I like to learn something new every day of my life. ☥ ☥ Charlotte 'Mama C' Hill O’Neal ☥
Trapdoor ☥ The Assimilation Webs Of Deception
Although the true numbers will never be known, we have confirmed evidence of 3,446 African Americans who were lynched in the southern states between 1882 and 1968. During this time, the largest mass lynching in United States history occurred, not with African Americans, but with Italian Americans.
In 1891, David C. Hennessy, the New Orleans police chief was murdered. Rumors quickly spread through town that before he died, he uttered a racial slur against Italians which catalyzed public angst that had been steadily growing against Italian immigrants. At the time, New Orleans was home to the largest settlement of Italians in the southern states. Hungry to realize their dreams of a successful life in America, the Italians became productive merchants and contributors to the New Orleans economy. However, local politicians and businessmen were losing marketshare to the Italians and feared losing power in upcoming elections, etc. These types of power plays create social programming as a device to manipulate the public in order to maintain the current power structure. This programming was developed and executed so seamlessly that people who were born in America and struggling financially began to accuse the immigrants of taking away their jobs and opportunities. Public outrage over Hennessy’s death resulted in mass arrests of Italians, 19 of whom were indicted and one of whom was a 14-year-old boy. No evidence was found that could convict them. Of the 19 who were indicted, 11 were acquitted; however, instead of being released, they were thrown back in jail with the other eight. The acquittals resulted in a public fury and demand for justice. An ad was placed in a local newspaper that summoned the community to gather outside of Parish Prison. The ad read:
Rise, people of New Orleans! Alien hands of oath-bound assassins have set the blot of a martyr's blood upon your vaunted civilization! Your laws, in the very Temple of Justice, have been bought off, and suborners have caused to be turned loose upon your streets the midnight murderers of David C. Hennessy, in whose premature grave the very majesty of our American law lies buried with his mangled corpse — the corpse of him who in life was the representative, the conservator of your peace and dignity.
When the crowd of thousands gathered, leaders such as local attorney William S. Parkerson addressed and led them towards the prison. Eleven of the prisoners were shot, hung outside from lamp posts and/or clubbed to death. The angry crowd did not commit the murders. The murders were committed by an elite group of politicians, lawyers and businessmen, known as the "Committee Of Fifty," one of whom was Walter C. Flower, who was later elected as the 44th mayor of New Orleans. We need to overstand the power of herd mentality to influence our thoughts and behaviors. The "Committee Of Fifty," was referred to as an “execution squad” who strategically broke into the prison to commit the murders and psychologically manipulated the crowd in order to justify the lynchings. People who go along with the herd of oppression and injustice, are not innocent and have a responsibility to serve the highest good of all people. Some of the dead bodies were displayed publicly and body parts were mutilated and taken as souvenirs of the event. I'll digress here briefly to reiterate why white peoples' fear of revenge is so far-fetched. There is no way that I would ever want to execute someone and rip their body apart to take a piece as a souvenir of my vengeance. My efforts are focused on pushing for isonomy ☥ justice, continually training to defend myself physically ☥ mentally ☥ emotionally and working to heal ☥ empower our communities. The behavior displayed by the white "execution squad" represents a darkness that I do not ever want to emulate. On April 12, 2019, New Orleans Mayor LaToya Cantrell, a Black woman, issued a Proclamation Of Apology to the Italian community for the 1891 lynchings. As I researched this event, I was saddened, but not surprised to read comments from white people, who responded to the story, such as, “Now we have to apologize to the Italians? Where does it end?”
If you're going to be a good and faithful judge, you have to resign yourself to the fact that you're not always going to like the conclusions you reach. If you like them all the time, you're probably doing something wrong. ☥ ☥ Antonin Scalia ☥
What white people fear is that we would want to do to them what they/their ancestors have done to us, and what we want is for them to see their violent tendencies so that they can heal and stop perpetuating harm and preventing our communities from thriving. I do not know how to make that more clear, but we need to keep the communication lines open until the message gets through.
As I searched for appropriate examples of the trapdoor webs of deception for us to study, I thought of an image that I found for my Three Elephants blog. The picture is of three white males and black male holding each other’s hand in the air, but the way the sun hits the males, when we look at the picture, we can only clearly see the white males. I thought the image perfectly reflected the deception of anyone who is not white believing that they would ever be a legitimate member of the “white boy’s club.” I also thought of the many times that white people worked, either directly or through social programming, in an attempt to turn me against Cubans in Miami/Africans of the diaspora, middle eastern people everywhere, etc. The “their taking our jobs” claim is a trapdoor intended to:
☥ Incite support for xenophobia and promote competition between “races” as a divide
and conquer strategy to assert control
☥ Imply secret support/connection to a specific “race” of people to prevent them from
forming alliances with people of other cultures
If we study these intentions, we will find psychosis embedded within the drive to separate people in order to control them. The tactics are often covertly manipulative, driven by fear and repeated for posterity.
