Book Review: The Mis-Education of the Negro

 

“The race has great possibilities. Properly awakened, the Negro can do the so-called impossible in the business world and thus help to govern rather than merely be governed.”

-Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro

 

 

This is a book I’ve been wanting to read for a long time, and I finally got a chance to read it this month, and while it is “Black” History Month, and it has been documented that it was Carter G. Woodson’s idea to acknowledge it in February, it’s more ironic than incidental that I read it this month because it didn’t dawn on me until a couple of days after I started reading it.

As I read this book, I found myself shaking my head quite often. Not because I thought the book was boring or stupid or anything, it’s because a lot of the things Carter G. Woodson discussed in that book nearly 100 years ago is still going on today. 

 He mentioned that a lot of the self-debasing, defeated way of thinking that most “Black” people have stems from the social engineering and conditioning that they’re “inferior” to the alleged “superior” Caucasians, however, he also points out that “Negroes” have to take the responsibility and accountability of the breaking the mental chains at some point.

I’m of the opinion that nearly everything starts in the mind, and this is where Dr. Woodson suggested that we start. We must thoroughly and diligently reverse engineer and change that way of thinking and how we were taught.

He talked about the “Negroes” who, again, mainly due to how they were educated or mis-educated, tend to think they’re better and/or smarter than those of their ethnicity who don’t have what they have. They tend to parrot the same bullshit narratives and side with the same people who view them as beneath them, just like the others in their race.

You have the Negroes who try to one-up the other versus working together, or they will try to sabotage them (AKA The Crab-in-the-bucket mentality), and there are those who are limited in their ability in some cases to teach those of their ethnicity.

In their minds, other races’ ice is colder, specifically the Caucasian. I’ve encountered this a few times in my life, and have seen it many times. They ask you a question--keep in mind, they asked you--and you give them an answer, and they will look at you as if you tried to explained Calculus or Mandarin. A Caucasian will come along and say the very thing you just said, and it’s good as gold. It’s as if “God” himself said it.

I’ve also seen this type of thing on the job. They will give the “Black” manager or supervisor all types of hell, and if a white manger comes along says, “Jump,” these bastards would yell “How high?” I’m not talking about the ones who, if you make them supervisor of a broom closet, they don’t know how to act. They lose their minds and let it go to their head.

In sports, in a lot of cases, I see where the white coaches is usually more respected than the “Black” ones. He (the white coach) will take over that same team that the “Negro” coach before him had--who encountered rebellion, groaning and bitching--and all of a sudden, the players straighten up and fly right, as the old saying goes.

He even talked about the church and these grifting, con-artist preachers who talk a good game, but they’re nothing but talk. They’re ripping off their congregation, selling them lies and pipe dreams, inducing fear/scare tactics (Ex: If you do such and such, “You’re going to hell!”), that makes them fearful, docile, and passive, for personal gain.

He mentioned that because of the inferior doctrine that was taught and programmed, the “Negro” has been conditioned to accept anything. I’ve heard some say “We should take whatever we can get.” I hate that saying. A lot of Negroes ones who are, say, in a high-ranking position, tend to allow whites or others to disrespect them just to get ahead, just to get a seat at their table, hell, just to eat the crumbs they waste.

He also mentioned the deliberate removal of scientists, philosophers, astronomers, and even deities of Africa, for those of European origin. He stressed that contrary to popular belief, there were those of African origin who made a significant impact in areas such as math, science, astronomy, etc., before Europeans.

As far as deities go, they’re all mythical to me, but to show the effect of the mis-education indoctrination, in most cases, if you told a “Black” person about the Orishas of the Yoruba religion, most of them would look at you sideways and probably laugh at you, but will accept God, Jesus, and other deities without question.

Although he wasn’t against learning the history of other cultures, the problem was those of the African diaspora being intentionally kept form “Negroes,” and being force fed the history and culture of Europe, continuing the false claim that “Blacks” are inferior, insignificant, and have no value in society or place in history, outside of slavery, which I think is one of the biggest lies ever told.

“Blacks” for the most part, still have that same way of doing things, and still have that same way of thinking, and what it tells me is, after all this time, not much has changed. Perhaps, it’s not quite as bad as when Woodson wrote this book in 1933, but unfortunately, for the most part, this mentality is still prevalent today.

Long before I read this book I said that we as “Afro-Americans,” “Blacks,” “African-Americans,” whatever you want to call it, have to do some serious introspection. It starts with changing the way we think. As long as we--of course, I’m speaking in general--have that inferior, defeated, self-destructive, sabotaging, other-races’-ice-is-colder mindset, the bottom of the barrel is where this race will always be.

