Black Trump Supporters: Da Fuck Y’all Doing?

America… led by President Donald Trump is regressing toward it’s historical norm… For 350 or so years, racism/white supremacy was the unquestioned guiding principle of life in what came to be known as the United States of America. President Trump, Steven Miller and Steve Bannon are ‘traditional’ Americans. Like the Founding Fathers, Andrew Jackson, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Nixon, Strom Thurmond and legions of other “great” Americans, they are ardent racist/white supremacists.

This is their time… The recent lynchings Ahmaud Arbery and George Lloyd are merely the latest episodes in a horrific saga stretching back four centuries.

The last half century has been the aberration. Indeed, for many supporters of President Trump, the clock has run out on the Great Society experiment focusing on inclusion, power-sharing and human decency.

FUCK THAT, they say… These racist/white supremacists want to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

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They want to ensure the 400 year legacy of unquestioned white dominance in all things political, economic, social and educational continues even after white people become a numerical minority in 10-20 years.

These racist/white supremacists are NOT crazy, they are NOT misguided… In fact, they have a much better understanding of the dynamics of American history than the 55-60% with opposing views. They understand REAL American history… The rest of us have consumed a fictitious fairy tale.

Driving their politics is a deep seated fear that minorities will do unto them as they have done unto minorities.

Americans in general… Especially Black Americans, have been woefully mis-educated. Thus, they find themselves shocked and dumbfounded when forced to confront the reality that the United States of America, like South Africa throughout most of the 20th century, is a profoundly racist/white supremacist nation-state.

Lately, Black Americans are being treated like puppies being potty trained… White America is rubbing our faces in the big pile of steaming shit that is racism/white supremacy. It’s seeping into our mouths, it’s in our eyes, it’s up our noses… It burns… It hurts…

Black Americans are literally mad because the racist/white supremacist dog is barking… Yooo… That’s what dogs do… ‘Good’ white Americans, on the other hand, remind of fish being told they are wet… Huh?

This mis-education is intentional and begins the moment American children exit their mother’s womb. It is reinforced from the moment they step foot in an American school building. With determination and skill, patently false and historically inaccurate narratives are deeply ingrained. Americans, from pre-school through Ph.D programs are taught that the United States is a “liberal democratic’ society shaped most by free and equal conditions and the Enlightenment ideals cherished by white colonists fleeing Europe and the American Founding Fathers. History, as it is written for public consumption and taught in public schools, tells us the United States of America was born a liberal society governed by the popular will.

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It’s a lie. A dirty MUTHAFUCKIN’ lie!

American history is the story of the struggle between racist/white supremacist males and the rest of us. The history of American societal development has been PRIMARILY defined by the ideologies and practices that defined the relationships of the dominant white male minority with subordinate groups, and the relationships of these groups with each other. The placement of anything other than racist/white supremacist male dominance at the center of analysis is distraction at best, obfuscation at worst. The democracy founded by the founding fathers and endlessly lauded in textbooks was nothing more than a narrowly circumscribed set of social relationships among wealthy land and slave owning white male elites entrenched on mountains racism/white supremacy. The overwhelming majority of people in America have caught hell at the hands of racist/white supremacist American males for more than 400 years.
The MAGA crowd knows this and longs for a return to this American societal normalcy.

Since their arrival on August 1619, Blacks in America have worked to erode those mountains of racism/white supremacy over time. However, on many occasions, the mountains have proven to be volcanoes of evil, hate and rage. Presently, we are witnessing yet another volcanic eruption of racism/white supremacy as the tanning of America pushes these “traditional” American to their limits.

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The emergence of an intensely racist/white supremacist movement is entirely understandable… These folks have had it their way for 87.5% (350 out of 400 years) of American history.

“Da fuck you mean? I can’t kill a nigger?”

What’s unfathomable is the level of support for the racist/white supremacist movement that has emerged among Black Males. To the 13-15% of Black males supporting President Donald Trump, I offer the prophetic words of Sociologist Neely Fuller:

“If you do not understand White supremacy – what it is, and how it works, everything else that you understand will only confuse you.”

Dr. Carson… Brother Kanye… Brother Jim Brown… Sister Diamond and Sister Silk… Y’all are fully embracing the re-emergence good old-fashioned American racist/white supremacy… We see you…

You know what? Fuck y’all…

Four hundred years ago, racist/white supremacist Americans chose sides. John Rolfe, Secretary and Recorder of the Virginia Colony wrote the following entry “about the last of August, there came to Virginia a Dutchman of Warre that sold us twenty Negers.” Thus, a year and a half before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, twenty enslaved Blacks were high-jacked from a Spanish ship and sold into a life of bondage in what would become the United States of America.”

