Day 5: Black Theology Through the Lens of James Cone

The Black Theologist, James Cone, wrote the following text that was the basis for lesson 5:

How should I respond to a world which defines me as a nonperson? That he is a person is beyond question, not debatable. But when he attempts to relate to a person, the world demands that he respond as a thing.  What should he do? Should he respond as he knows himself to be, or as the world defines him. P. 11

This came from his highly-read text, Black Theology and Black Power.

Theology: the study of the nature of God and religious belief

The young men were asked to write 1-2 pages based on their assessment of Cone's words. Their writings were stimulated by two of Cone's quotes:

"We must seek to destroy everything that goes against our humanity."

and

"As long as a man is a slave to another power, he is not free to serve God with mature responsibility. He is not free to become what he is - human."

Their writings are below:

Theology of personal beliefs

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James Cone states that we as humans are equal and stuff that dehumanizes us we shouldn’t take parts into idolizing being black is a big part inside this topic but me personally I will not try to focus on our race for the whole topic.  We as humans shall focus on the world and what it offers us as living people on the universe instead of following about a stereotype another human places on us follow your mind because your mind leads you to the greatest decisions you can ever make in your life time.  There’s no real such thing as the American way but in this world, we come up with a code to help categorize each and everything.  Instead of working together we are fighting against each other and that goes for every race possible.  You must focus on your own destiny with setting your mind on must do goals you will help yourself and the advantage that comes with helping yourself is helping others.  You show humanity the love of having respect for others just like you there’s no higher human form on this planet except the lord you choose to worship and that’s a known fact.  You cannot serve your lord if you are subjected to worshipping another human form as yourself spirits are really real and for the people that know somebody that had died you must see and know there is a higher spirit that helps you communicate through the afterlife.  Finding your belief is also a step into helping find yourself believe it or not.  In conclusion destroy all the negative and follow the positive roads in society it takes time speaking from experience but it is actually achievable to separate from certain things YOU feel that doesn’t need to be involved inside of your life.    

                                                                 Black theologists

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James cone talks about self-determination and self-identity I feel like the meaning of this quote is that for yourself to succeed and surpass negativity in life that other’s may throw at you self-determination is something you have to and want for yourself and the type of life you have in mind such as being successful you got to want to be successful in life and you got to go out there and get it you can’t sit around and hope it comes to your front door step you have to work for it you have to feel good about yourself and have a good working ethic self-determination is a very good word you can look at the word and be motivated by it you can think am I determined to do better in life and not do anything to help you but you also can think it but want to make it happen day and night you can wake up and want to be successful just by questioning yourself in that certain way.

  Self-identity is the way you think of yourself it also is a positive thing because going back to questioning yourself you would ask what does my identity bring towards myself and my life and just by that you would want to have a good self-identity of yourself then a negative one that’s just really how I think I would want myself to have good traits about myself so I can better myself for my future and for my life and this is my way of connecting to theology.

James cone is right that “As long as man is slave to another power, he is not free to serve god with mature responsibility, he is not free to become what he is-human” this particular means that as long as another man has power of you , you can’t continue your life the way you would want to you can’t make your own decisions and go a certain route you want to your freedom is stripped from you and how you can’t serve your god a certain way you want to or go to a certain place where you feel is right to do so at, and how since you are not free you can’t show them your true desire for yourself or your destination you have and want to continue with in life.

I agree with James cone “we must seek to destroy everything that goes against our humanity” this means that we have to destroy all of our negative thoughts in life that goes against our self-conscience but it also takes for yourself to believe that in yourself also you can’t just think it you really gotta have a meaning towards it.

