I've tried attacking this topic a few times over the course of the past few days, in light of the comments said to have been made by former NBA head coach George Karl in a soon to be released book, titled Furious George. The comments were made in reference to Carmelo Anthony, J.R. Smith and retired player, Kenyon Martin and the time they all spent together as members of the Denver Nuggets. Karl said quite few things but he flashpoint comment was this:
"Kenyon and Carmelo carried two big burdens: all that money and no father to show them how to act like a man."
Shots. Fired.
Carmelo basically ignored the comments and took the high road. Kenyon Martin? Not so much. J.R. Smith said his peace but mainly chose to reach out in support of his former teammates, calling them his "brothers". While this has become heavy fodder for beat writers, reporters and sports TV and talk radio pundits, there is one glaring fact that many didn't pick up on, at least from the reactions of 'Melo and J.R.. That fact? Black America is over the white American perspective of who we are.
Now don't get me wrong. This doesn't mean that these comments and others like them are irrelevant to us. Not in the slightest. LeBron James' response to Phil Jackson's "posse" comments, in regards to him and his business partners, who just happen to be his childhood friends, shows that. But the white perspective is no longer relevant, at least in the scope of the accomplishments that we see from people who look like us. And while we are about to enter into a new year that will see Donald Trump elected president, we can look back on the last 8 years of the presidency of our first Black president and the things he was able to accomplish and know that, while we haven't completely "won" when it comes to the issues that continue to face us as Black people, we can stop caring about how white people, who still hold on to the white supremacy structure in this country, perceive us. We already know, and we will continue to fight against it where it is still necessary. But it will no longer hold us down. It will no longer hold us captive.
I chose to blog about this for one important reason. In my last blog I spoke about a Speaking Down Barriers "Healing Us" discussion that focused on how society views Black families. This, ironically taps right into that vein. We've grown accustomed to how white society views us. There have been times when our individuality wasn't encouraged, when we were advised to blend in and not be different. But culturally, we are very different. So for us to blend in, for us not to be different, that would be going against everything inside of us as a people and as individuals. Everything we have become has been based on us embracing the things that make us different. But what, you may ask, does this have to do with what George Karl said about his former players? It's the perceived and assumed rhetoric that upstanding young men have their fathers to guide them. This would be widely associated with what the American family is supposed to be. But in the Black community, where the number of young men who grow up without their fathers are still staggering, unguided young Black men is not a product of that. And "guided" young white men who come from a family where the father is present aren't by products of that environment either. The fact of the matter is, whatever struggles that George Karl had with Anthony, Smith and Martin during their time together had absolutely nothing to do with their fathers not being involved in their lives. Kenyon Martin said that such comments were an insult to his mother, Anthony's mother and single mothers "everywhere". I can't help but agree. To overcome the odds that these men did, not just from being raised by a single parent but also from the places they came from, shouldn't be overlooked. LeBron James often says that he relates to a lot of the youth that are counted out due to where they are from because he was supposed to be counted out, too. But the families that these men had were strengthened by whatever adversity they encountered, real and perceived. And these men grew from literal boys to men under the scope of assumptive white authority figures who had already cast them off just because of they way they looked or the way they responded to the white power structure, in the NBA and in society. Yes, these players didn't have fathers to show them anything, but they had mothers, aunts, cousins, grandmothers, grandfathers, uncles and neighborhood families and mentors to help guide them to a place where they became household names in a sport dominated my men who look like them and come from the same places they did. The ones who last 10+ years are special and there is no disputing that. Carmelo is in his 13th year as a top tier player, J.R. Smith is in his 12th year and just won a championship with LeBron and the Cavs and Kenyon Martin managed to play for 15 years, despite his reputation as a dirty player.
But we're talking about basketball players, here. All parties involved, including George Karl are millionaires and live in somewhat of a bubble. But the white perspective exists outside that bubble as well. When it comes to the issues that we are facing such as police brutality, economic and social injustices, political disparities, mass incarceration and so forth, that white perspective weighs in heavily on all those accounts. We are also looking at a situation where social, economic and racial "battle lines", as it were, are being drawn, as we can see with Trump preparing for his inauguration and the way his supporters show their allegiance to him and his ideals. In the past, the opportunities to close the wealth gap for young Black men laid in music and sports, for the most part. Nowadays, our youth are blazing their own paths and have to continue to do so. Young Black entrepreneurship is on the rise. Those who choose to take the path of music and sports are enhancing their brand and becoming businessmen in the process. Black women are staking their claims in the corporate world, showing that they are just as innovative and creative as their male counterparts, Black and white. Our communities are spawning leaders in activism, awareness and keeping our school age children in the loop for educational opportunities that, otherwise, they would think are not there for them. Where we come from is no longer an obstacle for us, it is our launch pad. We appreciate where we come from for it is our heritage, our legacy. Those individuals who filled in the gaps that may have existed in our lives gave us the faith in ourselves to get to where we want to go. What is perceived as a disadvantage to those who can't understand how we made it from whatever struggles we encountered, we use as strength and we dismiss their perspective. It has no relevance to us, no meaning whatsoever. Their opinions of us hold no weight.
