Slavery Math Taught in Georgia Elementary School

As reported in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution..."Gwinnett County (Georgia) parents and activists have blasted the school district’s response following reports that students at a Norcross elementary school received a math worksheet that used examples of slavery in word problems.

School district officials said the principal at Beaver Ridge Elementary School will personally work with teachers to come up with more appropriate lessons and will offer more opportunities for staff development following the uproar created by the worksheet that included questions such as the following: “Each tree had 56 oranges. If 8 slaves pick them equally, then how much would each slave pick?” and “If Frederick got two beatings per day, how many beatings did he get in 1 week?”"

I hope 'work with' is a euphemism for 'escort from the building'.

Full Story (here).

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Slavery Math Taught in Georgia Elementary School, Norcross, Racist Math, Bigotry, Georgia Ignorance, Acting White

Shit White Girls Say...To Black Girls

I thought this was well done, entertaining and thought provoking (more importantly).

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Shit White Girls Say...To Black Girls, Franchesca Ramsey, chescaleigh, Racism, Ignorance, Acting White

Diversity Pro and Con: A Nigerian Case Study

After recently attending the award-winning Nigerian musical FELA!, about a musician’s travails in that challenged African nation, I was out in Berkeley with friends enjoying a great Nigerian band (BaBa Ken/Katoja). The venue included many ex-patriot African patrons. While enjoying the music, my party ran smack dab into the issue of recklessly importing people who grow up in a very different and, in the case of Nigeria, dangerous place. Shit happens, and it did.

At one point in the evening, my girlfriend whipped out her recently acquired iPhone 4s, to take a picture of me. Immediately afterwards, we were faced with a very angry Nigerian fellow who thought she was taking pictures of him to somehow facilitate his untimely demise. Perhaps he left Lagos under a cloud - I do not know. The country is certainly a very dangerous place where a small amount of tribal difference, hostility, or money, can get someone killed.

Anyway, despite our attempts, the Nigerian fellow could not comprehend that his identity did not reside on the phone, and that we did not work for the government. At one point he grabbed the phone, to get a closer look, and then refused to return it. In all his yelling, he asked me if I wanted to fight. I said no, but also that he was not leaving with that phone. His final word was that he was keeping the phone and dared that I should call the police. It was as though he thought the police would either support his obstinacy, or (more likely) that calling the authorities was silly.

I approached the club owner, explained the events and asked him to call Berkeley PD. Before making the call, the owner wanted to talk to the guy and ‘straighten out this misunderstanding’. That conversation ended with the owner fending off the beginnings of a battery by the Nigerian. I then became adamant about calling the police, even if I had to make the call myself.

The Berkeley PD quickly arrived and patiently threatened the man into returning the phone. On their way to this result, they explained all the rights and responsibilities that governed his free attendance at the night club, including possible photos, and admonished that those ideas he brought from Nigeria carried no weight in the U.S. Although he eventually relented, he clearly was not convinced by anyone that Berkeley was not Lagos, Nigeria and that his understanding was inadequate, nor was his behavior in need of adapting.

I went home that night with a profound feeling that this man should not be here, and there are probably many others like him. It is too damn easy to get into this country! Thank goodness he did not have a weapon. While his influential experiences may be little fault of his own, there is no reasonable excuse for his theft or refusal to accept and follow the laws of his adopted land. And whether his ancestors were brought here in chains or he came willingly, the requirement is the same – know the law, follow the law, or suffer the consequences.

At one point early in the dispute, the Nigerian’s female companion attempted to guide him, but his words and body-language, and her immediate retreat, quickly established that he would not hesitate to ‘knock the you-know-what out of her’. His words to her “you, shut up!” were sautéed in a violent tone and look, and the instant fear in her eyes told a deeper and chilling story, by itself.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Diversity Pro and Con: A Nigerian Case Study, Nigeria, Immigration, FELA, Berkeley Police, Acting White

#17 Why Do Blacks Love Fried Chicken?

I see this question a lot. It is best answered with the form of another question, why do people from the southern US love fried foods? The Europeans that settled the south, prior to slavery, were largely Scottish, and they brought the well-established practice of frying food in animal fat, from Scotland. This penchant was unlike the English, who preferred boiling and baking their fowl.

This question gets black-focused airplay in the north and western US, while rarely heard of south of the Mason-Dixon, where asking it would signal unrestrained ignorance. Beyond the south, non-southern whites use the question to disparage geographically transplanted blacks, as though fried-chicken has some magical hold on black people. It does not. It is easily and economically prepared, and it taste good.

