TRIALS OF THE INTELLECTUAL ORGAN

As much as I try, my whole day had been completely thrown off. Those that know me, have known me as a child, to teenager, young adult, mature adult and now emerging into my years as an Elder know .... the one thing you do not do is attack or compromise my Intellect or my Character. I can allow for other affronts but those two things, I have zero tolerance for. I have walked away from "once in a lifetime" opportunities just because the INTEGRITY of my Character would have been in question and my parents have in "life" and in their "death" have made sure that this be my place in the Universe. Character and Integrity. Anyone that has followed me just on Social Media alone knows that my very purpose on it is to promote Character, Integrity, Responsibility and Accountability. And although others may not agree with me, I allow for myself to let people speak and be who they are.

My character was molded to be "unmovable" and "unshakable". You know where I stand and I stand with honor and dignity. When I talk about it, my passion can overcome my emotional state, which is why I don't do it Publicly or you'll see me become a blubbering idiot. You'll know that from my presence I will do the RIGHT thing, no compromise. This you would know and do know if you know me; be it friend, enemy or associate. That being said .... I was accused of Theft and Plagiarism and obviously from someone that "thought" they knew me. This person actually called me on the phone and accused me that my own crafted words, thoughts, philosophy and writings were stolen and manufactured by someone else. That all my nearly 40 years of personal, academic, professional and living philosophy to an area of expertise and my Career was lifted as if all that I am was sub par, low and needing of their words. That my personal skills as an intellectual and creative writer needed "borrowing". That in my HALF CENTURY PLUS years of existence on this Planet, one which I have circumvented in the pursuit of knowledge, needed hacking from someone else. I was accused of quoting and referencing myself as "stealing" and "copping" of another person .... which was them. CLEARLY ... this person does and did not know me, my background, my character, my integrity or the influence my presence have played in the World and the people that live on it. And yet, hours later, I still can't shake the negative energy that has come from the event.

I called my Mentor ... a person far wiser and experienced with life than I. He listened to my words and my anxiety over this and after about an hour of complete silence and patience and responded, "Do you need this person's approval or acknowledgement to be an intellectual or to continue to grow and expand your talents?" I said, "No." And my Mentor simply said, "Then Fuck 'em. Let's move forward and continue to build and improve our community that needs you more and in your RIGHT MIND. This is and will be what you will be engaged with as you make your mark upon this Planet. What you do ripples out. Some waves come back strong, some weak and some not at all. You are too intelligent not to know this. Why? Because you are a solution".

BLACK PEOPLE ARE MONOLITHIC

Take away the taint, the stank, the store and the whore in us, and Black people are pretty much Monolithic in their thoughts and actions. Pseudo- Black intellects and legitimate Intellectuals can argue the point and those that embrace their American Individualism over their Afrocentricity can pretend it doesn’t exist, but when the chips are down and the political, economic and social nooses are thrown over trees you’ll begin to see how homogeneous Black people can be. At times you will find that those who run the quickest from their God given tans, come marching home to their roots no matter how far the branches are from the ground.

What makes the visuals so hard for non-Blacks to comprehend is that the monolithic aspect of Black behavior hasn’t been seen, by American standards, in a long time. Not since the late 1950’s and 60’s with Civil Rights movements like the Montgomery Bus Boycott, SNCC, King’s March on Washington DC, or The Black Muslims Movement have Black people band together to show support and or challenge the status quo. Yes you can argue that not every Black person participated in the Civil Rights movement, but then you can also argue not all Whites participated in the Revolutionary War, the Civil War or World Wars I or II yet collectively as a nation were in support sharing like-mindedness for freedom and justice against their oppressors.

We know that it is not the numbers that make for a social change but the critical mass of participants that make a movement. It is the strategy in the use of that critical mass that is most important which keeps active groups from over saturating issues and becoming burdensome thus defeating the overall purpose for goal setting. Then there is the complacency factor as it relates to Blacks in America, that Black's contempt and frustration has not been collectively vocal in a long time and thus America feels that Blacks are either fully assimilated or given up and staying in line within their small pockets of society.

So why am I trumpeting the “We Are Monolithic” dialogue? We know with the media’s concentration on Barak Hussein Obama’s win of the Iowa Presidential Caucus; which by America’s standards is a historical event, there is the cloud of surprise that White’s are now comfortable with voting for a Black man for President. Over and over the pundits repeat this along with a constant reminder that Iowa is over 90% White and amazingly, the state gave the thumbs up for the “multiculturalists”.

