The Social Ills of Black Folk--
1. Under-Aged Pregnancy's
2. The Malevolence of Drug Use*
3. Decline in Original Black Family Values
4. Joblessness
5. Black on Black Crime and Lawlessness
6. Upper Middle Class Apathy
7. Vulgarities: Hip Hop, Rap & Gangsta Music
8. Absence of A Spiritual Base
9. Lack of Generic Respect for one another
--These are but a few of the characteristic signs of the bigger problem--"unjust distribution of this nation's wealth, power and resources"--(1)
The problem is centuries old (i.e. 559 years to be exact--The first slaves were shipped from Africa by the Portuguese in 1446...(2)}. 'Lest we forget' we are ['the only'] group ever forced to come here, be exploited expropriated into that 'peculiar institution' called s-l-a-v-e-r-y while simultaneously stripped of humanity; worldly possessions; freedom--thought, word, speech; hope, salvation and education.
'Paper Trails' such as the Emancipation Proclamation, Constitutional Amendments #13, 14, and 15 and the Civil Rights Act [still] did n-o-t and [still] do not provide the socio/economic resources needed for a 'secular' people ['us'] as we are/were continually discomforted/plagued/handicapped by all of these dayum--
The List--(3)
Maryland Segregation Policy, 1619--black social exclusion, recommended
Maryland's Exclusion Law, 1638--exclusion of blacks from all people activity, except sports and entertainment*** (4)
Virginia Fugitive Law, 1642--"R" branded on face of runaways, recommended
Connecticut Military Law, 1660--barred blacks from military service
Maryland Marriage Law, 1664--first anti-interracial marriage statute
Slavery Law, 1665-- exclusion of blacks from benefits afforded whites (4)
British Plantation Act, 1667--code of conduct for slaves, slaveholders
Carolina Trade Law, 1686--barred blacks from all trades
Virginia Marriage Law, 1691--prohibited white women from marrying black men
Massachusetts Anti-Miscegenation Law, 1705--criminalization of interracial marriages
New York Runaway Law, 1705--execution for recaptured runaway slaves
Virginia Public Office Law, 1705--prohibited blacks for holding public office
Virginia enacted Meritorious Manumission, 1710-- slave snitches awarded freedom
South Carolina Fugitive Slave Act, 1712--criminalized runaway slaves
North Carolina Anti-interracial Marriage Law, 1715--forbade, criminalized race mixing
South Carolina Anti-interracial Marriage Law, 1717--forbade, criminalized race mixing
Delaware Marriage Law, 1721--forbade white women from marrying black men
Pennsylvania Morality Statement, 1722--condemned blacks for sexual acts with whites
Pennsylvania Anti-Miscegenation Law, 1722--criminalized interracial marriages
Virginia Anti-Assembly Law, 1723--prohibited blacks having a [sense] of community
Virginia Weapons Law, 1723--prohibited blacks from having weapons
The South Carolina Negro Act of 1735--prohibited blacks from dressing up
South Carolina Consolidated Slave Act, 1740--forbade blacks from raising/owning farm animals
Virginia Runaway Law, 1775--allowed sale/execution of runaway slaves
North Carolina Manumission Law, 1775--forbade freeing blacks except for a deserving reward or praise
Connecticut Military Law, 1784--forbade blacks from serving in military
First Naturalization Law, 1790--congress declared US a white nation
Federal Militia Law, 1792--only whites could enlists in peacetime militia
Fugitive Slave Law, 1793--protected slaveholders rights, discouraged blacks from running away
Virginia Migration Law, 1793--forbade free blacks from entering that state
Maryland Agricultural Laws, 1800--forbade blacks from raising/selling Agricultural products
Ohio Anti-Mobility Law, 1804--restricted blacks movement
Ohio Registration Law, 1804--blacks had to register annual and post a bond
Maryland Licensure Law, 1807--forbade blacks from selling tobacco/corn without a license
Maryland Residence Law, 1807--entering free blacks could not get housing for 2 weeks
Louisiana Migration Law, 1806--forbade immigration of free black males over 15 y.o.
