Cultural Marxism and Black America
This isn’t intended to be part of the series on the Muslim identity crisis, but it falls in line with the prevailing attitude in the American culture—well, at least those who identify as “liberals” or “progressive” people. This is in response to a discussion on Huffington Post (HP) about the “Stop and Frisk” policy in New York in which the vast majority of those stopped/frisked are either Black or Latino. For those who do not know, HP is a very liberal site, and most of the posters there are likewise.
From the jump street let me state what my thesis is. I am no fan of the prison or military industrial complex (which are both inextricably related). This marriage of private prisons and a militarized police force should be a concern to everyone. Given the profits involved in keeping a relatively substantial number of people incarcerated, it isn’t in the interests of the prison/military industrial complex to change its ways. However it is in every interests of the black under class to stop (or drastically reduce) the amount of crime it commits.
The general argument on HP is that most of the folks who get arrested are black/Latinos for petty marijuana (MJ) charges. Well, Brother Ali has a brilliant solution to this problem… and I am going to offer it for free… if you are a brown minority… don’t do drugs. Problem (largely) solved… for free. We are already talking about a demographic that is at the bottom of academic achievement; getting zonked out on some super potent fuzzy sticky genetically engineered steroid weed kinda doesn’t help you do well in school. While under the influence of weed, your judgment is impaired… you might do something real stupid. Also, the MJ isn’t good for your mental health or physical health… and since it is illegal, it can impair your freedom. Also, it is a sin to consume or sell it. Are all these drawbacks worth it, so that you can mine deep hidden meanings out of old Bugs Bunny cartoons?
Of course, for the Cultural Marxists, such a solution is considered heresy, for it would entail that blacks/Latinos embrace an ethic of self-control; it would entail blacks/Latinos being responsible for their own actions… it would entail… (gasp)… “oppressed minorities” having higher standards for themselves than whites (Asians are always conveniently left out of any discussions about black performance, because Asians surpass whites (and, of course, blacks), in matters, such as, academic performance, IQ scores, income, and lower crime rates—hence, undermining the whole argument that blacks do poorly because of that bugbear of racism.)
Back in the day with the Moorish Science Temple folk, Marcus Garvey’s UNIA, and with the so-called Nation of Islam1, the leadership impressed very firmly in the minds of its followers and black people in general: you have to be better than everyone else, you must be disciplined, dress presentably, and don’t even come close to the line of breaking the law. None of these organizations were “Uncle Tom” groups—they were ardently anti-white, but they also understood the dynamics of power. If you want to improve the condition of black America or just move up in the in the American social hierarchy, you are not likely to do so while being locked up in a cage on a reefer charge.
Because of Cultural Marxism (CM), this concept seems to be totally lost upon many blacks and the white liberals on HP. What is particularly disheartening is that many black people cannot separate their biological blackness from what has come to define black culture. As was said here: https://facetofloor.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/its-the-culture-not-the-color/ the dregs of black people have come to define what it means to be “black.” The “real” black culture is to be embodied by the anti-social and pathological behavior of the ghetto.
One, however, can be critical of—or even despise—the dysfunctional and nihilistic ghetto culture without having disdain for someone because of their hair texture, their nose breadth, or their skin complexion… or their income. One can be poor and still behave in a civil manner. Being biologically black does not necessitate embracing low class, crass, vice ridden behavior.
Are there reasons for this shift in standards? Yes. The media’s popularization of black ghetto culture has played a MAJOR role in this. (I am not talking about being merely of a low income and living in an urban area—i am talking about ghetto culture. One can be poor and live in the hood without adopting the values of ghetto culture.) But, no one forced black folks to abandon the likes of Public Enemy for Fifty Cents and Snoop Dog. No one is forcing black people to consume the negative images of the TV or the movies. I know… I know… to suggest that black folk could spend their time reading worthy books and learning foreign languages instead of watching television or spending their money on movies would just place too much responsibility on the backs of those poor, helpless, victimized descendants of slaves. Blame must always be diverted back to the white man and “racism”—with no mention made as to what black folks can do FOR THEMSELVES. This is the Cultural Marxist narrative.
Back to the New York thing. As is typical, the CMs like to dominate the narrative with their half truths and distorted perspectives. The song goes that most of the blacks (and Latinos) arrested are arrested for petty MJ charges. True. But why not contextualize this into the the larger picture of race and crime? In NYC, although the crime rate has dropped by 400% since the early 1990’s (when NYC was topping 2,000 murders a year), still in the years between 2003 and 2010, NYC has averaged 500 murders. In that period eight year period 4,000 people have been murdered. And NINETY PERCENT of those murders were committed by blacks and Latinos (http://projects.nytimes.com/crime/homicides/map).
This means that Blacks and Latinos have murdered about 3,600 people (more than the WTC bombing) and whites have committed about 280 murders (and Asians about 120). If the issue were merely “racism,” then why is it that the Asians commit murder at about one fourth their representation in the general NYC population? (Asians commit about 3% of the murder but make up 12% of the NYC population.) It’s probably for the same reason that the Asians are not complaining about being profiled by the police the same way blacks and Latinos are… the Asians aren’t profiled as much because they commit significantly less crime. And why do Asians commit significantly less crime than blacks… because of a difference in their culture and their VALUES.
