The Hudson Family Murders

The recent murders of Oscar winner and singer Jennifer Hudson's mother, brother, and nephew have raised the social ire of disgust and disbelief within mainstream society. The sheer force and horror of the brutal murders expose the pain and suffering thousands of black families face every day in this country.

As quiet as it’s kept, until Jennifer Hudson's family murders, this type of inner-city carnage remained below the mainstream radar of important issues. Most mainstream news outlets ignore blacks murders on a national basis. Inner-city violence isn't important enough to ask presidential candidates questions about what they planned to do about it.

Yet this murderous rampage within our cities is far more dangerous to blacks than terrorist plots from overseas groups. The annual murder rates in Chicago, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, New Orleans, Oakland, Detroit and New York already surpass the total number of U.S. military killed in Iraq since the war began. Unfortunately, since these murders are not tied to a national political agenda, they are not a top priority for us.

Today, inner-city murders are accepted as part of the social fabric in this country. We pay very little attention to them. Murders, such as those of the Hudson family, rarely raise a whimper from either those close by or those living in relatively secure neighborhoods. To most Americans, widespread violence is confined to those living on the fringes of mainstream society -- blacks, Latinos, and poor whites.

In the meanwhile, many blacks afflicted with Obama fever seem to favor voting over taking personal responsibility for changing the cultural attitudes and habits that's destroying the soul of the black family. These politically inoculated blacks are allowing political candidates -- blacks and whites -- to marginalize their problems. They seem blinded by fear and apathy, which has created an impenetrable wall of social malaise.

Part of the problem is the social stratification existing between "old school" and "new school" thinking blacks. This social schism has created deep fears and suspicions among the older residents. In many instances, they are too afraid to confront the young terrorists who are destroying their neighborhoods.

After decades of societal racial oppression, it appears that many inner city blacks have anesthetized themselves with too much fear and apathy. This causes them to sleepwalk past the carnage littering their neighborhoods. For many, it is easier to huddle in fear behind closed doors, while their neighbors' blood flows like sewage on the sidewalks and streets lined with makeshift memorials to commemorate their love ones.

During my experiences living in the"Killing Fields" of Oakland, California, I talked with so many blacks who felt powerless in their homes. They believed no one could do anything about the murders, except God. So they turned to prayer for the solutions. Unfortunately, far too many of them found that prayer without action do not solve life-threatening problems.

Nevertheless, whenever deaths occurs, it leaves the victims' families with a cacophony of sobs and screams. When you live at ground zero in the "Killing Fields," the carnage from the constant fusillade of gunshots is grief, a deep grief found only in the stench of the night air permeating the streets with lifeless bodies. When you see something like this, you can never ignore death again.

In the meanwhile, those who are fortunate enough to survive the inner-city-death squads sigh deep sighs of relief that death passed by them. Sadly, for the families who are not as fortunate, they must seek comfort wherever they can find it. To them it's to try an escape from the memories of their neighbors' faces contorted with lines of grief and pain. They find it difficult to forget the faces of grieving mothers, wives, girlfriends, and children paying their final respects to loved ones.

It takes a strong person to maintain control of your emotions when you watch a grieving mother's face distorted by swollen, teary eyes, runny nose, and her limp body trembling uncontrollable in search of a spiritual sanctuary to assuage her pain. When you witness this type of behavior, you clearly know we're facing a real epidemic of inner-city terrorism.

As long as mainstream media continues to ignore the murder epidemic in our inner-cities, grieving mothers and fearful fathers will continue to huddle in darken houses to shield themselves from the bullets spraying their neighborhood.

The challenge for all of us is a simple one: We must remove the social and class distinctions among African-Americans. To do this requires participation from inner-city blacks and those who have the intellectual and monetary resources to contribute to solving this problem.

For now, I am bringing the issue to the forefront for us to discuss and become aware of the destruction that inner-city murders have on black families. From this vantage point, we can begin to put forth some ideas to solve the problem.

Blacks' Obsession with Religion

Is it time for blacks to stop relying on religion to solve our problems?

For someone to ask this question is risky and somewhat intimidating. In fact, it's scary. That's why most blacks in this country are afraid to publicly state politically incorrect religious beliefs. It is rare to find a high profile black who's willing to say he or she is not a Christian.

There's a deep, unspoken fear lurking beneath the surface of the religious fervor that frightens blacks. It might be the fear of going to Hell, or having some divine calamity strike you dead. Whatever the reason, most blacks don't want to receive the recriminations from not only blacks, but white Christians.

Today, millions of poor and semi-illiterate blacks remain obsessed with religious beliefs created by individuals thousands of years ago. They rely on these beliefs to miraculous change their lives. Whenever someone loses a job, girlfriend, some money, or even their freedom, they quickly turn to some religion to help them overcome the situation. It's as if they were not responsible for what happened.

This detachment from unpleasant events in our lives is the crux of victim beliefs. It allows the victim to blame someone else for the unpleasant events and to praise a religious deity for all the pleasant events. Nevertheless, it is the victim who participates directly in every event that occurs in his or her life. Unfortunately for the victim, this means even those events he or she are unaware that they are participating in them.