James cone is right that “Black power threatens the very structure of the American way of life” is basically saying that we have the strength

The book of theology

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I think the book based on black theology and black power is a good book of knowledge I’ve never read the book but based of this piece of information I like how, “We must seek to destroy everything that goes against our humanity, Theology: the study of the nature of god and religious belief. Black power threatens the very structure of the American way of life, Black Power: taking the dominant role in determining your destiny and humanity.” “As long as a man is a slave to another power, he is not free to serve god with mature responsibility”. “He is not free to become what he is – human”. I like the fact how the book not only teaches you about black power and theology but religion, of the black culture, dehumanization also the battle of good evil.

BLACK THEOLOGISTS

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I agree with the black theologists James cone who said, we must seek to destroy everything that goes against our humanity because when we work hard to achieve something I don’t think it’s right for someone or something to take it away from us. We must destroy whatever stopping us from doing right. I also disagree with James Cone who said, as long as a man is a slave to another power he is not free to serve god with mature responsibility. I think everybody has a right to serve god. Just because you were once a slave to another power don’t mean you chose to be a slave. If a person chose to serve god they have every right, it’s not fair to many people. Us human beings didn’t chose to pick a spot in slavery it’s not something we wanted. We have every right to serve god that’s something we can pick if we want to serve him or not, that have to our choice not nobody else choice.

 I do agree with James Cone who said, black power means black people carrying out their own destiny

                                                                 Black theory

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 James cones is right when he said “Black power means black people carrying out their own destiny” I say that because black people fight for things they believe is right they don’t give up to they see a change we like to see things how we want it to be. I agree with James cone black Theologists  “ we must seek to destroy everything that goes against our humanity” because we taking the dominant role in what we believe in like black power is all things to help find out who we really our in not what the white people want us to be but be what I should be we have our own mind so it’s our job to step up in show our powers in tell what we believe in think about our self in our future we will take rises for our humanity .

 Black theory & Black power

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We must seek to destroy everything that goes against our humanity

-James cone

I agree with James cone because, the statement is true if we as a people (blacks) expect to rise up we have to destroy the problem, but first we must know the problem. For example, if you have a big test and the test is worth 50 % of your grade in that class you are expected to study, if you decide not to study you will fail, thus is your problem and it’s up to you on the decision you decide to make.

You can’t expect anything to change if you don’t put in the effort to change it yourself. I was taught as I grow I will start to understand that nothing will ever be given to me, I will either have to earn it or get it by myself but all in all I was taught to put in the effort.

Black power threatens the very structure of the American way of life

-James cone

Cone is right that Black power threaten the American way of life, because if it didn’t blacks would be pushed to do better, blacks would have the support not only from the black community but the whites, and the Latino, etc.

Black power- taking the dominant role in determining your destiny and humanity.

The American way of life is threatened by black power because America knows our worth, America knows if we figure out that were better as a unit we will stop killing each other, and take back the throne that was taking from us.

As long as a man is a slave to another power, he is not free to serve god with mature responsibility. He is not free to become what he is.

-       James cone

I agree with this statement because after going to school and learning about the barriers blacks have face, I’ve noticed that we can’t give our full attention to the god we praise there’s always going to be someone who wants to take our attention off our god.

Black Theologists & Black Power

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James Cone is right, that “as long as a man is a slave to another power, he is not free to serve God with mature responsibility. He is not free to become what he is human.” Freedom is what distinguishes man from animals and also plants. In my opinion freedom is home and home is where I’m free. Animals and plants nature not only appoints destiny but it carries it out alone. In case of a man nature provides destiny leaves it to him to carry it out. Freedom has been and still is the echoing slogan of all civil rights groups. The same concept of freedom is presently expressed among Black power advocates by such phrases as self-determination and self-identity. Freedom is not doing what I will but becoming what I should.  A man is free when he sees clearly the fulfillment of his being and thus capable of making the envisioned self a reality. As James Cone argued, we must seek to destroy everything that goes against our humanity. Taking the dominant role in determining your destiny and humanity. Is it the power of blacks to refuse to cooperate in their own dehumanization. If blacks can trust the message of Christ, if they can take him at his word, this power to say No to white power and domination is derived from him. Black power threatens the very structure of the American way of life. Black power means black people carrying out their own destiny.

