The gospel of white fascism (Part 3)...Black reparations and bailout politics...

About two years ago, I was speaking to a brotha who was a semi-devout muslim. I don't know if he came to that faith through the 'Nation of Islam', but he touted the tenets of his religion pretty regularly. When I told him I was a Black Nationalist one day, he seemed pretty impressed with the idea of Black men putting aside their differences so they can work together to build something for our Diaspora.

I basically told him that we could have three Black men in any one room, and one could be christian, another could be muslim, and the third could be jewish, but ultimately, we were all gonna' catch hell 'cause we're Black, not because of our religious affiliations. And I could tell by his response, that no one ever posed this concept to him before.

About two weeks later, this brotha and I were rappin' on something socio-political, and the topic of Black reparations came up. In the midst of our conversation, this brotha said emphatically, that Black people shouldn't get reparations 'cause all we'll do is buy a bunch of gold chains with the money. Needless to say, I shook my head at his theory...then I reminded myself about the two-sided nature of our Diaspora's white fascist induced self-hatred.

Whenever someone, especially a person of color, talks about white fascism or the 'white privilege' in a negative way, I'm usually impressed by their conscious insights. But right afterwards, I have to ask myself a mandatory question, and thats: What is this person thinking 'subconsciously'?

I can't tell you how many 'conscious' brothas and sistas I've encountered who were, and are, complete anglophiles 'subconsciously'. AND THEY DON'T KNOW IT!!

For all their facts about Kush and Kemet, and knowledge of the 'Medu Netcher', and their wearing of dashikis and Ankhs, they ultimately still feel inferior to white folks...just like the muslim brotha who told me we shouldn't get reparations.

And right after this brotha said that, I immediately started thinking about another form of 'financial reparations' I'd read about.

The 'Troubled Asset Relief Program', better known as 'TARP', was signed into law by president George W. Bush on October 3rd, 2008. This was basically the Initiative that bailed out american banks after they bundled together pools of toxic loans that were 'Triple A' rated by agencies like 'Moodys' and 'Standard & Poor's' (if you've never heard of these organizations, google them).

Mind you, other organizations like the 'Securities and Exchange Commission' and the 'Commodity Futures Trading Commission' were suppose to regulate these financial markets. Problem was, lobbyists had long since greased the palms of these organization's executives and almost every politician, so damn near every one of them fiddled while Rome burned.

Now, if you're over thirty, chances are you remember the financial crisis of 2008. And long story short, when the crisis hit, Wall Street got bailed out, and Main Street didn't. Even though it was Main Street's tax dollars that bailed these bastards out. But that's american democracy for ya'...or like the legendary singer 'Femi Kuti' (son of Fela) terms it, 'demo-crazy'.

Now after billions in bailout funds were dispersed, you'd think bank executives would be exceptionally frugal with those monies. But if you did, you'd be wrong.

Case in point, 'Northern Trust Corporation', a Chicago based bank, received $1.6 billion dollars of TARP funds from this government. And with it, they threw a golf party for their clients and employees.

You heard right, this bank used taxpayer money to fund the 'PGA Tour's Northern Trust Open' at the 'Riveria Country Club' in suburban Los Angeles. This event included lavish dinners and concerts for clients and employees who attended the week-long shin-dig. Mind you, this was a bank that stated it 'needed' their bail-out money or it would go out of business.

In 2009, Bank of America (BOA), who also received billions of dollars in TARP funds, threw an NFL 'SuperBowl' party called the 'NFL experience'. This entailed 850,000 square feet of sports games and interactive entertainment attractions for BOA's execs and employees, as well as football fans. NFL executives said it was a "multi-million dollar" event, and one SuperBowl 'insider' said the party's tents alone cost over $800,000.

In the same year, Morgan Stanley, the bank that took $10 billion dollars of TARP funds, held a three day conference/party for clients at the 'Breakers', a five-star oceanfront resort in Palm Beach, Florida.

These 'bank parties' were becoming such a regular occurrence, that Senator John Kerry, who's Secretary of State now, responded to them by introducing the 'TARP Taxpayer Protection and Corporate Responsibility Act'. The legislation would make it illegal for companies that receive TARP funds to host parties or other entertainment events during the year they received the assistance, and in the following year as well.

Now, execs from every bank said these 'parties' were annual events they hosted before they got any bailout money. Then they rationalized that these parties were 'marketing initiatives' to attract new clients and retain existing ones.

So my question is this: If these banks were financially stable enough to host these multimillion dollar events annually, why'd they take the TARP funds?

And ultimately, the point I'm making is this: white people DO NOT have the moral high-ground on ANY ETHICAL ISSUE...NOT ONE! And mind you, I said white people 'collectively', I'm not talking about individual cases.

Now, I'll never forget an episode of 'Oprah' I watched where Doctor Oz said that spanish-americans had a higher incidence of diabetes than African-americans. Oprah donned a shocked look on her face, and said, “Higher than Black people?”

Oprah simply couldn't believe we didn't represent the worst case scenario in that statistic. And this says, she'll always believe that we'll represent the worst case scenarios in all negative stats. And this speaks to a trait I see in almost every Black person whether they have a G.E.D. or a PHD. And that's the fact that nearly all of us, consciously or subconsciously, feel that hating our people is a prerequisite for upwardly-mobile, or socially-acceptable Black people. Just like the muslim brotha who felt we shouldn't get reparations.

So how do we get outta' this mind-set?

As of late, readers of this Blog have asked me for a more comprehensive, or definitive solution to the problem of our people's white fascist-induced self-hatred.

Now I'm not gonna' say I have 'the' solution to this problem, but I do have 'a' viable one to offer, or suggest. And it's two-fold.

First off, dealing with the conscious mind's role in this solution, if Black men and women can see how white fascists have conditioned us more than any other kind of person on the planet to hate ourselves, 'cause we have the most genetic power to breed them out of existence, then we can begin the process of looking at ourselves and each other with more loving and forgiving eyes.

And I know that sounds incredibly glib and corny, and I know I've said this a million times, but if you can not connect EVERY dysfunction exhibited in the Black community to how white fascists have taught us to hate ourselves more than anyone else, then you'll never get out of hating Black people collectively or individually...period.

And again, like I've stated so many times, the reason the american educational system teaches us that only Black people were slaves, is so we can hate ourselves more than anyone else. They'll never tell us that the very word 'slave' comes from the white 'Slavs', or 'Slavic' people. Or how Yugo'Slavia' had so many white slaves, that they named the country after them.

Now, it's mandatory that you're able to grasp this first step. Because if you can't, not only will you always be stuck in a self-hating mind-state as a Black man or woman, but you'll never be able to get to the second step.

And that step is reconditioning the subconscious.

So what I'll do is detail how I've gone about that process for my first post of the New Year.

Until then, consider if this first step is 'doable' for you. 'Cause if it's not, I gather you can figure out how you'll feel about Black people, and ultimately yourself, from this day forward.

Later...

MontUHURU Mimia