If the higher calorie and fat content of fried foods is well known, the better question is why higher educated and higher income Blacks continue behaviors, like eating fried-chicken (see study here), when the inevitable result is poorer health? In general, education, economics and social customs conspire to keep blacks tethered to the mind set where any tasty food is good for you, as long as there is plenty of it.

The study does not say, but it may be that better off blacks, who have assimilated certain key behaviors in order to advance (for example speech and dress) seek to experience nostalgia, or to ‘keep it real’ in one of the few places, the dinner event, that holds no immediate threat of disqualification.

Other ideas?

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: #17 Why Do Blacks Love Fried Chicken?, KFC, Southern Food, Scotland, Stereotypes, Acting White

Chio, Sung-Bong: Korea's Got Talent

Forget that the folks of Korea's Got Talent edit in their mocking attitude and edit out much of the latter chapter of his life where he finally got help, the story of orphan Sung-Bong Chio is nevertheless inspiring. I'm glad he got help. And it is clear from his words, even edited, that there was an intervention in his rough life that now gives him the chance to feel 'normal', and maybe then some. Good stuff.



James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Chio, Sung-Bong: Korea's Got Talent, Asian Orphan Singer, Mocking, Dayfly, Acting Black, Acting White

Is Racism Always Bad?

Clearly, some people think that racism, roughly defined as arbitrary ethnic discrimination, is acceptable, while others think of it as the scourge. I arrive at this question because racism seems more prevalent, or perhaps it is just more confidently peeking from the shadows. Is this because it is ‘not that bad’, or even essential (God forbid).

Every day we make acceptable choices based on race; who to date, whom to marry, or associate - and this all seems okay. We cheer for our favorite sports team, and disparage their/our opponents, and this is okay. So why is race off-limits? Some people surely wonder, quietly, what was so special about the slavery of the Atlantic Slave Trade, or the genocide of the Holocaust, that racism, a naturally occurring phenomenon, should be banished, absolutely. Besides, both Africans and Jews discriminate based on race, just like everybody else, do they not? As long as everybody has their equal rights, why such fusses about what people think, say, or, within limits, do?

Is judging someone solely on the content of his or her character realistic? Is this even possible? Is how we look ever an accurate indicator of who we are, or what we are up to? Are tattoos and sagging pants only fashion statements, and never warnings? Perhaps humanity has reached a plateau where social advancement is simply beyond our current reach, as constrained by the instinctive urge to compete and dominate each other.

On the other hand, the urge to compete also inherently defines and motivates our advancement. If we surrender it, will we trade some temporary Utopian pipe dream for ultimate stagnation, and our demise? So, the real question, in all of this, is whether racism is a bitter dimension of progress, that we should figure out how to accept (and manage), or the thing forever blocking a better road ahead.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Is Racism Always Bad?, Slavery, Holocaust, Interracial, Acting Black, Acting White

#16 Why Are Blacks So Violent?

After the recent spate of violence to plague McDonald’s restaurants, I have noticed this question continuing to pop up in discussion forums, and in my head, as well. The answers tossed around are usually either racist/ignorant, PC-silly, or some combination. I thought I would try my hand at something more enlightened. Before I start, the reasons that Blacks are violent are both similar and different than for Whites (who I will cover another time). Here goes.

Reason Part 1. Modern-era ethnic Africans, with ancestral influence dating back at least 5,000 years, and including Africa-Americans, have significantly less relative exposure to the rule-of-law (ROL) and, therefore, less cultural acceptance and manifestation of same. ROL provides a process and procedure for guiding and controlling behavior, and specifically managing conflict.

Reason Part 2. Black Americans, from slavery to recent years, have lived under a compromised (i.e. exploitative) version of this country’s Euro-based rule-of-law, as embodied in the US Constitution. This bastardized ROL singled-out the group for abuse under color of authority, thereby making eventual trust and acceptance in the law nearly impossible, if not always more difficult than with other citizens (especially recent immigrants).

Reason Part 3. The poor and uneducated, in general, have less adherence to the rule-of-law (and protection, as well) even when all additional factors are counted. African-Americans are disproportionately represented in the poor and uneducated demographics.

These reasons are simply explanatory. They are not excuses, nor are they allowances. Regardless of group experiences, Blacks are individuals with full responsibility for their specific actions. Historical experience must never override adherence to laws, even in the case where parts or the whole of the law is errantly applied. To do so invites the greater risk of social collapse, the companion of anarchy.