An alternative way to function would be to create an environment where we all can thrive by tapping into to our unique gifts and talents in order to support each other’s efforts. This way of being only works when we’ve released superiority/inferiority complexes and healed unresolved traumas. So, I settled upon an examination of the 1891 mass lynching for a number of reasons:
☥ To help us understand how history continues to repeat itself when we don’t remove
the root causes of ignorant and violent behaviors
☥ To remove the delusions of assimilation into white culture, by invitation or by proving
oneself to be “worthy”
I will double down on the digression here to run our mind in circles for a short while, but I promise to bring us back to 1891. We truly need to heal from psychotic behavior in order to evolve in consciousness. Let’s try my bottle of water experiment. Using just your hands/arms, how many bottles of water can you successfully hold without dropping them? Depending on the size, most people can hold about 12 bottles of water. When you are holding these bottles, where is your focus? Are you focused on just one bottle of water, or on making sure that they all don’t drop? Are you able to focus on anything else while holding these bottles in your hands/arms?
Next experiment: how many times has your mind wandered in the last hour? Do you know? Would you easily be able to count? Do you remember the different thoughts that have come and gone?
The Black Panther Party was a revolutionary political organization. Although its members were leaders of the Black Power movement, they were not black nationalists. Their “black pride” was not based on denigrating whites, but on showing the black community how to take control of its own destiny. The Black Panther Party worked for economic justice and power for all people. ☥ ☥ Bobby Seale ☥
Why do I keep bringing up the term psychosis? Psychosis causes a person to lose touch with reality, and it is more common than we think. It is not realistic to believe that we can control 15 bottles of water, but we feel that it is realistic to control the lives of people from other countries who speak languages and embody cultures that we think we understand because we've studied them objectively. Many of us cannot control how many times our mind wanders in an hour, yet we attempt to control the thoughts and actions of others. Colonizers equate power with money and assertion of physical force over people to control resources and prevent their self-determination. Yet, when colonizers take the money and control the assets, they are not satisfied and continue to seek more, often at any cost to themselves, their families, associates, the environment and the people they oppress. No matter how much money/property, etc. they have, they want more - and when they get it, they are still not happy. Their quest to promote an illusion of superiority also causes them to suppress media coverage/research of health issues which keeps them from obtaining the help needed to recover. When I lived in California, I was amazed to see so many white drug addicts, but no one talked about it. The first time I pulled up into the parking lot of a health food store in Berkeley, I spotted a white male staggering out of a car into the store.
I hiked up one of my favorite trails and was stretching at the top of the mountain when I heard a group of white kids talking to some people who had just arrived. They said, “Dude, we’re like inviting people to smoke with us to help us get closer to God. It’s not like doing drugs, but it helps us to reach a higher plane. It is a sacred smoke, and it helps with our Spiritual quest.” They were eyeing me from a distance, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk so I left before they could get to me. I wanted to tour some of the national parks, but then one of my white friends cautioned me to not go to Humboldt alone because of the fentanyl/meth addicts. Then, I met up with one of my holistic health teachers who lives in the wine country. When I asked her about her beautiful home in the redwoods, she said that she and her husband had to leave because the entire area was overrun with white meth addicts. I was stunned, then I looked into the data and remembered who funds and promotes the data that we see. Colonizers commit suicide more than any other group and are driven by fear of annihilation which locks them in a loop of oppressing others in order to sustain a feeling of superiority - a feeling that they cannot sustain and that the people they oppress don’t believe in no matter how much external force is applied. Winning is the goal at any cost, and they continually push a public narrative that deflects their behaviors and asserts their superiority over others. How is this sane? What are we reaching and striving for? What is the downside to healing our mind ☥ body ☥ emotions or helping others to empower themselves ☥ fulfill their potential?
It's time for us as a people to start making some changes Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live And let's change the way we treat each other You see the old way wasn't working So it's on us to do what we gotta do to survive ☥ ☥ Tupac Shakur ☥ From The Song 'Changes'
Power comes from inside us. It cannot be bought or stolen. The illusion of power can be asserted, but the fact that a person seeks power over another, means that they don’t feel power from within themselves. When I stopped drinking alcohol, I did so because my inner vibration is so high, that alcohol is like a sleeping pill to me. How I feel inside doesn’t come from what I own or possess. It wasn’t given to me by anyone, so it cannot be taken away by anyone. My goal as a healer is to help both colonizer and oppressed to see how we have lost touch with ourselves and provide a roadmap that we can travel to find our way back. Once we tap into this sense of fulfillment that no one can take from us, we lose the need to assert power over others. This may sound idealistic to people who chase after sensations in order to feel alive, but I invite even those people to analyze themselves and think about how long they feel satisfied after achieving something that they worked hard to get. For example, if your whole life is about getting a gold medal, and you achieve it at the age of 25-years-old, what will your life be about at age 26? If you can’t wait to get married, have children and get the house with the white picket fence, what happens after you’ve achieved all of that … and you find that you still don’t feel happy, confident, powerful or successful? Why do we need to compare ourselves to others? Why do we have that secret envy when others achieve something that we haven’t achieved? What energy drives us to compare and compete? We have to investigate these questions, because that energy, left unchecked and free to run amok, will completely ruin our lives.
Life has to be about something other than what we achieve, because what we achieve can be taken away or proven to be the empty illusion of the source of our happiness. In other words, achievement can be a reflection of our zest for life, but it cannot be nor sustain our happiness/fulfillment. Unless we get this concept deep down in our bones, we will always be reaching for something that cannot and will not ever fulfill us. This reaching is at the root cause of the psychosis.
