This just in: Massah is DEAD!

The system repeatedly failed us generations and decades ago. Our ancestors bore from that failure a system of self reliance and survival. They gave us the tools necessary to further ourselves in a nation intended for our labor, our women’s wombs, and our perpetuation of the oh so profitable “American slave trade” through the loins of our women. A nation built by the blood and sweat of our fathers. The salted tears of our mothers stained the hearts of their offspring to always, always remind us of the pain. To make us conscious and aware of the humiliation, brutality, and shame they endured, unsure of tomorrow. And of that, my friend, the “angry black woman” was born. Some mothers killed their children in order to "send them to be with the Lord in heaven", so that they wouldn’t be born to the harsh reality of their innocence being stripped away from them, being torn from their mother’s arms, and sat on a wooden platform to be inspected and evaluated by hundreds as if they were young cattle.

For us black folk, our roots only go back so far…….our identities lost in the county records and archives, as we were less than human to this nation, we were counted among their property, and our names were replaced with the word “Chattel.” This is where our American Heritage began…..”chattel” From this, our black men fought to their deaths to acquire their identities in America and take their manhood back. Manhood, which they were robbed of when they were forced to witness their wives become Massah's late night whores, or Massah’s prize to his young apprentices. Manhood that was stripped when they were placed on wooden platforms and castrated before being lynched. Manhood that was lost when their children were stripped from their wives arms, for their wives to look to them to “protect” them and do something about it, yet he was prohibited from fulfilling his duties as a man by the cracking of Massah’s whip. Black men have since traveled on a winding, bewildering path in search of their manhood, their stake holds in America. Thus, they have struggled to propel themselves as husbands and fathers.

Then there was the black church. Our safe haven and only solitude. We sang together, we ate together, we organized together. The black church was the fiber that kept the Negro community strong. It was a source of social activism, a place for black men to be revered and followed. To hold the black church under a microscope as the media has done with the “Rev Wright” controversy as if it is some sort of science project showed just how disconnected America really is. To some, it was shocking and appalling….to others it was typical black church where political issues were discussed. Some say politics and social activism have no place in the church. But be reminded that the black church was the only place for black folk. So, those guidelines don’t equate to much in the black church, as there was no other “place” for them to be socially active or politically aware without the threat of being castrated, and burned alive or hung in a town hall. Sorry, those rules didn’t apply here.

Now…….I hope my black people are aroused by now…I hope this reminds you of the stories our grandfathers told of their grandfathers. I hope it reminds you of the lynching exhibits, the movie "Roots," "Mississippi Burning", and all that made you angry, bitter, and resentful of “the white man” for slavery.

Now that I have your attention…Newsflash! Massah is dead. I repeat, Massah is dead! No more blaming your self-inflicted perils on “the man” instead blame them on us. Note, I didn’t say “yourselves” because to use such language would disconnect me from the black community as if I were not one of “you.” Please note....however, some do. Bill Cosby has done a great job of calling the faults of our black men in the community. Barack Obama did the same on father’s day. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton………all of these black men. Speaking the very truths we need to hear, some perspectives to which some of us cannot relate or understand. Nonetheless….there is a “call to action” in the black community. But unfortunately these are mere sound bites mistaken for activism. Instead of poking at all that is WRONG with the black community....let's accept responsibility and CHANGE it!

BET…..you all know I “love” me some BET……let’s get it. BET disgusts me, with their pretend roundtable discussions and panels about the wrongs in the black community. Panels which include black intellectuals, preachers, authors, activists, video “models”, reality television “stars”, and rappers. I guess they call that social balance? BET harps on the black man and his failings as a father or the teen mom who sells her womb for crack in a 30 minute segment when they perpetuate the very PLAGUE that is having this affect on the black community. A year's worth of BLACK EXPLOITATION TELEVISION filling the airways....poisoning the minds of our youth, tainting and diminishing their hopes and dreams of being doctors and lawyers to video vixens and rappers with bling bling. Then they try to rectify it by giving a humanitarian of the year award to someone who is out fighting to reverse the damage BET has caused all year long.

Go into any “urban” public school and ask the children what they want to be when they grow up….you will be startled at their answers. Ask them who their role models are….and brace yourselves for their answers. The times have long since moved from “Martin Luther King” to “I wanna be like Mike!” to “Weezy F. Baby”…and who is responsible for shortening our children’s aspirations? Massah you say? I think not!

