Blacks in America Flying the French Flag After Paris Killings
“Black folks just don’t get it!” ~ Dr. Barbara Sizemore
(Update)
When I initially wrote this article, it was not intended to be a comprehensive engagement of the complex dynamic at play, which includes the socioeconomic, geopolitical and cultural impact of blacks identifying with the French flag — which serves as a type of semantic symbolism of mass oppression and aggression through modern history.
I was contacted by a friend who shared this article on their Facebook page and made aware of someone who was attacking my position. It was their desire that I come to the page to bring elucidation to the matter; however, I refused to engage the ignorance that this person’s response was highly indicative of.
I am a huge fan of Dr. John Henrik Clark, and one of my favorite quotes of his is: “I only debate my equals; all others, I teach.” I adopted that philosophy some time ago, and since I adopted it, my life has been tremendously less stressful. I don’t compare myself to the great Dr. Clarke, but I do acknowledge my area of expertise, and when a person is ignorant of the knowledge and data that I use to develop the foundations for my assertions, they are not in a position to effectively debate me on the matter. They are, if willing, in a position to be taught however.
My refusal to respond directly to what was tantamount to a direct assault was also underwritten by the lack of a need to be validated or right at any given moment. I use my background in the behavioral sciences, economics, geopolitics and cultural integration to evaluate certain social or group behavior, with the ability to predict, with great accuracy, the elemental outcomes of those behaviors. So, when I challenge the ideology behind blacks flying the French flag on their social media pages, I am not attempting to make any type of oppression comparison. I am not even suggesting that blacks not show some sort of moral support for the victims of their families. What I am suggesting is that the willingness to fly the French flag is highly indicative of ignorance of history and an identity crisis of mammoth proportions. I am suggesting that the outcome of identifying with something that is representative of your demise has negative psychological and cultural ramifications.
Even while we are discussing this issue, there are discussions in the media where people are weighing in and saying that even though blacks in Africa are dying at a much higher rate than is certain European regions, through acts of terrorism, because the area in which it is happening is not a region of concern, it does not take priority. Because France is in Europe and Europe is a central focus of any nation that wishes to exercise geopolitical influence on a global scale, the 130 lives lost in Paris outweigh the 2,000 recently killed in Nigeria (read The Grand Chessboard by Zbigniew Brzezinski).
The person also made the erroneous postulation that I somehow back the American flag and the atrocities that take place in America, which again discredits his diatribe, because he did not take the time to research the author to develop the proper framing and context for what had been written. Developing proper historical and cultural context is essential understanding any written work. To simplify what I am saying here, you can only understand Breaking Dawn if you have read Twilight, Eclipse and Full Moon. The common mistake of the amateur analyst is to make unfounded deductions and suppositions, and then to attack that which they do not understand. Those who have followed me for any time understand that, while they may not agree with everything that I assert, they must be willing to develop a lucid perspicacity of facts in question before attempting to challenge my position. They must be willing to conduct thorough research to develop a foundation on which to make their antithetical assertions.
While I did mention the 147 Africans that died at a Kenyon University, that was not my primary premise. The primary premise for my stand was the devastating impact that France has had on the black existence, which is more prevalent in Africa today than at any time in the past. While I have no problem with blacks sympathizing with those individuals who were killed or injured during these attacked, I do take issue with those who choose to identify with a Flag of a nation that is notorious for ravaging the resources of Africa and colonizing black people.
The person also suggested that the lack of empathy, which is a figment of their overactive imagination, leads to the supremacist ideal. The truth is that if I have to explain to a person the importance of black unity, black group economics, and the development of a lucid black identity, they are too far removed from reality for my explanations to be of any use.
When you find yourself at war, empathy and sympathy have their place, but you do not have the luxury to abandon your position to defend or assume the position of another. Blacks remain in last place because we are hell bent on identifying with every struggle except our own. ~ Dr. Rick Wallace, Ph.D.
I could actually use a lot of different quotes from scholars and historical figures to make this point, but the aforementioned gem will do. I have seen a number of my colleagues and brothers and sisters in arms addressed this French Flag trend. Here is my point.