We need to closely examine the 1891 lynchings because it was an extremely well-organized execution that relied on the manipulation of the public to ensure its success and prevent the execution squad from being brought to justice. It is a case study of social programming and a demonstration of how the psychosis embedded within the strategy of colonization plays out and causes colonizers to lose their humanity.
The Italians were merchants, setting up successful businesses. Like many cultural tribes, the mafia was established to protect Italians from outside violence. It was a response to the behavior of colonizers. I had always known about the mafia but was oblivious to its presence all around me. I certainly spent a lot of time in Italian pizza parlors, beginning in early childhood. My first exposure to Italians was actually a family of Black Italians who attended my church. They were gorgeous, and I had a major crush on one of the boys. My experience of Italian people has been a mix of mentorship, great food, lots of laughs, storytelling, but also there was the exploitation, heart break and rank pulling. Although the positive did outweigh the negative experiences, my new understanding of social programming has helped me to recognize how Italians were also being manipulated and pitted against Black People as well as each other. Italians would inflight as much as Black People and would rank between the “dumb/uncultured” and smart/assimilated Italians. Spike Lee and Robert DeNiro have endeavored to shine a light on some of the issues within our collective communities. I noticed that Italian people behaved differently around me when white people were not around, and when white people were around, I saw the inner conflict as the Italians navigated the pressure to conform. In popular culture, we see the Italian men who love and manage to date Black women, but often can’t figure out how to keep them.
I found quite a few discussion boards that explored the question of how Italians got their dark skin and curly/coarse hair. I was disappointed to read assertions that Italy’s proximity to the equator was the reason behind the “Mediterranean” skin tone/facial features. However, anyone who looks at a map can see that between Italy (the boot of which is almost kicking Africa) and the equator is a whole lot of Africa. In other words, approximately 67% of Africa’s land mass lies above the equator, which amounts to approximately 7,839,000 million square miles. Let’s take a look at other land masses that are less than 7 million square miles to help us visualize how much of Africa lies between Italy and the equator:
☥ Italy is 116,306 square miles, 2,784 square miles of which is water
☥ europe is 4,066 million square miles
☥ South America is 6,888 million square miles
☥ The Mediterranean Sea is 965,300 square miles with a coastline that extends for
28,600 miles, and the distance between Morocco and the Rock of Gibraltar is 7.7
nautical miles.
☥ The distance between Italy and North Africa is 1,924 nautical miles
Ancient Africans migrated to europe and Asia and produced many different kinds of people. For example, the Cainities migrated from Africa and primarily settled in Israel, and the Dravidians from Africa primarily settled in Southern India. In fact, we can see evidence of similar facial features of the Cainities in both Italians and Jewish people (the Cainities were portrayed as Black and evil in the Old Testament and by Gnostics). There was a Black woman who was married to an Indian man in my early childhood neighborhood who was the darkest skinned man that I had ever seen, and at the time, I had a Nigerian bonus Dad. He was such a loving, warm spirit, but most of the Indians I knew and loved succumbed to the pressure to conform to white culture. Through colonization we now have:
☥ Skin lightening creams as a billion-dollar industry, targeting Africans and Indians. I was
so disappointed to see skin lightening cream being sold at one of my favorite East
Indian supermarkets in South Florida, and I thoroughly chastised the owner for
carrying it. When we think about the billion-dollar tanning industry that targets white
people, how can we not see the thread of insanity that weaves this behavior together?
☥ Ethnic cleansing throughout europe and Asia, which appropriated African culture but
reframed the history of Africans in their countries. The ethnic cleansing of Asia
resulted in who we now refer to as the Pacific Islanders, African Asians who took to the
ocean in order to escape the wrath of Genghis Khan. I ponder how Black People judge
or perceive people like Dwayne Johnson who is Black + Pacific Islander, or Kamala
Harris, who is Black + East Indian (remember Indians got their dark skin from ancient
Africans, i.e., the Dravidians), not realizing that though they have light skin, they have
the same/potentially more African ancestry as/than the average Black American. How
much pain do we cause ourselves and others by playing into the psychological
manipulation of colonizers (by throwing shade in order to make ourselves feel better)?
How much misplaced hateration have we sent to them based on ignorance of who we
are/who they are that, at its core, isn’t even about them — it’s a projection of our own
unresolved trauma? Trevor Noah believes himself to be more African than Black
Americans because he was born and raised in Africa and speaks the language.
However, he is biracial (with a Swiss father who most likely has little/minuscule African
ancestry), so most Black Americans have more African Ancestry than him even though
we weren't born in Africa and our languages were literally beaten out of us. Do we
recognize the pain he experienced growing up in apartheid South Africa as a biracial
male? How then do we judge any of these people when we can see the ingredients
we’ve added to this toxic soup? These behaviors are a projection of emotional pain on
each other because we are not doing the work of healing the real issue: acceptance of
our unwanted european ancestry. It is a complicated path to healing because if we
accept ourselves, who pays for/what do we do with the pain inflicted upon us/our
ancestors? Instead of projecting pain on each other, we can heal the ancestral trauma
caused by people who raped their way into our bloodline. Our path to healing includes
learning how to demystify ☥ heal our emotions so that we can process and release
unresolved trauma and learning how to protect ourselves from succumbing to the
tactics of racism and oppression.