While Whites (and I have no choice but to use the same type of references since this is the language the analyst and pundits are using) outside of Iowa are giving weak smiles and soft hand claps, young college voters who grew up on MTV and Rap lyrics, Christians seeing the possibility of a Black Political Messiah and another one of Oprah’s Favorite Things, Blacks are holding their breath seeing if this moment will be a possible social and political noose moment. All of a sudden they have a choice very much like the dilemma of choosing to support a Black produced, directed and financed film with Black actors knowing that its both a comedy and bad writing or boycotting it all together and going with another movie of better quality, reviews and not of the community? What I am referring to is “soul” support and the possibility that by doing that, we can evolve into something better or just out of spite because you have something that Black people in America rarely have as a collective; POWER to produce.

Chris Rock once said as part of his comedy routine that Black people cannot vote in a President. Black people make up less than 13% of the country and they are all concentrated on the coast. Black people aren’t the majority and won’t be any time soon. Black people are only important when it’s a political tie. As broken as Chris Rock’s political logic may sound, he does ring a substantive degree of truth through his comedy. I know I laughed when he said it and I nodded in agreement as did the audience and from my perspective, many other Blacks and in the corners and shadows, so did Whites, Asian and Latinos. In the situation of Obama, “the Black vote” is something of an enigma for the media because for so long Black people, in their minds, are monolithic in limited degrees. The images on television radio and in the tainted images of middle-class, see Blacks as being thinly spread and diverse. In the Black communities you don’t hear or even see masses of Obama’ites nor do you hear Black leaders speaking publicly for or against the political Rock Star. Personally he is more the King of Pop than a Rock Star …. I reserve that title for President Bill Clinton, since he plays the sax and was in a band.

Whites cannot gauge how Blacks will vote since we have real choices. We can vote Independent, Democratic, Republican or VOTE for the first time. Blacks can vote at the last minute and become that monolithic force and administer the “coup de gras” and break those voting ties for any one party or one person. Regardless of the thousands of incarcerated Black men and women, those ex-felons who cannot vote, the elderly who are stuck in pre-Civil Rights era thinking, apathetic or disconnect Black youth and those that procrastinate on registering on time, we are still talking about a 9 to 10% of a population that can collectively vote was as a block, when that happens, “coram populo”, the price with promises attached with strict accountability to Black issues, accountability that will benefit Black people; some. Why ”some”? Because America’s majority cannot reward the tiebreakers with all the benefits that come with a winning candidate, they'll get just enough of a gift as a thanks you gesture for doing “your job” as citizens by voting for the NEW POWER.

So if this is the case, how does the 2006 push by Tavis Smiley’s Black American Forum and his promotion of The Covenant with Black America fit into all this? Did this New York Times bestseller strike a chord with Black Americans or did it just move money from our hands into another pseudo-intellectual and added the book to our bookshelves as another dust collector? We need to know. I mean I did check out the contents and I did agree with much of the proposed goals but as all things, I did not sense a post-Covenant movement to follow up and consolidate what Blacks have achieved since then. I mean, we know that the current pro-Black groups, churches, mosques, synagogues, educational and social institutions and leaders would continue their (assumed) work in Black communities but I still ask this question after all mass Black gatherings, where is the post-accountability and would it show that we are moving forward.

We assumed that in 2006, Barak Obama would run for President and played the political cat and mouse for the possibilities until he confirmed it, and we knew that in 2006 and 2008 when the electorates would come courting, the Black vote was preordained via The Covenant for Black America and a litany of itemized demands would be presented before relinquishing the vote. But this only seemed to work when White politicians and complacent Black politicians came soliciting that thinly veiled monolithic vote. Obama is different because he has the tone and tenor of good intentions (and you all know how I feel about good intentions) but he is also a Liberal. A liberal that has pitched a wide net to captured a lot of other Liberals. In the mixture of fish caught in his political net are the wants, needs and spiritual desires of Independents and Republicans. In essence, Barak Obama has become the “Everyman” to everyone and that may define his victory as well as his defeat, thus the curse of Hope. Just ask Jesus about that burden, we all know how that story ended.

