The Skin Game

By Michael Burnett Miller

This book is about racism and colorism in the African American community. It will inform you on how colorism was founded by racism throughout the 17th century with Europeans. It also will show you how we as Black people hold on to traits that were given to us during slavery. This book will get into how so many things we perceive to be good, and even holy started from racism, things such as religion, and the hate and separation we have as descendants of enslaved Africans toward each other. This book is more than just food for thought, but it will dig deep into the very core of your heart and soul. In this book I will convince you that we as a people cannot do anything to help support, and promote ourselves unless we are looked at as nationalist, or a cult, but every other group of people who are white, Chinese, Hispanics, Arabs, or any other group of people can make it a necessity to help their own.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 18, 2020
• ISBN: 9781984587718

Michael Burnett Miller

Michael is an innovator, motivator and someone who has dedicated his life to serving others. Michael has been working in higher education for over 20 years. He started out as a peer advisor at Malcolm X College in 1991, which was the starting point for his ability to assist and provide educational services to individuals who wanted to further their education. He gave students the proper tools to transfer over to a baccalaureate institution. Most of his experience in education has been in one of the City Colleges of Chicago. Even though Michael Miller truly believes, he has found his calling in assisting people with furthering their education he also had other talents and interest. After earning an Associate of Arts degree at Malcolm X College, and working on the award winning Malcolm X Press newspaper he went on to earn a B.A. Degree in radio broadcasting at Columbia College in Chicago. During this time, he also became active in the National Association of Black Journalist (NABJ). While being a part of this organization he acted as a mentor to kids who were inspiring to be journalists. Michael has written many articles, which have been published in newspapers in the Chicago land area on issues that affect the lives of African Americans, and other ethnics groups. Michael’s accomplishments continue to evolve. He has sat on advisory committees regarding education, and has done several presentations around the mid western region on topics such as” Why do black males avoid a postsecondary education.” He has sat on Malcolm X College president’s scholarship committee in a media capacity. He is also a motivational speaker for people who are down on there luck, and have lost hope. He is very fashionable, and has graced the runway for several African shows during Kwanzaa Celebration. He recently modeled in the House of Duvall cat walking explosion for charity; an event to help raise money for sick children. He also wrote his first fiction book called When My Season Comes, and others then after such as When My Season Comes 11, Truth About America’s Educational System, What a Woman Wants, The Children are The Future, and currently his sixth book titled, The Skin Game. He continues to serve the community as a mentor to those who are less fortunate. Michael worked for one of the federally funded TRiO programs born out of the civil rights movement in 1960. The program he worked for is called the Educational Opportunity Center, which is one of the Trio programs established in 1972 during the higher education amendments. This is a program that target adults who are 19 years of age or older from low-income families and first generation college students. That position took him on several conferences, and he wrote proposals to present at a few. In addition, out of this program he coordinated and founded a symposium and called it “HIS DAY”, which encouraged African American males to go on to college, and take charge of their lives as leaders in their community. He currently works for Harold Washington College, which is one of the City Colleges of Chicago. He is an Admissions Specialist.

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Copyright © 2020 by Michael Burnett Miller.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Rev. date: 07/31/2020

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Contents

Dedication

Acknowledgements

Chapter 1 My Narrative

Chapter 2 Why the Woman

Chapter 3 The Civil Rights King

Chapter 4 Commander- in- Chief

Chapter 5 Mixed race children

Chapter 6 The Plight of the Black Man

Chapter 7 The Plight Thickens

Chapter 8 White supremacy education

Chapter 9 The Skin Game Continues

Chapter 10 The Skin Game makes headway

Chapter 11 Sellouts

Chapter 12 The skin Game Carry Forward

Chapter 13 The Skin Game Lingers

Chapter 14 A Mysterious Jesus

Chapter 15 Black women wanting to be White?

