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PART I

Three years ago I determined to present public arguments to the issues attending Black Nationalism (BN) and Black Liberation Theology (BLT). Until that time my expertise in those ideologies was necessarily concealed from public scrutiny.

My earliest revelations were veiled in scores of dimensionless chatter characteristic of someone seeking to avoid criticism. My verbiage was tightly structured, cautious, the purpose of my discussion neatly concealed within equally-balanced racial criticisms. Though I was driven to reveal the dangerous nature of BN and BLT, I was equally motivated to avoid being labeled a ‘racist’. And, given the hell-storm unleashed upon anyone labeled a racist, my fears were reasonable.

Three years ago I unwittingly invited an evolutionary momentum into my life that would force me to examine my conscription to poisonous, cultural, racial illusions. Those illusions were process driven, the end-product of years of cultural propaganda. I did not then know that my self-examination would reveal characteristics induced by fouled societal pressures; nor could I have then known that those characteristics are almost universally shared by whites.

LESSON ONE: WHITE ATTITUDES TOWARDS RACE HAVE CREATED A PREDATORY, CANNIBALISTIC ENVIRONMENT OF FORCED SILENCE -

Shortly before Obama was elected president, I forwarded a ‘revolutionary’ concept to hundreds of people, including friends. The article was titled, “The White Value System”. I described that I had come across a unique church whose values were described in “The White Value System”. Those values were obviously ‘white’ biased and inflammatory towards blacks. I received numerous rejections of the “system” and numerous accusations I was a ‘racist’.

I waited a few days before I alerted the audience that I had purloined “The White Value System” from the Trinity Lutheran Church (TLC) - the church Obama attended for over twenty years. In his book, Dreams from My Father, Obama makes note of “The Black Value System” that represents the essence of his church. I took the liberty of changing “Black” to “White” in order to determine what ‘white’ attitudes would be.

After a few days I forwarded Obama’s “Black Value System” to the same people with the question, “Is this racist”? The answer was universally, “NO!” When I queried how it was the “White Value System” was racist but the “Black Value System” was not, the only response I received was a one word reply, “Because”.

Although this small sampling of white racial attitudes is by no means an absolute assertion of the racial confusion that permeates the white psyche, it was broad enough to provide me insight into my confused attitudes towards race and how those attitudes affect me.  

An attorney friend who received the “White Value System” cautioned, “Bob, you’re sounding like a racist. Be careful old friend.” Another recipient who works for a Florida power company wrote, “Have you lost your mind? This is racist.” The strongest warning came from a high-school friend who wrote, “Don’t bother to contact me anymore – I don’t associate with racists.” Even after I informed them I was conducting a ‘cultural experiment’ – an introspective examination – the retorts continued.

One recipient was so angered by “The White Value System” she forwarded emails to mutual friends. “Bob is a racist,” she wrote. I would never have guessed the depth of the animosity directed at me nor the energy that would be expended to disgrace me. The repercussions of that experiment continue to this day. This examination of racial attitudes offered me insight into fears I internalized during years of exposure to partial and incomplete racial truths. I came to understand the power of the ‘collective’ mind to control and define our attitudes – Even when those attitudes are suicidal. Whites, it seemed, had become predatory towards one another; the totality of our individual existence, and therefore our value to humanity, singularly defined by our attitudes towards blacks. When one of us stepped outside the cultural veil, when we questioned the legitimacy of those values relating to race we had been handed, other whites fell into a cannibalistic feeding frenzy.

Clearly, something was terribly, terribly wrong – with me. The emotional, psychological and mental angst I experienced whenever I wrote or discussed racial issues was inconsistent with the reality of the situation. My arguments remained consistent: Blacks must take responsibility for their behavior and whites must shed the notion that we are somehow responsible for black behavior. The facts I presented were drawn from real-world dynamics: Everything I discussed was supported by tons of literature, studies, data and other resources. Still, I was unable to shake the emotional angst that accompanied my efforts.

Part of me felt I was betraying the ‘good’ people around me – people who had dedicated themselves to helping black ‘victims’. Another part felt I was being unfair – even though I knew the concept of ‘fairness’ is irrational, relative. I was deeply concerned my efforts would relegate me to the isolated dungeons reserved for social lepers whose racial beliefs relegate them to a life of apologetic alienation. The most difficult aspect of my angst, however, derived from my sense of decency: Never pick on someone smaller than you or someone weaker than you. NEVER! So it was that I realized my perception of blacks was that they were ‘weaker’, ‘less fortunate’ and ‘unfairly burdened’. Thus, my ‘white’ role commanded me to treat blacks ‘fairly’ – regardless of their behavior.

