T H E T H I R D S H I F T
Table of Contents
=================
01. Name Game
02. A Notion of Nationhood
03. Origins of Greatness
04. Manifest Strategy
05. A Wall Within
06. Respect
07. Identity Crisis
08. E Pluribus Unum
09. Instant Incentive
10. Administrative Delimitation
11. Liberian Lesson
12. Rejecting Radicalism
13. Protecting the Legacy
14. Averting Armaggedon
15. Force of Fortune
16. Unfinished Business
17. Atonement
18. The Reparations Solution
19. Religion
20. Leadership
21. Picture the Future
22. The Shape of Autonomy
23. Consolidation
24. Transition to Prominence
25. Minimum Impact
26. Heartland
27. Superimposition
28. Viability
29. Repatriation of the Diaspora
30. Sharks in the Water
31. Baby Steps
1. Name Game
============
Before proceeding with these pages, the reader must first be asked to play
along with a little game. Call it an idiosyncrasy, if you will, or an
aberration, if you must, but throughout these pages the term
"African-American" will be substituted with a neologism, namely:
"Africanite."
Just as was once the case for "Negro," its predecessor, the term
"African-American" has reached its sell-by date. As the reader will later
see, it has become misleading and inaccurate. In addition, with no less
than seven syllables, it weighs in on the cumbersome side. As far as this
book is concerned, it has been discarded.
For example, consider the following three sentences:
> Venus Williams is an African-American tennis player.
> African-Americans today are wealthier and better educated than ever.
> Harlem is still a predominantly African-American neighborhood.
Throughout these pages, these would become, respectively:
> Venus Williams is an Africanite tennis player.
> Africanites today are wealthier and better educated than ever.
> Harlem is still a predominantly Africanite neighborhood.
As you can see, the result may look somewhat strange, but it's perfectly
harmless. Surely the reader had no difficulty adapting to this new
paradigm - and this bodes extremely well for the remainder of this book,
which also involves the rejection of established convention and the
introduction of a new paradigm.
2. A Notion of Nationhood
=========================
It cannot be denied that our struggle has stalled.
The movement for our people's emancipation, which won Martin Luther King
the Nobel Peace Prize and our people the admiration of the world, has
degenerated into petty bickering over issues such as affirmative action.
There are no more clear-cut targets to attack, such as segregated schools
or lunch counters. The leaders of our community no longer have a clear
vision of where our nation is headed, and have lost much of our respect.
Our old adversaries, slavery and segregation, are gone, and we don't know
who our new enemies are. Yet we need continue to fight because... Because
things still aren't right. This is something we all know instinctively.
So what's missing?
We have our hard-won equal rights. At the time of writing, there even were
two Africanites in prominent positions in the cabinet. Any form of
discrimination is prohibited by law. Civil rights activists have to work
increasingly harder to uncover incidents of racism. The only times our
community's struggle seems to find any kind of real energy is when some
white cops are caught on video laying into one of our own with
nightsticks.
The Africanite struggle has stalled because racism continues to be our
focus even though racism isn't the issue any longer. Racism is yesterday.
The rest of the world - with the exception of England and perhaps
Zimbabwe - rarely stops to consider issues from a racial perspective, not
even where different peoples mingle, in peace or in conflict. The idea of
race has all but died; the defining criterion is ethnic identity.
Ethnicity comprises not just race, but also other aspects such as history,
culture, language, and religion - in short, the entire patchwork of values
that makes a people unique. Being a member of a race is nothing more than
having certain physiological characteristics, whereas being a member of an
ethnic group is that plus much, much more - things your grandparents
taught you, how you behave towards others, how members of your community
are expected to act on social occasions, and so on.
Heaven knows, the rest of the world has its share of problems, but the
problems are "ethnic" problems, not "racial" problems. The distinction is
critically important. Ethnic problems are clashes between cultures, not
between complexions.
To illustrate how irrational the treatment of race and ethnicity is in
America, refer to the curious statistics produced by the CIA World
Factbook. For some reason, this normally excellent source of facts and
figures published the following curious summary about the ethnic
composition of the United States (this is a verbatim excerpt from the CIA
web site, dated May, 2004).
white 77.1%, black 12.9%, Asian 4.2%, Amerindian and Alaska native
1.5%, native Hawaiian and other Pacific islander 0.3%, other 4%
(2000)
*note:* a separate listing for Hispanic is not included because the
US Census Bureau considers Hispanic to mean a person of Latin
American descent (including persons of Cuban, Mexican, or Puerto
Rican origin) living in the US who may be of any race or ethnic
group (white, black, Asian, etc.)
Witness the lunacy! Whether originating from Hungary or Honduras, whether
fluent in English or Spanish, light-skinned persons are lumped together
with others of similar skin tone. This is not only ridiculous in terms of
the commonly accepted definition of the concept of ethnicity, it is
functionally flawed as the paragraph fails to give a clear picture of the
ethnic composition of the United States.
The fact that the widely respected CIA World Factbook, which is often used
by teachers in classrooms, could publish something as far removed from
reality as this paragraph and still escape castigation from anyone except
this writer proves that the whole country - European-Americans, Latin
Americans, and Africanites included - still has a deeply ingrained
fixation on race (i.e. skin color) and a completely flawed perception of
modern America.
When discussion turns to ethnic issues, one is inevitably left with the
impression that the only distinction of import is one of physiology -
whether your skin color is dark or light - and this division of the
American population into two types of race continues to be re-emphasized
subliminally by nomenclature: to this day, it is acceptable for
Africanites and European-Americans to be referred to as 'black' or
'white'.
These terms are not offensive, nor are they used with an intent to cause
offense; that is not the problem. Neither is it an issue that we are in
reality varying hues of brown rather than precisely black, and that
European-Americans actually tend to be shades of pink and beige rather
than pure white. Rather, the problem is that these terms only serve to
accentuate the division of Americans into two categories based on an
erroneous and outdated race-based interpretation of humanity - even though
the concept of race has long been dismissed as an irrelevant and
unscientific system of taxonomy by most anthropologists.
Physiological characteristics such as skin tone may be the most obvious
difference between peoples, but they are utterly and totally beside the
point. For instance, Americans of Bangladeshi origin tend to be as
dark-skinned as any Africanite, yet their culture has little in common
with either the dominant European-American culture, nor with our own
Africanite culture. It follows that race is an incidental aspect of the
identity of a nation, rather than an important component of it.
The difference that matters is the huge difference in culture and
heritage, and this is what must be focused on.
The obsessive use of race as defining parameter is not just irrelevant and
mistaken; it is dangerous. It is dangerous because it obscures the fact
that the European-American and Africanite communities have starkly
different cultures, and thus detracts attention from the real issue. It is
due to the excessive focus on race and racism that few Americans
understand that there would be considerable friction between the
Africanite and European-American communities even if there were no history
of bitter enmity between the two peoples. The mere fact that our cultures
are completely different, and that one nation is dominant over the other -
which happens in any democracy with two ethnic groups of different sizes -
is by itself a cause of massive discord between our peoples. This discord
overlaps with the enduring bad blood between the two communities, and the
resulting confusion has muddled the picture of what is missing in America
today.
Regrettably, the better educated the reader is, the less likely it is that
she has not even realized, or is prone to dispute, the fact that we
Africanites have our own culture. In the words of W. E. B. Du Bois, which
are tragically as true today as in 1948:
Those Negroes who had long trained themselves for personal success
and individual freedom, were coming to regard the disappearance of
segregation as an end and not a means. They wanted to be Americans,
and they did not care so much what kind of folk Americans were, as
for the right to be one of them. They, not only, did not want to
fight for a Negro culture, they even denied the possibility of any
such animal, certainly its desirability even if it could be made to
exist.
So let this point quickly be proved to the reader, using just one example.
In a recent report on Hollywood, a critic noted that "no black movie has
successfully crossed-over to a white audience." This is to be expected.
Mere logic dictates that a movie is far more likely to appeal to a
European-American audience if it falls within the context of
European-American culture, which European-Americans readily understand. An
Africanite movie may be a hit with an Africanite audience, but no more
likely to appeal to European-Americans than an Iranian, Filipino, or
Spanish film - because our respective cultures are different.
The importance of the fact that there is a difference between Africanite
and European-American culture cannot be emphasized enough. If both
'whites' and 'blacks' shared exactly the same culture, our struggle would
have been concluded decades ago, when the country was officially
desegregated and miscegenation was legalized.
The reason American society did not integrate seamlessly after the
legalization of miscegenation in 1970 is that European-Americans and
Africanites are two different peoples, as different as the Germans and the
French. The Germans and French are of exactly the same race. Yet if you
threw a good-sized community of German people into France, they would not
integrate seamlessly into French society. They would continue to be
German - speaking German at home, eating German food, dressing in German
style - even after numerous generations. This has actually happened; there
are pockets of German communities in the French region of Alsace, and
though they may be citizens of the Republic of France, they continue to
consider themselves as Germans. This is because the difference that
matters in any society is not race, but ethnicity.
Even in American society. And that is why the Africanite struggle is not
over; it's not about race. It's about culture, that complex cocktail of
myriad factors which renders a people unique. More specifically, it is
about the fact that we have natural rights as an ethnic group - a nation
with a unique culture - and that, rather than be dominated by and
assimilated into WASP-dominated European-American society, we must pursue
the development of our own society and destiny.
No ethnic minority anywhere in the world is comfortable being dominated by
the ethnic majority, simply because every ethnic group has its own
culture - irrespective of whether a history of bitter enmity between the
two communities is involved or not. This applies to the situation in the
United States. Anecdotes to prove this point could easily fill a book, but
here is just one, a documented fact: although a disproportionately large
number of Africanites are currently serving the military in Iraq, the
Armed Forces radio service in Iraq does not, by way of strict policy which
disc jockeys may not violate, broadcast any rap or hip hop. The genre is
ours; it is appreciated, preferred, and needed more by Africanites than
European-Americans, who - according to statistics of buying patterns
compiled by market researchers for the recording industry - tend to prefer
rock. This is not a case of racism, but of cultural domination by the
ethnic majority.
It is clear why our struggle has stalled. What's missing is this: the
notion of nationhood. We Africanites must wake up to the fact that we are
a unique ethnic group, with our own heritage, history, and culture - just
like the Thais, the Bulgarians, or the Estonians. We must wake up to the
fact that we must fight for our rights as a nation, not as a race.
At this point it must be acknowledged that, since the term "black" enjoys
widespread currency, it would be impractical to insist that its use be
discontinued forthwith. But it must be understood that we, like the
Belgians, the Cambodians, the Iranians, or any other people, are first and
foremost members of an ethnic nation, and that our membership in a race -
our blackness - is merely ancillary and incidental, and largely
irrelevant. We must not be proud to be black - that is, proud to be
dark-skinned, or proud to be members of the Negroid race - but proud to be
members of the Africanite nation. Being black - dark-skinned and members
of the Negro race - is part of that.
The term "African-American," meanwhile, should be phased out as soon as
possible. Since we are a nation with our own ethnicity, the word
"Africanite" is far more appropriate than "African-American" to describe
our people. The latter erroneously implies that we - American descendants
of African slaves - are ethnically and culturally in the same category as
a recent immigrant from, say, Nigeria. Clearly, that is not the case. The
Africanite nation developed its own unique culture and heritage over the
past four centuries. Africanite ethnicity has its roots in Africa and was
formed by the pressures of European-American oppression, but it is neither
African nor European-American: it is uniquely Africanite. Like the Native
American nations, we exist only on this continent. Therefore, a hyphenated
description, which suggests that we are a combination of something else
plus American, is wrong. Our nation was created on these very shores, and,
unlike European-Americans, we Africanites are 100 percent American.
The mere awakening to the fact that, as individuals, we are members of a
nation rather than a race, and that, as a community, we are owed a right
to nationhood - the notion alone - will bring about a new consciousness to
our community, and it will change everything. It will change your life and
mine. This book will explain why, and how.
3. Origins of Greatness
=======================
A number of pundits have confidently proclaimed that the 21st century will
belong to the Chinese, the prediction being that China's economy will
continue to grow at breakneck speed until China becomes the preeminent
power in wealth and influence. Others have announced that the 21st will be
the Indian century, as that country emerges from a long slumber and
develops into the world's next superpower.
Both are wrong.
It is only a matter of time before China, a fragile house of multi-ethnic
cards artificially kept together by the restraints of one party rule,
collapses. As has happened so often during China's long history, the
country will be torn apart when the coastal provinces gain wealth and
power. In India, meanwhile, the economic growth rate is higher than in the
last century, but still barely enough to sustain current standards of
living, since the population is growing about as fast as the economy.
Moreover, a society with an irrepressible caste system is ill-suited for
developing a competitive modern economy, which requires a domestic
consumer base with adequate purchasing power.
History has never been known to give a nation a second chance. Both China
and India have had their days of glory. The 21st century will be the
Africanite century.
In the previous chapter, it was postulated that we Africanites must
consider ourselves a nation. In this chapter, it will be demonstrated that
we are not just any nation. The Africanite is a great nation with a
special place in the history of illustrious nations, and a magnificent
destiny awaits us. Perhaps the reader is already aware of this fact; if
not, the author guarantees that the reader will nod her head in agreement
by the time the end of this chapter is reached.
First, let us briefly review the empirical evidence.
The European-American community initially considered us Africanites as
their inferiors, barely better than animals, and has only in recent
decades started to accord us equal rights. It is clear as day, however,
that we are more than their equals. It does not take a rocket scientist to
realize that Africanites outperform European-Americans in every field we
have had access to - even severely limited access.
Our music, ranging from jazz to R&B to rap to hip-hop, has already
conquered the world. In every nation of the world, people are snapping up
album after album of Africanite music. In sports, we also dominate, and
not just in the United States. At the Olympics, Africanite athletes
regularly hammer the competition. In recent years talented young
Africanites have been extending our nation's dominance to sports such as
golf, tennis and skating. In fashion, Africanite brands have been
conquering markets from Tokyo to Paris. The whole world, including the
European-American community right here in the United States, imitates our
style. And it's not just sports, music, and fashion; numerous other
writers have written countless books enumerating Africanites who have,
despite severe odds, triumphed in every field imaginable. Today,
Africanite literature and cinema are flourishing as never before.
Our success is not an accident. There is a reason behind it.
If you are religious, you might say we have been chosen by God; if you are
a rationalist, you would say we have been selected by evolution. Why? It
is not politically correct nowadays to speak of the superiority of genes,
but, given the results, no-one can deny our superb genetic inheritance.
The Africanite community's DNA is special for a reason.
The Africanite nation has been put through more suffering than any other
living nation on Earth, except perhaps the Jewish nation. The suffering
and hardship we have endured over the centuries translate into excellence,
just as the hardship endured by an athlete in training translates into
gold medals. Ours is a young nation, born only a few centuries ago, when
we were split from the larger family of African nations, and the
toughening process started right away. As many as forty percent of the
Africans brought to the United States on the slave ships perished on the
high seas amid extreme conditions. This means that only the physically
fittest and mentally strongest Africans survived the voyage to become
Africanites. Rarely has a people undergone such a brutal selection
process.
This, then, is how the embryonic Africanite nation was born into a special
destiny. Our genes have been unique from the start: stronger, tougher, and
superior.
But that's not it. The tribulations continued on American shores. During
the years to come, our people were continually put to the test by
abhorrent brutality, unrelenting injustice, extreme physical punishment,
and other abuses too extensive to recount here. Our nation survived,
however, and came out stronger still. Throughout, we gradually developed
our own unique culture which had its roots in African culture, but has
since grown into something completely distinct, and something miraculous
and wonderful.
Allow the author to present just one example of the Africanite nation's
ability to not just survive, but survive and *thrive*. In the 1980's, many
international observers wrote us off. Our inner-city neighborhoods had
become slums devasted by endemic poverty, drug abuse and gang warfare. It
seemed as if the entire Africanite population would be eradicated by a
combination of crack, bullets, or AIDS. But guess what - our nation
survived, and came out stronger than ever. From the culture of gang
rivalry emerged a new art form, called gangsta rap. And a beautiful
metamorphosis took place: from the devastation of the projects was born a
rarified art form called hip-hop, which has since conquered the world.
When nature gives them ghettoes, the Africanites make ghetto fabulous.
Speaking of ghettoes, the Jewish nation underwent a similar experience.
Jewish history goes back many millennia, but, just like us Africanites,
the Jews have endured severe persecution time and time again. They
survived by cherishing their beliefs, developing a tight sense of
community, and working twice as hard as others. And guess what: today a
large chunk of the world's finances is controlled by Jewish interests, and
Israel, the Jewish state, is the dominant military power in the Middle
East.
We are on the verge of a golden age of global domination. The conditions
are right for the Africanite nation to seize the opportunities on the
horizon. We have risen from the ashes of slavery and discrimination, and
we are rising still; soon, we will join the ranks of the world's elite
nations. Historians of future generations will remember the Africanites as
a great civilization with achievements surpassing those of even the
Romans, the Greeks, the Egyptians, the Persians, the Moghuls, the Khmer,
the Chinese, the Incas, and the Aztecs.
But there are obstacles ahead.
No nation can be expected to fully flower as long as it is governed by a
more populous majority with a completely different heritage and culture.
Even if mutual resentment and simmering hostility were taken out of the
equation, the mere presence of a European-American majority within a joint
political and administrative system would still amount to a suffocating
factor and inhibit our nation's development. The prevalence of
European-American values in the administration of this country is an
incontrovertible impediment blocking the fulfillment of our destiny.
With the legislative, judicial, and executive branches of the federal
government, including all facets of law enforcement, under the control of
the majority, it is as if we are under foreign occupation. Would the
Ancient Egyptians have been able to build the pyramids had they been under
the occupation of a foreign power? Would the Taj Mahal have come into
being had the Moghuls been answerable to apparatchiks of another nation?
Would the Renaissance have bloomed had the Germans been running Italy?
We can only attain magnificence if we step forward and actively seek to
stand up for ourselves. There is no achievement too great for our richly
talented people if we unite in the quest for political gains. History has
blessed our nation with the potential to outshine all other nations on
this planet. But it is up to us, now, to seize the moment and take
concrete steps towards making our destiny a reality.
4. Manifest Strategy
====================
In a previous chapter the author stipulated that we Africanites must
realize that we are an ethnic nation, and promised that this mental
awakening will by itself bring immediate and drastic changes to our lives.
The first immediate consequence of the realization that we are a unique
nation is a manifestation of the strategy our community must pursue. It is
now clear that we must repudiate total assimilation into European-American
society as a strategic goal for our community, for no ethnic group would
want to intentionally share the fate of those peoples which have
disappeared completely from the face of the Earth as their members melted
into the society of the dominant majority.
Total assimilation was once considered by a majority of Africanites to be
the ultimate goal of the Africanite struggle. The entire history of
Africanite politics can be summarized as a battle between those in favor
of integration and assimilation on the one hand, versus some form of
separatism or nationalism on the other.
Perhaps as an equal and opposite reaction to the pressures of brutally
enforced segregation, many of our forebears actively pursued total
cultural and genetic assimilation into a ubiquitous Anglo-American
identity. This is what numerous different strands of European immigrants,
from Ukrainians to Danes, had undergone. Generations of European
immigrants have successfully assimilated into mainstream Anglo-American
culture, becoming indistinguishable except by surname - and often those
were Anglicized as well. It was considered desirable for Africanites - or
Negroes, as we were referred to back then - to aim for the same.
Once Negroes enter the white job market and start to enjoy the same
standard of living as whites, the thinking went, both blacks and whites
will be an integral part of American society, content and harmonious in
their pursuit of the American dream.
But that was naïve. Unlike Polish and other Eastern European immigrants,
our culture is not similar to the predominant WASP-based European-American
culture. In addition, a stubborn barrier exists between the Africanite and
European-American communities which no amount of intermarriage can
demolish (see Chapter 5, "A Wall Within"). As a result, we never became
part of the melting pot, and the two communities are as distinct as ever.
In retrospect, that is good. The world has changed, and the prevailing
notion of what constitutes an ideal society has undergone drastic
alteration. This change is attributable to a single event.
In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed.
When the Cold War ceased to be, the force fields of ideology, which had
long kept ethnic ambition in check throughout the world, were abruptly
switched off. The great swathe of red on the world map gave way to a
multitude of small blotches in a variety of colors, each representing an
ethnically unique nation struggling to assert its identity and presence.
Not only in the former Soviet Union and its satellite states behind the
Iron Curtain, but also in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, ethnic groups
once suppressed by tough dictatorial regimes are striving to re-assert
their national rights.
The effect of this increased ethnic awareness throughout the world has
been felt in the United States: the keyword is "celebrate diversity." This
concept, now universally acknowledged and accepted, is tantamount to a
rejection of assimilation as an ideal.
As a result, the term "melting pot" itself has fallen into disuse, as it
has gradually become apparent that all immigrants are loathe to surrender
their ancestral heritage in exchange for a new, modern, and purely
American set of values. Whereas previously all immigrants aspired only to
assimilate into old-stock Anglo-American society, by the late 20th century
it was no longer considered to be vaguely shameful to have an ethnic
identity, and the "ethnics" - Greeks, Lithuanians, Eastern Europeans -
began to sense revived pride in their native cultures. Even individuals
with a thoroughly confusing ancestral mix, such as
Polish-French-German-Americans, are nowadays desperate to rediscover
something of their ethnic heritage, as evidenced by the proliferation of
genealogical services on the Internet.
Consequently, the definition of the word "assimilation" has undergone a
subtle change. Assimilation in 2004 connotes entry into every level of
European-American society without the loss of one's original culture. In
fact, ethnic minorities - Asian-Americans and African-Americans alike -
are expected to contribute their heritage to the multicultural fabric of
the country.
But again, this is naïve. As they say in England, you can't have your cake
and eat it, too. Even if an ever-increasing number of Africanites assume
prominent positions in companies, schools, administrations and other
facets of a society dominated by European-American individuals and values,
as long as Africanites retain any shred of their own identity, they will
forever be second-class citizens in their own country - not because of
intentional discrimination arising out of a history of enmity and
hostility, but merely because our values are different and the
European-American majority predominates.
If you stick a Frenchman into Korean society, he isn't going to be
successful unless he learns the language, the mannerisms, the customs, and
modifies all aspects of his behavior until it fits within the confines of
what Koreans recognize as normal. In short, the Frenchman would have to
become, to all intents and purposes, a Korean - and lose his Frenchness.
Similarly, almost every Africanite seeking professional and financial
success today, having little option but to do so within European-American
society, is forced to discard or suppress some aspects of his or her
Africanite heritage. As a nation, we will lose what makes us unique if, as
a grand strategy for the future of our people, we continue to try and
integrate into European-American society.
It is clear that our grand strategy for the future of our people must not
be total assimilation, but the pursuit of avenues of action that will
allow us to develop as an ethnically unique nation with our identity
intact. We must secure our own space in the world and strive towards the
special destiny that awaits the Africanite nation. Only if we have the
freedom to develop and grow without constriction will we be able to
flourish, and join the pantheon of great nations in history.
And so, ashes to ashes, dust to dust: it is time to lay the ideal of
assimilation to rest forever.
It should, however, be stressed that even if total assimilation of the
Africanite community into the society of the dominant European-American
majority is tantamount to self-inflicted genocide, this does not mean that
individual Africanites should refrain from aggressively seeking
opportunities in that European-American society.
This is a crucial distinction.
Currently, the Africanite nation has zero degrees of autonomy. We exist
solely within the context of the European-American nation-state.
Therefore, any Africanite aspiring to succeed in anything needs to work
within the European-American system. Today, the best way for an Africanite
to succeed in most disciplines is still to obtain a degree from the
European-American educational system and pursue a career with a
European-American organization.
This is not selling out, or being an Uncle Tom. This is simply being the
best you can be, maximizing your potential, and making the most out of
your life, a simple logic practiced every day by hundreds of thousands of
talented foreigners - Indians, Japanese, Russians - who come to this
country seeking educations and careers, because the USA is the best place
to be if you want to reach the top of your game. The ambition to succeed
should never be criticized; it is a natural instinct and it is essential
to the survival and development of human civilization.
Of course, if your dream is to become a kung-fu master, then the United
States is the wrong place to be; you should be in China. Every year,
individuals of various nationalities - Swedish, French, Japanese - travel
to Shandong province, aiming to be the best they can possibly be in the
world of Chinese martial arts. Similarly, if you seek to master haute
couture or painting, France is still the place to be. Paris is host to
aspiring fashion designers and painters from scores of nations; perhaps
not all will make it to the top of their profession, but a good proportion
will become the best in their country of origin.
While working within the European-American framework - and, as a
consequence, adopting European-American mannerisms, speech, modes of
dress, and even thought - is the most efficient way to make professional
and financial gains at present, this will change. As the Africanite
economy steams ahead, charging towards a magnificent destiny and opening
countless of opportunities for individuals to succeed within the framework
of an Africanite society and administration, it will eventually become the
smarter option to stay at home.
It has been a trade-off. Currently, all foreign nationals and Africanites
pursuing an education or career in the United States have judged that,
handicapped as they may be by the fact that their backgrounds
differentiate them from the European-American majority, it is still
possible to achieve more by entering the European-American system and
discarding some of their heritage, than by staying within their societies
of origin. But sooner or later there will come a time when an Africanite
will be able to achieve more by adhering to Africanite educational
institutions and organizations, all found within a predominantly
Africanite society.
Granted, in some industries, it may never happen that opportunities at
home surpass those available in European-American society. That is not a
serious problem; for a brilliant young physicist embarking on a research
career at MIT, putting up with life in a foreign culture is a small price
to pay for access to the best information, the best facilities, and the
most generous grants. It should be considerable consolation that, unlike
scientists from most other nations, Africanite scientists will never
require a visa to study or work at MIT or any other place in the United
States.
Some prominent Africanites, such as Cornel West, have openly criticized
Africanites for electing to enroll at colleges such as Harvard, Yale or
Princeton (as opposed to Fisk, Howard, or Morehouse), claiming that they
do so for selfish reasons that are contrary to the interest of their
community in general. This is ridiculous; the Ivy League colleges are
currently the best schools in the world and we should be proud of any
family member admitted to these schools. Only once a degree from our own
schools has a better cachet than one from the Ivy League colleges can we
start criticizing our brilliant scholars for enrolling at Harvard, Yale,
or Princeton.
Incidentally, that turning point - when opportunities at home will surpass
those within the European-American system - will come sooner than you
think. While the main aim of this book is to transform the consciousness
of the Africanite community, it also covers specific strategic decisions
that can set in motion the events which will lead to momentous change
within the space of only a few short years. Whether or not such a future
can become a reality, however, depends on how receptive the Africanite
community is to the ideas presented here.
The hand of fate has shown us the strategy we must take. Our community has
been debating the pros and cons of assimilation for decades; now it is
time to look at the world around us, take a hint, and embark on concrete
steps which will bring us closer to the unique destiny that awaits the
Africanite nation. Everyone agrees: the status quo is stagnation. The
tactics our community has tried in the past two decades have not made any
significant difference. The Africanite people must wake up to the fact
that the only way our community can return to the road of progress is by
taking our future into our own hands. This book will explain exactly what
that will entail.
But first, it is necessary to spend a few more chapters analyzing the
situation we find ourselves in today.
5. A Wall Within
================
There are those who continue to hope that, despite the prevalent winds of
change, Africanites will eventually become closely integrated with the
more dominant European-Americans, that our cultures will fuse, that all
forms of discrimination will disappear, and all of us will fairly share
the nation's prosperity. While the loss of our people's unique identity
and destiny might - for some - be considered as a fair trade off for
perpetual harmony amongst the inhabitants of America, this ideal of total
assimilation can never be achieved, even if it were desirable.
Here's why.
Like many conquering peoples in history, the dominant European-American
community has created a caste system by building an insurmountable wall
between itself and the descendants of the African slaves it subjugated.
