White Men Buying Off the Black Movement with a Sop

The New York Times a week ago said it is now going to capitalize the word black.  NYT’s Dean Baquet explained: “We believe this style best conveys elements of shared history and identity, and reflects our goal to be respectful of all the people and communities we cover.”

The NYT’s national editor, Marc Lacey, said. “But for many people the capitalization of that one letter is the difference between a color and a culture.” The NYT quoted Destinée-Charisse Royal, a senior staff editor in the Graphics department who said: “My thought was that the capital B makes sense as it describes a race, a cultural group, and that is very different from a color in a box of crayons.”

The NYT looked at capitalizing “white and brown in reference to race.”  It decided that,” both will remain lowercase. Brown has generally been used to describe a wide range of cultures. As a result, its meaning can be unclear to readers; white doesn’t represent a shared culture and history in the way Black does, and also has long been capitalized by hate groups.

Talk about gobbledygook. Are we to decide how we treat words by how hate groups treat them? How is it the word brown represents a wide range of cultures and black only one cultural group? Is black different from a color in a box of crayons while brown isn’t?

What is a shared history and identity that whites seem to lack? It would seem that the opposite attains: how many times have we heard complaints about whites in America suppressing people?

Ms Royal who is against the words “African-American” said: “Broadly speaking, when you are looking at a group of people of African ancestry in the United States, you do not know if they identify as African-American. You do not know if they were born in, say, Ghana or if they were born in the Bronx like I was.”

How is that a “shared sense of history, identity and community?”

Jesse Jackson on the other hand said:  “We built the country through the African slave trade. African-American acknowledges that. Any term that emphasizes the color and not the heritage separates us from our heritage.”

Which leads me to ask how do you tell who is black or who is brown or who is white?  Do you write about two cousins one from an interracial  family who appears white and one from black parents: the white cousin and the Black cousin? Does the white cousin not have a shared since of identity and community as much as the black cousin?

Then the AP pitched in:  “The change conveys and essential and shared since of history, identity and community among the people who identify as Black, including those in the African diaspora and within Africa.”  I have difficulty seeing how black folk in Africa have the same history, identity and community as black folk in the United States.

The AP  went on: “The lowercase black is a color, not a person.” Are we to believe if we use the words “black man” we are not referring to a person but a color?

Yet, now get this, the AP will still use the lower case white and brown. Does this mean if I talk about whites or browns doing something I’m talking about colors.? When people complain the country was founded by whites are we to believe a group of white colors got together and established it? When folk complain whites are oppressing them is one color from a box of crayons doing it?

I hope our black citizens do not buy into this change. As I see it the reason for this is to tell the black folk “look, we recognize you haven’t been treated fairly in America. Now here’s what we will do for you. We’ll capitalize the word black. Now you can forget about the past injustices and present grievances. If you don’t mind go away and don’t bother us again.”

Then having felt they accomplished a great deal, while actually accomplishing nothing, these newspaper folks pat each other on the backs pleased with their intrepidness in the face of no opposition. It does nothing for the black folk. The white folk who run the media groups who made the decision aren’t particularly interested in helping black folk, they just want peace and a good feeling believing they made a heroic effort in capitalizing the word black. A lot of damn good it does on the ground.

Perhaps the greatest enemy the black people have in America today are the white folk who want to decide for them how they are to live and be perceived. A slight knowledge of their history would show how one of the greatest setbacks for the black folk was the creation of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. (NAACP)

A few years earlier to its founding there had been the Niagara Movement. That was a group of young educated black men who gathered at Niagara Falls and came up with a radical program to demand that black people be afforded equal rights with white people. Those being the days of Jim Crow and Separate -But-Equal it meant these black men aided by a few black women were pushing for equal rights in a society hell bent on not giving them those rights. Yet they thought if they stayed united and kept on course they could accomplish that goal.

A group of well-intentioned white men and women decided to set up a new organization, the NAACP. It had only one black man on its board, W.E. B. DuBois. The whites controlled it. Its stated purpose was to aid the black folk. It was in truth to be a counter force to the militants. It sucked all the funding away from them; without funds they lost much of their power.

