Thursday, March 28, 2024

Black People, Stop whining—Start grinding.

May 3, 2016 by  
Filed under Business, Money, News, Opinion, Politics, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com)

The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.
— William Arthur Ward

It’s interesting how the young folks have started using a term that describes what the older folks should be doing. I hear young people saying, “I’m grinding,” and I hear older folks whining. Young people know they have to “just do it,” as the saying goes, in order to achieve their dreams. In many cases they are willing to take risks and forego the creature comforts that could accrue to them via high level corporate salaries. They are willing to sacrifice in order to pursue their own path in life, unconstrained by the “rules” someone else sets for them.

We older folks are not as willing to do the work appertaining to progress; instead we are still relying on politicians to make things better for us. We do a lot more whining than grinding when it comes to our collective—and sometimes even our individual economic freedom.

I hear it on the radio and on news shows all the timeblackpeople-2014-inamerica from so-called leaders and from so-called liberated Black folks. They whine about what the “Man” is doing to us, how our collective fate is not in our own hands but someone else’s, what “we need to do,” how “unequal” we are in income, wealth, and social opportunities, and how many of us are in prison. They can recite all the stats and all the history surrounding our current demise. They reminisce about Kemet and other ancient African contributions to the world. They talk about “Black Wall Street” and invoke the names of our great icons; and they continue to lament and chronicle, as Maulana Karenga says, “Litanies of lost battles.”

While many of us are very adept at talking about our problems, far fewer of us are willing to get into the fray and do the work to ameliorate our problems—even though the solutions to our problems are relatively simple to implement.

Co-convener of the One million Conscious Black Voters and Contributors (www.iamoneofthemillion.com), Amefika Geuka, wrote a “Black Paper” in 2007 in which he stated, “[Our] vision is of a transformed Black community where our people radically improve the quality of their lives and surroundings. We will accomplish this by implementing programs and ventures designed specifically for the unique needs of people of African descent – without apology! This will result in the complete elimination of the ‘slave mentality’ and dependence on the gratuity of others that it promotes. We will cease to be the ‘weakest link in the chain,’ or weakest ‘patch’ in the ‘quilt-like’ fabric of American society and that of the world.”

Rhetoric not followed by action is meaningless; and whining not supplanted by grinding only displays weakness and apathy. Booker T. Washington said, “The world might pity a whining nation, but it will never respect it [until it respects itself enough to do for itself].

If we would turn our whining into grinding, not worrying as much about the external factors but concentrating on our internal resources with which to “accomplish what we will,” Black people would be much better off.

Politically speaking, Black folks are now so engulfed in Presidential candidates, thinking once again that our salvation somehow lies within them. Some of our Black political hacks are whining about which candidate will do the most for us, which is kinda like two enslaved people arguing over which plantation and “master” are better. If we continue to seek the largess of a political candidate without having a reasonable assurance that he or she will do more than talk about our situation, we will continue to get the same thing we have always gotten from them: more rhetoric. Stop waiting to hear their patronizing words regarding Black issues; start demanding what we want, and then be prepared to respond with our votes and our dollars. We must negotiate from a position of strength not with idle threats and saber-rattling, but by withholding our votes and our dollars if they do not support our demands. What do we have to lose?

The State of North Carolina is currently being economically punished because of its stand on which bathrooms transgender persons can use. Corporations are withdrawing their dollars and other threats abound by athletic groups and such. Question: Why isn’t the same thing happening on behalf of Black folks when it comes to voter suppression in that state? Have you heard any corporation threaten to leave or boycott Carolina on behalf of Black people? The POTUS even spoke up for the transgender people. Similar to the Indianapolis, Indiana case and the purported discrimination against gay people by businesses, corporations said they would move and the NCAA said it would cancel its events in that city if the law was not reversed. Guess what. The law was changed.

We are too busy counting votes to realize that our dollars count for more. Stop Whining and Start Grinding.

