Black Americans CANNOT be Democrat or Republican!

Ronald Reagan

Historically politics has never been kind to Black people. The very nature of politics is rooted in racism. White Europeans claimed complete control of the political process in America at the expense of native americans and especially Blacks.

Strong Black voices that advocate for Black issues are rare in the political realm. This exclusion of voices who advocate for Black issues is a bi-partisan effort. Democrats and Republicans have both benefited from the political silencing of Black Americans.

The current presidential primary campaigns feature a variety of candidates and only one of them offers any agenda for Black issues. Black Americans have a strange loyal historical relationship with Democratic Party. The inner workings of these political parties make it counter productive for Blacks to support either party.

Bill Clinton

Politicians are friendly and associate with each other regardless of their political party alignments. They live in the same neighborhoods, dine together, entertain together and their kids go to the same schools. When they perform theatrics in the media to divide and deceive the country’s working class and poor it is insincere. The party lines are superficial in the past they have actually switched views.

Not one president Democratic or Republican has EVER focused on Black interests at any point in history. Below are four politicians past and present that many black people hold in high regard and consistently support, yet they have been detrimental to Black people’s existence:

Abraham Lincoln

• Alleged to have freed enslaved Africans in america, actually did not free slaves. He did not free slaves in the North but freed slaves in states that had succeeded from the union which he had no jurisdiction over at that time.  Lincoln also attempted to negotiate a deal with confederate to allow them to keep slaves for 40 more years if they would end the succession.  He had no interest in slaves well being.

John F. Kennedy

• When protesters for Civil Rights in Alabama were being brutalized by law enforcement, racists and other white supremacist,  Kennedy claimed he did not have the authority to send troops in to help the Black protestors.
• He then sent troops to Alabama to act as peace makers after the Blacks had demonstrated their ability to defend themselves.

Bill Clinton

• 1994 Omnibus Crime Bill included 3 strikes Policy, children as young as 13 being prosecuted as adults, $9.85 Billion for new prisons, federal guideline sentencing and more negative policies.
• The JPI report reveals that 225,000 more Blacks were incarcerated under Clinton than under President Reagan.
• Charter School boom created under his administration. Charter schools would eventually monetized Black children’s educational failures for private corporation profit.

Hillary Clinton

• Was well aware of the policies that her husband implemented during his presidency and never spoke out against them.
• 5 of her campaign bundlers work for lobbying and law firms that CCA and other private prisons employ.

Barack Obama

• While national unemployment has improved under his presidency black unemployment has remained the same and at times increased under his presidency.
• Since President Obama’s first day in office the CCA and The GEO Group have been awarded $1.7 and 1.8 billion dollars in federal contracts, respectively.
• Poverty level of black people has continued to increase under his presidency.
• On the 40th anniversary of her arrest, the FBI suddenly put Assata Shakur on the Ten Most Wanted Terrorists List. The reward for her capture has been doubled to $2 million.

The Party name is irrelevant they are both the same for Black people

Blacks are in a familiar yet very awkward position.  No matter who they vote for, they will not benefit and likely will suffer.  Kanye West once famously said “George Bush doesn’t care about black people” a more accurate phrase would have been “Politicians who support white supremacy (seems to be 99.9% of all politicians) don’t care about black people”. Republicans continue racist rhetoric in the media while Democrats are worse as the play the role of the fox in sheep’s clothing, deceiving blacks with policies that always have negative long term impact.

Voting as a singular strategy to create economic change is absolutely worthless and voting exclusively democrat is not only worthless but insane. We have had voting rights since 1965, 50 years and our economic and social conditions are no better.

Economic empowerment comes from specific actions. Blacks must engage in these actions:

1. Release any default political affiliations and identify yourselves as independent.
2. Understand that voting is worthless without money and a lobby group who will transfer the money to politicians in exchange for support of the black agenda.
3. Vote as a unified group for an Independent party.

The above action points rely on an agenda to serve as the reason for the action points. The below agenda is one that I would suggest for Black people It does not speak for all Black people but its a good start.

