Dr Boyce Watkins - Can You Define The Scenario In Which The Present Fate Of The Negro Will Be A Function Of The Present Establishment Order?

Dr Boyce Watkins - Attorney General Eric Holder Gets on Black Fathers: Why He is Wrong

Regardless of if you like my views or not - I believe that I have the ability to observe certain debate tactics that are used in abundance and model them with respect to a person's larger motivations and agenda.

I have reached such a point with Dr Boyce Watkins after seeing his arguments and line of reasoning applied to many different situations that involve Black people.

PLEASE NOTE - This is not an evaluation of one's commitment toward addressing the problems within the Black Community that we all so often talk about.  I have little doubt that those who I am so often at odds with have as much passion about these issues as I do

Unfortunately PASSION nor INTENTIONS equate to EFFICACY in relation to problem solving.

You should also not assume that I disagree with all of Dr Watkins' observations.  In fact I give him more credit than most for being insightful about some of the racial ironies and double standards that he talks about that few others grasp.  Still - this does not prove to be a FIX for our community's issues.  This tactic merely details that White folks have problems too.  That they should focus upon their own problems rather than talking about "ours".  With a dose of "You caused our problems and thus you owe us".

From the article above the following items are detailed in Dr Watkin's rebuttal of US Attorney General Eric Holder:

1. One in three black men in their twenties is under some form of supervision by the justice system.
2. Attorney Holder, did you also know that black male unemployment is as high as 40 percent to 50 percent in many urban areas?
3.  Mr. Holder, can you please take a visit to your buddy Barack Obama and let him know that the inner-city educational systems put black boys in special education at a rate that is five times higher than white kids?
4. Oh yeah, Mr. Holder, with all due respect, there are quite a few white absentee fathers also.
5. Mr. Holder, just in case you and President Obama are unaware, there's usually a woman involved in most heterosexual relationships.  

Summary:

1. The Local Economy Is Screwed Up Within the Black Community
2. The Criminal Justice System Is Screwed Up Within the Black Commnity
3. The Educational System Is Screwed Up Within The Black Community
4. Black Male/Female Relationships are Screwed Up Within The Black Community
   

(The problem that I have with my frequent debate adversaries is not their willingness to agree with my observations about problems.  Our disagreements relate to WHO is responsible for derailing the series of Black children that come along and what is the actual benefit and consequence to be had by the array of leaders who take over the key institutions which service them?)

This article has prompted me to move forward with a community management construct that I had floating in my head for a while.  Obligations beyond this blog had forced me to defer the submission of these thoughts for your evaluation.

From the Dr Boyce Watkins Article:

Holder took a page out of the Barack Obama campaign catalog and chose to win favors with the black middle class by recklessly bashing absentee fathers and returning to the "y'all just need to grow up and be more responsible" argument that allows any politician to explain away a blatant disregard for meaningful public policy. Rather than talking about things that we can do as a society to take our collective foot off the necks of black men, he chose to point out that black men are largely responsible for their own disenfranchisement.

AND

That quote is a nice way of reflecting on the obvious. It's sort of like saying, "It should be unacceptable for a black man to become the attorney general of the United States and not play an integral part in helping other black men overcome the blatantly racist and destructive justice system over which you preside."

AND

Beyond the lip service, both President Obama and A.G. Holder are in positions to exert influence in areas that play a significant role in why many black fathers are absent."

AND

It's easy to attack African American men for their lack of presence in the households of their children. It makes no sense, however, to make these attacks without spending a second holding yourself accountable for addressing the systemic causes of their absence. That is like telling a starving child that he needs to stop losing weight but keeping a lock on the refrigerator.

In summary Dr Watkins argues that the SYSTEM OF THE UNITED STATES has always oppressed Black males; is presently oppressing Black males and thus THIS is the reason for the conditions that Cosby, Obama and Holder are making note of.

