Every once in a while, a column will spark an unusual volume of feedback.
With a fan base in the millions (not including my intergalactic readers), it is hard for me to respond to everyone. However, I make an exception for those who email or lambast me on social media.
My recent two-part series on ‘fiscal year’ thoughts provided such an opportunity.
Fortunately, most criticism is generally borne out of a misunderstanding or misinterpretation of my writing style. I am known to be blunt, frequently sarcastic, and generally cynical and sardonic, which is a result of my lifetime working on the plantation with slaves whom Harriet Tubman would leave behind.
One reader (actually several over the last few months) took issue with my frequent use of uncommon (big) words, or those with more than three syllables. A ‘friend’ accused me of trying to show off or look down at illiterate or otherwise uneducated Black folks.
Let me put that theory to rest once and for all: I am a high school dropout who fought to overcome my educational deficits through personal study.
I learned a precious lesson while in the military when I excelled in a technical school at a base in Norfork, VA. I was in the top 5% of my class when I discovered I didn’t have a high school diploma. I was reassigned even though I was at the top of my class.
I vowed ignorance would never be the roadblock, so I began reading everything I could get a hold of—at one point reading most books in a small library.
As a result, four years later, I was admitted to UW-Milwaukee, and the rest is history.
I also learned that education (knowledge) is a lifelong process. So even as a sub-chief (I’m old and have experiences and wisdom to share), I always try to improve myself, using this column as homework.
Every week I research new words and find a way to use them in ‘Signifyin”.
This week I added the word ‘dimorphic.’
Look it up, or figure it out from the website Q&A where I discovered it: ‘are Black men more dimorphic than White men?’
That’s worthy of exploration.
But I digress. Following are some of the questions and comments I received from the columns. If you didn’t read them, you could visit Milwaukeecommunityjournal.com, Signifyin’ archives:
Female reader: ‘I don’t know if your ‘statement’ about linking abortion to a chicken egg is insulting, ignorant, or just stupid.
I hope you were being facetious….”
Nope…I wasn’t. A young person asked me what a fetus was, and I said to envision a fresh chicken egg. If you look closely, that red dot is the heart.
Another reader named Tasha was upset about my revealing statistic data showing the limited possibility of sisters with two or more children by two or more men ever marrying.
Maybe my being a product of a different era when we had a real community taints my worldview. But, I believe the institution of marriage is a cornerstone of our cultural foundation. Today’s ‘normal’ not only ‘Signifies’ a dysfunctional culture, but it rests upon a foundation of Jello.
Facts are facts, and one verity (another new word) is that marriage is on the endangered species list in the Black community, and I don’t think that paradigm bodes well for our future.
Tasha lambasted me for hanging our dirty laundry out in public and apparently not accepting the fatherless, multi-sperm donor as the new normal.
Seventy percent of Black households are headed by single women, most of whom are adherents to the ‘culture of poverty.’
In most cases, the ‘baby daddy’ is not involved enough to make a difference, allowing their child(ren) to go without the essential benefit of leadership and maturation.
Tasha made the ridiculous claim that the sisters don’t have much to choose from. She also said many Black men make promises they don’t keep, or take advantage of naïve young sisters.
Ba, ba, ba.
I found her comments disingenuous and insulting to sisters.
Anyone who tells a man, “I wanna be your baby mama,” is shortchanging herself and the ‘products’ (pawns) of that relationship.
And let’s be honest: there are many good men out there, but as I heard Sherwin Hughes say on his radio show recently, ‘they (the good men) are not interested in ‘you’ (the woman seeking to build a relationship around ‘baby mamaism’ (another new word).
Sherwin also noted there is little reason for professional men to ‘reach down.’
They are looking for a wife with shared values, not a ready-made family.
And in truth, many brothers feel they can bounce from woman to woman—Neckbone to Neckbone— assuming they are desperate and easy.
Additional honesty: Women are in control. If they don’t want a baby, they won’t have one. Accidents do happen, but there are options beyond abortion, including the ‘morning-after pill.’
Intelligent, motivated sisters see themselves as more than baby mamas. The culturally attuned and professional sisters will say, if you want a child, ‘put a ring on it.’
A brother, whom most know but didn’t give me permission to use his name, wanted to elaborate on my question about education.
In my column, I asked why teachers today don’t correct poor grammar or insist on proper writing skills, which will determine students’ future careers.
“Brother, you know the answer to that,” he asserted. “This entire educational system (public schools) is corrupt and is controlled but people who don’t want Black children to learn.
“This goes beyond (Carter G.) Woodson’s theory on miseducating the Negro. We are in a period when middle-class jobs and technology are reducing the need for many professionals. The pool is reduced by allowing our children to fail, and the white suburbanites get the jobs.”
The village chief quoted various Black leaders who posited that those who have historically oppressed Black Americans have no vested interest in advancing our cause of equality.
Systemic racism runs through the public (government) school system, as evidenced by the disproportionate suspension rates, poor academic achievement, abysmal reading and math proficiency rates (worst in the country), and shortage of Black teachers.