Not a physical wall, as was built around the Jews in European ghettoes or
as is being built by the Israelis around Palestinian towns, but a much
more effective barrier, which takes the form of a deeply ingrained
mentality that knows nothing but, and cannot imagine anything but,
inherent and irrevocable separateness.
This mental wall is why all of us Americans, quite naturally and without
thinking, view the situation in the United States as if it were a game of
chess: one side is white, and the other side is black. Few Americans
consider it odd that there is no intermediate caste of half-Africanite,
half-European-American persons in this country. Which is strange, because
the American population includes Africanites as well as
European-Americans, and quite a large number of them have had children
with each other.
Technically, an individual who is 50 percent Africanite and 50 percent
European-American is called a "mulatto," an individual who is 25 percent
Africanite and 75 percent European-American is "quadroon," and an
individual who is 12.5 percent Africanite and 87.5 percent
European-American is called an "octoroon."
What do a mulatto, a quadroon, and an octoroon have in common? They are
all considered to be, and referred to as, "black." (That is why those
terms became archaic; they are redundant.) The mental wall the
European-American community built between itself and the Africanite
community is propped up by an old rule, called the "One Drop Rule." This
rule cannot be found in any law books; in fact, it does not exist but in
your head. What it means is that, if you have one drop of African blood in
you, you are "black," never "white." The name "One Drop Rule" stems from
the days of slavery, but it is just as much in effect today as it was
three centuries ago. It is because of the One Drop Rule that even an
individual with three European-American grandparents is, without question,
classified as Africanite.
Americans are constantly identified by race, and the concept of race is
prevalent throughout our day-to-day existence. Since the disappearance of
Apartheid in South Africa, the United States is the only country in the
world obsessed to this degree by the concept of race. The fixation with
what is in practical terms an utterly irrelevant and outmoded concept is
necessary for one reason and one reason only: to enforce the One Drop
Rule, and thereby perpetuate the caste system which cleanly separates the
conquerors from the conquered. The One Drop Rule would never hold up if
people started abandoning the concept of race.
Originally an evil invention designed to keep slaves in their place, the
One Drop Rule is, ironically, not an altogether bad thing.
Genetically, it means that whenever a hybrid strain is initiated, our
community stands to benefit by gaining genes for our gene pool, while the
European-American community loses. For example, Alicia Keys is half
African and half Italian. Yet she is never considered Italian; only
Africanite. That's good for us: we got Alicia and the Italians got
nothing. The same is true about Lennie Kravitz; we got Lennie and the Jews
got nothing.
Culturally, it has protected the way of life that makes us unique, even
though we are far outnumbered by European-Americans. If it were not for
the One Drop Rule, the Africanite people might not even exist as a
distinct nation; all citizens of this country would share the same
all-American culture and be various shades of brown. There would be no
ethnic and culturual diversity to celebrate.
Politically, it means that our objectives have been drawn up for us, and
that we no longer need to debate alternate futures for our nation. It is
clear that the question of whether assimilation is desirable or not is
merely academic, for it would be an exercise in futility to try to bring
down a sky-high wall deeply ingrained in the minds of all Americans.
Because of the One Drop Rule, any attempts to completely integrate the
Africanite and European-American communities will never work.
The evidence bears out the theory. Fifty years after the abrogation of
segregation, the two communities are no more integrated than a century
ago. No matter how much social and economic progress Africanites make, and
no matter how much intermarriage takes place, the dividing line between
the two communities will never become blurred. It stands to reason that we
have no other choice but to focus our energy on forcing our community
forward to its own unique destiny, by pursuing political autonomy or some
other form of self-determination.
If the Africanite community does not actively pursue political autonomy,
the only hope for long-term peace and prosperity in the US is a gradual
assimilation of Africanites into European-American society, and the
forging of a common culture and a common identity as our two communities
merge. This, however, will not happen. It cannot happen, and the reason is
the One Drop Rule.
6. Respect
==========
It is regrettable that to this day, the assertion that we Africanites are
a unique nation brings out the criticism that we, having lost almost all
connection with our ancestral African heritage, have no culture of our
own. Unfortunately, as already mentioned in Chapter 2, "A Notion of
Nationhood," the more educated the Africanite reader is, the more likely
he or she is to make this criticism.
Nothing could be further from the truth. We do have a culture. It is not
African, but it happens to be the most vibrant and potent culture in the
world today. No other nation on Earth has given birth to as many different
art forms in as short a period of time as the Africanite people. We
invented jazz and hip-hop and everything in between. We are such a rich
source of culture that the European-American community, not to mention the
entire world, is constantly imitating our art forms and borrowing from our
lexicon.
Of course, there are those who deny that hip-hop amounts to culture, and
since hip-hop is the best - if not the only - example of the Africanite
nation's cultural strength, it is necessary to take a few minutes and
investigate those who continue to disparage it.
It's about respect. Whether you personally like hip-hop or not, do you
respect it for being a form of Africanite culture that has spread from the
inner city projects to all corners of the globe? Do you respect it for
proving, once again, that Africanites are among the most creative peoples
on Earth, that our community is an unrivalled wellspring of talent, and
that we can - so to speak - make the whole world bow down before us?
Whether you respect hip-hop or not reveals more about yourself than about
hip-hop.
Granted, some hip-hop artists tend to release albums with disconcerting
lyrics, and no matter how catchy the riffs, the value system expressed in
the genre is often questionable. But that is completely beside the point.
Hip-hop is black urban entertainment that has gone global. Whatever may be
said about the lyrics or music videos, it cannot be denied that hundreds
of millions of people from Bulgaria to Brazil are snapping up countless
hip-hop albums every day. One cannot overemphasize the significance of the
fact that we have changed lifestyles and set the standard in places most
of us have never even heard of.
While our community has given the world other art forms, such as jazz,
rock and roll, or disco - all of which have attested to the Africanite
genius for innovation - our most wide-reaching and popular export by far
is hip-hop. Whether you're a fan of it or not, you should respect that.
Indeed, you should be bursting with pride to be part of the Africanite
nation, which brought hip-hop into the world.
Unfortunately, many of us just don't get it. Despite clear worldwide
acceptance, much of our old guard continues to deride hip-hop, refusing
even to acknowledge that it falls within the confines of culture. Hip-hop
is not a "serious" art form, they say, it is not just frivolous but
dangerously misogynistic, hedonistic, and antagonistic, and it should be
curbed; if possible, it should be stamped out.
It is tempting to dismiss and scorn those who fail to recognize the
accomplishments of this generation as being old-fashioned, narrow-minded,
and irrelevant. But we must understand the forces driving their reaction.
Any value system is the creation of environmental factors experienced
during one's formative years; when confronted with a new paradigm, the
resulting reaction is often hostile incomprehension simply because the
comfort of familiarity is absent. The values of those older Africanites
who refuse to respect hip-hop are confined to the European cultural system
they were schooled in during their youth, a time when European culture was
considered to be the universal norm to which the whole world should aspire
to.
One must bear in mind that as recently as 1980 it was still considered
acceptable for European-American missionaries to coerce Polynesian
inhabitants of Pacific islands into replacing their age-old native
cultures and traditions with Western values and customs. Here in the US,
European-American educators prohibited members of native American nations
to speak their own languages - washing their mouths out with soap if they
dared to utter a non-English word - a mere generation ago. Since even
age-old traditional cultures were not recognized as being worthy of
preservation, it is hardly surprising that the relatively new Africanite
culture was not even acknowledged to exist.
Let us consider what might, for those hapless aging conservatives who
continue to be trapped in a world measured by the European cultural
yardstick, meet the criteria of true culture. Might it be, perhaps, the
austere pomp of classical music? Something like a traditional Viennese
waltz, perhaps, performed with stately decorum by ladies in silk gowns and
gentlemen with their chins held high? Would this be considered to be good
and proper culture?
As is the case for almost any new art form, waltzes were derided and
scorned when first introduced; the conservative Austrian elite frowned on
young people who, intoxicated and hormones raging, insisting on hammering
out waltzes on the piano at the end of a party. Waltz, in German, means
"roll". That's right: back in the early 18th century, waltzes were rock
and roll.
Similarly, the Argentines today proudly embrace the tango as the finest
accomplishment of their nation. And so they should; the tango is a highly
sophisticated art form recognized and appreciated worldwide, with
aficionados stepping to its sensuous rhythms everywhere from Helsinki to
Hong Kong. But when it first started to gain popularity, it was derisively
dismissed as smutty, and banned in many a bar in Buenos Aires. Ditto for
flamenco in Spain, or ukiyoe in Japan; both art forms were derided locally
before being appreciated globally. More often than not, the world precedes
the nation of origin in its appreciation of good art.
It may take a generation for contemporary R&B and hip-hop to be valued and
cherished by conservative Africanites as true culture, but the global jury
has already voted. Culture is defined as what people think and do, and by
that measure the world has already judged our culture to be the most
potent of all. While European culture rightly deserves to be revered and
is globally respected in its own right, we Africanites should not worship
it at the expense of our own culture.
No matter whether you look at a chic bar in Bangkok or a pulsating
nightclub in Prague, it is clear that Africanite culture rules. Wake up,
Africanites! You already have an authentic, rich, and diverse culture
entirely your own. You already have an identity. You do not need to be
obsessed with European-American cultural values, nor do you need to steal
outdated tribal customs from Africa and appropriate them as your own. Your
culture is modern, vibrant, and so potent that it has already conquered
the world. What more do you need? Enjoy it. Revel in it. Be proud to be
Africanite.
7. Identity Crisis
==================
Here's a plot for a Hollywood blockbuster. Some innocent Joe Average gets
robbed of his identity. He wakes up one day and it's gone! He's naked and
his apartment is bare and he doesn't know anyone! So he spends the rest of
the movie struggling to get his identity back, and some of his antics,
desperate as they may be, are comical in the extreme. In the end, he
realizes that he had an identity all along; it was gradually created while
he was busy trying out all these fake identities. Happy ending, roll the
credits, and wait for ID:2.
Sound familiar? It should.
The slaves brought over from Africa were stripped of their identity.
Deprived of language, customs, social networks, and any opportunity to
express and celebrate their culture, the slaves woke up in America without
an identity.
They struggled - oh how they struggled - to become free, to gain equal
rights. And throughout, the message from the European-Americans was that
they were good for nothing, baser than base, barely even human. A
preposterous message, coming as it did from the culprits of one the most
inhuman crimes in recorded history. But if you're dirt-poor, illiterate,
and uneducated, you can't be blamed for swallowing it hook, line, and
sinker.
During the 21st century the descendants of the slaves struggled mightily
to try and prove that they were just as good as the European-Americans.
Many of us did our best to try and become just like the
European-Americans - which is deeply tragic if you think about it, because
if someone torments you, the last thing you would want to do is assume the
identity of your tormentor. But at the time we had no other way of gaining
recognition and respect in the world that had become our new home.
Desperate for identity and clutching at straws, some of us started trying
to revive our long-lost African culture, even though by that time we had
clearly morphed into a totally different people, with a language and
culture of our own. Alex Haley's book "Roots" electrified and energized
our community when it was first published. And suddenly the new message
was: we are Africans who, through dint of history, just happen to live in
America.
A substantial number of Africanite individuals started wearing
pseudo-African garb and legally changed their names to strings of
incongruous consonants, which for some reason were usually taken from
Swahili, although Swahili is the lingua franca of East Africa and was
never used in West Africa, where our ancestors originated.
Strangest of all are those who suddenly started claiming that the ancient
Egyptians were sub-Saharan Africans. This is clearly wrong; leading
authorities of Egyptology agree that, although the ancient Egyptians were
certainly not as light-skinned as Europeans, they were not exactly black,
either. The ancient Egyptians are considered to have been a great nation
partly because of the extensive documentation they left behind on papyrus
scrolls and on the walls of their richly decorated tombs. Some figures
with dark complexions - presumably Nubians from the area of present-day
Sudan - are depicted in those tombs, in stark contrast to lighter-skinned
Egyptians. But more often than not, the darker figures on the walls of the
tombs are clearly being subjugated by marauding Egyptian armies. In any
case, Egyptologists agree that the ancient Egyptians survived the Muslim
Arab invasion as Christian Copts, who resisted intermarriage with other
ethnic groups and continue to do so to this day - and one glance at a Copt
will tell you that her forebears had little in common with ours. Why,
then, did a patently false theory gain such widespread acceptance with
such rapidity? When considered from the perspective of the Africanite
nation's dire need for identity, this becomes clear.
But let us first make a generous sweeping gesture, and assume that those
who claim that the ancient Egyptians were sub-Saharan Africans are right.
This means that sub-Saharan Africa was indeed capable of grandiose
achievements, such as building the pyramids. But so what? Who cares? What
could that possibly have to do with us?
Egypt - in the northeastern corner of Africa - was and is separated by
immense desert and impenetrable jungle from where the slaves came from,
and even had there been a modern eight-lane highway stretching from Giza
to Accra, that would still be a distance of thousands of miles. Obviously
none of our ancestors came from Egypt. And what if, by another stretch of
the imagination, we assume that they did somehow traverse that distance?
It's not as if we Africanites are going to charter hundreds of flights to
Egypt, reclaim that country as ours, and drape streamers from the Sphinx
and the Pyramids proclaiming those to be ours.
There is no need for the Africanite nation to brag about the
accomplishments of ancient Egypt. The world already respects us for our
achievements and the rich culture which we have shared with the world, and
we do not need to embarrass ourselves by rolling out a preposterous theory
that we are descendants of the ancient Egyptians. Here is an analogy most
readers should be familiar with: in the presidential campaign of the year
2000, Al Gore was quoted as claiming he had invented the Internet. As a
result he was widely ridiculed and criticized, and the negative publicity
did his campaign great damage - which is a shame, because Al Gore was a
brilliant legislator who could have justifiably claimed credit for a long
list of other achievements entirely his own.
Clearly, the theory that ancient Egyptians were sub-Saharan Africans - or
that Jesus, incontrovertibly a member of a Semitic people, was an
African - was hatched, consciously or not, as a desperate attempt to
demonstrate that black Africans are just as capable as people of other
'races'. Proving that blacks can be intelligent and capable was a crucial
issue in the early days of our postwar struggle. Hitler had just been
blatantly declaring that Negroes were inherently inferior to light-skinned
Caucasians, and the message coming from the American establishment wasn't
altogether different. The reigning stereotype was of the stupid and lazy
Negro, and the Africanite intellectuals had to work hard to dispel this
ludicrous notion.
In the 1950s, it was still considered a terrible insult to be called an
African. The prevalent understanding at the time - amongst
European-Americans as well as Africanites - was that Africa consisted
mostly of jungles full of wild animals, devoid of intelligent human
habitation, and that all Negroid peoples were "savages," not far removed
from gorillas on the evolutionary tree.
Nowadays, of course, we know better. We know that Africanites have
excelled in any discipline or profession they have had fair and equal
access to - and even in many areas we have barely had access to. We know
that pound for pound, Africanites tend to be more talented and capable
than European-Americans, and that innumerable Africanites have, against
all odds, risen to the top of their professions. The most popular
talk-show host? Africanite. The most successful televangelist? Africanite.
The best comedians? Africanite. In fact, Africanites dominate in any field
where inborn talent plays a bigger role than connections or access to
capital. Our track record bears out the claim that Africanites have
busloads more talent, flair and style than the people of any other nation
on Earth, and that is why our culture has conquered the world, from Oslo
to Shanghai. (We have even conquered Africa; one need do no more than
observe the attire, colloquialisms, and musical preference of kids from
Jo'burg to Nairobi.)
The empirical evidence is unambiguous that we Africanites and our culture
are second-to-none. We no longer require proof, fake or otherwise, to show
that the Negroid race is not inferior to other races. There is no longer
any need to drag out obscure hieroglyphics and claim that ancient
Egyptians were sub-Saharan Africans, or that Jesus Christ was an African.
In fact, our culture is revered even in the remote African villages where
some of us are trying to root out the remnants of an identity. Why should
Africanites take up arcane tribal drumming if kids in Africa actively seek
out pirate copies of the latest 50 cent album? Why bother wearing caftans
if people in Africa save their meager earnings to get their hands on a
pre-owned FUBU jersey? Why clutch at straws if you're already astride a
ninety-foot luxury yacht?
This is a political treatise and the author dare make no prescriptions
regarding the lifestyle of the reader. As a citizen of a free and
democratic country, you are, like any American, free to wear what you
like - be it African dashikis, Scottish kilts, or Japanese kimonos - and
call yourself what you want. Since our forebears came from Africa, giving
our children African names is perhaps more appropriate than giving them
European-American names. Having said this, the author cannot resist
alerting the reader to the fact that "Snoop Doggy Dog," being unique to
our culture, is an authentic Africanite name, while something like "Kweisi
Mfume" is not. If Africanites can legally change their names to African
names, surely they can change their names to something authentic and
homegrown, not to mention pronounceable and rememberable.
Those Africanites still attempting to find meaningful identity in African
tribal customs at the expense of our own Africanite culture must wake up
and come to their senses. It is perilous to attempt to absorb identity
from African tribes, for this may occur at the expense of our own
Africanite culture. We must not reject our own culture - authentic,
immediate, modern, popular, and comprehensible - in favor of something
foreign, remote, outdated, unpopular, and incomprehensible. While African
tribal culture may be wonderful and magnificent in its own right, and,
like any other culture in the world, worthy of study by Africanite
scholars and laypersons, it is not superior to our own culture, and it
must never be used as a substitute for our own culture.
It is not just that African culture is radically different from Africanite
culture - though that is the primary reason why we should not look to
Africa for identity. We must not forget that almost all of the tribes and
kingdoms in West Africa, as magnificent and sophisticated as they may have
been, were guilty of condoning and actively encouraging the slave trade -
indeed, slavery was an integral part of West African culture. Historians
agree that almost all of the 12,600,000 slaves brought to America from
West Africa were not kidnapped by the European traders themselves, but
voluntarily traded by African governments or merchants in exchange for
European goods and currency. As eminent historian John Fage wrote:
It was only in areas of low population and poor indigenous
organization that foreign slave traders ever needed to set out to
capture slaves for themselves. This naturally made the Africans
involved hostile to further dealings with the traders, while it also
tended to reduce the power of the population to maintain and feed
itself, so that in both cases supplies of slaves were ultimately
fewer. For the most part, the European traders bought the slaves
they needed from African merchants and rulers who had organized to
offer slaves for sale.
While Africa has given rise to countless great kingdoms which did not
benefit from the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the kingdoms and empires of
Guinea - Ashanti, Dahomey, Oyo - would not have flourished without the
wealth generated by the American demand for slaves. While the connivance
of the African kingdoms does not lessen the culpability of the
European-Americans, the African culture that allowed the slave trade to
take place is also to blame for our plight. We Africanites must be wary of
embracing too closely a mother culture that, in exchange for monetary
gain, unhesitatingly condemned our forebears to a lifetime of certain
misery. The kingdoms of West Africa may have given birth to our nation,
but coldly rejected what they had brought into the world. We do not owe
our mother culture any devotion. Clearly, those Africanites extolling the
virtues and greatness of the African empires whence our ancestors came
have not yet had the opportunity to engage in serious study of West
African history.
Those readers who have not done so yet, please, Wake up! You must
understand what you are: modern and American. You already have your own
uniquely Africanite culture and identity - magnificent and unrivalled.
Your roots were African, but you are not. Be proud to be Africanite.
8. E Pluribus Unum
==================
The First Shift in the history of our people was from slavery to freedom,
as epitomized by heroes such as Nat Turner and Harriet Tubman. The Second
Shift, brought to us courtesy of the civil rights movement, was the shift
from segregation to where we find ourselves today. The Third Shift
describes the transition from a frustrated, disadvantaged and suppressed
minority to a flourishing and prosperous nation in charge of its own
destiny. The Third Shift will constitute the final phase of our struggle
to claw our way back from the abyss into which our people were thrown
generations ago; it will restore the status of our people as members of a
free nation and, for the first time ever, put our community on level
footing with the European-American majority and other nations of the
world.
In practical terms, the Third Shift can be considered to be the pursuit of
political autonomy for the Africanite nation.
Political autonomy is the magic wand which will solve almost all of the
problems the Africanite community faces today. It will remove the
overbearing dominance of European-American society, allow us to develop
and prosper as a people, encourage our culture to flourish, bring
immediate and positive changes to the lives of millions of Africanites,
and help defuse the lingering tension between the European-American and
Africanite communities. Every word in this book is dedicated to the goal
of helping to bring political autonomy to our people.
Let us first briefly review the concept of political autonomy.
Political autonomy refers to the right of an ethnic group to govern its
own affairs within the larger framework of the nation-state. Political
autonomy lies in between independence and complete subjugation by the
central government. An entity with political autonomy, called an autonomy
or autonomous province, has the right to govern its own affairs on a local
level. This usually includes taxation, education, law enforcement,
justice, welfare, housing, urban planning, and all the other issues that
really matter on a day-to-day basis. Autonomy does not, usually, extend to
monetary policy, defense, or foreign affairs, although in most cases
autonomies are permitted to establish trade relations with other
countries.
In the United States, political autonomy is currently granted to more than
220 Native American nations, the US Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Guam, and
American Samoa. Although not comprised of ethnic groups, the 50 states
that make up the US are also autonomous entities. Worldwide, some of the
better known autonomies are Hong Kong (part of the People's Republic of
China), Quebec (part of Canada), and Scotland (part of the United
Kingdom).
In multi-ethnic countries, autonomous provinces can help peoples with
different cultures live at peace with each other and pursue their own
destinies, while simultaneously contributing to the strength and
prosperity of the country as a whole.
As those readers with a 745 in the garage know, the acronym "BMW" is the
German abbreviation for "Bavarian Motor Works," and the blue and white
checkered pattern in the logo stems from the traditional heraldic ensign
of Bavarian royalty. Few readers are likely to have heard of it, but
Bavaria was once a proud kingdom which owned Austria and numerous other
fiefdoms. Today Bavaria is an autonomous province of the Federal Republic
of Germany, and has its own history, culture and language (a dialect of
German). Thanks to a considerable degree of political autonomy, Bavarians
no longer agitate for independence, and the Federal Republic of Germany
has enjoyed domestic tranquility and prosperity for many years. Bavaria is
an excellent example of political autonomy at work.
So is Switzerland. Composed of three main ethnic groups, Switzerland has
nevertheless managed to remain at peace for centuries, to the extent that
the representative national industry - banking - is reliant on rock-solid
political stability. The Swiss ethnic groups - Italian, French, and
German - enjoy autonomy in the form of provinces called cantons; the
cantons take turns in supplying the president of the nation. Nonetheless,
the Swiss have a strong sense of national identity and patriotism. In
fact, it is probably due to the unstinting political autonomy each canton
enjoys that the Swiss are at peace with the idea of being Swiss. The
country has never been in danger of splitting apart.
The Swiss experience should not be dismissed as an oddity attributable to
the peaceful Alpine air. Planned and concerted effort to uphold the rights
of each ethnic group is required to make the multi-ethnic nation-state
work. For instance, all Swiss students, regardless of ethnicity, are
required to learn all three languages. The result is amazing: an
Italian-Swiss journalist might be conducting a television interview of an
athlete, asking questions in quick and fluent Italian. The athlete, being
German-Swiss, will reply in a rapid string of German. Without missing a
beat, the journalist will fire off another question, again in Italian, and
the athlete will continue answering in German. Incredibly, the
multi-ethnic audience across the country will have no problems following
the interview. Such occurrences are entirely normal in Switzerland. No
single language is allowed to dominate, and each ethnic group is allowed
to retain and celebrate its culture.
When previously granted autonomy is revoked, the result is usually war. In
1989 Slobodan Milosevic, then president of Yugoslavia, terminated Kosovo's
status as a politically autonomous province. This led to bloodshed, which
in turn led to the eventual US bombing of the Yugoslav capital of
Belgrade. Milosevic did not revoke autonomy in Vojvodina, another province
in Yugoslavia, which is still at peace with the central government today.
The Dalai Lama, leader of the Tibetan people, is lobbying the
international community for assistance in his quest to bring political
autonomy to his nation. Currently, Tibet is occupied by the People's
Republic of China, and it is telling that the erudite Buddhist has opted
to lead his nation to autonomy, as opposed to independence, even though a
cry for the latter would be more resounding. Tibetan culture and society
are being stifled by the Chinese administration and an influx of
ethnically Chinese migrants, yet Beijing would never countenance losing
face and land mass; the compromise favorable to both parties would clearly
be political autonomy for Tibet.
Compare the Dalai Lama's cautious and wise leadership to that of ETA, the
Basque terrorist organization. Although the Basque homeland has enjoyed
maximum autonomy since 1979, ETA continues to agitate for outright
independence - which Spain, like any other sovereign state, would never
tolerate. Incompetent and bloodthirsty leaders have prevented ETA from
laying down arms and accepting the status quo, and consequently their
low-level terrorism is destined to continue for eternity, or until ETA is
wiped out for good by the Spanish government.
The situation is similar in Chechnya, a republic within the Russian
Federation. While the terrible conflict in that cursed land is usually
blamed on the oppressive and cruel occupation tactics employed by the
Russian forces, Chechen lack of pragmatism is also to blame. Chechnya was
on the brink of eternal peace when Moscow offered the Chechen rebels total
political autonomy. The Chechen Republic would have remained Russian in
name only; to all intents in purposes, Chechnya would have been
independent, but the Kremlin was firm that, on any world map, Chechnya
would be painted the same color as the Russian Federation.
The Chechens - a people known for being stubborn and tough - rejected the
proposal and continued to push for complete and total independence. As a
result, thousands of Chechens and hundreds of Russians have continued to
die every year, living standards in Chechnya have plummeted to stone-age
conditions, and the Chechen capital of Grozny has been reduced to rubble,
twice.
In almost all cases, political autonomy is the magic middle way for two
peoples to live in harmony; it is the golden path between independence and
subjugation which can prevent civil war in instances where a population is
forced to share a country with a sizable ethnic majority.
For an ethnically unique nation determined to flourish despite the
presence of a dominant majority, the only alternative to political
autonomy is complete independence. The US Armed Forces, however, are bound
by the constitution of the United States to protect the integrity of the
union. As every schoolchild knows, that is why a civil war was fought in
this country in the 19th century: to prevent the Confederate states from
seceding. Therefore, independence on American shores is clearly not an
option; it would necessarily result in bloodshed, and even if our people
were willing to embark on a course of war, the probabilities of victory
versus the world's most advanced and powerful military are infinitesimally
small. Sovereign independence would therefore only be possible outside US
borders. This has been tried before: Liberia, the world's archetypical
failed state, was created as a home for freed slaves, and is discussed in
Chapter 11, "Liberian Lesson."
There are no alternatives. There is only one way forward, namely the
pursuit of political autonomy. The advent of political autonomy would
enable our community to enjoy the best of both worlds; we would be able to
bloom as an ethnic nation with a unique culture, and yet, as an integral
and inseparable part of the United States, enjoy the numerous benefits
that come with membership of the world's only remaining superpower.
A convergence of factors is driving us forwards towards political
autonomy. Political autonomy will free us of the overbearing presence of
European-American society and culture, allowing us to reach for our own
unique destiny. It will give us the requisite status for demanding justice
for the crime of slavery and its aftermath. It will return to our
community the basic dignity which is impossible to have while under the
domination of an alien culture. It will energize and motivate individual
Africanites, as they finally gain a society of their own. And it will
defuse tensions between European-Americans and Africanites, forestalling
the doomsday scenario of race riots spreading out of control.
While advocating independence for Africanites would rightly be considered
as a radical and extreme idea, calling for political autonomy is not in
the least outrageous. The concept of political autonomy is perfectly in
keeping with the motto of the United States: e pluribus unum. Indeed, the
political autonomy enjoyed by the fifty states is the most fundamental
structural principle of the United States of America.
