Science vs Spook: BPSC 101 - 50 Lessons in Black American Political Science and Culture "To understand is to go underneath." Science vs Spook audits the 1995-2025 period in Black American politics with intelligence-grade precision. This revolutionary framework provides 50 lessons in detecting systemic deception and building a Black American political renaissance using proven efficiency principles. For readers who seek a scientific orientation to political understanding—operating on a meta-level above standard Red vs. Blue partisan conventions, analyzing the system's architecture rather than its theater. The 30-year audit applies Wall Street financial analysis and intelligence tradecraft, teaching pattern recognition, conflict detection, and predictive modeling—enabling you to forecast betrayals and political inefficiencies before they happen. What if you could predict presidential policies by analyzing cabinet appointments? What if you could identify compromised Black leaders by mapping their conflicts of interest? What if Howard University's political science chair admitted his department teaches nothing about corruption and lobbying—the actual mechanics of power? 10 Sample Lessons: Lesson 1: Artificial Intelligence Is Political - Why AI is this generation's gunpowder, and how mastering it creates massive opportunities for Black American political and economic development. The paradox: same AI threatening jobs creates exponential organizing capacity for those locked out of capital. Lesson 7: Obama Wasn't Free - Why treating Obama as "our president" instead of "the president" may have reduced our negotiating leverage—90%+ Black support with minimal policy risk-taking shows how emotional investment in symbolism weakens strategic positioning. Would it have been better if Black Americans treated the first Kenyan-American President white? Lesson 12: K Street Capitalism - American Politics Is a Business - Politics as transactional system where loyalty without payment gets you nothing; following the money reveals true priorities Lesson 17: Elijah Muhammad Was an Economic Genius - How a $100M empire in 1975 ($475M today) with farms, banks, international trade, and 11,000 employees demonstrates real institution-building vs. symbolic firsts Lesson 25: Cabinet Architecture As Predictive - Why cabinet appointments forecast policy more accurately than campaign promises; reading power signals before policies are announced Lesson 28: AIPAC - Political Groomers - How systematic HBCU student cultivation (all-expenses-paid trips, professional networks) creates decades of political debt—learning to identify "AIPAC'd out" politicians Lesson 30: Conflicts of Interest as Predictive Signs of Devilishment - Mathematical framework for detecting betrayal before it happens by mapping financial relationships and power positions Lesson 40: Darity and Mullen on Reparations - The $10-12 trillion calculation to close the $850,000 per household wealth gap—transforming moral appeals into economic science with lineage-based eligibility Lesson 44: The Federal Reserve Is Key - How Fed policy systematically benefits asset holders over wage earners, with Black unemployment running 2x white rates used to define "full employment" Lesson 48: The Six-Hour Dollar in Black Community Myth - Debunking the viral statistic with zero credible sources—teaching verification discipline to distinguish evidence from emotionally satisfying urban legends For readers ready to replace hope with pattern recognition, partisan loyalty with strategic leverage, and symbolic victories with institutional power. Kirkus Reviews, November 2025- Martin discusses Black American political realities.
In his debut work of nonfiction, the author immediately defines his terms and differentiates between established, demonstrable science (including political science) and what he refers to as "spook," defined here as "imaginary beliefs in people, leaders, and concepts that are far from what is real or scientific." The Black American political renaissance Martin would like to see, one grounded in reality rather than the hope of "waiting for a white Jesus in the sky," needs more science and less symbolism, he argues—more analysis and less spook.
One key tool for this renaissance, per the author, is artificial intelligence, which, he posits, "could help Black America leapfrog institutional and financial barriers"; Martin asserts that the technology is so important that "there is no political path into a political renaissance in Black America without AI."
One of Martin's primary concerns is financial reparations for the descendants of Black slaves brought to North America in chains. "When politicians offer us cultural or identity-based recognition," the author writes, "we must demand economic transformation." Martin uses science and AI-guided calculations to make his case that all of the descendants of Black slaves are owed very substantial reparations in