Understanding the Mind of the White Liberal

A guest blog by Royal Star Allah. I LOVE this one by the way :)

The Brother Minister was in full cry. He was in his element, among Rev. Albert Cleage’s folks, with their pan-African theology. When Cleage started fighting with a rival leader, he called Malcolm to keynote a two day event entitled “The Northern Negro Grass Roots Leadership Conference.”

Congressman (Rev.) Adam Clayton Powell was in town at the competing event.

Malcolm stepped to the challenge and delivered the most famous speech of his career. It became the signature speech by which he was later known to younger personalities, such as Stokley Carmichael.



It was November 10, 1963. It was a dangerous time to be “Black” in America. Birmingham was literally hell on Earth. Since the beginning of the Civil Rights movement on December 5, 1955, Birmingham averaged one bomb every 4.5 months. Over 20 bombings had gone completely un-investigated until the faithful one that went off on September 15, 1963. (More on that later.)

Malcolm was in rhythm. He had tackled all the supporting evidence to his thesis, which was that the “Big Six” Civil Rights organizations were paid by the Kennedy Administration to put on A. Phillip Randolph’s famed “March on Washington.” Randolph had threatened every President since Franklin Delano Roosevelt with a march by “Black” workers on the White House.

It actually happened, to everyone’s surprise. Especially, the cameras. No one in the street could understand how the March received so much publicity. As Fannie Lou Hamer in Mississippi would later discover, time on television came with a heavy price.

“[Then] the Negroes started talking – about what? That they were going to march on Washington, march on the Senate, march on the White House, march on the Congress, and tie it up, bring it to a halt, not let the government proceed.” (1)

His hoarse tenor verbally punctuated the air. “They even said they were going out to the airport and lay down on the runway and not let any airplanes land. I’m telling you what they said. That was revolution. That was revolution. That was the black revolution!

“It was the grass roots out there in the street. It scared the white man to death, scared the white power structure in Washington, D. C. to death; I was there! When they found out that this black steamroller was going to come down on the capital, they called in Wilkins, they called in Randolph, they called in these national Negro leaders that you respect and told them, ‘Call it off.’ Kennedy said, ‘Look, you all are letting this thing go too far.’ And Old Tom said, ‘Boss, I can’t stop it, because I didn’t start it.’ I’m telling you what they said.” (1)

Malcolm wasn’t lying. He had his information on eyewitness. On August 28, 1963, the day of the March, while standing among the 200,000 who gathered, the FBI agent assigned to watch Malcolm got close enough to overhear the Brother Minister question “why Negroes should become so excited about a demonstration ‘run by whites in front of a statue of a president who has been dead for a hundred years and who didn’t like us when he was alive.’” (2)

II.

When “the Conscious of America” jumped off script and began preaching – literally! – Dr. King’s inner circle held their breath. They knew two of Kennedy’s men stood guard to cut the power to the PA system should the wrong thing come out of King’s mouth. (3) Gospel singer, Mahalia Jackson started shouting behind the preacher.

They watched as Dr. King brought the African American church into the televised homes of America. He kept his balance, ever mindful of his body language. They followed his cadence, heard the familiar refrain of contrasting black and white images, the slide into Biblical poetry and - unclench your hands, Martin! - into the oldest line in the MLK toolbox, “I have a dream . . .”

And, it worked. The crowd erupted into thunderous applause.

Dr. King barely noticed. In the moment, he was wrapped in the emotions of having messed up. He had transitioned well enough – still, in the end, he had done what came natural; he had started preaching and using the material that his aides had told him was old and tired. In fact, he had used it twice the week before in Detroit and Chicago. Thankfully, the national news cameras didn’t know anything about that. (3)

In fact, neither did the President. Although he had met Dr. King several times , John F. Kennedy witnessed his first Dr. King speech that afternoon. All 18 minutes of it. His response was quick and short. "He's damn good."

