Black History – Black Future – Black Manifesto

They molded, carved and shaped us to their liking, and complain about what we have become. We are their, unforeseen, creation.

We must make a conscious effort to get back what the devil stoled from us.

 Many will agree; he stoled our heritage, hidden and buried our African-American history so deep that it has taken the most savvy prospectors and data miners to assumable a patchwork of facts, biographies and events to try and resurrect what should have been proud memories of our past inheritance. 

That said, our black communities have assimilated and been acculturated to the point that apathy rules over our desire to understand who we used to be. We have been directed in such a way, that we fail to realize the many contributions we have made that makes this country so attractive to other peoples of the world. The failure to understand who we were is the very reason we are who we are today. It is our responsibility to disrupt and ameliorate this issue and piece back together our, confiscated, history.

History is the memory of the world. The only memories that we black folk have are the memories that have been decremently and deliberately filtered to us. To be black, they taught us, came with inferiority and shame-nothing positive or up-lifting. We have no self to be proud of, so we emulate the caricatures and labels that they provided and continue to provide us.

Our history, in this land, has been ignored or at best seriously marginalized.  If we want to regain our self-worth and stop the cannibalism that currently exists in many of our African-American neighborhoods, a starting point might be to, reach back and learn true American history. For, African-American history has not been interwoven with the events of it’s time; therefore, you will not learn it in that context. We must juxtaposition our history with other events and discoveries to weave the true American history for ourselves; self-enlightenment.

Make no mistake, slavery had a great deal to do with our current attitudes and behaviors but remember slavery was about economics, and though Jim Crow was part of the same fabric as slavery, it [Jim Crow] was about hatred and classism-we must outwit these mental barriers and move beyond these debilitating institutions to respect ourselves, dignify ourselves. No more blaming others for our current situation(s). Use slavery and Jim Crow, if we must, as negative reinforcements, along with the many positive aspects of our rich history to be the catalyst to drive us to achieve greater ends.

In the pejorative sense; the way the world views us seems to be pervasive and permanent, however, we can change and control how we view ourselves. Since the early years of the African diaspora, colonial racism has dominated the black – white relationship. And with the current president of the United States being a black man [Barack Obama], racism seems to have reached an old familiar pitch.

How do we combat self-hatred and racism? The only viable answer is in two parts, the first is the continued pursuit of education. The second part is to derive the new age “Black Manifesto” in honor of past struggled Movements, yet with a futuristic twist that reunites our people around a moral standard to travel into the future with.  The idea of becoming educated was imbued into every generation of blacks born in this country up until the early nineteen seventies. During the Black power movement, we embraced our blackness and most of the leaders of our movement were pursuing postgraduate degrees.  Many things can be attributed to the lack of vigilance on our part for letting this main ingredient slip from our culture. With this understanding of our past, we can look forward in unison for mutual benefit. Since the end of the movement the next generation lost the passion for mainstream knowledge.  They have twisted the idea of speaking properly and being educated as “trying to be white”.  Educate yourself not only of your today, but your yesteryear, only then will your future become vivid.  Get back what the devil stole from you and true freedom will follow.

by Mickey Chavis

Santa Clause, I want…

What do you want for Christmas boys and girls?  This is a time of holiday cheer and joy to the world.  Yet this can also be a trying time for people.  Many of us get depressed during this time of year, either due to the association of a bad occurrence in our past, the fact that the season brings expectations that we feel we are not equipped to partake in, or maybe we don’t feel that we deserve to be happy.  So we psychologically feel the reverse. Bah Humbug!

Shake it off.  Get over it.  The only thing between you and happiness is you, so get out of your way.  Our society has developed colors through lights and costumes, sight through decorations, smells through evergreen coniferous trees, and taste through holiday feasts.  All this tantalizing of you senses to get you in the mood to forget your problems and focus on family, friends and giving to others.  Or spending your money to make this economy go round.  So reassociate good times with this time of year.  Remember, money is not always required, love will do just fine.  I won’t even talk about the birth of our Lord and savior, except for a quick reminder to the Christians, don’t loose sight, keep praises within your traditions.

So what do you want for Christmas?  Love, peace, a new car, a new husband, jewelry, a power tool or your two front teeth?  How about this request, HONESTY?  But be careful what you ask for, you just might ruin next years Christmas with the association of the truth that you wished for.  You may want to save the honesty for New Years, so you’ll have 365 days to digest it.  For now, ignorance may be bliss.

Merry Christmas everyone

How do you determine your self-worth?

I push a ’09 SLK. I got a big house on a hill. I’m stacked and packed long and strong. If I quit my job right now, my income would still be 6 figures. I have double Dee’s, I have pretty eyes and sexy lips and I know how to use them. Everyone wants to be me or be with me. I graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard. I am an Entertainment lawyer. My dad is a CEO of a Fortune 500 corporation. My husband is a professional football player. Read more

Do you have split personalities?

Most of us can and do divide our lives into different factions.  You may have a work faction, an immediate family faction, a hanging out with the buddies faction, dating faction, out of the country vacation faction.  Each faction may have a separate and distinct personality.  Cordial and tolerant at work, racist while driving, loving while at home, a drunk maniac while drinking with friends. 

Have you ever thought of yourself as having a Spilt Personality Disorder. SPD can be determined in the average person if they lack a dominant personality that constantly rules over your decision making process regardless of your faction.  This dominant personality regulates stability in who you are.  Without this regulation, each personality can be so different that SPD may be at play. Read more

Mike Tyson – The fight for our Purpose

We are heavily influenced by our environment. The lack of love, the expression of affection, the anger that engulfs our homes can be things that exist that we don’t have control over and often times are unaware of. These things assist in our strengths and our flaws. As we grow older, we hope to identify our character, we may seek the source in an effort to put out fires in our spirit and rekindle positive flames of hope and goodness. As we understand and change course we actualize wisdom.

An orphan that was taught by older boys in his neighborhood to rob and steel, I gift of violent strength guided him to the infamous Constantine “Cus” D’Amato’s home to hone his skills as a boxer. Cus D’Amato was a stable and unfamiliar father figure that instilled discipline, focus and self-esteem into young Tyson’s consciousness.

Daughter Exodus

Fame, burning through hundreds of millions of dollars, drug abuse, womanizing, rape charges, prison and the loss of his 4 year old daughter in a freak at-home death, Tyson’s life has been as extreme as humanly imaginable. Through this all he is an example of a warrior of his internal and external demons.

We can not be sure of where Tyson is within his battle, but he continues to exert energies to defeat the wrongs that he and the world have inflicted on him. He fights, I fight, you fight. Let’s not give up our own battles to understand our history, reconcile our present and live for our purpose. Have you identified your struggles, their sources, and your strategy to defeat them? Have you discovered your PURPOSE?