Author Archives: The Melanin Man

a repost: House Passes Bill Allowing Government to Microchip Citizens With “Mental Disabilities”

by in Politics from a Black-Concious Perspective, Randomness..., Reposts | 21 Comments

Article posted on Activist Post (click link for original)

 

Is this shit serious??? I may have to turn my “U.S. citizenship” verrryyy soon (I’ve been contemplating that anyways.) I be damned if I ever have a microchip placed on me. Wake up, fam!

 

microchip-true-activist

By Whitney Webb

Six years ago, NBC Nightly News boldly predicted that all Americans would be fitted with RFID microchips by the year 2017. Though, at the time, NBC’s prediction seemed far-fetched, the House recently passed a bill that would bring a microchipped populace closer to reality before year’s end.

Last Thursday, the House passed HR 4919, also known as Kevin and Avonte’s Law, which would allow the US attorney general to award grants to law enforcement for the creation and operation of “locative tracking technology programs.” Though the program’s mission is to find “individuals with forms of dementia or children with developmental disabilities who have wandered from safe environments,” it provides no restriction on the tracking program’s inclusion of other individuals. The bill would also require the attorney general to work with the secretary of health and human services and unnamed health organizations to establish the “best practices” for the use of tracking devices.

Those in support of the legislation maintain that such programs could prevent tragedies where those with mental or cognitive disabilities wandered into dangerous circumstances. Yet, others have called these good intentions a “Trojan horse” for the expansion of a North American police state as the bill’s language could be very broadly interpreted.

“While this initiative may have noble intentions, ‘small and temporary’ programs in the name of safety and security often evolve into permanent and enlarged bureaucracies that infringe on the American people’s freedoms. That is exactly what we have here. A safety problem exists for people with Alzheimer’s, autism and other mental health issues, so the fix, we are told, is to have the Department of Justice, start a tracking program so we can use some device or method to track these individuals 24/7,” Representative Louie Gohmert (R-TX) said in a floor speech opposing the bill.

Gohmert’s assessment is spot-on. Giving local police the authority to decide who is microchipped and who is not based on their mental soundness is a recipe for disaster. Though the bill specifically mentions those with Alzheimer’s and autism, how long before these tracking programs are extended to those with ADHD and bipolar disorder, among other officially recognized disorders.

Even the dislike of authority is considered a mental disorder known as “Oppositional Defiant Disorder,” which could also warrant microchipping in the future. If these programs expand unchecked, how long will it be before all Americans are told that mass microchipping is necessary so that law enforcement and the government can better “protect” them?

Many Americans have been content to trade their liberties for increased “security” in the post-9/11 world, particularly when the State uses these talking points. Yet, as Benjamin Franklin once said, “those who surrender freedom for security will not have, nor do they deserve, either one.”

a repost: The Psychological Dimensions of Plantation Politics

by in Politics from a Black-Concious Perspective, Reposts | 2 Comments

Article posted on ThyBlackman.com (click link for original)

 

plantation-politics

 

Here’s a secret the white establishment will never tell you in the public: So-called American Negroes who attack and disparage their own, in order to seek social, political or economic favor, are regarded as nothing more than tools to be wielded by their handlers. By default, Blacks who eagerly disgrace themselves, out of hunger for a perceived benefit by doing so, have automatically disqualified themselves from such benefits, both morally and ethically. Not only because they have sold their souls for so cheap a price, but also because power does not respect what it bends, Black public figures claiming leadership, at the expense of truth, will never be respected by those to whom they have submitted and compromised their principles.

It doesn’t take much of an imagination to understand the competitive nature of human beings when faced with scarcity. When access to the mechanisms for survival are at stake, and cynically regulated by external forces, the once proud and principled may now find themselves reduced to the status of a beggar, and the once faithful public servant, pimped out like a political prostitute, will ultimately find himself with neither friend nor helper.

With that said, part of white elite’s century’s long war on Black self-determination, Black liberation, and Black personhood, has been a deliberate effort to create the non-threatening and defeated Black male image as a balm to placate white fears. Today, white America’s “approved” image of the Black man continues to be the docile, obedient and emasculated caricature of a faithful retainer and longsuffering plantation loyalist.

