Host Larry Higginbottom discusses whether or not American Descendants of Slaves (ADOS) are better off than they were in 1968. In particular, he shares his perspective as a mental health services professional.
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The following commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and management of WBCA or the Boston Neighborhood Network. If you would like to express another opinion, you can address your comments to Boston Neighborhood Network, 302-5 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 0-213. To arrange a time for your own commentary, you can call WBCA at 617-708-3215 or email radio@bnnmedia.org. Well, I'm back, Boston. I'm your host, live at Larry Higginbottom, and you listen to WBCA, 102.9 FM, WBCA, 102.9 FM Boston. And my program is opposite, they come trenches. When I speak about things that I've been seeing out here for the last quarter century, as you know, at Alzheimer's, we are engaged in wraparound, mental health, and folks' homes. I'm here to see firsthand how our families are fairing, to see the culture, how they interface, how they interact, everything. And I've come to this conclusion, the benefits that supposedly we were to derive that caused King's life had been totally squandered and wasted. Those benefits, those laws that came in the book, were allowed to benefit everyone, but the group that it was intended to. So now in 2024, we find ourselves as a outcast on the bottom, as a collective. You've got a few folks who are doing okay, a few are doing okay, but that's what I call the illusion, the deception. But the collective, worse off now, they were in 1963, when King did as much on Washington. And for more information, if you were to read a report that came out in 1968 called the Kerner, Kerner report, 1968, where LBJ wanted to know why the Negroes were arriving. And that report came out again, 50 years later, by the same name, the Kerner report 50 years later. And what they found, except for there being more American blacks with college degrees, none had changed, nothing had changed, all the categories that they found that led to the rise of '68, were present in 2018. And you might know, Tavis Smiley, and he's also a noted columnist, you know. He wrote a book 20 years ago, The State of Black American, and he's just now revisited that book, that revisited our situation 20 years later. The name is book, it's called The State of Black American, 20 years later. And to his dismay, right, is just as gloomy as the report that came out from the Kerner report 50 years later. They had been some individual progress, but no group progress. The group as the whole, I believe, is worse off because now things like integrity, character, standards have dissipated. And so my program today is simply this year, ADOS stands for American citizen slaves as identifiers. That's what Brother King, in his last book, said we were, used that term, which the founders of the ADOS movement, have corn as ADOS, some folks use, foundation of black Americans, some say black Americans, whatever term you use, they talk about those who are American born, not Haitians, not Jamaica, not Trinidadians, not Africans, American born. And the reason why I speak to my group, it is clear that my group has become a permanent underclass in many, many ways. So I wanted to put this thought out for us to think about, the real simple. We have tried human rights, civil rights, voting rights, and integration to no avail. What next? What now? What now? We have tried human rights, civil rights, voting rights, and integration. What now? What are we going to do to elevate our group into a high quality of life in America? What are we going to do? What are we going to do? And we're going live. You know, we've been going live for the last couple of weeks. I want you to call in and share your thoughts, you know, as long as there's no vulgar or racial slurs, you're welcome to share your thoughts. You might, she has some of my beliefs, you might not, but it's okay. Conversation. You can call in 617 708 3211, 617 708 3211, you want to call in and share your thoughts. I'm just putting this stuff out of you. Ados, foundation of black American, business of black American, American, American, black world, 20 you want to use. We have tried human rights, civil rights, voting rights, and integration to no avail. What now? What now? What are we going to do? Or what strategy are we going to use to elevate the group forward or move the group forward? Because it's clear by all research and data, the collective is not doing well. In the last 30, 40 years, all this massive illegal integration, as well as legal integration, Ados, we're not needed. You're not wanted or needed for entry level or cheap label, cheap labor, or not even for a consumer. You're not needed. So what do you do with the people that you don't need, that you never want it? That in 70 years from the start of civil rights to now, when I was born native to the native of the three, we used a place of what I call zero tolerance. The white community did not want our physical space, our physical