Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Justice and the Legacy of Freedom’s Struggle.

August 24, 2015 by  
Filed under News, Opinion, Politics, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) As the 20th Anniversary of the Million Man March draws nigh, from the halls of power and policy to the streets of major American cities, a cacophony of media voices, political pundits, and frontline protesters continue their boisterous clamor over the application of justice in the United States.

In nearly every state of the union, amidst the mass incarceration of Blacks and darker skinned people, paramilitary policing procedures, and the tyranny of suppression, Black Americans, and others sharing similar experiences, have now entered the valley of decision between which stands the final choices of either a promised land, leading to meaningful change, or a wilderness of an unsustainable business as usual.

Within this context, and for over 40 years, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan has worked tirelessly for the liberation of our people, all the while sharing the tried and tested methods of his teacher, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, giving us an example of success, empowerment and independence. However, while holding the old adage true: “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink it,” the individual choices and decisions Black America has embraced since 1975, have proven not only Minister Farrakhan’s words truthful, but also prophetic as worsening conditions continue to undermine Black communities at a faster pace.

Consistently warning that a war on Black youth is being waged from the highest levels of society and government, the minister, and those with him, have been crisscrossing the country since the 1980s, alerting Black communities not only to the dangers facing them, but also to tangible self-help programs that will lift them from their overall conditions. As the masses of Black people continue suffering from violence, uncertainty, and an increasingly overt and hostile form of racism, it is laziness, jealousy and envy, particularly among critics in the Black leadership class, who prevent or slow the Freedom-2015successful implementation of effective solutions.

A Lesson from History

Like today, a little over 100 years ago, Black activists pressed for justice through protests, rallies, appeals to white philanthropy, and through the formation of organizations, advocacy for justice and equal treatment within American society. Spawned from the tyranny of the blatant injustices and humiliations associated with the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court decision, the denial of voting rights, and widespread lynching throughout both the North and the South, men such as William Monroe Trotter, Charles Edwin Bentley, Fredrick L. McGhee and W.E.B. DuBois, founded what would become known as the Niagara Movement to counter the work of Booker T. Washington, who emphasized self-help, education and entrepreneurship more than he vocalized opposition to southern segregation and Jim Crow racism.

The Niagara Movement, which at that time, called for radical changes by demanding social, economic and political equality between Blacks and Whites, subsequently engaged in a ‘battle royal’ of differing agendas where Black leadership, backed by white benefactors, newspapers and politicians, vehemently denounced one another over methods and ideology. Fostering conflicts and divisions, thereby preventing a unified effort between the northern based Niagara Movement and the southern based efforts of Booker T. Washington and his associates, the public tearing down of each other weakened their collective impact and fractured their ability to fulfill their overall goals independent of white tutelage and control.

As the Niagara Movement began its dissolution from internal disagreements and external manipulation, the NAACP was founded shortly thereafter in 1909, after deadly race riots erupted a year earlier in Springfield, Illinois. Set up and financed by white liberals and northern Jews, the activism and resources placed behind the NAACP deemphasized Booker T. Washington’s approach in favor non-economic liberalism where concerns centering on social and political inclusion outweighed the virtues of land ownership, entrepreneurship and economic independence. As Washington’s philosophy of building an independent and self-sustaining infrastructure gave way to a civil rights agenda dependent upon white patronage and philanthropy, the die was set for the next 100 years, and the producing ethos facilitated by Washington’s efforts eventually transformed into the consuming culture that dominates Black America today.

Looking at our collective condition 106 years later, it is clear that any activity short of a do-for-self model will not adequately challenge the social, economic and political conditions of Black people. As internal and external factors fostered division and changed the trajectory of Black progress in the early 20th century, will Black leadership once again allow hidden hands to determine our next 100 years while our communities are devastated by the consequences of unemployment, the breakup of the family, and the dismantling of public education?

On both the national and international stage, the upcoming Justice or Else march on Washington D.C. represents the last stand of those embracing the dignity of self-determination; and for those who understand the big picture, our response to 10-10-15 will determine the destiny of Black America as the United States undergoes the greatest demographic shift in the history of its existence. Having the potential to become a watershed event regarding real change, and with an annual spending economy of $1.3 trillion, Blacks can no longer dismiss the clear pattern of snares, traps and pitfalls obstructing our way to true social, political and economic liberation on the global level.