Blacks obsession with religion, particularly Christianity, is one of the primary causes for victim beliefs. Blacks use of Christianity as a solutions oriented ideology devalues individual accomplishments. This causes the motivation (Christianity) for the accomplishment to become confused with the actions, which results in the individual believing he or she is powerless to accomplish great things in life without strong religious beliefs.

Religion is a tool one uses for motivation. It gives you hope, it provides comfort, it inspires you to believe in yourself, and most importantly, it teaches you that your life has value.

These are important virtues when you are feeling down and out with no where to turn. Yet they are just words you read or hear, similar to the words you hear and read in a book, CD, or DVD. They're not the solution to your problems, but valuable information that you can use to solve your problems.

Whatever talents we have been given in this world, we must cultivate and use them to achieve great things. God endowed us with the capacity to think; it is that thinking which transforms us from victims to empowered individuals. If you are afraid to think, you will continue to believe you are a victim of unforeseen circumstances.

In the meanwhile, blacks obsession with religion as the solution to all their problems borders on lunacy; a form of psychological slavery. This psychological slavery inextricably ties blacks to a permanent state of victimization. In this state of consciousness, individuals struggle to find meaning for their existence, and at the same time, they struggle to understand why their deity allows them to remain as victims.

After awhile, the victim will begin to believe that freedom from suffering is achieved by achieving those things -- money, fame, political positions, and so forth -- that have eluded them. The victim begins to believe that money transforms victim consciousness. For them, the more money they have, the less people will think of them as a victims.

Nevertheless, even with great wealth and fame, the victim remains obsessed with his or her religious beliefs. Many of them proclaim their accomplishments as a direct result of their faith in God. In other words, they achieved their wealth and fame because they were blessed by God. This line of reasoning allows them to connect their God to capitalism and social acclaim.

Let's imagine what would happen to blacks if they were not obsessed with religion? Would they become poorer? Would the ghettos become an oasis for prosperity and peace? Would the murders decrease? Would the legal convictions disappear? Would the female head of households decrease significantly? Would black males' enrollments in colleges increase? Would religious leaders become human?

The answers to these questions are quite obvious; nothing would change because change is not dependent on religious beliefs. To change the way you think and live is a personal decision you make when you realize that the tools you are using to cultivate victim beliefs are really illusions you have about yourself and the world you live in.




The book "Seeds from the Ashes" is coming soon!

O. J. Simpson Conviction Highlights Broken Justice System

Regardless to what you think about the role O. J. Simpson played in the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ron Goldman, he surely doesn't deserve to spend the rest of his life in prison for the crimes he was convicted of in Las Vegas.

Even those with strongly held points of view toward O.J.'s guilt in the previous case will find it difficult to rationalize his guilt by an all-white jury in a case that was nothing more than a concocted ruse between several unsavory characters living on the dark side of our society.

The problem for blacks with this trial is that it highlights a more pernicious pattern of white prosecutors using all-white, or predominately white juries, to indict and convict black defendants across the country.

Barry Bonds has been indicted for lying to a grand jury about his alleged use of steroids. The prosecution's original case was so baseless that the judge asked them to clarify the questions Mr. Bonds were asked and his responses, and then resubmit their case. Obviously, the prosecutors believe, even if their case is weak, they have a good chance to convict him if they get predominately white jurors.

Michael Vick is in prison for participating in dog-fighting. Yes, it is cruel and inhumane to mistreat animals. It is also cruel and inhumane to kill helpless deer, quail, rabbits, moose, and other socially accepted practices for killing animals. Unfortunately, Michael Vick is in prison for admitting dog-fighting, and for participating in the killings of injured dogs. Meanwhile, the judges, congressmen, business executives, movie stars, and so forth who kill helpless animals are free to continue this socially accepted barbarism.

Michael Jackson was indicted and acquitted on charges that his attorney argued were baseless and should never have been brought to trial. Fortunately for Michael, his nearly all-white jury had the social integrity and moral principles to judge him based on the evidence presented to them. Nevertheless, it didn't stop the prosecutor from bringing the case to trial.

For many Blacks, the American jurisprudence continues to deny them and other minorities the "blind justice" afforded to most white defendants. Yet it is difficult, if not impossible, to find very many people who are willing to publicly state that the current judicial process for blacks is a disgrace to democracy, even a racial democracy.

Meanwhile, the proponents of this system acknowledge its inherent discriminatory practices toward blacks and other minorities, and argue fervently that "It may not be perfect, but it's the best system in the world." For whom? Surely, if you are a poor, or middle-class black charged with a crime, you can rest assured that you will mostly likely be indicted, prosecuted and convicted by a "blind justice" system.

One of the most odorous phase of denying blacks a fair trial by an impartial jury is the process used to select jurors. In many cities, jury pools have been gerrymandered to ensure that blacks and other minorities will not have all-black, or predominately black jurors, even in cities where blacks outnumber whites.

