Archie Shepp on Obama's "Race" speech of 2008

"Mr. Obama- Barack- is attempting to confront-and resolve -a dichotomy between his political oratory and the simple reality of being a Black man..."
(originally posted 6/8/08)




Dear friends,

Soon after I sent him the text from Senator Obama's now famous speech on "race" that the candidate made, in Philadelphia (2008), the following letter was e-mailed to me, by an old and dear friend (who is also my chief music mentor). He is more commonly known as a legendary leader in the musical idiom known as "jazz". In any case, with the generous permission of this elder, I am sharing the aforementioned letter with you. It appears below.
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Re: Obama's defining speech on "race" in America

Thank you Bro' Bumpus . Perhaps the question is "What Is an American"? Notwithstanding the fact that America is a continent not a country; moreover, that places like Arizona, California, and Texas used to be Mexico and now "Americans" wish to build a wall to keep out the former occupants.

Mr. Obama- Barack- is attempting to confront-and resolve -a dichotomy between his political oratory and the simple reality of being a Black man. He has even fessed up to enjoying a fiery lecture on a Sunday morning, (one worthy of - Jesse- I might add - or the lesser known"Pork Chop" Davis), and why not? The latter are telling our story and they "run it down".

Is it so difficult to be Black and still to admit that fact with all its implications? What would the American cultural landscape look like without the children of the Sorrow Songs, Armstrong, Bird, 'Trane, and "Duke", Mahalia, Nina , Marian Anderson, Paul Robeson? No other people did it-make music the way we do -dance the way we do. We don't have to apologize for being who we are, nor subtly- one might say -subserviently merge our identities with others- ashamed to acknowledge a rich and incomparably diverse history.

As you have yourself rightfully pointed out, we Black folks are proud because we have fought long and hard for freedom going all the way back to the time we were enslaved. Our experience has formed the basis for ensuing struggles- including the fight for women's rights. We don't have to become Americans. We were ready for full citizenship when we arrived in the 17th century. It was they who called themselves, 'Virginians', or Carolinians', who murdered their Black fellow citizens during the 19th century riots in New York. They were not ready for a united people of America.

When Ray Charles sings "God Bless America" I become an "American". It takes a Black man to sing that song, to understand its words. Black folks are as American as the soil along the Misssissippi delta. We built the cities of New Orleans, Charleston and Atlanta. We constructed the East Coast railroads and picked the cotton, which were responsible for the bourgeoning industry in the North.

We sing original folk songs like "John Henry" even 'til today, to commemorate our toil. Richard Wright, the great African American novelist who wrote the book "Black Boy" (very controversial for its time, but went on to become a literary success) indicates 10 subjects - that are taboo when a Black man speaks to a "white" man. The three that stick out in my mind are white women, politics, and race. White people can and should solve the problems that only they themselves can resolve -peacefully - we pray - for it is after all they who have created the chaos in which the world is mired.

Best Wishes,
Bro' A Shepp

Editor's Note: Relating to what Brother Shepp has mentioned above, long ago, Dr. W.E.B. DuBois wrote: "The discovery of personal whiteness among the world's peoples is a very modern thing...The ancient world would have laughed at such a distinction...by emphasis and omission to make children believe that every great thought the world ever knew was a white man's thought, every great deed the world ever did was a white man’s deed..."darkies" are born beasts of burden...Such degrading of men by men is as old as man and the invention of no one race or people...It has been left, however, to Europe and to modern days to discover the eternal worldwide mark of meanness - color!". - "The Souls of White Folks" Read full post

War - To Proselytize, Murder, and Rape

Dear friends,

 Many ordinary people, especially those who have never served in any kind of military capacity, are unaware of the acts of rape and murder combined as being "traditional" behavior in human warfare. Of course, it is well-documented that around 2500 years ago, Hebrew/Jewish armies murdered and raped people, and burned the books of the villages that they attacked, then forcibly converted their victims to Judaism.

The "believers" of Christianity - a religion that grew out of Judaism - which itself influenced the birth of Islam, always acted in the same way that their Hebrew predecessors did. Therefore, raping and proselytizing those who survived the heinous assaults is the rule, rather than being the exception.