I'm no authority, just a blogger asking why. Thoughtful alternatives? Come one, come all.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: #16 Why Are Blacks So Violent?, Rule-of-Law, Beat Down, Racism, Acting Black, Acting White

Black People, Backgammon and Cheating

I just picked-up the new iPhone from Apple. One of the apps I bought was backgammon for an amazing $.99. I played a lot of this in college many years ago, but what struck me was not how great the gadget is (indeed it is), but rather that this particular game (not made by Apple BTW) cheats like a SOB. I am a software developer and a life-long student of probability. Eight times out of ten the roll of the dice that the computer-as-opponent needs to advance, it gets. Double sixes in a row, right when I’m about to finally win a game - WTF! I am getting my ass kicked. Herein lies a lesson for black folks. Cheating is an integral part of human nature, expressed in games or anything else, and confronting it smartly is critical to competitiveness.

Present-day blacks behave as though they do not understand cheating. The group responds to it very poorly, and practices it even more poorly - with disastrous results. Black slave ancestors would be appalled how their kin have errantly placed so much of their faith in the legal system, and lost their guile and cunning for outsmarting others. Sometimes it seems that everyone, except blacks, understand that laws and cheating walk hand-in-hand. Alternately, when today’s blacks break the rules, they too often take pleasure in doing it in plain, kiss-my-butt, sight of the authorities, making conviction, and punishment inevitable. Again, ancestors would shake their heads in wonderment.

When my backgammon strategy adjusted to take into account the cheating nature of my micro-processing opponent, I immediately began winning. The program continues to roll suspicious combinations, but rather than getting upset and calling Rev. Inc., I think about additional adjustments to my approach in order to confound the little bastard’s cheating heart. Right now, I still lose more than I win, but I have only had the game for a week and I already see how this is going to end.

Let’s be clear, I do not practice or advocate cheating, and the game maker may have simply wanted a challenging interaction, but laden herein is the lesson that cheating is a fact of life. Furthermore, we must each factor cheating adversaries into our game plan for achievement, or prepare for the short-end. Finally, no legal system, including one as good as ours, can match the cheating nature of humans, so expecting the law to deliver predictable, consistent, and fair results is simply not realistic. I think it is time for a different approach.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Black People, Backgammon and Cheating, Civil Rights, Laws, Human Nature, Acting Black, Acting White

Ole Miss Gives Colonel Reb Mascot the Boot

The University of Mississippi retired its plantation owner school mascot, replacing him with a bear. Is this political correctness gone wild, or a sensible response to the state's 40% Black population that found the slavery era character offensive?

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Ole Miss Gives Colonel Reb Mascot the Boot, University of Mississippi, Slavery, Plantation, Acting Black, Acting White

The Great Slavery Debate: Reparations Twist

When witnessing a debate on reparations, I often feel like I’m listening to people speaking completely different languages. Consider that when unarmed Black Oakland BART rider Oscar Grant was killed by a White police officer on a train platform, Blacks demanded a first-degree murder charge, although it had little chance of being sustained (no malice aforethought). While the accusation made Blacks feel good for a minute, the illusion of fair play departed when the jury opted for a more accurate charge.

When Blacks argue for reparations, it does not mean that they know or care anything about an accurate application. What they care about is a means to take revenge, while getting compensated for the suffering of their relatives (the end). Of course, Whites (and some Blacks) try to explain that reparations do not apply, to a chorus of ‘I-don’t-give-a-bleep what a White man or Uncle Tom thinks’. It’s not about laws or evolving moral codes of the day – it’s about emotion and payback. We need to call it what it is.

Reparations debates will never be resolved until Blacks can inject some objectivity where only emotions currently exist. For their part, Whites will never be a part of the resolution until they can cop to how reasonable it is for Blacks to blame slavery, as the catch basin, for the litany of misdeeds that continued after slavery ended.

