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    Black People: Where Have The Greatness Of Our Ancestors Gone?

    By Wattree on Thu, 06/04/2015 - 2:30pm |

    Beneath the Spin * Eric L. Wattree

    A PROLOGUE 
    TO BLACK PEOPLE ARE BEING TURNED INTO NOMADS AND CULTURAL REFUGEES
     
     
    The Black community has been so quiet in its response to the last installment of this article addressing the need to get out and fight for the late Billy Higgin's "World Stage" being declared a historic landmark, and Leimert Park Village being preserved and maintained as a center of Black cultural Art,  that I thought I'd try it again, but this time I'm going to outline the big picture. I think initially I made the mistake of assuming that the current generation understands the sacrifices that were made for them during the sixties, but maybe that was an unwarranted assumption - one of the biggest mistakes that any writer can make.  So I've converted this piece into a primer on the Black experience and what we stand to lose.  I've even taken the time to provide a detailed plan of action on how we MUST address this cultural robbery of the Black community.
    .

    Many of us have become virtual scholars when it comes to Black history.  We can quote chapter and verse all of the atrocities that's been perpetrated against Black people since the beginning of time. We can also make reference to all of the illustrious Black kings, queens and warriors of the past, and cite everything that Black people have accomplished throughout history.  But what's the purpose of having all that knowledge if we don't use it to move ourselves forward?  We're not doing that. We tend to just sit back and watch the White establishment mount one assault on our culture after another, and then use our knowledge of Black history to say, "Well, there they go again, just like during Reconstruction." 

    .
    What good is that doing us!!!?  We need to use our knowledge of history to defend ourselves against repeated cultural assaults just like EVERY other culture in America - and the fact that we're not doing that  explains why we're on the very bottom of the socio-economic ladder, and newly arrived immigrants step right over us to become our bosses and economic superiors. That's also why whenever anyone needs a victim, they single us out - because they know we're not going to do anything about it but complain. If we're the product of greatness, let's PROVE it instead of just talking about it.  This is no time to talk. It's time to either SHOW what we're made of, or shut up, because at this point, those very same illustrious ancestors that we like to point to with such pride, would be holding their heads down in shame at what we've allowed ourselves to become - victims.
    .
    Now, I realize that life is a struggle for Black people, and many of us have given priority to our personal dreams for the future, but if we fail to give priority to our culture as a whole, we won't have a future.  If we don't have a strong and viable culture, we're going to be disrespected and marginalized as individuals, and plucked off one at a time as we're already seeing in Ferguson, New York, Los Angeles and all across this country. America is rapidly becoming the new Beirut.  So we've got to wake up and get on top of this, folks, unless we've completely given up on ourselves as a people. Where's that greatness that we're always talking about!!!?  There's got to still be some vestiges of it left in us somewhere!
    .
    I've been sending this message out - in this case, regarding the raping of Leimert Park Village in particular (since this seems to be the latest assault on our people) - to the community, community leaders, politicians, and clergy alike, but all I've heard in response are crickets.  We've got to do better than this, Black people, or your children's future will be null and void - in fact, in another generation, WE, will be null and void.  Look around you.  They've already dragged us back  fifty years. It's gotten to the point where a young Black man needs a hall pass just to walk down a city street. For the police, just being a young Black male constitutes "probable cause," and if they kill him, the nation's juries view it as a public service.
    .
    So what does that have to do with the gentrification of Leimert Park Village?  What's going on in Leimert Park is the latest assault on our culture, so it's past time to come together, organize, and fight back - and in a PROACTIVE way, instead of waiting around and reacting AFTER we're displaced, marginalized, or another young life is lost for simply having the audacity to come into the area. At this point, the future victim is probably a toddler who was born in Leimert Park, but by the time he's a teenager, Leimert Park will be off limits to "his kind."  So NOW is the time to get on top of this, because the next young life that's snuffed out, just might be a life that YOU brought into this world, and then, all the demonstrating in the world, won't bring him back.
    .
     
    Eric L. Wattree 
    http://wattree.blogspot.com/
    [email protected] 
    Citizens Against Reckless Middle-Class Abuse (CARMA) 
    .
    Religious bigotry: It's not that I hate everyone who doesn't look, think, and act like me - it's just that God does.

