| |
FREE AT LAST
PRESCRIPTIONS FOR BLACK EQUITY
By Uriah J. Fields
A "must read" for every American, black, white and the rest.
This book was published more than a quarter of a century ago. Although since its publication African Americans (who will be called Blacks in this discourse and the reason for that will be explained later) have made some gains which include Black Barack Obama having been elected President of the United States, the overall condition of Black Americans, in many respects, remain the same as they were in the mid-nineteen eighties. You will never again feel the same about race after reading this treatise. Following is the verbatim presentation of this book.
Copyright 1986 by Uriah J. Fields, Ph.D.
All rights reserved. No part of ths book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
Published by American Mutuality Foundation
Los Angeles, California
FREE AT LAST: PRESCRIPTIONS FOR BLACK EQUITY
ISBN: 0-938844-12-1
Manufactured in the United States of America
Contents
Prescriptions for Black Equity 5
Reject Integration and Embrace Mutuality 6
Don't Blame the White Man ... Demand ... Earn 9
Be Pro-Black, Pro-Political and Pro-American 13
Practice Community 23
Prescriptions For Black Equity
For Black Americans it is as if nothing of sigificance has changed since the days when Kunta Kinta (Alex Haley's hero in "Roots") was captured, shackled and branded with a hot iron; Nat Turner, leader of a slave revolt, was hanged on the gallows; and Frederick A. Douglass, the golden voice of the abolition pleaded for freedom for his people. Those were the years - 244 of them - when black people were slaves. They were at the bottom.
Today, one-and-a-quarter century later black people remain at the bottom - below every other so-called ethnic group in America, including those who arrived in America after World War II. In some instances non-citizens and illegal aliens are extended opportunities, especially in the labor market, that are withheld from black people.
Despite the freedom or rather illusion of freedom black people have, the social, economic and political gains they have made, their enormous consumer powers which exceeds that of most nations of the world and black enfranchisement which made it possible for them to elect more than twenty black Congresspersons who are currently in Washington, mayors of major cities and influence in the appointment and/or election of judges on every level of the judicial system - achievements that some other ethnic groups do not have - they continue to hold the unenvied distinction of being America's number one disfunctional and most despicable group. Blacks have the highest unemployent and underemployment, the largest percentage of prisoners - (50%) - and commit more intra-group homicides than any other group. Black people are America's most abused people.
While white racism has and continues to be a factor which contributes to "black inequity," Black people themselves are the chief culprits and root cause of their own condition - degeneracy and dependency. And, even today when their survival is threatened, as never before, in the wake of automation and high technology which make them dispensable in the American economy, and despite the chronic fear that lurks within black minds because they sense that they are in jeopardy, they continue to exist in a state of "waking sleep."
Yet, black people are like a sleeping giant. Their state is not hopeless. Here, we are presenting a plan that can wake-up black people and bring about "black equity" in America. It can rescue the growing black underclass which now lives in abject poverty in the midst of affluence and unparalleled waste. They too can become functioning and productive human beings. All this will be achieved by black people when they take these "prescriptions for black equity."
There was a time when black people were proud - a time when they rocked the cradle of civilization, built empires and practiced community. At that time they were not connected with white people. At that time they possessed freedom, self-awareness and self-appreciation. At the time they related lovingly to their environment. But something happened, something turned their proudness into shame and what was meant for grace from the beginning of time became disgrace in time.
Before we discuss Prescriptions for Black Equity a brief word on the term "Black" is in order. African American {American of African descent, preferably} is the correct term to be used when referring to the nationality of a black American citizen. However, the term "Black" when capitalized and used as a noun rather than an adjective is appropriate even preferred, especially when the intent of the user of the term is to ackowledge an African American's {American of African descent's} encounter or relationship with "white racism." The term "Black," the opposite of "White", accurately describes the condition of a black person living in white America and the nature of the correct response to his condition and to white racism. In this discussion "White" will also be used as the appropriate term to be applied when referring to a white America. "White" like "Black", is a proper noun.
"Black Equity" is possible in America. It can be achieved in this generation providing the prescriptions outlined in this discourse are applied to the black condition. Let us now examine the four-prescription remedy for the healing of black people in America.
I. Reject Integration and Embrace Mutuality
Integration is a farce which promotes disintegration, stranglelation, starvation and resegregation while simultaneously increasing the economic and political power of white Americans at the expense of black Americans. Like segregation, integration, is the White Man's creation. Blacks have not been strong or willing advocates of integration. On the contrary, they have contended for separation and repatriation or some states for themselves. White Americans have opposed these alternatives for Blacks. They wanted Blacks to remain among them so they could continue to exploit them as laborers and consumers.
Segregation and integration are two sides of the same coin. They are coveted options of, by, and for the White Man who can employ either to exploit Blacks for his own benefit. Given the nature of America's racist system integration is, by far worse for blacks than segregation even though both are abominations and unacceptabe to Blacks. During the nineteeth century integration evolved in a curious fashion, but it was the next logical step in the slave-master-capitalism process. Integration is based on Hegel's method of dialectics. Slavery is the thesis, and in seeking completeness to include something left out that is relevant to the thesis segregation became the antithesis. To deal with the thesis-antithesis conflict a tentative synthesis emerged out of the conflict called integration. As the dialectical process continues there is a movement from integration, a new thesis, to resegregation, a new antithesis, and on to a new synthesis which appears to be black genocide.
Integration, a ploy of the White Man's, was never intended or designed for any group except Blacks. Chinese, Japanese, Indians and Mexicans never wanted to be integrated and, until this day, they have refused integration. It is also true, as indicated earlier, that except for those brainwashed Blacks Blacks have not wanted to be integrated. Being in the debilitated condition they found themselves following slavery, forced to live in a segregated society, Blacks were unable to effectively resist integration. Coupled to this was a belief forged upon them by the White Man and later by "Uncle Toms" which equated the White Man with excellence and good. For anything to be good or excellent, this rhetoric declared, it had to be integrated, if Blacks were involved. Therefore, an all black school, church, or home could not be considered to be good or excellent. Based on this fundamental premise of integration Blacks of mixed blood were adjuged to be superior to Blacks who did not have white blood.
For Black people integration has been a colossal failure. It has disunited, dismantled and destroyed black homes, schools and communities, divested Blacks of land and driven viable black businesses out-of-business. Integragtion has created resegregation which generally follows integration in housing just as night follows day. Blacks who buy into integrated neighborhoods are ripped-off as they are required to overpay for these homes. They are led to believe that they will live in an integrated neighborhood but the truth is white people have no intention of remaining in these so-called integrated neighborhoods. Resegregation of the integrated neighborhood occurs when Whites make their exodus to white only suburbs, using money they received from Blacks to purchase new homes. Blacks moving from the integrated neighborhood to the resegregated neighborhood is achieved without them having to move again.
