Dec. 1, 2013

Blackonomics

From Cells to Sales
By James Clingman

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - According to the 13^th Amendment, slavery in this country has not been fully abolished. There is an exception that says if one is duly convicted of a crime he or she can be enslaved.  Read it for yourself; don’t take my word for it.  So, if you have been enslaved by either doing a crime or because you are in prison for something you did not do, why not learn how to turn your enslavement into a profit by studying to become a business owner?  When you are released you will have your business plan in hand, ready to meet the world of entrepreneurship head-on.

For two decades now I have written and spoken about that “exception” in the 13^th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and advocated a literal boycott of prisons especially by Black men, who make up a disproportionately high percentage of those incarcerated in this country.  How do we boycott prisons?  Just refrain from doing some of the stupid things we do that result in prison time.  It’s bad enough that we have many who have been wrongly convicted and incarcerated—why volunteer to be a slave?  We cannot keep complaining about the “prison industrial complex” and refusing to do our part to put it out of business by refraining from crime.

For those already imprisoned in what has become “Incarceration Nation,” why not use the time you have there to research ways in which you can make something or do something and sell it to someone?  A few years ago, I wrote an article titled, “Prison Profits.”  Well, a profit can be generated by prisoners, a profit they can keep in their pockets rather than have it appear on some corporation’s P&L statement.  If prisoners would build up their brains the way they build up their muscles, they would come out with a new skillset as well as a new body.

Just as our ancestors did during their enslavement period in America, we can do the same.  Many enslaved Africans became “Intrapreneurs,” as Juliet E.K. Walker describes in her book, The History of Black Business in America.  Despite their lack of physical freedom, they leveraged their knowledge, and even their services in some cases, in exchange for a plot of land from which they could earn profits that would end up being used to purchase their freedom, and the freedom of others.  They did not succumb to the conditions under which they were held; they made the best of their negative situation by utilizing their time not only to obtain freedom, but also to be prepared for freedom when it came.

We all know it takes money to be free.  God showed us that when He told the Israelites to go back and get treasure from Pharaoh.  Check it out in Exodus 12, the first case of reparations in history.  God knew they would need “money” when they secured their freedom.  We must learn from the past and use it to propel us forward to true economic freedom.  While in jail and when released from jail, our brothers and sisters must change not only their behavior but their attitude about business as well.  All the excuses and reasons for crime notwithstanding, we know the system is against us, but many of us keep engaging it and repeating that process over and over again.  Recidivism rates are around 60 percent after three years of incarceration.

We know there is a cause and effect relationship between poverty and crime, and to the degree that we can shift that equation to our advantage, by teaching our young children and teenagers entrepreneurship, and by starting and growing our own businesses, we should make every effort to do so.  It is our responsibility to do what we can, to control what we can control, to stay out of prisons, and then to advocate for the kind of training in our schools that can at least provide the opportunity for business ownership among our youth.

Here I go again, making up a new word:  “Prisonpreneur”?  A recent CNN segment featured men at San Quentin becoming technology entrepreneurs while in prison, and getting great jobs when they were released.  They were taught all the skills of owning a business while they were spending time incarcerated.  What a novel idea, huh?  Well, it’s not novel at all, as I have just shown you with our enslaved ancestors, but now that CNN has lauded it maybe it will take hold throughout the prison system population.

We need to stop being so hard-headed and make the appropriate changes necessary to control our own destiny, rather than turning it over to a prison system that is only interested in making a profit from the work we put in every day behind prison walls.  The answer:  Work for yourself not for the new slave master, the prison system.  Be a Prisonpreneur.

Dec. 1, 2013
Thanksgiving, Christmas, Kwanzaa and the Biased Lens of History
By Julianne Malveaux

(TriceEdneyWire.com) - Theoretically, Thanksgiving celebrates the breaking of bread between Native Americans and pilgrims, who might have starved were it not for the generosity of those who first occupied this country.  This history is written as if it were a moment of friendship and fellowship, notwithstanding the fact that there were Pilgrims who, no sooner than they rose from the turkey-laden dinner table, were plotting ways to take over Native American land.  That part of the story is rarely told.  Native Americans might have been better off had they shared their meal with snakes (maybe they did!) than sharing with the murderous pilgrims.