The capitalization of the word black is nothing more than a sop. Such things like that have been done in the past and quieted the black folks complaints for a generation. Will it work again?

 

16 Comments

  1. Microbiologist Dan Burisch and J-Rod have been
    part of the crew I was hoping Matt would let quarantine
    at his home on the Cape.
    Who knew what the therapeutic powers of Salt Water Taffy
    might have on COVID 19 , eh?

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZCF4wyINu0

    Watched my main MD Dr Vuong today demonstrating the proper way to
    eat a Maine Lobster roll.

    Wear a bib while watching….

  2. Idyllic life on Cape Cod
    where the phrase Social Distancing was created
    Looked like no palabras are getting across the Bourne Bridge
    How are the grand kids doing…. 100 degrees f in Arctic Circle today

    Sinclair has no problemos with getting the word out…

    Couple Lobster Rolls from Maine hold the Mayo…

    https://www.pressherald.com/2020/07/24/governor-denies-clemency-for-maine-inmate-seeking-doctorate/

    Governor denies clemency for Maine inmate seeking doctorate
    Brandon Brown, serving a 17-year prison sentence for attempted murder, already is the first Maine inmate to receive an advanced degree

    say what……

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2020/jul/25/coronavirus-us-trump-fauci-sinclair-tv-portland-protests-live-updates

    Coronavirus US live: cases soar as Sinclair TV stations to air Fauci conspiracy theory

    Sinclair is the biggest owner of local TV stations in the US. Its chairman has said that in 2016, he told Trump: “We are here to deliver your message.”

    also see

    https://www.foxnews.com/us/cop-sentenced-to-15-years-in-prison-for-sexual-abuse-must-register-as-sex-offender

    Cop sentenced to 15 years in prison for sexual abuse; must register as sex offendeR

    • “Couple Lobster Rolls from Maine hold the Mayo…”

      What the hell do you mean ‘hold the mayo’? Hold all the mayo? Not all of it. You want a toasted hot dog roll with butter and just chunks of lobster? Last time up I stopped in to Liberty Tools. There is a place nearby that has spectacular lobster rolls. Like, when you are done there is more lobster on the plate that fell out than was in any Cape Cod lobster roll when they started and they are less than half the price in Liberty. Don’t imply to us that you want to hold the mayo entirely. Sometimes you really scare the shit out of me. Out of us!

      By the way, next to that place in Maine is the best homemade ice cream I have found outside of The Ice Cream Smith in Lower Mills.

  3. https://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/ny-tampon-removal-20200723-xjjxeu7nqvhanll2djyqpid2fi-story.html

    Woman ordered by cops to take out her tampon during strip search outside casino: review
    By STORM GIFFORD

    NEW YORK DAILY NEWS |
    JUL 22, 2020 AT 11:54 PM

    https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-fbi-headquarters-location-suddenly-important-again-n1234802

    Why the FBI headquarters’ location is suddenly important again
    It’s long been one of the under-appreciated Trump scandals, but the future of the FBI headquarters is suddenly relevant anew.

    In other newes…..

    Solutionaries…….

  4. Blogging is not truth
    Behaviour is Truth

    Over 2.5 million people have an urgent message for lawmakers: the KKK are terrorists. Jose started this petition a few weeks ago. He wants Congress and the Bureau of Counterterrorism to label the KKK a terrorist organization. “This group has a long history of murder and intimidation of people based on color and religion,” Jose writes. Help his petition get the attention of decision-makers and add your name to declare the KKK a terrorist organization.

    Change KKK status into Terrorist Organization

    2,672,004 have signed Jose Cardenas’s petition. Let’s get to 3,000,000!