Integration has not worked in the interest of black people and it is unmistakeably clear that it cannot work. The facts are now in and Blacks, some who in the past took pride in proclaiming themselves to be integrationists, are deserting the integration ranks just as I did nearly thirty years ago. What then should be the direction for black people? There is an alternative to integration - a better way - we call "Mutuality" and once applied to the black condition it can produce "black equity."
"Mutuality" is an existential-humanistic philosophy and a "Full Life Process" which is livingness, but not just biological livingness. "Soul" or "essence" may be other recognitions of the Full Life Process which generates continuously more life in living and more living in life. Mutuality is based on seven principles and two methods which are derived from the "naturalness" of being. The principles of Mutuality are: responsibility, freedom, love-power, self-transcendence, creativenesss, commitment, and enjoyment. The methods of Mutuality are (1) "dynamic insistence" which holds that assertiveness, not passivity, is the nature and way of man and his world and prescribes that in being true to his own nature man must be offensive rather than defensive, cause rather than effect, and actor rather than reactor, and (2) "altruistic pragmatism" which asserts that when a person puts another person's welfare on equal par with his own then whatever works is good.
Obviously, Mutuality is not black people's or white people's "thing". It is universal and at the same time specific. Actually, all people are caught in an inescapable network of Mutuality. However, without a consciousness of who they are people may refuse to embrace Mutuality. By embracing Mutuality Blacks can create a climate where the free developoment of each black person is the condition of the free development of all black people. It is only in Mutuality that persons find values productive and the Cosmic Community real. What people mean to one another, how they feel toward one another and what deepening needs, concerns, and intimacies they seek to fulfill characterize the Cosmic Community.
Applying Mutuality in livingness we can create a world where people live together, without fighting and quarelling, maintain themselves by producing the food, shelter and clothing they need, work and play creatively, enjoy themselves, and contribute to the enjoyment of others in art, music, literature, religion and games, consume as less of the resources of the world as possible and add as little as possible to pollution, abandon war, have and care for children lovingly, live communally, continue to explore the universe and discover better ways of dealing with it, and come to know themselves fully and therefore, live victoriously and divinely as the champions they were created to be. We are partly human and partly divine. Mutuality is not just the hope of black people; it is the hope of all people.
II. Don't Blame the White Man ... Demand ... Earn ...
The seeond prescription for Black Equity is a threesome - don't blame the White man, demand reparations, and earn respect. Despite the barbarity, savagery and cruelty of the White Man toward Blacks, Blacks must cease and desist blaming him. Instead they must take responsiblility for their own condition, at any given time and that includes the past, present and future. Black enslavement itself is, in part, attributable to the failure of ancestors of slave descendants to respond responsiblly to life.
Blaming, an antipathy Blacks have for Whites, is based on an over-blown generalization which compells them to believe that Whites are responsible for their sub-human condition and are capable of withholding from them or giving to them salvation. Blaming the White Man fulfills a specific irrational or pathological self-defeating malfunctioning of the black mind.
Interestingly enough Blacks do not act out or live out blaming the White Man by being violent or hostile toward him. They have not exterminated or lynched Whites even though they have been lynched and murdered by Whites. As a matter of record, Blacks have seldom physically attached Whites and never on a massive scale. They have avoided Whites but even that has had more to do with fear than blaming. Just how do Blacks blame Whites? Locution or talking, the kind called "bad-mouthing" or "loud-mouthing" in the black community, has been Blacks' "modus operandi" used to blame the White Man. Black preachers and, in more recent years, black politicians, have been leading blaming spokespersons for black people. Sometimes the blaming takes the form of a constant diatribe or haranque, especially that from preachers in the pulpit. Black politicians blame the White Man as a way of getting reelected after having spent one or more terms in office crying "poor and black" and pleading impotence. An all-too-common statement heard from black politicans is "The White Man won't let ... won't give us.." Blaming the White Man is a cop-out with tragic consequences. Yet, Blacks have been slow to learn that blaming the White Man hurts them, not the White Man. Repeatedly Blacks become victims of this exercise in futility. Blacks must abandon the blaming syndrome and get on with the business of taking care of business.
It is now time for Blacks to give thanks to the White Man for bringing them to America. Despite slavery and white racism American Blacks are better off than Blacks are in any other part of the world, including Africa, their original land. Descendants of African slaves are freer - although not fully free - than descendants of Africans who remained in Africa. So Blacks should be eternally thankful to the White Man for the opportunity he has given them and they would do well to begin praising and honoring him. The White Man deserves their praise. But in expressing this sentiment Blacks will not just be honoring the White Man they will be honoring themselves. It is important to add that Blacks should express gratitude to the American Indians and request of them permisison to continue to live in America. Blacks should also compensate the Indians for using their land.
A second element in this prescription is reparations. Blacks have a right to demand reparations. There are not but two things Blacks have a moral right to demand of the White Man. They are repatriation and reparations. Blacks have no right to demand jobs, education or welfare. These are things they should obtain for themselves.
Repatriation - going back to Africa- is a demand black people can make which white people are obligated to honor. And, it appears that if Blacks made such demand, in good faith, at this time in human history it would be honored by the White Man. Of course, Blacks do not want to go back to Africa. They "love" America. America is the home of Black Americans and moreover they have tremendous investment in America, which has been underwritten with blood and sweat. It is doubtful whether any country in Africa would acept Blacks if they chose to return. It is apparent that the White Man will not have to respond to Blacks' demand for repatriation. According to my own survey Blacks would resist vehemently any attempt made by the White Man to send them back to Africa. Less than one-tenth of one percent of Blacks surveyed wanted to go back to Africa.
Reparations is a different proposition. Blacks are entitled to and want reparations. They have a moral right to demand payment of reparations for 244 years of unrequited forced labor they rendered and for the violent deaths of 10 million Blacks who died during the slave trade. There is a natural law, morally-established and sactioned by the international community of nations, which decrees that laborers are entitled to recieve remuneration for their labor except when they choose to render it voluntarily. Like energy, labor is never destroyed and the statue of limitation never runs out on remuneration for labor until the laborer or his beneficiary has been paid for the labor rendered. No one can question the fact that slaves were not compensated for the labor they rendered and that descendants of slaves are the rightful beneficiares entitled to receive reparations for unremunerated slave labor.
Paying black reparations would not set any precedent. Germany paid reparations to the Allies after World War I and to Israel after World War II, the United States paid reparations to the Phillipines for the use of and damage to that country during the War, and to Japanese-Americans for denial of rights, seizure of property and confinement in concentration camps during World War II. The United States paid and continue to pay reparations to the American Indians. President John F. Kennedy acknowldged publicly that Blacks are entiled to reparations but they have not ask for them."