Even worse, such victims/new converts, sometimes, became the next group of conquerors themselves. As a matter of fact, during wars, considering the amount of rape victims who are not killed and become pregnant, the lunacy of Adolph Hitler with his fantasy about there being an "Aryan race" is totally exposed. After all, if one simply goes to the literature, s/he will find that the dark-skinned Mongolian Huns, who were originally led by a man named Attila, raided much of the area now known as Europe, for centuries, murdering the male inhabitants and raping women and little girls, in the process, making "mixed" children. 

Of course, Amer-Asian children from the Vietnam war era are proof of the continued savagery of some American soldiers and others who keep the incredibly despicable murder/rape tradition intact, now followed by troops in Afghanistan and Iraq. Yet, while it is not always rape, per se, unfortunately, we see the results of this same type of inhuman and vicious sexual impropriety here-to-mentioned, from politicians, actors, athletes, musicians, and other "celebrities" who have both broken the hearts of and abandoned women and their children, spread around our country - and the world. 

 Finally, rape happens right here in the states to women in the armed forces, perpetrated by their own male "comrades" - all of the time. Not just when they are in a war. Again, please go to the literature. I challenge you. If you are unaware of that simple fact, then you may have a different view of how this country has been run,, since its inception. To be sure, this says a great deal about the overall direction that we need to be heading. President Obama's signing, and subsequent re-authorization of, the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) is an important start.

 One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus
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What is an American?

"Human progress has only occurred due to the efforts of many different peoples. No one body of folks deserves credit for all human accomplishment to this date. Surely, no such group ever will."

Dear friends,

Human progress has only occurred due to the efforts of many different peoples. No one body of folks deserves credit for all human accomplishment to this date. Surely, no such group ever will. In a book written two generations ago called The Study of Man, author Ralph Linton summed it up best when addressing the question, "What is an American?" He wrote:

Our solid American citizen awakens in a bed built on a pattern which originated in the Near East...throws back the covers made from cotton, domesticated in India...goes to the bathroom, whose fixtures are a mixture of European and American inventions, both of recent date...washes with soap invented by the ancient Gauls...Returning to the bedroom - puts on garments whose form originally derived from the skin clothing of the nomads of the Asiatic steppes, puts on shoes made from skins tanned by a process invented in ancient Egypt...Before going out for breakfast - glances Through the window, made of glass invented in Egypt...stops to buy a paper, paying for it with coins, an ancient Lydian invention...At the restaurant - (the) plate is made of a form of pottery invented in China...has coffee, an Abyssinian plant, with cream and sugar. Both the domestication of cows and the idea of milking them originated in the Near East, while sugar was first made in India...finished eating - settles back to smoke, an American Indian habit...while smoking - reads the news of the day, imprinted in characters - invented in Germany...and, if - a good conservative citizen ,gives thanks to a Hebrew deity, in an Indo-European language, for being 100 percent American.

All peoples have played or are playing a role that contributes to human progress, regardless of their continental origins, much less the colors of their skins. Moreover, at the basis of human civilization is a cooperative effort to co-exist. In fact, it is only within the context of our association with others do our lives have meaning. After all, we know that "value is a social relation". In other words, to sit in a room with a billion dollars of currency means absolutely nothing, until one either leaves that setting and associates with someone else, or, in modern times, transacts by computer with another. Therefore, at least to me, as opposed to that which we possess, it is that which we share amongst all of us (i.e., human beings) - ideas, emotions, spirituality, and muscles) which is most responsible for and essential to humankind's proliferation.

One Love,
G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Ronald Reagan's administration conveniently re-wrote the definition of Racism

"If racism is only a xenophobia, then why was it so important for Reagan and his bosses to end any hopes for maintaining peace around the world, by forcing the UN to dissolve?"

Dear friends,

Until the Eighties, the word racism was used almost exclusively by Black intellectual and social activists. The more moderate members of society, including most African Americans, still used the term "racial prejudice".
In fact, the term racism was offensive to the overwhelming majority of European Americans, as it was synonymous with White Supremacy. Now, along with groups like the accommodating NAACP, the government- and corporate-controlled mainstream media have re-defined it as a xenophobia or disease of some sort, making it very convenient to have fingers pointed at Us - African Americans, the historic victims of racism. Neat trick. Eh?

