Tag Archives: American chattel slavery

Why Conservatives Obsession with Critical Race Theory Could Be Another Step Toward Making Abraham Lincoln’s Warning About the Fall of America Prophetic

 There is no room to reasonably argue against the assertion that many of our countrymen have gone utterly insane regarding racial matters. At the present moment, it is impossible to engage local, state, or national news outlets and not encounter some half-witted conspiratorial scheme regarding the latest boogeyman whose supposed existence is a supreme threat to White America. Of course, I am alluding to that haunting and elusive specter called Critical Race Theory (CRT).

For a significant segment of American Conservatives, CRT has become for discussions of Race in American schools what Sharia Law was during the fury against Muslims.

The latest to enter into the foray against the elusive boogeyman whose penchant for ducking and dodging is heightened by his non-existence in this nation’s K-16 educational system is Sequoyah County lawmaker Rep. Jim Olsen (R). Olsen has issued a notable blow against CRT by authoring House Bill 2988 to outlaw the teaching of American chattel slavery from a historically grounded perspective.

Olsen and those who think like him want to place a revisionist history of the peculiar institution that does not depict white slaveholders as beneficiaries of the labor of stolen Africans and their descendants in front of America’s schoolchildren. House Bill 2988 forbids educators from teaching the following facts.

  • American chattel slavery victimized enslaved Africans/Blacks.
  • The peculiar institution, meaning slavery, was the central pillar in America’s creation.
  • The enslavement of stolen Africans and their descendants occurred for an extended period, nearly 250 years, if we are counting.

Rep. Olsen offered the following commentary regarding his proposed legislative addendum.

It is important that it be taught that we had slavery as a nation and it was evil, but it would not be proper to teach it that we were the only ones that had it. It is the agenda of the far left, they want our young people to hate America.

A dimwitted portion of our populace has ascended beyond their level of ineptitude and understanding.

If American legislators are not careful, they will sanction the transitioning of America’s learning centers into Hitleresque indoctrination sites. The thin threadbare lies supporting this alteration to school curriculums are an unsophisticated attempt to extend politico-economic monopolies they have enjoyed for centuries. Unfortunately, droves of non-elites allow the foolishness mentioned above to be their sole source of information regarding CRT.

Let us be clear on this matter, CRT does not appear in America’s K-16 educational centers. Those local, state, and national level politicians who are speaking the loudest about CRT know nothing about the legal theory beyond its utility to frighten my white countrymen into following their lead. I would venture to guess that the vast majority of these so-called political leaders had never heard of Derrick Bell before the start of this entire charade and have certainly never read any of his books or other writings.

The truth of the matter is that this entire sordid falsity reveals the fact that many within our midst, regardless of their political leanings, are willing to follow political leaders who know no more than they do about racial matters.

Ultimately, the erasure of historical facts in favor of feel-good teachings weakens our nation in many ways, particularly as a false past prevents us from examining America’s creation. If Americans are not careful, they will eventually make Abraham Lincoln’s haunting prediction of America’s fall prophetic. President Lincoln said, “America will never fall from an external aggressor. She will fall from within.”

Trust me when I say to you that this path we are on will lead to all of our demises.

James Thomas Jones III, Ph.D.

©Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2021

The Terrible Transformation

In the following video, you will see the experiences of the initial Africans to arrive in the British Mainland Colonies. Please pay attention to the world they entered and what their status and role was within it. As always, you are expected to leave your reflections/reaction to what you have viewed as well as leaving at least three comments to the viewpoints of others. Keep in mind, we are seeking to create a vibrant learning community that benefits all of us.

According to the idiotic Tom Cotton, Slavery was “a necessary evil”: I warned you that his idiocy was just beginning

One of the most comforting parts about writing about the many facets of racial strife in America is the reality that I’m rarely at a loss for material. Unfortunately, it appears that the same cast of characters reappear with different degrees of foolishness. Earlier today, I penned a warning regarding the idiotic thinking of Senator Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas); I never imagined that I would be addressing this imbecile at the latter portion of the same day. Yet, here we are.

I have chosen to revisit this matter because I consider it as dangerous, if not more than the murder of black people in American streets.

Just in case you missed it, Senator Cotton has doubled down on his efforts to “Make American School Curriculums Great Again” by offering the following quote to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

We have to study the history of slavery and its role and impact on the development of our country because otherwise, we can’t understand our country. As the Founding Fathers said, it was the necessary evil upon which the union was built.

I have always subscribed to the belief that if you listen long enough, a fool will always reveal their foolish ways. Senator Tom Cotton perfectly fits this description.

As I mentioned in the earlier post, there is an element of truth found in Senator Cotton’s reasoning regarding the importance of history. He offers a similar truism in the above quote. I have no problem with his contention that

We have to study the history of slavery and its role and impact on the development of our country because otherwise we can’t understand our country.