For example, in Oakland, California, a city where blacks represent the largest racial group, the jury pool is recruited from residents county-wide. Since the county is predominately white, this means that most of the jurors will probably be white. This sets up a scenario that ensures most black and Hispanic defendants, without sufficient funds, will face jurors who not only don't look like them, but also don't live in the same city.

Another equally troubling aspect of having different racial groups acting as peers for blacks is an inherent cultural bias endemic to their racial uniqueness. This cultural bias was born and bred in the family, school, and workplace values that we were all taught and expected to adhere to. They are the lens we use to see ourselves and others.

The basic problem that most white jurors face when judging black defendants is their cultural biases. They must go beyond what they have been taught and use different lens to see the defendant and evaluate the evidence. For most of them, it will be difficult to see someone like Brad Pitt and Bokeem Woodbine as equals under the law.

Whites are not the only race affected by their cultural biases; blacks are too. Black jurors use cultural biased views, which are bred from years of living as victims in this country.

From their victim beliefs, blacks tend to believe most black defendants have been unjustly charged by the policemen and white prosecutors. So a black defendant will at least have his or her peers judge the case with skeptical eyes, which means the prosecutors will have to present strong evidence to overcome their skepticism. This will usually produce a fair trial.

Any black attorney representing black defendants would be severely criticized if he sought to select an all-white jury rather than an all-black one. Most black attorneys would use all their preemptive challenges to ensure that some blacks were seated on any jury that involves black defendants.

So, before elated whites and apathetic blacks gloat or despair over O.J.'s conviction, they had better take a closer look at how this justice system is treating the minorities in this racial democracy. And for once realize that if blacks had the power to change the system, we would have already changed it. The power to change in a racial democracy rests with the group that has the most votes.

A Black Perspective on Racism

There's not a day that passes without racism being discussed somewhere in this country. And I don't mean casually. Racism, even the appearance of racism can end someones' career, or even destroy them.

Racism makes us all very uncomfortable. That's why people search for the politically correct words during any conversation with someone of a different race.When you really think about this; it's a little silly. The silliness of it all is the wholesale denials and overt attempts to overcompensate for being in denial.

For many whites, and younger blacks, racism happened in the past. While many blacks, and some whites, believe it still exists today, they believe it's not as bad as it was in the past. Perhaps this is true, but how do you measure something that has evolved over time and morphed into acceptability in the social fabric of this country?

Some people don't believe it's racism when white police officers brutally beat, or kill unarmed black men. Neither do some others believe it's racism when ninety percent of blacks vote for a black candidate for president primarily because he is black.

There are not enough Barack Obamas in this country to engage us in a truly effective cleansing of our racial beliefs. While we might continue to have some half-hearted public discussions on the subject, we still parse our words to ensure we say all the things that make us racially correct.

Similarly, we feel racially impotent and frightened to freely express our views about racism around members of a different racial group. This visceral feeling makes you cringe that someone might discover that you have "politically incorrect" racial views.

Nevertheless, most Americans continue to see and judge others according to their skin color. For example, we describe unknown people to others as: "Oh, he's a black guy," or "He's a white boy." We even use our brogues to identify us racially. We say, "she sounds like a white girl," or "he sounds like a black person."

The more someone looks like us, the closer kinship we feel with him or her. For some people, this is not racism, but being comfortable with someone who is like you. We practice racism without ever knowing that we're doing it. This is the prism through which we see the world.

The unfiltered racist view manifests itself in many different ways. For whites, it might be "white guilt," or "racial superiority." For blacks it might be "victim," or "denial." Regardless of the rationale, this type of thinking keeps us tied to victim beliefs.

Generally, we think of victims in this country as belonging to one of the minority groups, or those who live at the whims and desires of a dominating racial group. This fuels the beliefs that whites are not victims of racism -- except in those instances where affirmative action issues are involved -- because they have greater freedoms and benefits than the rest of the races. Unfortunately, that's not true.

Whites are victims of racism because it keeps them tied to beliefs that they are different from others. And it prevents them from perceiving others without skin color labels. While many whites and blacks extol color-blind virtues, they are usually baseless chants of the inner turmoil raging within them.

There's no amount of praying, meditating, chanting, or preaching that can overcome racism. Racism can only be overcome by changing the way you think of yourself and others. If you pray, and still think of yourself as a white or black person, then what good did it do you to pray? What did you learn about racism?

I believe we have an opportunity to change our individual views about racism. We do this by becoming awake and attentive to what's going on in our lives. When we become awake, we are alert to the falsehoods about our status in the world. When we become attentive, we know that it is important to express how we truly feel so that we can begin to accept personal responsibility for these feelings.

Nevertheless, whether we like it or not, the first step in overcoming any problem is to accept personal responsibility for creating the problem in your life. In this case, accept personal responsibility for being a victim of racism.

Wow! That's really hard to do, isn't it? It sure is if you're unwilling to cleanse your mind of the racial beliefs you have about yourself and others. Otherwise, it's as easy as changing the way you think and live.


Please remember: "Racism is what you think about yourself and those around you."(MK)

"Seeds from the Ashes" is coming soon!