presence, no our money in this space. They did not desire our physical presence, no our money. In 70 years, the king and our folks out there fighting, in 2024, the white community will tolerate our physical presence and our money, but we don't own anything, or we don't own anything. We are just as inept now, if it were in 1973 when King March don't watch it then. To the biggest, I guess, benefits of that struggle has been, just the blatant violence has set us to a great degree, being removed from the table, but we also see cases where that is prevalent, but just, you know, cop blunched being victimized or terrorized. That's not happening, but in every other capacity, we're not made a whole lot of progress. As a group, and I think that we need to be under what I said, where we are. You can't make movement if you won't be honest with where you are, and I think we need to admit that one thing that men being segregated did do, it made us right, picture lives each other, it made us right, be entrepreneurs, it made us be creative, it made us be solutions driven because why? You couldn't go into any white area and get any services, know that they want your business or your present. So segregation, although, you know, it had some very dire consequences, but the positive is that it made our community much more resilient, much more creative, and we were not standing around waiting for a law or policy to change the hearts and minds of white folks because we knew what he stood, they detested us. So we was not trying to go into that community because we knew that we was not wanted. So it made us, right, made us be creative, it brought out the ingenuity in our people. It made us a separate line because what we had was each other. And regardless of your educational level or talent, right, you knew that we was all in that bucket called anti-blackness, all of it. And so it made us rely on each other. That's why the term came about doing the black power movement of brothers and sisters. To replace the N word, to show the A, we are in 90 as one people against a common foe, because the common foe, whiteness, the spirit of whiteness. And so for a brief moment when King and Malcolm was alive and the black pencils alive, they were beginning to develop seas of unity. And he often people said, "Well, you know, the problem with, you know, ados, we're not unified." When you think about it, how we arrived on this here, scene and shackles and chains, we were not brought to be unified. We was not brought to be cohesive or to be as one unit, talking about how we came here. We came in the most vile condition of all groups here. So when folks say, "You're not unified," you take a collection of different tribes from Africa with different languages, custom, et cetera, on the very inhumane condition, we weren't brought to be unified. And we were stripped of everything, language, culture, everything, so we have rebuilt ourselves. And the word emulates us, despite what they say, they emulates us. So we need to be, I believe, honestly, what I said about what we are, because being in my field meant to have been providing mental health services in folks' homes for the last quarter century and seeing firsthand some of the culture and behavior that our folks have adapted. You cannot continue to leave all these grown men, women, children behind and think anything good is going to come to your group. I'll say again, we cannot continue to leave all these grown men, women, children to their own devices and think anything good is going to come to your group. And what being segregated did was also use around the doctors, the lawyers, the ministers, the teachers, the plumbing, the electrician, the builders, the entrepreneurs, use around them. So the post among us got to see and mingle with those who had a higher calling or a higher elevation of understanding and behavior. And we could also check each other, be segregated, you know, we could check each other's behavior. And so one thing that King said, and then she can also check out for yourself, "M.L.K. from a dream to a nightmare, M.L.K. from a dream to a nightmare, even King said it didn't call America nothing for us to get the right to vote, to sit at a lunch counter or use the facilities we were taking our money and building up the institution at our own expense. And when folks started hauling about go to school, get a good education, get you a good job, they was not talking about come and build businesses or get contracts to hire ourselves. They was talking about get you a good job, you go to certain corporate America and some white establishment, be a city state or whatever, and build their establishment. So when you really analyze, right, integration compared to segregation is a lot of drawbacks, being segregated, it's true. Because why? They own a lot of the wealth, one of the biggest drawbacks. But it also instilled a sense of we must do, we got to do. Because we knew the white community, right, wasn't no part of it, they wanted nothing to do with it. They didn't want our money nor present. So it made us become what self-reliant. It made us right, be about