Dr. Carson… Brother Kanye… Brother Jim Brown… Sister Diamond and Sister Silk… Let there be no doubt, you are on the side of the Dutch slaver, John Rolfe and racist/white supremacist colonists. For four hundred years they have writing and enacting laws making it very clear that they don’t fuck with you…

The first “law” making reference to Blacks written in 1639.

“1639. Act X. All persons except Negros are to be provided with arms and ammunition or defined at the pleasure of the governor and council.”

Game… Blouses!

From the outset… Laws were written to uphold, sustain and strengthen brutally enforced the rigidly enforced racist/white supremacist social order.

Shit only got worse over time… By 1680, the superiority of whites in the emerging social order was explicitly written into law:

“1680. Act X. Whereas the frequent meetings of considerable numbers of Negro slave under pretense of feast and burials is judged of dangerous consequence [it] enacted that no Negro or slave may carry arms, such as any club, staff, gun, sword, or other weapon, nor go from his owner’s plantation without a certificate and then only on necessary occasions; the punishment twenty lashed on the bare back, well laid on. And further, if any Negro lift up his hand against any Christian he shall receive thirty lashes, and if he absent himself or lie out from his master’s service and resist lawful apprehension, he may be killed and this law shall be published every six months.”

Black Trump supporters… you are siding with the folk that wrote and enacted this shit… These people have historically sought to completely dehumanize your ancestors. How do you watch the life literally squeezed out of George Logan and not realize that racist/white supremacists remain committed to precluding Blacks from responding in a manner thought normal for human beings?

Candace Owens and Paris Dennard… Who raised ya?

Amy Cooper, the white damsel in imaginary distress, understands what you refuse to acknowledge. She played the game for keeps… That racist skank tried to bring the full force of the NYPD to bear on a brother trying to watch birds in Central Park. George Cooper, a Harvard educated bird watcher, had the audacity… the temerity… to ask the skank to comply with the posted leashing laws. For this, the skank sought to ruin Cooper. Why? Because, this former banking executive knows she lives in a racist/white supremacist nation and knows she could conceivably wreck Cooper’s life and permanently tarnish his reputation or perhaps even main or kill him with the lies pouring out her privileged white mouth. She knows… It has NEVER been criminal for a white man to have sexual relations with a Black woman, forcibly or consensual. However, racism/white supremacy has always sought to protect white women from the Black male penis.

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Always been that way… Many want to make America Great Again along those lines…

In 1705, the Virginia General Assembly declared that a white woman indentured servant who had an illegitimate child by a Black or mulatto was fined fifteen pounds; if she was unable to pay the fine she was sold for five years at the expiration of her time of service. If the unwed white mother was a free white woman she was also subject to a fifteen pound fine or five years of service.”

The 1705 statute imposed a prison sentence of 6 months for “whatsover white man or woman” marrying a Black person. In 1848, the sentence was increased to 12 months. In 1932, the imprisonment was imposed on Blacks and whites and the sentence was increased to a maximum of five years.

I was 2 years old when interracial marriage were finally banned in the United States of America.

The vestiges of America’s long dominant racist/white supremacist factions have come together. They have lined up, in neat formation, behind President Trump. He has been strongly endorsed by the KKK, David Duke, Richard Spenser and virtually every contemporary far-right/wing alt-right organization in existence.

What the fuck are y’all Blacks doing over in that camp?

If Trump, Miller and Bannon are able to further exert their political will, we will inevitably witness the reemergence of America’s core value in American public policy.

Racist/white supremacists are enthralled with the Founding Fathers and the social order prevailing in colonial America. They long for a return to a time when publicly lynching Blacks was a spectator sport.

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Colonial Virginia explicitly declared, “it shall be lawful for any person or persons whatsoever, to kill and destroy [runaway] slaves by such ways and means as he, she or they shall think fit, without accusation or impeachment of any crime for the same…”

These colonial laws formed the basis of the Virginia society from which George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison emerged. Hence, it makes sense that they were ardent racist/white supremacists and viewed Black as less than human and established a nation whose economy was based on the work of enslaved Blacks on armed labor camps.