Black American Agenda

1. Negotiate a reparations agreement for Black Americans that involves land, tax breaks, free education, control of certain resources and support for HBCUs as the core of settlement.
2. Abolish 21st Century Slavery with the removal of the 13th Amendment Clause, that allows legal slavery.
3. Enforcing the The Black Freedman Indian Treaty of 1866.
4. Create Affirmative Action-like plan specifically for black people.
5. Reconstruction of Public School Education.
6. Reconstruction of legal and law enforcement system.

This is one part of revolution yet a very necessary part. This process has to be part of the Black movement.

Defining White/European Racism Part 2: American Slavery, The Precursor to Racism

The foundation of American Slavery was underpinned by the economics of capitalism. In fact, capitalism’s origins are simultaneous with American Slavery. In its infancy American Slavery was not slavery at all; it was indentured servitude. The first 21 Africans brought over to the Colonies in 1619 were sold into indentured servitude. In America’s initial stages, servants were both Black and White, contracted usually 4 – 7 years.

The end of the 17th Century and the beginning of the 18th Century ushered in a gradual change from indentured servitude to race defined slavery. The change was powered by a series of policies and court rulings that were made with the specific intention of making Africans/Blacks into a permanent subordinate, non-competitive, and non-compensated workforce.

The following timeline illustrates some of the key events that created Slavery:

• 1619 – 21 African captives of a Dutch boat were sold into the new colonies as indentured servants.[ These 21 African were not slaves they were sold into indentured servants and had the ability to work off their debt in 4 – 7 years ]

• 1636 – Colonial North America’s slave trade begins when the first American slave carrier, Desire, is built and launched in Massachusetts.[ Slavery was not established, yet the systems for racism are already being set into motion.]

• 1638 –  Maryland Doctrine of Exclusion states the following, “Neither the existing Black population, their descendants, nor any other Blacks shall be permitted to enjoy the fruits of White society,” created by Maryland Colony Council.[ This policy was not applied immediately but it made sure that no Africans would ascend to the levels of success similar to Anthony Johnson. This is the earliest point in American history that a policy was instituted to exercise a prejudice against Blacks/Africans in order to restrict their economic progress and opportunities.]

• 1640 John Punch, a runaway black servant, is sentenced to servitude for life. His two white companions are given extended terms of servitude. Punch is the first documented slave for life.  [This was actually the beginnings of racism and slavery. The law was used to hand out a discriminatory and excessive use of power based on race. A life time of servitude had never been handed out up until this point in American history. ]

• 1640 –  Anthony Johnson, a former African indentured servant who worked off his debt and become free,  purchases his first piece of land. Eventually he would become an extremely successful Tabasco plantation owner.[Johnson ‘s success came as a threat to European colonists. Many of the early policies were created to prevent Africans from achieving success similar to Anthony Johnson.]

• 1641 – Massachusetts is the first colony to legalize slavery. [Major policy change that would eventually spread. When policies are created to exercise a prejudice for economic benefit of the White race over the black race, it is racism. One thing to note is that once a policy is enacted in one state/colony regarding a benefit to the European Colonist over Africans, that policy spread throughout the colonies. For this reason, when you hear current politicians referring to “states rights” that historically has been detrimental former Blacks.]

• 1655 – Anthony Johnson has become a highly successful Black plantation owner. One of his slaves ran off to a neighboring plantation of Robert Parker to work as an indentured servant.   Johnson v. Parker court decision of 1654 was reversed in 1655 finding that Anthony Johnson still “owned” John Casor. Making him the first legally stated lifetime servant/slave. [Although this court ruling was in favor of a Black plantation owner the decision was made knowing that the Maryland Doctrine of Exclusion existed to eliminate the possibility of Black plantation owners. This ruling gave the European colonists the license to enslave Africans legally. This is a strategy that will be played out throughout the course of race relations in America going forward, individual Blacks’/Africans’ ambitions will be used to the detriment of their collective race.]

• 1662 – Virginia enacts a law of hereditary slavery meaning that a child born to an enslaved mother inherits her slave status. [This very devious and ruthless law ensured that a perpetual slavery class would be created endlessly as long as the law was intact. Almost all of these slave rules were used to dehumanize Africans.]