building, being creative. And so that's why my topic, as I look out here in our community, that's why I put this thought out to you. We have tried human rights, civil rights, voting rights, and integration, but now, what now? Because what king envisioned from his effort of integration, civil rights, were for the Negroes' idols to be treated and accepted as full-fledged citizen with all the person benefit of whiteness. I'll say again, Dr. King envisioned, was for our community, American Blacks, to be treated and accepted as full-fledged citizen with all the person benefit of whiteness, that included contracts, top quality education, top quality health insurance, also due process under the law, right? All those components, which comprise this quality of life, he wanted that also to be stole up on our group. And I think we all can admit, if we're honest with ourselves, it failed. Civil rights failed. Voting has failed. And the reason why I couldn't realize that voting was a politics in general, was the bad vehicle to hitch our legitimate grievance against the government to be addressed. Because democracy is one person, one vote, one man, one vote. So in these chambers, be it city, state, or federal level, if you can't get your colleagues, right, just cosign off your ordinance or your law, it never goes anywhere, because the numbers they did. And our case in point, our congressmen, Conyers from Michigan, were bringing to the floor of the Democrats, you know, they're in Congress, just like opposed us to study reparation, to study reparation. He could never get the majority of the Democrat congresspeople to even agree to even study reparation. So, if you couldn't get your so-called, you know, your so-called allies to agree, you know darn well, you're not going to get those folks who's only Republican, you oppose it. And so, in general, we really think about voting, as I do. Once we step outside Reconstruction, voting has done nothing to elevate our legitimate grievous against the federal government of the harm that it allowed us to be subjected to. We try to say Larry, because the white majority got without elders, right, in age to 65, once we've emancipated, they passed the 13, 14, and 15 amendment, et cetera, okay? Because why? They had the numbers. The white majority got without elders, and they passed those, those, those, those amendments. By 1877, they were sick of us, right? They threw it out to the world. No protection, right? No land, no way to feed ourselves. And we have been running for our survival or fighting for our survival ever since. And so, we must be honest with where we are. We must be honest with ourselves about what is work, and what is not work. And so, that's why I put out for you to think about and consider this is a simple thought. We have tried human rights, civil rights, voting rights, and integration, what now? The group, for all to the purposes, are a permanent underclass, and all leading indicators, all leading indications, indicators. But I want to hear what you've got to hear. Here's your thoughts, because we are going live. You can call me and show you your thoughts six, one, seven, seven, eight, three, two, eleven, six, one, seven, seven, eight, thirty, two, eleven, there's the number you're going to call me and show you your thoughts. On this topic, we have tried human rights, civil rights, voting rights, and integration. To no avail, it's done very little in mom and opinion, to increase the quality of life of the collective. So, what do we do now? What do we do now? Call me and show you your thoughts, six, one, seven, seven, eight, three, two, eleven, six, one, seven, seven, eight, three, two, eleven, two, one, call me and share your thoughts. The things I've come to really realize that three decades of my life, and I am a living example of that, that the only saving grace in this country with a system of economic based and capitalism is labor, for better for worse now, for better or for worse. And what it does, it allows people who are poor and broke. If you acquire those essential high income scale that's relevant in the market played, you won't be broke, you won't be broke for long, even now, because here's one of the biggest advantage in 2024 that was not available in 1953 when I was going. Whether you were skilled, right, had knowledge, right, had a dream, you wouldn't get in. The whiteness was not going to allow the niggrels or adles to get in. Because your elders, along with my elders, got to do a king and fought. In 2024, you can get in, you can get in, you can get in, any occupation you want to. You can get into it, any occupation you want to. And you can elevate yourself in ways that were not available seven years ago. And I don't mean just playing sports or entertaining white people. All those deals now open to you if you so choose to pursue and acquire the information or acquire the skills to proceed. So you end up much better positioned now in 2024 than you were in 1960, 1970, 1980. The only redress I've seen for our group is labor. Do you possess essential high income skills? And I don't mean just going to college because