All posts by Dr. James Thomas Jones III

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Why The Recent Pageant Success of Black Women Could Be A Double-Edged Sword for Black Girls

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I understand the current hoopla surrounding the historic achievements of women of African descent in the “beauty pageant” world. Just in case you missed it, it has been an unprecedented year as the alluded to women have captured the following crowns.

  • Kaliegh Garris (Miss Teen USA)
  • Nia Franklin (Miss America)
  • Cheslie Kryst (Miss USA)
  • Zoaibini Tunzi (Miss Universe)
  • Toni-Ann Singh (Miss World)

I salute these women for the years of hard work they put into honing their acumen, it was certainly time well spent as it led to a crowning achievement. I feel that this moment calls for me to issue a phrase that includes the words “Black girls rock” or something out of that vein.

Yet, my psyche is disturbed.

The source of my disturbance is the realization that my people have once again allowed a historic enemy to dictate their self worth and serve as a measure of “how far we have come” and “how far we have to go.”

I am sure that in the wake of this “historic achievement” little Black girls around the world have been told some variation of the following.

  • “You can be anything in the world.”
  • “The sky is the limit for your potential.”
  • “If you work hard enough, that could be you on that stage one day.”  

Although such statements are self-esteem builders for young Black girls, a process that I wholeheartedly support, there is an unfortunate sub-discourse that informs young Black girls around the glove that “this is a White world” and true success is measured by their ability to garner accolades from those who have historically shown no genuine interest in appreciating either the presence or God-given talents.

This is a significant conundrum facing persons of African descent. On the one hand, Blacks have historically been forced to sit on the sidelines and watch as Whites paraded their cultural achievements as if they were the only signs of beauty, culture, music, and fashion. Ironically, there is not a single persons of African descent who failed to realize that the cultural standards being boastfully promoted by Whites “could not hold a candle” to what was occurring within their community.

Although not covered by the white press, Blacks were convinced of their superiority in regards to dancing, music, culinary skills, fashion, and the beauty of Black women was unrivaled. Unfortunately for Black America, what they considered indisputable facts did little to erode feelings of disrespect from a larger White society, a populace that refused to concede even the smallest element of Black superiority. This “white out” seemingly birthed an unquenchable desire within Black America to enter that hostile society and force its inhabitants to acknowledge not just our equality, but dare I say, our cultural superiority.

Unbeknownst to Whites, Black parents have always prepared their children to go to war with what they considered a hostile White society in arenas ranging from athletics to academics. Black parents provided their children with a refrain that “you are going to have to work twice as hard to get half as far” and that “failure was not an option.” These were the marching orders that Black children received at the beginning of any foray into enemy territory. 

If provided the opportunity, I am sure that many of my ancestors would have made Malcolm X’s incisive query of “Who is he (meaning the White man) to be equal to” the foundation from which they advised the generations that followed them. In hindsight it is obvious that efforts to wrest trophies, crowns, and accolades from a resistant White community has done nothing in regards to the continuing fight to uplift Blacks.

Although much can be made regarding this historic moment for Black women, those arguments will never include a reasonable assertion that the pageants mentioned above are now controlled by Blacks or serve the interests of subsequent generations of Black girls who are at this very moment being taught to consider success on those stages to be a valid measure of their worth. As with most things surrounding Black life, even this “achievement” brings forth warning alarms as it was provided by those who have historically resisted anything positive for Black America or persons of African descent around the globe. And as we all know, that which has been given can be taken at a moments notice.

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2019.

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The Desperate Need for Black America to Address its Cultural Diet

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The phrase “you are what you eat” is a common refrain among most people. I am sure that each of us has heard such wisdom directed our way by someone (parent, grandparent, teacher, coach) who felt that they knew better than you did. American youth, regardless of the generation being examined, scoffed at the insinuation that preceding generations were providing an indispensable truth via the above popular saying.

Although I shudder to think that I belonged to that number who knew better than those who’d come before me, truthfully, I think that the vast majority of us belong in that number.

Famed playwright August Wilson placed the following words in Doaker, a Pullman Car Porter, mouth in the play The Piano Lesson. According to Doaker, “Time go ‘long, time go ‘long.” This short line has always remained prominent in my mind because it serves as a reminder that time is always going ‘long.