Blacks have stated their case for reparations but they have not demanded them. Assuming that the 100-year statue of limitation set forth in international law might apply to the United States' payment of reparations to 30 million American citizens of African descent and in commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, the Reparations Committee for United Slaves Descendants of Slaves, Inc., filed a reprarations claim with the United States Government in December of 1962. While the claim is valid Blacks need to know that there is no statue of limitation on payment of reparations and that awarding of reparations requires enactment of legislation by the United States Congerss. The demand for reparations, therefore, must be made on the Congress who represent the people and on the American people themselves. It must be a demand for Americans to pay up or else face direct action - confrontation, consfiscation and disruption of the operation of institutions. Reparations legislation is more important than the Voting Rights legislation that was enacted during the nineteen sixties which was nothing more than the White Man's way to save face for having refused to enforce the 14th Amendment to the United States Constitution. Reparations legislation should take priority over all other legislation and concerns about nuclear war.
Blacks are to be paid $3 trillion dollars in reparations. The average descendant of a slave will receive $90,000. The amount to be paid an individual is $50,000 and the maximum is $150,000. Alex Haley, author of "Roots" and a descendant of Kunta Kinta who was captured in 1770, will receive $75,000. This payment scale applies providing at least one-half of reparations due are paid by 1990. After that date the amout of reparations to be paid must include interest equal to the going rate during the year following 1989 to 2000 and after then, if not paid, compound interest is to be paid. Money for reparations, now long ovedue, is to be paid by the Government and will come, in part from billionaires and millionaries, many of whom became unjustly wealthy as a result of slave labor. Reparations are to be paid in a one-time, once-and-for-all payment unless it is determine by Blacks that such huge payment would threaten America's national security. It is worth mentioning that America never had any serious concern about Blacks' security. At least 80% of the payment of reparations is to be paid in cash or gold. The remaining 20% may be paid in land and other real property.
The third aspect of the second prescripton for black equity is "earning" respect. Earning the respect of people is no less important for Blacks than it is for them to abandon their blaming the White Man and demanding reparations.
Respect is not a gift or a privilege to be enjoyed merely because a person happens to be a human being. Respect must be earned. What is respect? It is a relation in which one person or group commands veneration or honor from another person or group because he merited it and conveyed to others that he or they will settle for nothing less.
Blacks can earn respect and when they do they'll get it from others. The White Man gets respect and gives it to those who earn it. As a matter of fact he has no other choice but to give it to those who earn it. Throughout the world America respects her foes and friends alike when they earn it and it does not matter what political ideology they embrace.
Blacks are fortunate to live in America where there are so many people who have earned and received respect. But this along is not sufficient to motivate Blacks to secure respect for themselves and require it from others. Respect is a by-product of integrity which consists of decency courage and self-esteem. If Blacks are to have integrity they must saturate their minds with positive ideas and discover inner harmony.
With certain limitations we can say a person having respect is one who:
a) has a realistic view of himself and others,
b) will standup for his rights.
c) take responsibility for the chioices he makes and accept the consequences of those choices even when they are not anticiapted.
d) cares about himself, others and his world.
e) has self-confidence and conviction of the rightness of his action.
f) acts without the feeling that he must meet the demands and expectations of others but rather because this is the only way that he, in being himself, deeply wants to act.
g) respects himself and requires it of others.
III. Be Pro-Black, Pro-Political and Pro-American
Blacks need certain priorities if they are to become self-sufficient and self-determining people. Their lifestyle should consist of being: pro-black, pro-political and pro-American, and in that order.
Being pro-black is not just a racial term which denotes color. As previously discussed, "Black" is an apropriate term to be applied when referring to African Americans if the intent of the user of the term is to ackowledge an African American's encounter or relationship to "white racism." Blacks living in America cannot realistically avoid white racism. They must understand what being Black really means. Black is more than color. Among Blacks there are light compextioned people. Being black is a state of mind derived from a consciousness of reality existence in contrast to illusionary existence. This psychological state, both in terms of internalization and expression, is a feeling. "If you feel that you are black then you are black." But feeling is not without thought. The thought or idea and feeling of being black are not without a fundamental or inherent basis. In recogniton of this it was ludicrous and absurd for a White Man to blacken his skin and go South during the Civil Rights era with the expectation of having the "black experience." This bizarre performance was nothing more than a hoax or minstrel charade. The black mind is different from the white mind and both the endowment and ethos of black people are of such that they cannot be duplicated by non-Blacks. This may be attributed to the fact that the Black Man is the original man. To those who would imitate the Black Man we ask you: "Can a leopard change his stripes?"
Even for black people to be black is a choice and for them to be pro-black is a radical choice given the milieu in which they exist. The system does not only discourage Blacks from being pro-black it punishes those who insist on being pro-black. Yet, it is the only conceivable choice a black person with hightened awareness can make. "Why would anyone living in America choose to be Black?" Simply put the answer is so that he can be authentic. Any black person who does not choose to be black is a phony or counterfeit.
Yet, many Blacks have not chosen to be pro-black. As a matter of fact, some Blacks adjudge black to be undesirable. This kind of thinking has produced and maintained black ineptness. Several theories have been posited to explain the Black Man's condition.
What is believed to be the earliest theory holds that American Blacks have been drugged. This was accomplished by removing Blacks from African soil, their natural habitat - and bringing them to America. This put Blacks on a natural low not ulike the low experienced by drug users who hit low after a brief high.
The "effete theory," is another view which some contend accounts for the inertia of Blacks. This theory holds that with time, use, or disuse, a thing or person - perhaps a whole race - may become non-productive or extinct. This we see in a woman who, after productive years, may become non-productive in her forties or fifties. The assertion here is Blacks are "worn-out."
There is a third theory which says that "white presence" has an adverse effect on Blacks. The substance of this view is that Blacks do not have immunity against "whitemanism," i.e., the adverse effect of "white presence" on them. It is a fact that Blacks are often overwhelmed by the presence of Whites among them. Casual observation reveals that in the presence of Whites Blacks often become different people. A case in point: at the Mutuality Center in Los Angeles where this writer is director, we conduct weekly consciousness-raising forums through the People United Freedom Forum. There is a Black Man now in his sixties and intelligent who frequently participates in these forums. On several occasions he has been a lecturer at the forum. Whenever a white person is present he exhibits weird or bizarre behavior. I have discussed the matter of this different behavior when in the presence of Whites with him and he seems to be at a lost to account for the way he is effected by the presence of a white person at the meeting. It could be that Blacks in general are susceptible to white presence and have to develop an immunity to it. Apparently, most Blacks develop an immunity to a greater or lesser degree and at as tremendus cost, but few seem to possess a natural immunity to white presence - maybe one in every hundred thouand.