So George Karl, I hope your book and the negative, asinine and misguided comments you made about the men you coached somehow provides motivation to the young Black girl or boy, young Black man or woman who has a coach, teacher, guidance counselor, classmate, boss, professor, neighbor, co-worker, etc. that thinks like you. I hope when they read it, they see how successful the men you spoke so negatively about are. I hope they look you up and research how unsuccessful you were as a coach in building real relationships with the men that played for your teams. I hope they learn of how you tried to bully your way back into coaching and ran into DeMarcus Cousins, arguably the best center in the game right now, who wasn't having any of what you were selling and how you were eventually fired...again. I hope they see all of this and realize how irrelevant the white perspective is these days in accordance to the dreams and goals they have set out from themselves.
“Know from whence you came. If you know whence you came, there are absolutely no limitations to where you can go.”
-James Baldwin
Monday, December 26, 2016
Wednesday, December 21, 2016
Rejecting the American Dream
What is the American Dream to me? I honestly couldn't tell you because I don't know if I ever dreamed to attain something that was never for me to attain. I know what other people's version of the American Dream is and I know that a Black man doesn't make an appearance in theirs. How do I know? Because the "Make America Great Again" version of whatever the American Dream is doesn't include anyone non-white and non-wealthy.
Read those second set of words again. "Non-wealthy". Yes, this includes white people who aren't millionaires. Electing Donald Trump to be president was America giving a businessman free reign to use his position, not for the benefit of everyday Americans, but to benefit his own personal business interests here and abroad and to benefit those with whom he shares a common interest with. That common interest? Wealth. You can see that by the appointments he has already made for his upcoming administration. None of his picks, aside from choosing Nikki Haley as UN Ambassador, speak of his intention to continue the momentum that the Obama administration had gained in trying to help the working poor and middle class. Most of Trump's political rhetoric has been based on repealing those efforts, including the Affordable Care Act which provided health care options for those who typically wouldn't be able to afford it. His plans for the continued boost our economy has seen under Obama are cloudy at best and his viewpoints (and, again, appointments) are clearly not empathetic towards immigrants, non-white citizens or those struggling to put food on their table everyday. Trump is like the complete embodiment of what the Republican agenda has been over the past eight years, except it is exponentially more extreme. It is unapologetic, brash, arrogant and exclusionary. And apparently, that is what America wants. And that is what America has now, a unscrupulous businessman as their president.
So what is left for all of those on the outside of what the "American Dream" was supposed to mean for them? To be honest, nothing. I say that because now, especially for Black people, there needs to be a redefinition of what it is that we dream for. A cookie cutter version of the American dream used to be a house with a white picket fence, 2.5 children, a dog and a nice car or two. While many Americans, of color and otherwise, had been able to achieve that in the past, even that may no longer be accessible to those still in pursuit of it. At least not in the conventional way of going to work everyday, saving some money and planning out your financial future. In one of the recent community "Healing Us" gatherings that I attended through Speaking Down Barriers, we discussed how even the traditional way families are viewed and constructed, especially Black families, never traditionally fit into that American Dream mold. It is a construct that wasn't built for us, so there is really no way we can succeed by trying to do it the way those who it was constructed for do it. I've worked a regular job ever since I was 15 (aside from the years between 19 and 20 when I volunteered) and I've never had a time where I didn't live from check to check. Now as a younger person, I made some mistakes with my money that I wish I could go back and correct. But as an older person with bills and desires to be financially stable, the check to check lifestyle is consistently the space in which I operate. It has become clearer to me more over the past four years that working to achieve this American Dream, that was never constructed for me, the way those for whom it was constructed for works to achieve it is an effort in futility.
Case in point: At one point, say in the mid to late 90's, if a person was making around $50,000 living in a major city, people could say that they were doing well. If that same person was married to someone making close to the same and they had kids, then that family would have been said to be doing pretty well. Fast forward to 2016-17 and those same salary numbers no longer hold the security they once did. There are families that would be considered working middle class that worry about their jobs, they worry about how they are going to pay for their children's tuition, how they are going to combat rising insurance premiums. Now, consider a person who makes less than $30,000 a year. Consider that same person with less opportunities to advance at their current place of employment unless they attain a degree. Consider that they would have to hold another part-time job in an effort to make ends meet. Consider that would more than likely not leave them any time to pursue any other endeavors outside of working, just to be able to live a somewhat normal life. Is that what the American Dream is for folks who aren't extremely wealthy? If so, then you can have that dream and I will make my own.