I do give Watkins credit for one point that he made:  He noted that both Obama and Holder are ESTABLISHMENT PLAYERS today and that they have the POWER to make changes to his liking if they chose to.   Now granted this is not an indictment of them by Watkins but instead an offer of hope that they will change the system that they reside within which is oppressing so many Blacks.

My question to Dr Watkins is: What are the consequences to these establishment players IF THEY FAIL?   Note that there are two categories of failure:

• Failure to make the changes in the way that the Progressive Left wants
• Failure to change the actual results on the ground REGARDLESS of which ideological bent the solutions take

For our community the first bullet point has been the driver.  It has not, however, always meant that the second bullet point has been achieved.   Thus shows the influence that "ideological fundamentalism" has upon our community at present. 

The key point to understand is that Watkins and others who have helped to get Obama and an array of Blacks and "favorable thinking people" of any color in control over these key institutions are not going to register a full scale INDICTMENT of their friends, labeling them as "Oppressors" despite them noting the "oppression" that is taking place.  This would place them in line with the forces of White Supremacy who have been disposed of.   They resist doing so because ultimately such a stance would be a self-indictment of Watkins and others like him.  They saw sufficient reason to VOTE for the present establishment order.  This was done on the condition that they would CHANGE this establishment, having it progress more toward their liking.

I make the case that the ideology of Watkins and others that are the "Controlling Order" within the Black community today is what needs to be put on trial and made to PROVE its efficacy in line with our present needs.


When Does The "New Establishment Operatives Become 'The Establishment"?



I can summarize this entire post with two questions:
Dr Watkins, Others: At What Point Will You Decide That There Is Enough Of A Favorable Order In The Institutions In America Where You Will No Longer Point To The Past As The Reason For The Present Dysfunction But Will Instead Look More Introspectively And Closer To Home For A Fix? 


At what point should we note that you backed this establishment order and thus your ideology and plan of action should come under indictment because little has changed as you had promised would be the case if our community united behind your world view?


They key problem with Boyce Watkins and other people who think in kind is that they reserve the right to retain judgment against "the Establishment order" but they are not inclined to note their complicity for the existing order and how they have worked hard to assemble it.  Couple this with their lack of inclination to vote against it when it fails but instead give it more expansive power so that it might one day succeed and we come to an understanding of where we are today in regard to the forces that most influence our community.

Thus the roots of the perpetual "expansionary chase" are formed.  Watkins and others are not asked to stand accountable for the DELIVERABLE that derives from the establishment that is in place.  Instead their DELIVERABLE is the their management of the MOVEMENT that is intended to REFORM the Institutions in and of itself.  Thus we have a circular reference that is created denoted by "the chase".

Such a disposition, when allowed, violates every single management principle in the book.  There is no fear of retribution by the "share holders" if the executives fail to meet their numbers.  There are only "rubber stamps" and points of obfuscation about how the "competition" is more tricky than we thought going into the battle with them.

Above all else this entire establishment order requires one thing to give it its life force: A COMPLICIT BLACK "RANK & FILE" to go along with the scheme in an unchecked manner.   The balance of the Black community must "hate the enemies that they accept has put them in this condition more than they love themselves enough to see a management regime that orders the human resources of today, empowering them to craft the desired outcomes".

Indeed - the fact that these voices of leadership remain on stage and unchallenged is a greater indictment upon the Black community and our lack of architecture within to place a check on those who operate in our name but fall short of our needs.




BINDING THE NEW ESTABLISHMENT ORDER TOWARD RESULTS VIA MANAGEMENT SCIENCE


Prior to focusing this article upon the views of Dr Watkins I was planning to focus upon the views of a frequent debate adversary per the present fate of incarcerated Black males.   As the theory goes: So many Black males are locked up today because of racist drug laws.   In addition to removing the 'crack vs powder" the society owes job training, jobs and other societal adjustment entitlements to these men who were unjustly taken away from their families and society.  In jail they are injected with the savage dysfunction that results in the crime and HIV infections in our community.

As long as there is some external controlling agent that is derailing us their world view is soothed.

