My take on Rabbi Harry Rozenberg vs. Brother Polight Debate

My comment on it... I think Harry Rozoenberg needs to learn HOW to speak to black folks. To be honest and upfront.  When in a white people crowd, people use words that can be vague in meaning, skirt around topics, etc.  but I think in a black crowd, he should have went straight to the points and tackled it head on.  He did broach some good topics, but it could have gone deeper with it.

Brother Polight didn't need to do the whole "guy getting on his knee for atonement."  that was kinda crass.  Also the Black Power chant wasn't necessary.  He did come prepared to deal with all the hard topics which was expected.



Will this encourage friendship?  Will this make for good future dialogue??

Hmmm....

Let's Create a Dictionary! -- Updates!

Hey folks,

One weapon that is used against us is the weapon of lies... using words in such a way that we get side blinded.

Well, I think it's important that we create for ourselves a temporary dictionary were we all can access and understand the world better because the words are reduced to commonly used terms.

For example:  Instead of saying "Army" we define it as "a gang working for a national government"; "Media" = "american court system"; "Rules" = "barriers install by Elites", etc.

If you have any great example, put them  in the comment section and we'll create an online dictionary.

Let's do this!

Update!!

Thank you, Kim for the additions:

Facebook - a tool of distraction and misinformation
Police - Slave patrol
Courts - a place where the lives of black men and black women are destroyed
Child Support - a tool used to keep mothers and fathers fighting

More updates: Thanks Devorah!
1- "War on Terror"= Blaming Muslims for things white America got away with for 400 years.

2- "Thug"= Black people killed by the police in questionable/mysterious or illegal circumstances. 

3- "Police Force"= Armed militia.

4- "KKK"= Police Force (Some have been found to be in white nationalist groups). 

5- "Education System"= Establishment brainwashing, usually affecting African-American history. 


6- "Political Parties (Democrat/Republican)"= Corporate Establishment. 

Why Racism is So Hard to Fight

Racism is a behavior based on the value of cruelty.  This value -- as all values is not a tangible thing.  It's just part of a belief system.  Not something you can "kill."  You can merely surround yourself with people who do not possess cruelty as a value.

In the society that we are in -- namely, the USA, I'm afraid that they do not even comprehend ethics.  They are literally like children with no ethics.  Of course, they are not as cute as children when you see the police brutality, the lynching, the economic oppression that they wrought the cute-factor is not there.

(I guess another way is to shame them into behaving out of fear of punishment.  That's something, however, it only means the behavior will become more concealed the next time.  And is that what we really want?)

The United States is so lacking in ethics that even the court system is not based on it. In the court system, the question is simply did you break an assigned rule for the citizen?  It's not whether you did wrong or not.  So many people go into court ready to defend themselves based on ethics and values only to lose miserably in court because the judge is not looking for that.  They just want to see if you, as a citizen of the State, were within your rights to do x or if you violated a barrier they placed.

The problem of cruelty is compounded in that it is surrounded with lies.  The racists create an excuse as to why the victim is deserving of this cruelty.  In their anger, they can't even see the wider picture and don't care that their reasoning may be contradicting an opposing reason that had been stated earlier as to why the victim is deserving of the cruelty.  His pants were sagging, he seemed like a thug; he was behaving so uppity with that suit, and the list can go on and on.

That's the tier #1.  The next surrounding lies is the denial of any malicious action happening.  That is tier #2 lie.  It's a concealment within a concealment.  What do you do with someone like that?  If you're not careful, you can spend years fighting this lie -- falsehood -- something that doesn't even exist.  You can spend years fighting for the admittance that you really are a good person, that you come from good ancestry, that you have good in you, that you didn't do anything wrong.  And as long as no one validates, the fight -- the struggle -- will go on endlessly.  You're not really fighting anything but an illusion and the racists fight back by simply being passive and letting us run around in circles.  Say, "Black Lives Matter!"  and you will be met with either silence or diffusion (all lives matter!). (We have to have the psychological fortitude to not need their validation).

It's such an illusion that when the police come, they have to wait and hope that the Black person trips up and does something to give them a reason to fall into their cruel, frenzied attack.  Because there really isn't anything wrong with that person.

So for this reason, I don't think that racism can end anytime soon if we wait on them to come around.  However, we must embrace the fact that we have ethics, we have values and morals, we have a compass that tells us what's right and what's wrong, and we need to obey that "teacher" inside us.

So how to have an ethical life in the midst of this exile surrounded by non-ethical people?  The only way I can think of is to have safe havens.  Just like Chinatown has its little enclave where the people can live and exercise their own ethics, just like the Italians have their "little Italy" where they practice their own set of values, so the Black community must also work on that.  And have a buffer -- an organization that will come to their defense when a member has to deal with the outside buffer zone.  An organization that knows the laws, keep track of the changes in the laws, puts out public service messages, and figures out how best to avoid, circumvent, or otherwise benefit despite the laws.

To conclude, racism is not a tangible thing so no physical weapon can strike and kill it.  However, it can be tempered by avoiding its "carriers" when possible and having a buffer or shield to protect oneself should the need arise to deal with the racists.

George Carlin on Politicians

Personally I do think that voting is important because it shows how much people are still hopeful about the american system.  When people stop voting the gov gets nervous -- doesn't matter that tle electoral college decides a lot of it all (re presidency), but it shows rebellion.

The House

Everyone builds houses.  I remember when I was a kid one of the things used to shame Africa or at least to help me distance myself from Africa was the strange concept that the Massai built houses out of cow dung.

Needless to say I was quite surprised by it.  I put this information away in my puzzled box section of my brain.  I never quite bought the idea that I should hate Africa or Africans or black people because I loved myself and felt kinship to them and to Africa.  But since I couldn't defend them in my youth, I would just gather information and store it as part of a puzzle piece.

Well, you know what?  The West also make their homes out of dung -- bullsh*t to be exact.  With all the lies that feed everyone, everyone who swallows what they say without filters is building their houses out of bullsh*t -- and it ain't the non-stinky, mineral-rich kind.

 

Then it got me thinking about houses in general.  And of course in a Jewish context.  Avraham was said to be connected to the mountains.  Yitzhok was connected to the field.  But Yaakov was connect to building a house.  Now what kind of house could that be? 

We know he lied an aweful lot.  Had to -- you can't do good middot around Esav and survive without getting bullied everyday.  And then with Laban and his little "laban" lies, lol Yaakov had to be able to protect himself.  

But he was also a man of truth.  How does that work?

Well, I wonder if he figured out a way to make a house with double paneling?  If you look at it from one angle,  you see Esav, and lies, and whatever else that's needed to fight Esav.  but if you look at it from a different angle you see truth and life and all the mineral-rich things that the Torah gives?

Just musing...