New Question for the "Ask A Real Black Man" Files":

Anonymous writes

hey, im a half white half latino (mind you i do not necessarily look latino) teenage male who recently just purchased an "i love black people" tee-shirt. of course, my mother was quite concerned of this and i told her that i bought it because i recognize the everyday oppression people of color have been dealing with and i want to show my support and also to show to people who are not black that at there should really not be such a stigma of me wearing it as much as there is, i mean its 2008! So the comments by my mom and others have made me feel unsure about ever wearing it again and i don't want to embarrass myself by asking my black friends so please tell me, what do you think?

The Exodus Mentality feels your pain, and understands your uncertainty. First of all. because you are self identified as half of this and half of that, you are going to face some confusion from the door. I mean really, how does your latino half feel about your white half wanting to put up a fence along the border with Mexico, while Canadians can come and go as they please? I also find myself wondering how your mom identifies herself and more importantly how she identifies you, especially since she is expressing concern about your feelings for Black people.

Of course you are going to eventually have to start thinking for yourself and there's no time like the present, so forget your mother and let's examine these feelings you have for Black people. You said it's a sign of support. Support falls a bit short of love in most cases. Are you sure you really love Black people? If your initial thought process about this was "I have plenty of Black friends" or anything like that, then the answer to that question is probably, no. You may like some Black people you have met (many of us are extremely likable), but that's not love.

That's where the stigma about you wearing the shirt is really going to come into play. If you choose to continue to wear that shirt, you are going to have to back that sentiment up. It is indeed 2008, but that's no reason for you to forget your history. Loving Black people in this country has historically been a losing proposition, especially for us Black folks, but also for other people who felt moved to ally themselves with Black people. You follow in this fine tradition of resistance to the system of White Supremacy at your peril. You better be ready to walk it like you talk it. If you love black people, and you choose to publicize it, you may be called upon to die for your passion. This is historical fact, and that history is not so very far in our past.

So if you truly love Black people there's no shame in wearing that shirt. Your Black friends will undoubtedly find it amusing at the very least. They certainly won't mind, as long as you are sincere. Black folks have a lot of experience that has endowed us with an almost instinctual ability to tell when people are just pretending to like us. If you are faking it, you might as well give up the game now, they already know.

NO JAIL TIME FOR BARBIE BANDIT

MRS. EXODUS MENTALITY WOULD LIKE TO KNOW...

How in the Heck do you rob a bank and then go home without doing any time? Does it perhaps have something to do with the Caucasian persuasion of the guilty party? Does it perhaps have something to do with the media giving such a cute little name "Barbie Bandits" to predispose empty little minds to think this was less of a crime than it really was?

Let me put it another way. If a 14 year Black girl can get 10 years for pushing a teacher's aide, what does it say when 19 year old white girl gets NO JAIL TIME for robbing a bank?

And they wonder why Rev. Wright and many other intelligent Black folks are just a bit fed up with Amerikkka.

clipped from www.ajc.com One 'Barbie Bandit' sentenced to 2 years, the other probation By TOM OPDYKE The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 03/24/08 One of the so-called Barbie Bandits went home on probation Monday; the other went to jail for two years. The bank teller, who was the inside guy in the 2007 theft that was captured on videotape, got five years in jail. The mastermind in the heist is expected to be sentenced today. Jessica McGowan / AJC Ashley Nicole Miller gets a hug from her mother Joy Miller after she is sentenced in Cobb Superior Court

I Really Wish I Had Said This First

So what can we say about a nation that values lies more than it loves truth? A place where adherence to sincerely believed and internalized fictions allows one to rise to the highest offices in the land, and to earn the respect of millions, while a willingness to challenge those fictions and offer a more accurate counter-narrative earns one nothing but contempt, derision, indeed outright hatred? What we can say is that such a place is signing its own death warrant. What we can say is that such a place is missing the only and last opportunity it may ever have to make things right, to live up to its professed ideals. What we can say is that such a place can never move forward, because we have yet to fully address and come to terms with that which lay behind.

What can we say about a nation where white preachers can lie every week from their pulpits without so much as having to worry that their lies might be noticed by the shiny white faces in their pews, while black preachers who tell one after another essential truth are demonized, not only for the stridency of their tone--which needless to say scares white folks, who have long preferred a style of praise and worship resembling nothing so much as a coma--but for merely calling bullshit on those whose lies are swallowed whole?