George Lopez asked viewers of his show, "Who is Blacker, Charles Barkley or
Snoop Dogg?" The segments were brilliantly done and hilarious, but they also
reflect a growth area for us. As it turns out, though Snoop Dogg has darker skin,
Charles Barkley has more Continental African Ancestry which is why I continually assert
the need for recognizing, healing and releasing our social programming. That we ask
the question, “Who is Blacker?” signals many levels of deep, subconscious
unresolved trauma that we cover up with humor. Our need to publicly announce that we
we consider ourselves to be "Black" and not "African" when Africans are also
Black is another subconscious reflection of the impact of how Tarzan and other racist
propaganda has affected our psyche.
I feel that I am a citizen of the American dream and that the revolutionary struggle of which I am a part is a struggle against the American nightmare. ☥ ☥ Eldridge Cleaver ☥
We hate our european ancestry so much (another form of self-hatred) that we argue
over and will often ostracize our own people if they are not "Black enough" for us.
The only passion that guides me is for the truth ... I look at everything from this point of view. ☥ ☥ Che Guevara ☥
George Lopez jokingly told Charles Barkley that his "Native American” (Indigenous)
ancestry explained "the gambling." Colonizers forced Indigenous Americans into
casinos as primary sources of income and to psychologically "break" them because it
encourages competition within their culture/other cultures and goes against their core
values of connection with the Great Spirit. Does George Lopez recognize his own
Indigenous ancestry and if so, would he have made the comment? How would he
know?
Mexico/Central/South America was inhabited by Indigenous People and invaded by
spain/portugal. North America was inhabited by Indigenous People and invaded by the
British. These colonizers also brought in enslaved Africans. Indigenous People from
etc.), or allow themselves to be called Native Americans. We identify ourselves as Black
or African American because the knowledge of our Indigenous tribes and languages
have been erased. The social programming of spanish and portuguese colonizers was
driven by a deliberate intention to completely erase the presence of Indigenous People
(the tragedy of “invisibility”). Christian boarding schools in North America attempted
similar tactics, but failed to convert Indigenous People into white people. However, the
social programming in Mexico/Central/South America was able to more successfully
force spanish/portuguese identification/naming conventions. As a result, even to this
day, people who are from Mexico/Central/South America identify themselves primarily
as spanish/portuguese derivatives and some them are unaware that they have
Indigenous ancestry. So a person from Mexico would call themselves Mexican instead
Yet, and for the same historical reasons, they have as much spanish/portuguese
ancestry as Black People have white ancestry (~ or < 25%) and many of them have
about the same amount of African ancestry as spanish/portuguese ancestry, but don’t
know that they have African ancestry even if they have dark skin (also true of
Indigenous People from the Caribbean, i.e., Cuba, etc.). In fact, a large percentage of
Africans were brought in as the Indigenous People were killed off, so those people
have mostly African and Indigenous ancestry with ~10% or less spanish or portuguese
ancestry, yet they identify themselves as a spanish/portuguese derivative (i.e.
Columbian, Panamanian, etc.). Imagine attempting to explain these dynamics to
beings from another galaxy.
If a man like Malcolm X could change and repudiate racism, if I myself and other former Muslims can change, if young whites can change, then there is hope for America. ☥ ☥ Eldridge Cleaver ☥
Instead of judging ourselves and each other, we can free ourselves from these webs
of deception which will allow us to rediscover and embrace all of who we are. We all
need deep healing which is why I continually assert that we recognize, heal and release our social programming. We also need to overstand the fact that while we are overtly or passively/aggressively hating on each other, we are doing the work of colonization for colonizers. This is the power social programming will continue to have over us until we
make a conscious effort to dismantle it. How much pain do we cause ourselves and
others by playing into the psychological manipulation of colonizers?
You don't have to teach people how to be human. You have to teach them how to stop being inhuman. ☥ ☥ Eldridge Cleaver ☥ ☥
More importantly, we become like that which we hate, so if we hate our unwanted
european ancestry, and refuse to heal and accept all of who we are, then we will be
unable to transmute the negative energy from within us to a higher level of
consciousness. That negative energy, left to run amok within us, will then cause us to
behave like the very thing we hate which is the root cause of Black ☥ Indigenous ☥
Immigrant People turning on each other. Colonizers like the fact that we hate them
because it keeps us angry and distracted so that we remain hyper focused on the
problems that they cause instead of healing, uniting and elevating our consciousness
to the level of the solutions. Howard Thurman brilliantly expressed this dynamic as
spending our lives “on the ends of strings that someone else pulls.” Because I have
awakened to the power of my ancestral line, I don’t hate my european ancestors, I put
them to work, and if they want to rest in peace, they will comply. Their job is to:
☥ Alert me as soon as a white person is attempting to psychologically manipulate me
and offer the best ways to respond to shut them down.
☥ Study my work in order to overstand the pain they’ve caused and participate in all of
my healing sessions in order to heal past traumas. This also includes constantly
practicing breathing exercises, Qigong, Yoga and embodying my benchmarks for
trust.
This idea came to me during a meditation in which one of my white ancestors asked
me for forgiveness. After I cussed her out for about 10 minutes, I told her that she
could forget about resting in peace. There will be no resting at all until we reverse the
damage that’s been done. I then had to laugh at myself as I realized that this ancestor
was elated to have been given a chance for redemption. As far back as I can
remember, I've been in conversations with white people who have slipped and said
something to me that they did not intend for a Black person to hear. As I reflect on
their confusion, I realize that my white ancestors have been working for me all along. I
just had to come to a place of acceptance so that I could harness this power at will.