Chapter 16 The skin Game moves forward

Chapter 17 Reparations for black people

Chapter 18 White women support racism

Chapter 19 The skin game forge ahead

Part 2

Chapter 20 A Mysterious Jesus Continues & being Brainwashed

Chapter 21 High self-esteem & Low Racial esteem

Chapter 22 Fighting Colorism in the African American community

Chapter 23 The Skin Game Draws Out

Chapter 24 The Paper Bag Theory

Chapter 25 Christianity V African Consciousness

Chapter 26 Where did our Heritage go?

Chapter 27 I Can’t Breathe

Chapter 28 The Cell Phone Addiction

Chapter 29 Unnoted African History.

Frantz Fanon book called Black Skin White Mask was analyzed by an author, which I encourage every Black man in an interracial relationship to read. He talked about Black people who want to escape from being Black, and he should know this being a Black man himself in an interracial relationship.

This quote has some technical language drawing from Fanon’s psychoanalytic training, but it is also a succinct summary of the condition he sees in Black people living in racist societies. The Black person wants to be white, according to Fanon, because whiteness stands for everything that is good and powerful in society. But because he is Black, the Black person has to work very hard, all the time, to run away from this fact. This is what makes their behavior obsessive: it has to be done over and over again, because one never actually arrives at whiteness. However, this obsession is also a neurosis because running away from Blackness is running away from one’s self. The quest to be white is also a quest to lose one’s self.

Throughout Black Skin, White Masks, Fanon is careful to say that the neuroses he discusses are not just individual neuroses. When an entire class or race of people exhibit certain neurotic symptoms, the problem isn’t just individual; it’s social. In particular, the kinds of obsessive behavior and inferiority complexes he sees in Black people are a result of a racist society that produces an impossible situation, or double bind, in which Black people want to become white but cannot possible do so. The word in the paragraph neuroses means a relatively mild mental illness that is not caused by organic disease, involving symptoms of stress (depression, anxiety, obsessive behavior, hypochondria) but a radical loss of touch with reality.

Please do not fight me with emotions if you do not agree with this book but fight me with facts. You do not hate me you hate the truth!

The darker the skin is the more knowledge God can restore in the body. MBM

Dedication

In memory of my loving Mother Catherine Miller and

Father John Miller, and all of my African ancestors

who have dealt with the hand of injustice in this

country called America, the land of the free. Also, to

the incredible people who will help me reach millions

of hurting, and asleep Black people with this book.

Acknowledgements

This is a book that deals with all the race relations in America, and not just racism but colorism that we deal with in our own community. Racism has been going on for over four hundred years and in this book, I will reveal how it is still amidst us today. I dedicated this book to the many people who have inspired me through the years, such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr, Spike Lee, Dick Gregory, Paul Mooney, Minister Louis Farrakhan, Dr. Ray Hagins, Anthony Browder, Dr. Boyce Watkins, Dr. Claud Anderson, & Dr. Umar Johnson. I chose these men because they always reaffirm what I know. This book is also dedicated to my African ancestors who died during slavery, and those who lost their lives at the hands of their slave master, because they refused to be a slave for eternity. This book takes a look at our country and everything that history has brought upon us that had something to do with slavery. It also goes into debt about how much we hate ourselves as a race of people, and how much we are inferior to others. I am not writing this book because I hate anybody, because I am a people person and I love people, and the only true race is the human race, but I’m fed up with racism and people believing because of the color of their skin they are superior to others. We are and should be considered an equal, and because we all are made in the image of God, whether you are black, white, brown, dark skinned, or light skinned, we all arrived from the same place, and that place was brought out of love, and respect, and the beginning of Humanity came out of Africa. The first man was African, and the first woman was African, and civilization started in Africa. There have been so many books written on racism, and now this is the time I tell my story. I hope and pray you take something from this book, The Skin Game.

Many of us are a victim to the skin game whether we are black, white, dark skinned, or light skinned, and many of us feel like we are better if we are one or the other. Since slavery there have been many white people who felt superior to black people because of their skin color. This book will give some insights on why we as a people feel this way, and what will it take to stop all the foolishness that goes along with thinking you are better because the way you look. Since slavery white people who were slave masters did whatever they could to separate us as a race of people by the way we look. The darker skinned black people were sent to the fields to work for their food, while the lighter skinned black people were allowed to work in the master’s big house. Most of the hate and separation we do in this world has a lot to do with our skin color, and or how we look.