“I’m not a great supporter of vouchers as a cure-all, but given what MPS is offering, I would not put my children in those schools,” he said. “If nothing else, the system proves having Blacks in leadership is meaningless unless you change the structure.”
Well, said…
A white cleric (in a private message) decried my position in support of Harriet Tubman’s assessment that John Brown was the ‘greatest White’ man of his era.
Brown advocated for the violent overthrow of America’s slave system. He frequently said the evil of slavery could only be erased through a blood transfusion.
Said Rev. Don L: ‘your comments go against biblical tenets and the teachings of Jesus. John Brown was an anarchist. He was not following the teachings of Jesus, who called for humanity and brotherhood.
“To elevate someone like Brown—despite the merits of his cause—as a hero to Afro-Americans (his exact word) is to dismiss and pollute the bible and the Christian faith….”
I’ll end on that ridiculous and redundant comment.
The Bible is full of ‘bloodletting,’ supposedly condoned or even advocated by God. If you take the Bible literally, you must accept that God told Moses and Joshua to murder innocent women, children, and even animals along the Hebrew path to reach the ‘promised land.’
You also have to accept that He (or She) condoned slavery and became so upset with His/Her ‘creation’ that Nyame (West African word for God) killed every being on the planet, leaving only Noah and his family.
Slavery would have eventually ended in America. But it would have ended with bloodshed through the uncivil war or armed revolt.
And from my perspective, those who maintained and profited from the worst form of slavery known to mankind were evil ‘devils’ who should have suffered the fate of those encountered by Nat Turner (a minister) and others who led recorded and unrecorded revolts.
Last point: Black Americans, and those who were not allowed citizenship before the 14th amendment, carved out a separate and distinct form of Christianity because the White Church refused to condemn America’s evil institution. Slavery would not have existed in America if the church, synagogue, and temple had stood against it.
‘Ben’ said he agreed with my ‘concerns’ about Democrats and Joe Biden. “I echo your (assessment) that the two parties are different wings on the same bird and that we will never reach the mountain top relying on a political party as our guide.
“…take the Brittany Griner case, for example. Biden and the Democrats show themselves as hypocrites by ignoring the sista who took ‘dope’ into Russia. She is intelligent enough to know what she was doing and what was at stake in the most racist country in Europe.
Had she been caught entering America, she would have also been arrested because Biden and the Democrats refuse to remove marijuana from the federal government’s inclusion of it being in the same category as heroin. Think about that!
“And Biden is going to exchange a death merchant, spies, and terrorists to get Griner back?”
What about the 100,000 Black men in prison for non-violent drug offenses, mostly marijuana? Where is this old white dude’s sympathy for them?”
From a reader with only a number (no name): “I don’t care what they say, Blacks can be racist, and you are living proof of that. You are always writing negative things about white people, lumping them together and using them as a scapegoat for Blacks’ failures and uncivilized behavior.
“You want us to pay reparations for something we didn’t do. You always begging for a handout (welfare) and don’t want to recognize America wouldn’t need the system if you people stopped breeding like animals. You have no morals (most of you) and have rejected God.
For the record, I cleaned up this ‘good white American’s’ syntax but received no response when I reached out via messenger to get specifics.
As for being a racist, if that means I put Black people first, over political parties, unions, and the ‘educarcy,’ you are right. And yes, I have repeatedly stated we are God’s first, His/Her chosen, and the creators of math, science, and medicine. Those are facts that were dismissed in ‘His-story’ (or ‘white critical race theory’).
I don’t apologize for my blackness and oppose oppression in any form.
And those who read, or have heard me on various platforms, know I don’t hold back on my condemnation of Black people. I am an equal opportunity observer and critic.
Said Clad (who I assume is white): “you shouldn’t be given a forum. You’re hateful, cynical, and unAmerican…need to go somewhere else….”
UnAmerican? I’m a Vietnam veteran, which most right-wing critics cannot say. I gave; served. As for being hateful and cynical? I am. I hate prejudice, racism, bigotry, and injustice.
I have an aversion to people who take advantage of others, crime, and political, pastoral, and poverty pimps.
I couldn’t let this column end on a negative note. So, here is a sample of fans who see value in my having a forum to say what they wish they could.
Said K’Tore’: “Keep it cummin’ brother; we need to learn and thus grow.”
A tribal queen y’all know as Mother Brenda commented: “I’ve learned so much about our history reading your column. You provide a service no one else can….”
And, finally, D.D. (Darrel or Daryl Davis) said: “Your ‘Weekendwisdom’ series is the most controversial but informative posting I know of.
You challenge ‘His-story’, religion and injustice. Your posts on Kemet and the roots of Judaism are unique but informative; it makes me think out of the box.
I think you should include it in your column.
“And to (paraphrase) that radio brother, ‘you are the most requested speaker, widely read, the most ‘Africentric’ Black writer in Wisconsin.’
“Plus, I learned, you’re the only Black columnist in the state. It’s a heavy load, but you’re carrying it.”
Nuff said.
Hotep.
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