Such unrealistic, “Gone With the Wind,” interpretations of Black personhood are not only an insult to the memory of our enslaved ancestors, but also an assault upon the legacy of the Black struggle in the United States. Should those who endured the terror of lynching, the humiliation of economic exploitation and the intentional undermining of Black progress now become deferential to the white liberal, as they once were to the white conservative? Emphatically no!

Although the end of Black enslavement allegedly came with the December 6, 1865 ratification of the 13th Amendment to the US Constitution, 151 years later, among both the Jews and the Gentiles of the white elite, a mentality of proprietorship still exists regarding the lives of Black people in American politics. While this is perhaps understandable, that the white elite prefer to not lose the power they have gained as masters over the land they conquered, what is indeed unfortunate is the eager willingness of some in Black leadership to collaborate as plantation politicians.

Trauma and the of conditioning Black leaders

Defined as a noun, trauma means: “a deeply distressing or disturbing experience.” Within this context, many examples of extreme trauma against Black Americans have been officially documented by historians and/or passed on as oral histories among Black families. As a society’s culture is subsequently shaped by geographic, social and psychological factors, the behaviors and interactions of a people among themselves and others is likewise influenced by the same.

Taking into account the 300 plus years history related to coercive motivation, or motivation by fear, on plantations, underground mines, and the slave breeding-farms of pre-Civil War America, life for millions of enslaved Black men, women and children was to toil under the systematic horrors of violence and terror on a daily basis. An environment where Blacks were legislatively reduced to the status of beasts of the field, the lash, sexual violence and the destruction of the family unit were all used as tools for control. Particularly in the wake of the Haitian Revolution between 1791 and 1804, that gave birth to the world’s first Black republic, the means and methods of suppressing Black resistance became more creative and brutal.

For enslaved American Blacks, the social contract in the United States demanded absolute obedience, recognition of the “inherent superiority of whites,” or death and other punitive measures as the consequence for refusing to comply. On the other hand, for Whites, the rule was for Blacks to obey them without question and to recognize the inherent inferiority of their “less than fully human chattel,” who had no legal or political rights whatsoever.

After the Compromise of February 26, 1877, which ended the deadlock between Samuel J. Tilden and Rutherford B. Hayes in the disputed 1876 elections for the US presidency, federal troops occupying southern states were removed and the protections previously afforded the formerly enslaved Black populations were withdrawn. Opening the doors to a second wave of terrorism, rape, lynching and murder, Blacks were driven from political office, imprisoned in large numbers and returned to the plantations as share-croppers relegated to peonage by racism and heavily weighted state’s rights legislation.

As the 19th century gave way to the 20th century, the psychology of fear continued to afflict America’s Black populace as many fled north and west seeking refuge. Only to find the cruelty of the white Southerner replaced by the exploitation and deception of the white Northerner, the new social contract of go-along-to-get-along politics and non-economic liberalism, as established and advocated by the white founders of the NAACP, other philanthropic whites and the federal government itself, began to dismantle the concept of industry, entrepreneurship, land ownership and nationhood among the Black masses.

Today, like in slavery and Jim Crow yesterday, strong and unapologetic Black leadership is once again feared, condemned and dismissed, and like the house Negro seeking to secure a more comfortable position within the established order, or Judas and his 30 pieces of silver, there is no depth to which the plantation politician will not stoop to seek nearness, favor, and recognition by his modern handlers. Instead of hoping for a good master to inherit the plantation, over a bad master that inherits the plantation, Black leadership must now recognize that day of nation building has arrived and that era of plantation politics is over.

Staff Writer; William P. Muhammad

To my Melanin-Dominant family, WE ARE THE TRUTH!!

by in Everything Melanin, Food for Thought, Having a Moment, Randomness... | 3 Comments

truth-dubstep

 

From the Melanated Man:

When we were in grade school, we were taught to references our sources for research papers, opinion pieces, etc. etc. etc.! First reason was to avoid any plagiarizing charges. The second reason was to provide credibility to the argument you were presenting. The third reason is sort of connected with the third reason: to give credit to those sources you have chosen to reference.

Well, where am I going to with this? 