In reading Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me, an open letter to his son, he also spoke of rejecting the American Dream. He spoke of "a rapture that comes only when you can no longer be lied to, when you have rejected the Dream." I personally think there is an entire society, an entire system that we as Black people and other people of color have to reject in order to have our own breakthrough, not just financially but also to our own personal freedoms. There is so much culture, so much talent, so much ambition, so much genius that is never cultivated because there have been limitations placed on us from the start. Crystal Irby, the facilitator at the "Healing Us" gathering, talked about how our parents may have been trying to point us in the right direction just as their parents tried o do the same. Our parents and their parents were trying to assimilate into a society that was chasing this American Dream that was sold to them as a possibility. And some of us may have been able to attain that Dream, but many have had to overcome great odds to do so. Chris Rock once said that he lives in a neighborhood in which the houses are worth millions of dollars. There were four Black people that lived there at the time and they were fellow celebrities, including him. These celebrities, along with himself, were at the top of their respective professions. They were famous. He went on to joke (maybe) that his next door neighbor was a dentist. A dentist. The bit goes on to speculate whether or not he was an alright dentist, probably not the top dentist in his profession. But yet, that dentist could afford to live in a community amongst four well known Black celebrities. So to be able to attain, somewhat, what society has constructed as this Dream that is so-called available to everyone, as a person of color, you have to be at the top of your profession, or at least better than the average dentist.
While some of this is a little lighthearted, the truth of the matter is that we have to blaze our own paths, write our own tickets, create our own Dream. We have to channel our gifts, instill in our youth the reality that this society holds and understand that all of this is nothing new. We have leaders who are dedicated to building up our next generation of leaders. These are not politicians or celebrities. These are community activists, founders of non-profit organizations designed to unite our communities, other organizations that also support artists, writers, poets, musicians, etc. These are young ones empowered by their own journeys that want to empower others that come from the same communities they do. These are the people who will forge the paths for those have rejected this false American Dream, who know what "Make America Great Again" really means, who know that we, as a people who have been marginalized but yet still remain, are what makes this country of ours great. Our successes are not defined by what society dictates they are. The Black Influence on pretty much everything American defines our successes, it defines who we are and where we are going. The Dream that includes us will be different to each and every one of us because it will be based on the experiences that we as individuals have lived through. Our separate paths to it will be different as well because it will be based on a construct of our own design as individuals and as a people. But it will be a realistic Dream to attain. Just wait and see.
Read those second set of words again. "Non-wealthy". Yes, this includes white people who aren't millionaires. Electing Donald Trump to be president was America giving a businessman free reign to use his position, not for the benefit of everyday Americans, but to benefit his own personal business interests here and abroad and to benefit those with whom he shares a common interest with. That common interest? Wealth. You can see that by the appointments he has already made for his upcoming administration. None of his picks, aside from choosing Nikki Haley as UN Ambassador, speak of his intention to continue the momentum that the Obama administration had gained in trying to help the working poor and middle class. Most of Trump's political rhetoric has been based on repealing those efforts, including the Affordable Care Act which provided health care options for those who typically wouldn't be able to afford it. His plans for the continued boost our economy has seen under Obama are cloudy at best and his viewpoints (and, again, appointments) are clearly not empathetic towards immigrants, non-white citizens or those struggling to put food on their table everyday. Trump is like the complete embodiment of what the Republican agenda has been over the past eight years, except it is exponentially more extreme. It is unapologetic, brash, arrogant and exclusionary. And apparently, that is what America wants. And that is what America has now, a unscrupulous businessman as their president.
So what is left for all of those on the outside of what the "American Dream" was supposed to mean for them? To be honest, nothing. I say that because now, especially for Black people, there needs to be a redefinition of what it is that we dream for. A cookie cutter version of the American dream used to be a house with a white picket fence, 2.5 children, a dog and a nice car or two. While many Americans, of color and otherwise, had been able to achieve that in the past, even that may no longer be accessible to those still in pursuit of it. At least not in the conventional way of going to work everyday, saving some money and planning out your financial future. In one of the recent community "Healing Us" gatherings that I attended through Speaking Down Barriers, we discussed how even the traditional way families are viewed and constructed, especially Black families, never traditionally fit into that American Dream mold. It is a construct that wasn't built for us, so there is really no way we can succeed by trying to do it the way those who it was constructed for do it. I've worked a regular job ever since I was 15 (aside from the years between 19 and 20 when I volunteered) and I've never had a time where I didn't live from check to check. Now as a younger person, I made some mistakes with my money that I wish I could go back and correct. But as an older person with bills and desires to be financially stable, the check to check lifestyle is consistently the space in which I operate. It has become clearer to me more over the past four years that working to achieve this American Dream, that was never constructed for me, the way those for whom it was constructed for works to achieve it is an effort in futility.
Case in point: At one point, say in the mid to late 90's, if a person was making around $50,000 living in a major city, people could say that they were doing well. If that same person was married to someone making close to the same and they had kids, then that family would have been said to be doing pretty well. Fast forward to 2016-17 and those same salary numbers no longer hold the security they once did. There are families that would be considered working middle class that worry about their jobs, they worry about how they are going to pay for their children's tuition, how they are going to combat rising insurance premiums. Now, consider a person who makes less than $30,000 a year. Consider that same person with less opportunities to advance at their current place of employment unless they attain a degree. Consider that they would have to hold another part-time job in an effort to make ends meet. Consider that would more than likely not leave them any time to pursue any other endeavors outside of working, just to be able to live a somewhat normal life. Is that what the American Dream is for folks who aren't extremely wealthy? If so, then you can have that dream and I will make my own.
