Freedom Center Talk: CRT and The Search for truth

 To date, over one million Ukrainians and Russians have been killed and wounded in what can only be called the egomaniacal desires of an autocrat.  As a paranoid dictator, Vladimir Putin joins not only his predecessor, Joseph Stalin, but a host of others, including Hitler, Idi Amin, Papa Doc, and Ferdinand Markos.  Like these other dictators, Putin has no concern for what happens when he leaves the scene, frankly he could give a damn.  Putin exhibits a nihilistic indifference to the consequences of his actions.  The truth is that this war will serve no political, economic, or sane reasons except to inflate Putin’s ego.  These same Truths are part and parcel of the history and reality of racial imperialism across time, space and reality.  But concentrating on this version of the truth only distorts reality.  The other aspect of truth comes from those often marginalized, objectified, vilified, and dismissed in official historical accounts.  This volume deals with reclaiming these truths and their stories.  This is the essence of what CRT is about.  But what is CRT?

 

As we start, let us discuss what CRT is not.

 

So often, when we (even those of us in academia) discuss race, we fall back on the most simplistic notions.  We fail to recognize that racial designations are complex hierarchies that vary across time, space, and geography.  And within the various racial subgroups there is much diversity, none exists as a monolith.  For example, many speak of White privilege.  A term that assumes that it equally applies to all designated as White.  White privilege, I would argue, is both a myth and a stereotype.  A stereotype that serves definite political agendas .. promoted during those times when “Elite White Male Hegemony” was and is being challenged.  Consider the history of this term:

 

Bacon’s Rebellion 1676 – The rebellion represented a coalition of black and  Irish, and English indentured servants, including women, that challenged the Elite White Male Aristocracy headed by Governor Berkely.  It would be incorrect to assume that this rebellion was not without its racism, as at stake was the expansion of lands owned by Native Americans.  Bacon promised his troops freedom, land, and a secure future.  Although the rebellions were subsequently suppressed, the ruling elite were frightened.  Given the near success of the uprising, they decided to consolidate their power and appease the poor Irish and English indentured servants by bestowing upon them the cloak of whiteness and privilege.  The myth of privilege was buttressed by the creation of a system that enslaved the Africans.  Hence, race and racial hierarchies were created.  Over time, whenever Elite White Male Hegemony has been challenged,  an appeal to poor whites is made by insisting that their privileges are being challenged by people of color.  Such moments include the Civil War and Reparations, the Great Migration and the Renaissance Movement, the Civil Rights Movement and its aftermath, and the last presidential election.  In the process, many other terms have been created, such as White fragility and white Guilt.  Associated with these have been a presumption of universal black and other minority victimization, failure, and objectification.  All of these are myths, all of these assume a monolithic experience, and all help to buttress elite white male supremacy and hegemony. 

As CRT is central to pointing out these myths, many would challenge it or be confused by it.

CRT and its Discontents: The Attack on CRT

Let us deal with each of these.

 

1.    According to the myth, CRT is derived from Marxism.

 

Critical race theory is derived from several critical legal scholars and writings, including Michel Foucault, Max Weber, and, yes, Karl Marx.  However, whereas critical legal scholars, from which CRT derives, believed laws primarily reflected and sustained class interests, CRT argues that laws, policies, and systems are constructed to maintain a racial power hierarchy.  (Clark 2021)

 

It is also believed that CRT is being advocated by activists who view all Western values -- including the nuclear family, religious freedom, and Judeo-Christian concepts of morality -- as inherently oppressive.  (Hardin 2021/2023)

 

As noted by scholars engaged in this work, the Truth is that CRT encourages those working with families and young children (such as early childhood educators) to think about culturally relevant teaching focusing on family and community engagement in culturally meaningful and inclusive ways.

 

They specifically advise teachers and equity scholars to adopt the 4e framework.  (Durden 2021) This guides childhood professionals to consider the following:

 

• Expect families and students to do their best
• Educate families on how to support their children’s optimal development
• Explore ways to partner with families and value their strengths
• Equip: families to advocate on behalf of their child’s education and well-being

 

2.    CRT defines race structurally and argues that it is systemically part of the American reality.

 

According to this view, CRT and its proponents reject the basic premise of the Declaration of Independence that “all men are created equal.” Rather, according to this myth, CRT casts aside inherent rights and freedoms and declares all opposition as racist, leading to censorship, silencing, or canceling of critics on college campuses.

 

The reality is that CRT challenges the historical record by pointing out that when we were making the above declaration, we were exterminating the Indigenous peoples, enslaving the Africans, and denying full citizenship to a vast assortment of Others, including women and landless Europeans.

 

Further, as taught by several disciplines—sociology, for example—modern civilization created institutions and bureaucracies to facilitate the ordering of behavior, regulate activities, and ensure that society’s mundane and essential activities were accomplished efficiently, deliberately, and consistently.

 

Our values, for good and evil, moral and immoral, just and unjust, are also embedded into these institutions.  For this reason, the women’s rights movement, the civil rights movement, the Indigenous rights movement, and all social justice movements target institutions as they attempt to transform society for the better.

 

3.    It defines White people as oppressors and all others as oppressed (White guilt); Whites have “internalized racial superiority” and their “complicity in the system of White supremacy.”

 

Attacks on CRT have been in the form of intentional misrepresentations of critical race theory to inflame and activate the Republican voting base.  Conservative activist Christopher Ruffo appeared on Fox News in the summer of 2020 and said critical race theory had permeated every institution in the federal government.  Then President Trump responded by denouncing the 1619 project, initiating the 1776 project, and prohibiting DEI training in any federal program or agency.  He argued these were “efforts to indoctrinate government employees with diverse and harmful sex- and race-based ideologies.” This was followed by Russell Vought (Director of the Office of Management and Budget) ordering all federal agencies to identify any critical race theories and white privilege training taking place within their departments.  In this memo, it stipulated that funding would be halted by any programs or practices that suggested that the “United States is an inherently racist or evil country or that any race or ethnicity is inherently racist or evil”.  (Quoted by Cineas 2020)

 

On the contrary, CRT argues that any simple division of society between oppressed and oppressors is just that simple …simple.  Recall our discussion above regarding White guilt/fragility/privilege and Black victimization.