Most of those sources I presume were written by mostly Europeans scholars, scientists, and philosophers who were groomed in the Western train of thought. If you were lucky to credit sources who were “P.O.C.” (people of color), nine times of ten they were probably groomed in the same train of thought as well.

So if your position/stance challenged the standard Western philosophy, you were hard pressed to find reinforcements (see: references, sources) to back up that position.

When it comes to African history in regards to the culture, health & wellness, the math and sciences, astrology+cosmology and cosmogony, melanin and much, much more, in this day and age it is viewed from the lens of the European/Western perspective. Any other perspective, specifically the African perspective, is met with ridicule and suspicion. If it doesn’t suit the agenda the-powers-that-be have created for the masses than it is considered “pseudo-sciences” or a “conspiracy theory.”

The evidence of  our rich African history, the history of the  Melanin-Dominant of this planet, has been trashed and/or stolen by those who seek to hide the truth from a people who have long to liberate themselves from the clutches of Massa. So it does appear that we can only trust, go off the word of the European/Caucasian, the Melanin-Recessive, P.O.V.

Keyword: appear

So what can we, first on an individual level and onward collectively, do to uncover the truths we know exist concerning our people? What’s that verse, it may be a Bible verse…

So above, as below…I think it’s Matthew 6:7-13 somewhere.

Simply put, WE ARE THE TRUTH! THE TRUTH LIES WITHIN US!

Memory moment: I remember my mom used to yell these words at me when she accused me of fibbing to her, “Boy, you a lie and the truth ain’t in ya!” I’m pretty sure some of your if not most of you have heard that before from your mom.

I hate to say this, Ma, but you didn’t know what the heck you were talking about haha! (sorry, Ma,  please don’t hurt your son!) The truth is in me.

And you, too, my fellow Melanin-Dominant friend!

We originated from a people who were the originators on this planet! We have the truth and knowledge encoded in our DNA, in our melanin, to move forward as a people and to bring balance on this planet, in every way imaginable. That’s the gift we’ve been fortunate enough to be endowed with.

They can shoot us down in streets, poison our food and water supply, regulate us to minority status, dilute and alter our DNA through race-mixing or whatnot.

“We’re not going ANYWHERE!!”

Don’t get me wrong, it’s a huge, tremendous responsibility to carry. But we wouldn’t have been gifted this gift if we couldn’t handle it. Most of us, of course, don’t realize what we have and we throw that gift, wasting our lives serving a Massa who leaches off that gift and our ignorance of it for its own survival. That quote by Ma, and probably many other mothers like her, should be directed towards Massa, Melanin-Recessive individuals who take pride and seek to protect this deadly parasitic white supremacist, capitalistic, consumerist…

(I can go on and on…)

…system and society that does not benefit anyone else but them! Just as I mentioned before, they have to steal/leach from others, us, to survive! Their actions speak for itself.

Once we understand the knowledge we contain, we prove it with our daily actions, ultimately our lives. What did Jesus (omg!) in the Bible?

I am the LIVING SACRIFICE!

WE ARE LIVING SACRIFICES! TO KEEP THIS PLANET IN BALANCE AND PEACE!

Collectively as a group, that is our God-given purpose and mission. Plain and simple.

Despite its many, many flaws (propagated by King James and those of his ilk obviously) that Bible does contain a whole lot of truth in it.

This post may sound like a long-winded way of saying everyone has their own truth; trust me it’s not. At the end of the day the truth of our lives should ultimately be in line, in accordance with the truths of the universe set by the Almighty Creator, the God and the Goddess.

So when you, those in my Melanin-Dominant family who understand  truth of it all, run into individuals and a system trained in the Western/Europeans philosophy of thought that seek to cause confusion and strife in this plane of existence for you, stand tall and grounded always and remember this quote…

“I am the way, the truth, and the life….”

John 14:6

…and to my non-Bible readers…

“Be true to yourself at all times!”

“The truth will set you free!”

 

It’s too, simple isn’t it?!