It makes prefect sense that enslaved Blacks were afforded absolutely no rights under the Constitutional arrangement formed by these Founding Fathers.

It makes sense that 7 of the 9 justices on the United States Supreme Court determined that Blacks have no rights white people are bound to respect in 1857.

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“We think… that [black people] are not included, and were not intended to be included, under the word “citizens” in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States. On the contrary, they were at that time [of America’s founding] considered as a subordinate and inferior class of beings who had been subjugated by the dominant race, and, whether emancipated or not, yet remained subject to their authority, and had no rights or privileges but such as those who held the power and the Government might choose to grant them.”

It makes sense that racist/white Americans installed, entrenched and rigidly enforced, through terroristic means, an Apartheid-like Jim Crow social order throughout much of America from 1877 to the mid 1960s.

It’s the American way. Racism/white supremacy is at the core of the American creed.

Donald Trump stuck a syringe full of racist/white supremacist hate and mainlined it into veins of America’s body politic. After that initial hit, those addicted to hate have been riding around in pick up trucks, SUVs and police cars in search of next their fix.

Look at the face of the racist/white supremacist cop as he choked the life out of an unarmed, handcuffed Black man being restrained face down by a total of three (3) police officers.

This is America!

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It make sense that Donald Trump would harangue President Obama about his place of birth and nationality.

It makes sense that President Trump would restrict immigration from Black and Brown countries.

It makes sense that President Trump would attempt to suppress the vote in Black and Brown communities.

What doesn’t make sense is 13-15% of Black males and the few women like Diamond, Silk and Candace Owens that support the contemporary racism/white supremacy embodied in the Trump movement…

The only plausible explanation is what Carter G. Woodson identified in 1993 as The Mis-Education of the Negro:

“The so-called modern education, with all its defects, however, does others so much more good than it does theNegro, because it has been worked out in conformity to the needs of those who have enslaved and oppressed weaker peoples.”

How Does “Club Transfer” Impact HS Recruiting?

by Eric Dixon

Portals have entry and exit points, so as an unprecedented number of players are entering the transfer portal, it’s impacting the recruitment side of the equation. Colleges are still recruiting high schoolers but this may change in the coming years as the portal offerings are exploding and the advantages college coaches gain from bringing in a seasoned transfer are plain and plentiful.

“Transfers are more experienced… they know what’s expected,” said one college coach polled for this piece. He went on to explain that transfers know how to eat, how hard you have to practice and all these little things freshman have to catch up on.” One local high school coach mentioned Tyrese Martin, who has decided to leave Rhode Island for the den of Huskies at UConn. “UConn isn’t going to be able to get anybody out of high school that’s better than (Martin),” he said matter-of-factly.

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Georgetown’s Mac McClung is in the Transfer Portal

Skip Robinson, head coach for the WeR1 program, added another pertinent point, saying “they can bring in a transfer and know that he’s notGeorgetown going to leave right away.” He further explained that the player had already transferred once so it is unlikely the player would be in a hurry to jump ship again.

These advantages lead some to think that it will change how programs will recruit players. Many believe that kids who fall out of the top 200 may not get recruited very heavily or receive as many actual offers because programs will begin to shift their priorities to looking at the portal first to fill holes, especially if those gaps are at key positions. If the coach is on a “warm seat” the urgency to bring in transfers may be greater.

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La Salle’s Ed Croswell transferred to Providence

If you don’t believe the high rate of transfers, as of April 25th 73 of the 351 Division I schools have 4 or more players in the portal, is real, then you are fooling yourself. One Patriot league coach spelled out how it’s affected recruiting at the low and mid major levels since only 3 of the 73 schools are from a Power 5 conference.

“First step is accepting it as reality… On average 3+ players from every roster will enter the portal.” This assessment is consistent with the numbers when you look at the number of players in the portal (approximately 850) relative to the number of players (about 4100) there are at the D1 level.

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Binghamton’s Sam Sessoms transferred to Penn State

The portal itself may also expedite this shift because prior to it’s establishment “you had to have relationships to hear about who was on the market and get contact information,” said one college head coach. “Now you have greater access,” he noted. He did, however, disagree that there would be a trend toward recruiting transfers over high school seniors or prep players. “You recruit as normal and look to the portal late.”