This book is a written reminder of the importance of “Blacks” controlling their narrative, and the danger of what happens or what could happen when someone else tells your story. I agree with Dr. Woodson. The race has great possibilities, but it’s up to us to see it. I’m not quick to give a book 5 stars, but this one definitely gets a 5 from me.

Storytime at the Coffee House: Part II & Misogyny vs. Misandry

Photo Credit: Tabitha Turner.

In Part Two of this series, I discuss misandry in the workplace. Thinking back on it, there could’ve been some misandry or sexism involved in the post from Part One, but that’s speculation. Who knows?

Anyway, I unfortunately overheard a conversation between two women-- I was working in the area, I wasn’t eavesdropping. I didn’t get a good look at them, so I don’t know if they were friends or relatives. Apparently, some guy broke the heart of one of them-- he probably  “pumped and dumped,” as the saying goes--but she made an absolutely misandrist, sexist comment. Crying, she tells the other woman, “All men are the same. All men are the same…” There was more because she went on a rant, but I thought it was best I get away from the conversation.

 

There was a part of me that wanted to say something, but I had to consider my job at the time, which was why I got away from them. What pisses me off about this is if a man said this about women, the misogyny birds would come out of the woodwork. This post will lead to another post that I’ve been wanting to write regarding misogyny and misandry. As a matter of fact, this will be a two-for-one.

 

Misogyny vs. Misandry

What is misogyny, really? It seems to me that it’s relative, nowadays. Any criticism of a female, any you say they don’t like or disagree with gets marked as misogyny. I’m not saying misogyny doesn’t exist, I’ve seen some comments by guys online--usually guys who are frustrated with women--that are extreme, to say the least, but this is ridiculous.

The fact is women say and do misandrist, sexist, and chauvinist things like this all the time, but most people seem to turn a blind eye to it. Very few people will call it out. Yet, the slightest criticism you have of them, and it’s considered “misogyny”. Even some of these weak, pandering, punk ass men are alongside them crying about it.

Whether it’s misogyny or misandry, it’s wrong either way, but as I heard a commentator say sometimes when calling basketball games, and I'm paraphrasing, “If you’re going to call it a foul on one end, make sure you call it a foul on the other end.”

I say that to say, if you’re going to call out men for misogyny or what they perceive as misogyny, call it on the other end as well. Don’t punish men and hold them accountable, but turn a blind eye and give women a pass when they do it.

Story Time at the Coffee House: A Bosnian Brewing BS

Photo Credit: Tabitha Turner.

 

This is Part One of a two-part series (maybe more, if something else comes to mind) of my time at CC's Coffee House. Initially, I was going to entitle this post “Bosnian Bitch” because that’s what I think she is after getting to know her, and in particular, the way she handled a situation that took place that I’m about to discuss, but I decided to use another title and consider that one an alternate.

I was looking for a side gig to go along with my work online at the time, and I was finally hired at CC's Coffee House in late December last year. The store manager, let’s call her “DeAnna,” was the one who interviewed and, of course, hired me.

I know people aren’t always whom they seem, which is why it’s important to vet people, and why I’m not quick to call someone a “nice” or “good” person when first meeting them. For example, I’ll say that they seem like a nice or cool person. I’ve learned that the best evaluator for where a person truly stands or who they really are is time. Chris Rock once said something along the lines of, “When you someone for the first time, you’re not meeting them, you’re meeting their representative.” I think he was mainly referring to dating, but this can be applied to dealing with people in general.

DeAnna seemed alright at first, but it was this situation that showed me who she really is. There was a co-worker, let’s call her “Kamille,” a Pakistan bitch who had a habit of talking to me as if I were one of her children. The first few times she did it, I let it slide, which I shouldn’t have, but I called myself being patient.

One day, I made a mistake and got the tea types mixed up--it was either tea or coffee, I don’t remember offhand. Anyway, she proceeded to speak to me that way again, and I got tired of it and said something to her.

She then tells DeAnna that I yelled at her. DeAnna calls me into the office to find out what happened, and the way she handled it was deplorable. To me, her mind was already made up who she was going to side with. This comes as no surprise, either. I’ve noticed in these situations, especially if it’s a female involved, and the person in charge is a female herself, they usually side with the female, regardless, and I sensed this was going to be no different.

DeAnna tells me that we can’t yell at people. Despite me telling her that I did say something to her, but I didn’t yell at her, she kept reiterating the same thing as if I didn’t hear her the first time, and it also told me that she didn’t believe me. That was fucked up enough, but what really pissed me off was she lied and told Kamille that I apologized, when I did no such thing. 

