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AALBC.com's Thumper's Corner Discussion Board » Culture, Race & Economy - Archive 2007 » New minstrel show: Homegrown terrorism in black face « Previous Next »

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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya

Post Number: 5812
Registered: 07-2006

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Posted on Saturday, June 16, 2007 - 02:43 am:   Delete Post View Post/Check IP Print Post    Ban Poster IP (Moderator/Admin only)

New minstrel show: Homegrown terrorism in black face

Frank Talk

By Frank L. Solomon


Every now and then, I have to run a check on my sanity. I checked in with some folks last week to see if I was crazy and, fortunately, they told me I was relatively sane-sane in comparison to a lot of other folks. See, I wasn't sure if I was suffering from paranoid delusions, but when the U.S. government announced that they had foiled another "domestic" terror plot-this time against JFK Airport in New York-I started to get very worried that I was noticing another one of those disturbing trends. So, I asked a couple of friends if they noticed anything peculiar about the last couple of domestic terror plot busts. "Yeah," one brother told me, "they've all been black folks."

That confirmed it. See, I've always had this theory that when things get tough in this country, white folks get worried. Black folks don't, because we're already always worried. Just look at our high levels of stress, heart attack and stroke. We've always known that life in the U.S., as good as it is with regard to opportunity to make a little cash and relative freedom to do stupid things, is precarious when you're black. If you have any doubts, check out a book Brother Ketu Oladuwa recently turned me on to-"Buried In The Bitter Waters: The Hidden History of Racial Cleansing In American," by Elliot Jaspin. I won't go into that here, because Brother Oladuwa has promised me a review of the paper an in-depth review of the book for the near future. Suffice it to say, it will explain why some of us get tired, lay down and give up, or just snap and go off the deep end.

Anyway, when white folks get worried, everyone in the world gets worried, because the powers that be have a tendency-and the means- to distract themselves with wars, mob violence and the like. Yeah, black and brown folks can get violent, too. But, for the most part, we don't have any WMDs. So our battles, deadly as they can be in neighborhoods like South Central or the like, take on a playground character when you think of the carnage in places like Bosnia, Iraq and Afghanistan and other places where white folks are involved. Of course, there's a move toward parity in the world. Just check out Darfur and Rwanda of years past.

Point is, however, we didn't invent the English language, so we didn't invent the modern concept of the scapegoat-"We can't get no jobs because of dem damn niggers/ jews/sand niggers/wetbacks/ chinks…." Whatever, you name it. Or, "Gas prices are high because the Jews did this that or the other." When things hit the wall for some folks, they have an unparalleled talent for blaming everyone in the world but themselves.

Every now and then, however, the masses get hip to the game and realize that the powers that be don't give a rat's behind about them and that they-middle class and poor folks-are nothing but fodder for the engines of industry or, simply, cannon fodder for wars in which the old men who start them on both sides of the world will never fight. Other folks' kids get blown to bits by IED or some poor Muslim kid with no hope for a job lets someone con him into blowing himself for the promise of getting rid of his adolescent acne in paradise. And, when it's all said or done, the socalled winners and losers-the old dudes in charge-sit down at a table, talk a little trash and shake hands. What's worse is the winners even agree to give the losers some cash to "rebuild." Of course, you know how much of that money gets to the hands of poor folks, be they white, black, brown, red or yellow. Folks see this jive and threaten not to cooperate with the game. "Hell no, we won't go!" is the chant across the world. "What's in it for us?" they ask, realizing they're still going to be as poor as Job's turkey when it's all said and done while the people who sent them off to get shot or blown to bits are still going to be eating the best caviar, the best stakes and the best goat.

And, they begin to realize that gasoline prices are killing them and the so-called good Americans, Russians, Brits, Sudanese, Saudis or whomever they've allowed to watch their interests are running a con game on them to let their buddies snatch the meat, potatoes and gravy off the working person's plate and feast on the fruits of labor they didn't do. Once that happens, folks start to get angry. Look at George Bush's recent approval ratings. What was the last-29 percent? A new low. I've seen signs in my apartment building that say "Impeach and Imprison." I'm hearing working class Republicans say, "I'm fed up with Bush. He and his cronies have ruined this country." I even heard Merle Haggard on NPR saying this country is going to hell in a hand basket under the current leadership-and that was before the Democrats took control of Congress last election. Times are hard, partner.

We've always been disenfranchised, so when we complain, nobody listens. Yes, every now and then when the natives get a bit restless, they throw us a bone or two to appease us, because as my father used to tell me, there were a lot of us back in the day whose vote could be bought for a ham on election day. But, when the white masses start to grumble loudly in this country, folks in the seats of power, not just here, but around the world start to worry. Man, these folks have guns! And, I'm not talking about the Glocks and nines these young gangsters have. I used to travel in the shady world of underground weapons back in my steel mill days and I saw scary stuff in the hands of my white pals. Unlike us, they were determined not to back down if the boys in blue ever came to snatch their stuff.

Now, if any of you ever watched the old Outer Limits television show, you might remember and episode called "The Architects of Fear." I'm getting tired of typing, so I'll give you the synopsis posted on Tv.com and hope they recognize it as "fair usage:"

"A group of intellectuals decides that the best way to avoid World War III is to give us all a common enemy. To that end, they transform a man into an alien creature."

You get the picture. Now, here's the deal: Things got a bit messed up after the U.S. went after Saddam Hussein and his disappearing weapons of mass destruction which, when and if he had any, he no doubt purchased from the good old US of A. So, now, it's magically been transformed into the beachfront in the War on Terror. (And, why we can't find Osama ben Laden, still baffles me. I'm telling you, they should give me a chance to run the Department of Defense. Whether you agree with the goals or the tactics, I'll get the job done. Let me bring my partners to the party and you can believe that!) With things not going well in Iraq, even with the so-called surge, white folks are getting anxious. A whole lot of them gave George Bush a blank check to get the job done, but he's breaking the bank and the bankbooks of the average working American, getting a lot of our soldiers killed and we still haven't had reason for a celebration. So, failing that, what do you do? Let me preface this by saying I used to work in government, so I've got some firsthand knowledge of this. Here's what you do: You engineer some easy victories.

See, Americans have given up a lot of freedoms, a lot of money and a lot of nights of sleep trusting that someone, a Skull & Bones genius who supposedly knows how to run the world better than us, will take care of them. Folks, it ain't happened overseas, so why not engineer some victories over here? Yeah, there you go. Here's proof that our war on terror and the erosion of American freedom is well worth the price. "We caught these domestic terrorists." Or, do they mean the entrapped some disgruntled doofuses in Florida, or they arbitrarily named a former, peaceful Guyanese mayor with a Muslim name (much to the anger of the Guyanese) to let us know some "progress" is being made? Of course, it will be ages before any of these folks go to trial under an attorney general who has opined the U.S. Constitution does not specifically outline the concept of habeas corpus-therefore it doesn't exist. No matter, the people will feel safe, because someone got arrested, therefore the government must be doing its job.

Now, here's the kicker. Everyone knows that this country always has been able to lynch black folks without too many folks getting upset, so this "new black face" of terror is perfect to get the folks back in line by giving them a common "alien" enemy, given that we ain't making much headway against the Arabs. And, everyone knows black folks here are expendable. As they use to say on the levee camps: "Kill a mule, buy another; kill a , hire another." Terror In Black face-now that will make a good minstrel show and you know how the folks back in the day loved a good minstrel show.

So, if y'all hearing of me getting locked up for some bizarre plot to blow up a sewer system with Black Cat firecrackers or something absurd like that, you know the deal.

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