 

Peace and Love to my melanated family,

The Melanin Man

 

Also check out:

When Consumption Changes, “The Matrix” Will Fall

More Melanin, brought to you by “The Melanated Man”

“There is no such thing as race…just Melanin baby!”

a repost: Study: African-Americans Have Stronger Immune Systems Than Whites

 

 

 

 

The Melanin Man’s Personal Interpretation of the Race Chart

by in Everything Melanin | 10 Comments

From the Melanated Man:

In a previous post I mentioned I would create my own terms in regards to race and melanin. That last couple of posts I have dibbled and dabbled with it but I’m making it official with this one. Just to reiterate, my purpose, my own personal purpose, in doing this is to break the chain of identifying myself and others by color. I do not feel comfortable identifying myself and others by a nation/country (or continent in regards to Africans, Africans in Diaspora) either.  I do not believe or adhere to nationalism, another one of those -isms that creates a false sense of pride and security.

This is my effort in rewiring my brain, so to speak.

I like to think of myself as a low-key scientist. Hell, I spent (well, currently paying off) over $55,000 in school loans to attain a degree in  civil engineering,so I wouldn’t be off-based to make that claim of myself haha!When it comes down to the biology and Kemet-stry, the science of it all, the seen and the unseen, there is an obvious difference between the races.

So here we go.

(Note: my interpretation practically goes hand and hand with this one.)

Group #1: The Melanin-Dominant (picture order: Africans, Aboriginals, Africans in Diaspora)

african-kidsaboriginal-menafrican-americanjamaica

 

Group #2: The Melanin-Lite (Mexicans, Malaysians, Native Americans, Japanese,various Oriental)

mexicansmalaysiannative-americansjapanese-peopleAR3DB9

 

Group #3: The Melanin-Recessive (Caucasians, Europeans)

whitepeople

 

So there you have it, simple as that. From now on, I will do my damnedest not fall back in the habit of color coding the races+calling out nationalities. I’m still a work in progress so work with me.

 

Peace and Love to my melanated family,

The Melanated Man

 

 

 

“42 Challenges Among [the] Melanin-Rich Population”

by in Uncategorized | 9 Comments

 

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From the Melanated Man:

Do one of these challenges apply to you?

 

Taken from Deanne Meaningall’s Living: The Melanin Diet:

 

  1. We identify exclusively with our body and our mind convinces us that we are mortal beings.
  2. We have abandoned spiritual divine ancient principles and settle for religion.
  3. We are void from the true rhythm of life; the heartbeat of Creation.
  4. We are ignorant (prefix is to ignore) to the reality of global events.
  5. We do not ingest food with the inner standing that proper nutrition is key.
  6. We believe that as melanin-rich people, the sunrays are harmful to us.
  7. We are convinced that our “Savior” is outside of self.
  8. We believe that we die when our spirit dies.
  9. We believe we are measured by the things we have in the material realm.
  10. We believe that we must live from a place of either hatred and or fear.
  11. We believe that we must emulate the drama we see on television.
  12. We believe most of what we hear, see and are told, not what we read.
  13. We believe that as a group, we are collectively living well in this country.
  14. We believe that our thoughts, actions and beliefs are all on autopilot.
  15. We believe that by ignoring our condition it will magically disappear.
  16. We believe that we are inferior.
  17. We believe that we have been cursed, especially because “it is in the Bible.”
  18. We believe and further support by our actions the “crabs in the barrel” theory.
  19. We believe that lighter skin and straighter hair is better.
  20. We believe drugs of any kind will heal us.
  21. We believe that our Creator is away from us, perhaps in heaven.
  22. We believe that we do not learn from our elders and they have been cast aside.
  23. We believe that everything around us really exists.
  24. We believe that judging others is a righteous act.
  25. We believe that Africans learned from the Greeks.
  26. We believe that women are inferior to men.
  27. We believe that we must be fearful of everything, including God.
  28. We believe that it is okay to speak better to our pets than with our children.
  29. We believe in an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.
  30. We believe that the kingdom of God is in heaven and not within.
  31. We believe that we live [in] a righteous country.
  32. We believe it is appropriate for our children [to] eat fast food.
  33. We believe it is acceptable for more men to be in prison than college.
  34. We believe that our lives have improved tremendously since being in the U.S.
  35. We believe that as a group, living without a national and global plan, is viable.
  36. We believe that it is ok to accept corrupt religious leaders in the pulpit.
  37. We believe that being apathetic is a good thing.
  38. We believe it is ok that we have very little to show from our 450 years in the USA.
  39. We believe that more and more things will bring us happiness.
  40. We believe that we are NOT hypnotized by the vices of this world.
  41. We believe that to be alive, we must be preoccupied with the daily distractions.
  42. We believe that we are disconnected from everyone and everything around us.