Hopefully the day will come when Blacks stop soliciting unfulfilling indulgences from Whites, when what they really want is for Whites to admit that their ancestors outsmarted themselves, not only by kidnapping Africans, but more so by not making Blacks equal opportunity citizens after the emancipation. Both Blacks and Whites need to work (together), minus race cards, at understanding how pretend equality (of opportunity), the sustained post-slavery sin, got us to the dysfunctional mess we find ourselves today. Only then can we start making decisions and taking action to reverse the damage.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: The Great Slavery Debate: Reparations Twist, Atlantic Slave Trade, Revenge, Immigrant, Africa, Acting White

The Great Slavery Debate: Ungrateful Negroes

When it comes to discussing, or even thinking about, slavery, the great taboo of White folks is embodied in the question forever on their minds and almost never on their tongues, “Why are Blacks so ungrateful to be in America, when Africa is the worst place on the globe in terms of health, jobs, government, education, crime, climate, resources, blah, blah, blah?”

They will go on to say, “sure, slavery was bad for your ancestors, but it ended a long time ago”. They will also say that racism may exist, “but it exist in Africa too, and much worse, with one tribe committing genocide on another”. In the days before political correctness, Whites were fond of telling Blacks that they should go back to Africa, if they don’t like it here. The implication was always that however bad Blacks think America is, it is worse in Africa.

Where White people got off track is in thinking and acting like Blacks are immigrants. “Go home”, has always been the retort for the disgruntled immigrant, and some even made the return trip. But the African ancestry that was forced here is mostly like those people who stayed behind in Europe, China, India, etc. – meaning they are not immigrant-minded. So why did Black people stay here? Out of those that could have returned, they stayed mostly out of spite, and certainly not because anyone offered them a shot at the American Dream. This was the grand screw-up of US leadership before, during, and after the Civil War.

Fast-forward - if Black people could ever find a reason to want to be here, because of the relative opportunity, instead of being here to simply piss-off White people, a lot of the problems of the day would disappear. And ditto, if White people could ever accept responsibility for post-slavery abuse, without pretending to handover the keys to the kingdom, or other counter-productive acts of contrition.

The paradox is that Blacks cannot make Whites miserable about the past and what followed, without assuring their own adjacent misery, and Whites cannot make amends by only pretending to consider Blacks capable and deserving of a fair shot. So we are all miserable together down the crapper.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: The Great Slavery Debate: Ungrateful Negroes, Atlantic Slave Trade, Marcus Garvey, Immigrant, Africa, Acting White

The Great Slavery Debate: The Debt of Slavery

It is a recurring theme within American Black culture that White people owe a special debt to Blacks because of slavery. Certain conservatives try to short-circuit this claim by arguing that slavery was not profitable, but even if profitability was arguable (and it is not), some will still claim it as a theft of service. However, since slavery has always been with humanity, we will need to carefully establish the point, exactly, when it became theft, and worthy of damages.

Nowhere in the bible is it written that slavery is an abomination unto the Lord, or anybody else. There is no commandment against it. People were not stoned or crucified for practicing it, unlike stealing, killing, adultery, blasphemy, and a list of other prescribed avoidances. In fact, the bible and the Koran, the two most enduring rulebooks of history, and the basis of our rules of law, make nary a mention of slavery as anything more than an everyday part of life.

Did the tribal rulers of Africa think they were stealing the lives of rival Africans when they captured and traded them to Europeans for gunpowder/weapons, utensils and foodstuffs? I think not. Many Africans might argue that they were actually sparing the lives of their kindred enemies by shipping them off, as the alternative was to simply kill them. So it would seem that slavery broke neither laws nor moral codes, a continent away or here, until those practicing it changed their minds about it. This is no different than our current hot-button items of abortion, or same sex marriage. All is allowed until strictly forbidden.

People who argue for repayment nearly always cite reparations paid to indigenous Americans, Japanese internees, and WWII era Jews, but in those cases (here, here, here), laws (treaties) on the books were expressly broken. It seems that the acts of elevating the Atlantic Slave Trade, and slavery in America, to a cut above all other slavery invokes some special status where societal advancement no longer adheres to linearity. The sooner a proper perspective is in place, the better off we will all be.

Finally, perspective is not an invitation to insult and cruelty - slavery did happen and its association with a struggling group is undeniable. Nearly forty years ago a White high school classmate, Paul Ivancie, stated to me, unapologetically, how cool it would be to have a slave. His stupidity brought me face-to-face with the love/hate conundrum Blacks face in this country. There are still Antebellum Whites like him out there - I just hope that when my kids meet such people those words will roll off their backs better than mine.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: The Great Slavery Debate: The Debt of Slavery, Atlantic Slave Trade, Internee, Jews, Reparations, Acting White

The Great Slavery Debate: Was Slavery Profitable?