In reading Ta-Nehisi Coates Between the World and Me, an open letter to his son, he also spoke of rejecting the American Dream. He spoke of "a rapture that comes only when you can no longer be lied to, when you have rejected the Dream." I personally think there is an entire society, an entire system that we as Black people and other people of color have to reject in order to have our own breakthrough, not just financially but also to our own personal freedoms. There is so much culture, so much talent, so much ambition, so much genius that is never cultivated because there have been limitations placed on us from the start. Crystal Irby, the facilitator at the "Healing Us" gathering, talked about how our parents may have been trying to point us in the right direction just as their parents tried o do the same. Our parents and their parents were trying to assimilate into a society that was chasing this American Dream that was sold to them as a possibility. And some of us may have been able to attain that Dream, but many have had to overcome great odds to do so. Chris Rock once said that he lives in a neighborhood in which the houses are worth millions of dollars. There were four Black people that lived there at the time and they were fellow celebrities, including him. These celebrities, along with himself, were at the top of their respective professions. They were famous. He went on to joke (maybe) that his next door neighbor was a dentist. A dentist. The bit goes on to speculate whether or not he was an alright dentist, probably not the top dentist in his profession. But yet, that dentist could afford to live in a community amongst four well known Black celebrities. So to be able to attain, somewhat, what society has constructed as this Dream that is so-called available to everyone, as a person of color, you have to be at the top of your profession, or at least better than the average dentist.
While some of this is a little lighthearted, the truth of the matter is that we have to blaze our own paths, write our own tickets, create our own Dream. We have to channel our gifts, instill in our youth the reality that this society holds and understand that all of this is nothing new. We have leaders who are dedicated to building up our next generation of leaders. These are not politicians or celebrities. These are community activists, founders of non-profit organizations designed to unite our communities, other organizations that also support artists, writers, poets, musicians, etc. These are young ones empowered by their own journeys that want to empower others that come from the same communities they do. These are the people who will forge the paths for those have rejected this false American Dream, who know what "Make America Great Again" really means, who know that we, as a people who have been marginalized but yet still remain, are what makes this country of ours great. Our successes are not defined by what society dictates they are. The Black Influence on pretty much everything American defines our successes, it defines who we are and where we are going. The Dream that includes us will be different to each and every one of us because it will be based on the experiences that we as individuals have lived through. Our separate paths to it will be different as well because it will be based on a construct of our own design as individuals and as a people. But it will be a realistic Dream to attain. Just wait and see.
Wednesday, December 7, 2016
New Caprica
You can listen to this spoken word piece here.
land your spaceships here
these are fertile grounds for new beginnings
the soil is just fine
radioactivity
caused others to flee
because their channels weren't tuned
in to the right frequency
but somehow
you all heard the signal
a distress call
to undress the norms
and
clothe the possibilities
that exist within us all
so it's the Cylons vs. the humans, right?
man's creations vs. man
evolving
as we devolve
back to the protoplasmic goo
that we once thought we were saved from
the matrix is an old idea
so
this is the new way of thinking
fuck pills
you gotta plant seeds in this fertile soil
so that the Earth's fruit can grow
feeling like Justin Blackburn
we can do anything
say anything
move mountains with our minds
if only because we realize we can
so what are your limitations?
If you're thinking right
you realize you have none
you realize you have none
you realize you have none
not even the one you see everyday
'cus mirrors lie to you
but your eyes never do
so can you trust your reflection
if you catch it looking back at you
from oceans?
That's not man made creation
so the reflection is natural
not fabricated by one's own false perception
of what "real" is
fall out of love
and fall into your feelings
because love is just a word
but your feelings can be exposed
or
stowed away for safe keeping
so
plant seed and keep reaping
what you have sown
keep wearing what you have sewn
with hands that were made to create
were made to touch
were made to feel electric energy
pass between you and her
her and him
her and her
him and him
get your mind out of that box
and into your spaceship
and land where the roses grow
not from concrete
but from fertile soils of your mind
begin again if you have to
even if you don't feel
like you have the energy to
fuck new year's resolutions
make revolutions
that revolves around dreams
around stars
around suns that releases its rays
upon you
restoring your tired soul
like Kal-El after Kryptonian exposure
land your spaceships here
and embrace this rebirth of you
spirit
energy
pure.
Thank you to Marlanda "Sapient Soul" Dekine for helping record this song and for the flourish at then end!!!
land your spaceships here
these are fertile grounds for new beginnings
the soil is just fine
radioactivity
caused others to flee
because their channels weren't tuned
in to the right frequency
but somehow
you all heard the signal
a distress call
to undress the norms
and
clothe the possibilities
that exist within us all
so it's the Cylons vs. the humans, right?
man's creations vs. man
evolving
as we devolve
back to the protoplasmic goo
that we once thought we were saved from
the matrix is an old idea
so
this is the new way of thinking
fuck pills
you gotta plant seeds in this fertile soil
so that the Earth's fruit can grow
feeling like Justin Blackburn
we can do anything
say anything
move mountains with our minds
if only because we realize we can
so what are your limitations?