I didn’t apologize, and I wasn’t going to apologize. The fuck I look like apologizing when she was talking to me as if I was one of her little ones? FOH. That snaggle tooth bitch lied through the rest of her teeth. By the way, someone else told me that they had to tell Kamille that she needs to learn how to speak to people more respectfully, so it wasn't just me. 

It’s to me funny how when I have an issue with someone, more often than not, people rationalize and side with the other person. I have to hear some bullshit about they’re just this and that, and what they don’t mean, but when there’s an accusation against me, I don’t get the same benefit of the doubt. Immediately, they side with the other person, and it was no different at this place.

I don’t know what the fuck that’s about, but I realized something: if you’re going to be a biased motherfucker, it doesn’t make sense to hear the other person’s side when you’ve already made your mind up that you’re going to side with the first person.

Then DeAnna teamed with this cocksucker--well, if he doesn’t play for the “Pride” team, you could’ve fooled me--who was an assistant manager-in-training to criticize me in an impromptu “evaluation”. Now all of a sudden, I can’t seem to do anything right.

Now, I never claimed to be the best worker there; I don’t get into that stuff anyway, but I can honestly say that I did what I could, considering that something was bothering me physically and it slowed me down to where I couldn’t move the way I normally would, and I had only been there for about a month and a half, so while there were some things I caught on to, there were still some things I was still learning.

I think that BS was adding stress to what was already going on with me, and it wasn’t worth it. I didn’t intend to be there long-term anyway, but I decided to use this as a way out to find out what was going on with me. I knew something was wrong, but I didn’t know it was that bad until I finally stopped being stubborn, and went to see a doctor to get to the bottom of it.

Now, I didn’t fake anything; I have the medical documents to prove it, but I did use that as an outing to get the hell out of there. To be honest, thinking back on things, I never should’ve taken that job in the first place, knowing that something was ailing me, but not knowing at the time exactly what it was, but I’m not going to beat myself up over it. I’m glad to say that I was finally able to get it diagnosed and dealt with.

The Way of Yah Sell-Out

 

Blogger's Note: This photo was sent to me by another former member, I just repurposed the image, making my use of it fair use.

Politics is not my thing, but I thought there was supposed to be a separation of church and state? It's funny to me how despite that alleged separation, they always end up in the same bed, so to speak.

I remember when I was a member of Henry Smith's (AKA Tony Smith) Way of Yah Synagogue, which I'm surprised the Jews didn't come after him for naming his congregation a synagogue, I mean, they were so pissed with Kyrie Irving's actions, why not him? Then again, Kyrie has a bigger name, so he's a bigger target.

Anyway, when I was a member of that toxic, dysfunctional organization, this man preached so hard against celebrating or having anything to do with holidays.

If you ate dinner that was celebrated in the name of a holiday, this was a problem, nevertheless, if you took a holiday-themed photo like his wife did in the image above, this was probably grounds for being removed.

There were members who, thinking back, made fools of themselves, put their jobs on the line, had dissension with family members because of this chrome head coon and the bullshit he taught, now this? Ain't this a bitch?!

I guess the well is running dry and/or they really needed the votes for his wife, who's now into politics. Either way, he sold out, big time. So much for "clean," "sanctified," living and "holding a standard," huh? From what I've been hearing, he and his congregation has become everything he preached against. 

I have more examples, but I'm saving material for my upcoming book regarding my experience there. I'm actually glad I've held off on finishing the book because I've gathered more and more ammunition, so to speak, over the years.

Planet Jaylen: The Delusion of "Black" Men

 

Jaylen Brown. Photo courtesy of clutchpoints.com.

I saw a tweet from NBA player Jaylen Brown a few months ago, proclaiming that “Black” women are everything. I’m leaving a hyperlink to the tweet, so you can see that I’m not slandering the man, this came out of his own mouth, so to speak.

Before I begin, let me say this: while there have been quite a few of them I encountered who were straight-up bitches, there are some “Black” women who are cool people with me, and have been a better friend to me than some men, so for the slow folks out there, I am not talking about all “Black” women, although I think most of them fit this description in this post.

Here’s my take on Jaylen’s proclamation: as much I want to agree with him, I can’t because I live in the real world. So, maybe that is true on the planet he’s on. Now, he’s entitled to his opinion, and apparently he represents a certain sector of a delusional "Black" men who think this way, but the problem is, for the most part, the feeling isn’t mutual.