My issue with Cotton and those who agree with his infantile understanding of history and even worse application of logic is that they are not interested in studying the central role of slavery in the development of America. His kind are seeking to explain away black economic exploitation, physical misery, and elongated racial inequality by crafting an opportunistic narrative that borders on lunacy. Such people are seeking to equivocate and use half-witted logic to simultaneously deny or severely downplay the African Holocaust, an event that exceeds all other human atrocities on the planet, while celebrating the perpetrators as “Founding Fathers.”

Let me be clear on this matter, the British colonies would not have flourished without the labor of stolen Africans, Thomas Jefferson is a hypocrite and a rapist for penning the words that “All men are created equal” in the daylight and continuing his status as not only a slaveowner by night but also a rapist who victimized Sally Hemings for decades. Trust that I could go on and on regarding the atrocities that the “Founding Fathers” perpetrated against people of color on behalf of their God. Yet, I am going to step aside and allow Frederick Douglass, a figure who experienced what Senator Tom Cotton considers a necessary evil address this matter.

If provided the opportunity I am certain that Frederick Douglass would inform Senator Cotton that his equivocating and desire to silence black voices is not only nothing new, but also aimed at creating

a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. Go where you may, search where you will, roam through

all the monarchies and despotisms of the old world, travel through South America, search out every

abuse, and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this

nation, and you will say with me, that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns

without a rival . . .

There is really nothing more than needs to be said about Senator Tom Cotton’s dastardly attempt to relegate the greatest genocide known to mankind the level of a “necessary evil.”

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2020.

An Unnecessary and Burdensome Load: Why Black America Must Shed Any Shame Associated With Slavery

During a recent event celebrating the work of a fantastic collective of African-American artists addressing ‘Afro-Futurism,’ I listened intently during the Q & A session that followed. All that I can say is “out of the mouths of babes” because the most poignant inquiry raised came from one of the youngest in the audience.

The poised middle-school-aged African-American female was undoubtedly wise beyond her age, an “old soul,” so to speak. This child shared a heart-wrenching account of how uncomfortable she becomes when the issue of slavery arises in any of her classes. This impressive young sister shared the following.

When we talk about slavery, all of the white kids turn in their seats and stare at me. It is uncomfortable. I wish that my teachers would not talk about it at all, mainly because I am the only Black person in the class.

Unbeknownst to this young lady, the vast majority of African-Americans, regardless of age, educational attainments, and socioeconomic status, experience the “shame” when the topic of chattel slavery arises. It would not be a stretch to argue that the subject matter haunts them like an unwanted haunting. I will never understand why the descendants of those victimized by American chattel slavery choose to carry negative connotations regarding the African Holocaust on their sturdy shoulders.

The burden is not theirs.

If anyone should shudder at the mention of America’s original sin, it is those who have Anglo-Saxon blood flowing through their veins. They are not difficult to find as they proudly lay claim to this eternal transgression by claiming sole ownership of this nation. Unbeknownst to them, their claim carries a foreboding history that should guarantee one’s place in the hottest portion of Hell. Rest assured that this thought is not new, as evidenced by the words of an American Patriot who advised his countrymen of the desperate need to shed the sin of slavery in the following manner.

If God is just, and I believe that he is, we will burn in Hell for this shit.

White Anglo-Saxon Protestants claim to this nation identify them as the descendants of a people who perpetrated untold horrific deeds during this nation’s darkest period. As if that were not enough, the same boasting and bragging convicts their kind as the perpetrators of multiple Holocausts on the North American continent. If only we could get others (Polish, Japanese, Italians, Ghanaians, Brazilians, Nigerians and a host of others) to join in the process of laying such atrocities at the feet of White Angl0-Saxon Protestants, racial matters would become less convoluted in this nation. 

When one thinks about this issue, it becomes evident that the “original settlers” of the North American continent (White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) have been able to shed what should be inescapable blame and responsibility for the deeds of their ancestors.

If nothing else, I have to tip my hat to the ingenious ways that White Anglo-Saxon Protestants have been able to convince persons of African descent that their ancestors were responsible for their victimization during the world’s greatest Holocaust. Similarly, “Whites” whose ancestors did not arrive in this land until well after the deplorable institution was established and operating have been duped into believing that a portion of their admittance to whiteness is paid in their joining the White choral whose favorite tunes are the denouncement of racial justice and resistance to reparations.

Arguably, this is the longest-running con on the North American continent. The most crucial element in its achievement is the astounding lack of historical knowledge that engulfs the vast majority of Americans. When viewed from a detached view, it is obvious that the greatest tie binding Americans together is the shocking level of historical illiteracy that governs their belief systems and worldviews.

Anyone who has studied the discipline of History in depth can tell you that the most powerful element in shaping the worldview and beliefs of people is “the narrative.” The narrative is merely the arrangement of facts to generate sympathy and support for one’s version of History. Experience has taught me that Black America, despite their oral traditions, have yet to learn that they must seize their historical record, just as persons of Jewish descent have, and wield it as an Excalibur against less than favorable “narratives” of History. I guarantee you that until that occurs, African-Americans will continue to carry the shame of slavery on their shoulders, there may be no greater manifestation of this unfortunate reality than the nervousness and insecurities that overtake Black children at the mention of slavery.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture 2019