there are many college degrees that are not worth the paper that's written on. You might have a good time studying and partying, but it will not elevate your quality of life. If you have skills that are in high demand, that are highly, highly rewarded, you would do well in this think of capitalism. That's why I say it's time for Gen X Gen Z in Millennial to start to embrace, but also instill in your children, you've got to be skilled. You've got to be highly skilled out here. Otherwise you're going to struggle. And your country is changing before your very eyes. And I'm going to say being out here in the trenches that many of our members are not being properly prepared to thrive in this now changing America, it's changing. And so if you're not preparing yourself or your children to meet this changing world, then you're going to be at least a bit disadvantaged. And these programs they throw out for the poor, child tax credit, early learning daycare, those programs don't put you in the kind of community that you want to live in or allow you to live where you want to live. It doesn't do that for you, it does not elevate you out of poverty. And in fact, being out in the trenches, most of the programs that quote unquote the Democrats give to working class poor people really submit them being in poverty all their life. Because I've heard many, many, many times in the quarter century being out here and family, family members say, well, I don't want this year, if I take a dollar more, they're going to increase my rent, I take a dollar less, a dollar more, you know, I'm going to lose, you know, my section eight, or, you know, I might lose some food stamp benefits or whatever it might be. Well, that's so called saving that really is an impediment to your own personal growth and development because you become psychologically dependent on staying stagnant and not growing and not evolving. So what supposedly the so-called benevolent, you know, kindhearted, white liberal, what I'm going to call it, you know, have in mind actually end up stymying your growth, stymying your development. And this I can testify firsthand by being out here in this home every day. A lot of these programs does nothing to change your quality of life. It keeps you stagnant, it keeps you just one nose above water. And you transmit that just enough spirit on to your own children because they've seen that you're doing just enough to stay comfortable. Not to excel, right, not to prosper and make progress, but to stay stagnant. So the helping hand actually become a detriment. So we have to be under without self. We must be under without self. This is a white man's country, and I don't say that to strip, you know, controversy or conversation. No, it is what it is. And before the 1968 rise, white people would tell you firsthand it's a white man's country and it was not lying, then nor now. And with the advent of multiculturalism, diversity, equity, and inclusion, social justice, oh, this bamboozled people by putting these terms out, you know, for all Americans, for everybody. Does anything ever benefit all people, all Americans, for everybody, it says no. That superficial, feel-good rhetoric is a scam. Never have, never will. So we need to be under without self in this white man's country that he control, he owns all the wealth, fact, these are his institutions that we operate in, fact, he owns all the guns, fact, given the relationship of adults or American blacks, we came in shackles and chains, we've been fighting against whiteness from the day one to now, how do you thrive in prosper, given that relationship and the foundation that is built on? The only redress I can see for us in 2024 going forward, do you possess essential high-income skills? If you do, you're going to do very, very well, because there's no lid on occupation as the word when I was born in 1953. In 1953, when you scaled, gifted, had talent, didn't matter, whiteness was not going to allow you in the ball game. That's not the case in 2024, but unfortunately, many too often in our community are not pursuing or not being groomed or directed toward those essential high-income skills that lead to a great life. I had to go back and upgrade my skills 30 years ago to be living how I'm living now, and I had those low-paying black jobs. I had those, those existed. I had those jobs. I'm thankful that I had those. Now, with the competition out there, those jobs don't no longer exist because they don't need you, but I have to go back and upgrade my skills to position myself to build a kind of business that I have and do what I'm doing. When I look at most of my friends, my very close friends, the ones who are doing very, very well, it's obvious their skills are the most important component of that. They have essential high-income skills that no matter who's in the government's mansion or down in the state house or down in Washington, D.C., or the White House, they're going to do well. They're going to do well with God, but if they vote or don't vote, it will not affect their family's quality of life, and that's why I come to realize and say to aid