Samuel's Podcast: 11 Lives of Racism

Critical Race Theory is not racist as its detractors, especially within the Republican Party, claim. Indeed, it is anti-racist and geared towards improving race relations and making the America a better society.

Why are some Republican senators smearing Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson who is more qualified than any of the current justices of the Supreme at the time of their respective confirmation? Is it a case of Supreme Court confirmation while black?

America cannot preach and support democracy abroad while thrashing the same at home.

It is a shame and an affront to America's democracy for Republican party elected officials and a vast majority of their base to continue to deny, downplay and whitewash the dangers that the Trump-provoked insurrection posed to America's democracy.

America's democracy is currently in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) not because of outside competitors or adversaries but from Americans. American democracy is going through a sad state of self-destruction and if action is not taken to reverse course, the damage could be irreversible.

The removal of the monument of Confederate general and racist, Robert E. Lee, in Richmond, Virginia, is progress towards mitigating racism in the United States.  While we celebrate these incremental progress, there is more work to do. His monument is gone from Richmond but his statute, in his Confederate military attire, remains displayed in the famous Statuary Hall in the United States Congress - the seat of America's democracy. What an embarrassment.

Based on contextual and factual analysis,  I  believe the American National Anthem is racist at worst and racially insensitive at best.

By blocking the creation of a 9-11 style commission to investigate the January 6, 2021 insurrection, the Republicans are covering for Mr. Trump  and the insurrection's racist undertones.

Calling blacks and other minorities "People of Color" is a racist lumping of all non-white people effectively making them appendages to the white race. Call me black, call me African American - that is who I am. Who are people without color? Why are white people not called, "People of Color"? Because they created the rule and installed themselves at the top of their racialized hierarchical society.

The conviction of police officer, Derek Chauvin, is a positive step towards racial healing and improved race relations. However, the promise of a racism-free society does not rest upon the conviction of one or several police officers – it rests more with the deconstruction of America's systematic racism.

The recent so-called Georgia election reform law is an undercover, Trojan-horse racist attempt to suppress and dilute the votes of blacks and other minority communities. It is shameful, and dishonest.

Stacy Abrams  shook the political world in America by masterminding  the unimaginable flipping of Georgia from being an entrenched Republic bastion to now a Democratic state.  This is the story of an African American woman who turned adversity into purpose. When it comes to Georgia politics, Stacy Abrams is indeed the Commander-in-Chief.

The disproportionate high voter turnout rate of African Americans became the saving grace that powered Democrats to reclaim the United States Senate majority from the Republicans and in so doing saved America from another disastrous gridlock politics.

Blind loyalty, diluted patriotism, hypocrisy, duplicity and raw politics is now fueling the majority of ordinary Republicans and elected Republicans to deny that former President Trump instigated the insurrection of January 6, 2021 and therefore, should not be impeached and convicted. What a shame, what an embarrassment to American democracy.

Racism was the hidden or veiled driver of the Trump-instigated insurrection at the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Though there are two Democratic party candidates (one white and one white) running against two incumbent Republican senators, the Republicans have focused a disproportionate and intense negative attacks on the African American - the Rev. Dr. Raphael Wornock.  Is the Old South rearing its head or the New South will stem that tide? Time will tell.

Concern is raging in the African American community that Mr. Biden is not meeting expectations with his appointments of African Americans in his administration. While their concern remain valid, I urge patience as Mr. Biden is not even halfway through his appointments notwithstanding the fact that he has made some significant African American appointments already. I trust Mr. Biden when he said, he will have the backs of African Americans.

President Trump's whole strategy to invalidate the results of the 2020 presidential elections which he lost to President-elect, Joe Biden, is to disenfranchise African Americans by calling for their votes in targeted battleground states to be invalidated. Without proof, he is alleging that African Americans engaged in widespread fraudulent practices in voting heavily for Mr. Biden.  The targeting of African Americans is racism in display with an apparent benign but fake excuse of exercising his right to challenge the results of the election. The mutation and deceit of the perpetrators of racism continues.

Yes, African Americans made the critical difference in tipping the balance in favor of President-Elect Joe Biden  in crucial States like Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia. Even Mr. Biden specially acknowledged this contribution.

The efforts by Republicans and conservatives to intimidate and suppress the votes of African Americans and other minority communities, is backfiring. It has riled up these voters in record shattering turnout rates. Let the people vote to save these United States.

There are systematic efforts by the Republican Party, President Trump and their allies to suppress the vote in the 2020 elections currently underway. These efforts are surgical in nature, targeting blacks and minority communities that are more inclined to vote for the Democratic party. Blacks and other minority communities must use these suppression efforts as motivation and added determination to vote - whether by mail or in person.

Despite the refusal by many including Attorney General, William Barr, that systemic racism does not exist today in the United States, this episode asserts that not only does systemic racism exist, it is alive and well.