 

At some point or another, we have  had to deal with the majority of these challenges in one form or another. Number 37 really hit home for me. Most of my life I had been the “I don’t care, it don’t really matter” kind of guy and I still am for the most part. But lately I have learned to speak of on topics that I feel real strongly about regardless of the blowback I may incur. I’m still a work in progress but eventually I will learn to strike a balance.

Number 32 is really embarrassing for me since I preach healthy eating throughout this blog. Old habits die hard I tell you. I’m learning to break that habit with my kids , and to a lesser extent myself included. I must admit occasionally I like me some french fries. It’s gotta be the salt; it’s a addicting I tell you!

I’m pretty sure we could add to this list of challenges; it’s not the end-all, be-all list. But it’s very comprehensive and understandable. Share with others, let’s overcome these challenges and others not listed in our own individual lives so that we can overcome and move forward collectively as a group, as the Melanin-Dominant people we should operate as.

Let’s get to it, folks!

 

Peace and Love to my melanated family,

The Melanated Man

a repost: Gucci Mane 2016 was something to remember

by in Did You know?, Eating to Die vs. Eating to Live, Randomness..., Reposts | 3 Comments

 

Article posted on ThyBlackMan.com (click link for original)

I’m not a big rap fan nor do I even keep with the current state of the genre (or ANY genre for that matter in this day in age), but I found this very inspiring. I was impressed not with the change Gucci Mane made detailed by the article, but also the change the writer made himself. I can relate 1000 times over! It’s good to see others like myself, and maybe some you reading this, have struggles that mirror my very own and overcome them with huge success. 

Makes me tear up a little…

 

123gucci-mane-2016

 

In 2015, I was a 23 year old workaholic who was 274-78 pounds and quite unhealthy. I ate out at least four times a week and didn’t get any sleep because of anxiety issues. I relied on food as a coping mechanism to deal with the rigors of working 11 hours a day. While of course it tasted good, I didn’t realized the effect it was having on my body mentally and physically. A trip to the doctor on June 13th 2015 changed me, as I realized I was unhealthy and unfit. I went on a rampage that summer, working out every single day while eliminating processed foods every day but Saturday. 20 pounds slowly turned into 30, 30 into 50 and 50 into where I sit today, 211 pounds with 60 plus pounds lost altogether. I changed my life physically, which altered my dynamics mentally. Looking back, I would do it all again if I could see how I’ve impacted the lives of others.

Which is why Gucci Mane’s weight loss, a number one record in Black Beatles with rap duo Rae Sremmurd and abandonment of drug and alcohol use is a testament of how far he’s come in rehabbing his body and his mind. There was a time Gucci Mane posed as a 280 pound behemoth; frightening, scary, diluted and drugged out. He had classic records and the pop culture vultures who roam websites such as Complex, Noisey and Pitchfork were fascinated by him.

But inside, he was a wreck; relying on drugs and alcohol to stimulate his mind and spirit for 17 years. He readily admitted he was a drug addict, marijuana, alcohol, ecstasy, prescription pills and cough syrup were his drugs of a choice. It made him numb, non existent. Rap’s boogieman made a fortune not being true to himself. The drugs and his erratic behavior landed him in prison for his longest stint; two-and-a-half years starting in 2013.

Gucci Mane used prison to rehab his mind and body. The withdrawals from drugs hurt him at first, but soon, his mind would get stronger. He worked out, read and prayed, shedding the weight and getting rid of the belligerent rapper tag that preceded him previously. When he was released in May of this year, his drastically different appearance made fans question whether or not Gucci was cloned. What comes off as a insult, was taken as a testimony of the power of self-help, therapeutic resources by Gucci Mane.

