The Sad Truth Is That Without Complex

You Can Find Virtually Everybody Black Back As Far As The 1870 Census. Why 1870? That's When The Ex-slaves First Have Surnames. But If You Find Your Great-great-grandfather In 1870 And It Says He's 50, That Means He Was Born In 1820 And You're Back To 1820 Already. For An American That's Pretty Damned Good, You Know?

My Grandfather Was Coloured, My Father Was Negro, And I Am Black.

What Happened In The Interim Is, Billions Of Records Have Been Digitized. Historians And Scholars Have Always Used Genealogical Records To Tell The Story Of American History. It Takes Months And Years Of Research. I Can't Even Tell You How Laborious That Is. You Have To Be Somebody Who Has A Lot Of Free Time, Like A Professor Who Can Take Tenure Or Someone With A Great Deal Of Leisure.

You Have A Diasporic Black World, And The Only Way To Put It Back Together Again Is Symbolic. It's Like Humpty Dumpty. Whoever Could Edit The 'encyclopedia Africana' Would Provide Symbolic Order To The Fragments Created Over The Past 500 Years. That Is A Major Contribution.

A More Humane Form Of Capitalism Is About The Best I Think We Can Get. Which Might Sound Very Reformist Or Conservative, But That's Basically Where I Am.