• 1662 – Massachusetts reverses a ruling dating back to 1652 that allowed Blacks to train in arms. New York, Connecticut, and New Hampshire pass similar laws restricting the bearing of arms.
• 1680 – The State of Virginia forbids Blacks and slaves from bearing arms, prohibits blacks from congregating in large numbers, and mandates harsh punishment for slaves who assault Christians or attempt escape. [ These two policies forbid free Blacks from owning firearms to protect themselves or congregate together. This would prevent them from planning attacks on plantations to free Blacks as well as render them defenseless to White European attackers.]

• 1705 – The Virginia Slave Code codifies slave status, declaring all non-Christian servants entering the colony to be slaves. It defines all slaves as real estate, acquits masters who kill slaves during punishment, forbids slaves and free colored peoples from physically assaulting White persons, and denies slaves the right to bear arms or move abroad without written permission. [This was official policy that used religion as a mask for a systemic racist policy. The servants/slaves that were purchased in Africa were prisoners of African Tribal Wars. None of these tribes practiced Christianity, therefore any African sold to the Colonies was doomed to a lifetime of slavery.]

• 1710 – Meritorious Manumission Act ( 7th paragraph) if any Black person saved a White person’s life or protected their property, invented something from which a White person could generate money, or squealed on someone involved in a Black slavery revolt, he would secure his own freedom. [This policy was incredibly powerful in dividing the slave population. This reward being openly offered to any Black who would cooperate and do what is best for the White race at the expense of the Black race was extremely damaging and its effects linger on to this very day.]

There are many more laws and policies that contributed to the transformation into a slave chattel system. The polices and rulings that are highlighted above provide the context of how slavery was created and how it set the groundwork for racism.

As American Slavery progressed, it evolved into one of the most brutal, violent, perverse, inhuman, and deplorable systems known to mankind. The unthinkable actions that Blacks/Africans had to endure at the hands of White slave owners are incomparable, its one of worst global travesties.

American Slavery was such a powerful economic system that it essentially purchased America’s freedom. The free labor that produced agricultural products such as rice, indigo, and tobacco all produced by enslaved Africans were America’s most valuable exports. Without the slave trade and slavery, America would never have been able to generate the wealth to gain its freedom from England. American Slavery was the ultimate in systemic White racism. There are 9 other systems of White Racism yet slavery is the foundation.

I will close each series with this  statement. The goal of this series is to give accurate representation of how the racial landscape was created and how the language around race was created.

{ more complete list of laws and policies of slavery: http://www.pbs.org/wnet/slavery/timeline/1619.html }

Part 1: Introduction – Defining the Language of Racism

This is a multi-part blog series that examines the language related to American race discussions. The racial language that was born out of the early stages of slavery has become a source of confusion, frustration, anxiety, anger, and denial. The lack of common information created two emotionally charged perspectives in race discussions, the Black perspective and the White perspective.

The Black perspective holds a significant amount of anger and resentment toward nameless and faceless White people. The origins of these feelings are from one or all of the following facts and perceptions:

• America’s freedom, economic system, inventions, and way of life have been made possible largely because of the forced free labor of Black people.
• There continues to be obvious examples of systemic racism and white supremacy in society that Black people are forced to endure daily.
• The freedom and rights of White people and Black people are still unequal.
• Mainstream media’s overt bias against Black people
• Being Black continues to be criminalized in society and in the legal system.
• The structural racism that still exists in law enforcement, education, housing, and private economic opportunities
• Documented government conspiracies against Black people that have negatively affected Blacks socially, and more importantly economically. A few examples of the conspiracies are COINTELPRO, Iran Contra, Freedman’s Savings Bank, Blockbusting, Redlining, and not enforcing the Indian Treaty of 1866.

The White perspective comes from misinformation and the fear of an unequal advantage being created for Blacks. This misinformation was created and perpetuated by their White ancestors and passed down. Very few White Americans know the true history of how America was created and who labored and sacrificed most to create it. The American educational system miseducates White children also when it comes to accurately portraying Black History. The White perspective comes from some of the following facts and perceptions:

• Many White people do not believe that being White gives them an advantaged position.
• There exists concern about losing what they have to Black people or the creation of an unfair advantage for Black people.
• Fear retaliation for the conditions and treatment that their ancestors allowed Black people to endure.
• Mainstream media has created and continues to create unfavorable imagery of Black people that distort many White Americans view of the Black race as a whole.
• Status quo is good for most White people. There is no urgency to create mass changes.