Political autonomies are common throughout the world, even in America. As
mentioned earlier in this chapter, numerous Native American tribes have
been recognized as fully-fledged ethnic nations, and already enjoy the
right to govern their own affairs.
Yet we, the largest minority, with a population of more than 30 million
and to all intents and purposes a successful nation whose culture, more
vibrant than that of any Native American tribe, has swept over the globe,
still lack the right to govern ourselves. This curious state of affairs
must be amended. We are entitled to political autonomy, and we must fight
for it as hard as the previous generation fought for basic civil rights.
We must not let past and future generations down by missing a golden
opportunity to take our nation's fate into our own hands.
The Africanite community must not let another second go by without taking
specific action to bring about the Third Shift in our nation's history.
The remainder of this book will primarily deal with the issue of how
political autonomy can be made a hard and fast reality.
9. Instant Incentive
====================
While any nation must be free of external domination before it can fully
develop and bloom as a society, the freedom for our community to pursue
its own destiny is not the only element driving us forward in the pursuit
of political autonomy for the Africanite nation. The problem on our plate,
if we fail to pursue autonomy, is not merely one of deferred greatness.
After the vast body of work done by others more qualified, it would be
superfluous for this author to provide a detailed study of the social
problems afflicting our community; the reader is likely to be all too
familiar with depressing statistics concerning low educational attainment
levels, high crime rates, and pervasive economic deprivation. Suffice it
to say that our society is in a mess.
Political autonomy can make a real difference and put a dent in those
statistics, much more so than the conventionally accepted approach of
providing more money for schools, job training programs, and so forth.
The mere prospect of political autonomy will bring about profound,
substantial, and immediate changes to Africanites all over the country.
Students will be less inclined to drop out of high school. Young adults
will be less inclined to turn to crime. More Africanites will stay the
course to earn good grades, good qualifications, and good jobs.
For this is the crucial difference self-rule will bring: a stake in
society. In the words of Martin Luther King:
There is nothing more unjust than to build a society with a large
segment of people in that society who feel that they have no stake
in it, who feel that they have nothing to lose. People who have a
stake in their society protect their society but when they don't
have it they unconsciously want to destroy it.
MLK used the word unjust; in today's context the emphasis would be on a
lack of incentive. The reason so many Africanites have felt disinclined to
work with the system is, quite simply, that it is not their system.
Africanite failure within the European-American system has less to do with
laziness or malice than with a lack of clear incentive. What's the point
of working hard and getting good grades if you're going to have a hard
time getting a good job anyway? And even if you do get a good job, what's
the point of giving 100 percent if your perception is that you'll never
rise above a certain level, or if you know that you're going to have to
put up with condescension and disdain no matter how high you will rise?
Why bother doing your best to be a decent upstanding member of the
community if others continually treat you like a second-class citizen?
Given the structure of American society today, it is no wonder that a
substantial number of Africanites are disillusioned to the extent that
they feel there is no point in making an effort to contribute to society -
this leads to crime, as individuals focus on personal profit at the
expense of the greater well-being of society.
It has often been said that, to make social progress, an Africanite had to
work twice as hard as his or her European-American counterpart, and this
is still largely true today. The series of hurdles put before us is in
itself a disincentive to hard work; moreover, it is wrong to expect any
people to excel under these conditions.
Some people - including many Africanites - just don't get this. Failing to
comprehend that the fundamental issue is a question of adequate incentive,
they presume (if they are conservative) that it is a question of sound
personal morals such as hard work, discipline, and frugality, or (if they
are liberal) that it is a question of societal infrastructure such as
health care, educational institutions, and vocational programs. Both are
missing the point.
Every now and then the national media will feature a prominent
conservative Africanite who happened to say something along the lines of:
"Oh, the problems blacks face today are of their own making because they
are not doing a good job of educating their kids and holding down jobs,
and they should just get a grip and get it together." European-Americans,
particularly Republican neocons, love to hear statements like this; they
feel neatly exonerated of any past and current blame for Africanite social
problems.
As Frederick Douglass wrote:
[The] oppressor ever finds, in the character of the oppressed, a
full justification for his oppression. Ignorance and depravity, and
the inability to rise from degradation to civilization and
respectability, are the most usual allegations against the
oppressed.
Certainly, Africanites are performing less well than the national average
in terms of getting educated and getting employed. But this is merely
because, as bit players in a society dominated by a disdainful and
latently hostile European-American majority, getting educated and getting
employed is harder for us, and - this is the crucial difference - does not
hold the same rewards. A good degree is far less valuable if one is
acutely aware that one will have to, in order to reap the rewards of the
degree - work twice as hard as a non-Africanite with the same degree.
Moreover, as long as the Africanite nation continues to be dominated by
the European-American majority, even unindustrious Africanites will have
an excuse - a fairly legitimate excuse - not to give 100 percent.
Political autonomy will change this situation overnight.
Once Africanites realize that there is a future open to them, attitudes
will immediately begin to change. The advent of political autonomy will
provide Africanites with instant incentive to contribute to society, for
they will, for the first time history, have a society entirely their own.
With an Africanite society to build and protect, Africanites will put far
more emphasis on investing in the future in the form of good academic
credentials and an exemplary employment record. As individual Africanites
gain the incentive to become respected and upstanding members of society,
crime rates will plummet, worker productivity will rise, and the level of
skills in the community will soar. Hope for the future will give us the
strength to bear the burden of the present, and this is yet another reason
why we must put all our efforts into the pursuit of political autonomy for
our nation.
10. Administrative Delimitation
===============================
One of the most common criticisms tendered against a vision of a
politically autonomous Africanite nation is that it is tantamount to a
return to segregation. Won't the heroism of the participants of the civil
rights movement, which broke down the barrier between white and black,
have been in vain if the European-American and Africanite communities end
up as they were prior to the civil rights movement, separate and unequal?
This is a valid argument, and it must be addressed carefully and without
reservation. It is clear that, unless this argument is answered to the
reader's complete satisfaction, the concepts advocated in these pages will
amount to nothing, no matter how attractive the vision, how logical the
reasoning, or how viable the plan of implementation.
The answer consists of two parts.
First, what we were liberated from by the civil rights movement was a
state of enforced segregation. This state was imposed by the
European-American population to accentuate its control over our people,
and to thereby maintain a caste system of European-American superiority
and Africanite subservience.
The abolishment of segregation was a victory not because sharing lunch
counters with European-American individuals was in itself a desirable
goal, but because of what segregation and its brutal enforcement
symbolized: intolerable injustice and the cruel oppression of an entire
people. And this is the crucial point: segregation itself was far less of
a problem than what it signified.
The true accomplishment of the civil rights movement was not the removal
of segregation per se, but the fact that our standing as citizens with
rights equal to those of our white compatriots was confirmed through the
Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Therefore, even if a form of segregation were to be reinstated - which
will not and cannot ever happen - it would not be a problem unless it
occurred under European-American instigation, or if it were to be enforced
in any way by European-American instruments of power.
Since our community must seek, and fight for, the right to political
autonomy entirely on its own volition, any resulting segregation - and
there will be none - will not constitute a problem for the people of our
nation. On the contrary, it will be a giant step forward for the
Africanite people when we finally gain control over our own affairs, which
we have never had at any point throughout our history. During segregation,
we were under the firm control of European-American society, and that is
still largely true today.
Second, the author must ask any critics suggesting that political autonomy
would be a *return* to segregation to wake up. Wake up, wake up, wake UP!
Look around you. Fifty years after desegregation, the country is as
segregated as ever. By and large, European-Americans have their
neighborhoods, and we have ours. They have their churches, we have ours.
They have their schools, and we have ours. They have their radio stations,
we have ours. They have their country clubs, and we have our night clubs.
The advent of political autonomy will not artificially widen the gulf
between the two communities, since people will - of course - continue to
be free to associate with whomever they wish and patronize any
establishment of their choosing. Political autonomy will merely enlarge
the scope of their freedom of choice, by providing an Africanite-run
administration as an alternative to what is currently available. If this
leads to a further separation between the Africanite and European-American
communities, it will not be due to political autonomy per se, but because
of the differences in cultural values between the two communities, and the
natural tendency of all humans to seek the company of their own.
All human beings have an inherent inclination to associate with those of
their own culture. Malcolm X observed that Muslims of various
nationalities somehow agglomerated into loose groups of compatriots when
on pilgrimage to Mecca.
I tucked it into my mind that when I returned home I would tell
Americans this observation; that where true brotherhood existed
among all colors, where no one felt segregated, where there was no
"superiority" complex, no "inferiority" complex - then voluntarily,
naturally, people of the same kind felt drawn together by that which
they had in common.
When British India was divided into the two states of Pakistan and India
in 1947, a minority of Muslims chose to remain in Hindu-dominated India
rather than resettle in the Muslim haven of Pakistan. Similarly, once we
attain our objective of political autonomy for the Africanite nation,
those Africanites who wish to continue being governed by European-American
administrations, as opposed to an autonomous Africanite authority, will be
free to choose that option. They will, however, be spurning an opportunity
to finally experience true freedom.
Accused by detractors of seeking a return to segregation, Malcolm X
(before revising his policies late in 1964) would insist that his
organization's goals were separation, not segregation. This writer,
meanwhile, advocates not even separation, but merely delimited
administration. Africanites and European-Americans will continue to share
ownership of the US, but each individual should be free to opt for
governance by her own community's political administration - as is already
the case in numerous countries throughout the world. In fact, many Native
American nations enjoy self-government, yet no critic has dared suggest
that Native Americans are segregated from the rest of society. Indeed, the
Native American nations constitute a vital part - a small but a vital part
nonetheless - of the greater American society, while simultaneously
enjoying the benefits of self-government.
The period following enforced segregation was marked by efforts to
forcibly merge the Africanite and European-American communities; these
efforts have failed and we find ourselves with a status quo of stagnation,
or even regression. Our community's efforts aimed at making a success out
of total integration were not in vain, however, for this phase of noble
experimentation was necessary in order to ensure that no option remained
unexplored. As a result, the Africanite people may now be confident of the
fact that the pursuit of political autonomy is the only realistic
remaining hope for our community's future.
Furthermore, in the decades following the abrogation of segregation, our
community grew phenomenally in terms of wealth and knowledge, and this,
again, was necessary in order to give our nation the power base needed for
pursuing political autonomy.
It follows that it is wrong to interpret the Africanite nation's strategic
orientation towards an objective of attaining political autonomy as an
attempt to turn back the clock, for it is nothing but the culmination of
our community's struggle which has been ongoing for centuries. Delimiting
the administration of the population according to ethnic lines is not an
effort to divide the country; far from it, it is the only way to ensure
that Africanites will finally share the prosperity of this country and
enjoy a relationship of peace, harmony and mutual respect with their
European-American compatriots.
Administrative delimitation, in the form of political autonomy for the
Africanite community, will not play any role in accelerating the
separation of the communities, as Africanites will continue to be free to
roam the US and participate in European-American society. The difference
is that they will do so not as members of a hapless, deprived minority,
but as proud citizens of the Africanite autonomy.
11. Liberian Lesson
===================
When the issue of political autonomy for the Africanite community is
raised, some critics inevitably attempt to draw a parallel with the failed
state of Liberia. It is therefore apt to spend a chapter investigating why
Liberia ended up as the "worst place to live" in 2003 (according to The
Economist's "Annual Survey of the World").
Some have sought the roots of Liberia's miserable fate in the
circumstances of the country's conception. Liberia, established in 1847,
is commonly thought to have been founded by former slaves aiming to create
a homeland of their own, and as such, to have been the first major
Africanite nationalist endeavor. That interpretation is wrong. Stefan
Lovgren's article in National Geographic puts it best:
Liberia was not simply founded by freed slaves, but rather by the
American Colonization Society (ACS), a private group run in part by
white slave owners, which encouraged the emigration of free blacks
to Africa because it viewed blacks as an economic burden and as
potential troublemakers.
"The standard line that Liberia was founded by free slaves is both
inaccurate and patronizing," said Marie Tyler-McGraw, author of an
upcoming book about the American Colonization Society and the
founding of Liberia. "Nineteenth century [white] American citizens
thought they could minimize the problem of race and citizenship in
[the United States] by providing an alternate republic for free
blacks."
Even less well known than the fact that slave owners contributed to the
founding of Liberia is that the real founder of Liberia was actually a
European-American called Jehudi Ashmun, who essentially set up the
administrative organization of the new nation-state.
But did the fact that the American Colonization Society instigate the
creation of Liberia affect its future? Was it the case that the emigrants
were poor and illiterate ex-slaves who lacked all but rudimentary skills
and consequently stood no chance of undertaking the complicated task of
building a new nation? Were those who entrusted their future to the new
nation pressured or duped into leaving the US, and, railroaded into exile
on a barren and distant shore, ill-prepared for the undertaking of
developing a viable society? Could the fact that only a mere 15,000
Africanites chose to emigrate have resulted in a severe underpopulation of
Liberia, contributing to its eventual failure?
This is not the case. The freed slaves who emigrated to Liberia were not
poor ignorant and illiterate folk who still bore sores from shackles that
had just been removed; almost all Africanites who emigrated to Liberia
were well educated and most had real assets - such as their own homes -
which they sold prior to their departure. The descendents of the
Americo-Liberians comprised only a tiny fraction of the Liberian
population - the rest being indigenous tribes - but by dint of their
wealth and knowledge they were able to form a ruling class at the helm of
a relatively stable nation-state. All Liberian presidents prior to 1979
were Americo-Liberians; the Americo-Liberian elite flourished and
continued to send their children to be educated in the United States and
Europe.
Was it, then, the case that the emigrants, cut off from the American
wealth they and their forebears had helped create, found themselves in
charge of an impoverished country whose economy proved too weak to sustain
society, leading to the eventual economic collapse of the country?
Again, this is not what happened. True, Liberia initially relied on aid
from the American Colonization Society and loans from the international
community. Despite a huge rubber plantation developed by the Firestone
tire company and US aid during World War II (when Liberia was the only
source of rubber available to the US), it was more than a hundred years
after independence, in 1951, that the country became solvent for the first
time.
Liberia was not a poor country, however, in the decades prior to its
implosion. Exports of rubber, iron ore, and timber were robust, and the
country's international ship registration business brought in a steady
flow of cash. In the 1970's the country enjoyed a living standard higher
than that of South Korea. In fact, when the country started to unravel,
the state of the Liberian economy was better than ever, so much so that in
1971 the president declared at his inauguration that Liberia was the most
stable country in Africa.
Clearly, the economy of Liberia is not to blame for the implosion of the
country.
What, then, is cause of the disaster? The answer, curiously, is extremely
relevant to Africanites today.
Dissatisfaction among indigenous African tribes that constituted 90
percent of the population but had long been excluded from power by the
Americo-Liberian elite started to boil over in 1979, with demonstrations
on the streets of Monrovia. The country had a long history of bitterness
between the coastal Americo-Liberian elite and the numerous tribes in the
mountainous hinterland; the Liberian army would often venture towards the
tribal areas to quell unrest, or to ensure payment of the "hut tax."
The administration of President Tolbert refused to allow more indigenous
Liberians into higher levels of government, and the discontent among the
indigenous population culminated in a coup d'etat led by an indigenous
Liberian of the Krahn tribe, Master Sergeant Samuel K. Doe. President
Tolbert and his cabinet members were executed.
Justifiably worried about another coup, President Doe installed members of
his own tribe into government, and the eventual result was that Liberia
degenerated into tribal warfare.
The lesson for Africanites today is that the disaster could have been
avoided had the Americo-Liberian establishment devolved more
administrative power to the indigenous tribes. Had the tribes been granted
a measure of political autonomy and been allowed to share more equally in
the nation's wealth, their frustration would never have reached the point
of causing the violent collapse of the country. The Liberian implosion can
be traced directly back to the defective administrative design of the
country, which unfairly concentrated power among Americo-Liberians in
Monrovia, and the failure to promptly rectify this fundamental flaw
despite incessant clamor from the oppressed indigenous population.
It is clear that the circumstances surrounding the founding of Liberia,
its economy, and its social structure have almost nothing in common with
Africanite society today. The political autonomy to be established by the
Africanite nation will be fundamentally different from Liberia, and
attempts to dismiss efforts to bring devolution to the Africanite people
on account of the Liberian experience have no bearing to reality. On the
contrary, Liberia proves to be yet another example where political
autonomy could have saved the country from ruin, and as such bears an
important lesson for us Africanites today.
12. Rejecting Radicalism
========================
This chapter will briefly address three objections commonly raised when
the pursuit of political autonomy is suggested as a solution to the woes
the Africanite nation is facing.
The first objection stems from the fear of the unknown that is built into
all of our genes. A workable strategy has been devised to bring political
autonomy to our nation, and even though this strategy will not involve any
suffering for Africanites on a personal and community level, and even
though it will require but minimal commitment on the part of individual
Africanites, some will nonetheless reject a pursuit of political autonomy
due to the inevitable upheaval such a solution will bring to our community
and country.
The author must point out that a reluctance to entertain the prospect of
major changes is irrational, because change is precisely what our
community needs and wants. If everyone were 100 percent content with the
state of the world today, there would be no need for this book or any
other effort to perpetuate the struggle. A political movement must arise
and bring tectonic changes to our community precisely because Africanites
are deeply dissatisfied with the current state and direction of society in
the United States. One cannot make an omelette without breaking eggs, and
one cannot rectify social inequities without reengineering society from
the ground up. The pursuit of political autonomy will bring major changes
to our community and to our lives, and that is a good thing. We must gain
the courage to spurn the devil we know, and overcome our fear of the
future.
Another objection often voiced against the pursuit of political autonomy
is that the situation is not bad enough to warrant a major change. The
author has no answer to this one. It could be that the critic's life is
perfect; that she is economically and socially successful, that she is not
bothered by the plight of other members of the Africanite community, and
that she does not perceive any disdain, condescension, or awkwardness when
interacting with members of the ethnic majority. In that case, bully for
her.
On the other hand, it could be that the critic does discern some issues,
but that these problems are perceived to be gradually diminishing in
severity, and that time is therefore the only cure that is merited. The
author would like to ask those who make this criticism to reconsider their
situation by entertaining an objective perspective. If you are a slave who
is brutally abused - beaten, starved, insulted - one week, and brutally
abused to a slightly lesser degree the next week, it may seem to you as if
things are improving. As a consequence, you may decide to do nothing about
your predicament except wait. To you this may seem perfectly logical, but
external observers will be puzzled as to why you are tolerating such
brutal abuse without taking up arms.
The third objection frequently raised is that political autonomy is too
extreme a solution to be considered seriously. While many readers will
readily admit that the benefits political autonomy will bring are
considerable, and that the pursuit of the Africanite nation's special
destiny would be truly wonderful, some will nevertheless be adamant that
the changes associated with political autonomy are too heavy a price to
pay. For them, political autonomy is a radical proposition not worthy of
serious consideration.
As mentioned in other chapters, political autonomy is common throughout
the world, and even in the United States (hundreds of Native American
nations enjoy political autonomy). It follows that political autonomy is
not extreme per se. Apparently, therefore, those who make the point that
political autonomy is a radical solution for the Africanite nation do so
because political autonomy would be far removed from the status quo.
Perhaps it has not occurred to them that it is, in fact, the status quo
that is extreme. It is logical and natural for a people with their own
ethnic identity who constitute a minority of an ethnically mixed
population to enjoy political autonomy - as natural as apples growing on
an apple tree. What is less common is a prolonged attempt to artificially
force an ethnic minority to adopt the culture and values of the ethnic
majority, to the extent that laws are passed to ensure that every
institution and organization in the country is as heterogeneous as
possible. Forcing two ethnic groups to fuse is as unnatural as oranges
growing from an apple tree.
The status quo is that leaders - of any ethnicity - and laws are trying to
push the country toward total assimilation, in a superhuman attempt to
overcome the resistance posed by a fundamental law of human nature, namely
that people will have a tendency and preference to congregate with those
of their own culture and ethnicity. It is as if we are pushing one magnet
against another of the same polarity, and, not surprisingly, a stalemate
has been reached. Still, the reigning consensus seems to be that the
inherent resistance of ethnic groups to fuse will eventually be overcome,
and a seamlessly integrated society of uniform ethnicity will eventually
emerge. Ladies and Gentlemen, *that* notion is nothing short of radical.
The status quo is an impasse that has resulted from radical attempts to
bring about the total assimilation of the ethnic minority by the ethnic
majority - and the pursuit of political autonomy is a *rejection* of this
radicalism.
Moreover, it is radical to assume that the Africanite nation can continue
to inhabit a no man's land between assimilation and self-determination
forever without incurring any adverse consequences. Currently, we are not
on level footing with the Europeam-American majority, but neither do we
enjoy any form of self-governance. And it does not seem to be likely that
a continuation of the status quo will change this situation, since our
community is not making any visible progress. Eventually, dissatisfaction
with the lack of progress and change will cause frustrations to boil over.
What happens when you continue pushing one magnet against another despite
the resistance incurred? Sooner or later the accumulated reactive energy
will exceed the imposed force, and the magnet will spring back and hit you
in the face.
The pursuit of political autonomy may constitute a radical departure from
the status quo, but when one considers what is accepted as normal from a
global and historical perspective, it becomes clear that it is the status
quo that is radical. We are in untested waters, and a continuation of the
status quo should be pursued with extreme caution. The results of this
unprecedented and radical experiment to forcibly bring about total
assimilation could well be a violent collapse of society itself.
Meanwhile, the strategy designed to bring political autonomy to the
Africanite community carefully treads a moderate path, and is the best
way - if not the only way - of allowing the Africanite nation to pursue
its own unique destiny while ensuring that the United States will enjoy
domestic tranquility in the centuries to come.
Lastly, it should be noted that slavery was an extremely drastic solution
to an economic problem, and segregation was an equally drastic solution to
a social problem. Given these radical - even "radical" is too mild a
term - conditions our country has experienced in the past, it is wrong to
classify the pursuit of political autonomy as a radical solution.
Political autonomy is the most natural and stable state for any ethnic
minority to be in, and the author urges the reader to reject the
radicalism of the status quo and embrace the pursuit of political
autonomy. What does that mean in practice? It means that the reader must
gain an awareness of the issues relevant to a grand strategy aimed at the
pursuit of political autonomy - and all that is needed for that is for the
reader to continue reading this book.
13. Protecting the Legacy
=========================
This chapter examines how the advocacy of political autonomy for the
Africanite nation should be viewed in the context of the political history
of the Africanite people.
Politically, the Africanite community has long been polarized, with the
ideal of total assimilation on the one hand, and various forms of
self-determination - often lumped together as Black Nationalism - on the
other. Both arms of the struggle made tremendous strides towards the
future and contributed much to the growth of our nation, but neither the
civil rights movement nor the nationalists ever achieved their respective
ultimate aim.
While Black Nationalism, in one guise or another, sought to establish a
separate Africanite homeland, the civil rights movement's ultimate goal
was to create a fully integrated, utopian society, called the Beloved
Community. As former civil rights activist John Lewis wrote in his memoir,
"Walking with the Wind," the differentiation between the two wings of the
Africanite struggle was stark:
As far as I was concerned, Malcolm was not a civil rights leader.
Malcolm was not part of the movement. The movement had a goal of an
integrated society, an interracial democracy, a Beloved Community.
The Beloved Community does not yet exist, and from our vantage point here
in the early 21st century, it is all too plain to see that total
integration will never work, for no true nation would be willing to
sacrifice its uniqueness in order to become part of a larger homogeneous
mass. It has become obvious to every American citizen that there is a need
to celebrate diversity, and a fully integrated society cannot come into
being under these circumstances.
However, the civil rights movement did succeed in ending segregation and
bringing civil and voting rights to the Africanite people. This
achievement cannot be underestimated. Civil rights allowed the Africanite
community to grow and prosper, to the point where nowadays accomplished
Africanites are found in every niche industry imaginable. Thanks to
decades of solid growth, the Africanite community boasts a huge middle
class, and today the community as a whole is wealthier and more powerful
than ever before - although this may not be immediately evident, due to
weak leadership. The pursuit of political autonomy would not be possible
without the solid platform of civil rights to stand on.
Meanwhile, the nationalist movement, as epitomized by the early teachings
of Malcolm X, preached the establishment of a separate homeland for the
Africanite people. Like countless nationalist movements before and since,
Malcolm X came nowhere close to achieving this goal - in fact, even before
his death he was often criticized for speaking rather than doing. But it
is precisely by speaking that Malcolm X made an immeasurable contribution
to Africanite society. Prior to Malcolm X, the level of awareness of basic
issues in the Africanite community was dismally low; Malcolm X played a
crucial role in transforming the mindset of a huge segment of the
Africanite population.
Malcolm X was the first prominent Africanite leader to teach that
Africanites had long been suppressed - "brainwashed," as he put it - into
submissiveness by the European-American community, and he fought hard to
enhance awareness of basic concepts we today take for granted. Most
Africanites were not truly aware that our people had been terribly wronged
by the European-American community, that slavery entailed unbearable
suffering for our forebears, that Africanites should be proud rather than
ashamed to be Africanite, that the Africanite community had an illustrious
history of courage and resistance, that Africanites are not inferior to
European-Americans, that the European-American power structure was
attempting to manipulate Africanite political organizations, that the
primary cause of Africanite poverty was European-American injustice, that
Africanites have the inherent right to self-defense, and so on.
It is thanks to the legacy of both the civil rights movement and the
nationalists, which Malcolm X came to symbolize, that the push for
political autonomy is possible today. The movement to gain political
autonomy for the Africanite nation is neither an advocacy of assimilation
nor a form of nationalism. The fight for political autonomy steers an
exact middle course between assimilation and nationalism, and is the
rightful inheritor of both wings of the Africanite struggle. Both MLK's
beautiful dream and Malcolm X's sense of outrage run through Africanite
veins, and the grand strategy of pursuing political autonomy would not be
possible without either.
Political autonomy can finally bring that Beloved Community, of
Africanites and European-Americans living in perfect harmony, into being.
Just as autonomy in Switzerland allows the Swiss to have their Beloved
Community of Frenchmen, Italians, and Germans, political autonomy in the
United States will finally enable the harmonious co-existence between
Africanites and European-Americans within the larger framework of American
society. As such, the establishment of political autonomy for the
Africanite nation will amount to the culmination of the efforts of the
civil rights movement.
At the same time, by allowing the Africanite nation to pursue its own
destiny - within the framework of the US nation-state - the advent of
political autonomy will also be a materialization of all nationalist
hopes. Political autonomy will allow us to protect and nurture the culture
that makes us unique, develop our own society, prosper as a nation, and
seek our rightful place among the great nations of the world. In short,
political autonomy for the Africanite nation will bring us everything the
nationalists ever wanted.
It should be noted at this juncture that nationalism often tends to be,
rightly or wrongly, associated with militancy, hate, and separatism,
perhaps because of sensationalist coverage of Malcolm X's statements, the
militant image left behind by the Black Panthers, and the unflinching
separatism espoused by the Nation of Islam, past and present.
Unfortunately, the mere mention of the words "political autonomy" or
"nationhood" immediately triggers such accusations.
Associating militancy with a philosophy espousing political autonomy is
completely wrong. In fact, the issue of militancy is not addressed
anywhere within this book, because, as far as a doctrine focused on the
establishment of political autonomy is concerned, it is irrelevant. While
any person or nation enjoys an inherent right to self-defense, the use of
force - in self-defense or otherwise - is superfluous in this day and age,
and as such, militancy has become an irrelevant topic. The effective use
of publicity - in the form of media relations and advertising - has become
a far more potent weapon than that borne by any militia.
Linking the push for political autonomy with hate and separatism is also
wrong. The pursuit of political autonomy is an attempt to keep the
Africanite community within American society. This author believes that,
provided that the crime of slavery and its aftermath are properly atoned
for, the European-American and Africanite communities can live together as
indispensable members of the American family, in peace, harmony and love.
