Welcome to Illuminati Noir

The Pocohontas - The Last Passenger Steam Train

Hello – I’m BT, and have appeared under various screen names for the past 15 years as BT, Bushthwak on AOL, and BTx. While I’ve been a participant and respondent on a number of boards and blogs, this is my first official foray into doing my own blog – so bear with me.

I’m  a black man, born and raised in the Commonwealth of Virginia, who has seen a lot of changes through the years, attending both segregated and desegregated schools. My roots go back to at least 1623, and probably further, if we could ever nail down the past of a lost great grandmother on the maternal side, and an intentionally lost great grandfather on the paternal side. Denial “ain’t” just a river in the Southern United States… It’s an entire ocean. So whether either of them indeed, had any connection to Native Americans remains a mystery, in the case of the aforementioned grandmother, who apparently disappeared after her common law husband died – an enigma.

White folks have “black” Dutch and “black” Irish grandmothers – black folks have high cheekbones.

What this site is about is just those dichotomies.

To say that I am politically opinionated is an understatement. While it’s safe to say I generally despise what passes for conservatism since Ronald Raygun (As Curtis Mayfield put it – “If There’s a Hell Below”). I also hold a special fire for some of those on the left. To interpret that as some sort of “centrism” is inadvisable lunacy, I view it in terms of things that make sense versus varying degrees of abject stupidity. As MLK said:

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.

The politics of America can best be described as two (or more) opposing forces herding sheep in the middle – each their different direction for their own purposes. The liberals want to shear them… the conservatives kill them and eat them. Sincere ignorance in this case is being a moderate, that somehow a little of both won’t wind you under the killing blade in the slaughterhouse. Conscientious stupidity is being an “Independent”, which can best be described as the condition of being half pregnant.

Right, Left – choose a side…

Or create your own

And I love a good argument.

My core belief is that the singular saving grace in, at least that portion occupied in America by Minorities – is that one majority which doesn’t make the evening news – the middle class. I grew up in a segregated neighborhood, which constituted a ghetto only in the rather twisted and limited minds of those who might wish it to be. My parents were both educated. The people who resided in my neighborhood, if not educated were business people who owned the local beauty salon, trash hauling business, construction firm, florist, undertaker – the educated were dentists, doctors, teachers… or had good jobs with the Government. There simply weren’t any engineers, chemists, physicists, or TV Anchormen – because there simply weren’t any jobs for black folks in that generation.

Some of the children of these folks did well, some fell into the abyss of many of the pitfalls in life. Saying that Tom Snipe (made up name), who got hooked on drugs, and is spending the rest of his life in prison for murdering a store clerk during a robbery is more emblematic of that community than Sarah Smile (made up name) who gained her PhD from Harvard, started a business and became very wealthy and successful…

Is exactly the same thing as claiming Tommywannasheeshu Headcase of the U Street Crew, drive bying a competitor with blazing 9’s is emblematic of the whole black race.

Which is done every day in America on the news, by the assorted talking heads, and the professional race pimps.

So I won’t be talking much about the body count in my nearest Urban village – if you want to get an idea what serious mayhem is, then I suggest you wander down to any one of several of our border cities sister communities on the Mexico side. Ciudad Juarez, a city of 1.3 million souls used to be a fairly peaceful place (if you don’t count the rape and brutal murder of 500 women working in the maquiladoras in the past 10 years). Last year, there were 1,653 murders. This year (2009), they are averaging 6 a day. If you go check out Field Negro’s running stat counter on “Killadephia” , as of this week was at 67. Juarez, 90 days into the year is already comfortably over 550. As of March 19^th – there were 1430 murders in the border area, the vast majority in the two states of Sonora and Chihuahua bordering the US cities of El Paso and San Diego.

Brothers are seriously out classed (and out gunned). So don’t go there.

Remember back in the bad old days of the Dumbya, having discussions with white conservatives about the “wonderfulness” of Condolezza Rice. Their spiel invariably started with an accounting of her numerous, and I’m sure, hard won academic achievements. And believe me, I applaud her accomplishments – and was right there with the NAACP, when they decided to give her the Spingarn Award. The rub came in their perception that she was somehow… “Exceptional” and “Unique”. Now I know that all that white conservatives know about black folks is contained in the crime section of the Faux Evening “News” – but growing up with a similar community background – in a middle class black “island” neighborhood in the South, the little cohort of 50, 2 years on either side of my age, swimming in a white sea of desegregation…

Produced 3 PhD’s, and at least a half dozen folks with advanced degrees. And that doesn’t count a sibling and extended family member who got their PhDs in hard sciences at the ages of 22 and 24 respectively. You’ll have to excuse me – but isn’t that a tad above the national average?

Exceptionalism in my view is an expectation in the black community, evinced over 500 years ago by the first African slaves setting foot in North America in 1526 promptly staging a successful slave revolt, kicking their white, Spanish masters out. “Unique” is the fact that in the past 500 years, despite the best efforts to destroy or suppress it – that same ability keeps showing up.

And while this is a blog by a black man, and will likely discuss issues relevant to black folks more frequently than say – a blog about Abercrombie and Fitch clothing – everyone is welcome…

Except trolls, troglodytes, and spammers…

As long as you can hold you own, in what I hope will be some spirited discussion.

Lastly, keep the cursing to a minimum. I’ll delete posts with the “f” bomb – although “cussing” light (WTF, ass, Hell) are allowed.

And one more thing! Those who are experience bloggers out there who care to share a word or two of how to make things work better – please chime in!