BlackEconomics.org®
The time for parables, half-truths, feeding pablum to the people, and for obfuscation is over. Time for using psychological, subliminal, and programmatic tricks to confuse the population is over. Being partly ignorant (an excuse without justification today) we rely largely on scientists (who are purposefully divided to add to the confusion), who say that Earth stands at or near a disastrous point of no return due to Climate Change. In addition, we know that existing conflicts, skirmishes, and small wars place us on the brink of a full-blown world war and, due to the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the end of time and life that humans have known for thousands of years. It does not mean that civilization will not rise again, but we will not be tightly linked to that future.
What does this have to do with Black economics?
We address the just-stated question in two parts. First, the economics part. From the economics side and to answer the question and the topic question, we must consider “causation.” Note that we plead partial ignorance in this matter because have not lived the elevated life of ivory tower economists and have not kept fully apace with esoteric statistical methods for determining causation. Our experience is mainly with econometric approaches based on Clive Granger’s work and the most popular technique for estimating causal relationship today popularized by Donald Rubin. Nevertheless, suffice it to say that economists have made determination of causation as difficult as extracting gold from Fort Knox, or the most sublime Fabergé eggs from Russia’s St. Petersburg Museum, or the Hope Diamond from the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC.
Therefore, if the world’s economists—our society’s “high priests”—have made determining definitively that X causes Y as intricate and as complex as performing an awake craniotomy, then it should be no surprise that everyday people have great difficulty even conceiving the need to be explicit about why things are as they are.
For the second part, let us commit to using crowbars, chisels, or flat screw drivers to pry open gaps to expose truths. We begin by asking what is the cause of Black America’s predicament? Economists, psychologists, sociologists, scientists (mainly of the medical variety), educators, lawyers, politicians, and religious philosophers all have explanations for our predicament. By predicament, we mean at the bottom of the heap and not distributed representatively across all socioeconomic hierarchies like almost all other races and ethnicities.
Economists are divided on the issue. Most Black economists assign the cause largely to racial discrimination. Conservative economists (Black and White) allude to Black Americans’ failure to bootstrap a change in the status quo.
Psychologists say that we are in great travail and confusion because of our American historical experience that saw European thugs stealing us from Africa as illegal prisoners and bringing us to the Western Hemisphere and practicing mythical “Willie Lynch” principles on us. Consequently, we do not have an inclination or motivation to right our own boat.
Medical scientists argue that we do not consume correct nourishment and are affected adversely by improper food, beverage, and drug consumption, which causes us to exhibit behaviors that are risky and contribute to our ill condition. Genetic scientists have recently cleaved to epigenetics saying that all the foregoing and more have been seared into our DNA which produces the today that we know.
Educators concur with Dr. Carter G. Woodson, who said we are Mis-Educated. We are as we are because we do not know who we are. Living with the pain of not fully knowing who we are, we do what we do, which reinforces our predicament, or we do not do what we should to transform our predicament.
Lawyers, like certain economists, say: We have been mistreated mainly through discrimination, so let us litigate the matter to a favorable resolution.
Politicians say that we are excluded from policymaking, so let us convince more Black Americans to enter politics and that will solve the problem. Hence, the coming forth of BO and KH.
Now for the world’s three most popular religions with African origins. Christian philosophers say that we are not truthful to ourselves, that we do not exhibit righteousness, and we commit sins that make us unappealing to our neighbors. Islamic philosophers tell a story similar to Christians, but add that we have a right to engage in an external jihad because our enemies do not conform to principles of peace and respect as reflected in a righteous spirit of human brotherhood and sisterhood.
Unfortunately, and at the same time, it is common knowledge today that the virulent form of Christianity with a White Jesus and God serves as the backbone of a Racist White Supremacist tradition. Similarly, Orthodox Muslims cannot escape the synonymity of “ءبد ” (transliterated abd, slave) and Black persons, which persists in Islamic societies. There is historical and contemporary evidence of efforts to relegate black persons to the lowest social status. As for Buddhism, it is so scientific yet amorphous with its middle way and moderation that it is too tepid to be transformative. It says our world does not really exist, so do not give it too much thought.
No doubt, there is truth in the saying that telling a bald-faced lie is irrational. In other words, if the intent is to generate belief in a falsehood, then the falsehood must be brewed with some truth. So it is with all the foregoing. There is a bit of truth in it all, but not one of the aforementioned “causes” of the Black American predicament reflects enough hard and potent truth to crack the code and turn our world right side up.
If all the foregoing is not the cause, then what is?
A family member is a minister of the Gospel and is quick to state from a material perspective that: “The answer is always money, now what’s the question?” From a religious perspective and overtly avoiding bias, there is concurrence with The Beatles (“All You Need Is Love”) and Todd Rundgren (“Love is the Answer”). These songs express great truths. If we all loved one another and agreed to share available wealth righteously, then we could resolve Black America’s predicament. However, even this is not the most fundamental and correct answer to the topic of this essay: “That is Not the Cause: What is?”
By dispensing with parables, half-truths, and serving pablum, we offer the following conclusion. It is a realization and admonition by another family member, who is a spiritualist: We (Black Americans) must “go within.” What will we find there? Ourselves in our most complete and vulnerable form. Once within, what must we do? We must ask ourselves four questions: (1) Is our position at the bottom of the heap bothersome? (2) If it is, then what are we willing to do to make the bothersome condition disappear? (3) Are we willing to study the condition and identify the most effective means of righting our boat? (4) Once we identify the effective means, are we willing to pay the ultimate price to produce the transformation that will eliminate the bothersomeness of our condition?
Those who find no bothersomeness in our condition will view this essay as irrelevant. But those who find our condition bothersome face a Mount Everest climb.
The last statement is quite “a hell of a how do you do!” But it is a reality. Some will say that they cannot do it alone, and we are likely to be alone in aspects of your struggle. When the latter occurs, we must turn inward again and resume with question 1.
It is safe to say that all major religions of the world include an equivalent of the following statement: “In life, you will face no more than you can bear.” It sounds hokey but it is true. If you cannot bear it, then you will die, and will no longer be in life. This takes us back to the final question that concerns paying the ultimate price.
The historical Jesus personality is so powerful and captivating—irrespective of its veracity—due to his willingness to pay the ultimate price because of “LOVE.” The White Supremacists who are synonymous with Christianity reflect the Jesus ultimate price mentality in a twisted sense. They have displayed a willingness to put absolute everything on the line to conquer and oppress the world. They retain that commitment today. That is why they have been successful. They reflect an intense “love” for themselves and their descendants. Black Americans’ problem is that we do not yet Love ourselves enough to pay the ultimate price to transform our bothersome condition.
This essay is to help remove the sleep from our eyes so that we (Black Americans) see clearly and comprehend the requirement to revise the “you” to “we” and the “the” to “our” in the aforementioned songs from The Beatles and Todd Rundgren, respectively, and to then etch their truths immutably and eternally into our minds and hearts.
As an economist committed to eliminating economic inequality, there is an undying interest in using every tool in our toolbox to produce this desired outcome. This essay confirms that, if we realize our condition is bothersome and if we come to possess enough Love for ourselves alone and together, then we will all do all that it takes to eliminate the bothersomeness and produce desired outcomes.
However, we must also account for “spillovers.” When Black Americans eliminate the bothersomeness, we will recognize our power, which will be tempered by our historical lived experiences, and we will likely work unceasingly to prevent the reoccurrence of our experience in the future. It is such an outcome that can help engender peace, prosperity, and preservation of our world—something that we all need direly today.
B Robinson
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