    Sign now with a click

    https://www.change.org/

    Ever since the inception of the Ku Klux Klan in December 24,1865 they have terrorized American citizens for the color of their skin and opposing views. This group has a long history of murder & intimidation of people based on color and religion. The KKK has lynched 3446 blacks and 1297 whites based of the research of The Tuskeegee Institute. The KKK has raped,murdered people for registering to vote, and destroyed towns built by African Americans. Clear documented evidence is available through picture and video of their murderous acts. Black Americans have suffered the most under this terror group. Terrorism is the use of violence and intimidation in pursuit of political aims. We ask if ISIS or ISIL is labeled a terrorist group for their acts, then surely the KKK fit the clear description of a terrorist.
    KKK does not care to publicize their actions and the police aren’t interested in investigating it.
    KKK members are in many forms of the government
    KKK could be considered the best example of a modern terrorist group that was even allowed, by the government, to function and even do marches in the capital of the country

    Ever since the inception of the Ku Klux Klan in December 24,1865 they have terrorized American citizens for the color of their skin and opposing views. This group has a long history of murder & intimidation of people based on color and religion. The KKK has lynched 3446 blacks and 1297 whites based of the research of The Tuskeegee Institute. The KKK has raped,murdered people for registering to vote, and destroyed towns built by African Americans. Clear documented evidence is available through picture and video of their murderous acts. Black Americans have suffered the most under this terror group. Terrorism is the use of violence and intimidation in pursuit of political aims. We ask if ISIS or ISIL is labeled a terrorist group for their acts, then surely the KKK fit the clear description of a terrorist.
    KKK does not care to publicize their actions and the police aren’t interested in investigating it.
    KKK members are in many forms of the government
    KKK could be considered the best example of a modern terrorist group that was even allowed, by the government, to function and even do marches in the capital of the country

    Also see

    More than 500 women at Fort Worth’s federal medical prison have tested positive

    Dear Friends, again, please call your two U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 and tell them that help must be given in the upcoming covid package for all people locked up and for those who are taking care of them. Charlie

    500 women at Fort Worth federal prison test positive for coronavirus, second most in U.S.
    BY KALEY JOHNSON JULY 21, 2020 https://www.star-telegram.com/news/coronavirus/article244366237.html?
    More than 500 women at Fort Worth’s federal medical prison have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the Bureau of Prisons.

    On Sunday, the Bureau of Prisons reported 200 women had tested positive for COVID-19 at FMC Carswell. That number jumped to 510 on Tuesday, giving Carswell the second highest number of cases out of all the country’s federal prisons. Only FCI Seagoville, which is also in Dallas-Fort Worth, had more infected inmates, with 1,156 cases as of Tuesday.

    “We’re like a whole bunch of hamsters in a cage chasing our own tails,” Holli Chapman, an inmate at Carswell, said.

    As of three weeks ago, only three women had tested positive at the prison since the pandemic began. One of those women, Andrea Circle Bear, died in April. On July 12, 69-year-old Sandra Kincaid became the second woman to die at Carswell from the virus. On Monday, Teresa Ely, 51, was the third woman to die.

    Most of the 1,357 women at Carswell have medical problems and, since April, many inmates have told the Star-Telegram that they feared what would happen if the virus began to spread through the prison.

    Carswell’s administration referred questions to the Bureau of Prisons. In a statement, the BOP said it is monitoring coronavirus at all its prisons, including FMC Carswell, and is taking steps to prevent the spread of the virus. . . .

    Really……

    https://www.thenation.com/article/society/cbp-deployment-harris/

    The Federal Response to Protests Extends Far Beyond Portland
    A document responding to inquiries by Senator Kamala Harris shows the extent of CBP involvement in local law enforcement.
    By Ken KlippensteinTwitter JULY 23, 2020

  5. http://www.the-office.com/seth/

    * Physical reality arises from consciousness, not the other way around.
    * We create our own reality.
    * We are not at the mercy of a disjointed deity or subconscious.
    * We are multi-dimensional beings; more than our physical bodies.
    * Time and space are dimensional “illusions” we jointly create and by which we tacitly agree to abide.
    * At the core of our being, we reside in a realm in which time and space do not exist.
    * We are, in essence, creative spiritual beings having an earthly experience.
    * The fate of each of us is in our own hands.
    * We have multiple, perhaps infinite, life experiences. Problems not faced in this life will be faced in another.
    * We cannot blame God, society, or our parents for “misfortunes,” since before this physical life we chose the circumstances into which we would be born and the challenges that could best bring about our development.
    * We form physical matter as effortlessly and unselfconsciously as we breathe. Telepathically, we are all aware of the mass ideas from which we form our overall conception of physical reality.

