{"id":248013,"date":"2023-11-13T12:00:44","date_gmt":"2023-11-13T12:00:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=248013"},"modified":"2023-11-10T06:02:51","modified_gmt":"2023-11-10T06:02:51","slug":"the-dangers-of-minstrel-diplomacy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2023\/11\/the-dangers-of-minstrel-diplomacy\/","title":{"rendered":"The Dangers of \u2018Minstrel Diplomacy\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Congressman Gregory Meeks arrive in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on July 5.
(State Department, Ron Przysucha)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Black faces are being used by the failing empire to sell failed racist, neocolonial militarism.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cWhen you control a man\u2019s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions\u2026He will find his own \u2018proper place\u2019 and will stay in it\u2026You do not need to send him to the back door.\u00a0 He will go without being told.\u00a0 In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit.\u00a0 His education makes it necessary\u2026.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Carter G. Woodson, The Mis-Education of the Negro<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

2 Nov 2023 –<\/em>\u00a0There have been defining times in history-moments, epochs and periods that are typically marked by notable events or particular characteristics that have changed the world forever.<\/p>\n

Nicolaus Copernicus\u2019 publication of On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres<\/em> in 1543, postulating the model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than Earth at its center was such a moment.<\/p>\n

The Industrial Revolution (1760 \u2013 1840), was a defining period in the methods and processes of global production that transitioned most of the world away from hand production, towards more efficient and stable mechanical manufacturing.<\/p>\n

In 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I, the Earth\u2019s first artificial satellite, launching the \u201cspace race\u201d that led to America landing the first humans on the moon in 1969.<\/p>\n

These are just a few examples of moments in time that have changed people\u2019s perceptions of the world as it was known.\u00a0 The world-humankind, once again finds itself in the midst of one of those epochs.<\/p>\n

Humankind is witnessing the fall of the Western empire.\u00a0 The shift is away from the unipolar world, financed by the U.S. dollar and controlled by American military power projection and hegemony, to a new multipolar geo-political landscape.<\/p>\n

This \u201cnew world order\u201d will not be controlled by American interests. It will be managed by the cooperation of numerous countries, with a goal of establishing<\/a>, \u201c\u2026 a more just, balanced and stable multipolar world order, firmly opposing all types of international confrontation\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

People naturally tend to think that a \u201cfall\u201d or collapse of this nature would be more immediate, dramatic and easily recognized. To the contrary, empires tend to collapse over time.\u00a0 It\u2019s analogous to going bankrupt.<\/p>\n

In Hemingway\u2019s The Sun Also Rises<\/em>, Mike Campbell, a bankrupt Scottish war veteran, was asked how he went bankrupt. Mike replied, \u201cTwo ways \u2026Gradually and then suddenly.\u201d When asked what brought his bankruptcy on, Mike replied, \u201cFriends. I had a lot of friends. False friends. Then I had creditors, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just as Mike had \u201cfriends,\u201d the U.S. has allies.\u00a0 As Mike had \u201ccreditors,\u201d the U.S. is trying to finance multiple wars on multiple fronts.<\/p>\n

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen\u2019s pronouncements<\/a> that \u201c\u2026the U.S. can afford to support both Ukraine and Israel in their respective war efforts without hindering the nation\u2019s economy\u2026\u201d, reeks of overreach. Financial overreach and military overreach are among the contributing factors that have historically led to the fall of empires.<\/p>\n

Messaging in a Time of Decline \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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U.s. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on Oct. 13 in Tel Aviv, which he visited to \u201cunderscore the unwavering support of the U.S. \u2026 to ensuring Israel has what it needs to defend itself.\u201d (DoD, Chad J. McNeeley)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

As empires begin their decline, messaging becomes very important. The narrative that\u2019s created to control people\u2019s perceptions of reality are key.<\/p>\n

MSNBC told<\/a> us, the \u201c\u2026U.S. is using intel to fight an info war with Russia, even when the intel isn\u2019t rock solid.\u201d Simply put, the government is lying to you in order to maintain some semblance of order.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s Plato\u2019s \u201cnoble lie.\u201d This is very important.\u00a0 These are the lies that need to be told so Americans will believe that more U.S. taxpayer dollars need to be sent to Ukraine and Israel while American infrastructure disintegrates.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re told that the U.S. needs to reinvade Haiti, that sovereign African countries should be sanctioned for doing business with Russia and a humanitarian pause in hostilities in Occupied Palestine is a bad idea and only benefits Hamas.<\/p>\n

These distortions and lies are part of the narratives that directly impact the development of our perceptions. These manufactured or misinformed realities then determine the policies put into place and actions taken. This becomes a vicious cycle as in the Easton model<\/a> of systems analysis.<\/p>\n

In telling the narrative, who tells it can be as important as what is being told. This is where the minstrel and \u201cminstrel diplomacy\u201d rears its ugly head.<\/p>\n

In the 19th century in the United States, a minstrel was a band of\u00a0entertainers or an individual, typically white who would blacken their faces with burnt cork referred to as \u201ccorking up.\u201d\u00a0 They performed songs, dances, and\u00a0formulaic<\/a>\u00a0comic routines based on\u00a0stereotyped<\/a>\u00a0and demeaning depictions\u00a0of African Americans. Sometimes, African American performers wore blackface when taking the stage in order to make their presentations more acceptable to White audiences.<\/p>\n

What was once found to be an effective entertainment device, the minstrel show has now become a device to disseminate the dominant imperialist and racist, Western narrative of American foreign policy.<\/p>\n

Since the phenotype of many of the victims of these policies are people of the darker hue; the disseminators of the narrative have decided to \u201ccork up\u201d the people being used to sell the story.<\/p>\n

In a nutshell, using Black faces to explain and rationalize racism\/white supremacy in order to make the audience more comfortable with and receptive to the message.\u00a0 These people are easy to find.<\/p>\n

They are part of what the late Glen Ford called \u201cThe Black Misleadership Class\u201d who have \u201cbeen busy selling out Black people for half a century\u2026.\u201d\u00a0 The late Amiri Baraka called them \u201cfunctionaries of the U.S. government.\u201d They know their proper place, stay in it and do their jobs well.<\/p>\n

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Baraka addressing the Malcolm X Festival in San Antonio Park, Oakland, California, while performing with Marcel Diallo and his Electric Church Band, May 2007. (David Sasaki, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Obama on Israel & Gaza\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Former President Barack Obama recently published an op-ed entitled, \u201cThoughts on Israel and Gaza<\/a>\u201d in which he wrote that Israel had a right to defend itself against the Oct. 7 attacks and he reiterated the need to abide by \u201cinternational law.\u201d<\/p>\n

I agree that Israel has a right to exist, but not on occupied Palestinian land!<\/p>\n

According to the Anti-Defamation League, the Balfour Declaration continues to represent the first international recognition of the establishment of a Jewish national homeland in the land of Palestine.<\/p>\n

The declaration clearly states, \u201cHis Majesty\u2019s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people \u2026 it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notice, the word \u201cState\u201d is never mentioned nor is the word \u201cIsrael.\u201d\u00a0 Why are Zionists allowed to ignore their own documents and rewrite the historical narrative?<\/p>\n

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I wanted to share some thoughts on what\u2019s happening right now in Israel and Gaza.https:\/\/t.co\/fEaYWFisnN<\/a><\/p>\n

— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 23, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n