The moral of this article, is that we all have the power to change ourselves if we really wanted to. It’s easy to stay in a comfort zone where our reality is filled with feel-good, easy and no challenges. It’s hard to look yourself in the mirror and say you need to change. With change comes with being uncomfortable and being uncomfortable brings over-thinking and self-doubt. But once you break through those self-imposed walls, the road to change begins. Gucci Mane could have been the rapper we loved when he was released in May; an overweight druggie whose erratic behavior was a byproduct of his addictions.

He could have still been the rapper whose insecurities were clouded by his tough-man act. Instead, he decided to change and reinforce a new identity. One who works out, eats healthy, reads and speaks English so fluent he sounds Harvard-educated. He decided he was going to change his mind to change his life. And if you’re struggling with addictions and vices you feel you can’t break, remember that Gucci Mane did it. So you can, too.

Music Editor; Brad Washington

a repost: This Traveling Blues Musician is Befriending Members of the KKK, But Not for the Reasons You Think

by in Randomness..., Reposts | 11 Comments

Article posted on Atlanta Blackstar (click link for original)

This is quite interesting…

 

daryl-davis-kkk-1-300x169

By

Tanasia Kenney

December 9, 2016

A photo of a Black man gladly shaking hands with a Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard is enough to raise a few eyebrows. Critics have called him crazy for trying to befriend members of the notorious hate group, but blues musician Daryl Davis remains undeterred in his quest to change the hearts and minds of white bigots.

According to the Los Angeles Times, Davis, a traveling blues musician who’s played with the likes of Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis, has spent the past few decades collecting over a dozen Klan robes from members who’ve disavowed their white supremacist views. Now, a documentary chronicling his idealistic journey is set to debut in Los Angeles on Friday, Dec. 9.

The film, “Accidental Courtesy” by director Matt Ornstein, follows Davis as he travels to Confederate memorials, churches and even Klansmen’s homes to try and inform white supremacists of the history of Blacks in America, while opening their eyes to the unnecessary hatred they’ve harbored toward African-Americans for so long.

His goal? To find ways of coming together as a nation, especially during this trying time of heightened racial tensions between Black and white Americans. For the musician, fostering tough conversations about race is a major part of fighting racism.

“How can you hate me when you don’t even know me?” Davis asks in the film. “Look at me and tell me to my face why you would lynch me.”

With frustrated Americans still reeling from the recent back-to-back shootings of unarmed Black men by police and the inflammatory nationalist rhetoric that propelled Donald Trump to the U.S. presidency, many could argue that this is one of the most divisive times in our nation’s history. Over 1,000 hate crimes and acts of intimidation have happened since the election, but Davis said this isn’t history repeating itself; rather, it’s history that never went away.

“I did not vote for Donald Trump and I do not support him, but I believe that Trump is the best thing to happen to this country in a long time,” Davis said in an interview. “He’s bringing out the country’s ugliness. There’s no turning a blind eye anymore.”

Naturally, critics of Davis’ idealistic outlook on repairing race relations has ruffled a few feathers, prompting push back from the Black community. One of the robe-collecting Black man’s critics is a well-known activist out of Baltimore named Kwame Rose, who marched through the city streets following the death of Freddie Gray.

“Infiltrating the Klan ain’t freeing your people,” says Rose during a sit-down with Davis in the film. “You’re uneducated about the reality of most of the people who look like you. … Stop wasting your time going to people’s houses who don’t love you, a house where they want to throw you under the basement. White supremacists can’t change.”

Even members of the NAACP have chewed him up and spit him out.

“[He said] ‘You know, we’ve worked hard to get 10 steps forward,’” Davis recalls. “‘Here you are sitting down with the enemy having dinner. You’re putting us 20 steps back.’”

So why the fascination with getting white supremacists to change their ways?

In a sit-down with The Atlantic last year, Davis chronicled his early childhood overseas, as well as his first brush with discrimination in the U.S. He recalled having cans, bottles and rocks thrown at him during a Massachusetts Boy Scouts march in 1968, as he was the only Black scout there. Years later, the head of the American Nazi Party came in as a speaker to his 10th-grade class, telling him, “We’re going to ship you back to Africa. And all you Jews out there are going back to Israel. If they don’t leave voluntarily, they will be exterminated in the coming race war.”