As is made abundantly clear throughout this book, the logic driving the
Africanite nation towards a state of political autonomy is not based on
emotion, but on a rational analysis of the situation the Africanite
community finds itself in today.
If an element of hate for the European-American community were involved in
one's philosophy, one would advocate a clean break with European-Americans
in the form of independence, an ethnic cleansing of all Africanite
territories, an alliance with enemies of European-Americans, and the
wholesale slaughter or enslavement of European-American men, women, and
children. No-one consumed with hatred for the European-American community
would advocate peaceful cohabitation within the same nation-state.
The media remains sensationalist and often slanted in its coverage of
Africanite affairs; it is hoped that the doctrine espousing political
autonomy for the Africanite nation will not be described as "radical" or
"extreme." While the objectives described in this book do present a
departure from the status quo - which in itself is the result of an
attempt to give form to the radical idea of total assimilation - the push
for political autonomy for the Africanite people is a pragmatic and
practical doctrine that marries the moderate elements of both the
assimilationist and nationalist sides of the struggle. Advocating
independence would be extreme, but promoting political autonomy certainly
is not.
The common goal of all sectors of the Africanite struggle has always been
progress - a steady march towards a future with a higher standard of
living for all Africanites. This objective can incontrovertibly be
attributed to every past and present participant in the struggle, no
matter what specific means he or she preferred.
Yet the Africanite community's economic indicators are not improving
faster than that of the European-American majority, and this indicates
that the status quo is stagnation, rather than progress. Following the
Republican Revolution of 1994, led by Newt Gingrich, which gave the
Republicans control of Congress, the status quo could even be said to be
regression, rather than progress. Perhaps it seemed as if the outlook was
improving in the late 1990's, a time of unprecedented prosperity for all
Americans, but after the dotcom bubble burst Africanites were among the
first to lose their jobs, as has always been the case in a recession. No
substantial improvements are visible on the horizon, and - barring a
profound transformation, such as presented in this book - stagnation or
regression will likely to continue to be the status quo in the future. If
anything, our community's complacency has resulted in an increasingly
dismissive attitude by the European-American majority towards our needs
and concerns.
The regrettable conclusion must be that the legacy of the heroes of the
Africanite struggle is being wasted; the Africanite nation is treading
water. The country has gone as far as it possibly can down the
assimilationist path. Only by taking dramatic corrective action and
steering the nation towards a grand strategy of political autonomy can the
struggle be resumed. There is no other way to protect the legacy of the
heroes of Africanite history. A window of opportunity to finally bring
dignity, prosperity and immortality to the Africanite nation has arisen,
and it must not be lost. Past and future generations are counting on us -
the Internet and hip hop generation - to wrench the Africanite nation out
of its funk once and for all. We must not let them down.
14. Averting Armaggedon
=======================
When the rights of an ethnic minority are suppressed, tensions between the
ethnic groups sharing the country start to mount. And when such ethnic
tensions are allowed to build up, the result is inevitably violence. This
violence can quickly deteriorate into ethnic war. In the United States, we
have been lucky. While we continue to experience periodic "race riots,"
these have not escalated into full-scale war. Luckily, the rioters
concentrated their energies on looting rather than killing.
Complacency is disaster's best friend. It is infantile to assume that
ethnic violence, if sparked, will gradually peter out, on the grounds that
this was the case in 1964 and 1992. There have been numerous instances of
riots spreading out of control worldwide, and unless drastic action is
taken now to satisfy the rights of America's largest ethnic minority, we
may yet see widespread bloodshed on this continent.
The lessons of history could not be any clearer: unless an ethnic minority
is completely cut loose or granted a sufficient degree of autonomy,
frustrations will boil over into sporadic violence, terrorist activity, or
all-out war. The past decade in particular is peppered with textbook
examples of how ethnic minorities can be maltreated or sidelined to the
extent that horrendous bloodshed is the result. When the Soviet Union
collapsed in 1991, the global geopolitical structure underwent drastic
change, overnight. Peoples who once were team players in an ideological
Cold War between superpowers found themselves free to assert their ethnic
identities. Ethnic groups most of us had never heard of - Acehnese,
Azerbaijanis, Bosnians, Chechens, Kosovars, Latvians, Moldovians,
Slovenians, Timorese - started to do just that. In some cases, the result
was brutal ethnic war.
The United States experienced one of the worst civil wars in history, and
it is often assumed that nothing worse could happen in this country. But
if riots ever spiral out of control in the United States, the result will
not resemble the Civil War. This is because ethnic war is not always the
same as civil war.
The Civil War was a war between armies. In some cases the combatants were
militiamen in ragtag uniforms, but without exception the war was fought by
organized soldiers - men of fighting age who were universally recognized
as members of a fighting force, distinct and separate from the civilian
members of the larger community. That is not the case in ethnic war. When
a multi-ethnic country disintegrates into ethnic war, soldiers do not
fight soldiers. In an ethnic war, neighbors fight neighbors.
The author would like to bring up just two relatively recent examples of
countries which were engulfed in chaos as ethnic groups started fighting
each other: Rwanda and Yugoslavia.
In Rwanda, an uprising of Hutus in 1994 resulted in a vicious massacre in
which half a million Tutsis died. Hutu resentment against centuries of
Tutsi domination flared up as Tutsi rebels sought to ouster the incumbent
Hutu government. Approximately half a million people, most of them
civilians, are thought to have died in the resulting genocide. Tribunals
under the auspices of the United Nations are ongoing.
In Yugoslavia, which was previously united under the socialist banner,
Croats, Serbs, Bosnians and others started to assert their ethnicity.
Essentially, war was triggered because, as the constituent republics of
the federal Yugoslavia declared independence, no provisions were made for
the protection of minorities within the new republics. For example, when
Croatia declared independence, pockets of Serbs within Croatia armed
themselves, and the situation quickly degenerated into vicious fighting.
The ferocity and intensity of ethnic war cannot be overstated. The force
unleashed by those tribal instincts which drive people to fight on behalf
of their kinfolk is primeval and unstoppable. It defies reason and
understanding and - we know this from detailed UN investigations into
instances of ethnic cleansing - surprises even the combatants themselves.
In both Rwanda and Yugoslavia the different ethnic groups had coexisted in
peace for decades, and often intermarried. In both countries the ethnic
groups lived in closer proximity than we Americans do. In either country,
one apartment building might have housed numerous families of different
ethnicity. While we in the United States have our own vaguely demarcated
neighborhoods, in Yugoslavia or Rwanda nobody paid much attention to the
ethnic classification of their neighbors - until war broke out.
Neighbors who had been on cordial terms for years turned on each other as
violence exploded. Civilians - teachers, engineers, plumbers - abruptly
started arming themselves with guns, knives and sticks. There are some
beautiful stories of heroism, of sympathizers who sheltered potential
victims at risk to their own safety, but such reports are far outnumbered
by accounts of mild-mannered citizens who suddenly transmogrified into
demonic monsters. Based on what we know from Rwanda and Yugoslavia, as
well as other ethnic wars worldwide, it is wrong to assume that
inter-ethnic friendships will save anyone. Ethnic war is the ugliest kind
of war because it shatters the veneer of geniality society has come to
take for granted, and exposes people for what they really are.
The gentleman you occasionally saw walking his golden retriever will storm
into your house with his buddies, rape you in front of your husband, and
shoot you both. The avuncular disc jockey you enjoyed listening to will
urge his listeners to kill men, women, and children without mercy. Your
pals from the gym, whom you traded jokes with in the locker room, will
ambush you and bludgeon you to death. Teenagers will firebomb your house
and the bespectacled nerd next door will pretend not to hear your screams
for help.
*That* is ethnic war.
It is perilous in the extreme to assume that Africanites have been living
in proximity with European-Americans for too long for vicious violence to
break out between the two communities. It is irrational to pretend that
only the United States can miraculously escape the inferno of ethnic
violence that has engulfed so many other countries. Unless ethnic
aspirations find an outlet, frustrations over a lack of ethnic rights are
bound to boil over into violence sooner or later. The result could be
total Armageddon as American fights American in the most brutal ethnic war
the world as ever seen; the proliferation of personal firearms in the
United States means that this country will slide into war even more
quickly than other countries did.
The reader must bear in mind that there is far less to differentiate
between Croats and Serbs (who speak the same language and are both
light-skinned Caucasians) or between Tutsis and Hutus (who are both
dark-skinned sub-Saharan African peoples) than between Africanites and
European-Americans.
The Los Angeles riots of 1992, triggered by verdicts of innocence for the
cops involved in the Rodney King beating, fortunately did not result in
all-out war pitting Africanite against European-American. The riots spread
to major urban centers across the country but eventually fizzled out. We
were lucky then. But how can we be sure that next time the outcome will be
the same?
Even if a full-scale war is averted, the result could still be a drawn-out
guerrilla war. In Turkey, Britain, and Sri Lanka, minority ethnic groups
were denied their right to nationhood by firm and militant governments. In
each case the result was a guerrilla war which continued for decades until
the bodies piled up on both sides and the government finally decided to
hold talks.
There is only one way to avert with certainty the prospect of ethnic
violence and widespread bloodshed - ensure that the ethnic minority
acquires the right to self-determination quickly and early, and that this
political autonomy is total and unencumbered by provisos.
Pursuing the right of self-determination for the Africanite people is the
best course of action we can take to preserve the integrity of the United
States and preempt the specter of ethnic bloodshed in our cities. If the
Africanite community is to enjoy lasting peace with the dominant
European-American majority, we must strive to bring closer a future in
which the Africanite nation can grow and flourish under a regime of
political autonomy, in harmonious coexistence with the ethnic majority.
And that is what this book is about.
15. Force of Fortune
====================
The historic undertaking of galvanizing a dormant ethnic nation of more
than 30 million into action and shaping a new political entity from
scratch can be daunting, and clouds of looming doubt and unease may at
times sap the courage of even the most fervent of supporters.
What are the guarantees against complete failure? Will the new,
politically autonomous entity truly live up to the potential of our
people? What if our spanking new economy stubbornly refuses to take off?
Will the result of all our efforts not be, at best, but a doomed noble
enterprise, or, at worst, a human disaster on a colossal scale?
At times of weakness, it will do us well to remember that an invisible
force is on our side: a force of good fortune. There are, broadly
speaking, three factors for which we can thank our lucky stars.
The first and foremost factor bringing the force of fortune to our side is
the tremendous advance in information technology that has occurred in
recent years. The Internet will allow this Africanite movement to organize
with ease, speed, and confidentiality. In fact, given the degree of
control the European-American majority exercises over traditional media,
it would not be an exaggeration to say that the pursuit of political
autonomy would not be a realistic objective without the Internet. We will
be able to build local political networks in weeks. Developing a national
organization, which once took years, can now be accomplished in a matter
of months. Whereas Malcolm X famously added 30,000 miles to his odometer
in five months while diligently spreading awareness through the Africanite
community, this generation's leaders will be required to waste far less
time on the road. The Africanite nation will be the first people in
history to make use of the Internet as a primary weapon in their fight for
self-government.
A related factor tilting the odds in our favor is the drop in prices for
high-powered computers and other digital gadgetry. It is no longer
necessary to rent professional equipment and a studio, or to pay market
prices for pre- and post-production work. A relatively inexpensive
personal computer and some off-the-shelf software is all that is needed to
produce quality promotional products, such as printed material, web sites,
and multimedia presentations. This is of crucial importance, for if the
battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, the battle for
political autonomy will have been won behind monitor screens in basements
and garages across America. The battle our nation faces in the pursuit of
political autonomy is not a military battle, but a fight for opinions -
both within the Africanite community and vis-a-vis the European-American
majority. Today, opinion polls carry far more weight in national politics
than any number of armed men, and the quality and quantity of promotional
material will play crucial roles in the Africanite nation's quest to reach
the next level. Every brochure that undermines a bias, every web site that
rattles a preconceived idea, and every 30-second spot that changes an
opinion is a skirmish won. Africanites have long excelled in pushing the
envelope of creativity through the use of the latest technology, and our
natural flair and pizzazz give us an edge in the war for the hearts and
minds of Americans. It is difficult not to conclude that fate is on our
side.
Last but not least, a major factor in our favor is that, in comparison to
the hurdles other ultimately successful nations faced throughout history,
we do not have a long way to go. The Africanite nation will not be
starting from zero. As an integral part of the United States, Africanites
enjoy - and will continue to enjoy - numerous benefits that other nations
can only dream of. If we only set aside the tragic circumstances which led
to the creation of our nation, we can consider ourselves to be one of the
most fortunate nations on Earth. Leaders across the world would give their
right arm to put their fledgling nation in our shoes.
Say what you will about the deficient morals of the European-American
community, their scientific and technological achievements are second to
none. The United States retains the world's largest, most dynamic, and
most sophisticated economy. Since our community continues to be
economically deprived compared to the European-American majority, many of
us fail to realize that, on a global scale, Africanite living standards
are amongst the highest in the word. Even the most poverty-stricken
Africanites have access to free information, mass communication, adequate
nutrition, and basic medical care; this is not the case in most Asian,
African, or South American countries.
The Africanite political autonomy will, by definition, continue to be part
of the United States, and Africanites will continue to enjoy freedom of
movement throughout the country. Thus, we will have immediate access to
what less fortunate people in the developing world can only dream of.
Every day, thousands of people the world over scramble to meet the most
stringent visa requirements in order to make it to US shores, to avail of
the finest medical care in the world, the best institutions of higher
education, and the world's largest consumer market awash with every
imaginable product and service.
Instead of having to wade through mountains of paperwork and wait
anxiously for months, an Africanite with a rare medical condition need do
no more than hop on a plane to gain access to the foremost experts in the
field. An Africanite desiring to bolster her resume with an MBA from the
world's foremost educational institution need do no more than travel to
Massachusetts; yes, New England is a scary, foreign place, but, since
English is our native language and we are at least familiar with the
customs of the US, an Africanite is still bound to have an easier time
than any overseas student (except perhaps someone from England).
While poor countries in Asia must face freight costs and customs
requirements when shipping products to the US market, the Africanite
nation constitutes an integral part of the United States, and the world's
largest consumer economy will continue to be right on our doorstep. Just
as important, Africanite corporations requiring supplies have to do no
more than send a few emails; most of us in the United States are unaware
of the difficulty foreign firms have in procuring supplies - particularly
of specialized items - quickly and cheaply.
Even if one were to remove from the equation the tremendous economic
achievements of numerous talented Africanite entrepreneurs, professionals,
and entertainers, and the immense unrealized potential of the Africanite
nation, the Africanite nation still could not have it any easier
economically. From a global economic perspective, we are truly the
luckiest nation, and one cannot help but conclude that the stars have long
been aligned to ensure the success of the Africanite autonomy. Take heart,
fellow Africanites, for the force is with us.
16. Unfinished Business
=======================
It is not ethnic hatred which is the primary force driving the Africanite
nation towards autonomy. Even if the Africanite and European-American
communities had no history of bitter enmity whatsoever, we would still
have to pursue the goal of self-rule for our nation, for no people have
ever attained greatness - that special cachet of being held in high esteem
by contemporaries and historians of later generations alike - while under
occupation by another nation.
Even if European-American dominance were completely benign, the mere fact
that our cultures, values and societies contrast starkly means that,
eventually, we would still have to seek our own destiny. A deeply rooted -
almost primeval - aversion to being ruled by another tribe is inherent in
any nation. Look no further than Iraq, where Americans arrived as
well-meaning liberators bearing aid and expertise: the presence of our
troops became a nuisance in a matter of weeks.
European-American dominance of the Africanite nation is, of course, not
entirely benign, and this confuses the issue. While part of the discord
between the two communities can be traced back European-American malice
stemming from traditional enmity, much of it can be attributed to
misunderstanding caused by the difference in cultures between the two
peoples. Because European-Americans generally do not understand us and our
way of perceiving the world, we feel that our needs are not respected, and
this generates considerable frustration.
This frustration caused by dissatisfaction with European-American rule
must not be confused with a need for justice. Justice for historical
grievances is a completely unrelated matter and needs to be addressed
separately. While political autonomy is the answer to many of the problems
facing our people today, even the advent of political autonomy will not
remove the gaping hole in the balance sheet of justice which continues to
exist to this day.
In Chapter 2, "A Notion of Nationhood," the author postulated that a lack
of rights as a nation, rather than racism, are to blame for the quiet
frustration felt by Africanites today. Our lack of freedom as an ethnic
nation is only half of the problem, however; the other half is the fact
that the European-American nation has merely, in small increments,
lessened the degree of injustice perpetrated against the Africanite
people, instead of fully restoring our rights and making complete and
proper amends immediately. To this day, a historical lack of justice
hovers like an evil spirit over every encounter and relationship between a
European-American and an Africanite.
While slavery was bad enough, the dimension of the crime perpetrated
against our nation has only grown over the years. It is absolutely
ludicrous that one finds oneself in a position of having to make this
point almost 150 years after abolition, but if a crime has been committed,
the cessation of the perpetration of the crime is insufficient for the
restoration of dignity to the victim. At the very least, an apology is due
to the victim - and usually some form of compensation, too.
Malcolm X eloquently made this point in his autobiography:
I can't turn around without hearing about some 'civil rights
advance'! White people seem to think the black man ought to be
shouting 'hallelujah'! Four hundred years the white man has had his
foot-long knife in the black man's back - and now the white man
starts to *wiggle* the knife out, maybe six inches! The black man's
supposed to be *grateful*? Why, if the white man jerked the knife
*out*, it's still going to leave a *scar*!
The terminology may be quaint but the point is as relevant today as it was
in 1964. The European-American community has not even come close to making
a semblance of an apology. If the European-American community had any
collective sense of honor, prominent European-American luminaries would
have approached our community a long time ago, and said something along
the lines of: "Look, we wronged you terribly in the past, but we want to
make amends, and suggest such-and-such, and we were wondering if this
would be acceptable to you. Please consider it, and if it's okay, we hope
you will forgive us."
The European-American community has, of course, not been able to do the
decent thing on its own accord. The reality is that not a single prominent
European-American politician or scholar - not even any die-hard liberal -
has tried to apologize for the crimes of the European-American people
against ours. The lack of any form of apology from the European-American
community to the Africanite people has contributed to the delicate and
sensitive relationship between the two peoples today.
After much international clamor and domestic strife, after countless
untold acts of individual heroism, and after a momentous struggle on an
epic scale, the Africanite people have been rewarded with nothing but
gradually lessening degrees of maltreatment, and, by any measure, this is
a disgrace.
It can only be hoped that the third and final phase of our struggle will
involve less rancor than has been the case in the past. The fact that the
fight for justice must, once again, stem from within the Africanite
community is itself a big enough stain on the honor of the
European-American community. Every minute that passes without amends being
made only worsens what will undoubtedly be judged as one of the most evil
crimes in the history of mankind.
Atonement and reparations are indispensable to the progress of the United
States. Atonement by the European-American community is necessary to allow
us - all Americans - to gain a degree of closure, and put the entire
bitter history of slavery and segregation behind us. The purpose of
reparations, meanwhile, is to return to us Africanites what is rightfully
ours. A beautiful future free of discord awaits America behind the issues
of atonement and reparations, and we cannot start striding to towards that
future a moment too soon.
But before moving on to the matter of how to pressure the
European-American community for atonement and reparations, it is
appropriate to explain why atonement must come from the entire
European-American community, as opposed to merely the Anglo-American
community. The crime of slavery was committed almost entirely by the
Anglo-American community, and many European-American immigrants arrived on
these shores after the abolition of slavery.
However, the culpability does not end there. Jim Crow laws were not
abolished until long after the last major waves of immigration. In
addition, while the new arrivals were accepted by the system and quickly
became part of European-American society, they did not initiate any action
aimed at righting past wrongs. All of the drive for change had to come
from within the Africanite community, and for this the Eastern-European
immigrants who landed at Ellis Island - who were perhaps pleased to
discover that they did not constitute the bottom rung of their adopted
homeland's society - and their descendants must share some blame.
Therefore, atonement and reparations must come from the entire
European-American community.
Let us now consider how we can ensure that justice is finally done.
It is unfortunate that the idea of reparations started to circulate widely
for the first time as a result of the successful class action lawsuits
against tobacco companies. It is unfortunate because the judicial system -
i.e. litigation - is not the right venue for pressuring the
European-American community for justice.
In addition to a host of practical problems, litigation is the wrong
avenue to pursue as a matter of essential principle. First, let us
consider the practicalities. There are five.
First, the function of the judicial system is to consider crimes and
wrongdoings. While slavery and its aftermath were crimes against humanity,
both slavery and segregation were legal and in keeping with the legal
system of the time. This is a serious impediment because it means that,
technically, no crimes were committed.
Second, while the impartiality of the justice system is not under dispute,
the justice system is nonetheless a branch of government which exists
within the context of European-American values. As such, it cannot be
trusted to consider the issues fairly and objectively. The NAACP has
successfully used the law courts to fight discrimination against
individual Africanites, but it is doubtful that the law courts are the
right venue for arbitrating a dispute between the entire Africanite
community and the entire European-American community.
Third, any judicial process will take an inordinately long time to reach a
conclusion. Court cases typically drag on for years, and appeals and
numerous lawsuits against multiple defendants will take time to reach
their conclusions. Even with feverish legal activity involving thousands
of lawyers, it will take decades before all the issues against all the
defendants are fully tried.
Fourth, resorting to litigation would unnecessarily cause a fragmentation
of a single issue. The crime of slavery and its aftermath would end up
being broken down into an infinite number of crimes perpetrated by states,
townships, counties, companies, families, and individuals against numerous
individuals and families. Each defendant could be faced with multiple
lawsuits, one for every injustice perpetrated against each victim, and
each plaintiff would have to file multiple lawsuits against different
defendants. Instead of dealing with a beach, we would be grappling with
millions of grains of sand, and the picture would become intolerably
muddled.
Fifth, the outcome of the judicial process would not be clear. It might be
in our favor, and it might not. We may win some cases and lose others.
This is unacceptable; the Africanite community will not accept anything
less than total victory, and a failed attempt to make the law courts work
for us could have the counterproductive effect of enhancing hostility,
rather than reconciling the communities. The fact that a crime has taken
place is not in doubt; the European-American community cannot be
considered to be innocent until proven guilty, which is the basic premise
of any trial in the United States.
So much for the practical issues; now for the matter of principle.
It is critically important that we do not fall into the trap of trying to
persuade the European-American community of the need for justice. We must
not beg; we must *negotiate*.
In the past, we were in the position of, as a subjugated people, asking
our conquerors for recognition and rights. The objective of the Second
Shift - from segregation to citizens of equal status - was to be granted
civil and voting rights by the European-American establishments.
Africanite activists had to agitate, march, and protest until discomfort
in the European-American community rose to intolerable levels and we were
finally granted our wishes. This time, we must not ask to be *granted*
anything. Instead, the Africanite community must negotiate with the
European-American community on an equal standing, nation to nation. Our
attitude must never be one that implies subservience; if the
European-American establishment is lobbied in any way, the Africanite will
be perceived to be subordinate to the European-American community, and in
this stage of the struggle, that must never be allowed to happen.
From this perspective, it rapidly becomes clear that issues of atonement
and reparations must be tackled politically. Once Africanites wake up to
the fact that we are a nation, everything falls into place. The enduring
bitterness stemming from slavery and its aftermath crystallizes into a
dispute between two nations, like, for instance, a dispute between the
Turks and the Greeks. Obviously, the law courts are not the correct venue
for solving such a dispute.
The political approach simplifies matters considerably, while still
ensuring that we will get nothing less than full justice. Instead of
having to trust in the capricious decisions of innumerable judges, we will
merely have to wait for the right response from mainly two bodies:
Congress and the White House. Instead of having to file countless
lawsuits, we merely need to draw up a comprehensive list of requirements,
as this author has done, by way of demonstration, in Chapter 17,
"Atonement." And if we apply the right amount of pressure in the right
way, the time frame leading to a satisfactory outcome could be measured in
months, rather than decades.
But how can the Africanite community start negotiating with the
European-American community on an equal basis, if the Africanite people
have not even realized yet that they are due the status of an ethnic
nation?
As far as the issue of atonement is concerned, the answer is clear: the
Africanite nation must gain solid footing in the form of political
autonomy before commencing negotiations with the European-American
community. Only once we are a politically autonomous nation will we have
sufficient bargaining power to pressure the European-American community in
general and the Southern states in particular to atone for past wrongs.
Meanwhile, the restitution of what is rightfully ours - our right to exist
as a nation free of subjugation - can only occur in conjunction with the
pursuit of political autonomy. In fact, reparations constitute an
essential component of the grand strategy of pursuing political autonomy,
and the issue of obtaining reparations must be synchronized with other
activity aimed at propelling the Africanite nation forward into the
future. This issue is discussed in later chapters, starting with Chapter
18, "The Reparations Solution."
17. Atonement
=============
While there has been some discussion about reparations, such discussion
inevitably focuses on money. This is natural, and correct, but monetary
compensation is only part of the equation.
Atonement must come first.
Although our ancestors were forcibly abducted against their will and our
nation suffered terribly at the hands of the European-American community,
we have received, to date, no apology from anyone representative of the
European-American community. All we have received over the years is
successively milder degrees of maltreatment.
Terrible injustice has been done to our nation; it is ridiculous for the
European-American community to expect that we would be satisfied by the
mere restoration of equal rights, something which any human being should
take for granted. If the European-American community had even a modicum of
decency, it would have long ago attempted to unilaterally provide
recompense to the entire Africanite population. Instead, we have had to
fight for our rights every inch of the way, and we still must endure
latent disdain and subtle discrimination every day of our lives.
No matter which course the Africanite nation eventually takes, it is
unhealthy for the United States to exist in its current state. Justice has
not been done, and this has resulted in a vast subterranean pool of
simmering resentment. The United States should follow South Africa's
example, which speedily established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission
to help that country's communities gain closure and move onward. South
Africa today is the model Rainbow Nation, at peace and harmony with
itself, and the way the country has healed after decades of Apartheid is
nothing short of miraculous.
In the interest of stimulating debate within the Africanite community on
the issue of atonement, this writer would like to offer some suggestions
regarding appropriate measures from the European-American community.
Atonement must start with acknowledgement of guilt, expressed in the form
of apologies by representatives of the European-American community, and a
memorial dedicated to those who suffered during slavery and its aftermath.
We must insist that the apologies be in writing, lest the
European-American community tries to handle the matter the way successive
Japanese governments have handled the issue of apologizing to Asian
countries which experienced Japanese military rule during World War II.
Incumbent Japanese prime ministers, under pressure to make an apology,
tend to insert a few phrases of regret into a speech given at some
function. This statement is then relayed to the rest of the world by the
media. Such a form of apology is not direct and, being oral, would be too
fleeting and insincere to be acceptable.
Some may feel that it is important to have leaders of the
European-American community apologize sincerely on national television.
Perhaps this is important, but only writing stands the test of time. The
apologies should therefore first and foremost be in writing, and, as an
added measure, they could perhaps subsequently be read out on national
television.
Moreover, this writer would insist that the apology should be
hand-written, as a measure of sincerity. As is true for the whole exercise
of atonement, the fact that the apologies will be in long hand will not be
more than a gesture. But therein lies the significance of atonement: a
gesture of regret. The more sincere the gesture will appear to our
community, the better.
While, in the interests of ensuring sincerity, the content of the apology
should be left to those writing the letters, this writer would deem any
apology unsatisfactory unless it were to encompass, at the very least, in
addition to the injustice done to our ancestors in the form of slavery,
the failure of the dominant European-American community to make quick and
proper amends in the years since abolition, and the hardship our community
subsequently experienced unnecessarily.
There is much to apologize for, and perhaps some sincerely written letters
will run into dozens of pages. And so they should.