The Covenant for Black America was not written to include an Obama. Yes it can keep all the others, including a Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Ron Paul, Bill Richardson at bay but we go back to my original premise of do Blacks take this opportunity to vote as a monolith, hold Obama to a personal standard and make a statement to all others that with POWER come Race responsible? If so, do we then go back and make amendments to The Covenant? Which brings me to my next question, “What if Barak Obama isn’t the right choice?”

I can’t help but look at past Black politicians with “good intentions” like the mayors of Newark, NJ, Detroit, Michigan, Washington DC, the Southside Aldermans of Chicago, Il, Baltimore Md, Charles Rangel in Harlem, NY and many others. Black Americans have in the past been burned with their monolithic voting. Burned where they either don’t vote or are cautious to the point of paranoia and apophenia. This is the burden the Obama camp, in my opinion; they don’t see this as an issue as long as he is draped in a cloak of tasty goodness of Godliness and Black face. And that is the Black burden because deep down, I mean really deep down, Blacks know but will not speak loudly about it, Barak Obama is more of a “multiculturalists” than bi-racial or even Black in his politics and his bid for president shows this as clear as daylight. To get on board the Barak Obama train, you’ll have to leave your baggage of being Black, African-American and Afrocentric and claim your ticket as being an American and that too is a burden as well for many. It’s a shame that we can’t afford to hitchhike this one out.

DUALITY OF CHOICE

“I only know Evil after the fact.”


These words, a powerful statement from any one person who speaks it freely and without restrain. Depending on the situation or circumstances, this statement can fall from the lips of you or I. Many civilizations from ancient to modern have varying beliefs for the concept of Evil, the importance of knowing and understanding it, knowing and understanding it as equal to the belief of God and the meaning of life. We know that all the perceptions of Man have meaning and or purpose but Evil is at the core of mankind’s existence, the left side of the human base and with Good hosting the right side keeping balance. We may call it the duality of the human spirit, the concept of choice, the conscious mind, the Ying and Yang, regardless of the noting, every human being on the planet knows Evil but not its purpose. At what point do we know when people are pursuing Evil, what are the beginning steps towards Evil? Is Evil a state of mind or a state of being? Is Evil genetic, a concept of a primal, splinted spirit of Man before words could describe emotions and desire? Evil as generic as detonating a cheaper and less potent manifestation of something more powerful than a heavenly Being, the falling not only from grace but away from the unknown to the known or vice versa? These questions all have perplexed Man from devout to methodical since the concept of intellectual thought was practiced. One thing is for sure, Evil does exist and as such, Man is responsible and compelled to understanding this specific part of his nature.

So why is it that Man only knows Evil after the fact?
 

The answer is simple. Evil is an extension of who he or/she is; Evil is a fraction of the being that which created it. For the religious, this could mean a holy deity and for the non-religious it is a product of man’s influence on the World from the inner-self upon the external World. Regardless, Evil is an extension of Man and places it as an action tied to emotions and or reactions from external circumstances outside his control. Some would even argue that Evil stems form Man’s lack of control of his external environment.

For the religious, Evil is an old fashion concept based upon what is known (i.e. The Devil). In the traditional or modern World, Evil is what one accepts, those influences that are both direct and indirect in degrees such as Man’s practice of slavery, politics or capitalism. Then there is evil (small “e”) that is created by Man and often is besieged in bias such as cults, prostitution and pornography, commercial rap to heavy metal music, television and film.

Regardless of how one defines Evil, like all things, you have to understand its origins, the point of its source which leads back to the day Man was created either by a convergence of random celestial events or by GOD. The moment Man was given the gift of choice and or evolved out of his DNA and began to practice it for survival. The how’s and why’s are as diverse as Man’s rebellion to his creator, an ancient virus or infection, the curse or act of selfishness or Man’s curiosity for wanting to know more than he should know. In the end, the concept of Evil, as perplexed as human nature, is his desire to get answers on a “need to know” bases and that in itself seemed to be Man’s first sin; his pursuit of “knowledge”.

Does man really want to know what Evil is?

This is the 1 trillion dollar question to which there is no straight answer. Man is afraid of knowing what Evil is yet it’s a mystery that compels him to know. Again, this is the duality of Man’s nature. It’s the mystery that gives Mankind its purpose for deep down, Man recognizes that to know Evil is the one final answer removed from knowing what GOD is. And this is the base premise of most religions; especially for Christians, Hebrews and Muslims, “Evil” the first real sin of Man. There are variation to the statement which can be found in Hebrew and Islamic text that, "Those whom study Evil are studied by Evil” rings deep as a path of personal destruction. Broadening the argument, if one pursues the path of understanding Evil, one eventually become Evil is a warning that grips Man in fear and yet he still wants to know. Again, this is the far extreme of knowing the rapture of his existence, the duality of his nature.