If you're thinking right
you realize you have none
you realize you have none
you realize you have none
not even the one you see everyday
'cus mirrors lie to you
but your eyes never do
so can you trust your reflection
if you catch it looking back at you
from oceans?
That's not man made creation
so the reflection is natural
not fabricated by one's own false perception
of what "real" is
fall out of love
and fall into your feelings
because love is just a word
but your feelings can be exposed
or
stowed away for safe keeping
so
plant seed and keep reaping
what you have sown
keep wearing what you have sewn
with hands that were made to create
were made to touch
were made to feel electric energy
pass between you and her
her and him
her and her
him and him
get your mind out of that box
and into your spaceship
and land where the roses grow
not from concrete
but from fertile soils of your mind
begin again if you have to
even if you don't feel
like you have the energy to
fuck new year's resolutions
make revolutions
that revolves around dreams
around stars
around suns that releases its rays
upon you
restoring your tired soul
like Kal-El after Kryptonian exposure
land your spaceships here
and embrace this rebirth of you
spirit
energy
pure.
Thank you to Marlanda "Sapient Soul" Dekine for helping record this song and for the flourish at then end!!!
Thursday, November 24, 2016
Between the Election and Me
"I have never had so many emotions coursing through my Black body at one time...it's hard not to view life through that lens, especially now, as a Black man who will watch as our first Black president laves office and hands over this country to the worst possible option. And the majority of the people I work with, walk past in the store, smile at in courtesy, hold my toungue when I try to help them as part of my job and they lash out at me, meet on the street through friends who just want to see the good in everyone, even some people that look like me, voted for this man. They voted for what he stood for, they voted for the hate, they voted for the disgusting things he said about womenm they voted for what he said about immigrants, they voted for America to be 'great again'. I can't help but feel like they voted against me and the people I love and care about. They voted against our children, born and unborn. They voted against equality, they voted against tolerance, they voted against progress. The women who voted for him voted against themselves, white and non-white. These are the people who say they want to make this country great again but the act of voting for a man who only ever did what was best for himself is not great or admirable. It's arrogant, it's ignorant, it's scary and it is sad. We had the choice of two evils, there is really no way to look past that. But this country voted for the greater evil in a manner that came across as vindictive, almost in a manner of vengeance for having to endure a Black man in the White House. They voted for a man because his opponent was a woman, with political credentials, mind you, even though this man had no political history at all. Because he was the only white male to chose from. There is no way I can look at this any differently because this man has dominated headlines and news programs for a year or more, clearly stating his views and never backing down from them. THIS IS THE COUNTRY MY BLACK BODY LIVES IN. I AM CLEARLY SEPARATE, UNEQUAL TO THE AGENDA OF MANY AROUND ME. I see that clearer than I thought I saw it before. I am not disappointed, I feel commissioned. I'm burning with intent and purpose. I am forever changed. More to come... #speakonitwithmaxlit #speakingdownbarriers #preparation #ready #willing #able #here #comeforme (facebook post 11/10/16, the day after Election Day).
This started out as a facebook status update but when I finished, it morphed into something more in my mind. Could it be a new spoken word piece? I don't know. But as I read it, I felt power behind the words. They were empowering. They expressed exactly how I felt, not just about Trump but also about those individuals who, seemingly, found a way to justify voting for him. I came across an article later on in the day and I felt that my feelings weren't off in any way, shape, form or fashion. It was an open letter to the Evangelical Church from a Black, middle class Evangelical Christian woman. Now I am not an Evangelical Christian by any means, but her sentiments helped me sift through some of my own feelings about what has just transpired with this election. One comment in particular stuck with me:
"Today is not the day to try and compare your feelings of eight years ago to their feelings today. Your life, your citizenship, your very existence was not minimized, marginalized or under attack; and it is not today."
This started out as a facebook status update but when I finished, it morphed into something more in my mind. Could it be a new spoken word piece? I don't know. But as I read it, I felt power behind the words. They were empowering. They expressed exactly how I felt, not just about Trump but also about those individuals who, seemingly, found a way to justify voting for him. I came across an article later on in the day and I felt that my feelings weren't off in any way, shape, form or fashion. It was an open letter to the Evangelical Church from a Black, middle class Evangelical Christian woman. Now I am not an Evangelical Christian by any means, but her sentiments helped me sift through some of my own feelings about what has just transpired with this election. One comment in particular stuck with me:
"Today is not the day to try and compare your feelings of eight years ago to their feelings today. Your life, your citizenship, your very existence was not minimized, marginalized or under attack; and it is not today."