Determining who should write the apologies is a delicate matter. Since the
entire population of this nation has benefited from slavery in one way or
another, the list of those selected to apologize on behalf of the rest of
the European-American community will never be more than a selection of
representatives chosen to speak for their segment of the community. Here
is this writer's list:
> The ambassadors of the UK, the Netherlands, Portugal, and France.
> The President of the United States of America.
> The Speaker of the House of Representatives.
> The Governors of the Southern States (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida,
Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia)
> Every chairperson of the board of every publicly listed company.
> Every descendant, over the age of 18, of every slaveholder.
Admittedly, this is a somewhat arbitrary list; any list will inevitably be
a compromise which attempts to balance practicality and acceptability. The
list starts with the ambassadors since these countries engaged in, and
profited immensely from, the slave trade. Since we Africanites are US
citizens, it is acceptable that the apologies be issued by ambassadors to
the United States, who are the plenipotentiary representatives of their
respective heads of state.
The elected leaders of the executive branches of the federal and state
governments involved must tender apologies in their capacities as the
foremost representatives - the chiefs of state - of the political entities
which formerly condoned slavery. Therefore, it does not matter if any of
the governors happens to be Africanite. The apology must come from the
state as a political entity which has continued to exist since the days of
slavery, and the identity of the individual who represents the state is
immaterial as long as he or she is the highest executive of the state.
It should be noted that while slavery was also practiced extensively in
the North and West, states that did not join the Confederacy have been
exempted from this writer's list by virtue of their anti-slavery stance
during the Civil War.
The Speaker of the House of Representatives has been included since it was
this government organ that produced copious legislation sanctioning
slavery, and that failed to produce prompt and effective legislation aimed
at alleviating the suffering of our people during the aftermath of
slavery.
The chairpersons of the publicly listed companies are included because
American corporations have benefited immeasurably from the influx of
capital generated by slavery, even if the companies were founded many
years after the demise of slavery - the capital stayed in the economy and
virtually any corporation would have stood to benefit from it. Since CEO's
are the hired help who run companies, it would be more appropriate to
obtain apologies from the chairpersons, who would be better suited to be
representative of the owners of the company.
The letters from descendants of slaveholders should amount to millions of
letters. This is the way it should be; there are no practical problems
since the US Postal Service is capable of handling millions of letters, as
it does every Mother's Day.
Finally, there is the issue of which entity should be the recipient of,
and act as custodian for, the letters of apology. It should definitely not
be a European-American dominated institution (such as the Smithsonian). It
would entail the fewest problems if the Africanite community were to set
up a non-profit corporation specifically to encourage and manage the
process of atonement, to chronicle the process, and to preserve and make
available to the public the apologies tendered.
Some will criticize this suggestion - of accepting letters of apology from
representatives of the European-American community - as being too lenient,
considering the scale and number of the crimes perpetrated. The author
would like to stress that the above suggestion is mine alone, and that it
is tendered with the intention of sparking discussion on appropriate forms
of atonement. Some may suggest instituting an "Atonement Week," during
which every European-American would apologize in person, on behalf of his
community, to every Africanite he or she is familiar with. In any case, if
the reader is of the opinion that the European-American community should
do more than write letters in the way of apology, the reader should let
the world know what he or she considers an appropriate form of atonement.
In addition to some form of apology, a memorial is an essential component
of the process of atonement.
It is a disgrace that, to date, no national memorial dedicated to those
who experienced the tragedy of slavery and its aftermath has been erected.
This writer is confident that all Africanites would throw their weight
behind a demand for the largest and grandest memorial history has seen. It
should be bigger than the Sphinx, taller than the Washington Monument, and
form an indelible and eternal part of the American landscape. The
European-American community has the capital and the technology to build a
memorial worthy of being ranked as the eighth world wonder, and it must do
so. The memorial will serve as a focal point for the memory of those who
suffered during slavery and its aftermath, and as a perpetual reminder to
future generations of the horrors humans are capable of.
The name, design and location of the memorial will no doubt be discussed
by the entire country, and the author will refrain from any detailed
suggestion. The author would, however, insist on just one very important
issue.
It is critically important that no public funds are used for the
construction of the memorial - since no Africanite should be in a position
of having to directly or indirectly contribute even a single cent - and
that the erection of the memorial will not be commissioned by a public
body, to ensure that the memorial will be a clear and unambiguous gesture
by the European-American community. A realistic scenario would be for the
European-American community to set up a non-profit, non-partisan
corporation to oversee the funding, planning, and construction of the
memorial.
Perhaps the aforementioned letters of apology could each enclose a
donation for the construction of the memorial. It must be clarified that
these donations would not constitute reparations, which are an entirely
separate issue. The donations should be used for the construction of the
memorial, and for that purpose only. Of course, there is no guarantee that
every descendant of every slaveholder will actually write a letter and
send a donation. That is acceptable; the letters and donations will
represent a confession of guilt, and, as such, the individuals concerned
should voluntarily send as much money as they see fit. One thing that
could be done - perhaps by a team of graduate students - is to draw up a
database of descendants of slaveholders, using publicly available
genealogical databases. This database could be made available via a web
site, and beside each name would be a record of whether a letter and/or
donation has been received. Africanites would be able to check whether
their European-American coworkers at the office have voluntarily done the
right thing.
Again, it should be stressed that the above demands are suggested in order
to encourage a process of discussion about the issue of atonement, which
has hitherto not taken place. The process of atonement by the
European-American community - and its acceptance by the Africanite
community - will undoubtedly involve considerable debate, and this
extensive process of national debate will be just as important for the
healing of the American psyche as the eventual outcome.
We will never forget where we came from, and we will never forgive the
unforgivable. But if the atonement tendered by the European-American
community is to our satisfaction, perhaps we will find it in our hearts to
permanently lay our grudges to rest, and hopefully all talk of retribution
in the more militant circles of our community will cease once and for all.
Once atonement has been made, it should be possible for all citizens of
the United States to live in harmony and peaceful coexistence in the eons
to come.
18. The Reparations Solution
============================
Calls for reparations have been growing louder in recent years. More and
more Africanites feel that we should be compensated for our nation's
subjection to slavery. Germany's payment of reparations to Israel, and the
US federal government's payment of reparations to Japanese-Americans
interred during World War II, are often given as precedents.
Randall Robinson's book tackling the issue of reparations, "The Debt,"
became a bestseller and sparked widespread discussion. Interestingly, this
book only seeks to convince readers that reparations are due; it does not
deal with the issues of how reparations should be paid.
The fact that the Africanite nation is owed reparations by the
European-American community is self-evident; we should not be in the
position of having to argue this fact. One need do no more than look at
the state of the world today. The American economy is the biggest in the
world, and that is hardly a coincidence. European settlers appropriated
huge swaths of land from Native Americans, and utilized slavery on an
industrial scale - not just on the plantations, but also in the
construction and maintenance of cities such as New York. How can you
possibly not get rich if you obtain the land, plus the labor to work it,
for free? It would take incompetence of monumental proportions for you to
somehow not gain fabulous wealth.
The capital which the European-American community amassed during the years
of slavery did what capital does best. It grew, and grew, and grew. Those
skyscrapers in New York? Those plush executive jets? Those ranches and
mansions? Those aircraft carriers? Those endowments and trust funds? Those
million-dollar paychecks for CEO's? They would not be there if it were not
for the sweat and suffering of our forebears. At the very least, they
would all be much reduced in scale.
The rapid accumulation of massive capital is one thing, the existence of
the country is another. One fact often overlooked in history books is that
the United States would not even have come into being if were not for the
Africanite contribution to American history. Initially, George Washington
excluded Africanites from the military, but when the American Revolution
clearly started to favor the British, the Patriots brought in our
forebears with a promise of freedom if they fought for independence. The
entry of tens of thousands of Africanites decisively turned the tide in
the War of Independence, allowing the United States to come into existence
as an entity.
We have contributed much to the fatherland, but have little. It's time for
a refund.
Having said that, numerous arguments have been voiced against any payment
of reparations. Only three arguments are worth responding to.
> The hardship was experienced by our ancestors, not us, and none of
us deserves any loot.
> Individual European-Americans should not have to pay for the crimes
of their forefathers.
> It is impossible to decide on an amount. Too small and it would be
insulting to the memory of those who died in chains, too large and
it would not be payable.
These are all valid points, and this author completely agrees on all three
counts against the payment of reparations.
It beggars belief that anyone would be able to stomach the idea of
spending reparations money on consumer items like a new ride or
bling-bling. Not even on worthier causes, such as a college education.
This writer, for one, would rather renounce any link to the Africanite
nation than watch other Africanites go on shopping sprees fueled by
reparations handouts.
Reparations are due because of the tremendous suffering - unimaginable
suffering - undergone by our great-grandparents. Their terrible, terrible
suffering is from another dimension; even if the reader would spend all
her remaining life seated in the lotus position contemplating it, she
would still not be able to understand it. The cosmic suffering our
forebears experienced is, like the size of the universe, beyond words and
defies description.
Yes, sometimes it's hard to make ends meet, and the idea of a cash
windfall can be tempting. But if you receive and spend reparations, it's
as if a relative of yours sweated in the fields 18 hours a day for her
entire life, only to pad your bank account. Spending reparations on an
individual level clearly isn't right, no matter how the money is spent.
The funds received as reparations must be parlayed into gains for the
Africanite nation as a whole, which will grow and shine as testament to
the sacrifices of our ancestors.
As to where the money should come from, deducting it from the paychecks of
all European-Americans would clearly cause an uproar. It would be hard to
calibrate the amount, or to administer the payment process. Many
European-Americans would try to claim exemption if their ancestors
emigrated to the United States after the abolition of slavery, or if their
ancestors were too impoverished to afford slaves.
Nonetheless, it remains a fact that reparations are due to us as a nation.
Therefore:
> Reparations should not be in the form of cash payments to us as
individuals. Rather, reparations should be paid to an entity
representing our nation - a self-governing authority in charge of
Africanite affairs, such as the elected administration of a
politically autonomous Africanite community.
> Reparations should be in the form of a transfer, from the federal
government to an Africanite entity, of the right to collect income
taxes paid by Africanites. The Africanite politically autonomous
entity would have the right to collect taxes from consenting
Africanite taxpayers (taxes which are currently already being paid
as federal income taxes).
This solution would mean that individual Africanites will not be spending
cash handouts. European-Americans, meanwhile, will see no change in the
taxes they pay or the size of their paycheck. The arrangement would be
entirely painless for European-Americans as individuals and relatively
painless for the European-American community as a whole, but the total
amount derived as reparations would still be colossal, since the
Africanite community must retain the right to tax itself for a duration
not less than the duration of slavery. At the very least, that would be
160 years, so the citizens of the Africanite autonomy would be exempt from
federal income taxes until at least the year 2160.
The revenue generated by such an arrangement - at least several billion
dollars per annum - would be everything we need for our community to start
governing itself; indeed, having citizens pay taxes to the government of
the autonomy instead of the national government is in keeping with the
definition of the concept of political autonomy. The Africanite autonomy
would quickly gain the ability to provide valuable services to the members
of our community, such as legislation, public works, education, law
enforcement, social welfare, and support for the business community.
It should be noted that although Africanites will not contribute income
taxes to federal coffers, the autonomous Africanite entity will benefit
from federal functions such as defense. Moreover, even individual
Africanites who elect to contribute their taxes to the Africanite autonomy
instead of the federal government will continue to enjoy the right to
avail of federal services. The consequence for the European-American
community is that it will be forced to take up the slack in federal budget
revenue, or make do with less revenue. The author foresees no problem with
this state of affairs, since the payment of reparations is partly punitive
in function, and a measure of sacrifice and pain should be endemic to the
process. Having said that, the degree of sacrifice and pain which will be
experienced by the European-American people under this proposal would be
negligible, and the total amount derived per annum will, as a percentage
of GDP, be modest in comparison to annual reparations paid by other
nations in the past. The amount derived would also be modest in comparison
to the back pay and damages - adjusted for inflation - that would actually
be due to those who experienced slavery, were they alive today.
Lastly, it should be noted that this solution does not necessarily require
the consent of the European-American community. This advantage is further
discussed in Chapter 28, "Viability."
From a macrohistoric perspective, reparations in the proposed form would
allow the European-American community to return to our community what was
taken away from us, namely our rightful place in the world. As a nation,
we were deprived of our freedom and identity by force, and to this day we
continue to live under the domination of our conquerors. The arrangement
proposed here will allow the Africanite nation to build an autonomous
society, thus allowing us to regain the freedom and identity - i.e., our
place in the world among nations - which we are owed.
In any case, the Africanite community must first become better organized,
through democratic elections of all members of the Africanite community.
The proposed solution presented in this chapter - or any other scheme, for
that matter - will not work if we are not organized into a cohesive,
unified nation. The longer we squabble amongst ourselves, the more distant
does the prospect of reparations become. Given the situation in our
community today, the inevitable conclusion is that a new generation of
leaders must come to the fore and unify the Africanite community before
any real progress will be possible.
It should be noted that the author is fully aware that even the solution
proposed here, simple and elegant as it is, involves countless difficult
details which must all be carefully worked out. Innumerable hurdles, legal
and practical, must be overcome before the arrangement can become a
reality. But the alternative would be to find some other realistic way for
the European-American community to fork over trillions and trillions of
dollars. (This author can't think of any.)
We have to be pragmatic and take what we can. The right to be taxed by
ourselves (as opposed to the federal government) is not just the best we
can do; it is perfectly sufficient for our larger strategic objectives. It
will give us the funds we require for self-determination - the transfer of
budgetary control to ourselves will amount to a state of de facto
autonomy. Reparations in this form are all we need to make political
autonomy a reality and bring the magnificent destiny of our people closer
to reality.
Reparations should not be viewed as a monetary refund; rather, the end
effect of reparations will be a restitution of what is rightfully ours,
namely the right to exist as members of a nation free of domination by
another people.
19. Religion
============
No doubt religion serves a deep spiritual purpose for many Africanites, as
it has done throughout our young nation's history.
But religion has always played far more than a spiritual role for our
people. Religion provided us with societal cohesion and a form of
identity, essential elements our nation lacked because our original
African cultures had been taken away from us.
That is why it is hardly surprising that a clergyman, Reverend Martin
Luther King, Jr., has been the most illustrious leader in the history of
our nation. The other giant of the 20th century, Minister Malcolm X, was
another clergyman who used a Muslim platform to bring his message to the
Africanite people. Today, religious figures such as Minister Louis
Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam and organizer of the Million Man
March, Reverend Jesse Jackson, and Reverend Al Sharpton continue to
address both spiritual as well as political issues. Al even tried to run
for president this year.
It goes without saying that the Christian-led civil rights movement and
the Muslim-led push for self-reliance have been vital for our people - and
this includes the religious dimension of both movements. Thanks to Malcolm
X and MLK, as well as those who carry their torches today, the Africanite
community's identity is far stronger and richer now than it was half a
century ago. We are well on our way to becoming a great nation.
There are, however, unfortunate ramifications of the faith-based approach
our community has taken to political leadership. Partly as a result of our
reliance on religion for guidance, the Africanite nation today is
fractured into faith-based segments; consequently, our community, devoid
of a unity, is lacking in leadership, and this has contributed to
widespread political apathy.
The time is ripe for secular leadership to rise up and unite the entire
Africanite nation. We can start striding towards our rightful place in
history only once we have attained unity as a people. All sectors of the
Africanite community must stand united behind secular leaders who can
bring the entire community together, regardless of faith. As long as
political leadership is bound to a particular religion, those of different
faiths will be excluded, and it will be impossible to lead the nation
forward.
In addition to the segmentation of the community and the inevitable
sectarianism it will cause, the other problem with a faith-based approach
to leadership is that lifestyle changes are often required of supporters -
or, more accurately, *followers*. This is a serious problem, since even
those who are drawn to the political ideals may well be repelled by the
social philosophy espoused and the lifestyle changes required.
For instance, in order to become part of Malcolm X's movement (first
Elijah Muhammed's Nation of Islam and later Malcolm's own Muslim Mosque),
one had to become an observant Muslim, eschewing pork, cigarettes,
alcohol, dancing, and gambling. Given the direction society has taken in
recent years, the prohibition of smoking seems prescient. But *dancing*?
Dancing is an important aspect of Africanite culture, and a life without
bumpin' and grindin' would amount to a living death for many an
Africanite. While the religious dimension played a vital role in
organizing Africanite society and in cultivating respect, it is also true
that a large number of potential supporters were alienated by the
religious requirements, perhaps unnecessarily so.
Malcolm X drew a huge following not because of the religious dimension of
his message, but despite of it. The fact that Malcolm X's following was
huge even though strict - draconian, by modern standards - demands were
made on personal lifestyles is testament to the power of his message and
the degree of popular discontent with the status quo of the time. The
author submits that, in this day and age of alternative lifestyles and
individual prerogative, even a religious leader blessed with the charisma
and genius of Malcolm X or MLK would have difficulty attracting a wide
following.
Another problem with religious leadership is that it is not democratic. In
any religion, it is acceptable for members to unquestioningly follow the
leadership; indeed, blind faith is a fundamental requirement in both
Christianity and Islam. In politics, however, it essential that all levels
of leadership are questioned constantly, to prevent corruption and to
encourage the refinement of political policy. Blind faith in the
leadership can easily lead a movement astray, particularly when individual
leaders are vested with vast powers. When such leadership errs morally or
politically, the movement itself rapidly unravels. In a purely political
organization, the leaders can easily be replaced if necessary, allowing
the movement to survive and thrive.
It should be noted that churches and mosques played an important role in
serving as rallying points for our community's political activities during
the Second Shift of our struggle. Civil rights leaders would meet at
church and then proceed to the sit-in, march, or demonstration. Once
again, fate is on the side of the Africanite people; the spread of the
Internet means that we no longer need rely on places of worship as nexuses
for the organizational system behind our political activities.
It will be clearly advantageous to the community if, in the Third Shift of
our community's history, the clergy focus their energies on the spiritual
needs of their congregations, and leave the leadership of the nation to
secular politicians.
Of course, this does not mean that our leaders must all be atheists. One
can be deeply devout, as President George W. Bush is, but at the same time
play a leadership role in a secular capacity. What matters is that, as in
any country with a constitution requiring the separation of church and
state, a distinction is made between religion and the administration of
the community's needs. This practically rules out religious professionals
from leadership positions in politics.
Lastly, it must be emphasized that the intent of this article is by no
means to disparage religion itself. Preachers in churches and mosques
throughout the country, as well as televangelists such as T. D. Jakes and
Creflo Dollar, continue to provide valuable spiritual and social guidance
for the people of our nation. Religion is an essential dimension of
Africanite culture, and because it is practiced by our community in a
uniquely Africanite way, it is part of what makes our nation special. The
point of this chapter is merely to stipulate that in the 21st century
religion and politics do not mix well, and should be kept separate.
In order to develop unity in our community, so crucial to our nation's
future, and to garner as much support as possible within the Africanite
populace, it is critically important that the leadership of our nation
during the Third Shift will be secular in nature. The switch from the
Africanite community's current crop of leaders to a newer and more dynamic
leadership will thus not be merely generational, but also social. It is
only fitting that a completely fresh crop of leaders will arise to lead
our nation into the future and towards the great destiny that awaits the
Africanite people.
20. Leadership
==============
Much has been said and written about the deplorable lack of able and
strong leadership in Africanite society today. Many prominent Africanites
have attributed this crisis in leadership to the lack of talent and
commitment of our leaders. A common criticism is that our leaders are
egocentric individuals with loose morals, and that they care more about
status and personal financial gain than making a difference. In short, the
message is that our leadership is to blame for the doldrums we as a people
find ourselves in today.
While perhaps some individuals do deserve all the criticism they get and
then some, attacking individual figures will not solve our leadership
crisis. We need to consider the historical forces which have led to the
situation we find ourselves in today. Then we will discover who is
actually to blame for the root cause of why the Africanite nation lacks
the leadership it deserves, and what to do about it.
Our leaders today are not effective for three reasons. One, they are not
angry. Two, those who would have made better leaders are not drawn to
politics. Three, our leaders stem from a previous era.
It is extremely unfashionable to be angry these days. This is terrible.
One must be angry - deeply and genuinely upset and filled with a burning
desire for change - to be able to take effective action. All our
well-known political leaders - Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, Malcolm
X, the Black Panthers - were seething inside at the lack of justice in
America and at the conditions prevalent in our community.
These days, the "angry black man" has become a comical stereotype, and
individuals who are truly upset about the state of affairs and earnest in
their discussions of such issues are more likely to be lampooned than
listened to. That is why our leaders are not angry and why talented young
persons who would potentially become great leaders are seeking careers
outside of politics.
Why has being angry become unfashionable? It is not because there is
nothing to be angry about; on the contrary, there is plenty. Lynchings may
be a thing of the past, but our community still does not have a fair share
of the country's wealth, millions of our own are rotting away in prisons
across the United States, and every day of our lives we are plagued by
subtle discrimination, condescension, disdain, and disrespect.
Being angry became unfashionable because our hopes were dashed once too
often. When our two most talented leaders - Malcolm X and MLK - were
assassinated, the Africanite community suffered a setback that is too
large to describe. The disintegration of the Black Panthers - a group of
fringe fanatics who would not have attracted much support were it not for
the fact that the community was reeling from the devastating effect of the
deaths of Malcolm X, MLK and Robert Kennedy - was the last major blow our
nation suffered.
So much was at stake, and these setbacks were collectively such an
indescribable tragedy, that the Africanite nation's psyche never fully
recovered. Not surprisingly, the Africanite community became jaded,
disillusioned, and disinterested in politics. It was unlikely anyone would
be able to fill the shoes of those towering giants among men, and why
bother even try? We might as well forget about politics and get on with
our lives, and try to make the best of a bad situation - this thinking was
and has been the psychological background to our nation's lack of interest
in politics.
As an indirect result of the prevailing disinterest in politics within the
Africanite community, it became increasingly necessary to refrain from
voicing frustration with the status quo (and, by implication, the
European-American establishment). Any overt displays of anger - of
intentions to take political action aimed at undermining European-American
domination of our community - put at risk the professional and financial
success of the majority of Africanites, who had substituted their interest
in politics with the pursuit of personal goals. And that is why the angry
young man became a caricature. Lampooning him was a clear message, a way
of saying: don't rock the boat, man, I'm trying to make a living here.
Both of our greatest leaders - Malcolm X and MLK - as well as the Black
Panthers, were brought down by infighting amongst the leadership of their
organizations. But in each case, especially in the case of the Panthers,
the FBI - specifically, COINTELPRO - played a role in spurring on this
infighting.
We must face it: the establishment won and we lost. Rather than blame
ourselves or our current inadequate leadership, we must understand what
happened and learn from the experience. Next time round, the Africanite
nation will be more wary of infighting and of the FBI. Luckily, we have a
new weapon in our struggle: Information Technology. The Internet allows
instant and discrete communication. If this treatise has any effect on the
current generation of Africanites and a new movement arises, bringing
unity to the Africanite community and hope for the future, the FBI will
have a much harder time thwarting it. Bring on the rematch!
Last but not least, our leadership is ineffective because the formative
years of our leaders were in a previous era. The geopolitical dynamic of
the world has changed, and our leaders have been left behind. Caught
unawares by the implosion of the Soviet Union, our leaders have not
grasped the significance for our community of the changes that have been
taking place across the globe and within America, and continue to be
haunted by an enduring and unhealthy fixation with the concept of race.
Their interpretation of the world is quaint at best and dangerously skewed
at worst. This book seeks to correct the prevalent but erroneous
consciousness, of both of our leaders and the entire Africanite
population.
The question remains of who exactly will lead the Africanite community
towards the destiny awaiting us. While their identity is as yet unknown,
it is clear that, in order to unify the Africanite nation, the leadership
must be secular. Moreover, since the goal is to establish an autonomous
local government juxtaposed alongside the existing network of political
entities, traditional political leaders who have gained their status in
the existing system are also unlikely to be up to the job. These two
factors eliminate most of our current leaders.
The most likely scenario is that a new generation of leaders will rise up
and take charge. With all due respect to those at the helm of our
community today and their past achievements, it will be the Internet
generation which will provide the impetus, the organization, and the
leadership to bring our community together for the Third Shift in
Africanite history. The principal purpose of this book is to articulate
what many have long known and believed - albeit subconsciously - and
thereby galvanize our community into action. As awareness gradually begins
to spread of the fact that the Africanite community is a proud nation with
an imminent glorious future, new leaders - capable and energetic - will
emerge from the great pool of talent that is the Africanite community.
Leaders are not made, they are born. There are those in our community who
will not be content with passive participation in the movement, and seek
to actively promote the cause of political autonomy for the Africanite
nation. These natural-born leaders will see a crucial role for themselves
in the Africanite nation's march towards its destiny. They will not be
able to contain their enthusiasm and energy, and will be driven to share
their excitement with others.
It will be up to these ambitious young leaders of this nation to break
down the vision presented in this book and bring it to the people; they
will play an essential role in reaching out to every layer of our
community. Our new leaders will be those who will build web sites, email
lists and bulletin boards; arrange media-friendly events such as concerts
and rallies; defend the tenets espoused in this manifesto in local radio
stations and newspapers; host neighborhood events such as barbeques and
parties; gain sponsorship from Africanite businesses for the production of
printed and multimedia publicity material; link up with other leaders
throughout the country and build a national organization - these are the
men and women who will eventually lead the greatest of nations into the
annals of history.
21. Picture the Future
======================
In previous chapters, the author has argued that our community is on the
verge of becoming a great nation. Yet, perhaps because of the coverage
coming out of Liberia, the archetypical failed state, people continue to
be wary of the prospects of an Africanite autonomy. Might our efforts to
bring about a self-governing Africanite entity not result in another
economic disaster, and leave our people cursed with unemployment, gang
warfare, and abject poverty?
This chapter will prove that nothing could be further from the truth, and
draw a picture of the magnificent future awaiting our nation. The evil
karma afflicting Liberia, meanwhile, is discussed in Chapter 11, "Liberian
Lesson."
First of all, it must be stated that the Africanite nation already has a
track record of stunning success. The Africanite nation includes countless
individuals who have, despite mountainous obstacles, attained stunning
economic success. We all know that our community is, and always has been,
blessed with an abundance of highly talented individuals; what is less
well-known is that many are just as hard-working as they are talented. P
Diddy, for example, started off with not one, but two paper routes as a
10-year-old; today he is worth tens of millions, a fortune amassed mainly
as an entrepreneur.
There are countless other success stories, and scholars and writers
nationwide have done a superb job apprising the community of Africanite
achievements. This author would like to point out just one oft-overlooked
fact, namely that dozens of financially successful Africanites have moved
themselves and their money abroad, due to the prevailing negative
attitudes of the European-American majority back home. These expatriate
Africanite multi-millionaires reside in places such as France or Thailand,
where, apparently, it is far easier for successful Africanites to be
accepted and respected by mainstream society than in their own country.
The fact that individual Africanites have always been able to attain
financial and professional success despite the odds stacked against them
is one indication that the Africanite community is a sleeping giant just
waiting to be stirred into frenetic economic activity.
The news is also good in macroeconomic terms. It is important to realize
that while the Africanite autonomy will be freshly created, our economy
does not have to be built from scratch. Dispersed as we are throughout the
country, we have nonetheless built up a sizable economy, and become
dominant in specific sectors of the larger national economy. We have
achieved more than most countries, and the scale of our economic activity
is more than enough to give the budding Africanite nation a foothold in
the world economy. Larry Elder mentioned this statistic in his book, "The
Ten Things You Can't Say in America":
But blacks collectively have a gross domestic product of $500
billion annually, enough to make blacks among the fifteenth
wealthiest nations were they an independent state.