those community in a way voting has been a sham because the numbers don't work. We never had the numbers. Once you step outside of Reconstruction, we never had the numbers to get anything of substance passed, it's going to benefit us, and the way the LBJ got the so-called Civil Rights laws passed, he had to promise those white subtoners, perks, and he lost all his white subtoners, right, to what the D.C. Republican Party, by passing those laws, calls Civil Rights, and from day one, there was an effort to undermine those laws, and they have succeeded because the anti-Blackness so entrenched in the psychology of whiteness is never going to be eradicated. That's why I recommend to Gen Z and I won't spend my time anymore on human rights, civil rights, voting rights, sexism, racism, no, I won't put my time anymore, I won't put my time there no more. We have given system after patient 160 plus years fighting for human rights, civil rights, voting rights, integration, let those other groups fight, let them push that wagon. If confronted with it, deal with it, but I would not be going out of my way to put into my energy in those effort anymore. I would be stealing my children and myself, I must secure and pursue essential high-income skills. It can allow me and my family to be very comfortable, it can allow me to also start my own project, it can allow me to invest, it can allow me to leave an inheritance, it can allow me to show my children, right, that your country runs on who owns and controls it. So it's time for a different mindset in the ableist community and foundation of Black American, original Black America, it's time for a different mindset because we have tried human rights, civil rights, voting rights, and then integration to no avail. The group at the collective is still a bottom cast and it's a collective. And don't be fooled by the few you see out there in these high-profile positions, they ain't got no juice, no juice. That's why we say anything outside of the ordinary, the country can be terminated, the endorsement pool, and they can be taken up there, they got no juice, all symbolism to give the false impression that America is changing, because those laws that King was murdered for, all right, laws might change some behavior, but laws will never change the heart or wants to conviction. And we have seen 70 years that the hearts and minds of whiteness never changed, never changed. You just learn to tolerate us, tolerance, it's not genuine brotherhood, tolerance is not genuine sisterhood, and we need to teach our children the relationship that exists in America between the laws and whiteness, because if we talk to them, I don't think they'd be able to do what I was foolishness they're doing. If they was taught the way I was taught, my parents was born in 1930, had grandparents who were around, I was born in 1903, I think my grandmother was, and my grandfather was born in 1897, they taught me about this bit of whiteness, and the first law they taught me as the Negro Child, you got no better to go on before that white men's court house. And it's also reiterated at my friend's house through their parents, so we never did anything stupid to get ourselves arrested or locked up because we knew we would get the worst other words, and I'm convinced that boomers have failed to teach their children in the grandchildren about this relationship, and so he would find myself on the outside looking man of a country, to the world of this country, was built off the black back bodies of eight o'ers. Anyway, I'm your host Larry Higginbottom, he listened to WBCA 102.9 FM, again listened to WBCA 102.9 FM, named a program off the basement trenches, and I'm just putting on the atmosphere of a simple thought to my group. We have tried human rights, human rights, voting rights, and integration, what now? What now? I'm going to take a break and be right back to continue my thoughts. You can always feel free to call in by return to the number of 617 708 3211, 617 708 3211. I'll be back in a minute, don't go nowhere. The revolution wasn't televised in the '60s, is it going to be televised in the '90s? Well, you know, the catchphrase, what that was all about, the revolution would not be televised. That was about the fact that the first change that takes places in your mind, you have to change your mind before you change the way you live, and the way you move, so when we said that the revolution would not be televised, we were saying that the thing that's going to change people is something that no one will ever be able to capture on a film. It will just be something that you see, and all of a sudden you'll realize, I'm on the wrong page, or I'm on the right page, but I'm on the wrong note, and I've got to get in sync with everyone else to understand what's happening in this country. But I think that the black Americans have been the only real, that hard Americans here, because we're the only ones who carry the process through the process, that everyone else has to sort of like skip stages. We're the ones who march, we're the ones who carry the Bible, we're the ones who carry the