Black Folk and Power

Who has the power? I mean everybody wants power but few have it. In fact, we probably need to define power as the concept has many incarnations. Does the black man really posess power in the face of a white supermacist pactriary? I really don't think so. We have illusions of power but in the final schematic-- I sincerely think our power (if we have any) is grossly limited. In this posting, I will attempt to create linkages to the construct of power as it pretains to Blacks in America-- As we are African by design, American by trade, Slave by profession we must establish where we fit inside of the power dyanamic.

First we must identify the economic system/structure of our nation. America, founded in the sprit of competition is rooted in captalisim and free trade. Everything goes to the higest bidder inculding the quality of life. If one has the ability to control a great deal of wealth, then one can sustain a rather comfortable life-- at least in a captalistic system. Accordig to Marx, there are various classes (social classes) that extend from a captalistic structure-- the bougsouie and the proletaritate. -- I further that by offering that the Americanized model of captalisim breeds social classes based in race. These same social classes hold ranks, privileges and libilities. For many Black Folk, (myself included) we strive hard to achieve this idealized American Dream. For many other Black Folk that American Dream morphs into their American Nightmare as they strive just to "live for the city," in the underclass at or below the polverty line. In fact, I venture to say that below them there exists another class -- the Invisible Class. -- I define this class as follows:
Captalisim breeds racisim, classisim, sexisim, homophobia, ageisim along with a whole list of other isims. In America at least, when you have money you access to quite a few things, material, cognative, sex, power you name it. When you don't have money, you have access to a few other things as well such as abuse, brutality, invisiblity, insensitivity, a systemic structure that is stacked against you. There is alcholisim, narcotics that will dull the pain of being poor. Few people lack the resouces, cognatively to deflect these agents of self distruction. There are days that I think I might be close to that edge. There even have been times I have though about jumping completely over the cliff. But for some reason, my sprituality and my strong belief in sprits/ghosts/spectres/angles whatever you would like to call them, prevents me from doing it. If I could cry I really would, God knows I've got a few reasons. But I can't for some reason. For some reason I am determined to see this thing through-- paying off this bill, staying married, graduating and really saying what needs to be said about our way of life, this American dream which is nothing more than ultimate mind fuck for African Americans. For those who may be squemish-- the ultimate brainwash. Now why do I say that? Well like I said earlier about classisim, if you don't have money, you fit perfectly into a certain class. If you can remain invislble, in the Elisonian sense, and not be affected, consider that a positive. Saying that, I would further that by adding a false postive. You may think you are invisible, but the truth of the matter is, you are under servelance. Already living on the marings of life, one step over the line and you are rendered invisible by a legal sense. The systems say, we don't want to deal with you and we don't have to deal with you so the only dealing we WILL have to do with you is to put out of sight out of mind, hence--we set the game up so you fail. We'll keep you under employeed just long enough for you to drink yourself to death, work yourself to death, or one of your own kind takes your life. Now if you are a stubborn son of a bitch, then we'll systematically dispose of you i.e. the legal system. There one damn sure doesn't stand a chance because of I factor-- the insensivity/invisible factor. I think Al Pachino put it best in his film Insomnia. Talking to Robin Williams, who was the villian, he says, "you are about as facinating to me as a block toilet is to a plumber, I deal with at least eight of your kind a day." Now the irony is, that classic dialouge is the trueisim of the judicial system when it comes to matters of the poor. So if you are poor, caught in the mix of the legal system, you are buttfucked there too. In America, as I am writing on the fourth of July, the celebretatory day of White Independence, we have criminlised polverty. If you are among the poor, you are an outcast. It is a serious crime to be poor in America punishable by death…I think the next thing coming down the pike are debtors prisions. We already have that with the credit system in this land of milk and honey. We give you credit at a very early age-- when you are iresponsible and impressionable. But no one really explains the concept of paying the loan back therefore you get your first negative hits with credit in your early 20s. When/If you graduate college, you really aren't but so qualified to take the job you trained to do so you take a job just to get by, getting by is what you are patterened to do. If you do go to grad school, that costs more money and again-- failure to make the correct network, failure to understand that undergraudate education sets the stage for your future again puts you in a subaltern state. Grades aren't good enough to get a scholarship and so you have to work and go to school which can place your grades at risk or if you have a child at this stage, school rarely is an option. In essence you take out loans and more loans until damn you have got a serious bill to pay back. My God!!! In your late 20s if you are lucky you start to realized the damage you have done and by then you get to where I am, depressed, dazed and confused. You see the direction you want your life to go in, and you see some type of light at the end of the tunnel only to find out that it's a train. So you dodge the train only to see another one coming. Is this supposed to make stronger or my cynical-- I am confused. Like I said I really do want to cry but at the same time tears never solved a problem.. Patience, perserverance (Sir Percival) and intellegence move boulders. Right now -- I think I am in stonehenge….
So if we take invisiblity for what it is-- we see that it is a power that must be mastered if one is going to survive -- A text called Cool Pose suggests that black men wear masks that enable them to face these challenges however, I think that given the context, the Cool Pose is obsolete. No-- we must first accept the fact that we do live on the margins of society. Once we accept that we must then negotiate the fact that death is among us. Now what is death. When we -- black folk-- look at death we personify it-- see it-- as this grim reaper coming to take us off to judgement... Of course this is the Christian interpertation. Again, a monolithic misnoma of black folk-- we are christians. Being a baptist/budhist I don't fit into the box designed by the hegemony-- which will more than likly lead to my silencing but that's another story for another day. According to Cornel West, death can no longer afford to be construted or viewed in this one model. In fact he says that death has three aditional variations: psychic, spritual, and civic. Civic death equates to a legal statewide banishment form society-- i.e. jail, unemployement, the underground economy. Spritual death is coupled to self doubt--nihalisim, where one beleives their life has no value. Finally psychic death where these ideas transform into action, my life is worthless ergo lets become self destructive -- drug use, sucidal tendancy, slow death -- we kill oursleves softly. Now saying that-- I feel we must embrace death and learn to live with those notions of death opposed to running from it. Once we do that I strongly feel we come into a sense of cognizance and identify -- triangulate the various structures around us. The job doesn't stop there in fact it becoems more tedious because then we must take the time to deconstruct the opressive structures which engulf us daily--economics, education, race, class, gender in essence the Amercanized and now Globalized incarnations of captalism. After we then must re-construct the structures in our imigantions and then penitrate them at cautiously and use the power of opressor against itself. In short-- once you know the structures, you stratagize, you seize power. In my mind it makes very little sense for a mouse to go head to head with an elephant. However, it does make sense for the mouse to study the elephant and if need be strike the elephant with an elephant trap.
In essence -- summary, we as black folk, black men in particular must learn the power dynamics, or we are predestined to contiue in the perpetual cycle of BS also known as insanity.

Done..