 

4. Finally, critics argue that CRT is a form of indoctrination found in our DEI efforts and throughout educational institutions, particularly within K-12 and college curriculums.

 

Within the U.S., the far Right is now targeting Critical Race Theory (CRT).  Three thousand three hundred sixty-two books were banned in the 2022-23 school year.  In most cases, the banned books were written by women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ authors.  (Meehan 2023) Across 24 state legislatures, 54 bills have been introduced to restrict education and training in K-12, higher education, and state agencies and institutions.  Most of these bills target CRT and gender studies.  They want to dictate what, how, and when American history is taught.  These bans are aimed at dictating academic and educational discussions and imposing state rules on how teaching is done.  ((Friedman et al. l, 2023)  But this targeting is not for what CRT is doing, but what it might do if it continues to provide anti-racist critiques of our institutions and society.  It could be argued that white conservative attacks against Critical Race Theory are a call for “Uncritical Race Theory.” These challenges lay bare the existential fears that threaten the very core of the racial state.  

 

CRT examines the historical and contemporary aspects of racism within America.  It looks at this from the slave trade through Jim Crow, redlining, racial profiling, and police brutality, and how it has become enshrined within many of our institutions.  CRT is not about guilt, blame, or privilege.  It is about the mechanisms, practices, and policies that reproduce race and racism systemically within our country. 

There are many truths, as many as there are realities.  What truths you subscribe to in many ways reflects the position you occupy.  The Truth of a child is different from that of their parents, and the Truth of the victim is different from that of the victimizer.  Which Truth you choose to adhere to is the Truth you will live by.  But all truths, as with all realities, grant your insight.  The more truths you can learn, the more understanding you will gain.  And there is nothing worse than those who choose to be ignorant of multiple truths or believe that there is one Truth.

The basic premise of this volume has been that for far too long, the Truth has been externally provided to Blacks and others who do not occupy positions of power within the racial state.  In our current political climate, the Truth is dictated by those in power from the extreme Right.  Books are banned, teachers and professors are silenced or fired, and schools and institutions are sanctioned or defunded because they dare present different “truths.” But why you ask?

 

Let me begin with a story because I love stories.  Wars and other crises have historically been the impetus for technological innovation.  World War I provided the platform by which aviation advanced to become the dominant instrument of destruction.  However, as radar and global positioning satellites had not been invented, pilots had to navigate by the stars.  One of the things that alerted the pilots that they were over the target was they would begin to get heavy flack.  This leads to the conclusion that the hue, cry, and all the flack now targeting CRT indicate it is over the target.  Why else would the racist be so upset?  If CRT were indeed inconsequential or such a waste or misguided approach, why so much anger, angst, and frustration to the point where conservative legislators in virtually every Republican-dominated state are trying to ban its teaching or even its discussion?  Every aspect of education, from k-12 through higher education, has been targeted to ensure that presumed CRT is not present.  The charge: CRT is indoctrinating our youth by fostering racial divisions, hatred, and anti-democratic values.  The strange thing is that within these concerted attempts to ban CRT, there is limited, at best, understanding of what CRT is.  Why are they so afraid of CRT?  Perhaps it targets the core problem with our racist American history.

 

 

 

What is Critical Race Theory?  Essentially, it’s a theory of oppression.  The basic idea is that instead of being an invisible force or a force of nature, systems of oppression are socially constructed.  These systems are further complicated by the intersections of race, gender, sex, and class as they work together to warp groups’ life chances and create identities.  The more integrated these systems are into our institutions, the more normal they appear.  The more normal they seem, the less likely we will see them as arbitrary constructs.  Time and space do not allow for examining all racialized social institutions.  One example is Higher Education, which has been viewed over the decades as an important pathway towards a higher quality of life.

 

CRT starts with the observation that to understand the truth, we must look at it from multiple angles.  Not only from the vantage point of the Europeans but the Africans, the Asians, the Native Americans.  From women who identify as lgbtq+, CRT recognizes that one’s positionality and identity affect what one experiences.  If we are to understand America and its racial history and develop racial justice and equality, we must view it from all vantage points.  Which leads us to Du Bois…

In Search of the Truth

One ever feels his twoness, —an American, a Negro; two souls, two thoughts, two unreconciled strivings; two warring ideals in one dark body, whose dogged strength alone keeps it from being torn asunder. The History of the American Negro is the history of this strive-this longing to attain self-conscious manhood, to merge his double self into a better and truer self. He simply wishes to make it possible for a man to be both a Negro and an American, without being cursed and spit upon by his fellows, without having the doors of Opportunity closed roughly in his face. (Du Bois 1903/2009: 6-7)

Our search for truth begins with the musings of W.E.B. Dubois as he struggled to explain the contradictory place Blacks found themselves. They are at once odds with themselves, creatures of two worlds. To be African and American, to be both object and subject. To exist in a "double consciousness" space of being and not being, of reacting and acting, of being the constant shadow always on the verge of becoming. Herein lies the truth of race as it is experienced and lived. It is both external and internally defined, yet always problematized for those who have been minoritized, racialized, and scrutinized for the act of being and becoming. In the sections that follow, we shall travel on both roads. One charted by imperialist theorists whose primary job was to justify, explain, and buttress racial Imperialism that came into being. The other charted by those subject populations that refused to be subjugated, sublimated, and subjected to externally defined identities. Their writings challenge the myth of otherness, inferiority, and racialized realities. We shall explore these as they are linked with Imperialism and the creation of the racial state.

Strangely, the history of Africa, according to some…begins with Europeans' discovery of this continent.  But It would be an error to assume that the Europeans just walked into Africa as imperial lords.  As the colonial imperialists approached the continent, they faced fierce opposition across most indigenous nations.  There was never a time when such resistance was not present.  However, for the purposes of this section, we can identify two distinct periods that highlight the continual resistance that Africans asserted not only their agency but also their determination to be free and independent.  It is also an error to assume that the enslaved Africans were without agency or skills.