Here is where high school players and parents need to pay attention because it gets tricky. The exodus to the portal has affected how the recruitment strategy has to be planned out. “There are going to be way more seniors recruited” said the coach, but “the relationships are going to end up being more “interest than offers,” as college coaches will be recruiting based on contingencies rather than realities because “they have to be ready” when/if players leave unexpectedly. “We still want high school kids, but you can’t simply replace (transfers) with more young players.” Coaches plan their recruitment strategy based on having a certain level of maturity and experience on their rosters. If an older player enters the portal, he is taking that expected experience with him so in order to maintain a balance and the planned team progression, a transfer is a better option in replacing him. Besides that, “Older players win.” In previous years a school might bring in 4 players, all high school seniors. Now that may change. It may be only 2 or 3 high schoolers and 2 or 1 transfer(s).

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Towson’s Allen Betrand transferred to Rhode Island

A local college coach also offered a possible explanation of why the portal has added ease on both sides. “I think the transfer portal makes it easy for the kids now. There doesn’t have to be any face to face interaction when you decide you are leaving.”

So the question becomes why would you look to bring in high schooler when a transfer would most certainly be more ready and possibly more stable? “Potential growth,” according to one coach. “A high school senior might have a lower floor, but higher ceiling.” If you do a solid job recruiting and bring in the “right” young players, then you can have confidence that the player would meet their potential over time at the primary school.

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West Chester’s Robbie Heath transferred to Pepperdine

Robinson noted that this may be more problematic in this “Club Transfer” environment because it makes “projection” difficult. “Whenever you bring in a player you’re projecting how he might be able to help you in a couple years, but now he might not be there in a couple years because he’s not happy not playing.”

Robinson also made it clear that transferring was sometimes necessary. “Sometimes a player gets homesick or there are family issues that makes him feel like he needs to be closer, or a coaching change. Or sometimes you just have to realize every player ain’t right for every coach.”

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Saint Joseph’s Chereef Knox transferred to Coppin State

One PCL coach said a coaching change spurred his transfer from a mid-major to eventually playing 2 years at a high major school after spending his freshman year at a low major, where he excelled. His episodic journey led to a progression up the levels of college basketball which was a “blessing” in many ways because he didn’t think he would have been ready to contribute at a high-major program coming out of high school.

“It would have been tough,” he said of trying to adjust to the rigors and pace of college basketball after completing the 12th grade at just 17 years old. “I matured and was more used to being on my own, taking care of myself,” he said, further explaining why the transfer route was good for him as a player and person.

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Temple’s Josh Pierre-Louis transferred to Cal Santa Barbara

Still, another advantage a high school senior may have is “timing”, according to a local AAU director. “The portal doesn’t usually open until December. High school guys can commit before it opens.” This makes holding offers less desirable even though many high school players like to wait to gather more offers so they can announce them on social media. Playing that game may cost some an opportunity to play at the school of their choice. Also, there may be fewer scholarship opportunities for true freshman at the higher levels forcing them to decide to go to a lower level, hope to play really well then transfer up, as Robbie Heath, the former Abington Senior High School standout, was able to do in garnering a scholarship from Pepperdine University after torching opponents in the PSAC at Division II West Chester University.

Talent and timing versus experience and readiness is the dilemma facing many college coaches as they make decisions regarding their strategies and allocation of recruiting resources. The tipping point may be the general security of the coach or urgency of the positional need. The game has changed and the growth of the portal has made it easier for both entry and exit. This adds another dimension for high school upperclassmen and prep players who might be forced to make commitment decisions sooner than they might want to and go places they believe are below their ability.

 

I’m Putting My Name in the Draft! Why?

by Eric Dixon

Philadelphia, PA: Reasons matter. So often we take an “ends justifies the means” approach, valuing results over reasons. Eventually, it all catches up and we are left wondering how we end up with unintended consequences. Some of those consequences are a cause for alarm, while others are  to be celebrated.

I’ve chronicled both the confusion over a player’s appropriate level and the growth of the Transfer Portal in recent weeks. The proliferation of entrants into the transfer portal is lamented by many, while lauded by others. Those who see it as a negative point to it as a sign of immaturity or bad evaluation and decision making in the recruitment and college selection process. Others see it as a move toward greater student-athlete autonomy and freedom of movement. Really it’s both, but the reasons why matter.

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Rasheed Wallace and David Stern

When I asked the question of coaches, AAU directors, scouts and trainers too often the NBA comes up. This is insane to me. “The reason why kids want to go to play ball in college has changed,” said one AAU Director. “They all want to go to the league.”