Pilgrims and their descendants developed the myth of the shared Thanksgiving. The myth leaves out the unprovoked massacre of tens of thousands of Native Americans because the same Pilgrims who needed food also needed land.  They proceeded, systematically, to remove Native people from their land.  Too many history books portray Native American people as savages, and much of the fiction that derives from that era portrays Pilgrims as frightened victims, and native people as predators eager to “scalp” the Pilgrims and later, those soldiers who attempted to take Midwest lands.  Yet who would not defend their land?  And why were people, the original inhabitants of this land, dumped into reservations?

No wonder many Native American people consider Thanksgiving Day a National Day of Mourning.  No wonder many protest the conventional interpretation of Thanksgiving Day.  No wonder so many bristle and the lens of history that allows distortion and the celebration of pilgrim theft.

To add insult to injury, Thanksgiving Day has now devolved into a capitalistic orgy of excessive spending.  Commercial establishments open much of the day on the Day of Mourning, and on the next day, described as “Black Friday”.  The day is so named because spending on that day is likely to put many companies “in the black”.    The Thanksgiving season is less a season of mourning, or even thanksgiving, as an excessive capitalist debacle.  People have actually been stomped to death as others stepped over them to race for bargains.

The mythology is similar with Christmas day, which is supposed to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child.  Historians note that the season of celebration is wrong, and that aspects of the story are rife with myth. Sometimes, however, myth simply allows people something to believe in. Most egregious to Christians, however, is to say that Christmas becomes X-Mas, and the day becomes less about the birth of Christ than about the presents people put under a tree.  Equally annoying is the Santa Claus myth of a pudgy little man wearing a red hat. And how many children know more about Santa Claus then the real meaning of the day?

Like the Thanksgiving season, the Christmas season has also become a season of crass capitalism, as consumers flock to department stores for “after Christmas sales”. Profligate spending in November and December represents as much as 20 percent of annual spending, though a typical monthly spend is about 8 percent.  No wonder there is an endless promotion for spending during this time period.  And no wonder customers respond.

The Kwanzaa holiday, as created by Maulana Karenga, has its share of myth. Karenga developed Kwanzaa as a way of celebrating universal values that have special meaning for African-American people.  One of the principles is celebrated each day, ending on January 1 with the final principle of Imani, or faith. 

Crass spending and gift-giving is discouraged. It is true that Karenga “made up” the Kwanzaa holiday as a way of bringing African-American people together to reflect on values, with the placement of it after Christmas as an alternative to the mutation of the Christmas holiday, and also a holiday more meditative and secular than Christmas. Maulana Karenga must be horrified that the capitalists have been able to corrupt Kwanzaa with Kwanzaa cards on sale from commercial companies, using Kwanzaa more for profit-making than a contemplative occasion. In the name of cultural diversity, people walk around saying “Happy Kwanzaa” as if it is the same as “Merry Christmas”.

Julianne Malveaux is a Washington, DC based economist and author.

Dec. 1, 2013

Oh, No She Didn't!
By Dr. E. Faye Williams, Esq.

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – Growing up, I was taught that the best response to most insults was to ignore them - leave them unaddressed - as unworthy of further consideration. After all, we were taught that "Sticks and stones might break our bones, but talk wouldn’t bother us".  I realize now that my mother, who taught me this lesson, had the greater purpose of reducing conflict in my life, as well as eliminating the potential that I would, to my own hardship, breech the social norms of the times.

More practically, as an adult, I've learned that some insults cannot be left unchallenged. The damage that they render is far too costly to allow, and their potential to misshape a larger public perception or to create a distorted influence is too great. Such is the critique of First Lady Michelle Obama as a "feminist nightmare" by the Politico writer Michelle Cottle.

Although Cottle's comments have been refuted by numerous individuals who are more in-tune than Cottle is with the cultural imperatives that shape our First Lady’s perspectives, Cottle’s comments deserve, at least, one more castigation.  I'm sufficiently incensed to be the one to do it.

For those who missed Cottle's column, as I interpret it, her comments criticize the First Lady for disengagement from real and vital feminist issues. Cottle seemingly trivializes my First Lady’s  signature issues of a focus on commitment to personal health and fitness, of a commitment to strengthening families and children, and of increasing access and attendance to college by lower income students. She describes Mrs. Obama using demeaning terminology suggesting a lack of courage, a greater willingness to play it safe than to address substantive feminist issues, and of assuming a more politically expedient role than breaking through "the conventional First Lady mold."

