Go Lean…Caribbean

Go Lean Commentary

It is not what they call you; it is what you answer to!

What is the name that Black people are called that shows disrespect, degradation and a lack of value?

The N-Word … or Nigger or Nigga!

In the English language, the word nigger is an ethnic slur typically directed at black people, especially African Americans.

The word originated in the 18th century as an adaptation of the Spanish negro, a descendant of the Latin adjective niger, which means black.^[1] It was used derogatorily, and by the mid-20th century, particularly in the United States, its usage by anyone other than a black person had become unambiguously pejorative, a racist insult. Accordingly, it began to disappear from general popular culture. Its inclusion in classic works of literature has sparked modern controversy.

Because the term is considered extremely offensive, it is often referred to by the euphemism the N-word. However, it remains in use, particularly as the variant nigga, by African Americans among themselves. The spelling nigga reflects the pronunciation of nigger in non-rhotic dialects of English. – Source: Retrieved July 30, 2020 from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nigger

The N-Word notwithstanding, Black Image has endured a lot … over the years, decades and centuries; for more than half a millennia, Black people have been tossed aside as “Less Than” and treated derisively.

Enough!

No more!

Black Lives Matter!

This is our resolve. We are not the first with this advocacy and will not be the last. The heavy-lifting work continues.

The biggest contribution Black people can make to this “sad state of affairs” is to be a part of the solution, not a part of the problem!

This was the assertion in the 2013 book Go Lean…Caribbean, where it pronounced this in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Page 10):

As the history of our region and the oppression, suppression and repression of its indigenous people is duly documented, there is no one alive who can be held accountable for the prior actions, and so we must put aside the shackles of systems of repression to instead formulate efficient and effective systems to steer our own destiny.

As the colonial history of our region was initiated to create economic expansion opportunities for our previous imperial masters, the structures of government instituted in their wake have not fostered the best systems for prosperity of the indigenous people. Despite this past, we thrust our energies only to the future, in adapting the best practices and successes of the societies of these previous imperial masters and recognizing the positive spirit of their intent and vow to learn from their past accomplishments and mistakes so as to optimize the opportunities for our own citizenry to create a more perfect bond of union.

The urging to Black people is direct: Do not use the N-Word … at all!

There is no doubt, on the macro, the Slave Trade, the institution of Slavery and African Colonization was all degrading to Black Image. On the micro, we should do our part to understand the challenges to Black Image and do our part to mitigate the negatives.

This is the completion of this Teaching Series for July 2020 on Black Image; this is entry 6-of-6 from the movement behind the  Go Lean book. Every month, this movement presents a series on issues germane to Caribbean life: past, present and future. This last entry asserts that it has been too easy for people to just lambast the whole Black race by just yelling out the N-Word. There are many bad experiences of abuse; consider the track record of baseball greats Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron. These men had to endure choruses of the N-Word as they perform their record-breaking feats for the game of baseball.

See the experiences of Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron in Appendix A VIDEO and Appendix B VIDEO respectively.

It is no wonder Black Image is degraded, when viewed by the Euro-centric world. We are not “Less Than”, let’s not give in to the bad ethos of normalizing that word. We may not control what “they” call us; but we can control what “we” answer to!

This is the urging for the entire month’s series. The full catalog on Black Image was distributed in the following order:

1. Black Image: Corporate Reboots
2. Black Image: Pluralism is the Goal
3. Black Image: Colorism – The Stain of Whiteness – Encore
4. Black Image: Slavery in History – Lessons from the Bible
5. Black Image: Beyond Slavery: 1884 Berlin Conference
6. Black Image: The N-Word 101

The Go Lean book, serving as a roadmap for the introduction of the Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), asserts that Caribbean stakeholders must do the heavy-lifting to better manage the image of Caribbean people. This applies to the macro and the micro.

On the macro, we need to produce and broadcast/distribute up-building media productions.  This will elevate Black Image.

On the micro, we need to esteem Black Image ourselves in our thoughts, feelings, speech and action.

Consider the connection of thoughts-feeling-speech-action in this previous Go Lean commentary from March 5, 2019:

This is usually the order and process for change. Change doesn’t just start with Action; a lot more goes into it. It can be likened to a factory process; there is input and there is output. While Action is the output, “Thoughts, Feelings and Speech” qualify as input.

Got Change?

Want Change?

The movement behind the book Go Lean … Caribbean asserts that we have to be prepared to contribute the appropriate Inputs. In fact we must start changing the current Inputs to better reflect the values we want to see in our society. That means changing our thoughts, feeling and speech.

