The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan speaks at Clark Atlanta University on The Struggle For Reparations at the NDABA V.
by Nzinga Muhammad
When people say that “slavery was in the past”, they don’t want to deal with the aftermaths of it. They put the struggles of black people in an imaginary world in order to silence us about our issues. They brush off our experiences as unimportant, and add on a list of arguments that are evidently believed and repeated. I’ve decided to debunk them.
Here’s part two:
“Slavery was a good thing. It helped America become the nation that it is today.”
It has to be understood that America became a great nation at the expense of human lives. That can never be a good thing; not to mention that oppression is still a thing in the 21st century. The glorification of slavery happens often, and usually by those who might have had ancestors who owned black people. There has been justifications for slavery while completely ignoring the nightmarish facts about it: The separation of families, the rape of women and men, the torture, lynching, killing and absolute terrorism of black people.
By Nzinga Muhammad
“There is no racism anymore. I don’t even see color, because we are all human.”
The evidence that racism still exists is overwhelming, and shouldn’t require a “source” from a major university to see if it still happens. I think it is easy to forget racism exists when it isn’t as obvious. There aren’t as many “Colored Only” signs anymore, and not every black person is picking cotton right now. But racism did not go away with the Emancipation Proclamation. Racism has systemic, institutional, structural, and even ideological forms that give privilege to some and oppresses others based on race. Racism is global, but from an American standpoint, racism is the very foundation that this current system was founded on. How does that very structure of this nation disappear miraculously because of a piece of paper?
As for being “colorblind”, it is a harmful statement to make. We actually don’t live in a “colorblind” society and we shouldn’t. To willfully not see color, is to willfully not see oppression that people of color face. It also places people of color in a box of sameness, and erases unique identities simply because the privileged don’t have to worry about their race/ethnicity. Being “colorblind” dismisses and devalues real experiences that people of color have with racism, in the name of “we are all human”.
How privileged you must be to choose not to see color, while institutions and systems won’t, simply because it won’t impact your life. Seeing black isn’t a bad thing, devaluing blackness is.
“If white people can’t wear cornrows because that’s appropriating black culture, then black people can’t speak English or wear jeans because that’s appropriating white culture.”
While black hairstyles such as cornrows have historical and cultural importance in black communities, jeans have no significance in “white culture”. Jeans are a universal item created for everyone. Speaking English for black people (especially Black Americans) is an example of assimilation, not appropriation. When you appropriate a culture, you are taking things from a culture that might have meaning to them, yet often times they are ridiculed in a dominant society for being who they are. Cultural appropriation often leads to harmful stereotypes about a group. Cornrows have been deemed “ghetto” on black people, and many have been punished at work or school for them, but white celebrities wear them and make it “high fashion”. Yes, that’s racist.
Assimilation is when people have to resemble dominant society in order to fit into the customs of that land/society. English was actually forced upon black people when being taken to the shores of America. Many Black Americans don’t know our original languages fluently. Assimilation. Not appropriation.
“White privilege’ was made up by black people to shame white people. What if a white person is poor? They are not privileged.”
The term “white privilege” was coined by Peggy McIntosh: a white woman. A white person who is underprivileged economically, still has the advantages of being white. Privilege comes in many forms, and everyone has them in some form in society. However, racially, white people have privilege over people of color on a plethora of levels.
(Nzinga Muhammad is based in Rochester, NY. Follow her on Twitter @QueenNzinga13)
On the plantation, Christmas and other holidays were used to control the slaves and kill the spirit of insurrection.
After winning Gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Gabrielle Douglas did not put her hand over her heart with the rest of her team when the national anthem came on. This of course sparked outrage overnight, but her not “pledging” is justifiable. Whether she meant to or not, Gabrielle committed a revolutionary act against white supremacy and American hypocrisy.
Remember in 1968, when John Carlos and Tommie Smith raised a “black power” fist in the Olympic Games? That showed black strength despite the injustices we faced during that time. Even that made white people upset. What is it with people getting angry over black people not pledging to America like they do? But you can’t blame us.
