The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors

The Isis Papers
Black Fear
Linear thought suggests movement from problem perception progressively
towards problem solution, changing step-by-step whatever needs
to be altered to achieve total problem solution- utilizing whatever means
necessary to achieve this end. This form of thought is consistent with the
function and structure of the brain as a problem-solving organ in the
human organism.
Black people throughout the world, live under the power of the white
supremacy system of total oppression and domination, implying the
absence of any true power to determine ultimately what happens to their
individual and collective lives. This is the major and only problem facing
Black and all other non-white peoples throughout the world. This is
precisely why they are called and classified as Black and non-white, to set
them specifically in oppositional contrast to, and in conflict with, the
genetic reality of white. But because this is a frightening and painful
reality upon which to focus Black and other non-white attention, we as
Blacks, particularly in the U.S., succumb to circular thought. Likewise,
there is not only a failure to approach problem solution, but there is a
stubborn refusal even to look directly at the problem. IDtimately, there
is a disturbance in problem perception. Therefore, Black people in the
U.S. reject the conscious recognition of the global white supremacy
system, its absolute necessity of non-white oppression and its very
specific implications of a continuing powerlessness and potential destruction
- as opposed to a natural death - for Blacks and other designated
non-whites.
Jonestown, Guyana is an outstanding example of the destruction that
Blacks fear under the existing white supremacy system. In 1979, close to
1,000 Blacks from the U.S. were relocated to Jonestown and then murdered
under Nazi concentration camp conditions through a process controlled
by white people. This extermination center was set up with the
full knowledge of segments of the U.S. government. It is, thus, no accident
that the year 1979 gives further witness to the near total collapse and loss
amongst Blacks- individually as well as collectively - of the ability to
effectively perceive, analyze and propose solutions to the problem of
white supremacy and its implications for continuing Black powerlessness
and social disintegration. In brief, it is clear in 1979, 21 short years before
the year 2000, that there is no commitment by Blacks to analyze of the
problem of white supremacy comprehensively. Blacks are without a
perception or analysis of racism, or of a scientific counter-racism. Blacks,
therefore do not know what to do with themselves.
Thus, we are witnessing a collective Black floundering and an ideolo gical
vacuwn and disorientation. All that remains is for Blacks to escalate
tragically their activity of powerless arguing and squabbling amongst
themselves and to compete with one another for white supremacy jobs
and grant crwnbs. Or, Blacks can pretend, as a diversionary thought
strategy, that the "real" struggle exists between imagined Black "classes"
or between Black males and females. Every energy and psychological
effort is expended, at both the individual and collective levels, to "black
out" and avoid focusing on the true problem of white/Black confrontation
-white supremacy. All Blacks realize, consciously and/or unconsciously,
that to engage in such a realistic focus can mean certain death at the hands
of white supremacists.
The total Black collective in the U.S. has yet to confront consciously
the "mind-blowing" logic and thought-distorting shock and fear that set
in following the assassinations of practically all courageous Black male
leaders: Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., Whitney Young, Medgar
Evers and Fred Hampton, and then the holocaust of Jonestown, Guyana,
which many conscious Blacks accept as a planned government action.
Since all of these deliberate deaths have occurred, there has been a
profound disinclination by surviving Blacks to confront the awesome and
murderous reality ofwhite supremacy directly. The struggle for justice
and true Black power now is perceived "through a glass darkly" and not
face-to-face because there is overwhelming fear. In spite of their superficial
differences, the various analyses of the Black problem by the
afforementioned men, if carried through to their ultimate implications, all
lead ultimately to an eventual neutralization of white power control.
Since the demise of these Black men, who all were aware of the
necessity to resist and destroy white supremacy, the remaining rhetoric
coming from our Black collective is consistent with submission to and/or
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