Note: There are many who say that the economics of slavery were not very profitable, Thomas Sowell notably, and I would say they are wrong. However, it is important to distinguish (as I will attempt) between plantation slavery economics and the greater commerce value/impact of the triangular trade.

There are two high schools (Part 1 today), and one graduate school (Part 2 coming), of thought on the degree to which this country owes its fortunes to slavery, and by inference to Black ancestry. It is this notion of who benefited and who is owed, intertwined with current dysfunction, which sits as a big bugaboo to progress.

The Atlantic Slave Trade was a profitable component of triangular commerce of that day, but by itself not world changing. In fact, slavery has often been the spoil of a society that was good at something else, mainly war. Having other people to do your loathsome work has been a luxury for the already rich. The Atlantic Slave Trade was a final burst where pure labor was of pivotal importance to a more sophisticated system of commerce, mostly involving sugar and Europe’s sweet tooth for its by-products.

In the labor-starved Americas, slavery is what made the triangular system happen, on the front end. Thereby, it deserves a disproportion of the credit for the very profitable distilled-spirits and textiles on the back end. On the other hand, while plantation slavery made those owners rich, those same owners were not directly responsible for this country’s economic fortune. The overhead required to administer slaves within a system of zero incentive, was high. As a sidebar, had slaves been able to work in parallel to purchase their freedom, the US might have avoided a devastating war with itself.

The Wall Street banks and insurance companies in the north were a different story than the plantations. The slave trade business gave this country a critical foundation in establishing the commerce and banking infrastructure that world leadership would require. The names of those companies and their impact are undeniable – JP Morgan, Chase, Lehman Bros., Aetna, New York Life, to name a few.

So, in answer to whether slavery was profitable, the answer is both no and yes, but much more yes – as it was the lubricant for the most profitable European commerce transactions of the day. This is true even though American plantations were inefficient in their brutal waste and high overhead cost.

Up Next: Part 2 (Graduate School). Just because slavery was profitable does not mean that slaves, or their ancestors, have a rightful claim. The details and context of the day, both legal and ethical, must be applied.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: The Great Slavery Debate: Was Slavery Profitable?, Atlantic Slave Trade, Profitability, Commerce, Triangular Trade, Acting White

The Great Slavery Debate: Origins

Considering that most Americans cannot name all fifty states, or find S. Dakota on a map, it would not surprise me at all that those same folks think that slavery was invented, or re-invented, in the colonies now making up these United States. Unfortunately, what most Americans know of slavery was passed down from people who saw Alex Hailey’s fictionalized Roots mini-series. There is much more to slavery than this, as it has been going on for thousands of years.

Slavery began when hunter-gathering ended, some say about 11,000 years ago. Once agriculture advances produced more food than people in certain areas could eat, people began enslaving others, as they could afford to keep their captives fed. Before that, they simply killed their enemies without a blink. To help our perspective, during the 1,000 or so years of the Roman Empire, 100 million people in an around the Mediterranean area were enslaved.

The lives of slaves have rarely been ‘good’, as some would describe. Throughout time, slaves have been property not people. Their treatment, and very existence, has always been at the whim of their owners. This means they could be killed, assaulted, neglected, or simply worked to death, without repercussions. In most cases slave women bore offspring into slavery, both replenishing and growing the ranks.

Slavery has always been profitable and the foundation of commerce for all societies. Slavery commerce was often the aim/outcome of going to war, where entire societies were enslaved and sold as spoils. It is estimated that 25 to 50% of the world’s population has been enslaved at some time in history. So, the millions of slaves captured and delivered during the Atlantic Slave Trade hold no distinction other than the distance they were transported, and timing with the moral question of acceptability.

The taboo nature of slavery history has fostered a level of ignorance, all the way around, that hinders placing it in proper perspective.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: The Great Slavery Debate – Origins, Atlantic Slave Trade, Milton Meltzer, Commerce, Romans, Acting White

The Great Slavery Debate: The Footing

The second most challenging aspect of a slavery discussion is not getting blasted out of the saddle, with your point-of-view still in the holster. Unless your words are something like, ‘slavery in America was the pinnacle of man’s inhumanity to man’, you barely stand a chance. This is because today’s discussion is most often against today’s morality, rather than the progress of that time. Of course, to say that America’s slavery was not the worst is nothing close to saying that it was anything less than bad. All slavery was/is bad for the enslaved, as well as the society.

