Glenn Beck’s Black Founder’s Episode

By Nadra Enzi

I watched Glenn Beck’s special on the Black Founding Fathers last Friday.

While neither conservative or liberal I nonetheless entertain all discussions.

What I saw was a right wing, white wash complete with an attentive much more Black than usual audience.

This isn’t said with glee nor malice. Ironically, Beck’s conclusions about some major issues parallel my own. Different philosophies can arrive at the same conclusions upon occasion.

Even controlling for his being a middle aged White conservative with a well known agenda I still couldn’t cut him slack for that episode.

The Left’s critique of Black conservatives was on painful display as audience members sat through a skilled warping of their own history to suit a nationalism that still considers them subordinates.

I still hope against hope that the editing process was to blame.

Beck may be the color blind true believer he claims but the spin was at warp factor nine on this one!

Beck even had a Black professor on stage to complete the cast.

An otherwise illuminating episode about the American Revolution’s little known Black contributors morphed into yet another tired tirade against against the evils of progressivism.

The icing on the cake was his thesis that progressives wrote Black patriots out of the history books to ” make America look bad. ”

While the progressive tendency is to treat Black folks like dependent pets Beck overlooks the conservative urge to cage most of us like we’re rabid dogs deserving only policing and stricture.

Coming from the Conservative South I hate to tell Beck but it wasn’t hippies running the show there. His fellow conservatives there and nationally bleached; warped and outright deleted Black contributions in order to maintain a permanent servant class.

Having grown up under Jim Crow-Lite I know such attempted brain washing all too well.

If Beck wants to say he represents our generation’s more racially advanced Right this broadcast didn’t show it. While not a surly supremacist like Pat Buchannan, Becks’ earnest entreaties may lure supporters desperate for access to the Right’s inner sanctum.

I’m no fan of the Left with its crisp Klan sheets stamped ” D” for Democrat neatly tucked into paternal back pockets.

I’m also don’t embrace rigid conservatives whose ” R” label alternates between Republican and racist depending upon the speaker.

Neither ideology has moral superiority in my eyes. Both have dirty hands when it comes to my people.

That audience should have known better.

Beck’s objective was to gloss over conservative and liberal historic revisionism in order to focus solely upon liberal academic prejudice. The conservatives of that time up to this one are too comfortable with racism to be overlooked.

Modern liberal racists can at least create the illusion of inclusion while most conservatives can’t feel comfortable around any Black who doesn’t spout their line chapter and verse, i.e very few.

Nominally considered right of center I’ve interacted with numerous Black conservatives. While there’s a need for them, they’ve yet to sufficiently impact their own communities.

Being an Amen corner on Glenn Beck falls short of working in the community to address issues from the perspective they claim is so revolutionary.

I guess being on national TV is as intoxicating as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad’s warning to Malcolm X cautioned.

I even know some folks who were there and only hope informed commentary was left on the cutting room floor. Even watching the after show yielded nothing.

Otherwise the stereotype about Black conservatives wasn’t disproven by that episode.

Black America needs representation on that side of the aisle but it can’t only be for window dressing and definitely not acceptance.

NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-development. http://www.captblack.info

New Religious Jim Crow In America

By Nadra Enzi If you’re Black and Muslim in this country, you’ve been looking over your shoulder at least since September 11th. Historically that’s always been the case. Racists have always considered Muslims the worst threat to business as usual. That’s why recurrent domestic incarnations of the Crusades rear their pointy heads. The ” Religious ” Right has made it no secret that they hate Islam, not the terrorist branch, but any version of this way of life. Period. This sad spectacle is made even more so when Black folks join the fervor. Islam’s history in Black America is overwhelmingly one of liberation within a hostile society. We have set the standard for opposing discrimination and promoting dramatic self-development. The same racists who claim to be caretakers of the nation’s Judeo-Christian ( and Islamic ) heritage also treat their Black Christian brethren like second class citizens. The same applies to racists within Islam. Black Muslims have also been very vocal about prejudice among Arabs. As a group, we bow to God and none other. That stance doesn’t make it easy for those intent upon abusing you. While a friend calls me an unorthodox Muslim I am proud to be part of a way of life that can regularly offer the world epic figures like Noble Drew Ali; the Honorable Elijah Muhammad; Malcolm X; Muhammad Ali and others. Black folks should realize that our difficulties aren’t religious in nature. Being a majority Christian minority inside a majority Christian country still hasn’t stemmed the tide of injustice. Reformers have arisen to bridge gaps and in recent years some mainstream denominations have apologized for their avid support of slavery and Jim Crow. Conservative Black Christians should view the ” Religious ” Right agenda very cautiously. If American Muslims are defeated iby this latter day Crusade, the ” Religious ” Right sights once more return to their alleged brothers in Christ who happen to be another color. While not as obvious as Klansmen burning crosses, the ” Religious ” Right influencing the Republican Party possesses the same bigotry toward Black Christians; Jews and others who don’t make their narrow grade. They know they need Black faces to legitimize their latest appeal to bias so the recruitment drive is on! Faith; family and community are universal values Black Christians and Muslims share. We face the same broad culture; experience the same social changes and enjoy progress equally. In that light signing onto the ” Religious ” Right’s anti-Islamic agenda is as wrong as our Muslims joining Al Qeda factions. While the Black community isn’t a monolith it does agree on common concerns. That’s why listening to these dubious outsiders doesn’t benefit us. While concerned Muslims and Christian alike work to stem the tide of inner city violence and hopelessness the “Religious ” Right sits in judgment uptown. Their interest rests in an insular vision of their faith that folks like us would do well to avoid. For the record, as a safety rights activist I oppose domestic crime everyday. As a self-described MUST ” Muslim United Against Terror ” that should tell you my stance on terrorism, whether the perpetrator is a misguided Muslim; crazed Christian or whatever! Obviously, there are good conservative Christians in all communities. As a Black man and God conscious person I can’t say this applies to the current” Religious ” Right. To these jaundiced eyes, they represent little more than a new form of religious Jim Crow. Boys, your sheets are showing. NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-development. http://www.captblack.info