Cottle was even critical of Mrs. Obama’s stated position of assuming her role as mother to Malia and Sasha as her primary focus. As already addressed in rebuttals to Cottle, Cottle may wish to reexamine her critique of the First Lady through the lens of "Black Feminism."

Unlike many white feminists, Black feminists do not have the luxury of defining their positions in subjective "either - or" terms. As we always have, Black feminists have had to concern ourselves with removing barriers and obstacles to personal achievement while fighting the overt and covert violence directed at our community. While striving for equity in the workplace and fair pay on payday, we Black feminists have had to struggle to overcome the challenge of feeding a family with resources diminished by an economy floundering under the barbaric

principles of Ayn Rand and the oligarchy of corporate elitists. We’ve had to deal with gender disparities, while watching the opportunities for both females and males in our community lessened proportionate to decreasing educational and training opportunities to students.

Even among the community's poorest residents, the correlation between successful social elevation and good parenting - especially good mothering - is clear. While she can be a devoted feminist, few Black mothers will prioritize anything over our children. When circumstances allow, even Black feminists will subordinate personal interests to those of our children. We clearly understand the immediate impact of our actions on our children AND the long-term strengthening effect of our actions upon our community.

Unlike many White feminists, who view the world from a position of comfort, Black feminists and those who come from backgrounds of lower incomes and greater social liabilities cannot reject the fundamental survival issues of our communities to the exclusion of issues approved by "the feminist mindset." Nor should my First Lady have to suffer the castigation and criticism of fellow-travelers who have little or no conceptual understanding of the facts of life that shape her perspective.

(Dr. E. Faye Williams is National Chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. www.nationalcongressbw.org. 202/678-6788)

Popular Preacher Endures Criticism for Risqué Reality Show
Bishop Noel Jones spoke of his relationship uncertainties four years ago

By Hazel Trice Edney

Bishop Noel Jones PHOTO: Oxygen.com

Bishop Noel Jones during 2009 exclusive interview. PHOTO: Hazel Trice Edney

(TriceEdneyWire.com) – The raspy voice of Bishop Noel Jones cracked with emotion.

“If my tone has changed, it’s because there’s still something in my heart,” explained the tall Jamaican preacher, relaxed on his personal houseboat docked behind a Los Angeles Ritz Carlton. “It’s real complicated and most of it was me - my inability to make the quantum leap from where I am to where marriage will take me. And I think I am going to always have some uncertainty as it relates to getting married.”

That conversation with this reporter happened four years ago, Dec. 8, 2009, as the bishop described his relationship with a certain woman who “has loved me for so long”. Fast forward to 2013, millions are watching to see whether Jones – now starring in the controversial reality show, “Preachers of LA” - has finally chosen a wife.

“Does it ever get to a place where it’s really not about love, but about winning…winning me?” he challenges his “special friend”, Loretta, in a heated discussion with her during an early episode of the show that has aired weekly on Wednesdays on Oxygen TV since Oct. 9.

“Winning what? Winning a man? Winning a relationship?” she retorts. “You are not a prize. Let’s get that straight first of all.”

With the finale episode airing this week, millions may finally know who may get the engagement ring that Jones, the best-known cast member from a national perspective, said he keeps hidden away.

“Yes I have a ring in my safe right now with seven, probably eight additions,” he said four years ago during the boat interview. “I have a ring at home that would blow your mind thinking that I was going to marry this person and having a desire to marry this person who has loved me for so long and maybe I should have. The jury is still out.”

Whether or not a ring finally comes into play after the 16-year friendship with Loretta, the Oxygen TV show ratings have skyrocketed.

“It’s the hottest thing that Oxygen ever did. It was 1.2 million viewers. It’s at 1.5 and growing,” Jones said in a telephone interview with the Trice Edney News Wire about half way through the series this fall.

But, it has not been smooth going. He and the five other ministers on the show – Gospel singer Minister Deitrick Hadden; Bishop Clarence McClendon; Bishop Ron Gibson; Pastor Wayne Chaney and Pastor Jay Haizlip - have taken much criticism from their peers who believe the series – which features what some perceive as the unsavory or far too lavish lives of clergymen – to be an abomination of sorts. For example, Hadden's life on the show features his having lived with a woman to whom he was not married and their child "out of wedlock" as he describes. Their wedding takes place on the show.

The show has been criticized by some of the nation's best known pastors.