flag, we're the ones who try to go through the courts, and being born American didn't seem the matter, because we were born Americans, but we still had to fight for what we were looking for, and we still had to go through those channels and those processes. People won't give you the real talk on drugs, but it's time we know the facts. fentanyl is killing people. It's a powerful opioid, often made illegally and commonly mixed with illicit drugs. It can even be pressed into counterfeit pills that resemble prescription medications, two milligrams, about the size of a few grains of sand, could potentially be lethal. This isn't an ad to scare you, but it isn't an ad to make you think twice. Get the facts. Go to realdealonfentanyl.com. This message is brought to you by the ad council. Again, here's that song again for the hundredth time today. Here's that song again. It's gonna be stuck in your head all day. Here's that song again. It will make you cray cray. You love your kids enough to watch that TV show a budgillion times. Love them enough to make sure they're in the right car seat for their age and size. Show 'em you love 'em. Keep 'em safe. Visit nhtsa.gov/therightseat, brought to you by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the ad council. The revolution wasn't televised in the '60s. Is it gonna be televised in the '90s? Well, you know, the catchphrase, what that was all about, the revolution would not be televised. That was about the fact that the first change that takes place is in your mind. You have to change your mind before you change the way you live and the way you move. So when we said that the revolution would not be televised, we were saying that the thing that's going to change people is something that no one will ever be able to capture on the film. It'll just be something that you see and all of a sudden you'll realize, I'm on the wrong page or I'm on the right page but I'm on the wrong note and I've got to get in sync with everyone else to understand what's happening in this country. But I think that the black Americans have been the only real that-hard Americans here because we're the only ones who carried the process through the process that everyone else has to sort of like skip stages. We're the ones who marched, we're the ones who carried the Bible, we're the ones who carried the flag, we're the ones who tried to go through the courts and being born American didn't seem to matter because we were born American but we still had to fight for what we were looking for and we still had to go through those channels and those processes. I'm back again. I'm your host, Larry Higginbottom. You're listening to WBCA 102.9 FM, again WBCA 102.9 FM, name a little chat here every week is Ah, it's the basement trenches. Let's speak about things that I'm seeing out of here and in the eighties community the last 25 decades, it makes me do 25 years, excuse me, Dad's not working. And my thought for you to consider today, you can also call me going live, you can call me and give me your thoughts of 6.7, 7.8, 3.211, 6.7, 7.08, 3.211. And I thought for you to think about this year, we have tried human rights, civil rights, voting rights and integration. What now? Because the group as a whole has not been elevated, the group as a whole has not been made whole because of that terrible episode of enslavement and Jim Crow. We have not been able to bounce back from that. And the things that they put into place to address that, those civil rights laws benefit everybody but it's because why the language did not specify who it was for and why. It's not specified for the Negro because of slavery and Jim Crow, it's specified. So everybody was allowed to benefit and I educated Boule, did not push back and say, "These laws came in to address an impairment, but the Negroes, they allowed everybody in and now in 2024, gives them in put out the house, use truly, aid us, we didn't put out the house." And so what is the recourse, what is the redress, what's the solution? And I kind of believe that the only redress we have is, do you possess essential, high income skills because our system of economic is based in capitalism for better for worse, for better for worse. And please don't get into that nonsense about what we're going to replace, replace it. If you know how difficult it is to dismantle the institution and start from scratch, that's why all institutions, despite folk complaining about them, are never replaced, never. And so that's the only redress that I've seen that we have as the collector. That's why I say, and the reason why I play that clip by your brother, Gil's got a hair in. He said, "Revelation would not be televised, it starts with in your mind, it starts in your mind that we're in the wrong page, going the wrong way." He also said, "We are only group who's been true to the process, the reason why we came in shackles and chains, we've been fighting for our so-called liberty, since we got here. For four and five years we've been fighting, we're only group who's been constantly in conflict with whiteness." He also said, if you listen to the man, "Being born