The only relative comparison I will make is that the Atlantic slave trade objectively delivered more slaves from Africa to South America (over 5,000,000) than to the North (500,000), and by all accounts, those delivered to the south suffered a much higher mortality. Their life spans were short, only one to five years, due to the grueling work, mistreatment, and harsh conditions on plantations, in mines, and elsewhere. South American slave owners expected to get no more than a few years of hard labor from a slave, and they went about fulfilling this prophecy. The work was 7 days/week, 18 hours/day, no women, no children, bad food, no care, and no mercy.

The most challenging aspect of a slavery discussion is the notion that current Black plight, with respect to crime, unwed parenting, drug abuse et al, is somehow a function of the ‘slavery-at-it’s-worst’ label attached to the American colonies (British and French). I have yet to find a description of slavery, anywhere, or at anytime, that tracks to the dysfunction within today’s Black community. So, I think it must derive from another source. FYI, my authority on slavery is a book entitled, Slavery: A World History, by Milton Meltzer.

My objective, in this series, is not to deny or discount the negative impacts of slavery, then or now, nor is it to absolve its practitioners or their beneficiaries. I will discuss this later. Rather for now, I will say that dispassionate research indicates that current Black plight is not located at the intersection of the two, nor are any solutions. In its proper proportion, slavery informs us in critical ways. When taken out of proportion, it mostly blocks our view and advancement.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: The Great Slavery Debate – The Footing, Atlantic Slave Trade, Milton Meltzer, Victimhood, Immigration, Acting White

The Great Slavery Debate – An Introduction

Perhaps the most recurring historical truism of America is the need for Americans to move past slavery. Mind you, move past does not mean ‘get over it’, in the snide way some people admonish. At the front of the line of the many who need to move on are Black people. In therapeutic lingo, this means squarely facing the past then letting it go, so as not to impede the future.

This weekend I had a spirited debate with some family members, including my 19 year old daughter and her boyfriend. The young Black man, from Atlanta, was the most adamant contender that ‘our slavery’ was worst than previous instances, although he offered no specific difference, other than the distance that slaves were transported.

Others in the debate gave examples of the brutality of slavery in the South, from beatings, murders, assaults, to the wrenching apart of loved ones. My offering, that these treatments were within the range of treatments of slaves throughout human history, fell on deaf ears. Nope, the contention remained that ‘ours was worst and this is why Black people are so messed up today’.

Over the coming weeks/months, I will take a look at some questions about North American slavery, against the context of today. Why did it happen? Who benefited the most/least? Why did the founders adopt it, and then fight about it. Who was Jim Crow? What is the social and economic legacy? How has slavery history affected modern-day immigration? What lessons were learned/not learned?

If this weekend was any indicator, it might be kind of interesting.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: The Great Slavery Debate – An Introduction, Atlantic Slave Trade, Confederacy, Victimhood, Immigration, Acting White

White People – Too Smart for Their Own Damn Good

White folks are smart. I get it. I knew this long before I walked into Rome’s Pantheon, 2,000 years old and the world’s oldest and largest unsupported dome structure, 43.5 meters in diameter and height. There is nothing like it in Africa, the Americas, Asia, or Australia. But, it has always struck me that should not the smartest folks be those whose intelligence does not repeatedly get them into inescapable storms of conflict? Everywhere I look I see pissed-off white folks because of non-whites who are not suppose to be as smart have allegedly unraveled white ingenuity into chaos. Now, I’m not saying anybody else is smarter, rather that IQ scores, as we generate them, do not seem to be holding up the leading edge, especially if you listen to white complaints.

When the romance-language speakers first got the idea to capture and export slaves to the Americas it must have seemed like they had re-invented gold. The cost was fractions of pennies, and the cash flowed back with little effort on their part. Plus, when they were not working for the master, the captives made baby slaves to replace their old worn out, broken-down kin-folk. In hindsight, their plan was half-baked, due to this nagging problem of the slaves not having great attitudes concerning their pay and work conditions. In the end, nobody was happy. And now we have Detroit.

The Dutch and British were thinking the same thing when they landed in South Africa. They had beautiful landscape, great weather, and all these Africans ready, with the right encouragement, to work mining diamonds and gold. This is great! Just keep everybody separate and all will be cool. But again, here comes them frowny-face Mandela-worshiping black folks. Black S. Africans just could not get it together to enjoy the benefits of all those smart white folks telling them what to do. So why did the Afrikaners, in their smartness, not account for this?

