(ThyBlackMan.com) I never imaged that something other than “popping gum” could drive me to the brink of insanity. However, I spoke too soon when I declared this annoyance the most disturbing thing in the world as another annoying tendency has overthrown “popping gum” on my list of things I cannot stand. I am sure that I am not alone in declaring that the engagement of people whose understanding of history begins and ends with some zany illogical conspiracy theory sits atop of a long list of things I avoid like the plague. Put simply; such people drive me to the brink of insanity.
Experience has taught me that the only defense that one has against such people is the use of silence and solitude.
You will most certainly not understand my pain until you have encountered people who believe that the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade never occurred, Native Americans are Africans, or that Tupac Amaru Shakur is safe in Cuba with Assata Shakur awaiting the right moment to return like Napoleon Bonaparte. I have found it impossible to engage such individuals because their knowledge rests on nothing more than rumors, falsehoods, and innuendos that were spewed into the air as if they had an air of legitimacy. It is these moments that make it clear that the first negative of the internet is found in its ability to provide a platform to people who quite simply do not deserve one.
The alluded to pseudo-scholars fail to realize that reliance on Youtube and Facebook videos instead of scholarly research guarantees a pervasive mis-education that would make Carter G. Woodson blush. Put simply; the total dependence on homemade lectures and documentaries is a well-worn path to the development of a revisionist history that is so flawed that it is of no utility to anyone. What follows are “facts” that someone pseudo-scholar “kicked to me” in what they termed a desperate attempt to increase my knowledge of the black experience.
“Big Meech was the guiding hand behind Barack Hussein Obama’s policies.”
“The Slave Trade never occurred. If it did, you know that them white folk would have them boats up in some damn museum.”
“The Boston Tea Party was not a dispute over tea. Think about it, who would get that angry about tea? That was opium that the Indians threw into that water.”
“Barack Obama is Malcolm X’s son. He was hidden away to keep the Illuminati from killing him.”
“The reason that you have never seen an Indian is that black people are the real indigenous people to this land. There ain’t no damn reservations. If there were reservations, how come you’ve never seen one.”
Trust me when I say that I could continue this list of erroneous historical statements and foolhardy beliefs for hundreds of pages.
Rarely do I respond to such nonsense as life has taught me that a fool who has become emotionally invested in something that they have overheard or learned from someone who knows as little as they do, will never abandon those thoughts.
The purveyors of wacky conspiracy theories fail to realize that there is no shortcut to understanding history. It takes diligence, focus, and an uncommon desire to satisfy an unquenchable intellectual curiosity that prods you forward at every moment, even in one’s sleep.
Although I hate to comment on the following matter in public, far too often it appears that one of the most derisive comments aimed at blacks holds a few morsels of truth. The observation that was probably issued by a frustrated black writer goes as follows, “If you want to hide something from a black person, put it in a book.” Considering the hostility of even the so-called “conscious community” to reading. I have significant difficulty arguing against the above assertion and routinely encounter others, including many collegians, who joyously state in front of a laughing auditorium of students that they have never read a book from cover to cover.
It is at these moments that I realize my perspective regarding racial uplift has shifted. I no longer pay much attention to the devious machinations of white bigots, experience has taught me that there is little they can do to retard the execution of a logical plan of black uplift. Much of the blame for Black America’s failure to uplift themselves is due to their lack of understanding regarding their oppression and the subsequent inability to address such matters substantively.
I have found that it is much more common for me to encounter black men who can recite for me the years that Air Jordan’s debuted, yet do not know the identity or political platform of their local political representative or even the location of their local polling place.
In many ways, it is embarrassing to admit that the only things that garner significant attention in today’s Black America revolve around what Booker T. Washington termed “the superficial geegaws of life.” Engagement with meaningful writings capable of illuminating the minds of blacks is nowhere on their list of priorities. This reality unravels much of the excuse-making regarding black oppression.
The truth of the matter is that no one is capable of preventing blacks who are serious about illuminating their minds from achieving that task. Experience has taught me that the two most pernicious obstacles facing this latest generation of Black America are a flawed priority system and the failure to develop and then execute a life plan aimed at success.
I will end this piece with the advice that I give my students who have never read a book, “pick up a book and read something for once in your life. It will most certainly change your life.”
Staff Writer; Dr. James Thomas Jones III
Official website; http://www.ManhoodRaceCulture.com
One may also connect with this brother via Twitter; DrJamestJones.