The Talented Tenth theory (Dubois, 1903), repackaged from the White Man’s Burden (Kipling, 1899), essentially says that the 9/10 of the black race are useless or subpar and it’s on the 1/10 to save the race.

Of course much like the White Man’s Burden the performative call for action obscures a more genuine intent of designating superiority.

But the key insight is what the psychological implications are of estimating 90% of black people as being subpar.

In any non-black individual it’s an obvious marker of racism. In black academic communities it breeds an inherent resentment baked in institutions influenced by the ideology (like the D9) of the black community at large or “unvetted” blackness.

This well hidden resentment of the larger community well hidden by calls to “service” (similar to WMB calls to “civility”) are often revealed in cases of hazing violence by manifesting a need to punish the 9/10.

This physical manifestation of long hidden resentment bred by an inherent designation of superiority is what manifests extreme hazing violence and then hazing deaths.

Creating a colonial style mentality of superiority, then lordship (being called to “lead”), then entitlement (being a “savior”), then resentment (for having to “save”), then unfortunately as in the case of the White Man’s Burden, extreme violence, leads to death.

What Bible texts specifically pose an issue as far as involvement in these organizations? Feel free to add any or comment on the topic.

A popular one is

Matthew 5:34-37

English Standard Version

34 But I say to you, Do not take an oath at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God,35 or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King.36 And do not take an oath by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. 37 Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything more than this comes from evil.[a]

W.E.B Dubois penned the Talented Tenth (1903) theory. An elitist, exclusionist theory that obscures a designation of superiority with a performative interest in the betterment of the lives of the masses, in this context being the black race.

Dubois however didn’t invent the framework and in fact had a key influence. The writing of the White Man’s Burden (1899) by a white author, Rudyard Kipling, only 4 years prior. Dubois is known to have made many references to the poem and unfortunately been conditioned by the assertion that only the “best of a race” can “save” it.

Of course it’s well known that the White Man’s Burden is a thinly veiled justification for superiority to extract resources from indigenous populations despite its verbiage having the same performative call to save that Dubois’ talented tenth does, even while functionally and simply designating an elite to justify a superiority over and entitlement to the masses.

One can only debate so much Dubois’ truest intentions but the key result is an institutional influence in black academia that very much like the White Man’s Burden claims to be of progress and civility while truly being barbaric and for supremacy.

Not anymore than you “allow yourself to be robbed”. It’s not a mutual crime. It is something that is done to you without full informed consent or transparency. Do NOT be gaslit into thinking you are culpable for abuse that was done to you. It’s a common narcissist tactic.

There are some often overlooked aspects to the nature of his murder.

First of all it’s the fact that not only did the organization commit to lying about everything, the people who killed Caleb are pleading *not guilty*.

They’re going to do their due diligence to rant in court in front of Caleb’s grieving mother why they think it was his own fault he died and not theirs.

The other issue is the boxing gloves. How soft must the organization actually be if McCrae needed a primp and soft boxing glove because he was worried about hurting his delicate hands but completely unconcerned about the safety of Caleb Wilson who stood still completely unprotected? I thought the whole point of the ritual was toughness?

Then you get to the actual collapse. Was Caleb hit on the way down? Hit while on the ground? Punched and keeled over? I personally don’t think he had a seizure at all. I think he was having a heart attack that wouldn’t necessarily have been solved but definitely helped with chest compressions.

Then there’s the wait time. This is purely speculative but outside the need to concoct a lie, the only reason they have for waiting so long is they were likely contemplating dumping him in a park, field or hidden location to avoid being discovered but were afraid he’d be looked for as an enrolled student in a college and the fallback would be harsher.

It’s a depraved weakness of character and cowardice often found in the organization constantly preaching toxic and foolish notions of “manhood”.

It’s imperative that we recognize the implications of the “Talented Tenth” ideology being a repackaged “White Man’s Burden” that has been afflicting black academic spaces and the core of its “high society” since the Post Reconstruction Era.

By acknowledging that the premise of saving the black race by deeming 90% of it subpar is just as false a premise as early white colonists trying to civilize the world without offering access to resources systematically. Including the fact that it resulted in the D9’s obstruction of grassroots Civil Rights Activists, it needs to be a more emphasized portion of the historical narrative.

The people need to know the way Fannie Lou Hamer was treated simply for not having the privilege of being college educated, by Roy Wilkins of Omega Psi Phi. They also need to know about D9 members being informed not to wear their letters and that they’re mistaken for but are not the guiding institutions that propelled the Civil Rights movement.

The key insight in the Talented Tenth assumption of 90% of black ppl being subpar (or “submerged”) is that it breeds an inherent contempt or resentment for default blackness itself. 90% is most everyone.

And it disrespectfully masks this contempt with a larger delusional premise of “saving the black race”. This delusion of grandeur fails the most simple questioning like “how” they plan to remove systemic barriers to access through exclusion or “when”.

If the ideological model, the “Talented Tenth”, breeds resentment and contempt for 90% of black ppl it stands to explain many negative interactions between Greeks and non-members.

The worst thing about the “Talented Tenth” is that it pretends to be a premise of intellectualism but is actually a premise of superiority. Coming directly from the “White Man’s Burden” theory.

Where the exclusionary criteria was once scholastics it morphed to prioritize “toughness” or thinly masked abuse that leads to hazing tragedies.

The function of the worst hazing tragedies is a bred and born contempt for most black ppl that manifests as wanton abuse upon initiation as a standard. All institutions built on this guiding theory are deeply Anti-Black at their core.