    Comments

    This is truly sad. Marla Gibbs made a valiant effort to help create the area, but it appears City Hall is now chasing other dollars. Here is an article from 2013 giving a bleak outlook even back then. Does the article ring true? I don't know the dynamics in LA that well.

    http://www.eurweb.com/2013/10/between-the-lines-las-leimert-park-is-gone...


    by rmrd0000 on Thu, 06/04/2015 - 6:00pm

    RM,

    Smad and I discussed this issue around the time he wrote the above article.  He paints a rosier picture than I see. The Black arts community is about to be erased from Leimert Park Village, and it's a shame. It can be stopped through eminent domain if the people would wake up, but as usual, they won't. They're going to wait until AFTER they're displaced, and only THEN start to complain - again, as usual. 


    by Wattree on Fri, 06/05/2015 - 4:38am

    I agree with a lot of what you have to say, but I've feel the need to offer one point of constructive criticism from my perspective (for the record I'm a white Anglo-Saxon male). There are some out there who will say "I;m not a black writer, I'm a writer who happens to be black," just another might say "I'm not a female scientist, I am a scientist who happens to be a woman," or "I'm not a gay film maker, I am just a film maker who happens to be gay."

    While the oppression blacks have and continue to experience is basically the same across the country and where they are on the economic ladder, I don't believe one can claim there is a singular black culture. That would be same as saying there is a single Native American culture or cultural heritage regardless of whether they are Blackfeet or Lummi, even though they experienced the same oppression at the hands of the whites who moved into their lands (there were some blacks who went west after the Civil War as they tried to carve out a living in this country). It would also be like saying their is an African culture, as if the different cultures found throughout Africa were all part of a singular culture.

    The primary problem with claiming there is a "black culture," as Judith Miller might point out, is that it reinforces the oppressors claim. In other words, if there is a singular black culture, then there must be a singular white culture. So what can you then say to someone who claims he or she is just standing up for white culture?

    Gentrification does have a major impact on the black communities, who happen to be part of low income sector (in great part due to the oppression they have endured). I have been away from the greater Seattle area for awhile. In the past Seattle, in spite of its genera liberal leanings, was the most segregated cities in the country. North of downtown: white. South of downtown: black, with some Asian immigrants. Couple of weeks ago I went to meet a friend in the Columbia City neighborhood. In the old days, if you were white that was not a place one stopped in unless one had to.  Now as the people with money (mainly white) who don't want to have a two hour commute have moved into the neighborhood and are slowly pushing the low income people (mainly black) out. It won't be long before some black person is pulled over by a police officer asking him or her what their doing in the Columbia City neighborhood.


    by Elusive Trope on Fri, 06/05/2015 - 12:00pm

    Elusive,

    I understand your point, but in America, if you're Black, you're Black. Thus, there is one Black culture - African American - and I'm not complaining about it. In fact, I embrace it. it's just the injustice that we have to endure that I resent. I think many White people are under the false impression that Black people don't like being Black, but the fact is, if I woke up tomorrow morning and I was ANYTHING other than Black, I would want to commit suicide.


    by Wattree on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 10:30am

    I understand your point. I was thinking about my response later after I wrote it. As usual, I'm pretty wordy, and I guess what I was trying to get at was there should be a celebration of the diversity of cultures and the various heritages the black people have. I suppose, too, I kind of disagree with the notion that if the oppressor treats a certain group of people one way that this means they all share the same culture. Just my opinion.

    Of course this is part of the heritage / history in America:

    Elliott Erwitt. South Carolina 1950 (From Houk Gallery on Tumblr)


    by Elusive Trope on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 12:20pm

    Elusive,

    What you've said is true.  You're speaking cultural background in a micro sense, and I'm speaking of cultural experience in the macro sense of the word. So you're absolutely right in that sense.  My culture is much different from a Black person from Cuba.


    by Wattree on Sun, 06/07/2015 - 1:47am

    That's a good way to put it: micro versus macro.
     


    by Elusive Trope on Sun, 06/07/2015 - 9:53am

    Black culture is a big umbrella  It ranges from Hip-Hop to Classical music. It ranges from science, technology, engineering, medicine, and mathematics to political activism. It ranges from comic books to major pieces of fiction. There is shared history.

    There is shared concern when we hear that Nichelle Nichols, the actress who played Lt Uhura on Star Trek the Original Series, suffered a "minor stroke". There is shared anger about the GOP' voter suppression efforts. There is a diverse black culture. As Wattree notes, we are fascinated by our shared history. 


    by rmrd0000 on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 10:50am

    Unfortunately most,or at a lot, of the non-black population don't bother themselves with nuances. Saying or writing just "black culture" allows these people to believe they're all the same. You can see this when a black athlete, esp. football and basketball, gets arrested for something and in the comment section all these racists start in about how their all thugs etc.

    I think, too, that within the white culture in America, one's heritage is based less on being from say Europe, but specifically what group of Europeans. Someone whose ancestors came from basically France sees their heritage as being different than someone whose ancestors came generally from Scandinavia.