This insight caused me to put all of my ancestors to work in order to heal my family line
of ancestral trauma. Loving ourselves means loving all of ourselves. Whether we
accept ourselves or not, we are who we are. This is an invitation for us to accept
ourselves completely, because the healing of our world can’t happen unless we take
this step.
The true revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love. It is impossible to think of a genuine revolutionary lacking this quality. ☥ ☥ Che Guevara ☥
It is a call for black people in this country to unite, to recognize their heritage, to build a sense of community … ☥ ☥ Stokely Carmichael ☥
Through colonization we also have:
☥ Italians who reframe their origin story as “Mediterranean” to disassociate themselves
from having African ancestry in order to assimilate into white culture. During my first
trip to Oakland, CA, I stopped off at an Italian restaurant on the way to the airport and
thought it was hilarious that ham hocks were on the menu.
WHAT THIS ALL MEANS to me is that Africa must look inward, to its own resources—intellectual, social, cultural, and even economic—to fulfill its people’s desires for healthy development. The good news is that there are signs this is beginning to happen. Above all, I see these in the civil society groups that are fighting against official corruption and the capture of African states by political elites, against electoral and constitutional chicanery and wanton human rights violations. ☥ ☥ Howard French ☥ From The Article: ‘The Common Denominator Behind Africa’s Crises’
☥ Reframing history to position Africa as the origin of infectious diseases. We have
believed this reframing even though common sense screams at us to consider that
europeans brought more than 15 different types of infectious diseases to America,
including an array of sexually transmitted diseases, that in combination with
murder through wars/battles for land ownership, killed off 90% of the Indigenous
population during their first 108 years in the US with similar results in the
Caribbean and Central America. Between the rape, pillage and suppression of
economic development during the scramble for Africa and the EuroAmerican Slave
Trade, europeans caused the deaths of hundreds of millions of Africans, an
existential problem that continues to be reframed as having originated in Africa.
This stereotype exists despite the fact that the only group of people who have
historically had, and because of affluence, still dominantly have, free and equal
access in and out of Africa and to the entire world, is europeans. It is important to
also note that the billion dollar sex trafficking market, through which Black women
are most vulnerable, is funded and sustained by affluent white males.
Racism and oppression are embedded and perpetuated in human trafficking, African Americans and people of color are more vulnerable. Black children account for over half of juvenile prostitution arrests, more than any other racial group. 62% of confirmed sex trafficking victims are African American. ☥ ☥ Aisha Barnes ☥ From The Chamberlain University Blog, 'Why Black Women are More at Risk for Human Trafficking – and What Nurses Can Do to Help'
As mentioned in our Journey To The Dream blog ☥ podcast, immigration laws continue
to make it so difficult for Africans who are not affluent to travel, that MXO, a
prolific artist, was rejected three times before he was able to secure a visa to come
to America. Let’s also remember how Africa wasn’t even on the map during the
origin of COVID-19, but then news reports began to build the case for the epidemic
spread in Africa. What was the origin of that spread? How then can Africans, most
of whom are prevented from leaving the country, be responsible for spreading these
diseases all over the world? There is a world of difference between causing and
spreading disease and being infected by disease that was brought to your doorstep
either directly or via suppression of economic growth (i.e. colonization, pillage,
suppression of history, etc.). It is vitally important for us to overstand the price we
pay for false reframing. It not only deflects attention away from finding and
removing the root cause of the problem, but it literally infects the entire world.
The root cause of the false reframing is a desire to appear to be superior, another form of psychosis, which drives the psychotic to do anything, including spending unlimited amounts of money/bullying to suppress the truth as well as market and sustain the illusions. These webs of deception stick to all of us and will continue to perpetuate harm until we self and course correct. How much harm could we heal if we would simply tell and take action based on the truth?
☥ Practices such as Yoga and Qigong presented as having originated in Asia even
though we find evidence of both practices inscribed on the temple walls of Kamit
(Ancient Egypt) that predates their existence in Asia, and we find many forms of
martial arts within African tribes throughout the continent.
What do these behaviors say about our character? We cannot promote ourselves as intellectually credible or progressive if we are unwilling to heal and course correct. More importantly, we cannot heal what we are unwilling to face. Our emotional addictions to presenting ourselves as superior causes us to not see ☥ repair the cracks in the foundation of our lives. Not telling the truth about where we are as a society would be like a boxer not telling themselves the truth about an injury that, if not properly healed, will most certainly end their career, and potentially their life. Until we self-correct, what right do we have to be a voice of authority and respect on the world stage?
When I was in middle school, there was a particular place that us Black kids used to hang out at for the best calzones EVER! I loved that place, and it sort of reminded me of the pizzeria portrayed in Do The Right Thing. Except, that the Italians that I was exposed to were more friendly, at least from my perception. I did think it was strange for the guys in the back to be constantly meeting and talking about stuff, and there always seemed to be at least one “off the boat” Italian working there who hadn’t yet learned English along with the strategic speaking of Italian when something was going down. I didn’t understand the language, but I could feel the energy. Black kids learn quickly to stay out of grown folks' business. We were just in there to eat and have fun. Italian culture was as much a part of my life as Indian, African and Caribbean culture. I spent so much time eating authentic Italian food in the homes of Italian people, that when I moved to Miami, I realized that I had become an Italian food snob. I remember asking around for the best place to get a hoagie.