“I know you’ve been watching that junk on TV and I want to tell you right now not one dime of what you’re sowing right now will buy my suit. I want you to know my car is paid for. I want you to know I got my house on my own. I want you to know I’m not bling-bling and I’m not shake and bake. I had money when I came to Dallas and I plan to have some when I leave,” Bishop T. D. Jakes told his cheering Potters House congregation in mid-October. “I’m not from LA. I’m from Dallas!...We’re going to build the kingdom of God like we have always built the kingdom. You don’t do that kind of business being shake and bake and slimy!”

The criticism from his dear friend Bishop Jakes stung, but was not unexpected, Jones says.

“I expected the controversy, but I did not expect anyone to say anything without calling me first and kicking my behind,” he said in the interview.  Jones has since discussed Jakes remarks with him, but was restrained in his response.

“As far as his open comment, I didn’t do the show to make enemies of my friends. And everybody is entitled to their opinions and their conceptualization of how they are to operate in their space as it relates to the people who look up to them. I’m not going to play ping pong to any of my friends’ comments because they are entitled to their opinions and I still love him in spite of,” he said. “When Jakes said he heard I was doing it, he said he swallowed his tongue because he didn’t expect me to do it because he knows and he’s very protective of me and he thought that I was putting myself too far out there to the point where he couldn’t protect me.”

As the show finales, however, Jones says he does have one major regret.

“My only regret about having done the show is I don’t control all the content that’s been put out there. My only regret is that I don’t control whatever they present to the public,” he said. “If I had more control, I wouldn’t leave anything out. I would add some things. I would add some things such as giving to millions of people around the world, giving scholarships to young ladies in South Africa, giving to orphanages in Ghana, giving to a whole city I have adopted in Jamaica, feeding thousands of people and giving gifts to thousands of people for Christmas and Thanksgiving, showing how I feed and clothe people on a weekly bases in LA - thousands and thousands of people - showing the part of ministry that nobody seems to care about.”

Because of this lack of production control, Jones says a second season is up in the air for him. “I don’t know yet whether I’ll be involved with another season,” he said.

Meanwhile, the debate over whether the cast of preachers should have produced the show in the first place continues.

“Nobody that stands in the pulpit is perfect. Why cover it? Deal with it. You just don’t want to know what his imperfections are,” Jones said. “I have thousands and thousands and thousands of people who come into my assembly every Sunday and I have never acted like I’m perfect…Go down the line and you will find that God never hid the weaknesses of any of his preachers and the people he uses.”

Albany Georgia Pastor Donald Wright, who has watched each episode of the series diligently, says although the latter part of the series appeared to become more focused on the lives of the preachers as opposed to the original appearance of bling-bling exploitation, he remains concerned about the fallout.

Using a Wizard of Oz analogy, Wright said, “The curtain was not pulled from them. They chose to expose themselves. My question is what will the result of that be?...They want people to understand that they’re human that they have other lives, other challenges, all these things. But, sheep are sheep,” he said, alluding to the nature of some Christians to follow blindly.

"Most preachers want you to accept them for what they are," continues Wright, who has pastored for more than 20 years. But, using the story of Noah discovered naked in a cave by two of his sons, he said, "You can't show your sons your nakedness. One will cover you. The other will despise you...If you show them your nakedness, they will not respect your spirituality."

Reality Star Omarosa Manigault, a newly ordained minister and associate pastor who lives in Los Angeles, is a major fan of the series.

“I love the “Preachers of LA” because it gives us an opportunity to see what day to day life is for pastors in the community,” she said. “This is a very unique glimpse into the lives, the most sacred places of these pastors. They have given us a gift. They have opened up their homes, their relationships, their families, their vulnerabilities, their shortcomings, their flaws for us to examine, to discuss to debate and hopefully not to judge them.

“Unfortunately, what’s happening is that people who only see little clips or they hear about it or read an article have condemned these men for participating in this reality program. But, I see it more as a documentary as opposed to a reality television program because people are discussing a topic that is not often discussed. And that is religion, their relationship with their pastor, their expectations of what a pastor should and should not be, how he should and should not behave. How he should and should not live” and other aspects of the church life and dissemination of the Gospel, Manigault said. “This allows all of that to take place all under the banners of that show.”

Looking back, Jones says the series has achieved what he set out to do: “My only accomplishment is that we would reduce the iconoclastic proclivities that we have toward preachers – putting them on pedestals they can’t live on. Only God is God.”