 

What did America and the World gain from the Africans?

 

The state of Florida ignited a controversy when it released a set of 2023 academic standards that require fifth graders to be taught that enslaved Black people in the U.S. “developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their benefit.” (Zhang 2023) Such is the flawed and misleading assessment of those with a limited understanding of Africa, its people, and their history, or the purposeful misrepresentation of such. 

Whereas Florida would have students believe that enslaved Black people “benefited” by developing skills during slavery, the reality is that enslaved Africans contributed to the nation’s social, cultural, and economic well-being by using skills they had already developed before captivity. What follows are examples of the skills the Africans brought with them as they entered the Americas as enslaved:

1. As farmers

Between 1750 and 1775, most enslaved Africans that landed in the Carolinas came from the traditional rice-growing regions in Africa known as the Rice Coast. Subsequently, rice joined cotton as one of the most profitable agricultural products, not only in North Carolina and South Carolina but in Virginia and Georgia as well. (Twitty 2021)

Other African food staples, such as black rice, okra, black-eyed peas, yams, peanuts, and watermelon, made their way into North America via slave ship cargoes. (Haris 2011)

Ship captains relied on African agricultural products to feed the 12 million enslaved Africans transported to the Americas through a brutal voyage known as the Middle Passage. The Africans sometimes stowed away food as they boarded the ships. These foods were essential for the enslaved to survive the harsh conditions of their trans-Atlantic trip in the hulls of ships. (Carney and Rosemoff 2011)

Once on plantations in the land now known as the United States, enslaved people occasionally were able to cultivate small gardens. In these gardens, reflecting a small amount of freedom, enslaved men and women grew their own food.  (Mondragon 2022) Some of the crops consisted of produce originating in Africa. They added unique ingredients, such as hot peppers, peanuts, okra, and greens, to adapt West African stews into gumbo or jambalaya, which took rice, spices and heavily seasoned vegetables and meat. These dishes soon became staples in what would become known as down-home cooking. (Deetz 2018) Crop surpluses from the communal gardens were sometimes sold in local markets, thus providing income that some enslaved people used to purchase freedom. Some of these African-derived crops became central to Southern cuisine.

 

2. As cooks and chefs

The culinary skills that the West Africans brought with them enhanced, transformed, and produced unique eating habits and culinary practices in the South. Although enslaved Africans were forced to cook for families that held them as property, they also cooked for themselves, typically using a large pot that they had been given for the purpose.

Using skills from various West African cultures, these cooks often worked together to prepare communal meals for their fellow enslaved people. The different cooking styles produced a range of popular meals centering on one-pot cooking, including stews or gumbos and layering meat with greens. The meals comprised a high proportion of corn meal, animal fat, and bits of meat or vegetables.  (Emmanuel 2015) Communal gardens, maintained by the enslaved, might supplement the meager supplies and what was available from hunting or fishing. Some cooks who emerged from these conditions became the highest regarded and valued among the enslaved in the regions. (Barton 1997)

Enslaved chefs blended African, Native American, and European traditions to create unique Southern cuisines that featured roasted beef, veal, turkey, duck, fowl, and ham. Desserts and puddings featured jellies, oranges, apples, nuts, figs, and raisins. Stews and soups changed, given the season, sometimes featuring oysters or fish. (Ganeshram 2022)

3. As artisans and builders

Slave ship manifests reveal that enslaved Africans included some who were woodcarvers and metalworkers.  (Trotter 2019) Others were skilled in traditional crafts, including pottery making, weaving, basketry, and wood carving. These crafts were instrumental in filling the perpetual scarcity of skilled labor on plantations. (Stavisky 1949)   

When planters and traders considered purchasing an enslaved Black person, one of the key factors influencing their decision and the price was their skills. Slave auction sales included carpenters, blacksmiths, and shoemakers. (Doesticks, Philander, and Butler 1859)

Architectural designs showing West African influences have been identified in structures excavated from some colonial plantations in various areas of the South Carolina Lowcountry. (Wheaton 2001) These buildings, with clay-walled architecture, demonstrate that the West Africans came with building skills. Excavated clay pipes in the Chesapeake region reveal West African pottery decorative techniques. (James 2004)

Across the nation, multiple landmarks were built by the enslaved. These include the White House, the U.S. Capitol, Smithsonian Castle in Washington, Fraunces Tavern and Wall Street in New York, and Fort Sumter in South Carolina. (Pasley 2019)

 

 

4. As midwives, herbalists, and healers

As Africans entered the Americas, they brought knowledge of medicinal plants. Some enslaved women were midwives who used medical practices and skills from their native lands. In many cases, while many of these plants were unavailable in the Americas, enslaved Africans’ knowledge, and that gleaned from Native Americans, helped them to identify a range of plants that could be beneficial to treat a wide range of illnesses among both the enslaved and the enslavers. Enslaved midwives delivered babies and, in some cases, provided the means for either avoiding pregnancies or performing abortions. They also treated respiratory illnesses. (Mutter Edu Staff 2022)

These practices and knowledge grew as they began incorporating techniques from Native American and European sources (Fitzgerald 2016). They employed an interesting array of these practices to identify herbs, produce devices, and facilitate childbirth and maternal health and well-being. They utilized several herbal remedies, such as cedar berries, tansy, and cotton seeds, to end pregnancies (NMAAHC n.d.).

