More Information on Wednesday

I read the entire article from Ben Carson on the Black Lives Matter movement. He wants to promote conservative solutions to solve problems. He has the right to his views. The truth is that there must be a combination of solutions that must exist from all levels of government. The War on Poverty cut poverty in half from 1960 to 1970. The problems with the War on Poverty was that many of its programs were cut (during the 1970’s and during the 1990’s via Clinton's welfare reform policies that caused huge suffering to black & poor people), the Vietnam War increased inflation in America, and there was a massive neglect of investment in poor communities after the late 1960’s. The War on Poverty was a capitalist experiment with strengths and weaknesses. Black poverty fell 43% from 1959-1973 as anti-poverty programs exploded (and overall poverty was cut in half). Progress only stalled after those programs began to be scaled back (in real dollar terms) after the mid-1970s. Ultimately, the War on Poverty was massively cut as time went on. Massive deindustrialization, the War on Drugs, and bad trade deals also crippled communities. He’s right that houses that are filled with crack cocaine must be shut down. Yet, we can't just end crack houses alone. We also need investments in drug treatment programs (to help people with drug addiction), end all forms of three strike laws, and give voting rights to nonviolent drug offenders who are out of prison. In essence, the War on Drugs must end. I support the BLM's platform on the police. Also, he’s right that the entertainment industry must be held accountable for its misogynoir and its promotion of anti-black stereotypes in the world. Also, there should be federal, state, and local responses to address racism (as there is systemic racism in our world), sexism, police terrorism, and discrimination in this nation. Laws have to be changed and more progressive legislation must exist to address injustice in all levels of government. That should be a priority. We shouldn’t use our money to aid entities whose sole purpose is to slander our dignity as black people. Public schools and any school for that matter must embrace smaller class sizes, flexible curriculums, and other policies that have actually worked to improve education (in places like Finland and the state of Massachusetts. I have no issues with universal pre-K either as children development is very important). We should develop our families and end the structures of oppression at the same time. Young people need jobs, but job creation should be done by both the public and the private sectors not just by the private sector alone. So, he made many good points. On other points, I don’t agree with him obviously. Over 1 trillion dollars sent to the big banks while some in Congress refuse to pass an infrastructure bill is a disgrace. He is in error to imply that the Black Lives Matter movement says that only certain lives matter. That is not what the BLM is all about. Black Lives Matter is about promoting the human dignity of black people. Racial justice is a necessity not the worship of American exceptionalism. So, to be fair, he made some good points and on other points, I don’t agree with him. He has the right to speak his mind. Many of Ben Carson's views are too reactionary for me. At the end of the day, we want solutions and we want justice.

Peggy Hubbard is a totally wrong on so many levels. Her Facebook account is filled with anti-black comments that she has written disrespecting residents of Ferguson (like disrespecting the protesters), but she hypocritically claims to want solutions. She has issued a profanity laced rant and later issued a token apology. Also, she omits how black people in Ferguson are standing up for solutions. White privilege is a documented fact and has been documented by scholars of every color and background. We should express the empathy of the death of a child. Little Jamyla's death should be acknowledged for sure. May she rest in peace. Prayers to her family. Also, we should reject post racial talking points too. For her to disrespect her own people like this in public and slander the BLM movement is a shame. Also, the haters of black unity (or haters of the BLM movement) always talk about grievance and victimhood, but they ignore how the white colonists used outright insurrection in opposition to King George's rule. They also claimed grievance and claimed to be victims of the British Empire. Therefore, black people have every right to express legitimate grievances in the midst of the brutal Western empire (which has brutalized our black people for years and centuries). Not only are we expressing our grievances, but we advance self-determination as well. Some of them certainly don't know their own history. It is ironic that some of us know more about them (or the white racists) that many of them know about themselves. They or the bigots certainly have a fear of retribution and Divine Justice. Some of our people will wake up and others will not. One good news is that many black people are seeing the handwriting on the wall and we are uniting. I haven't seen this level of unity in terms of the fight for racial justice since the 1990's.


The abuse of women is totally evil. Dr. Dre issued his words in the midst of the showing of the revisionist movie (which shows information on a counterrevolutionary group). So, it is fair to ask the question that if that movie didn’t came out, would he issue that statement in the first place? Both women have the right to respond in their respective fashions. There must be a massive change in society. The misogynoir, misogyny in general, and music with anti-black, anti-women themes in them don’t enlighten society. They slander and demonize our people. That is why withdrawing financial support for music and any movie including any other enterprise that slanders our character as black human beings is the right thing to do. People have to treat people as people not as commodities. After all of these years, C. Delores Tucker is proven correct. Michel’le has been the victim of abuse just like Dee Barnes, and other human beings. I'm not surprised by Michel'le's reaction. Dee Barnes' reaction was a little surprising, but she has the right to respond in how she wants to. She is a victim too. It is obvious that Dr. Dre has to promote PR, and he wanted his film to make more money. In the midst of this pressure, he issued his token statement (which wasn't a real apology). That’s just real talk. Music that glamorizes rape, the murdering of our people, and nihilistic violence is not just. While police brutality is evil and it is a problem that we must confront as a community, there is no excuse for any person to sellout to corporate heads (who run the mainstream music) that spews verbal poison in our society. We wish the best for all of the victims of domestic abuse. There should always be a distinction between people who have wealth legitimately and economic inequality. We hate massive economic inequality in our world, we hate the system of oligarchy, and we don't hate upright black people with wealth, cars, or a great education. Racism and discrimination has occurred against black people among all classes. One solution to our problems is to have a cross class alliance among black people in order to address the problems of poverty, police brutality, discrimination, and other important issues in our community. More unity can create better solutions. As Dr. King has said, more rich black people must work in the poorer areas where black people live in order for us to cooperatively make progressive changes. So much our problems can be solved with the investments in combating poverty, in developing education (in a higher level with emphasis on STEM fields), and in building up networks of black people nationally including worldwide.