The emotions and lack of solid information make it very difficult to have conversations on the issue of race. Clarity on certain terms is a start and that is the emphasis of this series.

At least half of the terms tied to racial discussions in America are used improperly. The facts of slavery and racism are very unsettling and most people would rather not talk about it than investigate to understand the facts. It is necessary to go back in history to revisit details of slavery to give context for many of the following terms:

• Part 2: Slavery (American/Western)
• Part 3: Racism (White Racism) divided into 2 parts – 3A & 3B
• Part 4: White Supremacy
• Part 5: Convict Lease System (Post Civil War Slavery)
• Part 6: Prejudice, Bias, and Discrimination in contrast to racism
• Part 7: Black Criminalization & Law Enforcement
• Part 8: Nigger vs. Nigga and who can use it controversy

The formal definitions of some of these terms are at best misleading; they severely lack societal and political context. Many of these terms and the resulting actions that followed were often sanctioned and legalized by the various government entities of the era and some continue to this very day.

It is important to understand the proper use of these terms as well as gain some historical context of the terms and the events that surround them. Very often, race discussions degrade into race arguments because both sides of the discussion do not possess the same historical facts and information. To this end, I have included outside links to give background information on some of the terms and references that are contained in each essay.

From Neighborhoods to Communities “Health and Wholeness Lifestyle”

Urban Revolution’s (UR) official tagline is “Health and Wholeness Lifestyle”. The concept behind that tagline is the foundation of Urban Revolution.  It symbolizes our ultimate goal for the distressed neighborhoods that we will be serving.

lifestyle [lahyf-stahyl] : noun

1. the habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards, economic level, etc., that together constitute the mode of living of an individual or group.

The definition is broad yet it matches a broad set of challenges that distressed neighborhoods face. This definition for Urban Revolution is framed within the context of health, fitness and economics. Urban Revolution along with the local neighborhood will set high standards for habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards and economic development. These standards act as a code of conduct of sorts, this is how neighborhoods develop into thriving communities.

The Health and wholeness Lifestyle (HWL) is built on three phases of consciousness; Individual HWL Phase, Tribe HWL Phase, Community HWL Phase. The health aspect of the tagline is the physical and mental fitness of a person or group. Wholeness concentrates on areas of life that support your physical and mental well being such as economic prosperity, community/social prosperity and political influence.

The Individual HWL Phase focuses on an individual’s physical, mental and economic well being and improvement. Any revolutionary transformation of a group begins with many individual revolutions. Strong communities are only as strong as the individuals within them.

Individual HWL Phase Action Points

• Develop Individual healthy food consciousness.
• Creating an individual fitness regime.
• Objectively analyze personal history, family history and Black people’s history in America.
• Creating an individual financial success plan.

Tribe HWL Phase is the physical, mental and economic health of a Tribe which consists of immediate family, extended family and friends. In this phase the individual takes on the responsibility of sharing the information with her/his family and friends that she/he has gained in the Individual HWL Phase. Political strategy and Group Economic frameworks begin to form for the individual and family in the Tribe HWL Phase.

Tribe HWL Phase Action Points

• Develop healthy food consciousness as a Tribe.
• Creating an Tribe fitness regime.
• Objectively analyze Tribe history and Black people’s history in America.
• Creating a Tribe financial success plan.
• Emergence of individual and tribe political awareness and Group Economics.

Community HWL Phase again refers to UR’s core values; physical, mental and economic health of the neighborhood. This phase includes the members of the previous phases of Individual HWL and Tribe HWL.  The Community HWL Phase is the transformation of a neighborhood into a community. Neighborhoods are street and buildings, communities represent empowered citizens. Community HWL is an empowered community which encourages entrepreneurship, the support of community entrepreneurship and strategically influencing politics by way of group economics.

Community HWL Phase Action Points

• Develop healthy food consciousness for a community by way of grocery stores & food establishments that meet their community’s health needs.
• Creating a community fitness regime by way of a fitness center that focuses on their community’s fitness needs.
• Community education of community history and black history Black people’s history in America by way of changing school curriculums to include accurate Black history.
• Creating a community financial success plan by way of community owned banks and credit unions.
• Understanding, implementing and supporting of Black Group Economics.
• Creating community strategies to influence politicians and policy that will benefit their community.