In 1721, of the 5,880 Bostonians who contracted smallpox, 844 died. Even more would have died had it not been for a radical technique introduced by an enslaved person named Onesimus, who is credited with helping a small portion of the population survive. (Norton 2022)   Onesimus, purchased by Cotton Mather in 1706, was being groomed to be a domestic servant. In 1716, Onesimus informed Mather that he had survived smallpox and no longer feared contagion. He described a practice known as variolation derived by West Africans to fight various infections. (Flemming 2020) This was a method of intentionally infecting an individual by rubbing pus from an infected person into an open wound. Onesimus explained how this treatment resulted in significantly milder symptoms, eliminating the likelihood of contracting the disease. As physicians began to wonder about this mysterious method to prevent smallpox, they developed the technique known as vaccinations. Smallpox today has been eradicated worldwide primarily because of the medical advice rendered by Onesimus.

Regardless of how Florida’s education standards misrepresent history, the reality is that the Africans forced to come to America brought an enormous range of skills. They were farmers, cooks, chefs, artisans, builders, midwives, herbalists, and healers. Our country is richer because of their skills, techniques, and knowledge.

Over 14,000 years ago, on Ancient African temple walls can be found the phrase "Man, Know Thyself".  Self-awareness starts with understanding your history, your culture, and your beliefs.  Knowing from whence they derive, what challenges they present and when you need them most.  Racial imperialism works best when people are ignorant of their selves, their histories, culture or beliefs.  Rather than self-knowledge, racial imperialism aims to distort that knowledge.  It aims to make the individual and groups hate themselves and thus work to destroy any authentic versions of self.  The whole purpose of stereotypes and myths are constructed to distort and destroy the very tools one needs to survive. In process what is created is an object, with no agency, no identity save that which has been conscribed and consigned to you by the racial system.    I would argue that toxic masculinity, self-hatred, and failure derives from ignorance of self.  And the primary reason why racial imperialist, both historically and contemporarily, want to ban its teachings.  I believe in both the first and second amendments.  And i find it strange that we can ban books but not guns.   CRT main purpose is to attack this and help empower the individual and groups. 

In this regard, I am reminded of Malcolm's speech about Black women. 

NEW Chapter 6 Unsung Warriors -- Black Women

 

The most disrespected person in America is the Black woman.

The most unprotected person in America is the Black woman.

The most neglected person in America is the Black woman. 

Malcolm X's Speech about Black Women

 

 

Black women's identities have been prescribed and conscribed almost from the beginning of our Nation.  These representations of the African woman in America have rarely reflected the contributions to the American project.  Even when there is an attempt to acknowledge their true histories grudgingly, it barely scratches the surface.  Black women have blazed the trail, set the bar, and creatively constructed their identities and realities from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War, from the Industrial Revolution to the era of civil rights, and from "Hidden Figures" to "the Black Lives Matter Movement." This chapter acknowledges the various ways Black women have been both sterilized and characterized, yet they remain resilient, resistant, and rebellious, unsung warriors.  Explored, therefore, will be the classic stereotypes that have attempted to racialize and minimize her.  But this chapter will also explore their responses and active engagement in creating, sustaining, and maintaining feminine identities that are uniquely African, Black, and proud.  We begin with Nina Simone's 1966 classic as she captures the four principal character types:

 

1.     She heralds "Aunt Sarah" as a strong, resilient woman who declares, "My skin is black/My arms are long/My hair is wooly/My back is strong/Strong enough to take the pain/Inflicted again and again/What do they call me? /My name is Aunt Sara".   

2.     Then there is "Saffronia," a mixed-race woman described as "my skin is yellow" who was forced to live "between two worlds." In this in-between place, she is buffeted by the Black and Whites.  "My father was rich and white; he forced my mother late one night."

3.     Then there is "Sweet Thing," accepted by both Blacks and Whites, whose primary attributes were neither good looks nor fine hair but because she could satisfy the sexual needs of men – "Whose little girl am I? /Anyone who has money to buy."

4.     Nina's lament ends with the bitter tale of a woman who has endured generations of oppression and suffering.  She cries out, "My skin is brown/My manner is tough/I'll kill the first mother I see/My life has been rough/I'm awfully bitter these days/Because my parents were slaves." And in a scream that rages through the ages, she declares, "My name is Peaches!".  (Davis 2003)

These four characterizations were also reflected in the work of Patricia Hill Collins as one of several controlling images established by the racial order not only to define but limit Black feminine realities.  Four such images were the Mammy, Jezebel, Sapphire, and the Welfare Mother, all created to control how Black women were perceived within Western institutions.  (Hill Collins 1991) Black women, a part of virtually every aspect of American history, were forbidden from reading and writing and often restricted to the kitchen, the field, and nearly invisible. 

But black women refused to accept these stereotypes. They fought back, resisted, and created their identities, as witnessed by Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, Mary Church Terrell and Ida B. Wells, Fannie Lou Hammer and Angela Davis, Shirley Chisholm, Michelle Obama, and Kamala Harris. Black women breaking barriers include Oprah Winfrey and Mae Jemison, Serena Williams and Symone Sanders, and, of course, Alicia Keys, Rihanna, and Beyonce.    

 

Similarly, historically, black males have constantly been suspected and overly scrutinized, rather than being applauded and encouraged by society, and they are often ridiculed, punished, and negatively characterized. If they dare to speak out, they are more likely to receive sanctions, condemnations, and marginalization.  Because of their burdens, both on and off the job, they are more likely to obtain lower performance evaluations, promotions, and job security. What was not discussed, and the focus of this last section, is how this same process created a whole slew of stereotypes purposefully aimed at the “Black man.” Fear of the Black man runs deep, and a method devised by the White structure to convince the Black man that he, not the system, was the problem.  The weapon used for this purpose was the multiple ways his identity was manipulated to produce his worst nightmare.

 

A search of the internet reveals a whole litany of words used to describe the Black man.  Some nicer words include dim-witted, bumbling, lazy, angry, sexually aggressive, forsaken, sad, betrayed, suffering, unloved, and ridiculed.