Congressional Mail Law, 1809--blacks could not carry US mail
Maryland Voting Law, 1810--only whites could vote*
Delaware Migration Law, 1811--forbade migration of blacks, $10 per week fine, levied
Kentucky Conspiracy Law, 1811--conspiracy amongst blacks made a capital offense
Virginia Poll Tax, 1813--exacted a $1.50 tax on blacks who were forbidden to vote
Louisiana Migration Law, 1814--forbid free slaves from entering the state
Virginia Poll Tax, 1815--required blacks to pay $2.50 tax so whites could vote
Louisiana Jury Law, 1816--no black slave could testify against a white person
Connecticut Voting Law, 1818--disenfranchised black voters
Missouri Literacy Law, 1819--forbade assembling/teaching black slaves to read/write
South Carolina Migration Law, 1820--free blacks forbade from entering this state
District of Columbia Registration Law, 1821--required blacks to register annually and post bond
North Carolina Migration Law, 1826--forbade entry of free blacks, violators penalized $500
Florida Voting Law, 1827--only whites could vote
Maryland Occupation Acts, 1827--blacks banned from driving/owning hacks, carts or drays
Georgia Literacy Law, 1829--fine/imprisonment for teaching a black person to read
Illinois Marriage Law, 1829--forbade interracial marriage
Louisiana Expulsion Law, 1830--required all free blacks to leave the state w/I 30 days
Mississippi Employment Law, 1830--forbade blacks employment in printing and entertainment
Kentucky Property Tax Law, 1830--taxed black, but forbade them from attending school
North Carolina License Law, 1831--all black traders/peddlers had to be licensed
South Carolina enacted Licensing Prohibition, 1831--free blacks forbade business license
Mississippi Preaching Law, 1831--blacks could only preach with permission
Alabama/Virginia Literacy Laws, 1832--fined/flogged whites for teaching black to read/write
Georgia Employment Law, 1833--prohibited blacks from working in reading or writing jobs
Georgia Literacy Law, 1833--provided fines/whippings for teach blacks to read/write
Kentucky Licensing Prohibition, 1833--forbade blacks from obtaining business license
Missouri Registration Law, 183500--registration and bonding of all free blacks required
Georgia Employment Law, 1835--prohibited employing blacks in drug stores
District of Columbia Business License Law, 1836--banned blacks from obtaining licensing from profit-making activities
South Carolina Curfew Law, 1837--blacks had to be off streets by a certain hour
Virginia School of Law, 1838--forbade blacks who had gone North to school to return south
North Carolina Marriage Law, 1838--all interracial marriages declared null and void
South Carolina Observing Law, 1841--forbade blacks and whites from looking out the same window
Maryland Information Law, 1842--felonied blacks demanding or receiving abolition newspapers
Maryland Occupation Acts, 1844--excluded blacks from the carpentry trade
South Carolina Amusement Law 1844--forbade blacks from playing games w/whites
Georgia Contracting Law, 1845--prohibited contracts w/black mechanics
Kentucky Incitement Law, 1846--provided imprisonment for inciting slaves to rebel
Missouri Literacy Law, 1847--banned blacks from reading/writing
Virginia Incitement Law, 1848--provided death penalty for inciting blacks to rebel
Fugitive Slave Law Enacted, 1850--stronger enforcement of previous provisions
Georgia Tax Law, 1852--imposed annually $5 per capita on all free blacks
Virginia Drug Law, 1856--forbade selling poisonous drugs to blacks
Virginia Poll
Law, 1883--levied tax on all free black males 21-55
Dred Scott Decision, 1857--Supreme Court dehumanized/disenfranchised blacks
Maryland Recreation Law, 1858--forbade free slaves and slaves from boating on the Potomac
Southern Black Codes, 1868--deprived blacks from the right to vote and hold public office
Civil Rights Law of 1875 Weakened--Supreme Court challenged the constitutionality of this law
The Grandfather Clause, 1898—deprived blacks of the right to vote in Louisiana
While we were beaten, blindfolded, flogged, hanged, and strapped, throughout this—this "so-Called nation of equality and freedom, white America was restructuring the pool table of black America, further behind the eight ball and down into their science of untraceability/undetectability/unaccounta bility.
Am I the only one who notices this trend?
The 1776 Declaration of Independence was not written with one black person in mind--then or now.
Yes, our ancestors knew their place, but then, what choice did they have? And if you think that these unconstitutional games have vanished in theory, think again. They still exist in some subtle form or another.
Today, most if not all of these legalities have been lifted, but you'd better bet the social climate, still exists—seething and smoldering behind closed white doors.
A great many in 'our' nation still feel the sting of racism, of unseen forces (i.e. White & Jewish Conservatives, Protestant & Baptist Fundamentalist). (5)
Understand that, Jews have an advantage in the American/I Am Race’n diasporic pool--you see, they miscegenated before they got here, removing all visible (i.e. not visual--they still have characteristic frizzy hair, large noses, and healthy posteriors) telltale traces of their 'real' African heritage. (6)
I digress.
However, under the dire conditions that we've endured, I am proud of the various and sundry accomplishments achieved both in that era and in our 'own' times by black Americans---small and great---and I will continue to strive to resurrect them all in my own small way.
Integration is the 'sting' that impairs/delays/and separates us from each other. (7)
But, rich, middle, middle lower---Class, we still exist. We did not nor will we disappear! Because of who we are...
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"If One Black Person Suffers in this World, All Black People Suffer, Globally" ---"My Own Heart felt Quote"
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Footnotes--
1. "Black Labor, White Wealth--Claud Anderson, Ed.D." -- Page 10
2. The Last Two Million Years, p. 334--has pictured illustration of a collared slave that prevented escaping or lying down.
3. Anderson, Ibid., p 223-229
4. "Tavis Smiley's Think Tank" --
http://www.cralex.com/thinktank.htm5. Ibid, p. 73
6. "The Africans Who Wrote the Bible--Alex Darkwah, Ph.D."
7.
http://www.ascac.org/papers/trick.html8. "Player Hating: Setting Rigid Controls--Terry Lynn Howcott" --
http://blackcommentator.com/156/156_howcott_player_hating_pf.html ~~ paragraph 8
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References
"A Great and Mighty Walk--Dr. John Henrik Clarke" narrated by Wesley Snipes
"The Isis Papers--Dr. Frances Cress-Welsing, Ph.D."
"Destruction of the Black Civilization--Dr. Chancellor Williams"
"The United Compensatory Code System--Dr. Neely Fuller"
"100 Amazing Facts About The Negro--J.A. Rogers"
"Race Rules--Dr. Michael Eric Dyson"
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Glossary
DIASPORA--noun, A dispersion of a people from their original homeland
EXPROPRIATED--verb, To Deprive of Possession
MERITORIOUS--adjective, Deserving reward of praise, having merit
MALEVOLENCE--noun, Abuse
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***So...Now you know why blacks in the entertainment/sports industry get super duper mega media coverage and excel in these two arena's of people activity in white racist America [rescramble the words and you get: I Am Race].
©Fine2005
Author