After 400+ years of injustice towards black people in America, there is really no reason for black people to give allegiance to this country. When everyday another black person becomes a hashtag to raise awareness about their death in the hands of rogue policemen, why pledge allegiance? Why sing about how “free” a nation is if true freedom is something we still cannot get? American wealth has been built on the labor of enslaved black people. America has not given anything back to black people after all of the traumatic experiences we went through, and continue to go through. What has America done for us as a people?
By Nzinga Muhammad
Of course there are those who would argue that America “gave us rights”, but my question is: Why was America, specifically white people in power, ever in a position to give and take away rights of a group of people that they enslaved? Why should we be “grateful” for an Emancipation Proclamation? Why were we ever slaves in the first place? I find it so funny that white Americans boast about “risking their lives for our freedom”, but never acknowledge the fact that they denied us freedom in the first place, and continue to mistreat us in 2016.
Whether she knows it or not, Gabrielle Douglas told America and the world that although she has “USA” on her jacket, she is not of “USA”. She is part of the land mass, but the system is not in her favor. Just because you play for a country does not mean that the country loves you back. Playing for a country is one thing, but how are you and your people mistreated? Gabrielle Douglas faced racism in her own country, in her own gym even. To not raise your hand is to not give up yourself to a system that doesn’t treat you as an American citizen.
As Minister Farrakhan teaches, you should stand in respect to acknowledge America as an independent nation, as that is what we should aspire to be like: A nation inside a nation. But you don’t pledge allegiance to that which doesn’t give you the basic respect of a “citizen”. Do American citizens get threats of being lynched? Do American citizens get denied basic rights in the hand of police? Are American citizens supposed to be brutalized, mocked, ridiculed, and mistreated by other American citizens? . We are not seen as citizens.
Congratulations Team USA on your win. Gabrielle Douglas: Your black excellence helps to dismantle white supremacy. Keep showing how amazing we can be, along with other talented black athletes.
(Follow Nzinga Muhammad on Twitter @QueenNzinga13)
Photos: Getty Images
When talking about anything pertaining to the black struggle, there will always be some small-minded individual who doesn’t agree. They might bring up some arguments that don’t add up whatsoever. You might have heard a few of these. I know I have:
“Slavery was in the past! I wasn’t alive back then. White people shouldn’t pay for their ancestor’s mistakes!”
By Nzinga Muhammad
Slavery wasn’t a big “mistake”. It was a system that oppressed black people and still impacts their descendants. However, slavery gave benefits for white people and their descendants as well. White people today hold a privilege because of slave labor. Many companies even that stand to this day profited from slavery ( ie Bank of America, USA Today, Lehman Brothers…). Whites don’t have to worry about any of the racial injustices that POC have to worry about.
Also, what was done in the past, still happens today. It’s not like black people are holding a 400 year grudge that has no relevance in our lives in 2016. We are still mistreated and discriminated against in a white supremacist society.
No, white people today did not enslave all these black people in America, but they reap the benefits of those who did. They still have collective control to oppress us and other POC.
“Only (insert extremely exaggerated low % here) of whites owned slaves!”
Who lied to you? The amount of whites who owned slaves wasn’t a small percentage at all. Slate.com explains:
“According to the 1860 census, taken just before the Civil War, more than 32 percent of white families in the soon-to-be Confederate states owned slaves. Of course, this is an average, and different states had different levels of slaveholding. In Arkansas, just 20 percent of families owned slaves; in South Carolina, it was 46 percent; in Mississippi, it was 49 percent.
By most measures, this isn’t “small”—it’s roughly the same percentage of Americans who, today, hold a college degree. The large majority of slaveholding families were small farmers and not the major planters who dominate our image of “slavery.” […]
…Slavery was at the foundation of economic and social relations, and slave-ownership was aspirational—a symbol of wealth and prosperity. Whites who couldn’t afford slaves wanted them in the same way that, today, most Americans want to own a home.”
“We have a Black President…that means black people have collective power.”
One black man in office does not eliminate generations of racial oppression in a white supremacist society. It does give representation, and hope to some, but it does not reverse the roles of collective power from the oppressor to the oppressed. Barack Obama is about to be replaced by yet another white person, so whatever “power” you think we have under that one man is just going to get taken back anyways so that argument is ridiculous.