I remember watching
the election results with friends and realizing our feelings and reactions
being very similar to the feelings and reactions of a lot of white Americans
when Obama was elected in 2008. They felt like because a Black man was taking
office, a socialist according to many of them, that their castles were about to
come crashing down. They felt threatened by the power that he had been given
and they felt betrayed by their own government. Before Obama was elected, it
was improper to speak against the office of the president. It became trendy
during the Obama administration. Today, we have Black people saying that we
have to respect the office of president, despite who holds the seat. And that
we do. But I cannot respect a man who doesn't even respect those who actually
voted for him, let alone those who didn't. The outrage on this side of things
isn't based on theory of Trump's citizenship or his hidden agenda. It isn't
based on misquotes and conspiracy theories regarding his religion. And it isn't
even wholly based on Trump as an individual, even though that carries a huge
amount of weight. The outrage is based on the fact that this man ran on a
platform of white American elitism, unabashedly. And won.
As of recent numbers, Hillary Clinton's popular vote lead over Donald Trump is around 1.7 million votes. But as we all very well know, that means
absolutely nothing when it comes to winning elections. The telling numbers in
that popular vote, though, at least to me, is the split between white Americans
with college degrees and those without. According to the Pew Research Center,
two-thirds (67%) of non-college whites backed Trump, compared with just 28% who
supported Clinton. This resulted in a 39 point advantage for Trump among this
group. This, again, may not mean much to most people but, to me, it says that
even among those who wouldn't seem to be the type of people that a legitimate
elitist agenda would be for or inclusive to them, they chose Trump over Hillary
because of biases and prejudices. Whether it was because Hillary was connected to the Obama administration as
Secretary of State or if it was just because she was a woman can't be
legitimately determined. While there were concerns over her using a private
server for confidential documents, her handling of the Benghazi situation and
funding concerns with the Clinton Foundation, she was a legitimately qualified candidate. Very flawed, but legitimate. Trump's
qualifications, or lack thereof, can't be overlooked. And neither can what he
stands for. And a voter stands for, at least some of, whatever it is that the
candidate they voted for stands for, whether we like to admit that fact or not.
And what does Trump stand for? The laundry list is well known.
How can minorities and
women as a whole not feel marginalized today? How can we not feel
like America being "great again" doesn't include us? How did some
women and even some Black people, in some cases even Democratic voters, vote
for Donald Trump? What does that say about where we have come as a nation?
Again, this isn't specifically nailing Donald Trump to the wall, even though
that would be very easy to do. And it isn't me chafing at people's right to
vote for whoever they decide to vote for. This is recognition of what the
majority of the most of the white American public feels "American
Greatness" is, even if it doesn't actually include them. And it is obvious
that a white male heterosexual dominated society is what everyone who voted for
Trump, of every race, color, creed and gender, feel this "great
America" should be.
Is that last comment too extreme? No, and I will tell you why. The election of Barack Obama to this country's highest office could have and should have been a turning point in our American history, a history that has been riddled with gross injustices, indecencies and crimes against its own people, not to mention the slaughter of the indigenous tribes of this land and the enslavement of Africans and the placing of Japanese Americans in interment camps during WWII. The fact that it polarized our country is not surprising but it seemed
as if maybe the thaw of white male supremacy in this country was, at least, beginning. But as racial and social issues were moved to the forefront of the American consciousness, as more marginalized groups began to speak out, as more and more people began to reject the American elitist agenda and began to embrace a more inclusionary one, the racist agendas of what was once thought to be an old ideology came roaring back. Black American men, woman and children became literally caught in the crosshairs of police and ordinary citizens (not to say that this started then, it just became more visible, as did the lack of justice to those responsible). Religious groups stepped up their shunning of those who didn't fit their warped agendas, American citizen or not. Children and adults that were struggling to find and establish their sexual identities were attacked, in some case violently and fatally, in ways we hadn't seen in decades. And finally, the line was drawn in dramtic fashion on Election night 2016 when Donald Trump, a man completely unqualified in many people's opinion to run the country, was elected to do just that.
Does anyone now still have issues with Colin Kaepernick or anyone else NOT standing for the national anthem?
Wednesday, November 9, 2016
We Ain't Ready: For THE Revolution
First off, I want to thank Marlanda "Sapient Soul" Dekine for putting me on to this:
Killer Mike #ABNC All Black National Conference
Second, I came across this as well:
Killer Mike #ABNC All Black National Conference/ Black Banks, Gentrification, etc.
Third, in light of the election results last night, I had to preempt a current blog post that I am working on to say a few things here on this particular topic.
America failed last night.
I am not saying this in reaction to those who voted for Donald Trump and those who may not have voted at all. I've long been wary of the electoral process and I was not too enamored with either candidate. But as a country, America failed last night because of the system that is set in place and the direction the citizens of this country has vocally, and now electorally, said that it wants to go.
Fuck every "American" that doesn't look like us (the white majority) or worship like us or live heterosexually like us or has money like us.