It is not easy to dismiss either of these theories without first making an indepth study of the Black Man. Having done that, I am compelled to aknoweldge that all these theories have some validity but that they do not individually or colletively account for the present condition of American Blacks.
If the obvious, supported by substantial evidence, can be accepted it is easy to recognize almost by observation alone that Blacks are asleep. It is a "waking sleep." Conceivably, just as a person can sleep for a night or a night and a day, or, as in the case of Rip Van Winkle for twenty years, it is probable that a person or perhaps a whole race of people can sleep for a thousand years.
The Black Man is asleep. He is not comatose or dead, just asleep. In such state he has low level consciousness but since he is only asleep no resurrection is necessary. But
he must be awakened if he is to become a responsible and productive member of society. Blacks, like bears that hibernate in winter, can welcome the springtime of their eternity, awake and dance to the glory of their essence and re-creation. They possess soul-power even while in their "waking sleep" state.
1. Be Pro-Black
Being pro-black is the first step in black awakening. Pro-black is defined as Blacks collectivey putting their own interests and welfare above the interests and welfare of others or anything else. This requires black unity. But black unity has been misunderstood and misdirected. There are things which Blacks should not unite on. Some of them are:
(1) Mediocrity and Incompetence. Being a "good black teacher, doctor or politician" is not good enough. This kind of thinking breeds mediocrity and incompentence which should be replaced with excellence and competence. It is this mentality that permitted Blacks to produce only one General in the United States Army until his son became a General or to have one black expert in a field of endeavor. If we cannot prodcuce but one person of significance we may do well to check it out to see if he is not a freak.
(2) A black or "the" black leader. Having a single black leader is another thing Blacks must not unite on. There is no single black leader who is capable of representing or leading black people, nor should there be. Uniting behind a black leader has been a major weakness of black people. When "the" black leader is seduced, bought, bossed or murdered, Blacks like motherless and fatherless children, become frustrated, confused and experience defeat. They may even become self-destructive. Blacks do not need one leader or a hundred leaders; they need a million, maybe ten million leaders, all of the same statue - none great - and each doing what he does best that contributes to black-sufficiency.
(3) Supression or denial of intra-group criticism. Don't criticize other Blacks" is a directive Blacks have been urged to unite on. Yet, there is no group in America that needs intra-group criticism as much as blacks because as a rule they tend to please the White Man rather than themselves. Blacks entrusted with responsbility such as preachers, politicians and teachers have been coping-out and accusing the White Man of causing them to fail to be men and producers. Blacks must henceforth reject the excuses oftentimes coming from self-proclaimed or selected outsiders leaders. Criticism is a potent weapon that should be applied as a way of keeping Blacks on the right track as they seek to become a self-sufficient people.
However, there are things on which Blacks must unite. Black unity effectiveness, as opposed to black unity ineffectivness, means that blacks are united on:
(1) Black liberation. To be fully free must be no less an objective for Blacks than it was for Patrick Henry who proclaimed, "Give me liberty or give me death!" Freedom must be a priority for Blacks. Blacks are not free and they are not citizens in the same sense and to the same degree as Whites. Purportedly the reason at least three Amendments have been added to the United States Constitution was to extend freedom to blacks which Whites already had guaranteed by the Constitution. The lack of freedom accounts for there being twice as many black people being unemployed as Whites and for Blacks constituting fifty percent of the prison population even though they make up only eleven percent of the population.
Black liberation is not just an idea. It is a process in which black people engage themselves with the single objective of wresting power from their oppressors. The Black liberator knows as did Frederick Douglass, that "Power never yields without demand." In a word black liberation is a demand for freedom and it is the primary focus of black unity.
(2) Support of each other enterprises. Apart from sharing with others in a general manner Blacks must patrionize businesses and other enterprises own and operated by Blacks. Translated this means Blacks must buy from Blacks whenever possible and patrionize black restaurants, banks, service stations and so on. It also means that they will support black arts, religion, education and black culture in general. Collective patronizing and supporting black businesses and enterprises by Blacks will increase the need for establishing more black businesses, expanding existing businesses and, in some instances, taking over non-black businesses that are currently operating in the black community. The huge consumer power Blacks now have indicates that black businesses can do super business and meet at least 50% of their own needs immediately.
(3) The common good of all. A mandate for Blacks is "common good of all." This does not mean the same thing as having "all things in common," although that too is desirable in a humane society. The "common good of all" rule is acceptance of a principle which prescribes that the good of Blacks as a group must take precedent over the good of individual Blacks, irrespective of their position. In livingness the leading question then must be, Is this in the interest of the common good of all Blacks? If the answer is "no" then the pursuit must be disallowed. It is obvious, however, that the individualistic disposition of Blacks has been a hindrance to Black progress. In America there are successful individual Blacks and as their numbers slowly increase there is a rapidly growing black underclass. Black achievers tend to take from the black community. For many who work in the black community it is not by choice and they do everything else they can, including spending their money, in the white community where they are not permitted to do anything other than be consumers.
Blacks cannot afford the luxury of glorifying or idolizing individual Blacks who do not accept the "common good of all" rule.
Pro-black, as an ultimate concern of Black people can be considered to be un-American but not un-pro-American. America is a pro-white society which extolls white. In America white is perferred. Pro-black is also an offensive rather than defensive act which enhances black life. To reiterate, pro-black means Black is first.
2. Be Pro-Political
A second element in this prescription is "be pro-political." Man is a political being and politics controls his life from the cradle to the grave and even before his birth and after his death. Laws, rules and regulations enforced by a society determine the manner and quality of life of that society. Politics prescribes justice and injustice.
More than economics, politics dominates man's existence. Who will be born? What will the farmer be permitted to plant or will he be paid not to plant? Will produce be put on the open and free market or will it be withheld from the market to keep prices inflated (perhaps to pay-off some politicial debt) as was the case with the Govenment when it purchased cheese and butter to warehouse while many people in need of food, who could have puchased the cheese and butter had it been on the open and competitive market went lacking? The answers to these and many other questions pertaining to man's well-being are found in politics. And, it should be added that many of the problems man faces are create by politics. Even whether we are to have a nuclear war is a political question. And while people may, indeed, influence politics it is usually controllers of the country who are in cahoots with other world controllers who really determine what the political decisions will be. Yet, people must not abandon the political process. They must work to get control of the system. But to think, as things stand at present that they have control of the system is merely an illusion which if taken seriously can have dire consequences, some of which are recognizable today.