In Serving God As A Slave

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The scholar James Cone talks about how as long as a man is a slave to another power, he is not free to serve god with mature responsibility. He is not free to become what he is which is human. I disagree with that because I feel in life we can be and do whatever we put our minds too. I also argue that as long as a man gives himself to the god and lets god live through him he’s able to serve god whenever is needed. It states that freedom is indeed what distinguishes man from animals and plants, and that black power means black people carrying out their own destiny. Black power and Christianity have this which is the liberation of man. If the work of Christ is liberating men from alien faith loyalties, and if racism is, as George Kelsey says, an alien faith, then there must be some correlation between black power and Christianity. For the gospel proclaims that god is with us now, actively fighting the forces which would make man captive.

“Freedom Now” has been and still is the echoing slogan of civil rights groups. The same concept of freedom is presently expressed among black power advocates by such phrases as “self-determination” and “self-identity”. But I agree that, for freedom Christ has set us free. Freedom is not doing what I will but becoming what I should. A man is free when he sees clearly the fulfillment of his being and is capable of making the envisioned self a reality. They say that black power, but they want grip of white power removed what black power have in mind when they cry, “Freedom Now”, and forever.

The Theology of Black Power & Black Humanity

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I feel that the perception of black people is very more complex than what you think. A passage from the Novel Black Theology & Black Power states “Black Power means black people carrying out their own destiny.” I agree with this because many black people scream “Black Power!” but don’t know what they are actually talking about. I feel that a lot of African Americans believe that black power is the idea that black people should be superior to white people. In all actuality, I think that it means that we don’t live to the stereotype that we will only grow up to be athletes and rappers. I feel that black power and black intelligence ties hand and hand together. Black intelligence is indeed the feared thing in the world. There is a quote that states, “We must seek to destroy everything that’s goes against our humanity” and after reading that, I felt that quote was we much true.

Theology and Humanity

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 Theology; is the nature of god and religion with belief of black young man who are getting treated like they are nothing in life but they are powerful than people think about them they are smarter than most people think about them and they are smart black young man and people some people self – identity. 

I agree with the black theology James Cone who said as long as a man is a slave to another power, he is not free to serve god with mature responsibility. He is no free to become what he is – human.

For Example, he mean is a person doesn’t believe in their self they won’t be able to do thing they want to do that human people would do because you need to find the power to be able to do something like take full responsibility for your own actions and being able to find freedom for yourself and do the things you want to do in life while you are still alive. James cone wants to be a human because he wants to be like everybody else in life he wants to be able to a regular person.

This why I agree with James cone we must seek to destroy everything that goes against our humanity to respect are self and control are self-confidence and learn more about are self-mind and our humanity and to control our destiny in life and to be everything we wanted to be in life and to become a human you must think like a human would think and do things humans would do you should read and write and understand words and you could live life like a human and be a positive person in life and set good example so people would think of you as a human and not a monster or an outsider person so people can see that they are good and bad people in life.

Day 4: Indoctrination, Propaganda, and the Genesis of the Inferiority Complex

The writer Mark Twain stated, "it's easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled." The quote was a prelude to the focus of today's lesson that provided background information on the historical genesis of the inferiority complex grounded in the disciplines of history and sociology. The reading came from the book, Brainwashed, written by the Chicagoan Tom Burrell who wrote:

I was born and raised on the South Side of Chicago. It was at the beginning of the New Deal, the "second coming" of black dependency. Throughout my community, we Negroes were indoctrinated with the idea that we were unable to take care of ourselves, and that we needed help and handouts from Mr. Charlie in the form of government programs, including public assistance, food stamps, and any other "gifts" the government bestowed. This unquestioned dependency - what psychologists called "learned helplessness" - was, I believe, one of the the many reinforcements of a deep-seated, race-based inferiority. 

In addition to read texts, the young males examined and discussed portraits of propaganda that provided the foundation of the inferiority complex.