A gallup poll later revealed that most of white America didn't understand why Dr. King was so angry. (Time Wise, Anchorage, AK, Sept. 14, 2010)


Can you name them all?

“I have a dream,” the President said, as he greeted an uneasy Dr. King at 5 pm. In the meeting that followed, Dr. King was mainly silent. He cracked a few jokes towards the end and then the President ended the meeting at 6:12 pm. (4)

Again, Minister Malcolm X, “I know you don’t like what I’m saying, but I’m going to tell you anyway. Because I can prove what I’m saying. If you think I’m telling your wrong, you bring me Martin Luther King and A. Phillip Randolph and James Farmer and those other three, and see if they’ll deny it over a microphone.” (5)

Such a meeting never happened, on paper or in person.

“Once they formed it,” Malcolm continued. “with the white man over it, he promised them and gave them $800,000 to split up among the Big Six; and told them that after the march was over they’d give them $700,000 more. A million and half dollars – split up between leaders that you have been following, going to jail for, crying crocodile tears for. And they’re nothing but Frank James and Jesse James and the what-do-you-call-‘em brothers.” (7)

No money went towards march expenses, which were cleared before the March.

Dream sequence or no dream sequence, the world came crashing down upon Dr. Martin Luther King's head on September 15, 1963 when a bomb went off at the 16th Street Baptist Church. So convinced was the FBI that Martin Luther King was a double agent working with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad, that on Sept. 20, 1963 the FBI first believed the bomb was planted there - on purpose - by a member of the Nation of Islam.

(To be continued)



September 15, 1963 - 18 days after the March on Washington





Referenced Material to show and prove the above being right and exact.

1. Malcolm X Speaks, ed. George Breitman (1965), pg. 14-15



2. Malcolm X: The FBI File, ed. David Gallen; Clayborne Carson, commentary (1991) pg. 70; 35



3. Racial Matters: The FBI’s Secret File on Black America, 1960-1972, Kenneth O’Reilly (1989), pg. 126



4. Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, Taylor Branch (1988) pg. 882-3

5. Ibid., pg. 886; see: New York Times, Aug. 29, 1963, pp. 1, column 16 and President Kennedy’s appointment log (8/29/1963)



6. Malcolm X Speaks, ed. George Breitman (1965), pg. 16

7. Malcolm X Speaks, pg. 15

Another Point of View: A Guest Blog by Royal Star Allah!

My Brother, asked me if he could Guest Blog, I had no idea he would be doing THIS! I say Welcome...to Another Point of View! (YOu can find my brother on facebook under the name 'Kokayi Tehuti Nosakhere')

"Disclaimer: The following mental food is inspired by THEM! Open Minds please proceed.

In the fiery tone that has made the Minister a household name: “You ask, ‘Farrakhan, why do you do these things?’ Why? I do these things so that you know what a free man looks like!” To which, he, naturally, receives thunderous applause.

I. A Mental Frame

In the age of Obama (i.e. 2010,) when the possibility of a Black (Original) Man becoming President of the United States is a LIVING REALITY, many who read this blog may not truly comprehend (i.e. understand) the NATURE of Salih Muhammad’s interest in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Louis Farrakhan. Some may think he possesses a simple “religious fervor” shared by many church-going Christians and assign to him the emotions of that viewpoint. I beg his pardon. The emotional connection is not the same. There is no mystery in the Islam that Salih practices.

I know, because I share in his “cosmology.” I too value The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and Minister Louis Farrakhan. I see them as extremely important to the inheritance of FREEDOM, JUSTICE and EQUALITY currently enjoyed by the Original Man and Woman. Their sacrifice and work on our behalf, directly contributed to the possibility of an Obama Administration.

In the following brief words, I would like to explore WHY the “cosmology,” or “integrated worldview,” presented by The Honorable Elijah Muhammad (THEM) to the Original Man in the wilderness of North America is of such high value. After I present my evidence, you may wish to accept another point of view of our dear Brother.