I had assimilated the belief I was in a superior position, a blessed position, an unearned position; that my skin color allowed me gratuities and characteristics blacks were deprived the ‘luxury’ of acquiring – I assumed unearned blame. When I shed this perspective, when I examined the totality of my life and those struggles I have endured – regardless of my skin color – I realized that skin color is no determinate of success or failure, that all members of the human race know joy and sorrow, pain and fortune – We all struggle to define our lives: White offers no guarantee of success.

This perspective allowed me to pursue truth, to examine racial issues, knowing that my efforts were intended to enhance the likelihood of mankind’s successes rather than perpetuate his failures. It was this perspective that allowed me to establish an attitude toward blacks that is the exact attitude I have towards everyone: I am not my brother’s keeper. 

THE DISEASE –

For years I perceived blacks to be helplessly oppressed by the history of racism and the inherent, evil characteristics unique to the white race. I accepted ‘being bad’ without actually having ‘done bad’. From this perspective, the color of my skin not only defined me, it condemned me; a condemnation I readily accepted without question; after all, that was the attitude and behavior I saw in other whites. I accepted vicarious liability and punishment for things I had not done – or would do. The history of my race, the white race, pressed me into a quantifiable realm where the totality of my character, my humanity, was exclusively defined by the color of my skin.

Like many whites, I assimilated racial attitudes and behaviors without questioning their moral essence. Among the countless racial contradictions whites have nurtured, the most dangerous is white acceptance of responsibility for every malady that afflicts blacks. This attitude is both arrogant and destructive as it provides a pathway for blacks to avoid responsibility for their behavior.

Anyone familiar with the destructive nature of alcoholism recognizes the similarities in the poisonous characteristics of black-white dynamics. The destructive behavior of alcoholics requires them to employ manipulative techniques that allow them to avoid responsibility for their behavior. Sympathetic people in the alcoholic’s life are typically referred to as ‘enablers’, as their sympathy often nurtures and reinforces the alcoholic’s destructive behavior.

The alcoholic rationalizes his behavior; the enabler accepts those rationalizations, often to the detriment of himself and others. The alcoholic who loses his job, wrecks his car, beats his wife and children, experiences numerous arrests invariably blames the people and conditions in his life for causing him to ‘act the way he does’. The sympathetic enabler readily accepts these rationalizations, often choosing between the alcoholic, willful infliction of harm to innocent people, moral decency and personal honesty.

The enabler truly believes his support for the alcoholic is morally sane. The enabler is convinced the alcoholic is a victim of cruel, life circumstances; that the people and conditions within the sphere of the alcoholic’s life are ‘evil’. These dynamics create a poisonous relationship wherein the enabler becomes the ‘savior’, the alcoholic the ‘victim’ – Everyone else becomes ‘evil oppressors’. The friction that naturally evolves from these dynamics is unmistakably brutal.

Imagine the wife who, for years, has supported her alcoholic husband’s errant behavior. She has worked, sacrificed, tolerated, endured and blindly hoped that one day her sacrifices would cause the alcoholic to become productive. His parents, too, have done all they could to ‘keep the family afloat’: They have given rent and food money to the alcoholic; they have purchased cars for him; they have made countless excuses for his behavior; they have compromised their values; they have appeased his selfishness to ‘keep the peace’; they have fed his rationalizations without examining the moral sanity of doing so.

They fear the world will judge then condemn. Regardless of the consequences to themselves or others, they feed the alcoholic’s insanity. They struggle to avoid criticism – They have allowed themselves to become pawns to a destructive, selfish son who lives only to satisfy himself.

Such is the nature of perverted societal pressures; pressures that cause men to view their human worthiness, their decency, through the judgment of others. This view allows the alcoholic to manipulate them, to control them. They fear the alcoholic will accuse them of being ‘bad parents’ and in so doing unleash a societal feeding frenzy. 