 

The most virile would be ape, Coon, Jungle Bunny, Kaffir, monkey/porch monkey, zibabo, spade, spook, and of course nigger/nigga(h).  Attached to these words are such stereotypical characters as Zip Coon, Sambo/Uncle Tom (Remus), Jim Crow, and Buck/Mandingo.  For most of this same period, there has been a constant rejection of these images as Black men and women as they have fought for the very soul of our beloved community.  Strong black men such as Denmark Vesey and Frederick Douglass, Booker T. Washington, W.E.B. Du Bois and Marcus Garvey, Langston Hughes and Colin Powell, Jackie Robbinson and Thurgood Marshall, Mohammad Ali, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, Lebron James and Prince, Tupac Shakur and Barach Obama. 

 

Black males and females have created meaningful and substantial change, demonstrating resilience, ingenuity and fortitude.

 

Songs of Freedom

Throughout our history of trials and triumphs, our songs have been of freedom; as we plowed the fields of justice and planted the seeds of equality, we sang of a brighter day to come. That day is today, as we “lift up our eyes unto the hills.” Our faith, resilience, and determination have brought us a new song of freedom.

The Truth, I suggest, is a song by James Brown in 1968 when he declared, “Say it Loud; I’m Black and I’m Proud.” Go ahead, get your Funk on, make that move, and repeat after me, “I’m Black, and I’m Proud.” In this final chapter, we shall explore the rich music produced by Africans in America. In the process, we shall understand that this music was more than Soul, Gospel, Hip-Hop, or Funk. African music was an assertion of being, a testament of faith, and a clarion call to the Universe – I am. These were songs of protest and process, anger and love, action and determination. They were songs that called out the racism faced by Blacks. But they were more than a complaint, as Brown asserted, “As Blacks, we demand a chance to do things for ourselves.” Self-empowerment and self-identification originating with and by Black people are not externally rendered but internally endorsed.

 

  As we begin, you might ask -but how, given the atrocities visited upon the African, caged in seas of violence, rippling with contempt, bigotry, and despair -can the caged bird sing? The African bird continues to sing because of hope, promise, and possibilities of a new day. The African bird can sing because they know how to survive, thrive, and overcome. And the African bird can sing because it has the keys to the Universe, their cage, and their future. Those keys are love, joy, and wonder for self and community. They are the keys to life, justice, and humanity they brought into this land. Those keys are evident in black Soul, Gospel, blues, Jazz, R&B, Hip-Hop, and Rap. 

Black Soul, Gospel, Blues, Jazz, R&B, Hip Hop, and Rap all share one thing: stories of survival, resistance, determination, and empowerment. Perhaps the oldest of these is the Gospel. So, say it loud, say it clearly, say it right now -I am Black, and The music that came out of this experience, whether Gospel, Blues, Soul, Hip-Hop, or Rap, reflects these elements of music: music from the Sons of Light that has survived the valleys of shadow and death, which has been so long a part of the Black American sojourn. 

  

Using what was known as the talking drum, these songs were only accompanied by drums. Again, the talking drum comes from Nigerian and other West African communities. Other instruments are a simple washboard, harmonica, and guitar. But the musical voices could often be heard when Africans arrived in America, singing of freedom and a brighter day tomorrow. 

Proud. Today, I sang a new song.  

It is not without irony that a central theme of many African American spirituals is freedom. These songs can be heard as far away as South Africa during the struggle against apartheid (1948-1994) and the song “Freedom is Coming.” (Hawn 2018)  

 

As Blacks began to escape from the South, in what has come to be known as the “Great Migration,” a new musical form emerged: colorful melodies with arrangements that, while using white songs, were made black through syncopation—the rhythmic recasting of words, accentuating normally weak beats. This new music, also associated with the rise of Pentecostal churches, featured “shouting," “speaking in tongues,” and the “circle dances” that came out of Africa.

 

One of the most significant composers of this period was Rev. C.A. Tindley, who wrote “I'll Overcome Someday," which became the basis of the American civil rights movement's "We Shall Overcome" by Reverend Gary Davis. Perhaps the most prolific and well-known songwriter was Thomas A. Dorsey. Who could forget his "Precious Lord Take My Hand" or Aretha Franklin's father, Reverend C.L. Franklin?

 

The list would be incomplete without Robert Martin, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, and Mahalia Jackson, who famously sang "Precious Lord" on the steps of the U.S. Capitol under the shadow of Lincoln's statue. 

Gospel music captures religious experiences, preserves West African cultural roots, and provides both hopes and dreams of freedom. 

Blues -- A Tonic for Whatever Ails You

 

B.B. King (2005) says, "Blues is a tonic for whatever ails you." I am reminded of a skit on the Flip Wilson show. In this skit, Flip played a club owner looking for an entertainer to sing and play the Blues. One of the applicants was white, and he said, "Everybody knows the Negro gave the Blues to America." His wife (in the "Geraldine" voice) said, "Jus' a minute, honey! The Negro didn't give the Blues to America. America gave the Blues to the Negro."

 

And so it is; it has not been a bed of roses for blacks here in America. As my Mother and her sons prepared to attend church early on many Sunday mornings, I would dress while listening to B.B. King and other Blues songs. I remember my mom asking, in frustration once, "Son, it's Sunday morning; must you play the blues?" My response was, "It makes me feel good." Why?

Racial trauma historically has been ignored and submerged under denial, fear of rejection, and caprice on the part of various racist structures, practices, and policies. Racial trauma can result from multiple communities in which we exist, have existed, or have avoided:

 

·        It can result from dealing with various institutional actors such as police hiring, supervisory personnel, and colleagues.

·        It can result from policies and laws built into the system/structures.

·        It results from covert and overt actions. 

 

One of the classic Blues songs, written by Abel Meeropol and sung by Billie Holiday in 1939, is "Strange Fruit." With this song, the protest song was launched onto the American scene, as it protested the continual lynching of Black Americans with lyrics such as ‘Southern trees bear a strange fruit ‘and going on to describe the ‘Blood on the leaves and blood at the root’. This declaration of protest began the civil rights movement (Margolick, 2000) and brilliantly articulated the racial trauma of the period.”