A “cosmology” presents the answers to life’s most nagging problems. It is the food that your mind feeds upon to sustain itself when placed under pressure. Depending upon the strength of an individual’s character and personality, the pressurized experience can completely transform an individual into his/her Higher Self. The Higher Self is the part which taps into the flowing divine energy that is all around us. (We do not perceive it because we eat the wrong food.)

Again, I would like to state that in the Age of Obama, it is hard to translate the PRESSURE that “Mr. Muhammad” was born into. He was born only 32 years after the conclusion of the American Civil War. By 1897, segregation was being reinforced through the first wave of the Klu Klux Klan. Lynching became a popular fear-inducing technique. The former slaves could not be allowed to act as full citizens; to do so, would annihilate the ego structure of the former slave masters. With their manhood on the line, white men and women stepped up the terror campaign.



Legally, the 14th Amendment guaranteed the former slaves a certain degree of citizenship. As of July 9, 1868, the United States of America officially agreed, “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” However, the second part is the most important: “Section 2. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.”

To be blunt: that didn’t happen. From birth THEM’s mind was saturated with the fear of being killed – at any time - to maintain the Southern man’s ego structure. The Original community did not stand idly by and be killed, however. Organizations were formed to defend the community.

The NAACP was institutionalized when “Mr. Muhammad” was 12 years old. Marcus Mosiah Garvey electrified the consciousness of the Original Man in direct opposition to the fear that saturated their every move, in 1919, when THEM was 22. The Universal Negro Improvement Association was destroyed beginning in 1923. Garvey was deported in 1927, when Elijah was 30.

On the verge of being 33, THEM encountered a strange man in Detroit. This man gave him a key to perceiving the world in a manner he had never envisioned before. In fact, the environment which nurtured his mind did not provide him the necessary intellectual stimulus to generate this mentality. If it were not for the experience of the strange man’s presence he would not think the way he now thought.

For the first time in his life, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad experienced the relief of FEAR. He was at peace – mentally. He was no longer scared of white people! Why? (See the cosmology) This achievement – intellectually – was remarkable for any Original Man from his time period. However, it was about to be tested.

In 1942, at the age of 45, he was arrested for refusing the draft. (Later, one of his students, “Muhammad Ali” would have a similar experience.) For four years the Honorable Elijah Muhammad withstood the extreme pressure presented by the American prison environment upon the Original Man’s mentality. The experience completely transformed him. While in the belly, THEM chose to adhere to the cosmology the strange man shared with him. It nearly killed him, as he was completely dependent upon the American prisons system. However, he survived!

So, when he emerged from prison, after being separated from all means of physical support, with his mind and body intact, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad was MAGNETIC.

By magnetic, I mean exactly that: highly charged! His mind was like a diamond. The prison experience forced him to concentrate all his energies toward one goal: adherence to the Supreme Wisdom. In ways that being physically free could never have taught him, he learned what it truly meant to be an Original Man in the wilderness of North America. Consequently, his level of mental perception was greater than those around him when emerged from this cocoon.

In 1946, “Mr. Muhammad” remained in an America that still demeaned him as an ex-slave. Yet, he refused to be treated as such. And, he demanded America treat him as a full citizen. Again, the level of personal attainment reached by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad is difficult to communicate. His entire life was spent under the pressure of immediate death. At 49, he was finally more powerful than the pressure being exerted against him.

It is for this achievement that I am interested in the life of Mr. Muhammad. It is for this very same achievement that I marvel at Minister Malcolm X and Minister Louis Farrakhan.

I implore you to continue choosing to read this blog. It is specifically designed to expand your mind. Unlike the majority of Original Men in America, Salih’s mentality is not saturated in fear. Like our Brave Ancestors, he perceives the condition we find ourselves in different light than the majority view. His worldview is based on the possibility of FREEDOM, JUSTICE and EQUALITY – with or without an Obama Administration.

Join us in exploring a “cosmology” where jewels abound for those with ears to hear.

Sincerely,
Royal Star Allah"