black American didn't seem to matter. Being born an American didn't seem to matter." He ain't lying about that. Like the spirit of whiteness is so entrenched with anti-blackness, it rather help anyone than us. And we have been the most loyal, devoted and committed to this country since we've been here. And all we've been saying is include us, include us. But that spirit of whiteness is so vile and despicable, it's that no way. And I say, it's time for the young people, Gen X, Gen Z, and Millennial, to stop begging. To stop begging to be somewhere where you're not wanting. To stop begging to be somewhere where you're where it's clear that it's going to be a fight or disruption. I don't want to be nowhere where folks don't want me at. And one thing about being segregated, it caused us to be what created ingenuity, right? It caused that black dollar to circulate 'cause why whiteness didn't want you in their space. You know your money. So in 54 and so in seven years since Kim set out to, you know, to civilize the spirit, we've heard ourselves by our integration, business is gone, that black dollar does not circulate. We cannot hire black people, meaning they hate those people. We can hire our own. And in fact, today, as you can look up, you can look up and look up yourself, only 2.7% of black people are 7-floor, hate those people, only 2.7%, 2.7% are 7-floor. That means 97.3% of us are either begging white folks or anybody to hide to give them a job. It's the same situation we've found in 19-63. We could not hire ourselves. So if you can't hire yourself, you really can't protect yourself from the vicious consequences of whiteness. You can't protect yourself because you can't provide for you and your family because why you don't control the platform, the economic that you are deriving your income from. The advice that was given to the boomers, that the boomers embrace, but integration, get a great education and get you a great job was to our own detriment because it stopped us from being innovators, it stopped us from being 7-flooring, it stopped us from hiring our own, it stopped us from this do-for-self spirit because white folks were not going to do for you, they didn't want you around, so all the things that sex segregation caused a benefit to us because why we was without self. We knew there's no need to go across town because why he didn't want you over there. So we didn't go. We didn't go. So whatever you needed, right, we would create amongst ourselves. And we'd also police ourselves because why? We did not want the white policeman in our business. So we would, right, police ourselves and keep a lid on the nonsense. All that evaporated with integration. So a lot of things that we did that sustained us and gave us a great sense of self and self affirmation have dissipated. And one of the biggest things we lost was having genuine love for self. You would never hear how elders who was born in the 30s or 20s or 1900 use the end word so freely calling out women in every other opportunity, "I don't roll with them bees. I've got no love for them ages." Never. We'd be out there self-denigrating and self degrading ourselves the way many in our group has done in the last 30, 40 years, never at the worst, worst of times in America. Self-denigration was not part of our metaphor, it was not part of our mindset. So we have lost quite a bit on this journey of integration. And many of our young folks have lost their way. But all this here can be rectified in one generation and one generation. If you understand that the only salvation you have left, in my own opinion, is not civil rights, it's not voting, it's strictly in economics. In one generation, we started to steal in ourself and our children who got to be skilled baby. I ain't talking about bouncing a basketball, killing a ball, or shooting wraps, or singing. You have to be skilled about it. You can demand top dollars, you can also secure contracts with city, state, and federal government. Because they spend billions of dollars, billions of dollars every day without side contracts. And adults are not there in no meaningful number. And without contracts, you can't hire your people. You can not hire your people because you have no platform for them to derive the income to buy the goods and services that you might want to produce. So when I hear this thing, "Yeah, we need to do for ourselves." Yeah, that's true. You know, community, yeah, it's true, where is revenue coming from? Who's going to have our people? That's why I say you have to, you must tap into the larger white community. You've got to tap into capitalism. There's no other way that we're going to be able to prosper and thrive without being able to successfully navigate and get resources out of that system. And the best way is to start with, it's been highly skilled, essential skilled, and I would not be looking for a career in corporate America. Because why? That's their corporation, not yours. No matter what you build, right? That's yours. That's yours. That you can pass down to your children and they can keep it going. But if all you're pushing is get a good