I noticed that in the context of our discussion - within the Cook County Jail (Chicagoland) the prevailing order that is in power who have locked up these Black males is already fully populated with "favorable people" whom she saw fit to vote for.  How is it, I wondered, that they are worthy of her vote if they continue to violate this important issue to her political activism?   I saw the need to confine the "permanent struggle" into digestible checkpoints.

The fact is that the bulk of these men are ages ranging between 20 and 35.  They were born at a time when their eco-system was controlled by the favorable establishment in the area.  Those forces from the past that had been most threatening to the Black Interests have been purged from their authority over the jail. Despite this fact people are satisfied to render an indictment against the ghosts of the past than the operatives in the present.   To me this seems like a tentative agreement to not challenge their "Permanent Friends" who run these institutions but are failing them.

Community Management Template

Time Frame:
	Protagonist	Antagonist	Result
Education
Public Safety
Economic Development
Health Outcomes

This template is important because it forces those who are engaged in debate to step away from their attempts to blame amorphous enemies who stand against their interests.  Instead they are made to define the forces that stand most prevalently as the key "Protagonists" that are helping to advance our community's interests as well as the Antagonists who's presence is confounding them.  Their focus is confined to the specific time frame within which our people are living within.  The antagonists of the Civil Rights Era are different than those who do us the greatest harm today.  This is the case in nearly all of the four categories listed in the first column.

I had identified the "Permanent Interests" of the community a few years ago after listening to Black people of all ideological stripes.  These are the common denominators.  In applying these concepts onto a matrix the hope is that we can take the next step forward by FOCUSING our people upon these Permanent Interests and WHO is actually lifting them or suppressing them and the results there in.
My goal is to suppress the "windmill chasing" a la Don Quixote.

The phrase "tilting at windmills" to describe an act of attacking imaginary enemies derives from an iconic scene in the book.

I don't mind "advocacy".  I have a problem with MISDIRECTED advocacy where UNITY is obtained by striking out against an external enemy that all factions can agree upon.  All the while the internal demons are left "un-exorcised".

Controlling The Intervals Of Focus


The time line to the left attempts to define the intervals of time which dictate the primary influences that bear upon those who are most active

• The adults that primarily govern the key institutions; 
• The children and the elderly who are at the tail ends of their lives.  
• The children are cared for and inculcated.  
• The adults are taken care of after having earned their keep.  

(Note this assumes people who are not born into a penal colony or slavery where their "self determination is suppressed)

My challenge to those who seek to craft a permanent grievance about the past is:

"At what point do the sins of the past lose their force upon the individuals who are being developed by the adults who lead them in the present?  Thus, at what point do you accept that we have a HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT PROBLEM more than we are "History's Victims" where the ghosts of dead men are acting more detrimentally to our cause than what those of the living render upon us?"

I have noticed that it is to the advantage of those who seek POWER but not ACCOUNTABILITY to avoid adding structure to their analysis of their own problems.  They instead make use of long, enumerate lists of assaults that they suffer that prove their position. In many cases the fact that there is a "gap" between them and their adversary is PROOF that there is some conspiracy by their adversary to suppress them.  This speaks nothing to the salient views that are embedded within.  The fact that their people have rejected some of the means by which these others prospered and thus benefited as such don't get factored in on the "list".   Ultimately the force of change is placed upon this outside group as they are challenged to live up to some national creed.  Little is asked of the group in question so that their own actions might make them more productive and thus competitive with respect to their perfect "1.0" reference that their adversaries are.

A more effective management disposition would have them to submit their claims to analysis that is more structured and transparent.  As it stands their list are sure to only contain the items that favorably advance their claims and those they seek to indict.  What is not assured is that they will have a prioritized list where the primary forces that stand against, even if they stand within the "calling circle" and are ideologically in alignment.   This would serve as too much of an ndictment against the favored establishment and the list will be redacted by the controlling order.

This is why I say that they cannot be allowed to SELF-PRESCRIBE the tonic that we as a community are to take that is purported to cure us.  They will almost always make use of prescriptions from the "drug companies" from which they receive kickbacks per the clandestine contractual agreement that they have made.

