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.

The Political System: Systems of Racism Series 3 of 9 – Defining racism Part 3B:

The political power structure of America was set up by the White European immigrants almost immediately upon arriving on these shores in the early 1600s. Europeans instantly established themselves as the dominant political force in this new colony. Europeans at once began carving out the policies that would govern the new territory and a large part of those policies were targeted at determining the role Blacks would play in the new colony. This naturally excluded Blacks from the political process. Blacks were almost 100% marginalized and unrepresented in the political process from 1619 until the Civil Rights Movement.

Racism in Politics – voter supression[/caption]

There was a small period of Black political progress during Reconstruction.  The 14th (1868) and 15th (1869) Amendments were passed, the 15th Amendment gave Blacks the right to vote. This allowed blacks to become involved in the political arena from   approximately  1865 – 1877. The progress of Blacks under Reconstruction was met simultaneously  with creation of the KKK, Black Codes  and Jim Crow . These three factors quickly reversed  blacks political gains. Prior to Jim Crow become fully indoctrinated in society which made voting illegal on a state level, the KKK intimidated blacks from voting as well as removed black government officials and government officials who supported black progress through coups.

Jim Crow was the primary means of ensuring black voter suppression from 1877 unit 1865.  Here are a few of the state and federally supported polices that were used to exclude Blacks from the political machine. (For more details on this process list click on this link)

1. Poll taxes during Jim Crow created a financial barrier to vote in North and South. 
2. Literacy tests during Jim Crow created an education barrier to vote in the North and South.  
3. Caging lists  unlawfully challenging the registration status of voters. 
4. KKK/White Supremacy Coups 
5. Felon Disenfranchisement, denying convicted felons the right to vote, yet criminalizing ordinary black life which make them into felons. 

These tactics and many more created a hostile political environment for black people until the Civil Rights Movement when multiple laws were passed to give some semblance of rights to blacks. From 1619 until 1965 Blacks had approximately 12 years of limited political involvement out of 320+ years in this country and even that period was erased shortly after it started.

Politics of Racism was nationwide[/caption]

Even with our gained voter rights in 1965 we still struggle today to maintain our ability to vote. We also have yet to develop any politicians, Black or White, who have been unapologetically committed to the Black agenda and willing to speak authoritatively about the issues that affect Black people. The racism in politics is extremely nuanced yet very real, the exclusion of blacks from politics was systematic and based on race. The impact has been crippling and continues to be felt by Black people today.

The issues Blacks face today in police brutality, injustices in the legal system and lack of economic development in black communities to name a few, all can be related to Blacks exclusion from the political system. No national politicians are interested in the black agenda. You can see with the current cast of presidential candidates the black agenda is completely ignored. Not one of the candidates even mentions any resemblance of a black agenda unless they are forced to,  as Bernie Sanders was by the two #BlackLivesMatter protesters in Seattle. Sanders quickly crafted an incomplete agenda loosely geared towards black people.

The means to change the litany of issues in the Black community is partially through politics. On a nationally level the system is still much to racist for blacks to participate and create the change that will impact the lives of everyday black people. President Obama exemplifies this quite clearly. Local politics in majority black population cities is where change can and will occur and that is where we as Black people need to focus in order to create the changes that we need.

2015 Meritorious Manumission – case of Stephen A Smith

“The Meritorious Manumission Act of 1710 was the legal act of freeing or showing favor to a slave for “good deeds” as defined by the national public policy. Meritorious Manumission could be granted to a slave who distinguished himself by saving the life of a white master or his property, inventing something that a white slave master could make a profit from or snitching on a slave rebellion.”

We currently have a 2015 version of that act of 1710 in many of the most visible Blacks in media. The most notable Black media members that operate under The Meritorious Manumission Act of 1710 are Charles Barkley (NBA on TNT), Stephen A. Smith (First Take ESPN), Tom Jackson (Sunday NFL Countdown), Don Lemon (CNN), Cris Carter (ESPN football Analyst) is heading that direction as well. There are many other Blacks that make statements and take actions against the black community hoping to receive current day benefits of Meritorious Manumission.

Current day Meritorious Manumission, for the uninitiated, is when Black media personalities, athletes or entertainers take the liberty of over zealously criticizing the Black community often using skewed stats, generalizations, stereotypes and/or false statements . All media members mentioned previously have behaved in this manner consistently but I want to focus on Stephen A. Smith because he has an interesting event as an example for contrast. Stephen A. Smith’s commentary and responses in regard to the Black community and domestic abuse point to flaws in Stephen A. Smith’s relation with the black community as well as flaws in the power of Black community.

Stephen A. Smith has had a long history of criticizing the black community  harshly ( tattoos , Uneducated/Ignorant Athletes , Mark Cuban comments about prejudice, stupidity of Black athletes , Blacks need to be more forgiving , NFL blacks smoke weed , All lives matter/Black on Black crime ). His criticisms of SOME members of the Black community are not completely wrong yet his obsession with pointing out the bad and very very rarely the good becomes suspicious. What is even more offensive is his consistent position that he “doesn’t give a damn” if the black community does not like what he says. As bad as all of that is the contrast is stunning to how humble and meek he became once he voiced his opinion about women’s role in some domestic dispute cases. All of his bravado and ego was no where to be seen when the feminists put pressure on ESPN to suspend him. He issued a heart felt apology the same day he was suspended

How all of  this plays into Meritorious Manumission Act of 1710 is that he is essentially rewarded (keeps his job) for his negative rhetoric against Blacks and was punished (suspended 1 week)  for his negative rhetoric about domestic abuse. The contrast and irony caused me to question his conviction among other attributes. He is not unique in his position of critiquing the black community while he and other like him are very well equipped to point out the issues of the black community at the same time they are equally unequipped to provide a solution. My feeling has always been that you cannot bring attention to a problem that you are not willing to help solve.

Stephen A. Smith’s suspension also points out the lack of leadership, power/influence and organization in  the Black community in comparison to, in this case, the feminist community. We have no leaders in the Black Community that have proven themselves to speak on real issues for Black people. For the record the majority of Black people do not see Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson as leadership for the black community, both have often seemed to be working against the best interest of Black people. Chastising and forcing apologies from Stephen A. Smith, Charles Barkley, Tom Jackson, Cris Carter and Don Lemon for their many flagrant violations is something that the Black community would require from Black leadership. For now the leadership void still exists and these media personalities are free to take advantage of 2015 Meritorious Manumission.