In speaking with one scout who played in both high school and college, he said he started playing because he was attracted to “playing in the games.” He was enamored with the atmosphere, environment and lifestyle that came with being a ballplayer. “I didn’t really care for practice or any of that other stuff.” He just wanted to play in the games. He didn’t even think about whether the NBA was in his future until a college professor asked him about it as he approached his junior year.

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David Stern and Dion Waiters

Why did you start playing?

For me it was a chance to get free college tuition. I wasn’t much of an athlete going into middle school. I had attended an educational enrichment program at Beaver College (now Arcadia University) and, in deference to the constant urging of my mother, had come to believe my best chance to escape the wanton violence and rampant poverty of my neighborhood was to go to college. “You don’t like where we live. Get an education and get out” she would tell me. I knew I had to go to college and I knew that it cost money my family didn’t have. So I primarily started playing basketball to go to college. Seems as though many kids are doing it the other way around.

“Things are different now.” They certainly are with the rise of social media, the increase of influencers and the focus on individual goals in the team sport. Players are implored to make their own decisions and “live their own life”. Sounds great and in many ways it is great. There was no way I was going to make my son’s college decision for him. I had taken my injury plagued basketball career as far as I could take it and am at peace with how much the game gave me. He was the one who would have to endure the practices and mind games of the coaches that I knew would come with being a student-athlete in a high-major program, so it was best to let him make the decision.

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David Stern and Marcus Morris

Our family and support system helped by arranging and paying for him to make more than a dozen unofficial visits, play against all levels of competition and gather as much information about the schools recruiting him as we could. We also helped him set goals and expectations of what he wanted from his college experience. Asked questions like, “Do you want to live at a big school or smaller one? Where do you want to settle after graduation and what are non-basketball career goals? Did the NBA come up?  Yes.  At 6-8, a consensus top 75 player with his resume would be remiss in not making the NBA a part of the discussion. We discussed it with people at USA Basketball, pro scouts, current and past NBA players and UAA connections regarding how realistic it was and what he would need to do to make his dream a reality since he’s not currently an NBA prospect. Our access to the resources and people who have helped in that discussion is not shared by the majority of people making their college decision. We also understand that you don’t get to choose the NBA, they choose you- or not. The reasons they don’t choose some and do choose others is beyond his control so he prepares and makes decisions based on what he can control.

Another difference is social media. This has been a huge influence on the changes in the last couple years. Again, with mixed results. Some young people, who often don’t consider the ramifications of their actions beyond when their next round of SnapChats will appear and disappear, still don’t seem to understand what it means to have a digital footprint or what it can mean if it leaves a negative impression. Donte DiVincenzo had his draft celebrations marred by allegations stemming from a post on his twitter account from his middle school years.

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David Stern and Markeiff Morris

“It’s one of the first things we check,” said one assistant coach from the A-10.
One positive byproduct of this movement to play in college is higher rates of success among student-athletes, especially African Americans, according to the NCAA measurement of success, Graduate Success Rate (GSR). “More than three-quarters of African-American college athletes — 77 percent — earned their degrees, up from 74 percent last year. The rate has risen 21 percentage points since 2002,” according to a NCAA report published in 2018.

Others say this stat is misleading and that the real outcomes are less rosy with respect to actual graduate rates. The GSR doesn’t note the level of responsibility the original universities have for those who transfer or those who seek to transfer but end up just leaving school all together.

“Thus, the NCAA system is not held accountable for a significant number of recruited athletes,”  wrote the authors of a recent article titled “The Hoax of NCAA Graduation Rates.” “Even for those included in the GSR cohort as transfers, the original recruiting school is absolved of responsibility for failing to retain them.” -Politifact, February 1, 2018. When considering that the Federal Graduation rates put the actual number at less than 50 percent, it does seem as if something is amiss with the NCAA number crunching.

 “Sometimes people lose focus on their original reasons,” said James Nelson, local veteran of the AAU community. He explained that with the growth of previously unforeseen basketball related income streams, some people begin to stop chasing their passion for the game and start pursuing profits. There is little doubt that profiteering has hurt grassroots basketball and the college decision making process.

“You gotta let them do them,” says the local scout. “Kids need to be able to do what’s best for them and their families.” I ask, what if they don’t know? “Don’t matter.” I don’t presume to think I or anyone else knows enough to tell a family what’s best for them based on the information they gather, especially when you consider that no one can adequately assess a situation from the outside.  Still, players have to perform their due diligence and make sure they are gathering reliable information and setting realistic goals and expectations.