“What about black on black crime? 90% of black people are killed by black people!”
“Black on black crime” to me is a socially engineered condition. Even still, most crimes are intraracial, meaning that they are within the racial community they reside in. Besides, most people of different races lives among their own people. I don’t ever see anyone call out “white on white crime”, which is by the way, 83%. The mentioning of black on black crime is usually to silence the outcry of black people telling others to stop killing us.Not to dismiss the importance of addressing what we are programmed to do to each other, but it’s not like black people haven’t come together to protest violence in our own communities. There are always rallies and programs within the black community against violence. To mention “black on black crime” only when black people call out racial injustices is inappropriately wrong. There’s no honest concern, it’s just to shift guilt from white people to black people.
We have to understand the system that put us strategically in place for self destruction. But that’s another article….
These arguments have been debunked countless times. I don’t understand why they’re being brought up repeatedly all over the realms of social media. Let’s stop recycling exposed myths and failed comebacks.
(Follow Nzinga Muhammad on Twitter @QueenNzinga13)
“You say you have emancipated us…But when you turned us loose, you gave us no acres. You turned us loose to the sky, to the storm, to the whirlwind, and worst of all, you turned us loose to the wrath of our infuriated masters.”–Frederick Douglas 1876
Let me get right to it. Without reparations the Emancipation Proclamation may as well have been called the “Emasculation Proclamation.” I know. I know. All the good people who put a lot of energy into celebrating “Juneteenth” are going to call for my head to be placed on the proverbial chopping block. I know. I know. I’m probably going to catch a whipping from some of my most respected elders when they see me. Let me say, in my defense, that there is absolutely nothing wrong with celebrating the freedom of an enslaved people. However, there is a difference between “emancipation” and freedom. Emancipation is something that is given to you. Whoever gives it to you also has to power to take it back. Freedom, however is something that you take and are willing to die for.
The term “emancipation” has a Latin root. It means “to freed from their hands, but not from their control.” Abraham Lincoln understood that by using the term “emancipation” he was freeing the physicality of the slave, not the mentality of the slave. He also knew that the slave’s future would be bleak as long as they were set free with no money, land or opportunity to create a dignified life in this “free world.” Many of the emancipated slaves soon returned to the plantation fields of their former masters in search of security. I guess they felt it was better to be a slave with a meal on the table than a free man on the side of the river bank praying that the fish ain’t sleep. Our ancestors went through hell. Literally!
Freedom, however, is different from emancipation. When a man or woman is free, they can live up to their full God-given potential. A free human being thinks, speaks, walks and acts in a way that an emancipated man or woman may be afraid to. If you deny a people the bare necessities of survival how can you expect them to operate as a free people? The plight of these two slaves named “Toby” and “Govie” were recorded in the history books to illustrate how difficult life became for the emancipated Black slave.
“I don’t know as I ‘spected nothing from freedom, but they turned us out like a bunch of stray dogs, no homes, no clothing, no nothing, not ‘nough food to last us one meal. After we settles on that place, I never seed man or woman, ‘cept Govie, for six years, ‘cause it was a long ways to anywhere. All we had to farm with was sharp sticks. We’d stick holes and plant corn, and when it come up we’d punch up the dirt round it. We didn’t plant cotton, ‘cause we couldn’t eat that. I made bows and arrows to kill wild game with, and we never went to a store for nothing. We made our clothes out of animal skins.”
The Emancipation Proclamation did not end slavery. Given the fact that our ancestors were given no reparations for their 300 plus years of chattel slavery, the Emancipation Proclamation guaranteed that the institution of slavery would continue. A delegation of Black leaders visited Lincoln in the White House. This is what he said to them: “The aspiration of men is to enjoy equality with the best when free, but on this broad continent not a single man of your race is made the equal of a single man of ours…I cannot alter it if I would…It is better for us both, therefore, to be separated.