Even today if you just happen to be light skinned, or light bright, and damn near white, you will have a better chance at living the good life, or should I say you might not face as many obstacles in your life. You will see from reading this book it’s not just a black and white thing, but it’s an African American way of thinking too. We as a race of people will hate one another or consider one another to be ugly just because we are darker, and a dark skin people will hate a light skinned person because he or she feel that everything will go their way in life. This skin game ideology may have started with white Americans, but it was passed down to every American. Black and white people are not the only group of people who share this problem, but Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and even Native Americans. They all feel like if you are lighter skinned you are better, and what makes this stigma worse is the fact that some lighter skinned people of color fall victim to the foolishness they are better. Could you imagine looking at yourself in the mirror and hating yourself because you do not look a certain way, and a way which is mostly accepted by society? I felt this way for a long time, and then I started to love myself, and then I started to accept myself, and then I knew I had no reason to apologize for my dark skin, because my true beauty came from within. I hope by reading this book every black person, and every American will know that they are beautiful regardless to how light, or dark their skin is……

Did you ever here about Gosnell an African American physician who was convicted of murdering three infants during an attempted abortion, well they have made his life into an actual movie, and I advise my readers to watch it. It’s a sad and very emotional movie, but worth watching. I would like to talk about how much this black man must have hated being black. Most of the women who he performed illegal abortion on were black, and I found out during the movie he separated the white women from the black women in his clinic. The white women had much cleaner floors, and more privacy, however if you were to watch where the black women were being held you would want to regurgitate. One actress who betrayed one of the untrained nurses who were working with him, recalled him saying after being asked why he separated the white women from the black women, that’s just the way of the world, he said. This is a black man, and this is the way many blacks feel about themselves. I am not just talking about the killing of babies, but how much he made separatism between the races of women. This is the very reason I strongly feel like if you are not really for your own race of people, you are totally against them. Yes, this man had issues, but one of his issues was self-hate. The movie did not say anything more in reference to race, but I would like to believe not one white woman’s baby was born, and then killed. But he was incarcerated for killing babies in abortion clinics, even though he found them to be born alive. My mother always, always said just because someone is the same race, or color as you, it does not mean you can always trust them, especially when you are dealing with a black person wo do not love themselves…

It’s almost as if the black people who were born in the south are never given a chance to be happy and their children are never happier. My parents were born in the south and they were sharecroppers, so they had to pick cotton. Not too many people can honestly say their parents were born in the south, and I DO not care how old they are. They might say their grandparents were, but not too many people can relate to the south like I can. I almost feel like God has something against some black people depending on how they look or where they come from. Many people who are light skin African Americans or white people feel like they deserve to live better than I do, and should afford more opportunities than I should because they are either white, or have lighter skin tone. I have heard many black people stand proud and say because they are light skin someone did this or that for them, and they are also easy on the eye. What he or she is really saying is it’s a plus or benefit to be a black man or woman and be light skinned living in America. White privilege is almost the same as light skinned privilege. This light skin dark skin goes far back as slavery. These were times when the light skin Negro was probably an off spring of the white slave masters, because he raped a Black woman. The dark skin black person was not good enough to work in the house; He only deserved to work in the field picking cotton. We talk about being saved and going to heaven, but I believe as much as some black people have gone through, what loving God would not give them the key to heaven automatically? Sometimes I feel like no one is fair and good, and definitely not the white Jesus who we have been worshipping. Putting dark skin people in the field and light skin people in the Master’s house gave birth to hate in America among not just white people, but African Americans. It makes me want to just weep and shake my head with disgust. This skin game is the saddest condition ever. It is also a condition that seems like will never end. Again, I hope you will enjoy reading The Skin Game. This book is also dedicated to Janet Jackson, because the title actually came from a song she wrote with the same title, The Skin Game, and the song also reflected on racism, and discrimination in this society.

