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Could there be a worse time in history, for a Black History Month? Let's see, if we open up the big book -- the one into which we log the newest additions to this illustrious month, I guess we'll have to pencil in Ferguson, because Ferguson..................... is the legacy of the ideology of Blackness in America.
In years to come, Black people will speak of it in much the same way as they remember the March on Washington. Of course, Michael Brown will replace, Dr. King as the champion of Blacks in America for what he accomplished, not as a wanna be thug who was shot for attacking a police officer and resisting arrest, but as a hero of justice and freedom in America -- the boy who started a movement!
The #HandsUpDon'tShoot movement? No. The #BlackLivesMatter movement?" No. He started, Another Dead Nigga who knew how to put merchandize into other Nigga's pockets Movement. People will say; "He laid down his life and sacrificed himself for others, so I could steal this new TV - this liquor - this iPhone, these diapers for my children!"
Perhaps White America will even allow themselves to be bullied into creating, Michael Brown Day as a paid holiday.
Perhaps White America will even allow themselves to be bullied into creating, Michael Brown Day as a paid holiday.
For the record, my name is Herman Williams III. I am a sculptor of fine cast bronze and sculptures made from 4gauge copper wire.
I have also produced television at the highest levels for nationally syndicated efforts like the Montel Williams Show, and others.
I would love to be invited to speak on this subject, but recognize that I am probably the least likely of individuals to be quoted on say, Dr. King's birthday or during Black History month, even though I believe my message is vital to the spirit and quite possibly the survival... of so-called Black people, as well as the state of race relations in this country going forward.
My message isn't just for Black people, it's for anyone trying to understand how we start planning for a future of uh... continued living together on the planet. Where else are we going to go to get away from each other?
The real problem in America, sorry to say, is powerful Black Baby-boomers like, Oprah and the so-called Black intelligentsia who continue to foist an ideology of blame and constantly looking backwards upon society and on our millennials. And now they're giving out free tickets to Selma... good lord!
Speaking of Oprah, I find it interesting that from 1986 when the Oprah Winfrey Show began, until around 1995 the last thing the show, or Oprah promoted was her Blackness. In fact, they did everything they could to build her reputation as 'Every woman's girlfriend," and avoid the discussion of race completely.
How did they accomplish this? Well, there's a little secret in the television business called, audience coordinators who are vital to the success of a show, in terms of branding and building the type of audience mandated by the producers of the show. Audience coordinators are responsible for every face the home viewer sees, sitting in the range of camera movements throughout the entire set. So if you want to create the illusion that a Black host is loved and adored by a more lucrative white audience, as far as advertisers are concerned, you make sure the home viewer sees a majority of white people sitting in the audience from the get-go.
Here's the proof: Clip from Oprah's first show
"How can audience coordinators know for sure the race of people calling in for tickets?"
Uh... well, that get's into another little secret about the talk show business, and audience coordinators -- they are skilled at pegging the race of a caller from their voices alone within 20-30 seconds.
Producers didn't have to be concerned with the numbers of Black people who would watch, because their participation was a given. Whites were the capital that made the Oprah Winfrey Show successful, not Black people. The point is, most people in America didn't either perceive, or believe it was important that Oprah was a Black woman hosting a talk show, but just a woman who everyone could relate to hosting a show.
So when you think about all the success she gained by minimizing her Blackness and embracing inclusiveness, then it makes you wonder how in the world she could possibly believe that promoting Blackness is good for anyone else.
It wasn't until she was incredibly successful that it didn't matter, and she could become Black again -- publicly, promoting an ideology that has been choking the very lifeblood of a people to death for the last fifty years.
Again: Blackness is not a fact, it is an ideology.
Speaking of Oprah, I find it interesting that from 1986 when the Oprah Winfrey Show began, until around 1995 the last thing the show, or Oprah promoted was her Blackness. In fact, they did everything they could to build her reputation as 'Every woman's girlfriend," and avoid the discussion of race completely.
How did they accomplish this? Well, there's a little secret in the television business called, audience coordinators who are vital to the success of a show, in terms of branding and building the type of audience mandated by the producers of the show. Audience coordinators are responsible for every face the home viewer sees, sitting in the range of camera movements throughout the entire set. So if you want to create the illusion that a Black host is loved and adored by a more lucrative white audience, as far as advertisers are concerned, you make sure the home viewer sees a majority of white people sitting in the audience from the get-go.
Here's the proof: Clip from Oprah's first show
"How can audience coordinators know for sure the race of people calling in for tickets?"
Uh... well, that get's into another little secret about the talk show business, and audience coordinators -- they are skilled at pegging the race of a caller from their voices alone within 20-30 seconds.
Producers didn't have to be concerned with the numbers of Black people who would watch, because their participation was a given. Whites were the capital that made the Oprah Winfrey Show successful, not Black people. The point is, most people in America didn't either perceive, or believe it was important that Oprah was a Black woman hosting a talk show, but just a woman who everyone could relate to hosting a show.