The Antagonists Of The Past Are Not Those Of Today

Far too often the threat from  yesterday's antagonists far outlive their actual threat.  At some point references to them serve the interests of the establishment order than they work to fix our problems.

The classic use of fear and cajoling is at work.

"If it weren't for US......you would still be getting lynched".  This speaks NOTHING of the forces who are presently lynching us as a people as reported in the homicide statistics each year.  It is nothing more than an attempt to fight off criticism and/or a threat that is felt by the established power.

At times even when the prevailing evidence forces the establishment to consider WHO is lynching us today in abundance - They will again rattle the chains of history and claim that the past derailment of our culture has caused the present assailants from with to be inculcated in a manner in which they hate their own kind and are thus acting out as such per this conditioning.  Once again the focus is shifted back to the amorphous enemy.


What Is Culture?

We have a "Human Resources Management" problem at present.  The culture that is in operation today is at odds with our desired outcomes.   Despite the frequent talk about "culture" I am convinced that few people understand the function of this force and even fewer understand why and how a culture is created in the first place.

Culture defined:

• the growing of microorganisms in a nutrient medium (such as gelatin or agar)
• the raising of plants or animals
•  the tastes in art and manners that are favored by a social group
• the attitudes and behavior that are characteristic of a particular social group or organization 
• a particular society at a particular time and place
• (bacteriology) the product of cultivating micro-organisms in a nutrient medium
•  all the knowledge and values shared by a society
• a highly developed state of perfection; having a flawless or impeccable quality      

(Source: Onelook.com)

Our ancestors, who were facing the knowledge that if they did not work collaboratively to hunt for wildlife or harvest fruits, berries and vegetables that they would starve chose to order their human resources toward a functional end. 

All of the musical, artistic, and familial relationships were formed around the need to do what is represented in the chart above:  Eat, Resolve Conflicts, Propagate Knowledge to the next generation and live Healthy Lives.

The VALUES and JUDGMENTS that were contained within were not based upon some abstract notion of "RIGHTS" and thus the more "rights" one had to do what they damned well pleased - the better.  Instead the contents of their culture contained clarity about what each of the people included within the band must do as an individual so that the whole might be made stronger and survive in the climate they were within.  Their culture served as management of the ECO-SYSTEM within which they lived.

Today's notion of OUTSOURCING THE DELIVERABLES to an entity that is ultimately external to us IS an abomination to our ancestors who sought freedom from such bondage and a return to the state of "self-determination" and cultural balance from which they descended from.  

A people who base their own racial consciousness based on the period of their own slavery - will never seek to look beyond the point of their founding to find their true selves.

At the same time we can no more claim that the forced loss of our ancient cultural standards will be the prevailing force that ultimately derail the generation that is presently being inculcated today any more than those who make this claim would be willing to renounce their present practices where they obtain their foods from the local grocery stores and instead return to the practices of their ancestors.  We will not see them round up their community members to go on a mass hunt for their foods as a means of maintaining their fidelity with these souls of the past.

Why then do we seek to form a bond with those who were ENSLAVED?

A culture is built upon by the necessities of the present. It is also RETAINED in reference to the elements from the past that have worked.   Man does not change, only his material condition based on technology and transportation changes.  

All of us intelligent Black folks alive today are more than qualified to craft a FUNCTIONAL CULTURE that can deliver the desired results and enforce it upon our children.  This will take root ONLY IF there is a will to put aside the present confinements, some of which people are not willing to depart from.  There is an equal need to revere what is know to work and not change it.

Thus it is far easier to conduct a perpetual campaign or struggle AGAINST an amorphous force who the present establishment can construct fake unity among the masses, convincing them that these are the main threat to their present interests, while allowing the real threat to remain unchallenged.

UNITY OF THE MASSES is more important to them than the construction of the MANAGEMENT DISCIPLINES INTERNALLY by which their grievances might be resolved rather than exploited.