Racism in the form of suppressing the votes of African Americans and other minorities has surfaced again in the upcoming 2020 elections in the United States. While there are no literacy tests and poll taxes as was used in the days of Jim Crow, the subtle strategies utilized today include preventing mail-in ballots especially in the era of COVID 19, official government ID required to vote and the closing of many voting locations in black and other minority neighborhoods. African Americans and other minority communities must not despair. While the fight continues to remove these obstacles, you must do whatever it takes to vote - drive longer distances to voting locations, get a government ID, mask up and go vote, mail in your ballots where it is allowed and urge your family members and friends to do the same. Vote, please, vote in this election. It is too consequential. In addition,in voting, you honor and respect the lives of your ancestors and others who suffered and even died in helping to secure the right to vote. 

They questioned President Barack Obama's eligibility to run for President of the United States claiming he was not born in the United States. It failed. Now, another African American's citizenship - that of Senator Kamala Harris - is being questioned insinuating that she is not a natural born American citizen and throwing doubts on her eligibility to become vice president and if need be, President of the United States.This is a fringe theory with no basis in law or fact as Kamala Harris was born in the United States and therefore, a natural born citizen of the United States. Why does this happen only to African Americans aspiring to become president or as in this case, vice president of the United States? The answer? Disguised racism.

Late Congressman John Lewis pushed the United States to live up to its values of equality and freedom for all with emphasis on equality and freedom for African Americans. At age 15 -incredible but true - he was already bracing himself to challenge the system. Lewis was the biblical David who fought and won Goliath (the Government of the Unite States) with many accomplishments in the area of civil rights. He was commonly referred to as the conscience of the Congress. I say, he was more than that - he was the conscience of the nation.We thank and honor you, John Lewis. Let us vote!!!

While we all know and accept that former President Barack Obama is the first black president of the United States, very few people realize that his racial classification as "black" - though he is factually 'mixed' - is a racial prescription pre-determined by white supremacy to keep the purity of the white race intact.

Despite many European-driven historical accounts that Africans voluntarily sold their fellow Africans to the Europeans, my historical analysis leads me to a different conclusion. While African share some blame, the culpability of the Europeans far exceed that of the Africans. They needed labor in their plantations in the America's, they decided  in their European capitals - without any input from the Africans - to enslave Africans for the needed labor, they invested in ships,heavy arms, captains, doctors, engineers, and security guard; and then traveled to Africa -uninvited - for the sole purpose of enslaving Africans. Based on their needs, investments, heavy arms and consideration of Blacks as inferior, the Europeans were determined to enslave Africans with or without their consent, with or without their participation.

Many, especially in the white community, have argued that the Black Lives Matter characterization is racist. It is not. The movement has never asserted that white lives or all lives do not matter. Instead, it's focus is to amplify that black lives matter in view of the continuous and systemic racism, discrimination and deadly use of force by the police against blacks, Blacks have never engineered a systemic dehumanization of whites as whites have done to blacks through slavery, Jim Crow and modern day racism and white supremacy. The movement is simply asserting that black lives matter.

In order to keep racism and white supremacy vibrant, racists and white supremacists have resorted to targeting teenagers and the younger generation for recruitment and indoctrination especially using online and social media forums. This strategy is succeeding as many racist and white supremacist incidents have been orchestrated by relatively young white men. Parents and even the government must keep a digital and online watch to prevent their children and young white people from falling prey. 

The idea by Confederate worshipers that Confederate monuments and honors are a reflection of Southern history and heritage is a cruel hoax designed to mask their diabolical reverence of slavery and white supremacy. 

In a representative democracy like the United States, ultimate power rest with the people - not the president, not the Congress and not even the Supreme Court. The people can reclaim and redirect their power through voting or they can engage in applying pressure on elected officials through protests and demonstrations. They can flood their elected official's office with phone calls, letters or voice their opinions in social media and talk shows. The George Floyd murder and the massive protests and demonstrations that have been sustained for over a month, is proof that the people can apply enough pressure and force needed action to curb racism. Police departments are now banning choke holds, racist Confederate statutes and monuments are coming down, police de-escalation strategies are now part of police training, Congress is trying to pass a comprehensive police reform bill... Without the people rising up and demanding change - Blacks, Whites, Hispanics, Asians - these racist practices and honors would still be the order of the day. Indeed, people power drives the agenda. 

Racism in the United States and the world has lasted for over 400 years to this day with destructive consequences. In this episode Dr. Moki explores why racism has lasted for so long and discusses the numerous and massive "food suppliers" that has kept, and continues to keep, this destructive  ideology - religion, science, the government, the current occupant of the white House, lies and hypocrisy, indifference, police brutality and social media.He recounts racism's carnage over the American landscape - so destructive that we must care and act. Dr. Moki makes the point that defeating racism is a collective and community responsibility for which each and everyone of us must play a part.