In an age of a relentlessly globalizing world economy, it is not necessary
for any nation to develop a complete range of industries. Quite the
contrary; the failure to specialize can be a nation's downfall. Nations
are like individuals - if they try to do everything at once, they may end
up doing nothing right. As an integral part of the American and world
economies, it will not be necessary for the Africanite autonomy to develop
basic industries such as agriculture, pharmaceuticals, textiles, or
manufacturing, since other states already specialize in these areas.
Instead, we must focus on our strengths. Like any nation, we must develop
our core competence and specialize in a select number of industries which
are complimentary to our culture and, as such, likely to enhance our
competitiveness on a global scale. Since our community has already enjoyed
unequalled success in the recording industry, it is clear that the
Africanite autonomy will be a mecca for entertainment. Visitors from
across America and the world will be drawn to our concerts, festivals,
shows, galas, and sporting events. The Africanite people's natural flair,
style, creativity and talent will fuel a booming entertainment industry
unparalleled in the history of nations.
Imagine a shimmering city by the sea; an agglomeration of gleaming glass
towers, ultramodern stadiums, and stunningly designed concert halls. Like
the people who built and inhabit the city, the architecture is inventive
and creative and unlike anywhere else in the world. This city is
constantly abuzz with excitement; whereas other cities stage world-class
events once or twice a decade, the five-star luxury hotel complexes here
are constantly overflowing with visitors from across the country and the
world. This city is where celebrities come to be seen, where young people
come to learn, where talented people come to succeed, and where everyone
else comes to soak up the atmosphere.
Throughout this book, the author has been adamant that the Africanite
nation will be acclaimed as one of the greatest nations the world has ever
seen, by contemporaries and posterity alike. What this means in real terms
is that the Africanite nation will have the world's best nightlife, the
world's most innovative restaurants, the world's most exciting art scene,
the world's most dazzling architecture, the world's most acclaimed
schools, and the world's highest concentration of luxury vehicles - a
large number of them pimped to perfection in the uniquely Africanite way.
As is true for any nation with an extraordinarily successful economy, the
Africanite autonomy will prosper by attracting exceptional individuals
from across the world in addition to nurturing native talent.
One facet of our nation's genius is that Africanites have long excelled in
sports. We already dominate most sports in the United States. But the best
part is yet to come. As is the right of any self-governing nation, the
politically autonomous Africanite nation will gain the right to compete
separately in international sporting competitions, such as the Olympics.
Had Africanites participated in the 2000 Olympics under their own flag, we
would have ranked not lower than 13th in the medal count among the 150
participating nations of the world - not bad for an economically
challenged minority of only 30 million souls.
Imagine the freedom autonomy will bring for our nation to express itself
in the international arena. Imagine tens of thousands of Africanite fans
cheering their national soccer team at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Imagine
the standing ovation from the crowd as the Africanite contingent marches
behind its own flag for the first time in the Opening Ceremony of the 2012
Olympic Games. Imagine the Africanite anthem being played as Africanites
celebrate victory at yet another Olympic event.
A bountiful haul of medals at the Olympics won't be where our triumphs
end. In 1968, at the Mexico Olympics, sprinters Tommie Smith and John
Carlos won the gold and bronze medals, respectively, in the 200 meters. On
the victory podium, they clenched their fists in a dignified salute to the
struggle. Both men were quickly dropped from the relays, expelled from the
Olympic Village, and found their lives ruined as jobs dried up and death
threats came in. It would be a fitting tribute to both of these heroes of
the Africanite nation if, at the Opening Ceremony of the 2020 Olympic
Games, to be held in the capital city of the Africanite autonomy,
thousands of performers raise their clenched fists in unison, signifying
to the world that the Africanite nation has come of age.
At this point, it must be made clear that it is by no means the intention
of this writer to suggest that the talents of the Africanite nation are
limited to entertainment and sports. The vision of the Africanite autonomy
as a pulsating hub of entertainment and a mecca of sporting activity is
based merely on our track record thus far. Other industries will quickly
follow. Once Africanite individuals realize that they can contribute to a
society of their own - a society free of European-American domination -
educational attainment levels will surge, and the talent of our people
will be unleashed in the form of careers in every industry imaginable.
(See Chapter 9, "Instant Incentive.")
What has been presented thus far would be sufficient to arouse the envy of
any nation. But there's more, far more.
Before proceeding, the author would like to draw the reader's attention to
Hong Kong. While this city's fortunes have been flagging somewhat for the
last decade, it is still one of the richest metropolises in the world;
Hong Kong boasts the largest number of Rolls-Royces per capita. Yet Hong
Kong was little more than a small fishing village half a century ago. How
did this insignificant speck of land manage to fly so high?
Unlike Macau, which was also a foreign territory on Chinese shores but
ended up as no more than a gambling haven, Hong Kong soared because it
positioned itself well. As an autonomous territory of the United Kingdom,
it pursued an explicit growth strategy of serving as the main gateway
between the People's Republic of China and the rest of the world. Thanks
to China's abundant natural and human resources, Hong Kong prospered
tremendously while acting as an intermediary between Western economies and
China.
Hong Kong's experience is relevant because the Africanite autonomy is in a
position to emulate, and surpass, Hong Kong's achievement.
Africa, larger and richer than even China, is the world economy's sleeping
colossus. Despite abundant potential, Africa has continued to linger as
the world's poorest continent. Numerous problems have hindered Africa's
progress towards prosperity and development, and conditions vary from
country to country. Nevertheless, local analysts agree that it is clear
that when individual African economies are studied and compared, three
patterns emerge that are common throughout sub-Saharan Africa, and that
these problems are largely responsible for the disastrous situation Africa
finds itself in today.
First, African social development has been stymied by a conflict between
traditional values and the modern, Western system. This conflict is
manifested on many levels, such as education, health care and agricultural
planning. For example, a village is often ruled both by a traditional
chief and a local administrator appointed by the central government, and
the ensuing confusion obscures accountability and encourages lassitude.
This dichotomous situation is the leading cause of widespread corruption.
Second, borders were arbitrarily drawn up by colonial administrators, and
do not reflect actual demographic patterns. This disparity has been the
cause of countless incidents and simmering hostility between ethnic
groups. The ensuing lack of security has derailed development plans
throughout the continent.
Third and most important, due to a history of colonization and
exploitation, Africa has a dysfunctional relationship with the
industrialized Western world. A justifiable lack of trust for Western
corporations and institutions permeates all of Africa. Unfortunately,
while Africa has the labor and the natural resources, the West has the
capital - and capital is indispensable for development. Hence, as a direct
consequence of the lack of trust between Africa and the West, there has
been a dearth of projects, and projects that do make it to the
implementation stage are handicapped by misunderstanding between all
parties involved. This has led to a vicious cycle of rapidly accumulating
debts, and a marked shortage of new investment across the continent.
This is where the Africanite nation can help. Having originated in Africa,
and having suffered at the hands of the European-American community - the
West - it will be much easier for us to gain the trust of African nations.
Since our nation is currently still under the direct political control of
European-American society, we are still perceived by Africans as "the
white man's dogs," but our rise to a state of political autonomy will
bring us stature and respect.
The respect and trust of the African people will allow the Africanite
nation to act as a conduit between African labor and resources on the one
hand, and Western capital on the other hand - just as was the case for
Hong Kong. The ensuing intercontinental commerce between Africa, the
Africanite autonomy, and the rest of the world will bring historically
unprecedented prosperity to Africa. And as the African countries finally
start to boom, the Africanite economy will rocket to stratospheric highs.
Our financial institutions and corporations will see decades of
uninterrupted double-digit growth as African trade surges towards global
levels. It is perfectly within the realm of possibility that, within a
decade or two, the Africanite autonomy will boast the highest GDP per
capita in the United States - perhaps even in the world.
Since aspiring Africans will be more likely to enroll in Africanite
universities, and African governments will be more likely to trust advice
from Africanite think tanks, it is likely that the Africanite nation will
also play a role in helping African social and administrative development.
Additionally, by sharing the Africanite experience of securing stability
and prosperity through the pursuit of political autonomy, and perhaps
linking reform to capital investment, the Africanite nation could also
play a role in engendering the realignment of African political boundaries
along demographically sensible lines. Social development and increased
political stability will only add to the breakneck pace of development.
Throughout this book the author has prophesied a golden age for the
Africanite nation, and boldly declared that we will gain entry into
history's Hall of Fame, alongside the ancient Egyptians, the Romans, the
Incas, the Moghuls, and all other great empires of the world. The vision
presented in this chapter, of an Africanite state entering an age of
tremendous prosperity as it leads the continent of Africa out of its long
slumber, should have convinced any reader that the forecast is not based
on empty hype, but on a real possibility.
While the opportunity of tremendous prosperity is on our doorstep, it will
not jump into our laps on its own accord. We must fight for it. We must
take proactive measures to seize it and make it ours. The Africanite
community must attain political unity in the quest for the great destiny
that awaits our nation. Only once the Africanite people have become aware
of their place in history can they start striding towards the magnificent
future awaiting their nation.
22. The Shape of Autonomy
=========================
It is all well and good to proclaim the benefits of political autonomy and
foretell a magnificent future for our nation, but how exactly will
political autonomy be obtained? How can we effect a transition from the
status quo to a situation in which the majority of Africanites are under
the governance of an Africanite administration?
The conundrum the Africanite community faces is that our population is
widely dispersed across the country. Clearly, a process of geographic
consolidation is required, and the most significant issue we face is the
same problem that has bedeviled all other peoples on this planet, past and
present. It is the problem that, whether due to necessity or greed, has
led to wars, atrocities, and tragedies involving millions of people. That
problem is, of course, land. Like other nations in history, the Africanite
community must somehow secure the territory to provide substance to our
political autonomy. Technically, since Africanite individuals and
businesses already own a large amount of land in the form of innumerable
separate lots dispersed across the country, what we actually lack is a
process of geographic consolidation and the right of sovereignty. But it
amounts to the same thing: we still need to secure territory. But how?
The short answer is that a new state must be added to the Union.
The creation of a special autonomous province with powers exceeding those
enjoyed by the fifty states would be preferable, perhaps, but the addition
of a new state is easiest to implement. States enjoy a considerable degree
of autonomy - albeit less than before - and gaining the status of
statehood would be the simplest and quickest way to attain our objective
of gaining an autonomous foothold within the United States.
There is ample precedent of new states joining the Union. Hawaii was
admitted as recently as 1959, and Puerto Rico was on the verge of being
admitted in 1998. The Puerto Rican electorate, voting in a referendum,
opted not to join, but Puerto Rico could well have become the 51st state.
It follows that the Africanite state will become the 51st state.
The most obvious impediment is that there is no unclaimed land available
for occupation and addition to the union. This leaves the Africanite
nation no choice but to carve out territory from existing states.
The constitution of the United States is rightly revered; it is perhaps
the best constitution in the world, and has served as a model for many a
developing nation. Our federal constitution has ensured the health of
American democracy throughout the history of the Union. This writer has
long marveled at the wisdom of those who inserted the following paragraph,
a verbatim quote from Article IV, Section 3:
New States may be admitted by the Congress into this Union; but no
new State shall be formed or erected within the Jurisdiction of any
other State; nor any State be formed by the Junction of two or more
States, or Parts of States, without the Consent of the Legislatures
of the States concerned as well as of the Congress.
There you have it. All the Africanite nation needs to constitutionally
gain statehood is the approval of the donor states and Congress. Those who
immediately reject the notion of a politically autonomous Africanite state
as unrealistic, citing the immutability of existing political boundaries,
have clearly not read their constitution. The grand strategy of political
autonomy is clearly not a pie in the sky; it is an increasingly realistic
possibility just around the corner.
As every schoolchild knows, state boundaries have been revised numerous
times in the past. The State of Georgia, for example, used to include
Mississippi.
A minor but nonetheless relevant point is that, in this day and age,
current state boundaries can be thought of as having been haphazardly
imposed onto the US map without regard to actual population patterns, and
the act of redrawing state lines will have minimal disruptive effect on
existing cultures. Noting that our international borders are along a
cultural divide and that "most states contain two or more distinctly
different culture and political areas or fragments thereof or are part of
a much larger single culture area," Dr Wilbur Zelinsky, author of
"Cultural Geography of the United States," concluded:
While the international boundaries act as a cultural container, the
interstate boundaries are curiously irrelevant. Even when the state
had a strong autonomous early existence - as happened with
Massachusetts, Virginia, or Pennsylvania - subsequent economic and
political forces have tended to wash away such initial identities.
Actually, it could be argued that the political divisions of the 48
conterminous states are anachronistic in the context of contemporary
socioeconomic and cultural forces.
It has been suggested that it might be easier to "take over" an existing
state. This would in fact be much more difficult. While there is a
precedent for the creation of a new state from the territory of an
existing state - West Virginia was created from land ceded by Virginia -
there is no precedent for the hijacking of a state. Moreover, it will be
much easier for the affected native residents to stomach the psychological
loss if their state is downsized rather than replaced, and consequently
the anticipated opposition will be less fierce. In addition, taking over a
state would require large numbers of Africanites to physically settle in
the target state and gain local voting rights before any major
infrastructural, political, and societal changes have taken place, and in
this day and age that would be asking too much.
The path of least resistance would be to acquire territory from not one,
but two states. Each state would supply precisely 40 percent of its land
area. This would afford the Africanite state a larger land area than
territory from just one state, and, since two states would share the
burden, the psychological impact for those involved would be considerably
less than if only one state were to donate territory. Additionally, an
arrangement which will allow the ceding states to keep the majority - 60
percent - of their current land area will help soften the blow
considerably.
Still, gaining the approval of the donor states will not be easy, to say
the least, and there is the matter of native residents to consider.
Chapter 27, "Superimposition" deals with these problems.
It should be noted that while the idea of gaining a state for the
Africanite nation is not new - it has been suggested several times during
our history, most notably by Elijah Muhammed's Nation of Islam in the time
of the Second Shift - this book is the first instance of a call for
statehood being presented along with a viable and doable strategy to
implement the transition to statehood.
Needless to say, while the grand strategy presented in this book is a
feasible one, the implementation is not expected to be plain sailing. The
road to statehood will be riddled with potholes, and at times the
resistance posed both by European-American society as well as conservative
members of our community will be intense and painful. The journey will be
well worth the tribulations, however, for a state in which Africanites
completely dominate not just electoral politics, but all aspects of the
power structure - the bureaucracy, regulatory boards, the media, big
business, industry associations, the chambers of commerce, trade unions,
charities, educational institutions - will bring unprecedented freedom to
our community, allowing the Africanite nation to flourish as never before.
Once statehood is attained, the Africanite nation will, for the first time
in history, be able to pursue its own unique destiny, and strive forward
to the magnificent future it deserves.
In fact, statehood will actually bring us more than political autonomy and
the ability to pursue our nation's unique destiny. The additional benefits
of statheood are further discussed in Chapter 23, "Consolidation."
23. Consolidation
=================
The process of geographic consolidation to a single contiguous area should
not be regarded as a nuisance which must be endured for the sake of
political autonomy, but as a concomitant benefit of political autonomy.
Geographic consolidation - even without the advent of political autonomy -
will finally allow the Africanite nation to flex its muscles in the
political arena.
An ancient Asian parable tells of a warlord's three sons, who kept
quarrelling amongst themselves. One day the warlord assembled his sons
before him, and held up his quiver, full of fine bamboo arrows. "Each of
you, take an arrow," he commanded his sons. "Then grasp it firmly with
both hands and bend it until it breaks." Puzzled, the sons did as
instructed, and all three arrows snapped. The father nodded. "Now take
three arrows each, and try again." Again, the sons did as instructed, but
found that, try as they might, they could not break three arrows at once.
"Each of those arrows represents one of you," the warlord explained.
"Individually, you are weak and easily broken. But if you work together,
you will be strong and unbreakable." The sons then realized the wisdom of
their father's words, embraced each other, and vowed to never quarrel
amongst themselves again.
This parable holds an important lesson for us Africanites. Dispersed
across the United States, we are weak. If we come together, we will be
strong. Following a process of geographic consolidation, our community
will emerge far more powerful than it is today, both economically and
politically.
Analysts continue to lament the paltry statistics produced by Africanites
as an economic group; individual Africanites and Africanite-owned
businesses continue to underperform. While access to adequate capital is
one problem, the fact that Africanite business activity is dispersed
across the country is another. Currently, Africanite businesses often have
little choice but to do business with non-Africanite suppliers, because no
center of Africanite economic activity is large enough to accommodate a
critical mass of economic activity within the community.
An economy is never the mere sum of its parts. The larger and the more
concentrated the market, the more intense the synergy. Geographic
consolidation will by itself immediately boost the statistics of
Africanite economic activity to unprecedented levels - even without taking
into account the tremendous amount of new investment and the variegated
new economic opportunities which statehood will bring.
Even more promising than economic consolidation is the effect geographic
consolidation will have on our political power. Political consolidation
will allow our community to, for the first time in history, exercise
political clout commensurate to the numerical strength of our population.
Currently, the Africanite community is woefully underrepresented in both
houses of Congress. This is because the political system in the United
States is not one of proportional representation. Since Africanite
residents constitute a minority within many political districts, many
Africanite candidates do not make it to Capitol Hill even though
Africanite candidates as a whole tend to garner a proportionate share of
the popular vote - thanks to loyal voting along ethnic lines. Thus, the
percentage of Africanite candidates elected is far less than the
percentage of Africanites in the general population. Those Africanites
candidates that do get elected to the national legislature have usually
been forced to modify their message to appeal to non-Africanite voters
within their constituency.
As a result, our collective political power has always been
disproportionately small; we have nowhere near the 52 seats in the House
of Representatives and the 12 seats in the Senate that we would have under
a regime of absolute proportional representation. Moreover, those
Africanite legislators that do manage to make it to Congress are not able
to work on exclusively Africanite issues.
Geographic and political consolidation will change this situation, and the
implications are considerable. Not only will we be fairly represented in
both the House of Representatives and the Senate, we will be able to
exercise considerable political power - a power disproportionately
*larger* by far than the size of our population.
It has long been the understanding that, as a minority, we will never
enjoy real political power. The United States will forever be dominated by
European-American individuals and institutions - simply due to sheer
numbers. Africanites amount to only slightly more than a tenth of the
population, and democracy by its very nature rewards the strength of
numbers. Consequently, it is not, and never will be, easy for our
community to further its interests - not due to racism, but because
numerically we are a minority and the European-American community
constitutes the majority. That is a fact.
Yet there is a way for ethnic minorities to exercise real political power,
and fate is on our side.
Whenever two large political parties vying for power are equally matched,
smaller parties emerge as the power brokers - and win significant
concessions for their constituents. If, for instance, the Democratic and
Republican Parties both have 48 seats in the Senate, and another party
called, say, the United Africanite Party has 4 seats, both the Democrats
and the Republicans will try to woo the UAP into an alliance, called a
coalition. The coalition will have 52 seats, and control the Senate. In
return for voting along with the ruling party and swaying the balance of
power in favor of the ruling party, the United Africanite Party can coerce
the coalition partner into passing legislation it desires.
It just so happens that, for the past several years, the Democrats and
Republicans have been just about evenly matched, and this stalemate is
expected to continue. The timing is exactly right for the debut of a
unified Africanite political party. Luckily for us, previous attempts to
launch influential third parties - Perot's Reform Party in 1992 and 1996,
and Nader's Green Party in 2000 - have failed, and we still have a chance
to become America's third party.
Ethnically based political parties are not uncommon. Just north of the
border, a party called Bloc Quebecois represents French-Canadians, and has
successfully advocated that minority's rights in Canadian politics. In
Britain, the Scottish National Party brought devolution to Scotland in
1997. That means Scotland is now run mainly by the Scots, not the English.
Legislation is drawn up in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh, not London,
and the politicians making it are Scottish, not English. This would never
have been possible had the Scots not voted for the Scottish National Party
in election after election.
Perhaps because of our military and economic might, we often do not
realize that, on the world stage, the United States is an anomaly - it is
run solely by two political parties, and an ethnic-based party does not
exist.
Geographic consolidation and the formation of an Africanite political
party will allow the Africanite community to, for the first time in
history, exercise real political power on the national level. Since true
power lies with the legislative branch of government, and since an
Africanite president would - like most Africanite elected officials
today - be in a position of representing European-American citizens in
addition to Africanite citizens, an Africanite political party with a
critical number of seats in Congress would be even more effective than
having an Africanite in the Oval Office.
The only representation the Africanite community currently has in Congress
is the House of Representative's Black Caucus, which is an association of
Africanite politicians who are already members of the Democratic or
Republican parties. While Black Caucus members undoubtedly do their best
under the circumstances, the size of the Caucus is small compared to the
overall size of the House, the Caucus's members are in the awkward
position of having to simultaneously represent both Africanite and
European-American constituents, and the Caucus's scope of action is
limited by what would be approved by both major parties - which is not
much. Since the legislators who comprise the Black Caucus are members of
either the Republican or Democratic party and are, as such, obliged to
follow party guidelines, the Black Caucus has virtually no real bargaining
power.
Geographic consolidation will bring real and immediate benefits to the
Africanite community, even if only half of the Africanite population
recognizes the advantages of relocating to the Africanite state. It goes
without saying that real political power would be an enormous asset to the
Africanite state, and we must consider ourselves fortunate that the
standoff between the two major parties will allow the Africanite nation to
exercise more than its fair share of power.
There is, incidentally, another reason why Africanites should establish
their own third party: both traditional parties have failed us miserably.
The reader does not have to be persuaded that the Republican Party has
failed us; most Africanites harbor a deep distrust for the Republican
Party. The Democrats, meanwhile, have become more and more like the
Republican as their agenda has inched towards the center; indeed, the
Democratic Party seems to remember that it is the Africanite community's
political party of choice only come election time, when our votes are
needed.
Let us keep our votes for ourselves. Geographic consolidation and the
formation of an Africanite political party will allow us to do just that.
24. Transition to Prominence
============================
Now that our medium-term objective is clear - the acquisition of
statehood - let us discuss the phases the Africanite community must
undergo as a process of stepping towards this objective and the larger
goal beyond, of claiming our rightful place in the pantheon of great
nations.
Broadly speaking, there are four phases.
The first phase is the permeation of information throughout our community.
Currently the great majority of the members of the Africanite nation are
not even aware that their community constitutes a nation, that this nation
is the proud owner of a globally respected culture, that a magnificent
future awaits our people, and that political autonomy is a realistic,
doable solution. These and other concepts presented in this book must
permeate through the Africanite population before any change can take
place. This phase is further discussed in Chapter 31, "Baby Steps."
Once this phase has been successfully completed and an awareness of the
concepts involved has spread throughout the Africanite community, a fierce
debate is inevitable, with those broadly in favor pitted against those
strongly opposed. As is the case in any democratic society, this
intellectual process is, of course, necessary and healthy.
Whether a clear consensus eventually emerges from this debate or not, the
vision of a new Africanite nation must be put the test in the form of
elections within the community, which will not only determine who will
lead our nation into the future, but also, crucially, serve to unify the
community. With a democratic mandate to represent the Africanite nation,
our new leadership will have the requisite status and bargaining power to
enact the process of securing our nation's place within the United States.
The process of organizing the elections will in itself bring cohesion,
momentum and increased awareness to all levels of the Africanite
community. There will, of course, be no official governmental
administrative seats to fill; the election will be on a community level
for positions within a non-partisan organization - a grand Africanite
congress - whose primary purpose will not be to govern the politically
autonomous Africanite state once established, but to serve as the
facilitator of its conception - akin to the Jewish Congress which brought
about the creation of Israel.
This job will involve the drafting of an organizational constitution,
developing a system for polling the Africanite community on policies,
authoring a provisional constitution for the state-to-be, and implementing
the installation of an interim administration, which will be tasked with
the monumental job of developing the groundwork for an eventual Africanite
state. Needless to say, a discussion of these topics merits a separate
book and will not be tackled further here, lest the focus of this volume -
introducing the essential concepts surrounding the Third Shift in
Africanite history - be blurred by excessive discussion of detail.
The unification of the Africanite community and the election of a
leadership constitute the second stage on the road to political autonomy.
Once our leadership has been decided and our community has become a
coherent and united force, an ambitious construction project must be
launched to prepare the Africanite state for settlement by millions of
Africanites.
At this point, the reader will doubtlessly expect the issue of land to be
addressed. In the interest of clarity, this matter will be dealt with
separately in Chapter 26, "Heartland." For the meantime, suffice it to say
that it is understood that a substantial area of underpopulated land
suitable for economic development must be available for the creation of an
Africanite state, and that a strategy has been developed to make this
condition a reality.
At first brush, since the implication for the reader is that a physical
move must take place for one to live in and become a citizen of the
Africanite autonomy, the idea of relocating will no doubt seem as an
outrageous idea - until one considers the fact that, throughout the
country, tens of thousands of families move into new homes in new
subdivisions every day. Moving from one part of the United States to
another is not unusual; it is a commonly accepted sacrifice for starting a
new job, enrolling in a new school, consummating an online love affair, or
merely expanding one's horizon of opportunities.
Granted, a move to another part of the country is bound to be tiresome and
traumatic, but we Africanites will have it relatively easy. Every day,
thousands of individuals and families move to the United States from all
corners of the globe, in search of better opportunities and a more
comfortable life. Most have spent months if not years waiting for visas,
saving up for the move, and learning the English language. One must also
not forget that millions of our grandparents moved North to escape
injustice in the South, often enduring extreme poverty and hardship. Our
generation's difficulties - quitting the job, selling the house, renting a
truck - will be trivial in comparison.
The prospect of physical relocation may necessitate some readers to
confront the issue of sentimental attachment to their current
neighborhoods. This is a real problem. No matter how squalid, dilapidated,
or European-American their neighborhood may be, some will nonetheless find
it hard to entertain the idea of moving away from their confortably
familiar neighborhoods, especially if their formative years were spent
there. Even prisoners, released after many years behind bars, are said to
feel a tinge of melancholy when bidding farewell to the cell that was
their home for many years. Some inmates even develop a severe case of
Stockholm Syndrome and end up harboring a powerful attachment to their
wardens and cells, to the extent of refusing to leave when their sentences
are up. Similarly, it is perhaps inevitable that some Africanites will opt
to remain behind in their current locales. We can do nothing but wish them
well.
The other reason the reader may be alarmed by the prospect of migration to
a new location is that the idea of building a new state conjures up images
of pioneering settlers enduring primitive conditions while eking out a
meager living from the land. Rest assured, it is not the case that the new
Africanite state will be a patch of barren wasteland, that all incoming
residents will be asked to build a shack using their bare hands, or that
the only available jobs will be in farming. In fact, as we shall see
further on in this chapter, quite the reverse is true.
As is the case in any area of the United States experiencing a high rate
of population growth, state-of-the-art infrastructure - transportation,
electricity, water, sewage, telecommunications, broadband, and so on -
will exist. Civil authorities as well as private-sector developers will
have been hard at work planning and building residential, industrial,
commercial and recreational zones. A local economy of a magnitude
comparable to that of any medium-sized state will have arisen, and - as is
the case in any booming economy - a surplus of jobs will be available in
virtually every stratum of society.
This is not an empty promise based on nothing but blind hope. If these
conditions are not met, the dream of political autonomy for the Africanite
nation will come to nothing. In this day and age it is unreasonable and
unrealistic to expect people - no matter how fanatically supportive of the
ideal of an autonomous Africanite nation - to give up their lives for
anything less. Therefore, bringing a functional first-rate economy into
being must be an integral component of any strategic plan designed to
bring about the establishment of a politically autonomous Africanite
state.
Here is how it will work.
The Africanite nation will be the beneficiary of federal income taxes
being paid by Africanites throughout the country (Chapter 18, "The
Reparations Solution"). Since these taxes are in lieu of an indemnity for
the hardship and injustice suffered by our nation, all Africanites - even
those Africanites who will permanently remain in their current locales -
will have the right to opt to be taxed by the Africanite nation instead of
the federal government.