Blacks remain disenfranchised despite passage of the Voting Rights Bill more than a decade ago and the election of some black politicians, a number that remains much below what the black population warrants. Since Blacks gained access to the ballot box many of the rules of the political game have changed. Today, there exists black surffage without black power. Indeed, this is a new phenomenon in American politics. Traditionally, the voters had power and even today white people have power. Many cities, counties and states currently practice election-at-large rather than permitting districts to vote for local repesentatives. For all practical purposes this contributes to the disenfanchisement of Blacks. The United States Supreme Court continues to uphold the "election-at-large" practice as constitutional. Obviously, this violates the one-vote-one-person concept and disallows Blacks the opportunity to vote for their peers. In addition, election are bought. Many Black politicians are bought by people who do not live in the areas they represent.
By aligning themselves almost exculsively with the Democratic Party (in a two-party system) Blacks have forfeitured any right to have political power. They have no political leverage in the political process because they have not invested in the Republican Party as they have in the Democratic Party. America is weaker because of a two-party system and Blacks are even weaker than other ethnic groups politically speaking because they, in fact, have a one-party system. There is a need for many political parties, but given the reality of the system that is not about to happen. Therefore, Blacks would do well to participate in and make both the Democatic Party and Republican Party work for them as well as they are working for other Americans. "Quid pro quid" is the name of the game. That means "something for something." Blacks are ill-advised, often by their own black politicians who want to keep their jobs and nothing more, to expect "something for nothing." Blacks are "taken for granted" by the Democartic Party and "written-off " as being unnecessary by the Republican Party.
It is also very necessary for Blacks to establish their own Black political party. The objective of the black party will not be to replace the two existing parties. Blacks should vote on their black party ticket when it's in their interest to do so and vote the Democratic Party and Republican Party tickets when that is in their best interest. Politics for Blacks must become an art and science. At this stage politics is still a mock game for Blacks.
Politics is more than voting and elections. Only a small amont of political power is derived from voting. The Jews being aware of this is able to take a relatively small Jewish voting population and exercise tremendous political power. Jews do not only support the two-party system but various groups as well that can enable them to maintain and expand their power. Most Black elected officials are beholden to the Jews and they repeatedly vote Jewish interest before voting Black interest. Of course blacks should not blame the Jews for this conduct. Instead, they should take responsibility for the ineffectiveness of their own black elected officials.
Rather than rely on the vote to make them politically viable Blacks must begin making better use of their other resources, including their money, religion, talents, numbers, confrontational capability and community. They must politicize the Black Agenda which has been all but abandoned by black politicians. In politicizing the Black Agenda Blacks must support white candidaes rather than black candidates when it is in their interest to do so.
While the political system is in need of a major reform, which should include forming many viable political parties, enforcement of a quota system based on race and limiting the period any politician can serve to eight years, Blacks can use the present system and even abuse it in their interest. Politics will surely outlive Blacks unless they become politically astute.
3. Be Pro-American
A third "be-operation" for Blacks is to be pro-American. As stated earlier Blacks need to be un-American but not un-pro-American. There are some misgivings about what it means to be American and un-American, for that matter. Expressions and slogans such as: "Love it (America) or leave it;" "America is the greatest country in the world;" "The Communists are taking over the country;" need to be examined and scrutinized. This assignment we will leave for the reader. Ultimately each person must do this for himself.
Being pro-American is not: (1) My country right or wrong, "(2) being obsessed with militarism, (3) supporting nationalism and isolationism, (4) Let the Govenment do it and (5) Tradition or else. Being Pro-American is listed third, after being pro-black and being pro-political. Being pro-American, however, is important. In putting America third does not mean that Blacks are less American than non-Blacks or that they are bad Americans. Nobody is more American than Blacks unless it is the American Indians. America is Black American's home. They have paid a temendous price to be here and have an obliagtion to fully support America - to be pro-American. To be pro-American requires Blacks to:
(1) Contribute to the maintenance and growth of America, (2) defend America against her enemies from within and without, and (3) be America. The maintenance of America does not mean "business as usual." Business as usual is a sure way of bringing about the destruction of America. Many natural resources that were once nourishing or now poisonous, rivers and streams that once contained fresh water are now polluted. Slavery, segregation and poverty for many which helped to make America prosperous have become counter-productive. Double-digit unemploment, especially for many black Americans and integration are now straining America. Today 35 million Americans live in poverty and the national deficit is soaring....now in the trillions.
Despite the cruel treatment Blacks have received at the hands of white Amerians they have an obligation to contribute to the maintenance of America. Real America which is beyond the system and, like the baby, "must not be thrown out with the bath water." America has the potential for greatness. While still a young country there are signs that the unparalleled growth that characterized America' childhood has ceased and, even worse, decay or senility has arrived in the prime of her life. Blacks can play a part in arresting this abberation and help America to grow again. Real growth does not mean expanding America's boundaries or America's increased domination of other nations. It means acceptance of growing responsibiliies by the American People. Blacks have a unique, possibly a redemptive role, to play in challenging and influencing the Government and other institutions to assume responsibiliy at every level which will contribute to the growth of America.
(2) Defend America against her enemies. America is on the enemy list of more people than any nation in the world except Israel and many view Isarel as an extension of the United States. The hostile attitude many people have toward America is not without cause. The feelings of some of those people who are hostile toward America is not without basis. Externally America has forged exploitation and imperialism upon other nations and internally she has enslaved, subjected and oppressed Blacks. Blacks, even today are victims of white racism.
The White Man's taking of America from the Indians even though the Indians were not cultivating the land rather than choosing to live peaceably with the Indians as they consented to do is a lasting reminder of the White Man's inhumanity and barbarity. This is a sad commentary and legacy which eternally marks the White man as beast or at least more beast than human. But this is not the whole story. America is capable of being divine and in moments of her greatness she has risen to such stature. In welcoming people from throughout the world, especially if they were white, to come and partake of her richness; extending benevolence in time of a disaster and providing security for defenseless small nations America has demonstrated compassion of a divine nature.
Blacks must realize that America is a nation threatened, from without and within, and more than that, they must commit themselves to the proposition and task of saving or defending America against her enemies. Much too often Blacks have been misled by the official voice and a host of other voices to believe that the enemies of America are other nations - the Russians, Cubans, Chinese (who until recently was adjuged criminals) to name only a few. But enemies of Black Americans include the Klu Klux Klan, White Citizens Councils and a white racist system. But America, including black America, has other enemies. They include the mafia, terrorists, drug pushers and one-worlders who would dissovle America if hey had a chance. Even some police forces in America are enemies of Blacks.