While many will agree with the aim and purpose of the movement, as always, some will disagree either through ignorance of its intentions, from the fear of change, or because of satisfaction with the current state of affairs. Nevertheless, selling out the legitimate grievances of our people, in the name of backroom deals, subterfuge and the seeking of favor from the former slave masters and their children, will no longer be tolerated. Our time is now, and for the sake of our children and our children’s children, we will not be condemned as the generation that refused to lay a tangible foundation for their future.   The only question is: Will you watch history unfold from the sidelines or will you become a part of the change that you seek?

Staff Writer; William P. Muhammad

Official website; http://www.wisdomhouseonline.com 


Comments

5 Responses to “Justice and the Legacy of Freedom’s Struggle.”
  1. James Davis says:

    Mr. William Muhammad:

    I contend that you did not read my piece nor did you apparently read the referral pieces I recommended. Until you listen to a man, you can not understand that person’s vision and/or position. Firstly, you actually need to go back and re-read what I said in my comments and than read the recommended pieces I suggested. I did however, read the piece you recommended! Here is what you said:

    “Within a progressively diverse society, and through the context of an increasingly globalized market economy, Black American youth are unhappy with the obsolete ideas and faint-hearted agendas advocated by yet another generation of timid Black leaders and organizations compromised by grants and philanthropic contributions. Ironically having hundreds of billions of dollars at their disposal, but failing to apply the unity necessary to exploit those dollars, go-along-to-get-along leaders, particularly of the religious ilk, employ too much compromise and too little principle regarding the social, political and economic development of Black America.”

    I completely agree with you. You are absolutely correct in regard to black youth and their dissatisfaction, but let me take it a step further and say blacks in general are dissatisfied, not just the youth. If you had taken the time to read my piece, you would have noticed I said this about you:

    “You see, this writer is using a familiar scheme in writing this piece. He is putting the means of achieving freedom at odds with each other – saying self help is better than common cause without advancing a workable strategy to achieve economic freedom. This is what we all yearn for. We want to hear the plan in blunt terms … one, two, three – this is how you achieve it. You see, folks are looking to hear an agenda that can make a difference right here and now in their lives!”

    You see no one really wants to talk about 35 years from now ( 2050) as you state in your reply to me, when whites will be a minority. You referenced yourself that action needs to take place now when you said, “Yet another generation of timid Black leaders and organizations compromised by grants and philanthropic contributions.” I am sure you had a plan of your own in mind when you wrote those words.

    Anticipating this – you would most likely say the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad has put forth a plan that would set blacks on a path of economic independence. So I went to the website where the plan is stated and read it. To my surprise, I completely agree with your leader. To demonstrate to you -I did read it – I state it right here.

    We shall begin with these four points.

    No. 1. Our knowledge of self, others, and the time should force us to become more prudent in our spending. Unnecessary spending by trying to keep pace with the wealthy of this country has done more to put us on the path of the “prodigal son” than anything else. Let us be taught how to spend and save by those of us who desire to see us out of poverty and want.

    No. 2. Do not be too proud to meet together as leaders and teachers to discuss the solution of “How to stop this reckless down-hill fall of our people.”

    No. 3. Not one so-called Negro leader seems to want a meeting with me to discuss the plight of our poor people in North America.

    No. 4. I have set before you a program, according to the Divine Supreme Being and his Prophets. You have neither produced a better program nor anything to equal it. Your present plans are involved in one of the most disgraceful programs—especially you who boast that you are free and want freedom, Justice and equality with your slave-masters by sitting, standing and begging to be accepted as the brothers of those who, for 400 years, have brought you into your present condition, and have made you a people unwanted by the civilized nations of the earth.

    HOW TO MAKE AN ECONOMIC PROGRAM SUCCESSFUL: It is very hard for an economist to plan a wise program and see his plans carried out, because the so-called American Negroes’ economics are controlled by the white man. The white man owns the country and the industry. He is manufacturer and producer of everything. Now, it is difficult to plan an economic program for a dependent people who, for all their lives, have tried to live like the White man.