I learned years ago that a lot of “Black” women are out for themselves and don’t give a fuck about “Black” men. Most of them view “Black” men the same, even the ones who call themselves uplifting and defending them. It means nothing to them. What men like Jaylen doesn’t realize is when they trash “Black” men, they’re talking about him, too. Very few will make distinctions, and I wager that percentage is less than 5 percent. 

I think the only reason that tweet--that received over 800 retweets and nearly 34K likes--would make their panties wet a little, so to speak, or they will applaud or acknowledge him even a little bit is because he’s a star basketball player. If he were an average Afro-American male and tweeted that, they wouldn’t have cared less.

You have negroes like him saying that they’re everything, meanwhile, they’re using media platforms whether it be movies/TV or social media to disrespect and trash “Black” men every chance they get yet want to cry “misogyny” as soon as they’re criticized, but that’s a subject for another post.

I think that post would hold a lot more weight if the feeling were mutual, but to sing the praises of a demographic who for the most part don’t respect you--when I say “you,” I’m referring to “Black” men in this case-- and don't give a fuck about you is mind boggling to me, to say the least. I respect those who respect me. I don’t fool with you when the respect isn’t being reciprocated.

However, there will always be these delusional Afro-American men who will pander and cater to the narcissism of these women who say fucked-up, disrespectful, emasculating, misandrous shit about “Black” men, yet expect these same men to speak well of them. Talk about having a hell of a nerve. But to hear men like Jaylen tell it, they’re everything. Maybe on that planet where he’s from. Of course, you have exceptions, but overall, I don’t feel that way about a demographic of women whom the majority of them don’t feel that way about my demographic.

Don't Kill the "Messenger"

Last week, someone who referred to him or herself as the “messenger,” left three posts concerning the debauchery going on at that shithole called The Way of Yah Synagogue between Sunday and Monday in a group chat, which I had no idea my number was still in the group chat.

Everything the individual stated in those posts relates to everything I’ve been saying about that chrome head shine Tony Smith and his mindfucked followers. I wasn’t sure if the person was someone was who there before me, was there while I was there, or if they became a member after me, so I sought to find out who the person was. I made the mistake of contacting the “messenger,” basically stating that I was a former member, and I can relate to everything that was said in the posts.

The person replied with question marks, which told me this person is a fucking idiot. I don’t how or where I confused this person or what was so hard to understand about what I said. If the question marks implied he or she didn’t know who I was, the person could’ve just said so, and I would’ve identified myself.

Actually, most of what was posted was told to me by other former members. There were only three things in those posts that I wasn’t aware of. Like I said, whoever this “messenger” is, is a fucking idiot, however, I thank him or her for the ammunition, so to speak, nonetheless.

When People Show You Who They Are, Believe Them

 

I was debating whether or not I wanted to write about this, but there was an situation that occured late last year, and it was on my mind for a while, but then I was able to move on from it. Then the thoughts reoccured recently and started to linger again, so I decided to speak on it. As you see the title, from my understanding, Maya  Angelou has been credited for making this statement, and not to say that she didn't, but I first heard this from a YouTuber around 2017 who said his father would advice him of this when he was growing up.

Paraphrasing, he said his father would say something along the lines of, "When people show you who they are, believe them. Don't let me rationalize or explain it away. When people show you who they are, believe them, and you deal with them accordingly." As far as I'm concerned, no truer words could've been spoken, and this leads to the topic of this post. Before I begin, the reason you see this image is because I always thought that the person I'm going to mention in this post looked like Touche Turtle.

I'm going to go into more detail, but it seems to me that this little bitch got in his feelings because of a suggestion I made regarding his daughter. The 2-foot-3 motherfucker took it as if I was telling him what to do or how to handle things with his daughter, and that wasn't what I was doing. This situation reminds me of how petty most "Black" people tend to be, and had I known this individual was going to react the way he did, I never would've said anything to him.

Over the summer, I caught up with Forrest Craig, a former member of that shithole called the The Way of Yah Synagogue that we used to attend. He was one of the few I was cool with when I was there. He treated with me respect and vice versa. He didn't treat me like a clown, a joke, or as if I were beneath him, like most of those primates did, particularly their arrogant, sexually suspect leader, so I acknowledged when he reached out to me. Apparently, he left in 2019, which was a year after I was removed. Long story short, he briefly expressed why he left and never looked back via email, and the next day we had a phone conversation talking about our frustrations concerning our experiences with that place.

He told me that his wife, left six months after he did, however, his daughter decided to stay. Needless to say, he and his wife feel a certain way about that, which I can’t say that I blame them, but she is an adult, so that’s her decision. In August, he mentioned something about his daughter still being there again, and I made a suggestion.