Enemies of America are enemies of black people and enemies of black people are, in fact, enemies of America. Black people do not have any pro-American enemies. Whenever Blacks defend themselves against their enemies they are defending America against her enemies and whenever non-Blacks defend America against her enemies they are defending Blacks against their enemies. Blacks must be willling to confront and fight the enemy, if need be with guns, to protect themselves. It is no less virtuous to fight America's internal enemies than it is to fight her external enemies. The Civil War, a battle to save the Union as Abraham Lincoln put it, attests to the validity of the intra-fighting principle, which Blacks have been reluctant to apply to liberating themselves from oppression. Blacks cannot limit their internal fighting to fighting white people but must also direct die their fighting toward those Blacks who would destroy other Blacks or the black community. Black on black crime, i.e., Blacks maiming and murdering other Blacks and ripping-off other Blacks must be dealth with by responsible Blacks, indeed, the black community, forthrigtly and decisively. The prevailing black attitude that the white system, police and courts, will protect their interests and lives is an illusion that Blacks must abandon and go to the business of protecting themselves which to reiterate means protecting themselves from other Blacks who are engaged in the destruction of others.
Blacks must also defend America against external enemies. As previously indicated America is on the "Most Wanted List" of many of the nations of the world. Some of these nations are determined to destroy America, sieze her territory and enslave her people. Communism, a twentieth century wave, has engulfed many nations since World War II, and has as its foremost objective to defeat capitalism by conquering America. And while both communism and capitalism are corrupted systems, Blacks must stand up for the right of America, the lesser of two evils. They must stand ever ready to militarily defend America against any outside attacker. Blacks must also be the conscience of America, motivating her to share her wealth with the deprived people of the world and challenging her to be impartial in her dealings with other nations. Blacks must move America to contribute directly to the defeat of the white government of South Africa, oppose Israel's annexation of land by using military power and support a homeland for the Palastineans. In a capsule we can affirm that Blacks must be willing and ready to fight in any just war, anywhere in the world to protect America and equally ready to fight oppresive elements within America to save themselves and secure their freedom to a degree no less than that enjoyed by white Americans.
Another task Blacks have is that of helping all Americans to correctly determine America's enemies. Political propagandists and promoters of counterfeit "patriotism" who have a vested interest in misleading the American people must not be allowed to spread their lies without a challenge from the voices of truth and goodwill. More than other Americans Blacks have a natural proclivity for objectivity in matters of humanity and are, therefore, in a better position than other Americans to help other Americans see through demogogues' propaganda and reject it as being the crap it is. Blacks can aid substantially in neutralizing these blatant persuaders of doom and direct people toward hope and a better world.
(3) Be America. Being pro-American means being able to say and to demostrate, "I am America!" In making that claim a Black person is not being either presumptuous or preposterous. When he makes that claim in the vernacular of the commoner on the street, he is "telling it like it is." A black person is America - America at her worst and America at her best. More than being a representative of America, even when his role is that of ambassador, a position he has seldom held, he is America. Unfortnately, because of Blacks' second-class citizenship status they have been led to believe that they are less American than other Americans. "Miss America' and "Mr. America" are always white. In the one instance when a black person was chosen to be "Miss America" she was dethroned. Of course, she was unfit, but not for the reasons the white society announced. "Miss America should be white if white America is to be portrayed accurately.
The mandate for the black person is to "be America,""Be" is not merely something we do; it is the essence of what we are essentially. This more than suggests that Blacks must not be misled to follow what we call the "American Way". Instead, they must realize that their own way is the American way, and the only way they should follow. This means that Blacks should be thesmselves - the unique people they are - talk their talk, walk their walk, dance their dance, sing their own song and live their own lifestyle. Ultimately, this is what it means to "be America."
To be America is to possess the be America Spirit. It is not by might nor by power, but by the spirit that goodwill is manifested, mutuality prevails, and life-enhancing legacy is bequeathed to our children and their children's childern. The question may be asked: "If the Black Man does not be America who will?" America's greatness and goodness lie not in the vast domain she won by conquest, her military might or wealth but in the "Be America Spirit" of her people.
IV. Practice Community
The final prescription to be administered in producing black equity is the practice of communtiy by black people. Our assumption, supported by substantial evidence, is that only community can bing about black sufficiency. Civil rights have advanced Blacks as far as they can go by that means. It's like an automobile which may take a persom to the ocean but in order to go out into the ocean he needs some other means of transportation, perhaps a ship. Now Community Rights, not Civil Rights is the vehicle Blacks must engage in achieving justice and equality. Community may be defined as a comprehending and responsive unity of interacting persons. It is characterized by "we-ness," common interest and sharing. Community exists when there are self-determination, mutuality and common ascessibility of all things that are esssential for quality living or equality in living among persons constituting the social group. Such group is perceived by others and perceives itself as being distinct in some significant respect from the larger society within which it is functioning.
We emphasize "practice" community because community is essentially an action - what we do; or, more correctly, what we do together as a common or shared experience Practice is no mere "rehersal" or training, for that matter. It is a commitment to a creative and collective interrelational process which provides the individual practictioner with an opportunity to share himself with others and release his talents while simultaneously receiving benefits from other members of the group. The practice of community is a lifestyle, way of being, or livingness that occurs in an environment where the weak is never weakened by the weak because love prevails as the principal force, and love given always returns better than it was before it was released. From the gift of love only enhancement is possible for all concerned.
Two major barriers to community which Blacks must overcome are: egocentricity iand individualism. Unfortunately Civil Rights advances and achievements, including economic and political gains have not lessened but increased egocentricity and individualism among Blacks. We are saying that Blacks tend to be on an ego trip and are not interested in the welfare of each other, especially if it becomes necessary to share their resources with fellow Blacks. Caught in a "I've-made-it" syndrome, middle class Blacks are likely to separate themselves from other so-called lower class or underclass Blacks. They may even abuse them if they think it will help them maintain an "I've-made-it" lifestyle, i.e., to continue to live as usual in their "make-believe-world."
Any serious consideration of the practice of community must begin with community consciousness which is recognition by the individual that the community can do for him what he cannot do for himself and that he can do for himself more and in being his own unique self contribute to the well-being of the other members of the group and the larger society. Obviously, coming from an egocentric-individualistic way of being it is not going to be easy for most Blacks to develop community consciousness. In the truest sense community consciousness is more of a discovey than a development. Discarding beliefs, many of them religiously based, and knowing oneself are essentials in the discovery of community consciousness.
But the practice of community involves more than community consciousness. Below are seven conditions which must be present for the effective practice of community. They are:
1. Education. A horrendous deficiency exists in the education of black people. Blacks are not recieving a quality education or education for survival and liberation. But even if they were receiving comparable education as Whites, which they are not, it still would be inadequate, mainly because Blacks need more than education for "adjustment" as is being taught in so-called quality schools. In addition to regular education Blacks need liberation training which will prepare them to assume growing responsibilities in achieving their own freedom. Education for Blacks must of necessity, be radical and revolutionary. Education for adjustment without liberation training has been counter-productive for Blacks, often rendering them impotent or graduating them out into the world as feaks and weaklings. The majority of edcuated Blacks are unfit and unable to contribute to building the black community. White society has drained off many of the better black minds or talented Blacks from the black community. Other educated Blacks have left the black community to escape what they call ghetto living.