    The first step the so-called Negro wage-earners should take is to spend only when necessary and according to their income. They should save as much of their salaries as possible—weekly, biweekly or monthly. We, as wage earners, should always plan to save something from whatever we are paid. Do not become extravagant spenders like the rich, who own the country and everything in it. It is sheer ignorance for us to try to compete in luxury with the owner…

    Here is the deal Mr. William Muhammad, your boss and leader is attempting to do precisely what I suggested and that is reach common ground and common cause on the issue of black economic independence. How can blacks do the things he suggests unless he reaches a point of “common ground and cause with them.” Here what I said also in my piece in regard to past black leaders and their reaching common ground with whites. I said this:

    “Given the above, we then have to seek common ground with the majority white population. This is what Dr. Martin Luther King and men like W.E. B. DuBois and Frederick Douglass realized. It is not capitulation on behalf of blacks to do this but an acknowledged course of pragmatism.”

    It is not capitulation on the behalf of your boss to reach common ground in regard to his plan when it comes to the black population. If he cannot explain and sell it to blacks, it stops right there!

    Finally sir, the plan of the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and the path I suggest to economic freedom revolves around money. We both agree it will takes capital to achieve economic independence. You know who else agrees that it takes capital also – the 99 percent of whites who have been left behind by this economy as money has been pushed to top 1 percent. Surely Bernie Sanders presidential campaign ought to tell you that by the large number of people he is attracting. There we have it, common cause and common ground. The economic independence plan I recommend Mr. Muhammad is not a black plan nor is a white plan. It is simply a plan that will change the laws and change the system to create opportunity for the poor and middle class of this country of which you,
    the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad and myself are members.

    Read it thoroughly sir. I simply demonstrate to you where our “saving”( capital if you will ) is and how it can be accessed. Isn’t that what we all want. If the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad were made aware of such a plan, do you think he might champion it? Here are the links again sir: ( God’s speed to you and yours)

    https://thyblackman.com/2015/04/21/job-creation-a-priority-of-americans-is-doable-right-now-part-i/

    https://thyblackman.com/2015/04/23/job-creation-a-priority-of-americans-is-doable-right-now-part-ii/

    https://thyblackman.com/2013/08/15/40000-00-to-each-black-person-retirement-is-the-answer/

    http://thefixthistime.com

  2. I would like to direct Mr. James Davis to another one of my articles addressing his fear based criticisms: http://www.finalcall.com/artman/publish/Perspectives_1/article_101936.shtml

  3. * Sorry, I meant $1.3 Trillion cash cow…

  4. Mr. Davis:

    Your argument is precisely the point of my article, but you fail to take into consideration the full depth of my position and of the demographic shift that is currently unfolding in the United States. Current demographic trends show that whites will be a minority population by 2050, and that Latinos (including Black Latinos), Black Americans and Asians will, as a block, constitute the majority population.

    This means that by the time today’s Black elementary school student reaches retirement age, he or she will be living under a completely different paradigm. Your failure to consider this in your argument will virtually guarantee your general conclusion – being that Blacks will never be free of white control. I vehemently disagree with both your premise and your conclusion.

    No one criticizes the Asian community for doing business within itself and supporting one another’s social, political and economic agendas. No one criticizes the Indian (from India), Mexican, Arab, Jewish, Italian, Greek, Polish or Black Caribbean communities here in the US for doing just what my article is pointing out and calling for.

    If you are a Black man, I feel sorry for you, at this late date in our history, that you would harbor such a fearful and defeatist attitude as a descendant of enslaved Africans in America – that we should not fight for our freedom outside the tradition of the non-economic liberalism paradigm that white people created for us in 1909 – and not consider how unity among ourselves is the true key to freedom, justice and equality not only her at home, but also within the global economy.

    In order to be free, we as a people must think outside of the box and do as people of other nationalities have done after thay have immigrated to the United States. We as Black Americans will never be respected, and will always be passed by and passed over, until we overcome the traumatized Stockholm Syndrome mentality that permeates the thinking of far too many of our people.

    Black moral and academic excellence and independent Black economic productivity are not mutually exclusive as you would have us believe through your argument. Therefore, regarding DuBois and Washington, their ideas and programs should not have been an EITHER/OR issue, it should have been a BOTH/AND issue.