Being A Thug Is Too Expensive!

By Nadra Enzi

A favorite dead horse is deglamorizing thug behavior. It’s tiresome seeing folks shovel themselves into the criminal justice system and afterward cry foul. Never saw the benefit of badly playing hands dealt from  marked decks. Giving ourselves felony records and vacuuming money into correctional coffers is too costly. Instant access via crime information databases tells the tale too quickly. Simply, most low income people can’t afford to be thugs. Memo to thugs: step your game up to Wall Street status and ride from there.

Moral arguments to the side ( risky proposition ), the economic burden of criminal conduct should be stressed more. Especially in a down economy where jobs are few and far between. Self-employed folks should be acutely sensitive to how much crime costs. Ethical considerations are still paramount but many seriously heed the siren call of dollars and cents.

One misdeed allows police agencies; detention centers; judges; prosecutors; judges; defense attorneys; probation; parole; counselors, etc. to reach into your pockets- over and over again. Years worth create crime-induced poverty in turn producing vicious circles of continual offense. More offenses breed more financial penalties. Sympathy wanes against such self-destructiveness as community stakeholders cluck ” You should’ve known better. ” The more Old School dismiss them with a hissed ” Negro please! ” One segment of Black America stares in shock at crime dramas that is life for inner city residents. A noteworthy cliche’ is we’re not a monolith. Black folks who don’t live urban thug culture are as confused by it as White peers across the railroad tracks. Practitioners of Black Dignity are frightened by this berserker mindset. The more activist become mentor and promote social programs. The rest hope and pray the ‘Hood won’t make their families headline news. As a group we’re at the unenviable juncture where urban thugs scare us just like they terrify White folks. This sad state of affairs costs us immeasurably.

Being scared of ourselves proves being a thug is simply too expensive. Economically and culturally.

NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-development. www.captblack.info and www.blogtalkradio.com/nadraenzi

Black Individualism: Leading Ourselves At All Costs!

I’m an Individualist. Picture a big black “I” on my chest.

Not a Conservative despite sharing alot of ideological resonance. Nor always Libertarian though it closely matches many core principles. Individual sovereignty is my main premise. Would-be slave masters need not attempt beachheads between these ears. Rigid policy checklists are tossed aside in favor of

independently conceived conclusions. We need more Black individualists. Too often secular and religious hucksters seek dominance over our thoughts. The historic temptation to control Black people is still seductive in this century. I’m always on guard against those offering leadership to supplant my own self-guidance.

“Thyself: The Newsletter of Black Individualism” was the 1990s brainchild of Sylvester Frazier. I was its regular contributor and together we championed Black people leading themselves to the exclusion of big faces in high places and others hungry for followers. I was able to get none other than fellow Savannahian US Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to send a congratulatory note which was printed. I don’t know where Sylvester is today but he deserves special recognition for advocating self-governance. Sadly, such advocacy is nearly unheard of in public debate. While human beings are communal creatures, the Black Individualist proposition offers the community more self-loving, self-directed folks than present. These more self-loving, self-directed folks can provide vital counter balance to customs and conduct undermining Black America daily.

Black individualism has one all important priority: leading ourselves at all costs. We know painfully well that those who don’t lead themselves are often mislead by others. As a lifestyle lived by millions Black individualism ulitmately means less crime; fewer broken homes; more productivity and more dignity.

Doesn’t sound like a bad trade off to me. All we have to do is lead ourselves at all costs!

NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-development. http://www.captblack.info and http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nadraenzi

He is a regular contributor to HipHopRepublican.com

President Obama and Black Male Starvation

At some point during this Bush-Obama non-economy I just went on automatic pilot, like many others. Friends tease me about being a survivalist but it was just dress rehearsal for this calamity. While always knowing how empty rhetoric about opportunity and prosperity was in zip codes like mine, when the door slams shut this soundly for so long it really brings truth home. Starvation became a daily personal companion. I took in someone who was evicted and shared what little I had with him. Black male starvation particularly seems a dominant feature of this cycle. I didn’t know electing one Black president man meant millions of others had to go hungry. Guess his Black voters missed the fine print. So here we are no closer to jobs or contracts than under Dubya. It seems Black men en masse are being punished by the free market because, ironically, a majority of White people put Obama in the White House. I guess the market is only free so long as one of us isn’t living inside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.?  That’s why his victory has always rung so hollow because brothers always get lost in the shuffle. This time it’s even worse than usual, which is pretty bad.