Blacks should take advantage of public education and go a step farther and make public schools more relevant to the needs of black people. But we reiterate, public education is not enough for Blacks. Blacks need to establish liberation schools or what may aslso be called Potential Actualization Schools. In these schools Blacks will learn essentials for dynamic living. Here, they will be trained and acquire skills to become proficient warriors. Blacks, regardless of age, will attend liberation schools. Young people will be required to attend liberation school more often than adults. Churches located in the black community will serve as liberation training centers. Other appropriate facilities sites such as social halls, theatres, office buildings, homes, parks, rife ranges, on the job sites and in some instances, public school buildings will also be utilized. There is no reason for schools that are empty most of the day cannot be used during evenings and weekends for black liberation training. They are black people's schools too.
Just as Catholics support parochial education Blacks will support liberation education. Black churches will contribute substantially to financing liberation schools but they will by no means bear the full brunt of financing liberation schools. Black atheletes, entertainers and other Blacks who earn a more than average income will be encouraged, if not required, to contribute financially to support liberatrion education. The Potential Actualzation School will have a comprehensive program which will include weaponry taining for Blacks eighteen years of age and over.
2. Business. The second task for Blacks to assume in the practice of community is that of establishing and operating businesses. Business is used here to mean any enterprise or operation which provides goods or services for a fee such as a restaurant or physician. Blacks must become producers and confiscators, not just consumers and reducers. They must start taking over businesses in their community that are currently being operated by non-blacks. And even more important, Blacks will have to begin patronizing black busineses almost the same way and to the same extent they did a generation ago in the South when they were compelled to patronize the black barber shops and beauty parlors, not necessarily because they had higher consciousess but because white society wouldn't cut black folks' hair. Proficiency and excellence by black entrepreneurs coupled with massive black patronage of black businesses will attract white patrons as well. But more than that it will assure Blacks economic power.
3. Relocation of over-class Blacks. A third condition necessary for the practice of community is the relocation of over-class Blacks. Overclass Blacks, composed of middle-class and upper-middle-class Blacks, who have "made-it" or think they have do not want to have much to do with other Blacks. Overclass Blacks generally make a good income and almost always live beyond their means, thus staying in debt. They may be referred to by the white world as "millionaires" when, in fact, they are only "thousandaires". Whites have a vested interest in this sinister kind of exaggaration. This show, the White Man contends, that anybody can become a millionaire if he is willing to work hard enough. Blacks emulating the White Man will call anybody rich the White Man says is rich. Overclass Blacks tend to look down on underclass Blacks. They show the same disdain for them as conservative Whites. In a word, they don't want to have anything to do with undercalss Blacks, if they can help it. Yet many overclass Blacks owe their positions to the existence of the black underclass much in the same way judges owe their positions to criminals. Like underclass Blacks overclass Blacks too are members of the under-caste. This is another way of saying that all Blacks, in America are members of a caste and regardless of their achievements they remain something less than non-Blacks.
Overclass Blacks constitute what W.E.B. DuBois referred to as the "Talented Tenth" - (10%). Many overclass Blacks do not any longer live in the black community, even when they reside in an all black neighborhood they do not participate in the mainstream of black life. The disaster-like existence of life in the black community is attributable to the absence of overclass Blacks from the black community. What a difference it would make if Tom Badley, mayor of Los Angeles, and Bill Cosby, comedian and TV star, were relocated in Watts. If this kind of relocation of Black super stars and of black heroes and "sheroes" took place in the Wattses
throughout America we would see a significant change in the quality of life of those living in the black community. This is the single most important factor for transforming the ghetto into a community.
The relocation of overclass Blacks to the black community can be accomplished without infringing on personal feeedom or coercion. There is a need to create a climate that attacts overclass Blacks to the black community. Overclass Blacks must be made to feel that they will be rewarded, not punished, for returning to the black community. The black church will play a major role in this climate-making process by promoting and conducting consciousness- raising programs.
Overclass Blacks need to put something into the black community. Most of all they need to physically put themselves in the black community. If Blacks must live in white areas then let it be underclass or "barely-makng-it" Blacks. After all, it is less expensive, in many instances, to live in a white area than it is to live in some black areas. Some white areas have better housing for less money and food is cheaper at almost all suprmarkets in white areas than in black areas.
The plea from underclass Blacks and higher consciousness Blacks to overclass Blacks is "Come home!" The arrival of overclass Blacks is awaited by abused and neglected children, near-illiterate adolescents, a lost generation of young men who are on drugs, engaged in crime and either in prison or on their way to prison. Some of these young men are returning to prison for the second or third time. They need you! Your arrival is awaited by one-parent families, like many of you are, black women who in attempting to be both mothers and fathers failed to be successful as either and other women who, out to desperation, turned to prostitution and lesbianism. These await your return to the black community.
But overclass Blacks there is much more that awaits you in the black community. Here, you have an opportunity to serve, build, grow, experience meaningful man-woman relationships and save your own race which is threatened with genocide and could become extinct if you don't come back home. Here, in the black community you can work out your soul salvation and embrace freedom. So, want you say goodbye to the permissiveness of white society which tolerates you but does not accept you. Come home where you belong. This is the passionate plea of the underclass Blacks. They want you to know that they are ready to lay out the "black carpet" for you. They are ready to celebrate with you your return to the black community and observe in your and their own honor "Black Day".
4. Applied Quota System. The quota system which assigns Blacks a share of opportunities and privileges based on their population in their community is the only just way for Blacks to function satisfactorily in racist America. Simply put, the quota system mandates one vote for each person which can be translated in the practice of community to mean that based on the black population of the commuity, Blacks will receive a share or percentage of their own community - privileges, opportunities, responsibilities - equal to their numbers. For example if Blacks constitute 70% of the black community, then 70% of the policemen and firemen in the community will be black people.
Unlike the affirmative action hoax the quota system is in the interest of Black people. Affirmative action, a ploy to get around the quota system, never meant anything of value to Blacks. It did help some non-Blacks who were designated by the Government as "minorities," including white women. Shortly after affirmative action was instituted the White Man, especially some Jews, began screaming "reverse discrimination" i.e., white people are being discriminated against. Affirmative action could not have benefited Blacks because it was based on an assumption that white people will allocate, out of their goodness and sense of justice, some arbitrary percentage of jobs or slots in medical school to Blacks. This is nothing more than plantation mentality where the slavemaster determines what the slave will have. It is also important to recognize that affirmative action applied only to a limited number or kinds of employment and educational situations. In contrast, the quota system will apply to the total community and involve economics, politics and social concerns.
