Black America: Truth vs. Myth? Constant efforts to veil the truth of Black Americans from Black America
Baldwin’s proclamation that “the great force of history comes from the fact that we carry it within us” is very profound. He’s saying, in other words, though attempts may be made to separate the past from the present, this is impossible as history is an integral and most prevalent living and evolving aspect in the foundation of the former, current, and future self. As such, history will constantly affect one’s actions (present and future).
Building from that same line of thought: efforts are constantly undertaken to veil the truth of Black Americans from Black America. Efforts are made to garble a remarkable history through distorting the facts and destroying physical evidence of a brilliant people to continue to oppress a people. These attempts have been in play ever since the first ancestor was delivered to this unknown land against his will. Since that day, up to present day, the truth of the black man’s history—his heritage and culture—has been closely guarded and masked by White America to ensure the black man stays within his newly created—around the 17th century—appointed place of being a n**ger/n**ga.
Whites have worked very hard at trying to [convince] blacks that they were athletically, culturally, and intellectually inferior to them. If this were true, why the need to try to [force] Blacks to believe something that is supposedly a fact?
In 1908, Jack Johnson became the first African-American heavyweight champion of the world and reigned as champion until 1915. During the 1936 Olympics, Jesse Owens won four gold medals. Joe Louis became heavyweight champion of the world in 1937, reigning until 1949. Boxing and Track & Field exposed the myth of whites being athletically superior as a lie.
In the realm of sports, this left baseball, basketball and football—the last major sports—for white America to attempt to keep the myth alive. Jackie Robinson became the first black man to play in the major leagues. Jackie Robinson was provided the opportunity to prove that blacks could indeed play in the major leagues by Branch Rickey, owner of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Mr. Robinson was forced to overcome many incredible odds—not only proving physical ability, but most significantly mental/emotional stamina, and intestinal fortitude. In the wake of these trials, he prevailed, nonetheless, and opened the door for other black athletes to walk through and put to rest the mythical claims of white athletic superiority.
During the 50s, in order for blacks to participate in sports at the high school level, they had to be twice as good as their white counterparts to make the team. While whites thought their tough, unfair barriers to entry would discourage blacks from participating, to the contrary, their challenge actually forced blacks to run harder, think faster, and play more innovatively than their white teammates. This ultimately laid the groundwork for the emergence of black superstar athletes.
Black players were allowed to play every position in football with the exception of quarterback because they were supposedly not smart enough to play the position. African-American quarterback for the Washington Redskins Doug Williams’ winning of the 1988 Super Bowl buried yet another myth.
The myth of cultural inferiority implicates the belief that blacks have never risen above life in the jungle or constructively contributed to the advancement of humankind. Evidence all around the world suggests the fallacy in this premise as well. For instance, long ago, when Napoleon invaded Egypt with his French army, he took offense to the Negroid features of the Sphinx’s nose and ordered his troops to aim their cannon at the nose and blow it off. Why?
To what lengths are men prepared to continue allowing prejudice, bias and racism to misrepresent the truth? And more importantly why the need for misrepresentation? Why the need to keep a race of people in the dark about their past? What secrets lie in the hidden past of the black race, which is unknown to them, but yet known by the Arab nation and those of Eurocentricity? Why have the Arabs and Whites conspired to wipe out virtually any and all traces of the Black Civilizations and its contribution to humankind?
Next challenge: it has been said that blacks don’t have the intellectual ability to think for themselves and lead. In all three major sports—basketball, football and baseball, the myth that blacks lack the intellect to coach a team has been shattered. NFL professional football was the last bastion to give way to the idea of blacks’ inability to and ineffectiveness at coaching when, in 2006, Tony Dungee of the Indianapolis Colts and Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears, respectively, became the first Black head coaches in a Super Bowl game.
Barack Hussein Obama’s election as the first Black president of the United States of America completely demolished the myth that blacks lack intelligence and the potential to lead. This phenomenal feat is an extraordinary accomplishment and, therefore, merits attention all unto itself. As such, homage will be paid to President Obama in an upcoming article.
The American institutionalized systemic is set up to maintain the falsehood that whites are intellectually superior to blacks, and in order for this system to work, blacks must believe this themselves. Unfortunately, an overwhelming number actually do; their use of the n-word is evidence of this fact.
The 1960’s took America by surprise. Black America as a group for the first time in American history united to fight a common foe: segregation and Jim Crowism. The 60s were unlike any other decade ever before—or since. Blown aback by the determination and resilience of the black united force, the systemic had to regroup and fine tune itself. And regrouped it did.
Among other things, the solid black leadership and strong community activism that was prevalent during the 60s has since been neutralized. A mind control ploy that was somewhat dormant during that time also resurfaced: the N-word. The n-word—a significant element and lifeblood of the inferiority myths—is an ace card that America has used for more than 300 years as an effective tool to keep Black Americans mentally off-balance and discombobulated. The news media, an apparatus of the systemic, sends messages of self-destruction, self-abasement, complacency and inertia to Black Americans—by black apostates.
Dr. Carter G. Woodson once said: “If you can make a man believe that he is inferior, you don’t have to compel him to seek an inferior status, he will do so without being told.”
Black America, as a group, voluntarily embraces their appointed place as n**gers/n**gas validating the resounding success of the mental enslavement implant. Black world history has been distorted and virtually obliterated, limiting it to the confines of the present day habitat for a reason, and there is enough remaining evidence around the world confirming that there was a history surpassing that of the present day domain, and a very potent history at that. It is by design for Black African Americans not to know or understand anything about its past preceding the habitat which our ancestors were removed from.
Enlightenment of one’s past history is an important step towards mental liberation.
To understand and appreciate our history is to understand ourselves. In understanding ourselves, as a group, we gradually open the window to our ingenuity and inner creativeness, for though there is no denying all of the [individual] achievements, unified group accomplishments remains stagnant in our modern day contemporary society.
The Truth can lie dormant and/or be concealed for millenniums and yet find a way to re-emerge and reveal its unabridged reality. However, continued inertia assures an infinite span of mental enslavement for the Black race which a self-internalizing and perpetual use of the n-word serves as a psychological conduit for. It remains to be seen as to how long Black America—as a group—will continue to allow itself to be victimized, bamboozled and hoodwinked into an acceptance of an 18th century slave mentality way of thinking.
H. Lewis Smith is the founder and president of UVCC, theUnited Voices for a Common Cause, Inc. ( http://www.theunitedvoices.com and author of Bury that Sucka: A Scandalous Love Affair With the N-word. Follow H. Lewis Smith on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/thescoop1