The target change here is what the Go Lean book refers to as a change in community ethos (Page 20).

1. the fundamental character or spirit of a culture; the underlying sentiment that informs the beliefs, customs, or practices of a group or society; dominant assumptions of a people or period: In the Greek ethos the individual was highly valued.
2. the character or disposition of a community, group, person, etc.

This focus, fostering change in the community ethos, has been a mission for this Go Lean movement from the beginning of this movement. This theme has been elaborated in many previous blog-commentaries; consider this sample here:

It was hard to be a Black Man in America and other countries outside Africa … or the majority-Black Caribbean. To be a public figure meant you had to endure onslaughts of the N-Word being thrown at you. This was true for Jackie Robinson in 1947, but in 1974 for Hank Aaron, rather that shouted out, Aaron got lots of threatening letters, laced with the N-Word; see Appendices.

(By 1974, it was politically incorrect to blatantly use the N-Word).

The public acceptance and toleration of the N-Word is a thermometer of the liberal progress of these countries. The US dreams to be a pluralistic democracy someday – it is not there yet! When that country finally reaches that destination, the N-Word would no longer be heard in public or private.

This dream will be the end-project of the chain of events associated with thoughts-feelings-speech-action continuum. A positive image is not automatic …

… everyone must engage and do the heavy-lifting.

If you are White, do not use the N-Word.

If you are Black, do not use the N-Word.

This is how we will reform and transform our society. This is how we will elevate Caribbean Image and Black Image. This is how we can make our regional homeland a better place to live, work and play.

Yes, we can … 🙂

About the Book
The book Go Lean…Caribbean serves as a roadmap for the introduction and implementation of the technocratic Caribbean Union Trade Federation (CU), for the elevation of Caribbean society – for all member-states. This CU/Go Lean roadmap has these 3 prime directives:

• Optimization of the economic engines in order to grow the regional economy to $800 Billion & create 2.2 million new jobs.
• Establishment of a security apparatus to ensure public safety and protect the resultant economic engines.
• Improve Caribbean governance to support these engines, including a separation-of-powers between the member-states and CU federal agencies.

The Go Lean book provides 370-pages of turn-by-turn instructions on “how” to adopt new community ethos, plus the strategies, tactics, implementations and advocacies to execute so as to reboot, reform and transform the societal engines of Caribbean society.

Download the free e-Book of Go Lean … Caribbean – now!

Who We Are
The movement behind the Go Lean book – a non-partisan, apolitical, religiously-neutral Community Development Foundation chartered for the purpose of empowering and re-booting economic engines – stresses that reforming and transforming the Caribbean societal engines must be a regional pursuit. This was an early motivation for the roadmap, as pronounced in the opening Declaration of Interdependence (Pages 12 – 13):

xi. Whereas all men are entitled to the benefits of good governance in a free society, “new guards” must be enacted to dissuade the emergence of incompetence, corruption, nepotism and cronyism at the peril of the people’s best interest. The Federation must guarantee the executions of a social contract between government and the governed.

xii. Whereas the legacy in recent times in individual states may be that of ineffectual governance with no redress to higher authority, the accedence of this Federation will ensure accountability and escalation of the human and civil rights of the people for good governance, justice assurances, due process and the rule of law. As such, any threats of a “failed state” status for any member state must enact emergency measures on behalf of the Federation to protect the human, civil and property rights of the citizens, residents, allies, trading partners, and visitors of the affected member state and the Federation as a whole.

xiv.  Whereas a free market economy can be induced and spurred for continuous progress, the Federation must install the controls to better manage aspects of the economy: jobs, inflation, savings rate, investments and other economic principles. Thereby attracting direct foreign investment because of the stability and vibrancy of our economy.

Sign the petition to lean-in for this roadmap for the Caribbean Union Trade Federation.

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Appendix A VIDEO – “42” Jackie Robinson dealt with racism from Ben Chapman- https://youtu.be/GSWsA-NP6R0

Logic Owl
Uploaded Jan 17, 2019 – From the movie 42

Every bleep is the N-Word.

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Appendix B VIDEO – Hank Aaron – Life story – https://youtu.be/lkPRJRt7HEs

Uploaded May 9, 2012 – The actuality of the Southern city of Atlanta, the White backlash during the Civil Rights movement combines with Hank Aaron pursuit of a record set by a White man … was an explosive combination.

No copyright intended

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Alternate VIDEO  – Hank Aaron – Sports Century – https://youtu.be/7nhdNvNg60M