Could “And what was their message for America and a troubled world?” be followed instead by “their message was x as shown by the lines ‘Wall Street losin' dough on ev'ry share, They're blaming it on longer hair’.” No one can forget, or should be ignorant of, the 1964 song by Nina Simone, "Mississippi Goddam." This song articulated the racial trauma associated with the murders of Emmitt Till and Medgar Evers and the bombing of the 16^th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Between 1882 and 1968, an estimated 4.7 thousand Americans were lynched; of these, 3.5 thousand were blacks. And Mississippi was at the top of the list.

Lynchings in America were public events; hell, they were parties as whites would come from all over the country to participate and celebrate this strangely local custom. Killing blacks, burning black towns, and rape of black women were all part of the racialized trauma. And the strange fruit that this produced was rarely punished by any court: strange fruit indeed.  

 

As Black people in academia, corporations, industries, or almost any other institutional setting in America, we must navigate in White Spaces. And given the paltry number of us in these spaces, whenever we are not present, our absence is more than noticed; it is often a source of concern for White supervisors. This is particularly so when we are senior personnel in these spaces.

 

How dare we have other lives, other things that are more important than being on display in White Spaces? Do we not know we must be there to preserve the illusion of inclusion? Ever notice how many Blacks in White Spaces always have their music with them, in the ear, turned up loud, and bumping? Thank God for Soul, Hip-Hop, and Rap --the soothing sounds that calm a troubled spirit.

 

What is so special about these sounds? Soul, Hip-Hop, and Rap combine all the other Black diaspora genres. Here, you will find Gospel and Jazz, Blues, and Improv. Here, you will find the heart, mind, and soul of Black existence. The soul is the essence, the embodiment of spirituality, rationality, actuality, and totality of people of African heritage in America.

 

Soul reflects the cultural consciousness, pride, intensity, sensitivities, and emotional fervor of a people who continue to rise, strive, and remain agents of their destiny. Here, the vision and promise, the history and dilemmas, the future and the dreams of Black people are wrapped up in rhyme and timed to a funky beat—harmonically gifted voices blended in rhapsodies that transcend time, space, and circumstances.

 

Think about it -- the Temptations, the Supremes, Miracles, Commodores, Earth Wind, and Fire, Sly and the Family Stones, Aretha Franklin, Diana Ross, Patti Labelle, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, and Teddy Pendergrass – these are just the tip of the great mountain of Black talent. This mountain not only survives but helps a people survive; it not only reveals but attests to the greatness of those people; that moved a people, causing America to pop its fingers -- that rocked its world.   

 

In 1967, when 24-year-old Aretha Franklin taught America how to spell "RESPECT," she challenged Blacks to be confident, independent, empowered, and sassy. This message, rejecting sexism, racism, homophobia, and misogynistic objectification of Blacks in general, but the Black woman in particular, became the anthem for the civil rights movement. 

 

Posthumously, Otis Redding's "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay" was released a year later. Here too, the soul of Black America was revealed as he brought Black Rhythm and Blues together with Funk, Folk, and our realities. But Otis and his Bar-keys were killed in a tragic plane crash. He never saw his song top the Pop and R&B charts. In 2011, Kanye West and Jay-Z sampled "Otis" with "try a little tenderness" and won the Grammy for Best Rap performance for a song in 2012. 

When the Staple Singers in 1971 stepped out on the stage and sang "Respect Yourself," they spoke for a community of "Black folk" that was frustrated with the world. This was a direct rejection of a world that was dismissive of, afraid of and simultaneously obsessed with all things Black. Reminiscent of an earlier period known as the Harlem Renaissance, Blacks again asserted their value, resolve, need to teach their young and reclaim their heritages by, first and foremost, "respecting themselves." Funk exploded all across America.   

A year later, chronicling the confused, mixed-up world of the '70s, the Stylistics released their hit song "People Make the World Go Round." And what was their message for America and a troubled world?

 Trashmen didn't get my trash today
Oh, why? Because they want more pay
Buses on strike want a raise in fare
So they can help pollute the air

But that's what makes the world go 'round
The up and downs, a carousel
Changing people's heads around
Go underground young man
People make the world go 'round

Wall Street losin' dough on ev'ry share
They're blaming it on longer hair
Big men smokin' in their easy chairs
On a fat cigar without a care

But that's what makes the world go 'round
The up and downs, a carousel
Changing people's heads around
Go underground young man
People make the world go 'round

Herold Melvin and the Blue Notes were among the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the '70s. Their music spanned Soul, R&B, Doo-Wop, and Disco. Among this group of stars was Teddy Pendergrass. Just before he left the group to launch his phenomenal career as a soloist, he led the group in what has become a timeless classic: "Wake Up Everybody."

This song, released in 1975, is resonating today on the Right. Have you ever wondered why so many on the Right are obsessed with "Woke?" Let's consider this classic, for it is spelled out here: 

Wake up everybody no more sleepin in bed
No more backward thinkin time for thinkin ahead
The world has changed so very much
From what it used to be so

…

You preachers
Start preachin' what you teach
Teach the Truth
…

Politicians
Stop lyin' (stop lyin')

 

When Spike Lee was looking for a song to connect to his 1989 film "Do the Right Thing," he came to Public Enemy, and they produced "Fight the Power." Public Enemy had been blazing a trail with such albums as "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" and "Fear of A Black Planet."

 

"Fight the Power" is ranked number two in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list. Why? Let us consider. "Fight the Power" incorporates and makes so much of Black culture real, reclaims civil rights, and brings together the Black Gospel and, of course, the Funk of James Brown. It is a revolutionary song, calling for Blacks to stop swinging and realize that they must transcend the liberal notion of racial equality and understand that we are not the same.

 

You see, equality means never comparing yourself to another. Parents would say their children are the same. And while, as a parent, I may love all my children, I love them uniquely, separately, and individually. They are not the same. They are all special. And so are we as Black Americans. We must challenge the power structure to "give us what we want: what we need," not whatever is left on the table of greed.

 

The song is a call for intelligent activism, reminiscent of the first song of Blacks in America ("We would rather die on our feet than live as slaves on our knees;" we must have freedom or death, and we are never the less still Black and Proud. 