Succintly, the applied quota system means that race will be the chief factor in any determination of the qualification of Blacks to hold a position or have an equal share of the resources. Race as the criterion for entitlement is nothing new in America. In fact, that is the meaning of white racism. But when used as a principle ungirding the quota system race benefits Blacks, not Whites. Furthermore, race is one of the few remaining constants in America. Blacks may change their educational status, manners, health, hair, and so on, but none of these things have had any significant effect on eliminating white racism and injustice or giving Blacks equal access to equal opportunity. Only the quota system can do that and it is indispensable to the effective practice of community.
5. Relationship of Blacks to non-Blacks. The Black community exists whenever Blacks constitute a majority of the population of that community. In addition there are black neighborhoods and situations where Blacks are scattered or dispersed among non-Blacks as well as places where there are no Blacks. All Blacks are members of the Black Community-at-large. Blacks in Africa and Blacks in other parts of the world. including Blacks in America, belong to the Universal Black Community. This latter factor strongly suggests that a deepening relationship needs to be develop between American Blacks and other Blacks thoughout the world. All Blacks need each other.
The main focus here, however, is on the relationship of Blacks to non-Blacks residing and/or operating in the black community. The first thing that must be understood by all inhabitants of the Black community is that, when the majority of the people in a community is Black, that it is, in fact, a black community. This practice is well accepted in non-Black communities such as Chinese, Jewish and Mexican communities. Everyone knows that Beverly Hills is a white community, notwithsanding, that a few Blacks and other ethnic people live there, including some illegal aliens. That community reflects the attitudes and interests of the people constitutng the majority of its citizens. This must become no less true for Blacks in the black community. Just about the only time white people want to recognize the black community is when they choose to identify black people with some crime or general human degeneracy.
In the Black community Blacks have a responsibility to create a climate conducive to Blacks-non-Blacks cooperation. This is vital to the health and orderly function of the community. In the black community no citizen will be mistreated because of his race. Violators of community rights be they Black or non-Black will be subjected to disciplinary action and punished. In community, community rights are beyond both civil rights and human rights.
Any unilateral rule or action prescribed for the black community by non-Blacks will be rejected by the black community. This is not to say non-black citizens of the community will not have freedom in the black community. What it does imply is that blacks will be the last word in determning how the black community will function. Blacks and non-Blacks will support each others businesses, educational and political pursuits and social endeavors whenever it is in the interest of the community. Such cooperation will promote quality life for all the people living in the black community. The policy of the black community calls for inclusion, not exclusion, and mandates justice for all community people. Mutuality, discussed under the first prescription, best describes the quality of the relationship that exists between Blacks and non-Blacks in the black community.
6. Essentials in Common. In the practice of community "essentials in common" is a cardinal principle. In life, there are things that are necessary and there are things that are essential. Among the essentials are food clothing and shelter. But there are other essentials as well such as safety and those things which contribute to the general wellfare of people, including the opportunity to be free.
Essentials in common may be descriptively defined as group resources which its members are able to share in meeting the maintenance and actualization needs of the group. These are collective resources but not because all the people in the group have paid equally for them, have joint ownership, or because the Government owns them. The undergirding principle of the "essential in common" theory is that nobody owns anything. Only God is Creator and Owner. People are stewards and distributors of the earth's gifts and talents, not hoarders and squanderers. As such, their cheif responsibility is to share with one another and serve one another by utilizing essentials that are in their sphere of influence. Essentials of the community include goods and services, relationships, work, play and learning experiences, sex, and even one's life or person. While, as a rule a person will not be required to lay down his life for another person or offer it as a sacrifice in the practice of community he is committed to use or engage his life for the good of the community.
In meeting such an array of human needs in the practice of community which includes the all-encompassing need for love, walls of partrition, hoarding, individual ownership and denial of public access to partake of the gifts of the earth are abolished. The principle we have presented can be expressed in this manner:
Each is in all
All is in each
Each for all
All for each
No each without all
No all without each
Each is all
And all is each.
7. Faith in Black Humanity. Another condition of inestimable value that must exists in order for there to be the practice of community is faith. The question may be asked: "Can Blacks have faith in themselves?" The legacy of black people in America during the last four hundred and fifty years reveals that Blacks have been very destructive toward each other. And, even for those who "kept the faith" they have been slow to "share the faith" with other Blacks. Blacks are people of faith but operating in lower consciousness for centuries it has been "barely faith," faith that is necessary for survival but not faith needed for creative living. The faith of Black people can come alive.
Faith, as employed here may be defined as personal cooperation with a trusted community where people have essentials in common, enjoy each other, and are becoming more united and more highly committed to universal oneness. Actually, faith comes alive only as a person puts it to work in the context of community and it is the conviction that community provides the faithful with the only opportunity available to him for potential living. In the black community faith means Blacks' unconditional faith in Black Humanity. Because faith is a state which invovles ultimate concerns it demands total fulfillment for the ultimacy for which it claims.
In his surrender to the Cosmos a person discovers faith. Once faith is embraced it increases in the sense and to the degree that it is exercised in the livingness which occurs in the practice of community. Black people shall live by faith - faith in Humanity Being as they practice community.
Without faith nothing else, however noble and well-meaning it might be, is enough. With faith things are not nearly as important as they seem. Ultimately and practically, the salvation of black people is in the consciousness that "Faith can do it".
What exprience, skill and perseverance
cannot do, faith can do it.
What wisdom, knowledge and understanding
cannot do, faith can do it.
What popularity, connection and privilege
cannot do, faith can do it.
What wealth, power and possessions
cannot do, faith can do it.
What love, hope and truth
cannot do,faith can do it.
Faith is the principal thing to be applied
in achieving that which appears to
be impossible.
Nothing is more idiosyncratic and strictly
personal than a person's faith,
It's your faith,
Faith can do it.
When these seven conditions are present in Black life then we know that the practice of community exists. And, when this happens Blacks will once again function as a self-determining and self-sufficient people. More than just enough for or concern about themselves, they will share their resources and riches with non-Blacks and other people of the world as they enjoy freedom - privileges, opportunities and responsibilites equal to those enjoyed by White Americans. Blacks will experience a high degree of fulfillment and again become the proud people they were when they built flourishing civilizations and exercised dominon in the earth.
-------------------------------------------------------
Your comments, pro and con, are appreciated.
Send all correspondence to:
Uriah J. Fields
P. O. Box 4770
Charlottesville, VA 22905
Copyright 1986 by Uriah J. Fields
Re-published in 2012
An Invitation
To read other writings by Uriah J. Fields, please visit:
www.authorsden.com
|