Finally, I mentioned the Eighties, because that period coincides with super-racist Ronald Reagan coming into office. This is the same Ronald Reagan who held back US dues owed to the United Nations, almost crippling that body, until they withdrew the proclamation that "Zionism is Racism". Once again, as is the case with Iran, the murderous Israeli government and its American sponsors prevailed. If racism is only a xenophobia, then why was it so important for Reagan and his bosses to end any hopes for maintaining peace around the world, by forcing the UN to dissolve? In any case, after the UN retracted its position about Zionism, the US government and its sponsor corporations then re-defined racism..WE must not let our enemies define our conditions. If we do, then we'll never free ourselves from the endless oppression.

"Dare to struggle - Dare to win" - Frederick Douglass

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post

Knowing Yourself - the greatest human wealth

Dear friends,

A lot of people get on social media like Facebook and "mouth off". That is, not having to actually face anyone, or their own insecurities and inadequacies, such people confidently, or at least seemingly so, project themselves as a person who really knows himself or herself and, therefore, has something worthwhile to share.

Knowing yourself has nothing to do with how much material wealth you possess or how high your social status is like with what academic monikers are attached to your name such as MD, JD, or PhD for example.

That is, knowing yourself within the context of having a'"sense of self" - the greatest human wealth, can only come from having had many and varied experiences in life where you have had to confront your own insecurities and inadequacies, especially when being in physical danger. For only then will you know yourself, because only then will you be able to show to yourself whether o not you have the integrity to keep a promise to yourself by not allowing any other person or nonhuman creature to make you lose your composure by cowering and/or begging for mercy, as opposed to maintaining your well-being by fighting back, or in some cases, simply running to get help of some sort.

After all, those who will cower and beg, no matter how much income or social status they hide behind really have no knowledge of self, sense of self, or dignity.

G. Djata Bumpus
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Dr. Barbara Love on Hollywood and media negative images of African Americans

Dear friends,

In the paragraph below, My longtime, dear friend Dr. Barbara Loveb comments about Hollywood and media negative images of African American people...She writes: 

 The negative images that we hold about ourselves did not originate with us. We internalized the false images that were created to support and justify racism. Several things are true: bad images hurt us; we did not create the bad images that hurt us. When we internalize the negative images created about us to justify the oppression of us, we act out and reflect those negative images. Because we act out and reflect those negative images does not mean that we create the negative images. The negative images existed before we internalized them. And yes, we can say with certainty that if Zimmerman lived more than one day in U.S. society, then he was exposed to negative messages about Black people. If he lived more than two days in U.S. society, he internalized negative messages about Black people without ever having met or interacted with a Black person. Every person in U.S. society- Black, white and all others- are taught by the daily socialization of U.S. society to hate Black people. That is the foundation and sustenance of racism. To our credit, so many of us, black and white and others, resist the message to hate Black people. to our credit, many of us, not only resist the message to hate Black people, but manage to love and cherish Black people. To our credit, many of us figure out how to help other people become aware of the messages of hate and use that awareness as a shield against the daily assault on our minds about Black people. And to our everlasting credit, many of us are trying to heal from the damage done to our minds and to our hearts by the messages we receive to hate Black people. Read full post

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MALCOLM - A Real Leader!!!

"...one of the chief pioneers of the Black Consciousness Movement."





born May 19, 1925

Dear friends,

In light of all of the frauds who are called "leaders", both in academia and the streets, and at a time when the government- and corporate-controlled mainstream media put the centuries-old liberation struggle of African American people to gain equality, dignity, and justice, in the context of the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s, especially for our youth, We need to keep them aware of the fact that it was the Black Consciousness Movement (@1965-85) that brought the most significant changes to the US - and continues, including the election of Barack Obama.

Moreover, while We can't forget so many others, We must always remember that Malcolm X was one of the chief pioneers of the Black Consciousness Movement, in modern times.

One Love, One Heart, One Spirit!

G. Djata Bumpus Read full post