“What the hell is a hoagie?” I would explain, to which they would reply,
“Oh! You mean a SUB!” You haven’t lived until you’ve had a sub!
A sub? OK I have an open mind. So, I go to the “sub” shop and eat this flavorless thing that I can’t believe I actually paid for. I forced a few bites down, before I finally realized that they didn’t put any oregano in the “sub.” How the hell do you eat a “sub” without oregano???!!!? Then some white kids were bragging about this new chain of Italian restaurants that I had to try. After that experience, I decided that I do not and will not ever do Italian chain restaurants. Fortunately, I met some Italian friends who were great cooks and was able to get my authentic fix. However, the mafia became real for me in my teen years. Peer pressure was not as influential in my life because I had moved a few times, and between those friends ☥ my church community ☥ other activities, I had a broad network of peers. If the kids became hostile at a school I attended, it didn’t bother me because I had other friends elsewhere.
Most of the time, I lived about 40-ish minutes from Atlantic City. No matter where I lived, there were a lot of Italians who lived in the area. One of my Italian friends didn't go on the annual spring break trip to Florida, because I went with the theater arts club to england, so she felt like I owed her a girl's trip to Disney World. I tried to explain to her that I had to make a choice. I worked nonstop to scrape together enough money for that trip to england, and so another trip was financially out of the question. It was ruff barely being in the middle class because there was an expectation that I could afford what other people could afford. However, she was way ahead of me and invited me to drive with her from NJ to Florida to experience Disney World on her parent's dime. They were covering everything but our food and gas, which we could split, so I could swing that. I knew that her family was in "The Family," but she talked about it so nonchalantly, that I realized there was more to the mafia than my perception of it.
You found paradise in America. You had a good trade; you made a good living. The police protected you and there were courts of law. So, you didn't need a friend like me. Now you come and say 'Don Corleone, give me justice.' But you don't ask with respect. You don't offer friendship. You don't even think to call me Godfather. ☥ ☥ Don Corleone ☥ From The Movie, 'The Godfather'
When we got to the hotel, we were totally snubbed by the staff. My presence at such a nice hotel was apparently unacceptable, and they told us that we didn't have a reservation. I was prepared to leave, but she got on the phone and cried as she explained the situation to her father. He told us he'd take care of it, so we went to the park. When we arrived back at the hotel that night, the scene was totally different. As soon as the bellman noticed me, he signaled the staff inside. Everyone stood at attention like we were commandants of the Marine Corps instead of teens. He addressed us by saying "Good Evening Ms. ________ and Ms. Hubbard and welcome back. We apologize for the mix-up earlier, but your room is now ready."
Mix-up? They were reframing the scenario. I’m pausing here to illustrate how often reframing occurs in everyday life to avoid addressing the actual issue. I felt like I was in the Twilight Zone. I've never seen white people jump so fast and so high to serve us. They upgraded us to a suite, and when we arrived in the room, there was a huge fruit basket, a bottle of champagne (we were 17 years old), chocolates and a serious letter of apology beautifully laid out on the beds. I had never seen such a fancy hotel room. As I looked around the room, I jokingly said to her, "Gurl .... I hope I never get on your bad side ... " to which she nonchalantly replied, Oh you don't have anything to worry about, my family loves you. And besides, we're not on the killing side, we're on the investment side." Oh Lawd!!! Did she just say "billing?" or "killing?" Please God, let her have just said billing! Nah ... she definitely said killing! Attempting to hide my shock/fright, I reply, "Uh ... uhhhhhhh .... if the investments don't go well, ain't they gon' be some killin'?" She laughs one of those deep belly laughs, and I decide that I don't want to know anything else EVER. My mind starts racing as I think to myself while trying to look unrattled, Lawd have mercy, that stuff on TV is real!!!?!?! She continues, You know that you have an open invitation to come with me to Italy and meet 'The Family' and you can see for yourself that …
"Oooooh girl, please stop talking." She thought I was hilarious, but I reiterated, "Please ... stop ... talking! I don't want to have any knowledge that could put me on the witness stand in the future. Let's see what's in these fruit baskets. Oh look chocolates! Where are the glasses for the champagne?"
And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do But now I'm back with the facts giving it back to you Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up Crack you up and pimp-smack you up You gotta learn to hold your own They get jealous when they see you with your mobile phone ☥ ☥ Tupac Shakur ☥ From The Song 'Changes'
I didn’t actually think I was in danger, but I understand how easy it is for Black People to be targeted, so I wanted to remain in the dark about the details of "The Family." There was a time when cultural tribes such as the mafia were the only people out there who would hire us, and when the Black Panthers were targeted, it was the Underground Railroad of off-the-radar people who helped to get them out of the country so that they could seek asylum some place safe. So, the concept of a "criminal" is complicated for me. I spent a fair amount of time visiting a few family members in prison during my youth. It seemed to me that Black folks went to prison when they didn't commit crimes, and white folks didn't go to prison for the crimes they did commit. The Dan Freeman archetype offers an intriguing examination of how our society criminalizes people while participating in crimes against humanity. In order to reclaim our humanity, we need to ask ourselves some tough questions. One family member was incarcerated during my entire childhood and teen years, so if I didn't visit them in prison, I wouldn't know them at all. Many of them were targeted by the police, so it was real important that we gave them hope to help them get through. No one talked about our code, but we had one. We would visit so that they knew family loved and cared about them, but no details please. I had to explain this code to my friend who wasn’t at all concerned about sharing details about “The Family” that I definitely didn’t want to know.