[ http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.7903/pub_detail.asp ]

One of the alcoholic’s brothers is not sympathetic: He abhors his brother’s destructive behavior; he tries to convince the wife and parents to quit enabling the alcoholic’s behavior. The brother intuitively sees the moral insanity of preventing the alcoholic from suffering the full-brunt of his behavior. By keeping the alcoholic from becoming homeless, hungry, alone, desperate and vulnerable the wife and parents are insulating him from the consequences of his behavior. The brother knows the alcoholic’s ‘excuses’ are well-honed rationalizations that are factually untrue; he also knows that unless and until the enablers insist the alcoholic accept responsibility for his behavior, the situation will only worsen - The brother also knows the alcoholic’s offspring are destined to repeat their father’s behavior, becoming equally destructive, equally dependent.

During one particularly brutal drunk the alcoholic blamed his behavior on a boss whose alleged cruelty forced the alcoholic to drink - again. The wife and parents readily accepted this rationalization without examining the truth: What could the boss have done that was so horrible it would cause another man to drink himself to oblivion? The brother knew better. He knew the alcoholic’s boss. He also knew that the alcoholic had sunk to such moral lows he would exploit anyone regardless of the consequences his blame had upon them.

When the alcoholic quit high school he blamed his actions on a ‘bad’ teacher – A teacher who had sacrificed time and money to help the alcoholic improve his grades. In another instance the alcoholic made vengeful public declarations that he had been abused by a neighbor – Those declarations were prompted by the neighbor’s refusal to ‘loan’ the alcoholic money after years of having done so without being paid back. In yet another incident the alcoholic ruined the family car; he blamed his parents for the incident as they had given him a ‘sad childhood’. Regardless of the misery he inflicts on others – and upon himself - the alcoholic is determined to maintain his destructive behavior.

The brother becomes a source of friction. The wife and parents turn against the brother, thus earning the alcoholic’s endearment. They gain a sense of moral superiority; that their behavior is ‘benevolent’, ‘kind’, ‘tolerant’, ‘altruistic’; in contrast, the brother is characterized as ‘selfish’, ‘bad’, ‘oppressive’, ‘unfair’ and ‘morally corrupt’.

There is an unmistakable death spiral here – Every person in the alcoholic’s life plays one role or another: The sympathetic enabler; the people who are hated for insisting the alcoholic accept responsibility for his behavior; the neighbors, friends, relatives and children who are caught in the insane maelstrom; the government agencies and social programs that are exploited to ‘soften’ the alcoholic’s misery – Everyone is caught in the disease.

Until and when the alcoholic is forced to accept responsibility for his behavior the disease will continue until…
1.    The alcoholic dies.
2.    The alcoholic is imprisoned.
3.    The alcoholic goes insane.

There is one other alternative: The miserable alcoholic spiral continues.

The destructive nature of alcoholism is identical to the racial disease that permeates our culture. Blacks are the helpless, victimized, destructive alcoholics; Liberals are the sympathetic enablers whose actions only feed the disease; Conservatives are the ‘evil oppressors’ who refuse to accept the alcoholic’s behavior. This analogy is the essence of the diseased conceptualization of race we have created and nurtured within our culture. By virtue of its nature it feeds on friction and conflict: Liberals  blaming Conservatives for the ‘sad state’ of blacks. The cure, THE ONLY CURE, is blacks must accept responsibility for their behavior – ALL OF IT: THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY.

This racial disease is too firmly embedded in our culture. It will not disappear simply because we offer ‘sane moral arguments’; it will not fade-away because mankind has suddenly become enlightened or educated. NO, this is a human game, a diseased game. A game that provides massive doses of emotional and psychological sedation to Liberals who truly believe their actions are meritorious, kind, benevolent, helpful, altruistic, brave, unique….JUSTIFIED.

Regardless of the consequences this game has upon our culture, our nations, our economic and social sovereignty, blacks will press the matter forward, creating an enlarging culture of dependency and destruction.

CHARACTERISTICS OF MADNESS:

My evolution from ignorant participant to advocate for sanity in racial issues subjected me to unimaginable criticisms. When I first presented arguments against ‘black behavior’ the concept was immediately ‘racialized’. My discussions and writing focused on ‘behavior’ rather than ‘race’. That behavior was born of necessity as I was yet seeking to avoid accusations of ‘racism’. By that time I was well aware of the techniques used by blacks and their sympathizers to diminish racial truths – Especially conversations that advocate ‘black responsibility’.

Still, I forged ahead, and in so doing my progression towards a firm understanding of the nature of the ‘racial disease’ that permeates our culture naturally evolved. In the next article I will discuss the emotional, psychological and spiritual maladies that plague honest analysis of racial issues and why it is we may anticipate an enlargement of friction between the races that may drive us to a catastrophic collision.