The significance of this fact is that the Africanite state can be built up
*before* Africanites start to physically transfer to the area to be
administered by the Africanite authority.
The income taxes collected by the Africanite nation will amount to, at the
very least, several billion dollars per annum, even if for some reason not
all Africanites opt to pay their taxes to the Africanite government
instead of the federal government. This is a tiny amount compared to the
$1.5 trillion in income tax revenue gathered by the federal government
every year, but, given the certainty and size of the revenue stream, it
will be more than sufficient to catapult the Africanite state off the
drawing board and into the real world. Financial arrangements can easily
be made to borrow from Wall Street against projected tax revenue. As long
as the Africanite authority provides strong leadership on the basis of the
funds at its disposal, the trillions necessary to make substantial and
immediate investments in the development of the Africanite autonomy can be
rapidly raised from the private sector without difficulty. Construction on
a unprecedented scale could be underway within months.
The development of the Africanite state would be the largest and most
intense construction project the United States has ever seen, but it would
not be the first monumental large-scale high-speed construction project in
the world. In just several years rice paddies in Pudong, in southern
China, have been transformed into an ultramodern metropolis boasting
state-of-the-art office towers, freeways, maglev rail links, and an
international airport capable of handling millions of passengers.
Another good example is Dubai, an autonomous province of the United Arab
Emirates. Although the Arab Gulf countries are commonly thought to be
dependent on oil exports, 90 percent of Dubai's GDP is from non-oil
industries such as tourism, trade, and IT. Under the strong political
leadership of Sheikh "Mo" Mohammed, Dubai has aggressively positioned
itself as a leading player in the region, and Dubai has been transformed
from a sandy patch of desert into a futuristic city straight out of Star
Wars - amongst other groundbreaking developments, it currently boasts the
world's only undersea hotel.
If the Chinese and the Arabs can do it, so can we.
Detractors may point out that tax revenue from even several million
Africanites will be insufficient for financing such a colossal amount of
construction. That is true; a budget of even several billion will not cut
it. But the role of the provisional Africanite administration will not be
to pay for every single plot of land and every single truckload of
ready-mix; it will be to provide strong leadership. As happened in China
and Dubai, confident administrative leadership, in the form of a clear
vision, expert planning and key infrastructural investment, will attract
substantial private-sector investment.
In Pudong, tax revenue from millions of underpaid factory workers was not
enough to pay for some of the tallest buildings in the world, but a huge
amount of capital investment poured in from Hong Kong and Taiwan, as it
always does when it spots an opportunity. In Dubai it was Gulf money -
from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states - as well as significant amounts
of international investment that paid for the development. In the modern
globalized economy, vast amounts of capital are forever flowing through
world markets in search of the latest investment opportunities. The role
of civil authorities is to provide the vision, the leadership, and the
right environment to attract this homeless capital.
The creation of the Africanite nation will be a welcome excuse for a
massive amount of homeless capital to settle in the Africanite state. It
will not be possible nor necessary to collect, in the form of tax revenue,
the trillions of dollars needed to pay for every parking lot and every
apartment building. But enough capital will be available to make robust
leadership possible - and once that happens, the real capital will
immediately follow.
Once the new Africanite nation starts to take shape, in the form of a
gleaming new state capital by the sea, businesses in the service sector
will start falling over themselves trying to become the first entrants in
the market. Individual entrepreneurs seeking to cash in will battle it out
for airline seats and hotel rooms. Their investments - ranging from
megamalls to small business and franchises - will add to the hundreds of
thousands of jobs created by the construction boom, and it is only at that
point in time that future citizens of the Africanite state would be asked
to make the big move from their current location.
And *that* is how the Africanite state will come into being. We will not
have to endure decades of hardscrabble poverty. An ultramodern metropolis
will rise up from nowhere, and all of us - the Africanite nation in
general and Africanite individuals in particular - will hit the ground
running.
This will be an unprecedented phenomenon in the history of nations, and
other peoples across the world will no doubt envy our nation's meteoric
ascent. It will be possible for the Africanite nation to do what no other
nation can even attempt because we already are a strong nation with a
sizable economy to begin with; the sole problem is that our nation is
widely dispersed across the United States. Hence the only thing that
actually needs to be paid for is the process of geographic consolidation,
and if the Africanite leadership provides the guidance, big business will
be only too willing to pick up the tab.
As the reader can see, the strategic plan to bring into being a
magnificent Africanite state is not based on sentimental dreams and hopes,
but on hard logic. The reader has a right to be skeptical, but this book
does not present merely a vision for the future - it also presents a
strategic plan to make that future a reality. And as has been shown in
this chapter, the plan *is* realistic, and it *is* doable.
25. Minimum Impact
==================
Carving out new territory from existing political entities is not going to
be easy. In the past, conflicts over land have resulted in ethnic
cleansing, genocide, and the annihilation of entire nations. This chapter
will discuss the priorities and principles which must govern our march to
statehood within the United States.
The basic precept guiding our community must be that our decisions and
actions must be carefully calibrated to cause minimum impact to those
individuals in the European-American community liable to be affected by
the implementation of our plans to gain political autonomy in the form of
statehood within the United States. There are two reasons why choosing the
path of least resistance is important.
First, the less impact we have on the European-American community, the
more likely it is that bloodshed will be avoided. Our actions could easily
be misinterpreted as rebellion, insurrection, sedition, or treason, and
institutions such as the National Guard and the US Army are
constitutionally tasked to protect states and the Union from rebellion.
Additionally, right-wing European-Americans are prone to form militias and
bear arms in defense of their beliefs. Given the massive emotional and
real capital invested in land, it is clear that one wrong move on our part
could easily lead to violence. Since one of the reasons the Africanite
nation must pursue autonomy is to preempt the specter of ethnic fighting
in the United States, it would be counterproductive - not to mention a
terrible tragedy - if casualties were to result as a consequence of our
actions.
The threat of violence can be minimized if the affected residents have a
clear understanding of our predicament, our objectives, and the fact that
maximum effort has been made to address their concerns. This is plain
common sense; ride roughshod over anyone and they are liable to resist you
every inch of the way. But if every effort has been made to promote
comprehension and understanding, affected European-Americans communities
will be less likely to fall into a blind destructive rage, even if they
disagree in principle with the strategic decisions we have made.
Make no mistake, no matter how mitigated the impact of our actions, fierce
resistance is to be expected. Terrible things will be said and done, out
of raw emotion and as an effort to goad us into violent confrontation. Our
leadership will have to realize that falling into the trap of responding
to hate with hate would be the least pragmatic course of action to take.
Any action which unnecessarily antagonizes the European-American community
will needlessly delay our strategic objectives and the fulfillment of our
nation's destiny. It will simply be smarter for us to remain as
non-confrontational as possible.
Second, we must be aware of the fact that our actions will reveal our
ethical standards to the world, and that the international community will
judge us accordingly. As we shall see in Chapter 21, "Picture the Future,"
it is crucial that the Africanite nation does not risk losing the respect
of countries worldwide by repeating the sins of our erstwhile oppressors,
who violated the rights of the original inhabitants of this land in the
worst imaginable way. As far as possible, we must avoid violating the
human and civil rights of the European-Americans in the affected areas.
The Africanite community is, at present, accorded tremendous respect in
the world in general and Africa in particular, for the intellectual and
political accomplishments of giants such as W. E. B. Du Bois, Martin
Luther King, and Malcolm X, as well as because of our rich culture which
we have shared with the world. The Africanite leadership must strenuously
avoid any actions which could diminish the respect our nation currently
enjoys throughout the world.
In 1948, Israel was born into an atmosphere of worldwide acclaim; the
international community had tremendous respect for the Jewish people who
had somehow clawed their way out of Hitler's concentration camps and
created a nation-state of their own. Yet respect for Israel started to
wane in the 1980's as the Jewish State began to treat Palestinians almost
as harshly as the Jews of Europe had been treated by the Nazis. Today,
only the United States continues to stand by Israel, and the loss of
worldwide respect has cost Israel dearly in terms of lost business. The
Africanite people should emulate the determination and drive the Jewish
people showed in creating a homeland of their own, but must not under any
circumstances repeat their mistake of confronting extant residents with
unnecessary arrogance and injustice.
Let us now consider what choosing the path of least resistance means in
practice.
It means that we must limit our tactical objectives to the minimum
necessary requirements, rather than aiming for what is ideal. For
instance, it would be ideal if we could gain a huge swathe of territory of
approximately 360,000 square miles, which amounts to our proportionate
share of the land area of the United States, based on the size of our
population. But we do not need a territory of that size, and
requisitioning that much territory is bound to trigger a degree of
opposition which could well be insurmountable. Instead, we must limit our
objectives to acquiring the minimum area of land required to impart
viability to the politically autonomous entity to be created, and not a
square inch more. We must also refrain from selecting densely populated
areas; the fewer residents are affected by the creation of an Africanite
state, the better.
Of course, choosing the path of least resistance does not mean that our
basic goals are up for negotiation. Pragmatic non-violence must not be
confused with weakness. The Africanite people will stand firm in their
quest to fulfill their destiny, and, while we will try to avoid upsetting
those concerned, we will not allow our plans to be sidelined. We will
choose the path of least resistance only within the scope of action which
permits us to fully satisfy our basic needs. We will not negotiate and we
will not wait. The Africanite people, marginalized and maltreated for far
too long, will not compromise on crucial matters that will impede their
progress. But, where possible, we will try to accommodate the needs of our
European-American compatriots.
26. Heartland
=============
This chapter deals with the issue of where the new state to be created for
the purposes of accommodating the politically autonomous Africanite entity
will be located, and the following chapter will deal with the issue of how
we will settle there.
For the purposes of convenience and brevity, the said state will be
provisionally referred to as "New Africa" in this book. (The actual name
for the Africanite state must, of course, be decided as the result of a
democratic process involving all interested Africanites.)
First, let us consider the size of New Africa. If every Africanite
participates, based on our proportion of the population and the total size
of the United States, our state should amount to about 360,000 square
miles - more than twice as large as California. However, it is
unreasonable to assume that, even if the future transpires exactly as
envisioned, all Africanites will move to New Africa. Moreover, for a state
this large we would have to swallow several states whole rather than carve
out chunks of territory, and it is unrealistic to conclude that obtaining
such a large area would be feasible without the use of force.
The point that must be made here is that even if only half of all
Africanites eventually decide to move to New Africa, we would still have a
claim on at least 150,000 square miles. Since we will actually be claiming
far less than that, the European-American community in general and the
states affected in particular should understand that the Africanite nation
will be following the path of least resistance by making a clear effort to
compromise, and seeking less land than is our right.
Let us now consider the criteria for the location of New Africa.
First, to ensure that the Africanite autonomy will be able to easily
interact and trade with the African continent (see Chapter 21, "Picture
the Future"), it is vital that it will not be landlocked, and that it be
located on the Eastern seaboard. This requirement alone already shortens
the list considerably, down to the 14 states of Maine, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Delaware,
Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, and Florida.
Second, to minimize negative impact on American society and prevent social
upheaval, an area with a low population density should be selected. This
rules out Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, and Florida.
Third, the area carved out from existing states should be large enough to
accommodate our population in addition to existing residents, and still
have room for future population growth. European-American residents of
Connecticut, Delaware, and Rhode Island may breathe a sigh of relief.
Fourth, rather than select an area with mostly European-American
settlements, we should opt for the path of least resistance and target an
area which already has a large Africanite population to begin with. This
rules out the Yankee states of Maine and New Hampshire as viable options,
and we are left with Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and
Georgia.
As discussed in Chapter 22, "The Shape of Autonomy," it is least
problematic if New Africa is formed from territory ceded by two existing
states. Of the four states, the population density is lowest in South
Carolina and Georgia - large areas of the outer coastal plain are sparsely
populated, and a substantial portion of it is uninhabited. Thus, in
accordance with the philosophy of choosing the path of least resistance,
it follows that the area straddling South Carolina and Georgia, where the
population density is the lowest, will become New Africa.
What irony! And how apt. It just so happens that the area in question -
selected purely on the basis of practical concerns such as access to
maritime transport and population density - is a heartland in two senses.
First, it is the heartland of Southern culture, the home of the old
plantation economy and slavery. It was from the coastal district of the
Carolinas and Georgia that the "peculiar institution" spread to the rest
of the South upon the invention of the cotton gin. No area is more closely
identified with the aristocratic culture of the Deep South. While slavery
was barely practiced in other areas of the South - such as the vast back
country of the Piedmont - the history and culture of the coastal enclave
stretching from Charleston to Savannah is irrevocably tied to slavery. As
every schoolchild knows, the secession of anti-abolitionist South Carolina
sparked the Civil War, and Georgia followed less than a month later.
Bringing this area under the autonomous jurisdiction of New Africa will be
like driving a stake through Count Dracula's heart; it will be the
decisive blow that will stamp out the remaining vestiges of the antebellum
South, the culture of which is so closely tied to plantations and slavery
that it bears no redemption. Its nest destroyed by the rise of the
autonomous Africanite nation, the mentality of the Old South - that great
amorphous evil primarily responsible for the prejudice, bigotry, hate and
discrimination which brought so much suffering to our people - will be
bound to fade away.
The area which will become New Africa is also a heartland in another
sense; it is the Africanite heartland. It is where Africanites first
settled in large numbers - albeit involuntarily - in America and where we
remained until driven north by enduring prejudice and discrimination.
Since our ancestors were forcibly deposited on this very land by their
European-American masters, no European-American can deny that this land is
ours. The area which will host New Africa is where the Africanite nation
spent its formative years and where our forebears toiled and suffered more
than anywhere else. It is thus poetic and just that this area will come
under our sovereignty, for its soil was nourished by our sweat, blood, and
tears more than any other in the United States.
27. Superimposition
===================
With 40 percent of the land area from each of the states of South Carolina
and Georgia, New Africa will amount to 35,972 square miles, more than
three times as large as Belgium (which has a population of 10 million),
twice as large as Taiwan (22 million), and almost as large as South Korea
(48 million). Clearly this land area is sufficient for a viable economy.
The six-trillion-dollar question is how to transfer an area currently
under the administration of the states of South Carolina and Georgia to
within the jurisdiction of the Africanite autonomy. For a full treatment
of this topic a separate book would be necessary; this chapter will
provide a brief overview of the essential issues.
Before moving on to details of implementation, one basic principle bears
articulating.
Every American enjoys the right of freedom of movement within the United
States. No local government authority has the right to prevent
individuals - or corporations - from purchasing land within its
jurisdiction. If you are American, you cannot stop me from becoming your
neighbor; hence, the legality of a migration of large numbers of
Africanites to New Africa is not an issue. The only actual problem is that
the development of substantial infrastructure will be required in
preparation for the Africanite nation's geographic consolidation in New
Africa, and that this development will have to be carried out within the
legal framework of existing administrations.
Much groundwork must be done prior to the first waves of migration
because, in this day and age, it will be impossible for the settlement of
New Africa to be carried out the hard way. In the olden days, a people
acquired territory by moving to a new land and enduring hostile natives
while eking out a living under difficult conditions. This is not practical
anymore. Let the reader be assured that there will be no columns of wagons
laden with Africanite families and their belongings, no armed clashes with
native residents, and no need for pioneering Africanites to endure unusual
hardship.
It is unrealistic to expect a single Africanite to move to New Africa
while the local infrastructure and social amenities are not up to modern
American standards. Moving to New Africa must never be a sacrifice; in
terms of the hardship involved, moving to New Africa should be no more
difficult than moving to, say, Phoenix. Clearly, a substantial amount of
work will have to be carried out over a period of several years before
Africanites will start making the decision that New Africa is the best
place to live and work.
Prior to discussing concrete steps leading up to that point, it should be
emphasized that the basic understanding of this process must be that the
authority of the current administrators of the territory in question need
not be immediately contravened. Since the Africanite authority cannot
expect to gain actual political power and challenge existing
administrative regimes until significant numbers of Africanite voters
settle in the target area, it will be necessary to work as far as possible
within the existing legal framework until that point in time.
The most practical method of developing New Africa could thus be termed a
policy of implementation by superimposition. It is as if the plans for the
infrastructure and development of New Africa will be drawn on tracing
paper laid out on top of the current map of the area. The plans can then
be implemented as far as possible within the framework of the existing
administrations, until administrative control is switched over to the
Africanite entity and the political boundaries are redrawn.
The actual construction and development of New Africa will be undertaken
by the same agents that have transformed the landscape of much of America,
namely corporations. While corporations have been much maligned by
environmentalists and shopkeepers across the US, only corporate power,
expertise, and financial muscle can transform a rural backwater into an
ultramodern megalopolis. The provisional Africanite authority's primary
function will not be to micromanage the development process - supervising
construction companies, for instance - but to establish the organizational
framework which will allow private-sector corporations, i.e. consortia of
developers, to do their job of transforming the landscape.
It should be noted that the ethnicity of the owners and managers of the
corporations is largely irrelevant; since the clients and the
administration will be Africanite, the corporations will have no choice
but to adhere to Africanite tastes and be extremely careful not to cause
offense. Any corporation found guilty of condoning a culture of
discrimination or condescension will find itself excluded from the
greatest economic expansion in postwar US history. Corporations are driven
by profit, and, knowing the conditions in advance, all involved
corporations will be likely to make maximum effort to maintain an
immaculate record in terms of cultural sensitivity.
The initial step in the development process will be to conduct detailed
surveys; the accumulated data will be used for the formation of
development plans. Surveys of the natural environment, topography, soil,
water resources, and drainage can be commissioned right away; it is just a
question of soliciting bids and selecting qualified contractors. The
surveys can easily be carried out without any conflict with the current
administrations, and, thanks to modern technology, would take no longer
than a few months complete.
The data thus acquired will be made available to consultants in the fields
of urban planning, commercial development, industrial development and so
on. By this time a central coordination office will have been set up in
New Africa; it will coordinate planning activity not only with developers,
but also energy, water, and telecommunications suppliers, as well as
construction companies specializing in public works.
Since saturation point has been reached in most domestic markets,
developers will be only too happy to invest in new subdivisions, malls,
hotels, entertainment complexes, apartment buildings, office towers,
industrial parks, and so on. Before long the private sector will have
prepared plans for projects in every imaginable market, and the Africanite
authority will be in possession of a master set of blueprints for the
development of infrastructure. Again, no amount of planning activity is in
danger of coming into conflict with the rules set by existing
administrations.
Needless to say, it will not be possible nor desirable to develop all of
New Africa all at once; the Africanite authority will coordinate
development projects to ensure that development occurs in limited and
complimentary phases, while at the same time ensuring that designs for the
state's infrastructure will allow for rapid future growth, for a maximum
state population of 60 million.
The next step is a little trickier. Once the plans for the state-to-be
have more or less crystallized, an intensive publicity campaign must be
conducted to inform local residents of what they may expect for the future
of their local area. Television commercials, newspaper ads, and
door-to-door PR teams will inform all local residents - of any ethnicity -
of the impending creation of New Africa. The publicity campaign must
provide precise information as to which counties specifically will be
affected in what way.
The effect of this publicity campaign will be to enhance awareness among
native European-American residents of the impending social and
administrative changes, and to facilitate the early departure of those
unwilling to participate in the new Africanite state. If the public
information campaign is skillfully implemented, the great majority of
native residents will opt to willingly sell their properties at fair
market value, rather than launch a futile and self-defeating crusade of
resistance.
Nonetheless, it is reasonable to expect that at this point there will be a
manifestation of extreme hostility, and some recalcitrant opposition will
be unavoidable. While latent or overt hostility specifically aimed at
Africanites may be involved, the sheer volume of planned development work
will spark resistance due to the NIMBY syndrome. Regardless of its origin,
there is only one way to deal with the resistance we will face, namely to
be firm.
It is critically important that the Africanite leadership will be
resolute, confident, and steadfast. It must be made absolutely clear to
the existing residents - of any ethnicity - that the plans for New Africa
cannot and will not be thwarted by any amount of opposition. All those
involved must be made to understand that no amount of protest will be
allowed to derail the creation of the Africanite state, and that fierce
resistance will at best slightly delay the inevitable. Native residents
must be made to understand that the advent of the politically autonomous
Africanite state should not be likened to the construction of a
hydroelectric dam, which can be protested against and shelved if
necessary. Rather, it will be like a tsunami or a meteor - an event of
supernatural proportions that no amount of human agitation can prevent.
The dreams and aspirations of millions of Africanites have been on ice for
too long; while it may not be completely fair to existing residents, the
Africanite leadership must not even consider delaying or amending the
Africanite nation's plans. Once we start entertaining complaints by
listening, discussing or compromising, we will find ourselves sliding down
a slippery slope. There is no such animal as a perfect compromise; we
cannot start bargaining about specific patches of territory and end up
like Israel and Palestine - forever stuck in a quagmire of on and off
negotiations about boundaries and percentages.
Considering what happened to the Native Americans, the result of any
negotiations with the European-American community may well be that our new
state will not be large enough to be viable, and we may even be
outmaneuvered to the extent that we will end up with a patch of desert in
Nevada. It is critically important that we do not allow the machinations
of the European-American power structure to sideline our plans in any way.
Every single aspect of our plan for the development of the Africanite
state must be strictly non-negotiable, and this made must be made
absolutely clear to all native residents.
By selecting the coastal strip along the coast of South Carolina and
Georgia, the Africanite community will already have compromised,
intentionally affecting no more than the absolute minimum number of
persons and voluntarily opting to effect sovereignty over no more than
necessary. This conscious decision we have made must be respected and
appreciated, and it must be understood that no further compromise can be
entertained. It will be in the long-term interest of the European-American
community to acknowledge and accept our plans for securing a state of our
own; rather than concentrate on resisting the inevitable every step of the
way, the European-American community should concentrate its efforts on
providing aid to minimize the discomfort of those native residents
inconvenienced by the creation of the Africanite state.
In fact, it will be in the interest of every party involved if native
residents' concerns are ignored and a specific and clear strategy is
formed, adequately publicized, and quickly implemented.
Uncertainty will be the greatest enemy for Africanites and native
residents alike. Local residents will be more negatively affected by
uncertainty than by anything else. Once it is clearly understood that the
Africanite entity will be established come hell or high water, native
residents will be free to make a decision and adapt to the new reality in
a manner of their choosing. However, if what will transpire is not exactly
certain, they will be trapped in limbo, entertain false hopes, and perhaps
attempt to influence the outcome by taking up arms.
It is critically important that we publicize our plans without hesitation,
stand firm in the face of opposition, and make every effort to help local
residents understand that the future cannot be altered.
Once a massive publicity campaign has been mounted informing local
residents of the impending changes, local residents will be confronted
with the need to make a decision. If they choose to stay - which they will
be welcome to do - they will become a minority within an Africanite
majority. Given from what we know of American society and
European-American sensibilities, the vast majority will opt to move. Most
will probably move deeper into their current state, retreating as the
borders of South Carolina and Georgia shrink; others will perhaps move to
other parts of the country.
The Africanite community must be ready. We must be well-organized and
ensure that financial institutions, developer consortia, and real estate
traders are ready to start purchasing real properties at fair market value
as soon as they are put on the market. Even if a local family wishes to
move to Arizona following the announcement that the Africanites are
coming, it will not be able to do so until a buyer materializes, willing
to take their residential or commercial property off their hands at fair
market value.
It will therefore be in the interest of the Africanite authority to play a
key role in the interim financing and purchasing of real estate. A
not-for-profit organization funded and managed by the Africanite authority
could be tasked with purchasing and temporarily holding properties until
they can be passed on to developers or incoming residents; any willing
seller would only need to call a hotline and find the property sold to the
not-for-profit corporation within days if not hours. It should be noted
that a fortunate side-effect of European-American cultural prejudice will
be that property prices will probably plummet, as has always been the case
when Africanites start moving into a neighborhood. The capital expenditure
required for the acquisition of real properties will thus be minimized.
At this point, two potential problems arise. Both are minor in terms of
the larger picture, but must be considered seriously.
One, some native residents of critically important properties may not wish
to sell. For example, Farmer John may own a lot smack dab in the path of a
proposed freeway. Two, bureaucratic red tape will be used to hamper our
efforts. For instance, it is clear that all manner of permits are
necessary for the construction of, say, an international airport in a
residential zone.
Faced with a depleted population in the areas concerned and the impending
de facto creation of a state, perhaps neither Farmer John nor the county
and state authorities will put up a real fight at this point in time,
especially if the public relations work has been skillfully implemented.
But let us consider the worst-case scenario, and assume that neither
Farmer John nor the bureaucrats will relent.
What will the Africanite leadership do?
It is important to see the woods, not the trees. The larger picture is
that the bureaucratic meddling of a few local officials cannot possibly
pose a serious threat to the aspirations and dreams of millions of
Africanites. Furthermore, nothing is written in stone. Unlike the laws of
physics, zoning regulations and administrative boundaries of sovereignty
were created by mere humans, for the benefit of humans. The function of a
legal system is to serve society by ensuring orderly coexistence within a
society - for a society without rules is anarchy. However, the legal
system of a society does not apply to the process of replacing an entire
society, or the process of fundamentally changing the structure or
demographics of a society.
The way to articulate this concept to the world is to announce the
formation of a "shadow government," with a jurisdiction superimposed onto
the area that will become New Africa. Under the authority of this shadow
government, Farmer John will be evicted and forcibly compensated at fair
market value, based on the principle of eminent domain - that a government
has the right to confiscate private land for public use. Similarly, the
various permits required for the construction of the freeways - and
airports and power plants - will be issued by the shadow government, and
construction work will commence.
Even if the Africanite authority will be breaking the existing law,
society in general will understand that the spirit of the law is not being
broken. (This is critically important, as will become clear later.)
Since, however, the Africanite authority will have no actual jurisdiction
yet, any actions by the shadow government will have no true legal weight.
Farmer John will feel his rights have been violated, and he will sue.
Similarly, the state or county authorities in charge will sue. The United
States, for better or worse, is the world's most litigious society, and it
is expected that lawsuits will start to fly in every direction once
projects move into the implementation phase.
The continuation of the worst-case scenario would be that, despite the
best efforts of the Africanite nation to avoid any type of violence, the
National Guard of South Carolina and Georgia will be mobilized to halt
construction work. Even worse, right-wing European-American sympathizers
from across the South will start trekking to the construction sites to
express their displeasure at the advent of the Africanite state.
At this point in time it will be necessary to realize that the battle the
Africanite nation faces is not a legal one, nor a military one. The battle
we will face is a battle for the hearts and minds of America and the
world, and the media will play a key role.
The Africanite nation must be confident that righteousness is on our side.
Our leaders must loudly tell the country and the world that the Africanite
nation enjoys a fundamental and inalienable right to sovereignty and
territory. The logic is not difficult to follow. No-one can dispute that
the sequence of events leading to the upheaval of the landscape of rural
South Carolina and Georgia was not initiated by any Africanite. At some
point in time in history, a conscious decision was made by Anglo-American
investors to bring in substantial numbers of African slaves. The country
must now live with the consequences of that decision. As W. E. B. Du Bois
wrote in 1903:
Men of America, the problem is plain before you. Here is a race
transplanted through the criminal foolishness of your fathers.
Whether you like it or not the millions are here, and here they will
remain.
It should not be a surprise that, if you import millions of human beings
from a faraway place, the issue of which territory they shall inhabit will
become an issue sooner or later. It is has taken 300 years for the issue
to manifest itself, perhaps because of artful repression by the
European-American majority, but that does not change the fact that the
European-American community is ultimately responsible, and that, as a
consequence, it must finally come to terms with the loss of some of its
sovereignty - over 35,972 square miles straddling South Carolina and
Georgia, to be exact.
Rather than dwelling on the square miles lost, the European-American
community must understand that we have a sovereign right to govern
ourselves in a territory of our own, and appreciate the fact that the
Africanite community has taken into consideration the interests of the
European-American majority in the selection of the territory in question.