While many of my black brothers will find me posting this article as insensitive to the tragedy that took place in Paris, just understand that I am equally offended when I see my family of fellow African descendents posting something that is symbolic of supporting one of the most tyrannical colonial European powers that has historically oppressed our people. The French played just as much of a role in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade as Spain, Britain and America. How do you think that Haiti ended up the way that it is today.
Personally, I don’t wish death upon anyone, especially when they are paying for the sins of their country; however, when people are aware of wrong and they don’t rise up against it, they are passively consenting to it. When a subway is bombed in Britain, we lose our minds with passion and sympathy, but we forget the devastation that Great Britain has caused in its quest to colonize the world. First of all, we forget that America is a nation because it chose to break away from the tyrannical rule of England. And then there is Autralia, New Zealand, South Africa, Jamaica, the Bahamas, the British Virgin Islands and more. Britain has planted some foul and corrupted seeds in its history, and it continues to do so.
Well, France has terrorized Africans and their descendants as well.
Here is why I have a problem with blacks changing their profile pictures on social media to the French flag:
1. It is a trend, which shows, once again, that blacks are natural followers, doing what others do. It is like all of the blacks that made themselves look like fools with the ACLS challenge, which is primarily a disease that impacts white men. That is tantamount to white people going ham on a sickle cell anemia challenge — exactly — its is not happening.
2. Blacks have been conditioned to be more sympathetic to the plights of everyone else except themselves. How many of you who are changing your profile picture to the French Flag, changed your picture when the 9 black people were slaughtered in the Church in South Carolina? How many did so when the two little 9-year-old boys were assassinated last week? How many for Mike Brown? Trayvon Martin? Oscar Grant? How many have flown the Pan African Flag in protest of the genocide against our African Brothers in multiple locations on the continent of Africa and beyond? We must learn to fight our own battles and stand for our own causes. Right now, we don’t have the unity nor the power to be standing for anything or anyone else other than ourselves.
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3. It proves that we don’t know our history. We readily support the causes of those who have played significant roles in our progressive demise. Keep in mind that it was the French that colonized the state of Louisiana, enslaving and brutalizing Africans in ways unimaginable.
4. We are foolish enough to believe that nations like Britain, France, the U.S. and a number of others are actually morally superior to other countries, and that there is no reason why the rest of the world is hostile towards us. America, does not, and has not ever stood on any true moral foundation, she has been morally corrupt from the moment her lying ass supposed discoverer, Christopher Columbus, touched down. She has been morally corrupt far prior to the decision to eradicate the native people of this land by giving them blankets that were infected with smallpox. The corruption ran deep when they kidnapped nearly 40 million Africans and enslaved them, making them a part of the worse case of chattel slavery in the history of the world. I could literally go on an on about the corruption of America, and France is no better.
5. Black suffer from a major identity crisis, so we find ourselves supporting any every cause under the sun, while never finding ourselves and our own purpose.
Right now, we are being killed at a rate that will have us approaching extinction by 2050, and will be politically, economically and socially insignificant by 2038 or sooner. We should be worried about us. If you want to fly a flag on your profile, fly a flag for the South Carolina 9. Fly a flag for Sandra Bland, Fly a flag for the two 9-year-olds who were assassinated in their own neighborhoods. Fly a Flag for the hundreds of thousands being slaughtered each month in Africa. No population is being negatively impacted by violence more than blacks, how about we start there.
For those of you who say that you can be pro black and support other causes, we have been doing that for a while now, so, tell me how that has worked out for us.
Again, I hate to hear about the people losing their lives over there, but we are dying at an exponential rate right here, and a great deal of our devastation is initiated by our own government, plus I recognize France as a nation that has been historically hostile towards my people. Warfare is not pretty, and we better wake up if we ever expect to get out of last place! ~ Dr. Rick Wallace, Ph.D.
Note: Unlike many of my colleagues, I will not be deleting those who have changed their profile pictures to the French Flag, because they need me in their lives. I have not always known what I know or thought how I think, so I am not as easily flustered by things like this, but I do have to call it out when I see it.