For Black Men who have considered selling out (but think that settling for a white woman is enuff )

So you finally found my blog. Good. I know that you’ve been questioning yourself recently.  You’re probably asking yourself whether or not it makes sense to continue trying to help your “black brothers and sisters,” or your “fellow countrymen”  as you begin to understand the various social, economic, political and cultural forces that control you, they and your world.

You’ve probably had a conversation with an Afrocentrist, or a Rastafarian, and realized that most black radicals are averse to scientific, empirical and other rational argument, and are thus mired in superstition and conspiracism.

You’ve probably realized that your middle class peers would rather tweet about the latest Justin Bieber sex scandal or the Wendy Williams’ latest tips for tranny’s trying to tuck their dicks than try to understand why the hell their student loans are twice their yearly income.

I guess its “Boys Night Out” – or something.

You’ve watched, as middle class and ghetto people alike are continually distracted by “Church leaders” (I refuse to call them pastors or theologians), who use shitty arguments and wedge issues to distract the populace from their interests. Just look at how they use homosexuality to aggrandize themselves, while at the same time ignoring the many homeless, drug addicts, destitute and mentally ill that wander our streets. One wonders If any of these conmen churchmen have ever tried to minister to the homeless male prostitutes that frequent Trafalgar Road at night.

You’ve probably looked on as all around you, your fellow blacks try to weave, bleach and tattoo themselves into some ethnically indeterminate ideal , but instead end up  disgusting, deracinated monstrosities. Complete with the boorish behaviour to match their vulgar appearance.

An example of the above.

You have seen all these things, and you want to do something about it. Well, I am here to tell you , don’t.  You will not do anything about it, because, you can’t. I mean, what would you do? Rap? Sing? March? Yes – you want to march, don’t you? You want to be that guy behind the stand or the pulpit who everyone is pointing at , who has the speeches and holidays named after him. You know, like Louis Farrakhan and the Million Man March. You remember Farrakhan and the Million Man March don’t you? Of course you don’t. And no one will remember you either. But the goal is not to be remembered. The goal is to win. And to win big.

Come now, you don’t actually think that you can stand against an entire global Consumer Capitalist structure did you? But let us imagine that you did. You would be someone like say, Bob Johnson, at the turn of the millennium. You are living through the years with 1996 to 2003. Ignoring the whole 9/11 mix-up. You would have seen

• No new genre of black music emerge, even as new economic and social situations arise that demand a new form of expression. This would seem rather odd, as rap and modern R and B would have been the dominant genre since the early 1980s, while most genres of music previous to that time had lasted 15 years at most . Compare the music of Woodstock and Motown in 1968 to hip hop like the Sugarhill Gang at the latter part of the 1970s

• Dancehall music from Jamaica and heard the “Bug” ,”Kiki” and “Diwali” riddims that seemed to represent the future of dancehall music. I say “seemed” because the dancehall scene degenerated into its usual quarrelsome stupidity (lead by Bounty Killer of course), with both producers and songwriters never achieving those artistic highs again.

• Films failing to give meaning to the present, from Hype Williams’ screw-up  Belly, to the rise of the Buppie subgenre of black films (The Wood, Best Man), to the start of Madea in the theater, to the straight-to-DVD  gangsta genre. This, after a decade of cultural products , from Do the Right Thing to Slam, that gave meaning to the past and helped to explain the present.

• The rise of a legal-industrial complex that is nothing more than new millennium indentured servitude

• The switch from industry and agriculture to a service economy, that required skills in STEM (science, engineering, technology and mathematics), that the education system failed to impart to black and Jamaican children
• A Million Man March that didn’t do shit

• Jamaicans re-elect the PNP a record four times, even though they do less than shit, including precipitate the largest wealth shift from the middle class to the rich post-slavery.

In other words, it would be as if the world gave up. You can try all you want, but if the world gives up you’re just running up the down escalator. Can you then blame Bob Johnson for selling out? For dumping Teen Summit and taking up Uncut? Even if wanted to turn the tide, who could he get to help him? Certainly not the people that watch BET. That’s the thing. When we say black people, we actually mean black persons. A person is an individual, with individual feelings ideas, dreams and aspirations. People are fucking animals. And the point of modern Consumer Capitalism is to turn persons into people (easier for analytics and economies of scale).

I am not telling you to become like Bob Johnson. In fact, I more interested in correcting his work than anything else. But more on that later. Right now, we need to stop giving a fuck about black people and instead start giving a fuck about black persons. I am not being elitist. I am only saying that appealing to mass movements is folly. It would be better to develop an agenda that is economically and politically viable. It will be difficult, but it is doable. Difficulty and social isolation did not stop guys like:

John Boyd and the Fighter Mafia, who defined new theories on maneuverability and air warfare, leading to the creation of several new aircraft that are considered invaluable to the U.S. military-industrial complex. And they did this in the face overwhelming institutional opposition and bureaucratic wrangling.

The Mont Pelerin Society,was started in 1947. They were ignored as kooks until 1973. Even Schumpeter made fun of them. After 1973, well to paraphrase Richard Nixon, “(Sigh), I guess we’re all neoliberals now !”

A bunch of policy wonks that didn’t know what they were talking about, yet still manage fuck up America and the World ForEVAH!

We may have to make some hard decisions. Like being mocked amongst our peers and colleagues. Constant solitude. Alienation from the people who are closest to you, who look most like you, and who rightfully, should understand you the most. But that is alright. It will be worth it, because,if anything, I have no intention of waking up to the type of world that Bob Johnson woke up to a generation from now. And , if I am right, neither do you.