We celebrate Juneteenth as the day in 1865 when the news of America’s emancipated slave finally reached Texas; two and one half years after the proclamation became law. By this time, slaves who had been “freed” in other states had already returned to the plantations because they realized they had nowhere to go. Many became sharecroppers. This sharecropping agreement ended up becoming, but another version of the same slave/slave master agreement. The Emancipation Proclamation was nothing but a symbol. What would have made it substantive is reparations for the centuries of back breaking, soul destroying, dehumanizing work that our forefathers did that made this country rich and powerful. Black people were the architects and the masons that built this country. With our sweat and blood we created wealth for White America. And we weren’t even given a “sack of potatoes” as a sendoff in 1863. Instead of celebrating Juneteenth, we should have been angry as hell.
The estimated value of the Black slaves at the time of their “emancipation” was at least 6 billion dollars. Six billion dollars in 1863 was an unbelievable amount of capital. What many don’t know is that instead of slaves receiving reparations many of the plantation owners in the South received reparations instead. That right! The government issued $300 per head for every emancipated slave. There was no forty acres for us. The mule that we were supposed to inherit ended up having a better quality of life than our ancestors. In 1870, nine out of ten Black adults could not read; and the tenth had no power to dispute what he could read.
The plan was the let the slave go on his own, but to starve him back into his former condition by giving him no other way to feed himself and his family. When a man is forced to return to his former slave master in order to survive it is emasculating and humiliating. It was all a game designed to preserve “The Union” and trick the slave into thinking his emancipation was synonymous with freedom. American fought a civil war…not a revolution. If America wants to atone for her ugly history she will have to issue more than a proclamation. She will have to, at some point, give reparations to the descendants of her once slaves. The symbols of freedom are no longer enough to pacify the current generation of warriors that we have produced.
(THANK YOU to the Nation of Islam’s National research team for much of the research used in this article.)
(Here is Part 2 of Brother Derrick’s one-on-one interview with Dr. Sommers and Dr. Anderson about their hot book “The Impact Equation”. Missed Part 1? Click Here)
Derrick Muhammad: You two said that essentially Blacks were afraid of power. What did you mean by that?
Dr. William Sommers: We mean that Blacks are afraid that they will have to do something destructive to regain power. All Blacks wanted historically, after slavery, was the right to live without being raped, beaten or hung. Blacks never talked about real power. After slavery, Black power really meant – Black cooperation. And black cooperation was the ability to live in society without harm. We’ve lived in a society that has used such brute and savage tactics to gain power, that at the core of it all, Blacks don’t want to talk about winning in that power struggle because they believe that they would have to use those same cruel tactics. And we’re revealing that we don’t have to use cruel tactics to regain power.
It’s absolutely wrong and insane to not want to have power over your own person. Every other culture group isn’t afraid to attain power. The Jewish community isn’t afraid. The Asian community isn’t afraid. The Arabic community isn’t afraid. The Mexican community isn’t afraid. So we show tactics and strategies that ensure that we regain our power, without compromising who we are as a community.
Derrick Muhammad: Your guide has like 1001 tools and resources. But what stuck out to me is that it says: ‘identifying community assets is imperative to solutions’. Can you explain?
Dr. Janice Anderson: I can’t tell you how many people that have come up to me and said, ‘I wanted to do something, I just didn’t know where to start or how.’ There are so many people in our community that want to do something. I mean they really want to do something. But, they just don’t know where their community assets are. Or they don’t know how to obtain those assets.
CNN and all the other mediums bombard us with the problems. The average person becomes so overwhelmed. Most people don’t even know how to obtain a grant. Or they don’t know how to challenge their local laws and win. And furthermore they feel like they are alone. So we identify endless community assets and we make sure that they know it’s attainable. White supremacists and opponents of our power want us to believe that our problems are irreversible. They want us so overwhelmed or underwhelmed that we will eventually no longer care. They want us to believe that there is truly nothing that we can do about it. But we can do something about it.
(THE AUTHORS OF THE IMPACT EQUATION IS ALSO GIVING BROTHER JESSE BLOG READERS A 30% DISCOUNT WHEN YOU PURCHASE THEIR BOOK. CLICK HERE NOW!!!: https://www.2checkout.com/ )