I choose to be Good or Evil on purpose?

Like choice, we argue that within our duality, Man can choose his Evil. His moral and physical evils we see and experience daily in varying degrees. Be it stealing, the actions of one’s sexual practices, the taking of life for self-defense or pleasure, the choice to live without spiritual guidance, running for political office or the actions of greed, it's within Man’s ability to choose that defines how he dances with the Devil or about the role that Evil may play in his life. The same can be said about his Goodness. This is why benign intentions are often the greatest of Evils or when Man’s “good intentions” cause Evil actions. We know throughout history Man’s good intentions have condemned many to servitude, slavery, disease, genocide and it has often pushed the very good into living in perpetual poverty and modern concentration camps. These are the “good intentions” of the healthy, limiting the rights of people whom suffer with disease and illness or just being from another tribe. The choice to support the capitalizing of basic needs and the support of those things deemed dangerous to one’s well being (weapons of mass and limited destruction, drugs and alcohol, prioritizing educational standards, racial arrogance, dictating family structures or expanding choice without moral and ethical attachments). Some would argue that the cousin of Evil is “The Good Intention”.

No longer is the face of Evil painted in a traditional portrait of Hiroshima, Hitler, Weapons of Mass Destruction, American Slavery, White Supremacy, Apartheid, Somalia, Katrina, or a tiny town in Louisiana named Jena, but in the subtle preaching of segregated religion, a smile at the next door neighbor, the needing to know what happens behind closed doors of the person across town, the silence one has during a crime, the lack of ambition to search for the truth or even in questioning authority are the small evils that play vastly among a society.

The roll of Evil is a character in Man's personal play in life.

In the contemporary, Evil is Man made. This is only confined by his individual actions of “good intentions” and unconscious acts of Group-think. Like sheep, Man follows the leader no matter his/her credentials, as long as the leader has Good Intentions and takes steps in a direction to be followed. Evil (Big E) has stopped becoming a theory of religious significance and became more of a seed of doubt in the human condition, often cultivated by those whom "Shepard" it in the form of fear.

Gay Rights, Affirmative Action, Race and Cultural Bias, Crime and the Prison System, Gun Control, Universal Health Care, Islam and Terrorism are now the roots of Evil that has besieged the Western World and America, and to be honest, I can only recall these terrors becoming apparent in the past few years. How did this evil replace the Devil of say, the Exorcists or Damien; the child Anti-Christ; that evil Omen kid? I think as we became more sophisticated in our understanding of the modern world we have accepted collectively that a “Devil” would have far less appeal in destroying our sense of Self but to imagine the loss of an American way of life would be a far greater Evil; God fearing at best. The very thought of having to live like the people we have exploited for an American way of life would require an Exorcists of great repute to get rid of.

I recently heard this statement and gave pause to it, “Freedom Requires Religion and Religion Requires Freedom”. A very influential Religious leader recently spoke it as it related to America’s role in the Middle East and how our political candidate’s religious positions mattered. I’ll have to say that I am still contemplating this quote deeply but for right now I can say that on the surface, as it relates to the notion of Evil, if “freedom” is anything like choice, and “religion” is that which can save Man from Evil, then how we choose our freedom will very much determine our Goodness since we are currently determining which religion can foster and grow that in our nation. Be it the varied Christian faiths, the Judean and Islamic faiths or the Agnostics, they all make bids to exists in a free society to ultimately influence that freedom in order to exist. And within the “good (God) intentions” of all of the above, what direction will they take Mankind.

As I stated earlier, Evil is an extension of who he/she is; evil is a fraction of the being that which created it, and as one with “good intentions” why can’t Man make a conscious choice to ask the real questions, "What is it that I want, and is it wrong to want it?” This is the true nature of Evil, The Need To HAVE. When you can get to the core truth from that and those that worship "Evil"; the genuine “choice” of Man, we can get to the “needs to have God intentions" and become that much closer to the final answer removed from knowing what GOD is thus the statement, "The Road to Hell is often paved by GOOD intentions".