    Metaphysics is defined as the branch of philosophy that examines the nature of reality including the relationship between mind and matter, substance and attribute, fact and value. Seth admonishes his readers to approach these matters not as mere observers, not as victims of either chance or the whim of some celestial clockmaker, but as spiritually intelligent creatures. Reality, he says, does not unfold randomly or chaotically, but intelligently and holistically, each of us as a unit of consciousness carrying our own load in the creative process.

    Well….

    https://www.villagevoice.com/2020/01/28/frank-serpico-a-letter-home/

    Frank Serpico: A Letter Home
    “People have got to understand that it’s just as patriotic to try to keep your country from dying, as it is to die for your country.”

    by FRANK SERPICO

    Maybe…..

    https://www.thesunmagazine.org/issues/109/death-in-the-family

    Death In The Family

    • “* Time and space are dimensional “illusions” we jointly create and by which we tacitly agree to abide.”

      Then what are time crystals?

    • William M. Connolly

      False: we do not “create our own reality.” Our biological human bodies and every cell in our bodies and every element, that is every metal, salt, etc, in our human bodies, exist independent of any creative act of ours. The universe is real, the cosmos, stars, planets, neutrinos, proton, neutrons, atoms, dogs and cats. We human beings, individually nor collectively, did not create them nor microbes, flora, fauna.
      We human beings, Homo Sapiens Artistes, create stories, images, metaphors, music, art, and we build buildings, and we invent engines and water wheels.

      • wa-llahi! Which came first, essence, or, existence? Human beings don’t create reality? Who says? What’s your proof. Bill?

  6. Thought capitals were forbidden here. Readers of the Globe and NYT are invariably confused.

  7. William M. Connolly

    Matt, I agree that much of what you hear and read from the Leftists today (including the NYT and WaPo, once respected liberal papers, now politically correct leftist rags, poisoned by Orwellian group think) is gobbleygood and pscyhobabble.

    Most leftists simply misstate American history, ignoring the success of the middle classes, working classes and upper classes of all races, all ethnic groups and all religions in America.

    Again I echo and subscribe to the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., (the I Have a Dream Speech) and to the words and writings of Thomas Sowell (e.g., Ethnic America, Cosmic Justice) and I look forward to us creating a more perfect union, with liberty and justice for all.

    I condemn the historical revisionists, the reverse-racists, the race baiters, the haters in all racial and ethnic groups, the Welfare-Staters, the race panderers, and the self-haters and guilty ridden among all racial groups.

    Thomas Sowell insightfully denounced those who demand we Americans pay for past sins which we have not committed (sins of our ancestors) while demanding we absolve or reward those of our neighbors who presently commit sins today (rioters, drug dealers, gunmen, corrupt politicians, power abusing Federal Prosecutors, misinforming biased journalists, politically biased leftists in Academia, the Media, and in the FEDs.)

    Want to straighten out America? . . .Listen to Morgan Freedman . . .stop calling us black, brown and white . . .call us Americans, American men, American women . . .stop with the “My People” meaning the people of my color or ethnic background, and start using the phrase My People to refer to all the American people.

    Stop the race baiting and constant harping on how bad white people are, which sounds exactly likely the racists’ cant of the past saying how bad black people, or Latinos, or Irish people, or Jewish people were.

    Start judging people by their actions, by “the content of their character” and not by the color of their skin, their ethnic origin, or their religious beliefs.

    And start writing about how great America has been, the land of opportunity, to all its people, ever striving to form “a more perfect union” while we strive to bring the blessings of freedom to all.

    And remember, just because you have freedom of speech, does not mean you must use it to constantly defame, belittle, slander, demean, stereotype your political opponents.

    Strive to exchange ideas, rather than ad-hominem body blows.

    Try to see the other side, and present it fairly, without vile.