Only a relatively small number of residents in present-day South Carolina
and Georgia will be affected by the establishment of an Africanite state,
because the target area was chosen based on the philosophy of following
the path of least resistance.
Once the country and the world understands the logic behind the Africanite
actions, and once it becomes clear that our efforts are being resisted by
none other than descendants of slaveholders (the native residents in South
Carolina and Georgia are almost entirely old-stock Anglo-Americans)
extreme pressure will be brought to bear on the native residents to
abandon their last stand. This author, for one, does not believe that in
this day and age a National Guard can move in against unarmed Africanites,
especially if a phalanx of network cameras is filming the process. Any
officer would know that giving the fatal order would be the end of his
career, and that he could spark that long-dreaded national uprising of
Africanites.
A more likely scenario will be that the National Guard, in the interest of
peace and order, will find itself tasked with protecting the construction
crews from interference by the KKK extremists who may have gathered at the
sites - despite the fact that our actions will be technically illegal.
What exactly will transpire as the plans for the construction of the
Africanite state move into the implementation phase is not up to the
Africanite authority to decide, and cannot be predicted. However, the
author is confident that, with the force of history and righteousness on
our side, the Africanite nation will triumph. The entire process will very
probably pass off smoothly and peacefully, but in any event, any degree of
social turmoil will be the price to pay until the existing administration
of the territory in question is superceded by the authority of the
provisional Africanite administration, and a new legal framework replaces
the old.
Americans may rest assured, however, that the Third Shift in Africanite
history will involve far less turmoil than has been the case in the past.
The climactic phase of the First Shift was the Civil War, in which 620,000
soldiers died. The civil rights movement, which brought about the Second
Shift, entailed thousands of beatings and the ruining of hundreds of
lives. It will be in the interest of all Americans to make strenuous
efforts that this time the advancement of the Africanite community is
accompanied by as little rancor as possible. Not a single life, neither
Africanite nor European-American, should be lost because of something as
asinine as a zoning regulation.
28. Viability
=============
The task of giving the Africanite nation form and shape is no small
undertaking, to be sure, but the odds are not insurmountable - especially
when compared to the challenges our community has faced in the past.
Both the First Shift in our history - from slavery to freedom - and the
Second Shift - from segregation to fully fledged civil rights - hinged on
the willing or unwilling cooperation of the European-American
establishment. Our will was stronger than theirs, and, eventually, despite
fierce resistance, we triumphed. It stands to reason that in the face of a
renewed contest of wills with the European-American community, we will win
again.
That may not be necessary, however.
The beauty of the Third Shift - from disparaged and disadvantaged minority
to proud and politically autonomous nation - is that success will not be
defined by the reaction of our adversary. We are no longer in a position
of appealing to a more powerful entity to grant us something; we can
simply seize it ourselves. While it is, of course, important to pursue all
means possible to gain the understanding and cooperation of the
European-American majority, we can still succeed in our goal of creating a
politically autonomous Africanite entity even in the face of unrelenting
European-American opposition.
An explanation follows of why this is so.
The first phase of the Third Shift is for Africanites to unite as a
people. Clearly the cooperation of the European-American community is not
required for Africanites to formulate an exclusively Africanite political
organization, hold elections within the community, and unite towards a
common goal.
The next phase would be to, in lieu of reparations, become the beneficiary
of income taxes currently being paid by Africanite individuals towards
central government coffers. Needless to say, it would be preferable if a
bill were passed through both houses of Congress and signed into law by
the President to provide a legal foundation for this change. It is,
however, not impossible to embark on this phase even without the blessing
of the federal government. Once we have sufficient support and enough
Africanites pledge to cooperate, Africanites tax payers will simply stop
sending their checks to the IRS, and mail them to an Africanite entity
instead. The size of the reparations received by the Africanite nation
would be determined solely by our community - by how many Africanites opt
to pay their taxes to an Africanite entity as opposed to the federal
government.
Under normal circumstances the refusal to pay taxes to the IRS will result
in an audit, conviction in a federal court, and, probably, jail time. That
is what would happen if you stopped paying your income taxes right now.
The resources the IRS can draw on are legendary; even if five thousand
gainfully employed individuals withhold their taxes, it is likely that all
five thousand will face severe judicial consequences.
But what if five *hundred* thousand individuals do not pay their taxes to
the IRS? Even the considerable clout of the IRS will not be sufficient to
bring any action against us.
The Million Man March proved that a large number of Africanite individuals
are discontented with the status quo, and that our nation is indeed
capable of concerted action on a massive scale. As long as sufficient
awareness of the momentous events ahead has permeated the Africanite
community, it is a virtual certainty that a critical number of Africanites
taxpayers will heed the call from our leaders and play their part, whether
federal legislation has been enacted or not.
Granted, a handful of us might be made an example of, and find themselves
facing the music. The unlucky few who do get summoned by the IRS could
either pay the required fine, or bear their fate with the dignity. The
Africanite people are known for individual heroism; we were not afraid in
the past and we will not be afraid now. Those few who do end up receiving
court orders could do worse than remember the slaves who rebelled, knowing
they would be burned at the stake, or the non-violent civil rights
activists who marched, knowing they would be beaten and imprisoned.
Additionally, it is possible that, if our best political efforts fail and
we are forced to enact the grand strategy of reaching for political
autonomy without agreement from the European-American community, federally
administered services will be withheld from those Africanite individuals
who chose to contribute their taxes to the Africanite entity. In the
unlikely event that this will result in serious consequences for the
individuals and families concerned, the Africanite administration will be
there to help - looking after Africanite citizens will be, after all, its
raison d'etre.
Once the funds are available, in the form of a stream of income tax
payments from Africanite taxpayers, no external force can derail our
inevitable march to statehood. Financial arrangements can be made with
investment bankers - in Wall Street, or other major financial markets in
the world, such as London, Hong Kong, or Tokyo - to leverage tax revenue
into capital investments. No major difficulties are foreseen even in the
face of vehement opposition from certain sectors of the European-American
community.
The next step would be the actual development of the Africanite state. For
the most part, the role of the Africanite authority will be limited to
encouraging and coordinating private-sector investments, and the
provisional Africanite administration itself will not be required to
procure much property. In any case, real property can be purchased through
the open market; no land will need to be stolen or donated. Of course, it
is unreasonable to assume that this process will be entirely troublefree,
and relevant issues are discussed in Chapter 27, "Superimposition."
However, given the scale of the task, the impediments are exceedingly
minor, and there is no real reason why the development work should not
proceed smoothly.
One sticking point is that Capitol Hill and the states ceding territory to
the new Africanite state must eventually produce legislation to legitimize
the creation of the Africanite state. Congress may not be a problem if an
Africanite political party is in place to exert power, as discussed in
Chapter 23, "Consolidation." Faced with a fait accompli, and enormous
popular pressure to do the right thing, it is unlikely the state
legislatures will do anything but quietly acquiesce. Nonetheless, it
should be noted that a nation can exist and thrive even without
recognition. The recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign state has long been
revoked by most countries, due to pressure from the People's Republic of
China, but Taiwan has continued to flourish economically and culturally.
The Africanite nation is no longer reliant on cooperation from the
European-American community for dramatic changes to take place in the
course of her history. The idea of seeking political autonomy in the form
of statehood is not new; it has been floated in various forms over the
past 150 years. What is new is that, for the first time in history, we
find ourselves in a situation where our future can be determined by none
other than ourselves.
Nothing can stop the Africanite nation's march towards her destiny except
our own fear and incompetence. The European-American community cannot stop
us; the Africanite nation has become too aware and too powerful. There is
no excuse for not building on the achievements of previous generations and
taking immediate action to embark on the Third Shift in the history of the
Africanite nation.
29. Repatriation of the Diaspora
================================
Technocrats, financial institutions, and developers have transformed
fields and forests into gleaming cities the world over; there is ample
precedent for what our nation is about to do. A more difficult challenge
even than the task of building a state and its economy from scratch is the
repatriation of the Africanite diaspora - the population of Africanites
dispersed across the US and the rest of the world.
While - hopefully - most Africanites will instantly recognize the numerous
economic and cultural benefits a move to the politically autonomous
Africanite state will bring on a personal level, and seriously consider
the option of relocation, the repatriation of two groups pose particular
concern, namely prisoners and successful professionals.
As the reader reads these words, a population of unseen hundreds of
thousands of Africanite inmates continues to languish, to all intents and
purposes, on distant shores beyond our reach. Some are innocent, others
are serving long sentences far out of proportion to their crimes, and many
would not have committed the acts that resulted in their incarceration had
they not been born into a desolate world devoid of hope. Many if not most
deserve a second chance to start life over in a society and legal system
without prejudice.
One of the first goals of the young Africanite nation must be their
repatriation. Our grand strategy is to build an autonomous homeland for
all Africanites, and this includes those Africanites trapped in prisons
nationwide. Make no mistake, repatriating them will be gigantic task which
will take many years to complete. The scale and difficulty of the effort
cannot be underestimated. There are two major problems.
The primary problem is that federal and state authorities enjoy absoute
power over the fate of the prisoners, and that they must somehow be
convinced to transfer custody of Africanite inmates to the Africanite
state. This alone will take years. State prisoners were sentenced under
state law, and their transfer to another state is, legally, out of the
question. And while it may logically be the case that a state will be able
to reduce expenses considerably by transferring a large number of
prisoners under their care elsewhere, prisons are commonly run by private
corporations, and, due to the size of the figures involved, the prison
management industry enjoys considerable lobbying power.
The other problem is the task of processing the repatriated prisoner
population and ensuring their rehabilitation into society. A brief
discussion of the issues involved follows.
It must be made clear which prisoners will be sought for repatriation. The
basic premise is that Africanites within European-American society did not
have a fair shake at life or at the criminal justice system, and that they
should be given a second chance to prove their ability to become
productive members of society. Therefore, only Africanite inmates whose
crimes were committed prior to the inception of the Africanite state will
be included in the repatriation effort. After the founding of the
autonomous Africanite state, Africanites who commit crimes in other states
will be tried, sentenced and punished in those states without qualifying
for repatriation to the Africanite state. Meanwhile, Africanites who
commit crimes within the Africanite state after the inception of the state
will be duly tried and punished according to Africanite state laws. The
Africanite state should not be perceived as being soft on crime; any
individual convicted and sentenced in the Africanite state - by Africanite
juries and Africanite judges - should be treated as harshly as convicts
anywhere else.
Second, a policy must be drawn up to determine how the repatriated
prisoners will be dealt with.
The cases of all Africanite inmates whose custody is transferred to the
Africanite state must be reviewed, without exception, to ensure that truly
dangerous felons - such as habitual sex offenders - will not run amok on
Africanite streets. Even with a large team of legal professionals assigned
to the screening process, this will take years, and those cases with the
highest degree of urgency - death row cases and aged or infirm prisoners
who are in imminent danger of passing away behind bars - should be
prioritized.
Moreover, it is important that even prisoners who are deemed worthy of a
second chance do not benefit from a blanket amnesty. Instead, they must
first graduate from an intensive re-orientation process to become eligible
for early release. The purpose of the re-orientation process will be to
ensure that the prisoners understand the new paradigm: that the society
they will be released into will be wholly theirs, that it will be possible
for them to pursue the American dream without prejudice and
discrimination, that the Africanite state is a young society requiring
their contribution, that they stand a chance as good as any to become part
of the power structure, that any criminal act will only hurt their own
community, and that any crimes committed within the Africanite state will
be considered a betrayal of good faith and will therefore be treated with
extreme severity.
Even inmates whose sentences are relatively short and who are due for
release even without inclusion in the sentence reduction program - perhaps
because of a backlog of cases awaiting screening - should undergo a
shorter re-orientation session, to ensure that every single inmate
repatriated from other states and released into the society of the
Africanite state will understand that the rules are now different, and
that it will not be necessary to resort to crime to share in the wealth of
society.
Some readers may question the wisdom of bringing to the newly created
Africanite state, which will have enough teething problems as it is, a
large number of convicted prisoners. While their concerns are valid, this
writer, for one, firmly believes that the prisoner population constitutes
a vast untapped resource, and that ex-cons, given half a chance, can
contribute significantly to the economic and social development of the new
state. Given a second chance under fair conditions, prisoners often become
model citizens. Having experienced the darker side of life, the
uncomplicated joys of a job, a family, and a home are comfort and
motivation enough for the ex-con. It should be recalled that Australia was
established as a prison colony; the prisoners, given a new lease on life
and a chance to start afresh, worked hard to build Australia into the
strong and proud nation it is today. Indeed, inmates, having seen the
worst side of humanity and experienced extreme hardship, often possess
insights and wisdom which most of us lack. We must not forget that one of
our greatest leaders, Malcolm X, was an ex-con himself.
Lastly, there will be some prisoners who will not qualify for early
release, and who will, even after their transfer to the Africanite state,
remain behind bars for the rest of their days. This cannot be helped, but
these inmates should at least be allowed to serve out their sentences
among their own kind, in Africanite prisons, among Africanite society.
Whether they qualify for early release or not, we must rescue our lost kin
from European-American facilities, and we must not rest until every one of
them is brought home.
Ironically, no less troubling than the repatriation of prisoners is the
repatriation of relatively wealthy individuals.
Hundreds of thousands of Africanites have impressive resumes, excellent
careers, a high standard of living, and a lifestyle far removed from the
poverty and crime of the ghetto. There are a lot of Africanites who, in
other words, have got it together. The concern is that, like any
relatively prosperous demographic, these Africanites could be naturally
averse to entertaining the idea of major changes in their lives. Why move
to the Africanite state if you have a nice mansion, a fleet of shiny cars,
and a promising career in Los Angeles? Indeed.
But the new Africanite state will need the skills of these accomplished
and energetic individuals more than those of any other demographic. For
the benefit of Africanite society as a whole, they must be persuaded to
participate in the building of the new nation. The dilemma the Africanite
community faces is similar to that of the Philippines. More than any other
nation, this Southeast Asian country has lost its talented and trained
elite to foreign economies. While the Philippines does benefit from the
billions in remittances Filipinos employed overseas send home to their
families, it is nevertheless considered a tragedy that their native
economy is not strong enough to provide sufficient employment
opportunities, and that, as a result, the efforts of millions of talented
Filipinos contribute to the development of other countries rather than
their own.
A similar brain drain has taken place in America. Africanites currently
found in the European-American workplaces are there for want of employment
opportunities within the Africanite community. Encouraging and
facilitating the repatriation of these "expatriate" Africanite
professionals to the Africanite state - and back into the community - will
be an essential mission for the Africanite leadership.
The usual tactic would be to accuse you, the wealthy and successful
Africanite, of having sold out. In the past, activists and relatives may
have accused you of "playing the white man's game," of forgetting your
people and obsessing about money. You may have been accused of being an
Uncle Tom, of imitating European-Americans in speech and manner. You may
have been cursed with epithets such as "oreo," "coconut," or "house
nigger." But there will be no such criticism in this book.
Those Africanites who have attained personal success deserve unstinting
praise and respect for their achievements. Ambition can never be deemed a
crime, and, at present, the only way for the ambitious individual to
succeed in America is to adopt European-American values, mannerisms, and
customs. Since no Africanite economy exists as an alternative to the
European-American economy which dominates America, you had no option but
to become thoroughly European-American on your way to success. Soon, there
will be an alternative, but so far, there has been none - and that is not
your fault.
Neither will you be asked to forsake your fortune. You will not be asked
to accept smaller monetary rewards in exchange for cultural and spiritual
fulfillment. An invitation to move to the Africanite state will not be
tantamount to a request to sacrifice what you have accomplished. Rather,
it will be a request to quadruple it.
No matter how much you have achieved, it could have been much more had you
had the opportunity to pursue your dreams in a society not dominated by an
alien culture. Consider how much higher you could have risen had the
business and political climate been more welcoming towards Africanites. If
you are the branch manager of a bank, you could well have been CFO of the
bank. If you are the owner of an IT firm, you could have been the owner of
a much larger IT firm. If you are a Wall Street investment manager with a
portfolio of high net worth clients, you could have been on the other side
of the desk.
It should be stressed that the point is not that you will be a bigger fish
in the Africanite state because the pond will be smaller. The size of the
American economy will stay the same. But you will be freer to attain your
maximum potential if you are living in a state with a society and power
structure that welcomes you. This logic applies no matter how successful
you already are. If you have the biggest and baddest SUV in your garage,
ask yourself: Why don't I have a chopper? If you have a profitable
business with a net profit of 500,000 dollars a year, ask yourself: How
come I'm not making 5 million? If you are a college professor, ask
yourself: How come I'm not the dean?
The budding Africanite state must mount an intense nationwide publicity
campaign to advise successful Africanites of the opportunities to be found
in the Africanite state. The message will not be that Africanites should
be charitable and take our community to the next level, but that
Africanites should be even more ambitious and take themselves to the next
level. The end effect will be pure synergy. As accomplished and successful
Africanites contribute their talents and efforts to the budding nation,
the Africanite nation will flourish and prosper, and individual
Africanites will accumulate wealth and capital at an unprecedented rate.
Certainly, the cost of moving to the Africanite state will be expensive -
relocating always is. It should not be considered as a sacrifice, however,
but as a short-term investment in the future. If there ever were a golden
opportunity to skip a few rungs and surge ahead in the rat race, this is
it. Africanites should think about where they want to be in five years -
and whether they will get there without a bold move.
Participating in the construction of the new Africanite state will be a
personal challenge for every Africanite. It will be daunting, fraught with
risk, and no-one is predicting that it will be easy. Yet, personally, this
author is firmly convinced that, out of 100 Africanites, no less than 100
will fare better financially and psychologically in the politically
autonomous Africanite state.
That is the message which must be broadcast to successful Africanites
across America. Their talent, plus the raw hunger of the low-income
segment of our population, plus the seasoned toughness of the prisoner
population, will all come together in the formation of the greatest nation
in recorded history. The Africanite nation is destined to become one of
the greatest nations in the history of the planet, and the time has come
to move our community closer to the magnificent future that awaits us. The
Africanites are coming, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop our
nation's ascent to glory.
30. Sharks in the Water
=======================
Taking a whole nation - in our case, a population of more than thirty
million souls - to the next level is an enterprise on a colossal scale,
and the enormity of tasks ahead cannot be overestimated. Monumental
difficulties await our people at every turn, and our struggle will remain
intact only if extreme prudence and vigilance are exercised throughout.
This chapter discusses the three major dangers to be anticipated on the
road to political autonomy.
The first major step in the next stage of our struggle is achieving a
degree of unity within the Africanite community. While, as in any
democracy, there will always be groups and individuals fiercely opposed to
any given idea, particularly a revolutionary idea guaranteed to bring
monumental changes to society, the major strands of Africanite leadership
must form a non-sectarian alliance before our nation's struggle can
proceed any further.
And therein lies the first problem; it must be said that, perhaps because
of an abundance of individuals with strength of character, history has
shown us that the Africanite nation has an unfortunate tendency towards
disunity. Personal ambition, rivalry, and jealousy tend to encumber the
leadership of Africanite political movements, and the task of bringing
unity to the entire mainstream Africanite population is overwhelming.
In addition, history teaches us that whenever a bona fide Africanite
movement gains critical momentum, a key leader is felled by a vile act of
assassination. Whether the assassination is due to external forces -
perhaps originating from European-American interests - or whether it is
due to genuine internal feuding is irrelevant. Whatever the cause, the
Africanite nation must be vigilant against attempts to decapitate or
otherwise neutralize the leadership.
Having taking the above lessons into account, the author has come to an
irrevocable decision which will help maintain solidarity in our leadership
and allow us to avoid the pitfalls which felled previous Africanite
political movements. May the reader be my witness: the author hereby
declares eternal anonymity. Neither the author's face nor name shall ever
be known, even once our major objectives have been achieved and political
autonomy has been attained. It is in the interest of the Africanite people
that the author's role in the history of the Africanite nation shall be
limited to the formation of the doctrine described in these pages.
Hopefully, others will be influenced by this work, utilize it, and
elaborate on it, spurring the Africanite nation forward towards a glorious
future.
Thus, with the authorship of the doctrine separate from its
implementation, the Africanite nation will be less affected by an
assassination than has been the case in the past. Moreover, with the issue
of the author's personal ambition completely removed from the picture, the
leaders of the Africanite community must feel at liberty to embrace the
doctrine presented in this book and, working with each other, bring
political unity and strength to the Africanite nation. No Africanite
leader will ever be at risk of being eclipsed or upstaged by the author,
who shall forever be enveloped in the shadows of anonymity.
If the author's prayers are answered and this work does stimulate unity in
the Africanite nation leading to an eventual push towards political
autonomy, the author will die without regrets; the author's role will have
been comparable to that of Karl Marx, who, by writing "Das Kapital,"
inspired numerous other individuals who went on to change the destinies of
nations. (Both Marx's theories and their interpretation turned out to be
fundamentally flawed; hopefully posterity will judge this author and the
Africanite nation to have done considerably better.)
The unfortunate side effect of the author's decision to remain anonymous
is that it will not be possible to promote Africanite unity and other
goals by, for instance, embarking on a nationwide tour or appearing on
network TV. The author entrust others to this task - not to anyone
specific but to whomever chooses to adopt the concepts presented in these
pages and take it upon herself or himself to bring them to a wider
audience. The author would be honored if, esteemed reader, it would be
you.
Having minimized the danger of disunity and having been immunized against
the risk of decapitation, the next challenge the Africanite leadership
will face is a powerful and possibly violent backlash from all sectors of
the European-American community.
This is to be expected. The Third Shift in the history of the Africanite
people will bring about cosmic changes for all Americans, regardless of
ethnic background. Any new idea is bound to be met by resistance,
especially any new idea that will redraw the internal political map of the
country, necessitate yet another revision of the Stars and Stripes, and
bring profound personal changes to a sizable proportion of the population.
How the inevitable onslaught of criticism, negativity, personal attacks
and hostility will be handled will be up to those who will find themselves
in the position of leading the Africanite people at that time. The author
has great faith in the ability of our community to produce a leadership
which will persevere in the face of adversity, and the author will
therefore refrain from commenting regarding this particular issue. We have
overcome resistance before, and we shall overcome again.
Having survived the backlash, the next danger the young Africanite nation
will face is the same disease that has crippled many a budding nation:
corruption. After having spent years in the political wilderness, it is
perhaps not surprising that, with hundreds of millions of dollars suddenly
at their disposal, the temptations often prove too much to bear for the
custodians of a young nation. But this is precisely what we must be
vigilant against. Luckily, advanced IT systems are costing less and less,
and it is not unreasonable to demand nothing short of total transparency
of our leaders, even in the very early stages of the fight for political
autonomy.
The leaders of the young Africanite state must not be idolized - and as a
consequence trusted blindly - for having led the Africanite people to
autonomy. They must be carefully scrutinized by citizens at every turn and
held accountable for all funds in their custody, right down to the last
cent. An even cursory look at examples of failed states worldwide makes it
crystal clear that the failure to take draconian preventive measures to
guard against corruption will rapidly cause the populace to become
disillusioned and investors to become disinterested, and these two factors
are sufficient to set in motion a vicious cycle leading to the demise of
any nation.
While sharks will undoubtedly lurk in the waters ahead, the wind of
history is in our favor, and our successes and failures of the past have
given this young nation the experience and strength to attain its natural
destiny. A convergence of factors is spurring the Africanite people on
towards the great future that awaits them. Only one question remains: will
you be part of it?
31. Baby Steps
==============
As discussed in Chapter 24, "Transition to Prominence," the first step in
the Africanite nation's quest towards autonomy and the great destiny
beyond must begin with the popularization of the basic concept of ethnic
nationhood. At the time of writing - Summer, 2004 - the greater majority
of Africanites were still unaware that we are a nation which already has a
proud culture, that racism is not the crucial issue, and that a great
destiny awaits our people if appropriate action is taken.
This is where you can play your part. Relax; this is not a call for
activism. You will not be asked to become involved, sacrifice your time,
or give up your hobbies. There is no need for you to set up a phone tree,
write letters to the media, hold neighborhood rallies, raise funds via
bake sales, and so on. Nor is there any need for you to participate in
demonstrations or marches on Washington. The protests played their part in
the struggle, but the time for marches and sit-ins is over.
While there are those of us who live and breathe political activism, it is
here assumed that the reader is the archetypical modern Africanite,
hard-pressed for time, juggling the demands of work and family while
living life to the fullest, with a tight schedule that leaves no room for
old-school political activism. It would be unwise to assume anything else.
Moreover, even if every argued in this treatise has been persuasively
logical and, as a consequence, the reader is in agreement that the push
for political autonomy is a critically important step for our nation, it
is likely that the reader is nonetheless skeptical of whether, finally,
this movement about to arise will be the real deal. Africanite history is
littered with the wrecks of movements that died on the way to nowhere. As
Malcolm X wrote in his autobiography after his return from Mecca and
Africa, shortly prior to his death:
On the streets, after my speeches, in the faces and the voices of
the people I met - even those who would pump my hands and want my
autograph - I would feel the wait-and-see attitude. I would feel -
and I understood - their uncertainty about where I stood. Since the
Civil War's "freedom," the black man has gone down so many fruitless
paths. His leaders, very largely, had failed him. The religion of
Christianity had failed him. The black man was scarred, he was
cautious, he was apprehensive.
Understanding this also, the author will not ask the reader for much. The
only request to the reader is this: do not let the message terminate with
you. Pass it on to just one other person. That will be enough to help set
in motion the series of events which will heave the Africanite nation out
of mediocrity and catapult it to glory.
Nor does this author ask the reader for a single cent of in donations. The
reader's awareness of the issues and concepts presented in this book is
what is needed, not a donation. This writer's goal is to stir the
Africanite community from a long torpor of political inactivity, not more,
not less - and all that is needed for that is a new awareness of where we
find ourselves today.
And again, allow the author to emphasize that even if you fully support
this quest, you need not change your lifestyle. The Africanite nation is a
democratic nation in the American tradition, with as many lifestyles as
there are individuals. Whether you wear a 'fro, a mohican, or a queue is
your business. Social activists, religious leaders and others may
encourage individual behavioral changes - and should be much admired and
respected for their efforts - but such advocacy has little political
effect and is not relevant to the push for political autonomy.
The author is confident that the Africanite people, whether consciously or
not, have long been aware of the fundamental truths espoused in this
treatise, and, as such, are ready to embrace the cause of political
autonomy - cautiously, tentatively, but embrace it nonetheless. Hence,
even if every reader is instrumental in the enlightenment of only one
other person, the eventual groundswell of collective awareness and
understanding will be sufficient to lift this grandest of projects off the
ground.
Here's exactly what you can do.
Print this book out in entirety, and leave it on someone's desk. The
recipient can be anyone, as long as he or she is Africanite. While it
would be desirable to reach a larger segment of the Africanite population
via a neatly bound edition available in bookstores nationwide, as yet the
symbiosis of a major publishing house and this writer has not come into
being. Hence, for the meantime, the author has no recourse but to rely on
your kind goodwill, and the laser printer in your office.
Thank you for listening, Africanites across America, and Godspeed. I will
see you in the new Africanite state. Perhaps it will be in the departure
lounge of MLK International Airport. Or perhaps it will be as you are
relaxing in an outdoor café at the corner of Nat Turner Boulevard and Du
Bois Avenue. Or perhaps it will be when you are strolling with your family
on Malcolm X Square. But wherever it may be, I know that your step will be
lighter and your smile brighter, for you will at last be truly free.
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| T H E T H I R D S H I F T |
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| Copyright © 2004-2005. All Rights Reserved. |
| |
| This is the first edition, dated July 10, 2004. |
| |
| This document may be freely distributed in entirety and without |
| modifications until June 30, 2005. Please refer to the following |
| web site after the said date. |
| |
| www.the-third-shift.com |
| |
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