Many of my Caucasian readers may consider me a racist, and if they do let me explain, even though some people believe racism goes both ways, well it does not. Racism is about power, and who has control over someone, and who is able to prevent someone, anyone from obtaining anything good in life, and no person of color has that power, because the White race is the majority and has control over most in this county, we call America. It is also prejudice and discrimination directed toward someone because you feel your race is superior. In order to have superiority you would have to have stolen, or earned power in order to make you higher in rank, or status. You would also have to be in a position where you could affect someone life by preventing them the opportunity to receive anything. Also, racism got started way back during slavery when White Americans thought because they were superior, they should make African Americans inferior of them, therefore not only remove what they had as a people, but also remove what others, such as Native Americans had too. For all these reasons a Black person could never be considered a racist, but only have a disliking toward a group of people, which could be a reaction stemmed from being beaten down and done wrong for so many centuries, and even today. This book is based solely on my opinion, extensive research, and experiences. The facts in this book are not meant to take away anyone beliefs, I just want the human race, meaning all people to know the unvarnished, and factual truth. The mere fact we have races is because we have racism in America. Truly, we are all a part of the human race, but due to racism, Caucasian people feel they are superior to other people of color, most often Black people. According to history one slave owner started colorism in America, which was led by racism, and his name was Willie Lynch. Although today people are calling the Willis Lynch letter a myth, and they are saying he never existed, however whether he existed or not the same rule was applied to our lives as slaves, and as Black people today. Even though many scholars say the letter was fabricated, we still to this day carry out all the negative rituals of that particular letter. Today we still hate each other based on our skin tone, and today we still have no regards for older people, and today in the Black community women have been made to hate Black men, or have a disregard for Black men, and vice versa. Even though we do not have the name of the slave owner who started this teaching we know that it was adopted in slavery, and it is still hurting us, and holding us back as a race of people today. Today we also have what is called white supremacy, and many African Americans have accepted white supremacy as a way of life. White supremacy means that a group of people, and in this case, it would be white people, who believe they are superior to any other group of people particularly Black people. Many black people look up to white people without any reason other than they are white, and have obtained white supremacy. They also believe because they are white, they should dominate society, and all this is because of the color of their skin, but it all stems from having been in the position to enslave Black people. There never has been anything good about slavery, because it is the highest form of hate you could ever bestow upon another human being. People always say we are a forgetful people, but what is there to forget when it comes to all of the injustices we have had to suffer during slavery, and post slavery. I cannot for the life of me understand why we have Black people who act as Uncle Toms. I will mention in this book that a Black man founded Chicago, and his name was John Baptiste Point DuSable, and during this wonderful, and enjoyable time Chicago was Black people’s heaven. People who did not live in Chicago were inspired to visit Chicago more than such places like Paris. We owned everything from barber shops to law firms, and doctor offices, and department stores, but White people came in to stir up racism among Black people, and we lost everything! Today Black folks can barely afford to live in Chicago when we founded it. No other group has been treated as garbage, and godawful as African American people have. Now white America are looking at every other ethnic group as people who are the victims, such as Hispanics, Arabs, and white women, and they are categorizing us as minorities. We are the most victimized people there is. Black people must act in concert, and group thinking if we are going to ever succeed at anything in this country. We need to do away with voting until it benefits us as a people in this country. We must also demand respect from everyone. We fought for the right to vote because we believed we could make a difference for us as a people, but it never does make any difference in our lives. We thought for sure because Barak Obama was a Black man he would do something, anything to make our lives better, and he did not, because we said in so many words all he had to do was be Black, and because of that no other president will never do anything to benefit Black people. This is the reason we have Donald Trump, and there will be more like Trump to come. The Ball was in former President Obama court to make a positive change in Black lives when he became president, but he chose not to.