They also discussed why books focused on African American and Latino males use "monster" or "beast" more than texts not focused on African American and Latino males.

 The young males wrote the following intellectual briefs over a 35-minute period following today's lesson.

         The Complexity of Inferiority

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I agree with the article that states “The genesis of all these attitudes can be traced to American slavery.” I feel this way because we were brought to this country as property and we were treated this way since. I feel that the country was not set up for the black man to succeed in life, but instead, was set up for minorities to be inferior to the average white man. There is an essay that states “Black intelligence is the most feared thing in the world”, and if 12% of black and Latino boys in the 4^th grade were reading at their grade level in the country, then that shows me that black intelligence is something that is being destroyed. Most black people live up to the stereotype that they will never make it out of the “hood”, mainly because they drop out of school to be one of the “cool” kids. These are the same people that end up dead or in jail not long after. Many children that are minorities don’t live to see their 30^th birthday. It’s like a big cycle of death and destruction. We are literally creating the genocide of the minorities in the USA. There is a quote that stood out to me stating, “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” This quote told me that you have to change to make change in the world. You have to change yourself in order to help change anyone else. The main stereotype is that most black people cannot take care of themselves and have to rely on government assistance, like food stamps, link cards, etc. I strongly believe that turns most male adolescents to the streets. Usually, their mom is struggling and their dad is either in jail, dead, or nowhere to be found, and they lack that male role model to look up to. So, they feel that they have to step up to the plate and become the “man of the house”. They drop out of school and start to sell drugs as a steady income to help their family out.

The Propaganda, Inferiority, and Indoctrination

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Propaganda is the positive and negative – and the use of words and images to influence, change, and even transform people’s lives. The knowledge and insights I’ve gained have inspired me to provoke an honest discussion in the hope that the healing process can finally begin. Propaganda can be use in a positive way like words and ideas to control your thinking it’s good for ideas because people want to know what’s going on in your head. Propaganda is also use in a negative was some people can control your thinking and make you do negative thing in life that you don’t want to do and make you say negative things.

Inferiority Complex  

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I agree with Mark twain because it is easier to fool people then to convince them they have been fooled. I think that is true because some people let other people tell them anything to make them feel like they’re wrong I know there’s a lot of people out here lying to people to make them feel good because truth be messing with people.

I also agree with Dick Gregory when he says education means to bring out wisdom. I felt that because I believe if more black men have had an education more of the men would probably be more successful in life because black intelligent is the most feared thing in the world. In the book Brainwash there’s this part in that stats Africans     

   Inferiority means feeling less than someone or lower than and viewing other people better than me some I view other people better than me because I’m lock up and they go home and I’m stuck in my room at night like a cage animal and I feel like they are better than me and I’m less than them because they are doing something with then self and I’m still lock waiting for something good to happen in my life and its hard being in you room at night thinking about all the good and bad things that happened in your life time and some of the good and bad things are still happening too you I feel less in my room at night cause all the things that I did hit me at night in my room cause that’s all you can think about at night.

Indoctrinated some that’s trying to control you in a bad or a good way.

Inferiority

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I agree with the quote, that stated hatred and killing one another is public demonstration of inferiority complex. As Mark Twain argued, he said that it is easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled I I agree with that too . Last but not least Dick Gregory is right, that Education means to bring out wisdom. Indoctrination is to push in knowledge. What the quote   that stated hatred and killing one another is public demonstration of inferiority complex means to me is like someone is in control of us , and black people killing and hating each other is basically showing inferiority that we go through being black. For example Like I believe the system is set up for blacks to lose because an  intelligent black person is dangerous.  Why are we killing ourselves  ? Why is the joke always on us? The text stated that Africans were innately inferior and it was indeed completely justifiable to treat them as subhuman beast. It is easier to fool people than to convince they have been fooled I agree with that quote because from my prospective from what I have seen folks get fooled all the time and in their mind they don’t believe that they have. For example I told someone that a building just burned down downtown , then said I was just playing. I told him it was a joke and fooled him but he said he seen it burning because he didn’t  won’t to convince his self he been fooled. Dick Gregory quote makes sense to me because education is to bring it wisdom witch also means in other word to bring out what you know and learned. Indoctrination is to push knowledge so you can learn new things you didn’t have a clue about and be able to pass it on to help knowledge others.