It is this evaporating intangible substance called time that “God ain’t making no more of” that provides each of us the opportunity to not only re-evaluate the path that we have traveled, but also a few fleeting moments, if we’re fortunate, to make sense of it all. During this blessed time I have come to understand that the saying “you are what you eat” is applicable to so many other areas of our life, most notably in regards to our consumption of popular culture.

Observation and participation have convinced me of the following truism. If one repeatedly uncritically consumes ridiculous portrayals of Black life there is little chance that the foolishness that they are allowing into their minds will not become a life philosophy.

It is a bit ironic that just as one’s physical appearances is a reliable indicator of what type of food has been consumed, our public persona, worldview, language, and behavior reflect our cultural choices. In fact, the signs of a poor cultural diet are more reliable than those of high caloric, carbohydrate filled food diet. Although unfashionable to say, it is easy to identify those hooked on a vitamin-deficient cultural diet.

Most agree that adherence to a righteous cultural diet is the most important diet of all due to its phenomenal impact on the life that one leads.

Unfortunately for Black America, legions of Black folk appear to be taking their cues regarding behavior from various reality television personas and putting forth their best effort to replicate the referenced foolishness.

When applied to culture, the prospect that “you are what you eat” should frighten many Negroes. Fortunately for such poor scraps of humanity, there is an opportunity that requires minimal effort for them to reverse course. They must simply cease their consumption of negative images that they have gradually become addicted to and replace such foolishness with uplifting images. There is no other reasonable path of ending the cycle of violence, nihilism, and unbridled stupidity that serve as highlights in the dim-witted lives of so many of our people.

In many ways, the alluded to images are a double-edged sword that simultaneously damages the minds of Black America while convincing outsiders that such ilk is an appropriate representation of Black life. The psychological damage emanating from reality televisions depiction of Black life inevitably leads huge-swaths of Black America to view their kind via a prejudiced and bigoted lens that is remarkably similar to the one used by their historic opponents.

It is time that we replace shows like The Real Housewives of Atlanta with uplifting and progressive depictions of Black life such as Hidden Figures. The refusal to consume negative images is at worst a significant portion of the formula to uplift our community. Failure to do so dooms significant segments of our community in both the short and long-term.  

Dr. James Thomas Jones III

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2019.

African-American History

Black Panther Party Leader Bobby Rush Remembers the Murder of Fred Hampton

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The first evening we held a Political Education class and after that the Central Committee was supposed to meet at Fred’s. After the Central Staff meeting, which ended early, there wasn’t enough room for everybody to stay there, and a member dropped me off. It must have been about two-thirty.

Between four and five that morning I got a call from a member who had gotten a call from a woman who lived down the street. They said there was a shoot-out at Fred’s house and the cops had cordoned off the streets. So I had somebody come by and pick me up, and went over to the woman’s house.

Her apartment was in the basement. We stayed there, listening to the radio. I guess it must have been about six, six-thirty. And they – they had said, you know, that there was a shoot-out – but they said Fred Hampton had been killed. He had been taken to the Cook County Hospital. I don’t know what other persons they had announced. I don’t know if they announced anybody, but they said Fred Hampton was killed. That’s how we found out about it. On the radio.

It was very…I mean it was something where you…I mean I broke down and cried.

I guess the next thing I remember was that I hoped Fred took someone with him. They didn’t say, but I knew that Fred was…that taking someone with him was what Fred was gonna be about.

I guess maybe we stayed down there till eight, eight-thirty, nine o’ clock. I’m not sure what all was going on. It’s almost a real blank in terms of what was happening. People calling in, us calling folks, things like that. I remember Eldridge. He called fro Algiers. Tried to tell us how to deal with the situation. Something to do with retaliation and that kind of thing. What was he doing calling from Algiers, some villa in Algiers, telling us how to deal with something here in Chicago?

Not so say retaliation wasn’t on our mind. We were gonna retaliate. I had given some specific directions about what should have happened and where it should happen. But certain things didn’t get carried out. In retrospect it was good that revenge didn’t happen militarily, but politically. The political development and consciousness of the people of Chicago would never have occurred, the whole thing would have been blurred and obliterated, had we gone out and killed some policemen.

We went over to the house and saw the bullet holes. Then we dealt with the attorneys, dealt with the media, dealt with trying to find out whether or not somebody else had been killed, trying to find out what had really happened. It was then that we found out another member, Mark Clark, the defense captain of the Peoria branch, had also been killed.

I remember going to the morgue…you know, identifying Fred’s body.

