsworthy networks such as ABC, NBC, CBS and the like, as well as print media, the leader of the press-pack being the New York Times.  There are those at Fox also that do not escape inherent bias. 

In a WSJ opinion piece by Holman W. Jenkins, Jr. (“The Press on Mount Rushmore: When Donald Trump is gone and forgotten, the media’s lies won’t be so easy to forget”), primarily addressing the Washington Post, and other media outlets, distorting the patriotic and inspiring Trump July 3, 2020 speech at Mt. Rushmore, even lying by introducing elements that were not present, and critical of today’s MSM, he reminded the readers as to a forgotten edict too often dismissed and “a favorite passage from the great Peter Drucker: ‘Every first-rate editor I have ever heard of reads, edits and rewrites every word that goes into his publication. . . . Good editors are not ‘permissive’; they do not let their colleagues do ‘their thing’; they make sure that everybody does the ‘paper’s thing.’ ’ ”  We are, unfortunately, lacking first-rate editors in today’s media.  Yet, there are examples today of the ‘paper’s thing’ from the owners and Editors-in-Charge of a political agenda more than balanced news, in effect perpetrating lies, or a bias, under the guise of reporting just the news of the day. Yes, fake news. 

Freedom - Emancipation

America gave the black and poor whites their freedom.  America has enacted legislation after legislation and spent trillions to bring our society into the same tent. As far back as 1866 legislation to insure the same rights for all was enacted. Note: not one Democrat voted for the bill. That was 100 years before the Civil Rights Act of 1964.  “By 1875, full and equal civil rights for blacks had been passed and signed into law, solely by Republicans….”: Source - The Blaze.  The Ciivil Rights Act of 1957 under Dwight Eisenhower corrected impediments imposed by the Supreme Court and continued to advance the assurance of equality for everyone, even in the voting booth. There was opposition from the Democrats. “Republicans never blocked a major civil rights bill.” Then came 1964, The Civil Rights Act ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin.  Oddly enough this mirrored much of what had been attempted over the prior 100 years. 

What about welfare reform, who benefitted the most? There are currently six major welfare programs in the United States. These are: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Social Security, Earned Income Tax Credit, and Housing Assistance. You know the answer. And they want more. 

To give to another, one must take from another, the achievers aiding the losers, hoping one day they will join those who are willing to make themselves and our nation even greater. Too many sit outside the tent burning campfires and asking for handouts, in protest, only wanting more of what others have achieved.   Will there ever be an end to this dilemma.  Can we return to the days before President Lyndon Johnson when progress was positive? Family structure was meaningful.  Church was prominent in family lives.  How can continued progress lack progress at all, such as backward progress, as Islamists seeking 7th century standards when Muhammad lived. We are creating a body of voters the majority of which will soon be the rainbow of losers, unless something changes. When that happens the result will be no more wealth to share.  Can you imagine.  What will there be to complain about?  We will all be poor with no pockets to fleece. 

Change for the better will require government action.  To do that we need a stronger government with better representatives, for sure.  Trump has the right orientation, style aside, while Biden is just a mouthpiece for the leftist money sources, power elitists,  pulling his puppet strings. 

Here is a history of Civil Rights legislation over the years (Read).

We need a grey America that works hand in hand.   None of the government political artists so far have been able to mix the two colors successfully, and I blame that on the black leadership.  

Emancipation meant doors opened. Today there are black leaders that preach ‘doors shut’ slamming them on the hands of those who want to be part of the whole America.  BLM is among them, also Al Sharpton, and MSM black opinion-istas, such as Don Lemon.  But, there are also many black voices that need to heard.  They embrace what America offers, and invite others to be aware, be objective, to stand up for freedom and the protection of others, to grow their families, trust God, take advantage of the many opportunities, encourage each other, and to stop downgrading America.  Included in that role is Thomas Sowell, Candice Owen, Condoleezza Rice, Larry Elder, T. D. Jakes, Tony Dungy, Charles Payne, Leo Terrell, David Webb, and many more.  

It was Jesse Own that said, “Find the good. It’s all around you. Find it, showcase it, and you’ll start believing in it.” 

In Summary

This white-black America has shown what is possible.  But you need to try. Today it is a blend of achievers, scholars, seekers and losers.  There exists a want for a united, peaceful, stable, rainbow Nation.  At the same time there are those hanging on to the past, even exhibiting roots in a tribal culture, and using negative historical elements to induce hatred towards their fellow man for succeeding. The wake-up call needs to be heard by the dependency contingent, blaming others for their plight, that America is their opportunity to leave the ghetto and the past behind and join everyone whose hands are extended to help them and need them.  Encouragement is needed. Entitlements are not the solution. They have been tried and tried. Reparations are not needed or even justified. Leadership, charismatic and incentivizing, that anyone, any color, any race, and creed, can succeed, not by destroying their neighborhoods, or that of others, or parading with placards reminding everyone of the past, but by talking about the significant amount of progress that has occurred and continues.  In peace progress can continue, communities can grow, prosper and provide more jobs.  The leadership needs to let people know what they can do and be, the structure is in place for them, and all they need to do is try.  Tearing down that which has been made, just requires rebuilding, a waste of time, that can otherwise be applied to further growth.  

Remembering the past includes the good and bad, the people, the places, the differences and the battles fought and won or lost.  Erasing history serves no purpose.  Learning about history so that the errors made can be avoided and the foundation upon which a great nation is built can expand and allow for further development is essential.  The embarrassment of a lack of knowledge and understanding by destroying what is important shows a need for improvement in education.  American’s need a proper history lesson in the making of America.  It is not 1619 and it is not 1776.  It is all that came before and the transitions that have been made and are being made to continue to the make the world a better place. America is an example to be followed.  God is in charge, not man.

God Bless America.