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MARK TWAIN IS RIGHT, THAT IT IS EASZIER TO FOOL PEOPLE TO CONVIENCE THEM THEY HAVE BEEN FOOLED. PART OF THE BLACK INFERIORTY MARKETING CAMPAIGN IS TO CONVINCE US THAT WE CAN’T HANDLE THE TRUTH….. THAT WE’RE BETTER OFF NOT KNOWING WE ARE CAPAABLE ENOUGH TO HANDLE THE TRUTH.MOST PEOPLE SEEM TO GO BY WHAT THE NEXT IDIVIDUAL SAYS OR DOES SO THEY BELIEVE AND GO BY THAT. INSTEAD OF MAKING SURE THE INFORMATION THAT PERSON PROVIDED IS TRUE THEY RATHER BELIEVE THEM, BUT I SUPPOSE THEY SHOULD LOOK MORE INTO IT AND DO RESEARCH THAT ISNT VERIFIED. IF WE PUT TOGETHER ALL OUR RESOURCES, WE HAVE THE CRITICAL INFORMATION WE NEED SUCH AS THE NUMBERS, THE VOTING POWER, AND THE PERSUASIVE SKILLS, TO HELP US TO FIGHT THE COMBAT THE ILLS THAT DERIVE FROM LINGERING RACISM. IT STATES IN 1971, MARK TWAIN AND HIS PARTNER, EMMETT MCBRAIN, LAUNCHED WHAT WOULD BECOME BURRELL ADVERTISING, A FULL SERVICE ADVERTISING AGENCY SPECIALIZING IN PROMOTING PRODUCTS AND SERVIUCES TO THE THEN LARGELY IGNORED AFRICA AMERICAN CONSUMER. BURRELL ADVERTISING BECAME AN INDUSTRY LEADER BECAUSE OF ITS POSITIVE, REALISTIC, AND COMPELLING DEPICTIONS OF BLACK LIFE AND CULTURE, PARTICULARLY IN THE MEDUIM OF TELEVISION. IN OTHER WORDS, THEY CREATED AND DISSEMINATED “POSITIVE PROPAGANDA”. AS A MARKETING PROFESSIONAL WHO RESPECTS AND ADMIRES BRILLIANTLY CONCEIVED AND DEFTLY EXECUTED PROPAGANDA, EVENTUALLY RECOGNIZED THAT ONE OF THE GREATEST PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGNS OF ALL TIME WAS THE MASTERFUL MARKETING OF THE MYTH OF BLACK INFERIORITY TO JUSTIFY SLAVERY WITHIN A DEMOCRACY.PRESIDENT OBAMA UTILIZED A SAVY NEW MEDIA CAMPAIGHN TO CHANGE HEARTSBAND WIN MINDS AND VOTES HAS OPENED THE DOOR FOR A COUNTER PROPAGANDA CAMPAIGN, ONE THAT BENEFITS NOT JUST THE BLACK PEOPLE BUT WHITES AS WELL. WE CAN SEIZE THIS MOMENT IF ONLY WE TAKE CHARGE OF OUR OW DESTINY, OUR OWN REPROGRAMMING.

Indoctrination

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Indoctrination

“its easier to fool people than to convince them they have been fooled”. ~ mark twain

            I agree with this quote “propaganda” because there is a lot of people out there that would rather be blind than know the truth, its harder to know when your wrong rather than not knowing at all. Being an African America black male trust is hard to come by when I have been lied to most my life, it’s easier to trick a person that doesn’t want to know the truth rather than telling them that they’ve been lied to.