Who is this then, if not the Exodus Mentality, that expounds with such razor sharp truth and ironclad rationality? Why none other than Mike Fisher's favorite white supremacist, Tim Wise, (H/T CounterPunch )

Why You Ungrateful Nigras Need To Shut The Hell Up

Alternative Title: The Main Reason Obama Should Have Agreed With Rev. Wright 100%

Because white America's propaganda machine isn't backing off what they are teaching their congregations.

Take this quote from Pat Buchanan. H/T Media Matters

From Buchanan's March 21 column:

Barack says we need to have a conversation about race in America.

Fair enough. But this time, it has to be a two-way conversation. White America needs to be heard from, not just lectured to.

This time, the Silent Majority needs to have its convictions, grievances and demands heard. And among them are these:

First, America has been the best country on earth for black folks. It was here that 600,000 black people, brought from Africa in slave ships, grew into a community of 40 million, were introduced to Christian salvation, and reached the greatest levels of freedom and prosperity blacks have ever known.

Wright ought to go down on his knees and thank God he is an American.

Second, no people anywhere has done more to lift up blacks than white Americans. Untold trillions have been spent since the '60s on welfare, food stamps, rent supplements, Section 8 housing, Pell grants, student loans, legal services, Medicaid, Earned Income Tax Credits and poverty programs designed to bring the African-American community into the mainstream.

Governments, businesses and colleges have engaged in discrimination against white folks - with affirmative action, contract set-asides and quotas -- to advance black applicants over white applicants.

Churches, foundations, civic groups, schools and individuals all over America have donated time and money to support soup kitchens, adult education, day care, retirement and nursing homes for blacks.

We hear the grievances. Where is the gratitude?

Why Did Barak Denounce These Sentiments?

Wesley Snipes Tax Trial Update

The video in the previous post contains a brief statement that Wesley Snipes won. The implication is that the verdict in the Wesley Snipes tax trial vindicated the contention that the income tax is illegal and unconstitutional, and avoidable on those grounds.

As a tax lawyer, I felt I needed to set the record straight to those of you who may actually look to this blog for the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth, like I promised from the beginning.

Wesley was brought up on charges because between 1999 and 2004, he followed the bad advice of some tax people who convinced him that he didn't have to file a return and that he didn't have to pay taxes so he could get all his money back from the government. Wesley, like many of us, wanted his money and it sounded so good that he went along with the program. Wesley should have known better. If income taxes could be avoided so easily, no white people would be paying income taxes or filing tax returns.

Wesley does have money though, and in America, money can purchase you a much better brand of justice. His attorneys were able to convince the jury that Wesley is "kooky" and "dead wrong" (THOSE ARE THEIR WORDS NOT MINE), but he isn't really a criminal. The jury had the much more easy to convict tax advisers right there, so as long as somebody went down for the big deal, they weren't averse to giving Wesley a little celebrity rich guy love and only stuck him with the lesser offenses. Wesley still will have to pay the back taxes (millions) and still needs a good two step to remain free to walk the streets. This New York Times article provides more details.

Now this is not to say that I agree or disagree with some of the arguments made as to the legality and constitutionality of the current income tax system. I particularly like the presentation on this subject done by Aaron Russo in "America - Freedom to Fascism" which can be found on the internet. I simply put it to you that the current state of the law is that the courts will uphold the IRS in every instance of non-filing and non-payment where constitutional challenges are the defense. If you have the courage of your convictions and are not afraid to spend some time behind bars to make your point, then by all means, go right ahead with that program.

Wesley Snipes' case is being hailed as a victory by the Tax Denier movement. I tend to need a little bit more victory in my victory before I start celebrating, but hey, I guess that's just me.

If Only I Had A Job To Strike From

Rally Around A Statement

Michael Fisher said...

I think it is time to gather all the black bloggers around a statement. Namely this:

(1) The Democratic party base has spoken. The numbers show that Mrs. Clinton has lost this race for the nomination.

(2) Mrs. Clinton's increasingly shrill attacks against Mr. Obama has taken on the airs of racism.

(3) That is regrettable because via the candidacy of Mr. Obama for the first time in the electoral history of this nation, the vast majority of African-American stand united with untold millions of white Americans and Americans of all colors.

(4) It appears that Mrs. Clinton is about to shatter this historic unity.

(5) We therefore call on Mrs. Clinton to face the reality of the numbers, concede defeat and thereby heal this wound which she has opened and continues to widen.