    Lastly, it is clear that until Black America commands the will to be socially, politically and economically free of white tutelage, direction and control, and act accordingly (as people of other nationalities in this country do), then we will continue to be the non-productive $1.3 billion cash cow for everyone but ourselves.

    Thank God people harboring your fearful mentality are a diminishing breed. We are inviting you to cross the Jordan River with us, but if you desire to go back to Egypt, you are free to do so.

    Peace

  5. James Davis says:

    I most strongly and vehemently disagree with this author’s approach to achieving black economic independence. As this is the focus of this piece. Let me be very specific and detailed in regard to my objections because I emphatically want the author to address them.

    1) The white community or the majority population of this nation cannot be ignored in seeking black economic freedom. We do this at our own peril. As a matter of fact they refuse to be ignored! Time and time again when they have sensed an independent successful movement of any significance on the behalf of blacks in terms of them building a separate nation or city state – they have destroyed those efforts literally ( witness Tulsa, Oklahoma and Rosewood, Florida). The clear message from the majority white community to the minority black community is that black folks will not be allowed to create a successful nation of blacks, independent of white control within the borders of the United States of America. Show specifically where this has been accomplished on any significant and successful basis since the freedom of blacks from slavery. And I don’t mean sectional black community accomplished within certain cities where blacks have a population advantage like Atlanta or certain sections surround Washington D.C. but an independent black city-state without any white oversight.

    2) Given the above, we then have to seek common ground with the majority white population. This is what Dr. Martin Luther King and men like W.E. B. DuBois and Frederick Douglass realized. It is not capitulation on behalf of blacks to do this but an acknowledged course of pragmatism. Has it worked all the time. No, it has not and let be the first to say that. However, the most successful use of this strategy has resulted notably in two major African American victories. Frederick Douglass found common ground and cause with the abolitionists’ movement of his day which led to the majority white population taking a position on slavery which led to the Civil War and the freeing of blacks from slavery. And Dr. Martin Luther King and his cohorts found common ground and cause with a president of Southern origins in the person of Lyndon B. Johnson, which caused significant legislation to be put on the books. Among this legislation was the Civil Rights Act and the Voters Rights Act which have led to a significant number of black politicians and leaders being elected to office. Under Nixon, a Job Discrimination Act was enacted which led to many young black college students getting jobs in corporations owned and operated by the majority white population. Has this been a perfect journey – of course not! Many in the white majority observed the use of this strategy of common cause and grounds and pushed back vehemently through such named groups as the Klan, Nixon’s Silent Majority, Reagan’s Southern Democrats, and the Tea Party. These aforementioned groups want to take the country back to a time when white supremacy was more prevalent.

    3) So now we are faced today with the challenge of reaching for economic freedom. We can adopt and use the same strategy that has been so successful for us in the past. The problem with the current black leadership of today and this is true of the leadership of the Nation of Islam at its highest level is that they ( our leaders) don’t know what to demand from the federal government, which might give us the advantage of common cause and will advance blacks to economic freedom. That’s right, they do not know what specifically will lead to black economic freedom because I suspect they are stuck in past with thinking that is outdated when it comes to achieving this goal. There is nothing wrong with “tangible self-help programs that will lift them from their overall conditions,” as stated by the author nor is there anything wrong with using a strategy of seeking common ground either. Both have yielded productive successes. You do not have to adopt one at the exclusion of the other. You see, this writer is using a familiar scheme in writing this piece. He is putting the means of achieving freedom at odds with each other – saying self help is better than common cause without advancing a workable strategy to achieve economic freedom. This is what we all yearn for. We want to hear the plan in blunt terms … one, two, three – this is how you achieve it. You see, folks are looking to hear an agenda that can make a difference right here and now in their lives!

    4) Following is the plan that can make a difference right here and now. This what we should be fighting for in common cause with the white majority.

    https://thyblackman.com/2015/04/21/job-creation-a-priority-of-americans-is-doable-right-now-part-i/

    https://thyblackman.com/2015/04/23/job-creation-a-priority-of-americans-is-doable-right-now-part-ii/

    https://thyblackman.com/2013/08/15/40000-00-to-each-black-person-retirement-is-the-answer/

    http://thefixthistime.com

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