And that’s when his interest in everything race related was piqued.

In the years since his journey began, Davis has joined an all-white country band, attended KKK rallies and accepted a “certificate of friendship” from the Traditionalist American Knights of the KKK, The Los Angeles Times reported. He’s even the godfather of former Klan Imperial Wizard Roger Kelly’s granddaughter.

Kelly was one of the first to extend his hand and hand over his robe to Davis when he quit the Klan. Twelve other ex-Klansmen followed suit, according to The Atlantic. The blues musician said he hopes to one day showcase all of his collected Klan memorabilia in a “Museum of the Klan.”

Davis said he didn’t originally set out to “convert” white supremacists, only to foster discussion around race issues in order to put a dent in racism. He said some of them simply changed themselves after multiple conversations with him.

“The most important thing I learned is that when you are actively learning about someone else, you are passively teaching them about yourself,” Davis said. “So if you have an adversary with an opposing point of view, give that person a platform. Allow them to air that point of view, regardless of how extreme it may be.”

a repost: Big Government – The Reason You Need a License to Braid Hair

by in Politics from a Black-Concious Perspective, Randomness..., Reposts | 10 Comments

Article posted on Waking Times (click link for original)

 

African-Braids-3.png

Isaac Davis, Staff Writer

We live in a time when big government is such an ingrained part of our lives that it’s difficult for most people to comprehend what freedom even is. Bureaucracy has inserted itself into pretty much every nook and cranny of our lives, and today’s generations find it absolutely normal to pay taxes and fees for every little experience we have.

The spider web of government control can is seen in the system of state privileges we know as regulations, licenses and permits. Our lives must conform to these rules under penalty of law, which is always backed up by state violence. It wasn’t always this way.

Award-winning author Ursula K. Le Guin recently said in a National Book Awards speech:

“We will need writers who can remember freedom. Poets, visionaries—the realists of a larger reality.”

This is too true, for nowadays, even small and relatively insignificant moments of human interaction are supervised by big brother and the nanny state. Case in point, the centuries old tradition and skill of African hair braiding, which now an officially state-sanctioned activity for anyone seeking to offer their expertise in this area to someone who is willing to pay for this service.

Recently, a U.S District Court Judge in Missouri ruled that in order to offer this service to other human beings you must be a licensed cosmetologist.

To be a licensed cosmetologist in Missouri you must complete 1500 hours of costly training, in which you learn absolutely nothing about African style hair braiding, a technique which uses no chemicals and is of zero risk to the stylist or to the customer.

“In other words, the licensing requirement is an arbitrary and unnecessary obstacle that prevents would-be African-style hair-braiders from earning a living in a totally harmless occupation. By contrast, to become a licensed emergency medical technician in Missouri, a job that legitimately impacts public health and safety, it requires just 100 hours of education.” [Source]

Essentially saying that this rule makes reasonable sense by simple virtue of the fact that it already is a government regulation, Judge John M. Bodenhausen issued an opinion on this important matter:

““This case,” Judge Bodenhausen declared, “illustrates the great deference that federal courts must show to government regulations under the rational basis standard.”

The rational-basis standard, also known as the rational-basis test, has its origins in the great vogue for judicial deference that swept the courts during the Progressive and New Deal periods. … So long as “the laws passed are seen to have a reasonable relation to a proper legislative purpose,” [the test said] the courts should defer to that regulation and assume that “the requirements of due process are satisfied.” Put differently, if lawmakers and government lawyers claim to have a “rational basis” for the regulation, the courts are supposed to whip out the rubber stamp.” [Source]

Regulations Gone Wild

People, especially statists and those suffering from stockholm syndrome, love to advocate for paying taxes, yet most people have almost no idea how much of their income goes to support government and its ever-growing bureaucracy. In addition to the obvious taxes such as the income tax (which is arguably unconstitutional, and conveniently garnished from our wages before we receive paychecks), state income tax, and sales taxes, there are literally dozens, if not hundreds of licensing schemes, required permits, entrance fees and so on that serve the same purpose as a tax.

This does not even mention the greatest tax of all, the invisible inflation tax‘ which continuously erodes the value of any money we have, thus undermining the value of our labor.

list-of-taxes-1

Final Thoughts

Why should someone be required by law to attend hundreds of hours of school and pay for a certification and license to earn a living doing something as simple and natural as braiding hair?