Written By James E. Clingman

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


Comments

2 Responses to “Black People, Stop whining—Start grinding.”
  1. Marque Anthony says:

    ITS PAST TIME TO WAKE UP PEOPLE:

    It amazes me how many of you are still brainwashed to call yourselves BLACK. Black is the color of your car tires, not your skin. The white oppressive slave trader called you black and himself white to set up a contrast and to attach negative images and denotations to you based on a lie about color. Look up BLACK in the dictionary.

    Research even shows that blacks are perceived by other groups as very different from African Americans. But we still keep calling ourselves what someone else defined us as, what we are not and what has a negative dictionary denotation in society. WAKE UP. LOOK AT THE REAL COLOR OF YOUR SKIN. YOU ARE NOT BLACK. You are an African American. The lie of calling us black and defining us by color (the wrong color) has been in place so long that our people accept it as truth – but it’s not. Know your colors.

    Native Americans do not allow others to call them red men. Asians do not accept being called yellow men. Hispanics do not answer to “what’s up brown man”. And Caucasians are not white, notebook paper is white. Wake up and see the plan where white racist supremacists plotted to redefine our people from Africa. STOP CALLING YOURSELF SOMETHING THAT YOU ARE NOT!
    AFRICAN AMERICANS ARE NOT BLACK.

    Black is the color of your car tires, not your skin author. Being called “black” is a lie and it should be offensive. Haitians, Jamaicans and even Africans do not accept being called “black”, Why do you think that is? They are identified by tribes, klans, geographic areas and their respective countries. By using the very term black to describe us, we are doing the following:

    1. Using a term white oppressors and slave masters gave us.

    2. Letting someone else define us other than our own people.

    3. Calling ourselves something we are not.

    4. Buying into thee lie and the negative denotation. Check the dictionary.

    5. Being set apart in a way that no other ethnic group allows. Native Americans are not called Red Man. Asians are not called Yellow Man. Hispanics are not called Brown Man. They do not and will not accept being defined by color and by some other race or ethnic group at that.

    6. Ignoring our actual color (brown) which means brainwashing has worked. Any time someone can get an entire race, ethnic group or culture to ignore what they are and call themselves what they factually are not, THEY HAVE BEEN INDOCTRINATED, ASSIMILATED AND BRAINWASHED.

    7. Playing right into the oppressor’s profiles and stereotypes. Did you know studies show there is a different perception of black people than there is of African Americans? Words create perceptions and perceptions create actions towards us.
    WAKE UP. You know your colors. And even though others around the world equated our ancestors with the color of the soil in Africa or the meaning of negro/negroid, that does not change the fact that WE ARE BROWN – NOT BLACK.

    If you look in the dictionary or send an email to brainstormonline@yahoo.com, I will send you the research. Facts are facts and YOU ARE BROWN, NOT BLACK. When you receive the revelation of wy they keep calling African Americans “black” and Caucasian people “white”, you may just wake up!

    STOP LETTING OTHER GROUPS DEFINE YOU WITH AN OBVIOUS LIE that we have heard and accepted so much that we believe it’s true and forget our colors. The de-programming has to take root or African Americans will forever be defined, limited and oppressed by those who get us to accept a lie.

  2. Thank you for this wonderful contribution to get African Americans to open their eyes and see the truth. It is embarrassing and demeaning to see “Black” leaders like preachers running after people running for political office to “give them something” when they can just as easily bond together to get it for themselves and their people.
    There has not been a time when these individuals or groups helped me get my degree, obtain a job or help me contribute to my community. I’ve always asked to provide my knowledge and service, but it seems too many are comfortable begging for another color to help just to give them something.
    I grind every day teaching in an elementary school, teaching at a local college and
    giving my knowledge and time to my community. My elevation is seeing children, teens and young adults excel in their education and careers.
    I grind so that my children can earn a college education on their knowledge and
    their hard work.
    Wake up African Americans too many of you are still in slavery with your mentalities.
    Peace and keep up the sharing of knowledge and truth.

    Wm Jackson

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