Afro-Mexican people are great human beings. Many people don’t know about them, so now it is time to show great information about them and their cultural experiences. There are strong communities filled with black people in the areas of Veracruz, Costa Chica of Oaxaca, etc. Many black people played a leadership role in the Mexican Revolution. There are the casta paintings that showed the ethnic diversity of Mexico from centuries ago. Mexico, itself, is a land filled with African influences. Even the song La Bamba was sang by the black people of Veracruz for centuries. The heroic Brother Gaspar Yanga led the slave revolt in Mexico back in 1570. Gaspar Yanga was so successful in his actions that at one time, the Spanish gave him his own area in order to try to stop him. There is a celebration of him in the town of Yanga too that remembers him. We should never forget that the first President of black African descent was Vicente Guerrero from the 19th century.  Vicente was raised in the mountain town of Tixtla and spoke many indigenous languages. During the 16th and 17th centuries, Spanish colonizers sent about 200,000 to 500,000 African slaves into Mexico. They were forced to work in silver mines, sugar plantations, and cattle ranches. Some were runway slaves. Also, many Afro-Mexicans are strongly saying "Soy Negro" or I am Black. The Afro-Mexican experience is a beautiful experience. Afro-Mexicans are also found in Guerrero. Costa Chica (which is found in the Mexican Pacific Coast) has the Museo de las Culturas Afromestizos or a museum which documents the history and the culture of African/Indigenous people of the area. The town of Yanga is in the area of Veracruz. UnivisionTV -- the largest Spanish speaking television network has a documentary on Afro-Mexicans called, “Quienes son los Afro-Mexicanos?” (Who are the Afro-Mexicans?). Co-produced by Arizona based, husband and wife multimedia/photography team, Hakeem Khaaliq and Queen Muhammad Ali, the two-part documentary is a compilation of photos and video footage from their many travels to Mexico. The documentary also features commentary from journalist and historian, Luis Manuel Ortiz. We know to learn more history. It’s a fact that Mexico back then harbored Black fugitive slaves who wanted freedom. This act was related to the Mexican-American war. Many black people in Mexico have their ancestry from Angola and other parts of Africa. Afro-Mexicans are still fighting racism and discrimination in Mexico today. We are in total solidarity with all Afro-Mexicans. "What we want is recognition of our basic rights and respect of our dignity," Rodolfo Prudente Dominguez, a top Afro-Mexican activist. Benigno Garcia de la Rosa, of the organization of Afrodescendents in the Costa Chica of Guerrero, explained that the afro-descendent communities have not been recognized by neither state nor federal governments and have therefore sued the next president of Mexico and the governor Angel Aguirre Rivero demanding constitutional recognition. He noted that Afro-Mexicans, like the indigenous communities of Guerrero, similarly face government discrimination, live in poverty and extreme poverty, and do not receive adequate attention from state and federal governments. The struggle continues.


The black women at the Napa train location did absolutely nothing wrong, yet they were treated as criminals by the NVWT. Black people, irrespective of our class, should always be treated with dignity and with respect (with fairness). I like to thank these courageous women for speaking their minds (and fighting for their rights) and for social media for telling the truth about this injustice. Respectability politics doesn't work to cause liberation. When the NVWT got caught, people like them always outline the token "faux" apology like clockwork. This incident shows that black people have power and we will stand up for our rights. The fact is that we live in a world where some people will have false perspectives about black people irrespective of our class or our wealth. The sick stereotype and lie that black people expressing humor and laughter in a train is equivalent to threatening behavior is truly disrespectful. These Sisters taking a stand is very inspiring. These Sisters represent our cousins, our mothers, and the rest of our female relatives. When they or the members of that company attacked the Sisters, they attack us all, so we are in solidarity with our people. Change comes by the masses of the people not by desperate bureaucrats who issued an anti-black, disrespectful statement. I'm glad that people here have caught on to how the NVWT used anti-black stereotypes in their faux "apology." The truth is that we will never bow before any human on this Earth as subservient slaves. We will stand up for our human rights. We are at war against police brutality, discrimination, economic injustice, and other forms of oppression. Speaking our minds has nothing to do with having a "ghetto pity party." It is about recognizing that we live in an imperfect world and we want that world to change, so our people including our future descendants can live in society filled with freedom and justice. I'm glad that many have brought up our courageous ancestors and the elders. Our ancestors and our elders were the bravest people in world history. They shed blood for us. They cried for us. They fought for freedom for us. We can never fully imagine or comprehend the pain, the brutality, and the sorrow that they have experienced. What we can do is to acknowledge their courage, remember their names, respect our elders plus our ancestors, and use inspiration from their heroism in order for us to continue onward with the work that they would want us to do.


By Timothy