This type of thing will only get worse as we move headlong into a cashless society, where individuals have no means of transacting with one another without involving the government and third party agencies. Who among us will be around to remember the days of true freedom?

 

a repost: Study: African-Americans Have Stronger Immune Systems Than Whites

by in Randomness..., Reposts | 9 Comments

Hey, they don’t have to be “politically correct” with this information.

Just tell it like it is.

The Melanin-Dominant have superior temples, baby! This is nothing new, unless you’ve been sipping the Western philosophy nonsense (which most of us have our entire lives.)

Ho-hum, Ho-hum.

The truth always makes its way back to the surface one way or another. You can only hide and suppress it for so long. 

 Spread the knowledge. Let the truth set our people free!

 

Originally posted on Atlanta Blackstar (click link for original)

healthy-black-people-1-300x200
By Tanasia Kenney
November 22, 2016

Various scientific studies have shown that human populations respond differently to immune system challenges. But a newly published cell research study suggests that humans of African descent have a genetic advantage over their European peers.

According to findings from two studies published in the Journal Cell, people of African ancestry have a stronger immune response to infection than do people of European ancestry. The first-of-its-kind findings could lead researchers to future treatments in reducing chronic illness in African-Americans.

The first study, led by Luis Barreriro, assistant professor at the University of Montreal’s Department on Pediatrics, was conducted by extracting white blood cells from 175 Americans; 80 from African decent and 95 from European descent, DailyTech.com reports. Those cells were then injected with salmonella and listeria bacteria, as researchers monitored the response in a controlled lab environment.

Researchers found that almost 24 hours after infection, the white blood cells of Black Americans had destroyed the harmful bacteria three times faster than the white blood cells of European Americans did.

“The strength of the immune response was directly related to the percentage of genes derived from African ancestors,” Barriero said. “Basically, the more African you have in your genome, the stronger you’re going to respond to infection.”

The second study, which analyzed genetic differences in RNA sequencing between African and European genomes, found that the introduction of Neanderthal variations into the European genome resulted in decreased pro-inflammatory immune responses to infections of people of European ancestry. Researchers from the Pasteur Institute in France suspect that the genetic variations between African-Americans and whites can be traced to the fact that Neanderthals helped colonize Europe, not Africa, before they went extinct.

While both studies concluded that African-American immune systems are more effective at fighting off bacteria and infections, Barriero made sure not to label the immune systems of African descendants as “better” than ones of European descent. The downside to having a strengthened immune system is that leaves African-Americans susceptible to developing inflammatory auto-immune diseases like Lupus and Crohn’s disease, he noted.

“The genes and pathways we’ve identified constitute good candidates to explain differences we are seeing in disease between the two population groups,” Barriero stated. ” … Our results demonstrate how historical selective events continue to shape human phenotypic diversity today, including for traits that are key to controlling infection.’”

There’s been a long-held belief that African-Americans are genetically inferior to whites, highlighting the role that racial bias plays in the fields of medicine and science. Another study published earlier this year examined racism among medical professionals and its impact on disparate health outcomes between Black and white patients.

“Implicit bias and false beliefs are common — indeed, we all hold them — and it’s incumbent on us to challenge them, especially when we see them contributing to health inequities,” the report read.

Per DailyTech.com, future cell research studies will examine the influence of other factors like environment and behavior on differences in immune response. It’s hoped that future studies like the ones conducted by Barriero and French researcher Lluis Quintana-Murci of France’s Pasteur Institute will finally put these myths of Black inferiority to bed.

 

 

a repost: Fuck Work: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem? — Tales from the Conspiratum

by in Food for Thought, Politics from a Black-Concious Perspective, Randomness... | 3 Comments

Economists believe in full employment. Americans think that work builds character. But what if jobs aren’t working anymore? Source: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem? | Aeon Essays aeon.co James Livingston Pprofessor of history at Rutgers University in New York. He is the author of many books, the latest being No More Work: […]

via Fuck Work: What if jobs are not the solution but the problem? — Tales from the Conspiratum