I suggested that he let her be, and that she will see the light and come around eventually--hopefully sooner than later. I sensed that he took exception to my suggestion because almost immediately after I gave my reason why I made that suggestion, he got off the phone with me. I contacted him twice the following week, the second time was a test to see if he would respond. If he didn’t respond, which he didn’t, I would leave him alone, which I did. This was around mid-August. I haven't heard from him since, and I didn't expect to.

I also noticed that he unfriended me on Facebook recently, which was inevitable. I usually don't check my Friends list, but for some reason, I had an inclination to check it yesterday, and that's when I saw it. That's cool. I'm not the type to go out of my way to make friends, and I damn sure won't go out of my way to keep them. When people do stuff like that, my thought is, Fuck you and goodbye. 

A small part of me is tickled by this because it's so petty, most of me is floored because I'm thinking, What the hell? It was just a fucking suggestion, and I told him that upfront before I made the suggestion, so there would be no misunderstanding. Did we have a heated discussion or shouting/cursing match? No. Did I insult him or say something disparaging about his family? No.

None of this occurred, but he chose to shun me off over a suggestion. It wasn’t a direct or subliminal command, because I do understand that some people will make a "suggestion," but it's actually a low-key command, but that wasn't what I was doing. I wasn’t standing over his shoulders telling him how to handle things with his daughter, although apparently that's the way ol' Touche took it.

I wouldn't do that to other people because I know what it's like to have that done to me. I had to block and remove someone I knew for a few years on Facebook about two months prior to this nonsense because she decided to assert herself in my situation acting like my parent, standing over my shoulders, lecturing me, and telling me how to handle things, and she had to go. I wasn't having that, regardless of the intent, but that's a topic for another entry.

Some might look at this as hypocritical that I blocked and removed her for her "advice," but here's the difference: as I already mentioned, she stood over my shoulders, lecturing me, and telling me how to handle things. She was following me in my DMs with the bullshit, leaving long ass messages that I just skimmed through. I didn't do any of this concerning him. As I've said before, I made a suggestion, then I told him why I was making that suggestion--nothing more, nothing less.

I know some people might say that I'm not parent, so it probably wasn't my place to say anything. That's fine. You could make that argument, but that's why I didn't come at it from that perspective, it wouldn't have made sense to do that. I came from the perspective of being the son of parents and having siblings-- a perspective where we both could relate.

In other words, whether it was experiencing or witnessing how our siblings dealt with our parents' advice, I learned that in most cases, the more you try to get people to see things your way, the more they're going to resist, and you wind up alienating them, even that's not your intent. On side note, an exception would be if the person is involved in some illegal/criminal activity, I understand the parent(s) asserting themselves in the situation, but otherwise, people are adults, you have to learn to back off at some point.

Anyway, this is what I told him: if you try to get her to see things your way, chances are, you're going to wind up alienating her. I called myself looking out for him; I didn't want to see him in a situation or potentially in a situation where he ended up estranged from her. It was not a lecture; I was stating why I was making that suggestion.

I'll admit, it's more of a theory than anything, but the reasons why I think this is the case is because, for example, although he continues to follow the religion that we came out of,  I mentioned to him that I no longer follow religion, and he continued to speak to me. I know in most cases, something like this can divide people. It wasn't until I made that suggestion, that he decided to give me the cold shoulder. No, he didn't say it flat-out, it was the non-verbal communication that I caught.

It kind of trips me out because it was just a suggestion, in other words, something to think over or consider. He didn't have to take a damn thing I said. That's not my daughter. As long as he's not abusing her or anything like that, I don't give a fuck what he does. This also reminded me that there are some who will take exception to people making suggestions--I've seen this on and offline.

Between my experiences before and during the Way of Yah, and stuff like this are reasons why I don't fool with a lot of people and prefer to keep my circle small. A part of my policy is I don’t run behind people, and I don’t want to be bothered with someone who doesn’t want to be bothered with me, I don’t care who it is. If he’s that petty, fickle, and bitch made to shun me off over a fucking suggestion, then I don’t need to fool with him anyway. I left him alone, and he doesn't have to worry about me contacting him again. I'm moving forward; I don't have time for people and their foolishness.

People enter and leave your life for a reason. In some cases, people will re-enter your life, and it reminds me that in a lot of cases, it's best to leave the past in the past. The one thing I did learn from being at TWOY is not getting too attached to people, and one of the many things I've learned in life is when people show you who they are, who they really are, believe them and deal with them accordingly.