The British went at it again in India. They got their hands around the country, but could not hold on to it. In a higher strategy of white brilliance, the British East India Company kept the Hindus fighting the Muslims and it was looking pretty good until this irritating fellow, Gandhi, showed up and peace-sat their behinds out the door. Mahatma had not a button, a belt, or a damn zipper, but he sent the empire on its way.

Not to simply keep piling on the Europeans, we can swing over to Asia and see how much of a mess the Japanese, who warmly refer to themselves as white-Asians, have made being smarter and whiter than the Chinese, the Koreans, and even the originals, white America. Now, I would be remiss if I did not go far enough back in history, say 50,000 years, where there were many smart Africans stirring up more poop than their smarts could handle too, despite figuring how to get off the mother rock in the first damn place.

These few examples (and there are more where these came from) make me wonder when the highest IQ folks will ever become smart enough to learn their lesson? As smart Tea Party folks strategize over fixing the ‘now-broken’ Fourteenth Amendment, American business has long-profited from lax immigration policy. But now, again, other smart white folks are unhappy, with many unhappy Mexicans sure to follow.

When it comes to high intelligence, it’s always good until the smart do-do hits the fan – but why are the smarties so surprised? After all, they are so smart. Between slavery, immigration, the new math, the old math, genetic finger-printing, DNA databases, the smarter the leading edge gets the closer humanity gets to extinction. I heard the Finns cooked a man in a 230 degree (F) sauna competition the other day. Now that’s crazy-tragic, and no one is smarter, per capita, than the Finns.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: White People – Too Smart for Their Own Damn Good, MENSA, IQ, Intelligence, Acting Black, Acting White

Mark Williams Tea Party Express Implosion

In the spirit of accurate information, I went hunting. Ben Jealous, president of the NAACP accused the Tea Party movement of harboring racists elements. Got it. In response, Mark Williams, leader of the influential Tea Party Express, writes a letter to Abraham Lincoln, in the voice of Black folks, to do what? - prove Jealous right? That makes sense. In turn, the National Tea Party Federation boots Tea Party Express and Williams. Amazing!

Read it for yourself...

Dear Mr. Lincoln

We Colored People have taken a vote and decided that we don't cotton to that whole emancipation thing. Freedom means having to work for real, think for ourselves, and take consequences along with the rewards. That is just far too much to ask of us Colored People and we demand that it stop!

In fact we held a big meeting and took a vote in Kansas City this week. We voted to condemn a political revival of that old abolitionist spirit called the 'tea party movement'.

The tea party position to "end the bailouts" for example is just silly. Bailouts are just big money welfare and isn't that what we want all Coloreds to strive for? What kind of racist would want to end big money welfare? What they need to do is start handing the bail outs directly to us coloreds! Of course, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People is the only responsible party that should be granted the right to disperse the funds.

And the ridiculous idea of "reduce[ing] the size and intrusiveness of government." What kind of massa would ever not want to control my life? As Coloreds we must have somebody care for us otherwise we would be on our own, have to think for ourselves and make decisions!

The racist tea parties also demand that the government "stop the out of control spending." Again, they directly target Colored People. That means we Colored People would have to compete for jobs like everybody else and that is just not right.

Perhaps the most racist point of all in the tea parties is their demand that government "stop raising our taxes." That is outrageous! How will we Colored People ever get a wide screen TV in every room if non-coloreds get to keep what they earn? Totally racist! The tea party expects coloreds to be productive members of society?

Mr. Lincoln, you were the greatest racist ever. We had a great gig. Three squares, room and board, all our decisions made by the massa in the house. Please repeal the 13th and 14th Amendments and let us get back to where we belong.

Sincerely

Precious Ben Jealous, Tom's Nephew National Association for the Advancement of Colored People Head Colored Person

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Mark Williams Tea Party Express Implosion, Mark Williams, Benjamin Jealous, NAACP, Colored, Acting White

Malaria, Africa, And The Old/New World Order

The NYTimes just reported on a study and discovery that Egyptian King Tut (Tutankhamen) most likely died from malaria (p. falciparum)(here). I know, I know, you are saying, so what. However, beyond the amazing fact that researchers were able to pinpoint a cause of a death so long ago (1324 BC), the idea that the most well-known African King died from malaria, perhaps the oldest human disease of record, is clear invite into the reach of the disease, and impact on the evolution of Africa and humanity, and across the ocean.