 

Neither America nor the world was ready for Tupac when he dropped into our world. Tupac's Mother and family were heavily involved in the Black Panthers Black Liberation Army. Tupac is among the best-selling musical artists in the world. His records sold over 75 million worldwide. To understand his overwhelming influence, consider the top 8 of his greatest hits:

 

1. ‘Keep Ya Head Up’ – Strictly for my Ni Az

2. ‘How Long Will They Mourn Me?’

3. ‘Letter 2 My Unborn' – Until the End of Time

4. 'Hit 'Em Up' – Greatest Hits

5. 'California Love' – All Eyez on Me

6. 'Changes' – Greatest Hits

7. 'Trapped' – 2Pacalypse Now

8. 'Dear Mama' – Me Against the World

 

Today, nearly three decades after his death on September 13, 1996, Tupac Shakur is still one of the most iconic figures in Hip-Hop. His music reflects the contradictory realities of being Black, proud, and despised in America. Tupac's music captures the anger and ecstasy, the frivolity and the sublimity, the essence and the insanity of being a Black man.

 

A man whose very life continues to be a character, a caricature, a fantasy. Strangely, many consider 2Pac to be the essence of a "thug angel." One who never transcends the streets, the gangster, the drug starved, pimp hustler -- all the mimes racist America must create to protect themselves from all that is Black!

 

It was 2PAC who redeemed the Black criminal who romanticized T.H.U.G.L.I.F.E., but many do not know that it is an acronym for "The Hate U Give Little Infants F*** Everybody.” 2PAC realized the Black body had long been criminalized,  racially profiled,  subjected to racially biased policing and sentencing (the cradle-to-grave pipeline)

 

And all these realities were byproducts of a racist America.

 

So when he signed to the record label Death Row, he was at once the hottest and most dangerous performer in America. And, of course, he realized that "All Eyez (were) on Me.”

 

I could go on for DayZ, but who can forget his tribute to his Mother, “Dear Mama,” which acknowledged this Black woman's tremendous impact on his life? This single Mother from a low-income setting filled him with love, tenderness, determination, and hope: Dear Mama. 

 

The Truth is wrapped up in our dreams.

In closing, I am reminded of a story I encountered a few years ago. 

 

A little boy starts his 2.8-mile trek to school on a frigid rural road in southern China. By the time little Wang Fuman gets to school, frost covers his eyebrows and hair. His lips and cheeks are red and chapped. A photo posted by his teacher dubbed Frostboy has gone viral as this little hero touched people worldwide. One viewer responded, "Don’t forget your dreams." (Hernandez 2018) I am reminded that every journey begins with a dream and ends by altering reality. 

When Martin Luther King Jr. articulated his dream, it reflected the contemporary reality of Jim Crow and the audacious hope for a brighter day. Specifically, King's reflections were juxtaposed between the harsh truth Langston Hughes laments in "A Dream Deferred" and the hope expressed in Stevie Wonder's "Hold on to your dreams."

Hughes asked:

What happens to a dream deferred?

Whereas Stevie Wonder challenges us to remember that we need to “Hold on to your dream”.

King's dream continued a theme that runs throughout the experiences of blacks in America. While his dream continued this historical theme, it ushered in a distinctly new set of possibilities. Today, as we contemplate keeping the dream alive.   It is time for a new set of dreams and possibilities by a new set of dreamers, dream keepers, and dream makers.

King's dream was so important because it was not a simple reaction to the bitter reality of dreams deferred for far too long. It was more than a resignation to the righteous indignation of generations of blacks whose patience wore thin as they waited for America to make good its promises of freedom, dignity, and justice. King, the dreamer, refused to submit to the calls for retribution and violence, calling instead for resolve and determination. The genius of King's Dream was to articulate a sustainable community for blacks. It has endured and pointed to hope even as we watch the reemergence of state-sanctioned violence targeting blacks and the continued racial gaps in educational outcomes, social mobility, wealth accumulation, health care, and sustained high levels of black incarceration. This achievement takes on more relevance when we consider that the leading cause of death for black men between the ages of 18 and 38 is most likely to be another black man. King's dream challenges the system of slavery, then racism that pitted blacks against each other. A system that teaches, encourages, and rewards Black antagonism, conflict, and competition. Rather, the dream articulated a community of families where respect replaced envy, deference replaced destruction, and achievement replaced defeat. This dream, now almost 55 years in the making, continues to foster hope and triumph and calls for justice. However, I wonder if it is time for new dreams and dreamers.

My grandmother used to say, "Don't let nobody steal your dreams, for they are your strength, they help you climb life's peaks and valleys, they help you avoid despair. For only they can keep you from drowning in sorrow, only they can help you face tomorrow."

Dream Keepers

This past week, while going through some last-minute  , I came across a real gem that once again reaffirmed the importance of not only dreams but equally important Dream Keepers. Let me share with you here, a letter from a kid named Chris:

To Whom it May Concern:

"First off, I'd like to admit that I was selling marijuana on high school campuses and I'm sorry. I made a very big mistake that will change my life forever. My decisions were immature and very stupid, and I regret doing it. I should have thought about my actions before ... now my future is bleak. I am truly sorry and begging for a second chance to start my life over and walk from this situation into my dreams. If I can get a second chance, I promise I will use it to pursue those dreams...."