    Be honest, and receptive to opposing views, while firmly articulating your own.

    Fight for freedom on the relatively bloodless battlefields of fearless expressionism, without resorting to mud slinging.

    An occasional good-natured poke in the ribs is allowable and appreciated if done with a good heart, as the inestimable Don Rickles always did it.

    Do not be like Howie Carr, a mean spirited mudslinger who delights in tearing good folks down and who delights in others’ suffering. Schadenfreude.

    Remember to call a spade a spade.

    Remember: Do good. Be kind. And kindness sometimes means standing up to bullies and character assassins, and kindness also can mean having fun, good-natured ribbing, and exchanging jabs in a fair fight. Kindness does not mean constantly tearing down others, like Howie Carr who never wore a uniform and who served mostly himself, yet who tears down the Kennedy Family who exemplifies service to God, Country and Community; Howie Carr also tore down for decades and still does today the honorable William Bulger, who also wore the uniform and led a life of service to others, and whose shoes Howie Carr is not fit to shine.
    Howie Carr, the epitomey of a chronic character assassin, who chronically demeans Latinos and who laughingly runs a “death pool”, demeaning dead and dying celebrities. Has he no sense of respect for the sick and suffering, for the families and friends of the deceased?

    Yet even Howie Carr has his good points: He runs a good talk show; has interesting guests; he has a nice family; his Herald columns are sometimes informative; he has seen the light and is now a conservative, although for decades he did nothing but demean conservatives like Senate President Bulger, Governor Ed King, and B.U. President John Silber, and others.

    The point is: “There’s so much good in the worst of us, and so much bad in the best of us, that it hardly befits any of us, to talk about the rest of us.” These words a Congregationalist pastor in Westwood taught us, parishioners and members of the church’s Christian Rock band, , Savin Hill Billy on keyboards, and Savin Hill’s finest, Bob Mancini on lead guitar.

    • Subhannallah! Bill, once again, you’ve answered my rhetorical question. Thanx, Bro.

    • wa-llahi! Bill, most black people (if they’ve even heard of Sowell) think Sowell is a sold-out Uncle Tom, just, like Clarence Thomas. Bill, do you, actually, know any black folks who’d be comfortable talking to you? If, so, ask them what they think of your ideas.

    • wa-llahi! White people are not an oppressed population. They are the oppressors. By the way, we are not a united people, we are a nation of tribes. A sense of unified identity as Americans went out with WWII. We’re on our own now. It’s every group for itself. Glorious Leader taught us that. I’m amazed you didn’t imbibe that idea at the feet of your master.

    • “Want to straighten out America? . . .Listen to Morgan Freedman . . .stop calling us black, brown and white . . .call us Americans, American men, American women . . .stop with the “My People” meaning the people of my color or ethnic background, and start using the phrase My People to refer to all the American people.”

      I saw a great interview not that long ago, maybe four or five years ago, with Willie O’Ree. He was the first Black man to play in the National Hockey League and he played with the Bruins. Much of his career he had one eye.

      Anyway, the (stupid) interviewer asked him, “How do you feel being the first African American to play in the NHL?” Willie O’Ree is cool. Really cool. He said, calmly, “I am not African American. I was the first Black man to play in the NHL. I am a Canadian.” And I will paraphrase, “Africa has absolutely nothing to do with me or me with it.”

      Goosebumps, man. Goosebumps.

  8. wa-llahi- Don’t worry. White folks are just fooling themselves. Black people have their own agenda, and, it isn’t set by whites. When I watch BLM, I’m always reminded of what Marcuse said, ” The black man is rebellious, but, not, yet, revolutionary.” The visionary socialist philosopher was very cognizant of black anger. Matt’s correct, the intellectual conditioning of black minds has been ongoing, and, thorough, from a “white perspective.” The existence of a petit-bourgeois black middle-class is thought to be the evidence of the” success” inherent in “thinking white.” It’s against this type of conditioning, that the dialectic reacts. Why is it so hard for the white over-culture to accept the existence of a black consciousness, who’s terms of existence are not dependent on “white understanding ?”

    Good Post, Matt.