The ultimate goal is to develop a mindset of group collaborations that result in planned actions that will benefit communities. This starts with an individual’s desire for growth and improvement within themselves and then taking action to make it come into existence. Let’s get determined and begin to work on ourselves.

These are concepts that have a great deal of depth that may need to be more explanation feel free comment on the post for clarification and/or additional information on any of the topics.

Health and Wholeness Lifestyle Neighborhoods Transform to Communities

Jamie Daniels (urbanrevolution9@gmal.com)

It’s not about your results…It’s about your activities

Black America is thinking about Health and fitness much more today. Very little can be accomplished without good health. Focusing your thoughts on health is a step in the right direction yet there must be a combination of thinking about becoming healthy and a specific action plan to achieve a healthy lifestyle. Upgrading the dietary and fitness levels of Black America is one of the single most important issues facing our community. This process must move from thoughts to actions as rapidly as possible.

There are so many health and dietary programs, systems and theories that the options can leave people paralyzed. Almost any dietary and fitness regimen will produce positive results, provided your dedication and attitude are properly calibrate. The biggest issues that all people, not just Black Americans, face with diet and fitness is consistency and proper approach to measuring progress. The ability to be CONSISTENT with your workout and diet will produce the results that you are looking for. Measuring progress is difficult for many people, very often dietary and fitness success is related to a weight scale. That is not the best measure of success in any dietary and fitness program. This leads us to primary health concept that I live by. This concept must be accepted prior to any dietary and fitness program, this concept gives context to your regimen:

You cannot measure your fitness success by results, whether they be bad results or even more deceivingly good results.  Success is in the consistency of your activities. 

Below are some activities that you must find consistency in, they have to become your health habits:

Dietary Actions/Habits:

1. [Eat Specifically] Eat 3 meals a day at specific times and 2 snacks at specific times as well. As you control your eating schedule you will control your health. Also pay attention to your plate composition, more information on plate composition at: http://www.choosemyplate.gov/about.html
2. [B.H.E.H. – Buy Healthy Eat Healthy] Change your grocery shopping habits and it will change your eating habits. If you buy healthy foods you will eat healthy foods and as a result become healthier. I am not insinuating that you buy only healthy food, although that would be great. I am advocating that if your shopping lists currently consists of 60-70% unhealthy food, cut that in half to 30-35%. Your health will improve from this one action/habit alone.
3. [Prepare to Prepare] Pay attention to how your food is prepared. There is a fairly big health difference between fried chicken breast and baked/grilled chicken breast. It is the same food just prepared differently, often health is in the preparation. In the same vein candied yams are not the same as baked sweet potatoes . You can eat many of the same foods you eat now but you need to changed the preparation choice. Make the effort to consciously add more raw and lightly steamed or lightly steamed Vegetables to your diet.
4. [Rotate] Schedule specific days were you will drastically cut back on certain unhealthy food ingredients. For example Tuesdays and Thursdays completely eliminate salt and sugar (except for fruit) from your diet.

Fitness Actions/Habits:

1. [Be a bird] Get up an hour earlier. This additional time will allow time for your fitness regimen. I would advise creating an accountability partner. Someone who is also trying to improve their health that you call before your start and after you complete your home workout.
2. [Decisions, Decisions] – Decide on what your fitness program will consist of. This does not have to be complicated, you can start with push ups(modified or full), crunches, squats and lounges. Ideally your regiment would span 15-20 minutes and change your program every 90 days to challenge yourself.
3. [Specific skill] Sometimes it is helpful to have a skill you would like to be able to perform which gives your fitness regimen a purpose. For example if you want to be able to run 1mile/5K/10K, to do a handstand, a split, a backflip or tough mudder. Whatever it is often that skill can help you craft your fitness regimen around that skill and provide inspiration.

The final concept that you need to come to grips with is that you will fail, you will over sleep, you will have half-hearted workouts, you will eat garbage food, you will miss your goals. All these negative things will happen hopefully very infrequently. When a misstep does happen it is important that you accept your temporary failure, move past it quickly and focus on beating your weakness tomorrow by having an inspired session. Keep getting back up and force yourself to be the best version of you.

** I am not a certified fitness trainer or dietician. Check with your doctor to make sure you are physically capable. **