Then we say…..”It’s entertainment” well it is only entertainment when we have other forms of intellectual stimulation to take up the “un-wrinkled” portions of our brains…..not when it is our babysitter, our family pastime, and our source of “news.” It is no longer entertainment then. Our little boys, instead of playing “cops and robbers” are playing “dope boy busted.” I once watched some black children playing in the yard. (True Story) It appeared to be some sort of cops and robbers game….until I heard “Get on the motherfuckin ground,” “Nigga you move and I will kill yo ass,” and “Where is my damn money.” Now, I’m not that old…but I surely know these weren’t the types of things we said when we played outside. Instead, this doesn’t sound like children playing at all. It sounds like sound bits from movies…..movies our children have no business watching. I just wonder, if it is movies like the ones BET loves to play. You know, the common dope boy, baby mama, mother buries teen son, type movies they play? Yeah those…..

I won’t even touch on the lost institution of the black family…..it would take days to write….maybe some other day. But just note, just as it was ripped apart by Massah generations ago…we are doing it to ourselves now. Socially, it is hip and cool to be a teen mom. Somewhere we gained this warped thinking that being an “independent, strong black woman” meant we didn’t need our black men. Newsflash…..WE DO! (Again….I digress for the sake of time)

It is empowering….it is invigorating…and it is resuscitating to the black community to see a black man in a positive light. Barack Obama. His wife is a “strong black woman” who is interdependent on her husband (not baby daddy as Fox thought it would be cool to say). They are raising two beautiful children. A great example of what is absent in the black community. The Black Family!

We have gone for quite some time without a “hero” and instead replace that politically and socially conscious brother with bling wearing, gold and platinum tooth swearing, 4-XL shirt wearing rapper. That is the image of the hero in the black community. When one thinks “black entrepreneur” they think Jay-Z and P Diddy. Nothing against these “hip-hop entrepreneurs” because for the most part, they adhere to some form of social responsibility. But to think about the short sighted vision of our youth being distorted to viewing rappers as role models and sources of inspiration displays the intense urgency for CHANGE in the black community.

Some of my colleagues don’t understand how black people can vote blindly for Obama and support him so passionately. Well the answer is simple (Not that I agree, because we should all be politically aware and vote for candidates based on their platform and policies, but this here...this is a different beast) You see, some have waited a very long time to see something like this occur and they revel in the moment, in hopes that it is an indicator of greater things to come in America. In hopes that it helps to blur the color line that divides us into 4 and 5 different sets and “classes” of “Americans.” I am a politically “conscious” individual who supports Barack Obama because I believe he has what America needs in order to invoke progressive change from the old, stale, antiquated system that was specifically manufactured for a set class of individuals.

Obama wants more funding for college education, and those of us who have not been so fortunate to have our educations afforded to us feel the brunt of the costs of “higher” education. But, this won’t be a “hand me out” from the government….there will be accountability. In order to reap the benefits, students are to be held accountable and work in public interest, for the greater good of the communitiy. Accountability and responsibility….something lacking but greatly needed in the black community.

To many, Barack Obama seems to be the “answer” the black community has been looking for. We have gone quite some time without an “African American Hero” and Obama is that person for some. BUT....it's time we stop looking for a saviour, stop looking for hand outs, and stop looking for someone to give us something we have already had but have thrown away.....and that's opportunities.

Obama frequently refers to what Dr. King called “the fierce urgency of now.” Well black people, the time is now. The time has come to reclaim our black communities and stop doing a disservice to the blood, sweat, and tears our ancestors shed so that we could have better ways of life. We stand on the shoulders of giants……let us not piss on their legacies any longer. Restore faith in the black church and rid it of the misogyny and bigotry that has infected it. Give our children dreams again. Allow our black men to be men. Women, demand the respect your mothers did. Stop accepting mediocracy. Stop being complacent. Complacency didn’t free the slave! Mediocracy didn’t free the slave! Embody the spirit of the Negro slave, do not shun it. It is who we are; it is where we come from. Black people have a unique story that goes untold in the nation’s history as if it were a bastard child. We are responsible for ourselves. We didn’t rely on “the system” to teach us….we taught ourselves. We didn’t rely on American History books to tell our story, we wrote our own.

Stop the ignorance black people! When we truly understand the sacrifices made on our behalf and become accountable, the black community will have no choice but to restore itself. Get “Fired up, ready to go” change our community! “Declare your independence” from self-enslavement. Oh, and by the way….Happy “Independence Day.”And remember….Massah is DEAD!

Love to ALL,

Unofficially Reporting