We know from statistics and the work of organizations like the Gates Foundation, that malaria kills one million Africans, mostly children, per year. Until most recently, the disease has taken the second chair behind HIV, estimated to have killed 22 million Africans. While taking nothing away from HIV, malaria’s death total is reasonably up wards of 5 billion (100,000 avg. deaths/year x 50,000 years: assuming 100 billion total births). So what happens to a continent and a people who evolve under such harsh conditions, not to mention tropical challenges – heat, drought, famine, wild animals, poor agriculture, etc.?

The great African brain drain of the best and brightest. Everyone who could leave did leave – not to return. Still do. Societies develop at a relatively slower pace (hundredths/year), because a disproportionate share of resources is sucked away by a disease that has no craftier equal. The slower pace of development increases vulnerability to hostile and advanced outsiders. Viola! Colonization, slavery, exploitation, etc. It is amazing (at least to me) that something so simple as what killed King Tut so long ago, can so readily begin to explain so much today.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Malaria, Africa, And The Old/New World Order, King Tut, LA, Egypt, Disparity, Brain Drain, Acting White

Tim Wise – Most Hated White Man in America

A few nights ago, I was invited to hear Tim Wise speak here in Oakland. For those who do not know him, the Nashville-born author/speaker is perhaps the most vociferous anti-racist you may ever get to hear. He has written numerous books on the subject of White privilege, and has more to say on the subject than I could ever do justice in a posting. Nevertheless, I offer up my summary of a man who undoubtedly competes with Morris Dees, of the Southern Poverty Law Center, for the title of ‘most hated White man in America’.

Why is he so hate-worthy? Well, like Dee’s, Wise has lost his mind, and his whiteness, when it comes to what he sees as unequal justice toward Blacks in America. His overarching platform is a willingness to speak openly about White America’s racist past and present dealings, akin to a White Nashville preacher who suddenly woke up Black. In fact, one of his books is titled, White Like Me. Like Dees, and the most recent President Jimmy Carter, a southern White man speaking openly about race carries heightened credibility with Black folks, inasmuch as he can be characterized as, ‘a White boy tellin’ all they business!’

I will first clarify that I am not 100% aligned with his argument on the White-man’s recent history of exploiting people of color. Nevertheless, his delivery of facts sure beats the hell out of whoever would call him a liar. Unfortunately, he makes the grave mistake of many before him, with shallow analysis of the plight of Blacks limited to the last 400 years of White dominance, against thousands of prior years of development. This limitation allows Whites and others to easily turn a deaf ear to him. In ignoring earlier times of human history and evolution, including that of race itself, he lessens his power and influence, except for the people in his 'choir', mostly Blacks and guilt-sensitive Whites. To the contrary, and aided by many external factors over a much greater time period, Whites and Blacks are complicit in the race dynamic and plights we reflect today. In any event, I agree with Mr. Wise that talking about race is the only way for things to get better. I would simply lengthen the period of review to 5,000 years.

This leads to my second mention. Wise is on the money when he criticizes Obama for being race-neutral. He postulates that in order to get elected Obama had to be palatable to a large number of racist Whites – I assume he means ‘soft’ racists - who were willing to vote for an exceptional Black man, the same way they have one Black friend as proof they are not racist. However – and I throw in my own Amen – a President who continually ducks racism, under the cover of political expedience, is actually doing great harm to any long-term goal of uniting disparate people. Wise offers that Obama, by example of his refusal to recognize racism, thrown at his presidency, Harry Reid-style, is pushing it into the closet and closing the door.

Even with the shortcomings of his macro-lens view on America, Wise is a strong and intelligent voice for bringing race discussions to the foreground. Some will like him, others will hate him, but you will know where he stands. My greatest concern with his presentation is that it implicitly encourages Whites to feel guilty and Blacks to feel like victims – not a recipe for success. In doing this he ignores duality. Balance is lost, as he does not challenge Blacks, or validate Whites. His words aptly encourage people to confront the ‘system’ of White privilege, but he hardly pushes on Blacks to embrace advancing avenues before them, rather than simply pointing out White obstruction. This makes him the flip-side of his accusation of Obama’s mono-focus on self-responsibility and the White majority. Wise desperately seeks/protects a palatable status with Black America, which limits what he is willing to say. In his world, Black salvation is forever dependent on White redemption – the status quo solution too concerned with the souls of White folk, quite biased, and quite impossible.

James C. Collier

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Technorati Tags: Tim Wise – Most Hated White Man in America, Morris Dees, White Like Me, Race-Neutral, Post-Racial, Acting White