“The greatest talkers in the days of peace
have been the most pusillanimous
in the day of temptation.” – Jeremy Taylor

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from Sidewalk musik
You Against Yourself 

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THE RIGHTEOUS JUXTAPOSITION
OF THE PUSILLANIMOUS KIND
by Kendall F. Person
In 1831, an enslaved man named Nat Turner would accomplish the unthinkable. Galvanizing 70 other enslaved men, and no longer believing life was worth living in chains, in a violent and deadly clash, they rebelled. As many as 60 white people were slaughtered, however, rather they were slave owners, racist or abolitionist of the American Institution of Slavery is unknown, as is how the team of backers were chosen. But what is known is that 2 months later, when Nat Turner was captured and hung, the pusillanimous kind, who chose to live shackled and beaten, without a legitimacy of reason, were either killed in retaliation for a crime they did not commit or devoured whole by the conscious of mind.

“The FBI assesses it is very likely Black Identity Extremist (BIE) perceptions of police brutality against African Americans spurred an increase in premeditated, retaliatory lethal violence against law enforcement and will very likely serve as justification for such violence.”

The FBI must have their reasons, or the conspiracy theories may require a revisitation. But according to Foreign Policy*, this newly designated term for Black activists, was the brainchild of pusillanimous thinkers based upon one very tragic occurrence, committed by a lone gunman: The Ambush of Dallas Police Officers**. Rather the officers that were slain, were good men or corrupt, makes no difference in the end. I do not condone violence or the cowardly murder of the unsuspecting, rather the officers are the victims or the perpetrators of such a pusillanimous offense. But a brand new, untested, undefined term, ratchets up the danger to American Black men, rather they love & honor their country or hold mistrust.

now and then

In the late 1980’s, as a student at the University of California Davis, and while exiting an on-campus party invited and hosted by the UC Berkeley chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, my fraternity, without warning, we were met with scores of riot police, who moved in and attacked. It was without provocation to us, but maybe they saw an identity in a classification that we were not and never made aware of. One of my extended line brothers, much smaller than me, absorbed the worse of each baton blow, so I rolled over on top of him, for it was no more his burden than mine. I was immediately arrested, charged with inciting a riot and resisting arrest.

I did not attend the actual sentencing, so I do not know if the sentence was official, handed down by a judge or the toothless ramblings of a commissioner, but either way, the transcribed narrative was meant to turn a young college graduate into an angry Black man. ‘Banned from California for one year’. I was living in New England, but making plans to move back home, when the letter arrived. The sentencing was retroactive, but there was still 3 months before my banishment was up. So rather than become disenfranchised and bitter, I spent three unforgettable months, rolling through 42 of the lower 48 states.

As I drove across the Louisiana Bayou***, I could almost see the ghosts of the runaway enslaved. An experience of sacrifice enriched my love of self & nation. I have never felt inferior or blamed nor judged, but I could also see the ghosts of men, chasing them down with dogs, and it forced me to accept the fact, that there are those who would turn back time.

“Infuriated by Center for Disease Control (CDC)-funded research suggesting that having firearms in the home sharply increased the risks of homicide, the NRA goaded Congress in 1996 into stripping the injury center’s funding for gun violence research – $2.6 million. Congress then passed a measure drafted by then-Rep. Jay Dickey (R-Ark.) forbidding the CDC to spend funds “to advocate or promote gun control.”

click to enlarge

Without any data from the nation’s premiere research organization; with but a single incident by a Black man, who acted alone in a terrorist-style attack against law enforcement officers; with the President of the United States – in a formal address to Long Island cops –  stating ‘not to worry about injuring suspects during arrest,’ and later calling Black athletes sons of bitches before a revelling all white crowd. With the Berkeley memory still a conversation on the rare occasions, we are all together; and without any knowledge whatsoever, except variations on the same leaked document, how does anyone know, what the hell anyone else is looking for? Who in God’s name or in the name of science is you prefer (all-inclusive here) is identified as a Black Identity Extremist, when we have never heard the term before. And unless we go back to 1831, a violent mass killing by an African American, specifically targeting men who he must have imagined were his oppressors, has occurred once. And I have never heard anyone defend him.

A creation of a scapegoat? A new boogeyman or worse yet, a trap or a jedi-mind trick, meant to blur reality into the chicken or the egg?

From the Latino onslaught, to the banning of Muslims and the attempted undoing of transgender military rights. From the attacks on a woman’s choice, to the systematic abolishment of science, and the continual debasing of grown White men in the Legislative Branch and within his own chambers, that do not idolize him, to the designation without a definition of a new terrorist threat, the view from down here feels like the Stockholm Syndrome.

If you trust and support the current administration, and comprehend what a Black Identity Extremist is – through the eyes of them, you are invited with open minds – leave the gauntlets behind – into The Neighborhood for an open discussion, on a platform of peace. But please be respectful, and before you arrive, make the righteous juxtaposition between the peaceful and the pusillanimous kind.

“Surely the righteous will never be shaken; they will be remembered forever.”

skeeze w/ flag – fallen by illustrade

— an editorial from thepublicblogger

thepublicblogger recommends…
Marshall Mathers delivers a brilliant and necessary breakdown, and out of nowhere, he becomes the conscious voice of a generation in resistance to a man named Trump.

References
*The FBI’s New U.S. Terrorist Threat: Black Identity Extremist,
Foreign Policy
**Five Dallas Officers Were Killed as Payback, Police Chief Says
New York Times
***The Recording of History: History’s Ghosts,
The Neighborhood
****The NRA has blocked gun violence research for 20 years.
Let’s end its stranglehold on science.
Los Angeles Times
*****Psalms 112:6, Daily Versus
Holy Bible
fallen by illustrade
flag by skeeze

32 at start. 12 went down in the knockout round. 5 more went out the door, for not telling us something good. 15 remain, but only The Top 10 Cities can make a difference and win the game.

OCT 15: CITIES RD3 ‘Causes’
Question: A challenge your city faces, but has not imagined a solution, yet?