So we now know what the American "public" wants. Not that we didn't know already. In 2008 when Barack Obama was elected, we knew then. We knew in the crying faces of white co-workers who we may have watched the election results with, who we may have thought we were cool with. We knew it from the rhetoric that took off that moment and has continued through to this day. We knew when white people began to feel like America had failed then. We knew as our lives began to be marginalized, with killing after killing of unarmed Black men, women and children by police officers and others. We knew when Donald Trump actually became a viable candidate and we knew when all this shit that came out of his mouth was not disputed by those who supported him. We knew as some of us went to the polls yesterday and voted. We knew as we watched the results, a lot of us in disbelief. We knew as we drove home, wondering what tomorrow would bring, what it would be like at work or at school or just at the gas station or grocery store. We knew when we woke up this morning and turned on the news. We know now.
We need to also know that as a people, what Killer Mike said in the above videos is absolutely right. We aren't ready. We aren't ready for what is about to come. And we need to get ready, right now! As a people, we are on our own. This country has elected a corporate honcho with no political experience whatsoever. Remember when people said the same thing about Obama? That was supposed to be important then. People said the same thing about Hillary Clinton. It was supposed to be important then. Now, it's meaningless. Donald Trump is a money man and he has just been charged with leading our country. Some may feel that it isn't the office of president that is important, that it doesn't matter who holds the seat. Those would be the same people who thought it mattered when Obama was elected, twice. This country has put a person in office who doesn't even fake to have some sort of moral code or compass. And we all knew that already!!! That is what some have said makes him the perfect person to lead this country. Fuck diplomacy, fuck class, fuck manners, fuck morals, fuck values, fuck everything but money and fuck everyone who feels like there should be an even playing filed when it comes to race, economics, justice, education, etc. Fuck you if you aren't elite. Be poor, die, whatever. But fuck you and fuck off.
Here is something I feel we all have to be honest about. Putting all political opinions that I and the rest of us may have aside, Hillary lost to Obama and to Donald Trump because she is a woman. There are people in this country, male and female, white and otherwise who only voted for Obama because they weren't ready to see a woman of any race, political background, etc. as president of these United States. Think about this for a moment. There were actual racist white males and females who voted for a nigger because they actually felt better about a Black man being president than a white woman. This time around, across the board, people of all genders, races, sexual orientation, etc. voted for a misogynistic, racist, bigoted white male who didn't even have to have these facts outed. He touted them, reveled in the controversy and even mocked Republican voters that he knew would vote for him "just because". And now we here, a day after the worst possible scenario that anyone could think became a reality. Donald Trump is going to be the 45th president of the United States.
I saw this on a good friend of mine's facebook page a while back. I didn't watch it the first time I saw it but after watching what Killer Mike had to say about Black people not being ready, I revisited it. I'm glad I did. As a community, we really need to be on this. Take a moment to view it please.
Single Mom Grows Her Own Food and Provides for the Community
After watching that video and having seen the Killer Mike videos, I understand how unprepared I am. I am fully convinced that no good can come from what we are going to experience as a country and as a Black community over the next few years. I could be wrong but I don't think I am. I am not wealthy, nor am I anywhere close to being wealthy. I don't have the skills nor the credetials or education that can plug me into a corporate environment or any non self employed environment that can net me over $30,000 a year. I have come to the realization that economically, I am going to have to find a way to survive and without wealth, considering what we are witnessing right now, that will probably very difficult. And if this is the case for many of us, then we need to realize it as well. It is going to be up to each and every one of us, very soon, to find ways to take care of ourselves and our families without looking to the machine around us. They will not be there, they won't want to be there and they won't even feel like they have to be there. It won't be easy to figure these ways out. As Mike was saying, we have to tap into Black resources, buy land, learn to hunt and grow our own food. But most importantly, we need unity as a community. We need to start with us, as Black people. We want our youth to excel and push through the glass ceilings that society has placed above us, but our youth also need to understand that we are going to need more than an institutionalized education to survive. We are going to need each other and we are going to have to be self sustained as people and as individuals. We are going to need our own financial institutions and our own streams of income. We are going to have to continue to create and support Black owned businesses significantly and, at some point, exclusively. I say this because last night's election was more than the wrong person being elected to lead this country. We were going in this direction regardless of who won last night. With Donald Trump being elected, that was a out and out declaration of "American Greatness" and exclusion. It was a statement against our Black lives and a condoning of police brutality against minorities. It was a thumb in the eye to those athletes who sit or kneel during the playing of this country's national anthem. It was a chin check to all of us who thought this country actually wanted change when we elected Barack Obama. This was a showing of who is "really in charge, in case you niggers didn't already know". This was a reaffirmation, a reality check and a notice to all that times are definitely changing back to when dissenting voices were handled with actions approved up to and including the deaths of those who dared speak against the system. Last night, America showed us all what it is and what it thinks of us as citizens and as minorities.
The question that stands now is this: Are we ready to get ready for what is coming? Now?
Killer Mike #ABNC All Black National Conference
Second, I came across this as well:
Killer Mike #ABNC All Black National Conference/ Black Banks, Gentrification, etc.
Third, in light of the election results last night, I had to preempt a current blog post that I am working on to say a few things here on this particular topic.
America failed last night.