Chris is not unlike the other 2 million kids arrested each year across this country. What made Chris's story different is that he was allowed to become a dreamer rather than just another statistic. His life was altered by what Gloria Ladson-Billings refers to as Dream Keepers. Expanding on her designation, a dream keeper challenges us to envision alternative realities that empower and improve the lives of young people. The dream keepers helped Chris not to obsess over his failure but to grasp a new reality. He was allowed to dream again. These dreams helped him to refocus, redirect, and rechannel his anxieties, fears, and frustrations into alternative possibilities. Oh. The end of the letter reads: Florida State University Announces the graduation of Christopher Jermaine Butler, with a Bachelor of Science degree with a major in Information Technology, on Friday evening, December 15, 2017. (PBS 2016)

From slavery to the present, dreams have pointed to the possibility of freedom. Though objectively, one may be constrained, dreams allow one to escape subjectively. But dreams without purpose-driven tasks are fantasies, and fantasies are illusions that temporarily distort but do not substantially change our realities. Dreams help you turn horror into hope, problems into possibilities, failures into futures, and rejection into what Bob Marley termed redemption songs. For Marley, redemption came from the revolutionary understanding that tasks without dreams were toil, and dreams without tasks or purpose were fantasies. Those who only know toil or fantasies live in slavery. Songs of redemption that envisioned a new day gave meaning and purpose to the struggle. They allowed those mired in the belly of the beast to keep hope alive and to sing a change that is going to come. Alongside Dream Keepers are what I choose to call Dream Makers—those individuals who motivate young people to articulate, refine, and pursue their dreams.

Dream Makers

Dream Makers are parents and family, teachers and mentors, friends, and other community members. For it does indeed take a village to raise a child. Dream makers are what make democracy and the American dream work. They are everyday people who stand up and fight for change, dispel animosity, and for alternative futures where everyone can maximize their potential. Therefore, where some have fallen astray and find their paths blocked with hatred, misery, and despair, dream makers point to love, kindness, and hope.

So, while some point to the ever-objectification of identity, the increasingly fragmented families and communities, and the increasing fragility of life itself. Dream Makers point out that we need not more machines but more humanity. Therefore, while some live behind barricades of hate, dream makers espouse a future where we all can live lives free and open. In addition, as King observed, while our technology allows us to travel to the moon, many of us need to learn how to travel next door. As we attempt to achieve his beloved community, the first step is to get to know each other.

Unfortunately, while our knowledge has increased, we have become more cynical, distrustful, and complacent. Dream Makers are needed to help us reassert the goodness of universal brotherhood, the power of unity, and the endurance of love and justice. We must become what King dreamed we could be -Drum majors for justice, drum majors for peace, and drum majors for righteousness. In doing this, we will make the dream a reality, renew our spirits, and be able to "cash the check" issued by our nation in the words of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. This promissory note held that all people, regardless of status—be they brown, tan, red, black, white, Muslim, Hindu, Jew, gentile, straight, gay, trans, immigrant, homeless, or elderly—are guaranteed the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. As we pursue our dreams, we will continue to take the high road that leads to the Palace of Justice. We, therefore, will not drink from the cup of bitterness or hatred. We will recognize that we are all part of this great family called humanity, regardless of accidents of birth.

We recognize that as we pursue our dreams, we can never be satisfied if blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Jews, and Muslims are victims of unspeakable horrors of police brutality, indiscriminate searches, and seizures or denied access because of their religion. We cannot ignore the plight of immigrants and refugees whose only crime is having been born on the wrong side of a border. Neither can we ignore the continual harassment, discrimination, and intimidation faced by women.

Homophobia has no place in our churches, schools, or our community. Poverty knows neither race, religion, gender, nor nationality. Poor whites in Appalachia and the rural South, displaced workers in the Rust Belt and urban slums, unemployed and underemployed in the deep South and South of the borders- need real jobs, real opportunities, and real deals so they can feed their families, educate their children, heal their sick and truly make America great again.

Let freedom ring for all these members of our extended family and community. We cannot continue to uphold a system that strips children of their identity or deny them the dignity of nobility simply because they do not have the proper papers. Sickness and homelessness can no longer be tolerated in the richest country in the world. Neither can we continue to allow the high dropout rates, achievement gaps, income, and health disparities that allow poverty to continue unabated generation after generation. No, we are not satisfied and will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters and righteousness like a mighty river.

You see, I, too, have a dream. That all the Wang Fuman's of the world will breathe free and sing that old Negro Spiritual—free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last. And so, even with these difficulties, even though at times it appears that the world and its leaders have gone crazy, I remain hopeful, I remain determined. I remain convinced that the dreams, dreamers, dream keepers, and dream makers will continually shine beacons of light toward a brighter tomorrow. Yes, I have a dream that dreams will return.

Dreams Return

What happens when dreams return?
Do they sparkle with hope and glisten with song
Do they prance along voyeuristic roads?
Where wonder and surprise forever unfold.

What happens when dreams return?
Do they fill cups with promise and souls with laughter?
Do they shatter despair and vanquish frustration
Where each day overflows with possibilities.
Or do they point the way to unbridled futures.

Don't give up or in ... hold on to your dreams....
Pursue them with passionate determination
Nurture them diligently with excellence and resolve
Keep getting up till your dreams become reality.

Then, dream a new dream as dreams return.

 

And let me conclude with a new one:

 

WWA - Warrier With an Attitude

rodneyc//24

 

Forged in Ghetto fires

Cleansed by Soul's desires

Freed from guilt and chains

Knowing Victory is my name.

 

Searching for truth and justice

Walking in faith and purpose

Standing on the Rock of ages

Reaching for Heaven’s gate.

 

Proudly proclaiming my destiny

Ignoring lies and chicanery

Transcending hypocrisy

And ignoring narcissistic insanity.

 

My fate is in my hands

I will persist and thrive

This season I will prevail

I am a Warrior With an Attitude.

Currently the song playing across the land is "Make America Hate Again". This song, with its sad refrains of bigotry, homophobia, sexism, hopelessness and despair -unless you are part of the chosen few can only take us down. Let us sing today a new song, made fresh with the hopes and dreams of countless millions. Let their song ring from the mountaintops of possibilities and cleanse the valleys of nothingness. Let us sing now and "Make America Hope Again".

 

 

There is no shortage of examples we can draw upon. The experiences of Blacks are a testament to the realities of love, sacrifice, hope, despair, visions, empowerment, and dreams found in Soul, Hip-Hop, and Rap, which have given America its essence, realities, and conscience. Thank you, and keep the dreams alive; pursue the Truth, and they will continually set you free.