Between slavery, Red Summer, Jim Crow, medical apartheid, the prison industrial complex, etc. we see very strategic and deliberate attempts to keep Black People disenfranchised. Did any of the white people who committed those crimes (rape, theft, murder, etc.) go to prison? So, another question that we need to grapple with is, did cultural tribes such as the mafia just spring up for no reason or was it a response to a need for self-protection from people who wanted to kill them and steal their assets/increasing power? Colonization is in and of itself a crime that creates "criminals" and forces oppressed people into corruption. We also see that colonizers strategically endeavored to train immigrants to either exploit or turn against Black ☥ Indigenous People via social programming, local/national policies/laws or business practices - for the benefit of the illusion of assimilation. The talent and ingenuity of Black People proved to be so good for business that we often inspired people to push for social change. The first feature film of Italian director Vincente Minnelli (father of Liza Minnelli) was Cabin In The Sky, a musical that featured an all-Black cast. At the time, many theaters would not show films with an all-Black cast, an indication that Vincente inherited his Sicilian grandfather’s revolutionary spirit.
I have been the personal victim of criminal activity. My experiences are not unusual and are mild in comparison to the experiences of other Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant People. My childhood neighborhood was targeted and attacked by a white sexual predator. I worked with businesses that stole money from me, but by the time I figured it out, it was too late to do anything about it. I was raped by a white male but was so traumatized that I couldn’t remember it until recently and the statute of limitations for that state has passed. Then there are the intangible crimes such as the many teachers and guidance counselors who attempted to steal my sense of self, intelligence, visions and dreams. The predatory white women who relentlessly and actively pursue any Black man that I date or attempt to date (not because they are interested in the man, but because they want to sabotage my happiness). The organizations that wouldn’t hire me, promote me or pay me a fair wage. The social programming that manipulates the thoughts and actions of people all around me. The ideas that were stolen from me for the profit of others. I could go on and on. Even though it’s not too late for them to atone for their actions, none of these people have done anything to right their wrongs, and they are alive and well today with the means to self-correct without hurting themselves. Yet, not one of them have offered an apology, compensation or have even supported/donated to the work that I’m doing now to help us heal. So, when we use the word “criminal,” about whom are we speaking?
These webs of deception are sticky indeed, but they don’t have to remain that way. Every one of us has the Panther spirit within us. We all play a part in the co-creation of a better world. It begins with us right now. I became an intrepreneur to work within an organization. My plan was to save money to build a Cross-Cultural Healing Haven. However, the organization shut down abruptly, forcing me to rethink the process as well as relocate to a place that wasn’t so expensive so that I could focus on planning. Even though I had lost my primary source of income, I still had something to give before I left. It was so expensive to move my belongings, that I decided to give everything away except for my research books/clothes which I could easily ship. Here’s how I was able to give from my excess without using money:
☥ During a visit to The Black Female Project’s office, I noticed that they had this tiny little
monitor, but they gave such impactful presentations. I happened to have a beautiful
50-inch TV/monitor that would look so great in their office, so I donated it to them
along with the TV monitor wall mount.
☥ My massage therapist was this incredibly hard working single mother of two gorgeous
daughters. I invited her to my apartment to go shopping for what she wanted. She took
my bedroom set, countertop reverse osmosis purifier and some plants.
☥ One of my younger colleagues had finally saved up enough money to afford an
apartment without a roommate (a real challenge in Oakland). She had no
furniture so I gave her my loveseat sofa which fit perfectly in her apartment. But how
would we get it there? I introduced her to the massage therapist and the three of us
spent an entire day taking my furniture apart, packing the pieces into our cars and
delivering the pieces. It was hard work, but it was also Spirit work that gave us a lot of
laughs. By the time we got to the last stop, it was midnight and on the way back to
my car, I saw a Black man sleeping in his car. It was an all too familiar scene in
Oakland. I wished I had more to give, realized how much more work we have to do and
readjusted my perspective on having to move.
☥ I invited my chiropractor over because her office needed some plants. She also took
some bookshelves and other knickknacks for her office.
I suddenly just had an epiphany. I would imagine that this is what happens to born-again Christians when they see the light. Well, I saw the light. They talked to me about the suffering and the sacrifices that were made, and the beauty of stepping outside of your own desires and aspirations and embracing something larger than yourself. ☥ ☥ Pete O’Neal ☥
I left before I wanted to but felt good about doing what I could to improve the lives of people around me. If you’ve read any of my blogs or watched my videos, you have been introduced to many people who are doing the best they can to co-create a new, healthier world. If you find yourself worried about the direction our world is taking, I invite you to redirect that energy into doing something to help us change course. As I say in my cooperative giving video, we fill ourselves up and give from our overflow. Please follow that directive to ensure that the energy of giving stays in the light. If you don’t know where to start, ask about community organizations in your town who truly love their community, check out the work of the people I’ve worked with (community organizations, musicians, healers, etc.) and please, if you can, support my work as well. We can’t complete our work without your support because the webs of deception include traps that keep funding from reaching us, beginning with the funding needed to sustain this website. This is the type of love that the Black Panther Party For Self-Defense endeavored to spread, and every one of us has something to give in a way that only we can. Cooperative giving is not complicated, and there is no limit to our creativity. Focus on supporting what you love. If you love art, support art in your community. A few more examples can include but are certainly not limited to:
☥ Support family members who are doing good work. When one of my family members
wrote a book on financial competency, I immediately bought two copies. One for me,
and one to give.