Obviously he isn’t the author of this crisis but I wonder does he think about us while dining at state dinners? Do the homeboys even rate a second thought as five star meals are served? Does the president realize many brothers either eat  canned food ( heating contingent upon ability to pay electric bills; rent; mortgage, etc. )  or try to hustle up a McChicken sandwich at the neighborhood McDonald’s? This non-economy has all but relegated Black men in cities like my home town to refugee status, only nobody is coming to the rescue. Worn out after countless job searches for non-existent employment; burned out by endless proposals ignored, unemployed; underemployed and self-employed Black men are going under for the last time in droves and I honestly wonder if the Brother-in-Chief cares? A McCain Administration with this attitude would face politically selective rioting in the streets.

My stomach and those of Black men locked out of jobs and contracts aren’t politically choosy. I didn’t vote for him so I have the empty pleasure of seeing my suspicions come to pass. Mr. President, Black men are starving more under your watch than during those of any reactionary predecessor from either party. We didn’t starve like this from Nixon’s ” benign neglect ” or Reaganomics. The first Bush term actually saw income tax rebate checks which he thereafter vaporized along with the Clinton budget surplus funding them.

If Black male starvation isn’t a national priority just let us know- at least some of us will still be around to hear it.

NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-development. http://www.captblack.info and http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nadraenzi

Sarah Palin: Beyond The Pale

Black folks are needed on both sides of the aisle in a predominately two-party system. Those in the Republican ranks need to mobilize against the Sarah Palin coronation before it’s too late. Cynical strategists feel she demonstrates that any White person regardless of denseness equals the current president. Racial overtones are readily apparent and would be funny were stakes not so high. Her brand of vapid conservatism, complete with crib notes on her palms, should frighten any Republican who’s ever argued America is a meritocracy. If this is the best the Far Right can offer, let’s disband the GOP and begin anew. How does Caucasian Conservative Party sound? Perhaps everyone else can join a Rainbow Republican Party? Black Republicans had better find their lost voices. Even the handful of party faithful among us hasn’t joined Palin’s parade. Her involvement with the recent Tea Party convention alone should spur immediate action, from chairman Steele forward. This august assemblage even applauded reinstating literacy tests!?!

She’s the last gasp of a mindset that cannot accept even a symbolic loss to Black people. The Obama election wasn’t a wild  ” Black Power ” revolt from a bad 60s B-movie. It proved the majority population will vote outside race when necessary. The Bush recession made Obama’s color secondary to promised economic relief. Governor Palin is an ethnic escapist dream where simple rural girls best slick urban intellectuals. The fact presiding over a convenience store seems beyond her is lost in transmission. This strategy all but assures the Republican Party being America’s ” non-Black ” party. That’s their right but it hands a large portion of the country over to Democrats with a bright blue bow atop it.

Smaller government. Lower taxes. Individual rights. Music to my ears. Striking up the band to play ” Hail To The Chief ” honoring a possible Sarah Palin White House victory is simply beyond the pale.

NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime prevention and self-development. http://www.captblack.info and http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nadraenzi

We Don’t Need No Black Superhero

By Nadra Enzi

“We don’t need a ( Black ) superhero!” is friend Stephen Biko’s warning about reliance on big names running big game on the community. Preachers hiding behind many faiths sink fangs into wallets, purses and minds nationally. Activists with a talent for manipulation wrap authentic need around equally authentic greed. Into this mess Stephen and I promote creating a Black superhero majority to loosen strangleholds from coast to coast. Waiting for the rich and shameless to have attacks of conscience means waiting in vain. Personal responsibility redirects power given to celebrities far and near. Injustice becomes a cottage industry for anyone cynical enough to play on legitimate grievances.

Pulling oneself up by the sneaker strings to champion yourself fires ” leaders ” anxious to keep you down. A Black community superhero mindset would knock alot of spokespersons from their pedestals. Into this vacuum steps millions of emancipated folks who can fight without marching orders from on high. Any emerging big names afterward would have a critical constituency on their heels. This allows us to rebuild from the streets up instead on suites down. Leadership comes from individuals governing themselves. Self-government is a new concept regarding African-Americans. Someone else has always loomed over independence. Variously this ” someone else ‘ has been White and also our own peers. When someone is pulling your strings, color is secondary to the string pulling. Puppet masters looking like us are worse than outsiders whose abuse is expected.

We don’t need another Black superhero. Black History Month 2010 is dedicated to creating a superhero majority that’ll think for itself and send slavemasters of any color packing. That’s why a Black superhero majority here and abroad.

NADRA ENZI AKA CAPT. BLACK promotes crime fighting and self-development.  To learn more click on the following links:   http://www.captblack.info and http://www.blogtalkradio.com/nadraenzi.