    On my father's side, one of my great great grandmothers was Native American, which makes me one sixteenth Native America (we don't know from what specific tribe). I consider this part of my heritage but I don't see myself as being Native American. My mother is adopted so at this point we don't know where her ancestors hailed from. She's definitely from around the British Isles. We gonna do one of those genetic tests, and there is a difference in my mind, for instance, if it turns out be primarily Welsh or Scottish. I do have Welsh from my father's side.

    But we're all basically mutts in America. (The Irish are more intense about it than others I think because they were discriminated against when they first came to this country. Stores actually had signs in the window saying 'No Irish Allowed'). Having lived in the Midwest for awhile after spending the rest of my life on the West Coast, I would say that there is definitely a different culture there than there is here the Pacific Northwest. And that's different than the culture of southern California where I was born and before we moved to Idaho. There are a lot of similarities between them all, and for some purposes the slight differences don't matter. But sometimes they do. (And I could up the whole Southern / Yankee split).
     


    by Elusive Trope on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 11:44am

    Nation of origin is something that has been destroyed for most African-Americans. DNA testing has recently become a tool to track down region of origin. We have been free to celebrate a host of interests as part of the culture. We can celebrate Denzel Washington and Halle Berry. We celebrate Steven Curry, LeBron James, Russell Wilson, and Tigers Woods. They have a variety of backgrounds, but they are all part of black culture. If you Google the Schomburg Library or the work of Henry Louis Gates, you will find the breath of the culture. I don't understand your problem. You are correct that racists do not differentiate. They will not differentiate when  DNA testing aids in localizing family origins.

    Given that a great deal of effort when into destroying African ties, what are you asking blacks to do to satisfy your concerns?


    by rmrd0000 on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 12:45pm

    I'm not asking anybody to satisfy my concerns. I just was putting my perspective out there on this issue. And I'm not asking blacks to to destroy their ties to Africa. I just think the word "culture" is not being used correctly. There is not an African culture, There is not a gay or lesbian culture, or gender-based culture. Yet all gays can celebrate the Stonewall riot and have their gay pride parade, which shows the diversity of cultures of people who are gay. So I have no issue with people celebrating that they are black and looking back to past black cultures to find what resonates with them. Suffering the same repression and oppression and coming from the same vast geographic region does equate to a single culture.

    Again that's just my opinion and my understanding is that is a key facet of why we blog and comment. We're not all going to see eye to eye on everything, and there maybe there are some black and non-black who believe I am splitting hairs about a world like "culture." That's their opinion and free to tell me so.


    by Elusive Trope on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 1:25pm

    For a portion of my life, I was heavily involved in Native American issues and activism (and not because I happen be 1/16 Native American. Indigenous people around the world face the same efforts to eradicate their traditional cultures, take their land, etc). And the one thing I heard from just about every Native American / First Nations person with whom I interacted expressed an particular outrage when people talked about Native American culture as if they all shared the same culture. So that is part of where I am coming from.
     


    by Elusive Trope on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 1:44pm

    Native Americans never had the ties to their tribes completely severed. Americans with European ties can point to countries of origin. Latinos can point to countries of origin. Most blacks in the United States had their tribal and national origins completely severed. I think the severing of heritage creates a different concept of culture.


    by rmrd0000 on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 1:53pm

    First, not all Native Americans have had their tires to traditional cultures completely severed. I worked for the Lummi Nation for awhile, and there are some in their community who sustain the traditional ways and pass down the language to the younger generation. This is true for other First Nations in this country.

    If you want to view the concept of culture as different that's cool. I just happen to disagree with it. But as I mentioned I'm basically an Anglo-Saxon male, so I haven't experienced life as blacks and other minorities have.


    by Elusive Trope on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 2:01pm

    "Native Americans never had the ties to their tribes completely severed."  - that's rather clean and over-generalized. Certainly a lot of natives had their tribes destroyed and even if they knew where to find them, would never make the 2-3000 mile journey to hook up on some reservation just like not all blacks would head to Africa to find their roots. Yeah, 2015 things are simpler, but let's not dismiss the ruination inflicted on native tribes and the diaspora of the people.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 2:34pm

    What I wrote with emphasis here by me "...not all Native Americans have had their tires to traditional cultures completely severed." And I am in no way dismiss the ruination inflicted on native tribes that continues to occur in 2015, just am not dismissing how developed nations and corporations are doing massive ruination and elimination around world on the indigenous people. Just one example is some Japanese multinational corporation that includes Toyota, but also a logging firm which clear cut a forest in Indonesia and this allowed the hillside during the rainy season to become a mud slide that wiped out the entire village at the bottom. And the list goes on and on and on.