Again, I’m not defending the growing gestapo state. What I am saying is that Muslims need to be more sophisticated in our understanding of social trends. Why is the black ghetto class perpetually portrayed as victims of white racism (can anyone try to forget the Trayvon Martin case)? In part, because to a certain extent there is, after all, a lot of truth in such a claim. But it is more than that. By portraying black ghetto folk sympathetically—or even as “hip”—this leads to the normalization of black ghetto culture.
As Muslims, we have to understand that there is a campaign by the powers that be to dumb down and morally corrupt the population… and black ghetto culture—not the culture of W.E.B. DuBois or Paul Robeson or Rosa Parks—is being used to do so. The miscreant behaviors that are normalized by the media today in the name of “blackness” and “being hip,” such as, “pimpin’,” “hoeing,” strip clubs, drug use, ad nauseum would never have been accepted by the likes of an Ebony Magazine forty years ago. The editors and publishers of Ebony back then knew that this wasn’t the image that black people needed to send forth to black people or to the world. They understood how deleterious such negative images would be black people and their aspirations to improve their lot in America. Today, the black media (for the most part) is doing the exact opposite. They are putting forth images of black people and black culture that only perpetuate the very pathologies that make it practically impossible for blacks to compete with Asians or with whites. (And the white media isn’t doing a better job than the black media.)
Muslims need to understand what is going on here. We are seeing a socially engineered black culture based upon vice and self-destruction. This “black culture” is portrayed as “cool” and alluring. But simply—from the perspective of the Sacred Law—consider the values promoted by what is today called “black culture.” Whether it is the use of alcohol and drugs, music (its obscene lyrics and subject matter, aside from the issue of instruments), the normalization of fornication and illegitimacy, the standards of dress, the general standards of conduct, the arrogance and bragging, and more recently the spread of atheism and satanism in black popular culture, none of it complies with what Allah has commanded human beings to follow.
Muslims—black, Latino, Asian, African, Arab, white, or whatever—need to develop an identity separate and distinct from this “black” pathological culture. In reality this “black” culture isn’t even “black” culture. It is an engineered culture formulated by the masters of the corporate-consumer manipulation process.
Now should Muslims reach out to the less fortunate—who are caught up in this matrix of this madness? The answer is ABSOLUTELY. At the same time, we cannot afford to allow this pathological culture to take root in the culture of Muslims. And Muslim youth need to know the difference between Islamic values and aspirations and the values being foisted up them by the Cultural Marxists and/or the corporate elite in the name of being “hip” or “tolerant.”
A couple of more points. If you happen to be black and are critical of black pathological culture, this has nothing to do with being an “Uncle Tom” or wanting to “be white.” For Muslims, white Western European or American culture is not an ideal for us. We do not derive our values or standards from therefrom. We derive our values from Islam and following the righteous people. It is important that Muslims take a stand against this “black” pathological culture, because the opponents of Islam are using it to spread their ideology and contaminate the youth with moral corruption. We can see what happened to black America because its leadership did not stand up and condemn this ghetto culture (because of some sort of misplaced sense of racial solidarity). The middle class values of black America (like those promoted in the old Ebony Magazines) have subsequently been eroded and been replaced by the values of Lil Wayne and Nikki Manaj.
We, as Muslims, should stand up and enjoin the good and forbid the evil. Do we not do so when it comes to speaking out against deviant factions, like the Wahhabis (quasi-Salafis) who masquerade as Muslims? What would happen if sincere Sunni Muslims were silent about these pseudo-Muslim extremists? Those extremists would come to define what it means (in the minds of the masses, both non-Muslim and Muslim) what it means to be a “Muslim.” Do we not attempt to distinguish ourselves from the misguided and the extremists?
Consider what has happened to black America. Wasn’t the black leadership largely silent about the normalization of black pathology? Didn’t the black leadership attack whites who expressed concerns about the growth of fatherless homes, or the content or rap music, or the black dependency upon welfare and call those whites “racists?” Haven’t the pathological ghetto extremists come to increasingly define what it means to be “black”—to the point that if someone now speaks out against that culture, people will think you are speaking out against that race? We need to lay down our positions in a clear manner and distinguish truth from falsehood, and God-willing protect ourselves and call others to the guidance and middle path of Islam.
Praise Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.
1The so-called Nation of Islam is a pseudo-Islamic black racist group that was started in the 1930’s. True Muslims believe in One Perfect, Eternal, Omnipotent Creator, Who is the Creator of everything and absolutely does not need or resemble anything. True Muslims believe that the Creator is not a spatial entity and that God exists without time, place, or direction. Whatever you imagine, God (Allah) is different from that. The so-called Nation of Islam teaches that God was born in the year 1877 to a white(!) woman. At the same time, they believe that all “Asiatic blackmen” are also Allah (God). The so-called Nation of Islam’s belief is contrary to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad of 1,400 years ago.
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