They didn’t cordon off the apartment. So we had people walk through the apartment. Twenty-five thousand people came through that apartment to see what was going on. That was the biggest thing in terms of making sure that our version of the story was at least heard and also accepted.

The next thing was this guy who used to be a producer of the NBC midday news. He invited me and another Party member and Hanrahan, the state’s attorney, to be on his show. Hanrahan refused. We went on the station and told him that Fred had been murdered. That’s how the word really began to get out that Fred had been murdered. One reporter, named Phil Walters, took the side of the Panthers. He called it murder. He almost got fired. But then a couple of days after, the Tribune came out with this big article questioning who did it, who shot, how many bullets were fired, and was it a really shoot-out, or was it murder, just cold-blooded murder?

(Interview with Bobby Rush)

African-American History

The Murder of Fred Hampton by the U.S. Government (F.B.I. — Illinois State Police — & Chicago Police Department)

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https://vimeo.com/49981380
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Why Black America’s Tradition of Supporting “Bad Niggers” like Queen & Slim Confuses White America

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If it can be said that America loves its gangsters. It can also be said that Black America, a community that has often taken its cues regarding values and the keys to success from Whites, has similar proclivities. Truthfully speaking, the adoration that Black America heaps on their “lawless,” a population that writer Gilbert Moore characterized as “bad niggers,” hinges on the rebellion being someway aimed against White supremacy. Many are shocked to find that the omnipresence of White Supremacy has failed to create an annual crop of “bad niggers” who seemingly revel at the opportunity to fight against occurrences of racial bigotry and institutionalized racism that impact all of Black America in one way or another. 

Maybe it can be attributed to the fact that there is no dearth of daily reminders, let alone a full history of racial oppression in this nation that causes African-Americans to include themselves in some intangible way to the antics of “bad niggers” rebelling against the existing system of racial oppression. It matters little to those offering what amounts to inconsequential support that from the moment they appear that their arc will be similar to shooting-stars in their spectacular impromptu appearance and short lifespan.

The recently released film Queen and Slim beautifully reflect this portion of Black life.  

One may wonder why Black America silently champions the “bad niggers” in their midst. The truth of the matter is that they realized long ago that it is the comprehensive tie of Race that holds the potential to put them all in the same boat. Blacks understand that neither educational attainments nor socioeconomic status mutes the dangers of being Black in White America. There is not a socially conscious Black person alive who does not have the absolute worst nightmare of being stopped by a bigoted “law enforcement officer” eager to express his own leanings lethally. 

Blacks know that even a mundane traffic stop like the one that starts a cascade of unexpected twists-and-turns in the film Queen and Slim is capable of ending Black life. The reality that Black life could terminate without any notice encourages their sporadic and tenuous moments of Black solidarity on behalf of “bad Niggers” like Assata Shakur, Eldridge Cleaver, Karl Hampton, and the fictional characters Queen and Slim. From the lens of Black America, the appearance of such figures conveys some hope that the battle over racial matters is not over. 

Albeit frustrating for White, racial matters are permanently affixed at the forefront of the minds of most Blacks. Many would argue that it is the single-most-important variable in their lives, and therefore it will never fully recede to the recesses of their minds. 

The criticisms of American Whites regarding Blacks continuing agitation for politico-economic improvement serves to encourage Black America’s rallying around “bad niggers” such as Queen and Slim seeking to capture tangible and intangible resources that Whites have always considered their sole possession. 

Let’s be honest about America’s Race problem. It began with White Anglo-Saxon Protestants who long ago shared their birthright with late-arriving European immigrants. It stands to reason that if the socially constructed system began and has been maintained for centuries by “Whites,” its existence and therefore demise lies in the lap of White America. Unbeknownst to Whites, African-Americans exist in a constant state of suspicion. Their skepticism of Whites revolves around the reasonable expectation that there will be a debut of chicanery designed to continue Whites’ monopoly over politico-economic resources.

When framed by the above matters, I hope that Whites are not bothered by the natural inclinations of Blacks to offer varying levels of support to “bad Niggrs” such as Queen and Slim as they seek to escape the hang man’s noose that Black Americans believe will one day be placed around their neck. After all, “bad Niggers” like Slim and Queen that White America denigrate “lawless gangsters” are inspirations to a maligned Black populace that has experienced far too many losses and been dominated far too long.

I guess it is true that one man’s terrorist is another man’s revolutionary. 

Dr. James Thomas Jones III 

© Manhood, Race, and Culture, 2019.