    One of the things I was working on was trying to elevate the bad blood between First Nations and environmentalists, who expected all of them to tied to mother nature etc and were upset the First Nations weren't joining their protests to protect all the trees etc. One of the big reason is that many tribes experience around 80% unemployment rate, so they are looking for ways to employ their people so they can keep a roof over their head.


    by Elusive Trope on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 2:54pm

    Actuallly rmrd wrote that first, & I was responding to him, as it seemed to be roughly "blacks were uprooted but natives could always point to their origins", a rather dismissive way of looking at the native experience - especially as diverse (as you note) as the thousands of tribes and millions of members and descendants.


    by PeraclesPlease on Sun, 06/07/2015 - 1:28am

    There is nothing dismissive about saying that Native Americans can identify with a tribe of origin. There is nothing dismissive about saying that Latinos can trace back to a country of origin. Most Americans of European descent can trace back roots to specific countries in Europe. The ability to trace back to a tribe or a country does not mean that Native Americans were not placed in reservations after massive land theft, that Japanese Americans did not face internment, or that there are no poor whites. The statement only says that most Americans of African descent cannot trace roots back to a specific tribe. DNA testing, including mitochondrial DNA allows pinpointing general regions and sometimes specific tribes.

    People can go back to the old country in Europe. Native Americans can struggle to save tribal traditions.African Americans identify with African culture because roots have been eradicated. Blacks celebrate the century long reign of the Black Pharaohs and those who killed slavers on the Amistad. Wider use of genetic testing will aid the ability to retrace ancestral lands.


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 06/07/2015 - 9:49am

    Just one more example. Some US corporation paid the government of some country in west Africa to allow them to dump their toxic waste. Of course, it ended up in the water system and the only reason it was discovered they were doing this was because the local tribes started pissing blood.


    by Elusive Trope on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 3:00pm

    The severance distinction is important. Malcolm X and Ralph Ellison have testified.
    In considering the Native American experience, it should be remembered that the Bureau of Indian Affairs made great efforts to cancel their culture.

    I don't offer the contrast in any sense of judging who suffered more. Just wanted to point out that social engineering has been going on for some time now.


    by moat on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 9:59pm

    They took their children and sent off to be like the Whites, and adopt Christianity. On the Lummi Nation reservation, where they broke off all ties to the Federal Government and made themselves self-sufficient including a credited school system that ran from Kindergarten to Associates Degree at the Community College level, there a nasty split between those who had adopted Christianity and those who attempted to maintain the traditional ways. I'm quite aware  of the social engineering practices. Somehow I think because I differ on how the use of the word "culture" should be used that somehow makes me clueless to issues like this. Go research the United Fruit Company if one wants to see modern day oppression in full view.


    by Elusive Trope on Sat, 06/06/2015 - 10:57pm

    We need to give everybody a DNA test, and we'd find that everybody is African.  The only difference between Black people and White people is a physical adaptation to their regional environment.  They found that the original Jews were Black, but they keep that a state secret in Israel. But all that stuff is meaningless to me. All I care about is whether a person can think or not. If he can't, he's inferior, regardless to whether he's Black, White, or an Eskimo.  That's the way I segregate people - good people as oppose to bad people - and what most call sin, I call ignorance. So I'm a bigot toward ignorant people, because I see them as evil.  That's why I don't like Dick Cheney, Rick Perry, and most Republicans.

     


    by Wattree on Sun, 06/07/2015 - 2:41am

    I saw one program on PBS which discussed the genome project and some of their findings. One of them was that there was a serious drought globally (the global warming process we're speeding up) so that like 98% of Africa was uninhabitable. Our ancestors of the Homo Sapien Sapiens was reduced to one group that had made their way to south Africa coastline and survived on the shellfish available. When the weather changed, they began to branch out and became the human population we know today.


    by Elusive Trope on Sun, 06/07/2015 - 9:52am

    "We can also make reference to all of the illustrious Black kings, queens and warriors of the past, and cite everything that Black people have accomplished throughout history.  But what's the purpose of having all that knowledge if we don't use it to move ourselves forward?"

    When I read this quote it reminded of Frantz Fanon. I think your right; all of the knowledge in the world is useless if it isn't paired with action. As a culture we, in the black community, must make a conscious effort to unlearn the lies that have been associated with our black skin. The black church could learn much from the Nation of Islam and 5% movements in this respect, but once we get the knowledge of self all of us, regardless of religious affiliation, need to accept the reality that it's up to us to preserve our cultural and historical landmarks.

     


    by Danny Cardwell on Sun, 06/07/2015 - 2:24pm

    A small percentage of the black population will be the ones who initiate change. The ones who are aware of the history of black people will be those who supply the majority effecting change. Those who are aware of history and the valiant struggles of blacks in America are the ones not discouraged by the trails and tribulations of current day African Americans. 

     


    by rmrd0000 on Sun, 06/07/2015 - 6:45pm