Chapter 1

My Narrative

The only way I feel I could get the ultimate respect in this world from White people and Black people is to gain massive success. Unfortunately, the universe has never pulled for me. You think if you are kind to people, they will return the kindness to you, but many people have mistaken my kindness for weakness. The bible says in Luke 6-31, And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. Even the bible itself makes it kind of one-sided, because what it says is keep being kind, because it’s how you wish to be treated, but what if you live your whole life waiting on kind gestures, friendly kisses, favorable people, or a receptive ear, and you never get it, will you just be a fool, or an easy mark? Even if your dreams do not come true, I believe you still should be a dreamer. My parent’s problem was, I really do not think they had dreams of a better life here on earth. Because this world discusses how much education and political connection one must have, I believe my parents, like many people give up on a happy life. Because we Aries are the first sign of the zodiac, we have a leadership way about us, but I have never had the opportunity to experience leadership. I have always believed the myth Jesus did not respect me, and for this reason I left the church, and stop fellowshipping with other believers. I had been faithful to the church for over 20 years, and I left because I realized Jesus refused to grant me his favor if he existed.

I have been in companies where women were in complete authority over everyone, but it seemed like mostly over me. From experience, I feel whenever a woman is in power you get a lot of personal problems, and people being treated poorly. I am not bias of women, because I have met a few very intelligent hardworking, and fair women, but most of them I had had the opportunity to work with, take everything personal, and many leads by their emotions. I have not seen enough effective leadership in order to not have an unbiased opinion of many of them. Many of them have gotten off on power and control, and has abused that power. If I found out, by way of a prediction, or something positive happening in my life, God loves black men like he does any other people, I would be totally surprised! When I look at the prison systems that are full of Black men, but a lack of men presence is in our colleges, and schools teaching our children, and being a mentor to our young black men, I can’t help but think there is a bigger problem at hand, and a higher being has the ultimate control over it.