Anyone who’s interested in making change in the world also has to learn how to take care of herself, himself, theirselves. ☥ ☥ Angela Davis ☥
☥ Support my work on Patreon to help with the monthly costs of running the website,
subscriptions to access the beautiful images that you see, and production costs. You
can start for as little as $3 per month, and it would help so much with operational
costs; consider making a one time or monthly or anonymous donation; become an
Ujamaa Sponsor at the Pharaoh, Pyramid or SPIRIT level so that you can support our
global efforts to heal our communities. Purchase our professional development tools
and products on our Shop and Kamitology pages and give the tools to community
organizations to support their continuing education and workplace wellness efforts.
Any level of giving is greatly appreciated and can remain anonymous.
☥ If you see a person in your community who is working hard to help the neighborhood,
but they are driving some beat up car and you have extra cars sitting around, give one
to them and if you can afford it, pay for a maintenance plan.
☥ Donate a van or bus to a community organization who works with children and pay for
a maintenance plan if possible.
For a long time, activists did not necessarily think that it mattered to take care of themselves; in terms of what they eat, in terms of mental self care, corporal self care, spiritual self care… ☥ ☥ Angela Davis ☥
☥ Pay for a plane ticket to send a Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant child to another
country for cultural exchange/education.
☥ Pay for a Black ☥ Indigenous ☥ Immigrant community leader to go on sabbatical or a
healing retreat. They often work to the point of depletion and develop health issues or
die prematurely because they don’t have the means to invest in continuing education
or engage in intensive self-care.
I think longevity is important, and not simply individual longevity, it is equally important to recognise that as we develop our movement today we’re creating a terrain for the emergence of new activists and what we do today has an impact on what younger people will be able to do tomorrow. I think we have to imagine ourselves as connected to people who came before us, and those who will come after us. ☥ ☥ Angela Davis ☥
☥ Visit a relative in prison or write a letter of love and support, send inspirational books
and cards to keep them in a positive mental state.
☥ Volunteer with an organization to learn more about them and perhaps support them
financially if possible.
☥ If the trauma that someone else has experienced has touched you in some way,
offer some love to that person by sending a love gift such as a gift card, Cash App
love gift, etc. I volunteered to participate in a series of interviews to assist
researchers at Johns Hopkins University, and because they ended the year with a
surplus, they sent out Amazon gift cards to participants. I was so surprised to
receive it and super grateful because I rely heavily on mail order services.
☥ Even if you can't offer money, help us out by subscribing to our YouTube channels and
liking/commenting on our videos to help us improve ☥ grow our reach. You can stay
anonymous by creating a valid email address with a different name (perhaps one of the
Gods/Goddesses of your culture or a Spiritual guide).
New Thoughts + New Actions = New World
Being a panther taught me how to look at myself as a part of the international community, and I always tell youth that - you are not a minority and because of that you should have the courage to work with people no matter what racial background, no matter what gender background, no matter what language they speak, and that’s how I feel. I walk the way of a new world, where I feel comfortable wherever I am … I love building with people who are like minded. ☥ ☥ Charlotte 'Mama C' Hill O’Neal ☥
So, let's go back to 1891. What if, instead of being envious of the Italians, colonizers adopted a Black Panther mindset? The Black Panther Party For Self-Defense focused on knowledge sharing and community service. Fred Hampton managed to bring together the Latinx, poor whites, rival gangs and other groups to unite against oppression ☥ fight for civil rights ☥ self-determination. What if Italians were welcomed into the community of New Orleans, and invited to share their knowledge with African Americans, Indigenous People, other immigrants, white people, etc.? For example, I loved the energy of Belize because the Mayans, Garifunas (the African population in Belize) and many other cultures spoke so highly of each other and respected each other for the knowledge, expertise and talents that each culture contributed. How silly would it be for the Garifunas to be jealous of the Mayan chocolatiers and for the Mayans to pretend that they invented African drumming? How can we achieve a higher level of consciousness, if we are forced to only see through the lens of one group? Each culture brings a piece of the puzzle that only they can express in a particular way. We can't access our knowledge base fully without all of these pieces. A community thrives when its members are empowered to fulfill their potential and bring their best talents to that community. It is important for us to closely examine the trapdoor, because it is a very sticky web of deception, and it cannot lead to anything more than an unfulfilling cyclical game of predator and prey.
Journey To Radiance ☥ Black Panther III ☥ explores root causes of the psychosis embedded within the strategy of exploitation colonization. Our Journey To Radiance ☥ Black Panther episode features ☥ Charlotte 'Mama C' Hill O’Neal ☥ and the power of healing through community ☥ unity.
☥ॐ☯
☥ॐ☯
☥ॐ☯
☥ॐ☯
☥ॐ☯