            Hatred [and killing one another]is public demonstration of inferiority complex. “

              ~“Inferiority”

Inferiority is one of pride, I agree with the quote Inferiority because that’s all this world is made of. Everybody wants to be right or one doesn’t want to see someone else progress and prosper. We were taught to hate one another other than love, and this hatred is destroying our communities. killing one another is wrong but if we weren’t taught how strong we are as a unit what’s stopping us from killing or hating the next person.

            Education means to bring out wisdom. Indoctrination is to push in knowledge.

~ Dick Gregory

Indoctrination is receiving knowledge embracing and absorbing it in Dick Gregory’s words. An educated black man is the most powerful weapon know to man.

I agree with dick Gregory because

Section 2

Section 2

           

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Brainwashing is a normal situation when you put your mind to notice different situations in the universe.  Anybody can grow up to become the most known anything in this world so its up to you to demonstrate for the next person.  People notice things you do and the routes you choose to take whether its good or bad or even in the middle you will set an example for the next person that’s viewing your every move. For example, a god that gets looked down upon on which is Satan is based off situations people make the worse out of.  You can use him as a resource of having bad outcomes in your life because he isn’t a god that you prefer to worship and based off of little information stories that were handed to an individual which is now up to you to explain horror and tragic inside your life.  Escape routes not noticing other choices you can make leads you down to a lower self instead of analyzing the plot we move around it and not help ourselves.  Having education helps you read between lines that are given to you but using it can go many ways.  African American humans are known for being destructive and not well placed together and that’s based off of a certain group of people trying to place labels on people without finding their selves first.  Starting life without finding your personal self out first is a simple sign of Inferiority.  Why take charge in the universe with make believe stuff without knowing yourself you are still living life with no real morals that benefit you.  Thinking you fooled somebody knowing later in life it really wasn’t what it seemed makes a fool of yourself so whatever you bring out comes back to you whether its mentally or physically you must find yourself first.  Knowing killing people is bad is a known thought but people still take the time to repent for the sin they will commit it’s a sign of Inferiority because you know you can higher achieve without the act of hurting somebody but having already installed that mindset shows no worry about a none known consequence for yourself in the future.  You don’t know which day you’ll die but knowing you hurt somebody else is lease of your worries because this is something to do while on earth even though it may not seem right.  We are put on earth to see what we can achieve inside of the brain as we can all come to an agreement but what are we really placed on this earth to accomplish with the same situations recycling generations to generations.  Helping you helps others but following in line with negativity helps others do destructive things that doesn’t show people how to maneuver in this universe

 Indoctrination

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I agree that and think indoctrination and brainwashing is real because its just like teaching someone something if you tell someone something over and over they will believe it and run with it because that’s all they think of them self of but in can also be backwards because if you speak to someone with respect and tell them that they are something and make them feel good about themselves then they will think they are valuable and have potential to be something because you built up their self-esteem. In the reading it states “black preference for high-end status brands was driven by the need to compensate for feelings of low self-esteem” and that’s indoctrination because someone gives you a reason to have low self esteem because what they say to you and how they down talk you and degrade you when your just as valuable and important as they are in every way. To compare it to the reading by saying its like reprogramming you so are you a robot no but they treat us like we are because they brainwash us and turn us into something were not and we go along with it because we feel that its right and you never realize it until its to late so by then your already what they programmed you to be a “MONSTER”. For example, I read a book called monster not knowing that it was a form of indoctrination so everyone out there reading books with these titles that’s actually were it comes from and if you think back on it you can actually learn something from those books no matter if its non-fiction or fiction either way it’s a form of indoctrination so think back on that and never let some one put you in a category or put a title on you because that’s not what were made to be and were not that were all human just like everyone else and were all equals so when some try to make you up to be something your not and you would never be like an animal or a monster because your not you’re a powerful individual and your word means some as well as the next man or women.