So when you think about all the success she gained by minimizing her Blackness and embracing inclusiveness, then it makes you wonder how in the world she could possibly believe that promoting Blackness is good for anyone else.
It wasn't until she was incredibly successful that it didn't matter, and she could become Black again -- publicly, promoting an ideology that has been choking the very lifeblood of a people to death for the last fifty years.
Again: Blackness is not a fact, it is an ideology.
I challenge anyone to name a single race of human beings who ever existed on the face of this earth, or any planet in the known universe for that matter, whose identity was tied to being a Black people or Blackness!
Psst... Africans do not call themselves Black people -- their identities are tied to the particular countries they live in.
It is my contention the ideology of Blackness has literally obliterated the foundation upon which a once family oriented, education first, forthright people stood as shinning examples of courage and catalysts for change. And it only took 50 years of: "We are going to build a movement in this country based on the color of our skins that is going to free us from our oppressors, and we have to do that ourselves," Stokely Carmichael 1966 to bring it all down.
Folks, Stokely Carrmichael was a devout racist, and yes, in spite of the Black intelligentsia's denials, Black people can be just as racist as any other American. Stokely Carmichael helped build the Black Panthers/ Black Power Movement, in unison with the Nation of Islam, and the Black Nationalist Movement -- all racist/separatist organizations.
Since then, no one can say Blacks have had the same commitment to family, education, and excellence in everything we do today when 50 - 70% of inner city black youths are illiterate.
So if you're looking for someone with a different approach to so-called Black/American history my approach is forthright and pointed, as are my opinions, which leave no room for misinterpretation. I'm not the touchy/feely kind that holds your hand and walks you through the maze. I prefer to drop all pretenses and let it fly, because we hardly have the time for anything else. There are literally a couple of generations on the line right now -- their very survival at stake and they need to start uncoupling from the racist agenda of Blackness immediately, if there's any chance of them having a future.
I suggest perhaps starting with one of my first essays on the topic such as Black Culture, an Ideology Built on Racism posted on my blog. Other topics include; the Disease Called Blackness, and Dr. King’s Failure & Blacks Getting Played… Again!
The bottom line; I am not committed the promotion of Black History Month, but rather, in deconstructing what I believe is a racist ideology called Blackness that has been holding our youth back and led to this current state of racial unrest across this country. And I lay the blame at the feet of individuals like Oprah, Al Sharpton, Jessie Jackson, and all the Baby-boomers who lived by, taught their youth and demanded the world see them not by the content of their character, but first as a Black people separate from everyone else, and that is pure racism by definition!
Black History is simply, American history. Language and culture are inseparable –- we are one people based on the language we share and our collective culture, which is imbedded into the very words we use to describe ourselves. Speaking of language and a racist separatist ideology, ebonics wasn't created by America/whites, quite the contrary, uneducated Blacks and the Music Industrial Mind Control Complex did that.
The worst possible solution, or focus is to continue down the path of blaming society, white people or anything other than making a collective effort to go inside and save the teens who are illiterate, and who also believe they are incapable of learning.
Movies in the genre' of Selma, et al showing white people shooting, beating, hating, enslaving, Black people are the absolute worst thing to introduce at this moment in history to black teens after a SUMMER of racial tensions... good lord... really?
Besides, Americans do not care anymore -- they've moved on. The images from Ferguson ended America's caring. Now it's completely up to so-called Black people to solve their own problems and boy, the history just isn't there.
The current tact by organizations under the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter and their disruptions do nothing more than create a greater wedge. There must be a greater reliance on letting the court system take care of attacks upon the individual Constitutional Rights of citizens, while at the same time engaging in the difficult work changing the underlying psychology/ideology behind much of the negative social behavior we see manifesting in Black communities across this country.
If we don’t address it right now, these kids will become America’s problem, on so many different levels as I pointed out in an essay titled; Breeding a Nation of Murderers?
Perhaps your organization will see the benefits of becoming a catalyst to kick-start a much needed conversation within a community that badly needs it. I can take the heat, just looking for someone to see value in what I have to offer as a catalyst for change.
Dreaming that one day, people of color will demand to be treated based upon the content of our characters, our actions, and our willingness to put the past aside -- race in the background and work with every other American/HU-man being rebuilding our lives -- this world!
It is time to refute the ideology of Blackness/Black Culture and embrace what is right below our feet -- this land we helped build called America.
Dreaming that one day, people of color will demand to be treated based upon the content of our characters, our actions, and our willingness to put the past aside -- race in the background and work with every other American/HU-man being rebuilding our lives -- this world!
It is time to refute the ideology of Blackness/Black Culture and embrace what is right below our feet -- this land we helped build called America.
Sincerely,
Herman Williams III