(6) It is clear that Mrs. Clinton can not be considered for the Vice-Presidential slot on the Democratic ticket. Mrs. Clinton has denigrated Mr. Obama to the point that any possible praise she would heap on him as a member of the Democartic ticket would ring hollow and hypocritical.

(7) If the Democratic Party leadership were to nullify our votes by giving Mrs. Clinton the nomination despite the popular vote, we call on all African-Americans to withdraw their support from the Democratic Party and to stay at home. e have survived eight years under President Bush, we will survive four years under a President McCain. We will NOT survive the nullification of our most hard-fought for right - our votes.

Pass it on...

The Exodus Mentality says,

Bro. Fisher, I didn't know you were a Dem or an Obama fan. Why the unusual reserved tone in your rhetoric? Why not just call a spade a spade (pun intended if you get it.)

Rally around this:

1. The electorate spoke in 2000 and 2004, but by various well documented methods, the electorate was effectively disenfranchised.

2. This government is much more about class than race at this point. The haves vs the have-nots is the prime struggle. The racial division that still exists is exploited to the ends of the haves.

3. The "unity" expressed in the mass appeal of the Obama campaign is laudable, but regrettably that unity is being directed at a patently empty goal.

4. Mrs Clinton is a non-factor in this historic moment. She is now and always has been a surrogate for Bill and the Democratic party machine. Addressing Hillary is akin to applying Neosporin to cure Cancer.

5. We call on all the candidates to denounce the current two party system as corrupt and no longer responsive to the will of the people, or at a minimum to honestly confirm that our representative republic is far less 'democratic" than we have been led to believe.

6. Hollow and hypocritical are appellations that should be applied to all campaign rhetoric.

7. We will not survive continued support and acquiescence to a governing system that has been totally corrupted by financial interests whose agenda is inimical to the interests of the vast majority of the world's population. We have been led to believe, quite erroneously, that the current system is the best possible compromise and the only system the majority of people will accept. We are bombarded with irrational reasoning like we must vote because our ancestors fought and died for the right, when they actually fought and died for freedom and a better world for their progeny that we still do not truly enjoy. We are all but incapable of imagining, much less fashioning a better solution until we acknowledge that the old ways of governing and managing the world have outlived whatever usefulness they may have once had. Much more is at stake than simply the hollow exercise of an increasingly irrelevant right to participate in the electoral process.

Pass this on if you dare. Be prepared to be roundly ridiculed, ostracized, and perhaps even violently attacked for having the unmitigated gall to speak the truth and exercise an Exodus Mentality.

Free Your Mind And The Rest Will Follow.

Talk Black Atlanta

For those of you in the Atlanta area, there is a great discussion group called Talk Black Atlanta (http://www.talkblack.net). This is one of the few places where I have found a legitimate group of intelligent informed brothers and sisters who really care about making some sort of positive change in the world. I have been a part of this group for a couple of years now and I actually started blogging because the group took a hiatus for several months and I was starved for intelligent conversation.

Welcome to the home of Atlanta’s premier discussion group for African-American professionals.

• We meet once a month to discuss an array of topics – from politics and pop culture to Black love & relationships and religion– that we consider relevant to the greater African-American community
• We meet from 1-3 p.m. SHARP on the first Saturday of every month (except holidays) at African-American-owned venues throughout metro Atlanta.
• Our mission is to promote positive change and informed understanding within the African-American community through monthly forums that allow individuals from diverse backgrounds and perspectives to explore the critical issues facing our community.
• Our meetings are presided over by a moderator and panelists are invited to share their perspective, but interactive discussion is encouraged.

I am at this month's event and the discussion is Yes We Can Or Can We? A Closer Look At Presidential Race '08.

Brother Bruce Dixon from www.BlackAgendaReport.com was one of the panelists. As far as the discussion is going, the majority of the group is highly vested in the political process. There aren't a lot of original ideas on this subject. The Barak Obama passion is strong in the room as one might expect, but there is a healthy skepticism as well about how much even a successful Obama presidency can possibly do to make substantive change in the way things are going.

The group hit all the major issues, healthcare, government spending, education, crime. the same as most other groups. I had to break them off a little reality about the political process, and a little nugget of it may stick in some places.

One of these days I'll have a little more equipment, and I will make this blogging thing a little bit more interesting, with video and such and such.

Until then, come out to the next Talk Black Atlanta yourself, and be a part of a real world solutions think tank.