education and get you a great job, you're from where? The white community. And there is a relationship that builds on what, toxicity, on contempt, hate, and disdain. They've learned to tolerate us in these seven, seventy plus years since 1953 when I was born. Yeah. But they're not here to make you whole or to make you prosperous at will. And only the reason why they share any entertainment feel they have no choice. They have no choice. Because they cannot control talent. They cannot control talent. Otherwise, a lot of these folks making multi-minal contracts would not be getting that, but they cannot control talent. I'm saying to you, that same mindset applies in winning skills. Some still need what highly skilled individuals. They might not care like you, but they need your skillset, which means you don't get paid well. Which means you can do a lot of things for yourself, your family, but also you can acquire your own contract and you can hire your own people. You can hire your own people. Whereas I come to a close, I want you to remember now, we have tried human rights, civil rights, border rights, and integration. But now, it's not done without a king that I hope it would do, which is to have us being included and treated as a full-fledged system with all the person a bit of the whiteness. It's failed, because the anti-blackness is thoroughly entrenched in the psychology of whiteness. It is what it is. And yes, there's always been good white people, always have been, always will be. That's not the problem. Always been, to no avail, they couldn't change it. They could not spread, they could not stop the spread of our supremacy. They cannot stop the Christian of the city by the system of white black. We did not create that system. It's not up to us to eradicate it. What we've been doing over the last 160 years is just trying to survive in it, trying to roll with it. Anyway, as I come to a close, just remember now, we'll try human rights, civil rights, border rights, integration. We'd be able to try pursuing and trying to thrive in capitalism. It's time for the teacher I kid about capitalism, for better for worse now, but better for worse is our system. And the crux of that system is labor. So if you're broken, poor, as I was, if you acquire those skillset, you won't be broke alone. Because you'd be able to move yourself in a whole different arena, coming 2024. You can get any occupation that you have a skill set for. You can get any occupation that you have a skill set for. Unlike in 1993, you wouldn't get in. Scale, unskilled, new sum didn't know, but you would not get in there in period. If our blackness was thick, but today, because the king and our elders, you can get in. So as I come to a close, just remember to see him. No matter who wins in November, it's not going to do anything for you or the group. Your life, quality of life depends on what you do. It's going to depends on your skill set. It's not going to depend on who's in the White House or the government ship. Capitalism does not need them, but it does need labor. So if you don't hear anything I say, you need to understand, your labor is paramount to you living a high-quality life for you and your children, or being a type of man you want to be with our aid. When your wife wants something, you can get it. Kids needs something, you can get it, without having to bend over backwards or, you know, being dead or whatever, because your skills are bringing in top dollar, top dollar. And there's no getting around that. That's the only way I can see. It's the only readdress I see for adults. It's labor. There are other things, right? You've got no matter, all you're going to get out of voting and civil rights. We've got about all we're going, we have gotten about all we're going to get out of those efforts. I say put that horse back in the barn, stick a fuck in that horse. That horse is done. That horse is thoroughly done. Only thing you got left now is you, your labor. Do you possess essential high income skills? If you do, you're going to do well out here. If you don't, you're not going to do that going to fail well. There's no getting around that point. So as I wind down, you know, I hope you've enjoyed my little conversation. You might agree, you might not, but something to think about, but this is a great country of ours, this is a great country of ours. If you're poor and broke, you're at the right place at the right time. If you become skilled, if you acquire those high income skills, you won't be broke for long. They're not going to show you. So until next Wednesday, be blessed. I'll be back with another, another ball for you to think about. And we'll keep it, we'll keep it rolling. The preceding commentary does not necessarily reflect the views of the staff and management of WBCA or the Boston Neighborhood Network. If you would like to express another opinion, you can address your comments to Boston Neighborhood Network, 302-5 Washington Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02119. To arrange a time for your own commentary, you can call WBCA at 617-708-3215 or email radio at bnnmedia.org.