Chicago has never had a black Mayor since Mayor Harold Washington, which to this date he has been described, called, and labeled as the best Mayor Chicago ever had. He was fair, and had a love for all people, including Black people, and he really and truly cared about a positive change. For Harold it was not just sitting in a political office, looking good, and collecting a check, he had a since of pride for himself, and Chicago citizens. In 2019 we are about to get another black Mayor and the first Black woman mayor, which is very favorable for Black people, but it also raises a question for me, why does it have to be a woman. Let me just say Willie Wilson ran twice, but this time I believe he came in fourth place, because the vote was split, because there were other black people running, which was obviously the plan. Many people have complained about his inability to speak effectively, or act as a good orator, but I truly believe he cared about people, and would have made an excellent Mayor for Chicago. Also another sister who was on the ballet is from the west side of Chicago, and very knowledgeable on politics, but got hardly any votes, and it was said because she had some financial issues that needed to be cleared up, but I credit it to the fact that she was endorsed by Chance the rapper, and the fact that she spoke the truth. She also spoke about fairness and equality for all people in Chicago, including the west side of Chicago, which so many people lose sight of. This alone is what caused her vote’s downturn. Whenever anyone has a plan to change things, and those things may help Black people, you are looked at skeptically. This is the very reason why so many people have decided not to vote, and it’s because they believe their votes do not count, or make a difference. I take it, she was also too ethnic looking, dark skinned, and again no one wants to see a Black woman who looks too ethnic representing anything positive in this society, especially when she would also be the mayor for Caucasian people. The people, I guess chose to make two Black women the final candidates because they looked the part. They are both light skinned, and from what I heard through the grapevine, are in interracial relationships also. Chicago is just too racist of a city to have ever allowed, Willie Wilson, and Amara Enyia, to become mayor even if one of them were the best choices when it came to integrity, and respect for all people. Colorism and undoubtedly racism will always be an issue in this country, and when we do get a piece of the success pie, you best believe, it will be someone who they want to see have it. White people want to see someone, anyone who could pass as a token Black person. We get all happy when someone who is considered Black, get a higher office, or something, but we fail to think about who the person really is, or even do research on the person. Again, my mother has always stated just because they are Black, it does not mean they are for you! We play a part in racism because we think like this, and we never see people for who they really are, a wolf in sheep clothing. I do not just want to see someone who is Black, but for me the person has to be an African American who can empathize with the suffering, or wrong doing of other African people. If you can’t empathize with other black people, you might as well be Caucasian. Some of these people values are the same as republicans, and those values are based on the rich getting richer, and the poor staying poor. I meditate about the day we open up our eyes as a people and see what is truly going on in America, maybe then, and only then could we come together as a people, and rely on each other by owning, and controlling everything we possess. Only then will we be empowered! I mentioned a prominent slave owner before I started my chapters, and the name I mentioned was Willie Lynch. Willie Lynch was said to be a slave owner who promoted racism to the point where he wanted to make slaves go against each other, and this is when colorism, and discrimination was born amongst Black people. He made light skinned go against dark skinned slaves, the old go against the young, and the males would go up against the females, and he said if this method be used on the slaves, slaves will forever be controlled for centuries, and centuries, and still to this very day we as a race of people are brainwashed to thinking as such. This is the very reason even today light skinned people feel they are superior to dark skinned Black people, and even to this day we still have the skin game, and Blacks being inferior to Whites. You would think if you knew something was done to keep you fighting, and at odds with each other, you would do everything in your power to offset it, meaning Black people would love each other just because someone during slavery conducted an experiment on us to make us hate each other as a race of people, and it was based solely on colorism. Today this method is how they control us, because we are so busy fighting each other based on our gender, tone of our skin, and age difference, we cannot see the bigger picture is being put before us. Black people seem to be the easiest people to brainwash, even when the facts are being put before us. We are also the most forgiven people in this nation. We are the only people who do everything in our power to forget about what was done to us during slavery. Jews will never, ever forget about the holocaust, because they are keen enough to know it might just happen again. You have Native Americans who refuse to let any other race, Europeans in particular adopt their children, whether their children are orphans, or not. This is how much other nationalities think about their off springs. We as a people could give a shit about our culture, history, or anything, and this is the very reason why we praise interracial relationships. It really is because we hate ourselves so much, and we do not respect each other. I refuse to accept, and carry forward anything Willie Lynch instructed slave owners to do over four hundred years ago, because I am a Black man who refuse to be brainwashed by others racism in America. Many are saying the Willie Lynch letter was not true, and he too was fabricated, but someone still used this as a control mechanism during slavery, whether his name was Willie, or not it worked.

Shawn Corey Carter, best known as Jay-Z the rapper said it best in a song, Light nigga, dark nigga, rich nigga, poor nigga, house nigga, field nigga, still a nigga. In more appropriate words you are still an African American regardless, and looked at as a Black person. You can appear to be whomever you want to be.

Chapter 2

Why the Woman

The black man has been hated, scorned and discriminated against in this country for centuries. It started in slavery, because men were beaten, taken from their homes, lynched from trees, and killed. Black women saw this abuse of their husbands, and for this reason today we have so many black women who hold so tightly to their sons. Their daughters can leave home and do whatever, but she protects her son with all she has, because psychologically she knows the danger out there that awaits him. If you think just because you are fair skinned, or mixed, the danger does not include you, your wrong. The black man is treated worse at jobs by supervisors, management, and administration. Black men are blamed for things, hated, and rarely even hired for the jobs to start with. I work in higher education and you could count the black men I see on a daily basis. Companies talk about diversity, but whenever we choose to heir a man, he is usually a Hispanic, or white male. I rarely see Asians males get hired either.

There is a sole explanation why black women choose to go to church and not black men, and it’s because they see God as their protector, and he is a man. Many women do not have a good man who won’t let them down or fail them, therefore they come to church and rely on the one man, and God who they feel will be there for them no matter what, Jesus. I do not care what nonsense we hear women talking about as far as not needing a man, because it’s not true. A woman needs a man, and this is the reason she goes to church. A man needs power, and leadership, but oftentimes he does not get it, even in the church. It is in a woman’s nature to want a man, and someone who could protect her. This is the reason why society would rather give the jobs to the women, because they know a man needs power, and needs to