I am not saying this in reaction to those who voted for Donald Trump and those who may not have voted at all. I've long been wary of the electoral process and I was not too enamored with either candidate. But as a country, America failed last night because of the system that is set in place and the direction the citizens of this country has vocally, and now electorally, said that it wants to go.
Fuck every "American" that doesn't look like us (the white majority) or worship like us or live heterosexually like us or has money like us.
So we now know what the American "public" wants. Not that we didn't know already. In 2008 when Barack Obama was elected, we knew then. We knew in the crying faces of white co-workers who we may have watched the election results with, who we may have thought we were cool with. We knew it from the rhetoric that took off that moment and has continued through to this day. We knew when white people began to feel like America had failed then. We knew as our lives began to be marginalized, with killing after killing of unarmed Black men, women and children by police officers and others. We knew when Donald Trump actually became a viable candidate and we knew when all this shit that came out of his mouth was not disputed by those who supported him. We knew as some of us went to the polls yesterday and voted. We knew as we watched the results, a lot of us in disbelief. We knew as we drove home, wondering what tomorrow would bring, what it would be like at work or at school or just at the gas station or grocery store. We knew when we woke up this morning and turned on the news. We know now.
We need to also know that as a people, what Killer Mike said in the above videos is absolutely right. We aren't ready. We aren't ready for what is about to come. And we need to get ready, right now! As a people, we are on our own. This country has elected a corporate honcho with no political experience whatsoever. Remember when people said the same thing about Obama? That was supposed to be important then. People said the same thing about Hillary Clinton. It was supposed to be important then. Now, it's meaningless. Donald Trump is a money man and he has just been charged with leading our country. Some may feel that it isn't the office of president that is important, that it doesn't matter who holds the seat. Those would be the same people who thought it mattered when Obama was elected, twice. This country has put a person in office who doesn't even fake to have some sort of moral code or compass. And we all knew that already!!! That is what some have said makes him the perfect person to lead this country. Fuck diplomacy, fuck class, fuck manners, fuck morals, fuck values, fuck everything but money and fuck everyone who feels like there should be an even playing filed when it comes to race, economics, justice, education, etc. Fuck you if you aren't elite. Be poor, die, whatever. But fuck you and fuck off.
Here is something I feel we all have to be honest about. Putting all political opinions that I and the rest of us may have aside, Hillary lost to Obama and to Donald Trump because she is a woman. There are people in this country, male and female, white and otherwise who only voted for Obama because they weren't ready to see a woman of any race, political background, etc. as president of these United States. Think about this for a moment. There were actual racist white males and females who voted for a nigger because they actually felt better about a Black man being president than a white woman. This time around, across the board, people of all genders, races, sexual orientation, etc. voted for a misogynistic, racist, bigoted white male who didn't even have to have these facts outed. He touted them, reveled in the controversy and even mocked Republican voters that he knew would vote for him "just because". And now we here, a day after the worst possible scenario that anyone could think became a reality. Donald Trump is going to be the 45th president of the United States.
I saw this on a good friend of mine's facebook page a while back. I didn't watch it the first time I saw it but after watching what Killer Mike had to say about Black people not being ready, I revisited it. I'm glad I did. As a community, we really need to be on this. Take a moment to view it please.
Single Mom Grows Her Own Food and Provides for the Community
After watching that video and having seen the Killer Mike videos, I understand how unprepared I am. I am fully convinced that no good can come from what we are going to experience as a country and as a Black community over the next few years. I could be wrong but I don't think I am. I am not wealthy, nor am I anywhere close to being wealthy. I don't have the skills nor the credetials or education that can plug me into a corporate environment or any non self employed environment that can net me over $30,000 a year. I have come to the realization that economically, I am going to have to find a way to survive and without wealth, considering what we are witnessing right now, that will probably very difficult. And if this is the case for many of us, then we need to realize it as well. It is going to be up to each and every one of us, very soon, to find ways to take care of ourselves and our families without looking to the machine around us. They will not be there, they won't want to be there and they won't even feel like they have to be there. It won't be easy to figure these ways out. As Mike was saying, we have to tap into Black resources, buy land, learn to hunt and grow our own food. But most importantly, we need unity as a community. We need to start with us, as Black people. We want our youth to excel and push through the glass ceilings that society has placed above us, but our youth also need to understand that we are going to need more than an institutionalized education to survive. We are going to need each other and we are going to have to be self sustained as people and as individuals. We are going to need our own financial institutions and our own streams of income. We are going to have to continue to create and support Black owned businesses significantly and, at some point, exclusively. I say this because last night's election was more than the wrong person being elected to lead this country. We were going in this direction regardless of who won last night. With Donald Trump being elected, that was a out and out declaration of "American Greatness" and exclusion. It was a statement against our Black lives and a condoning of police brutality against minorities. It was a thumb in the eye to those athletes who sit or kneel during the playing of this country's national anthem. It was a chin check to all of us who thought this country actually wanted change when we elected Barack Obama. This was a showing of who is "really in charge, in case you niggers didn't already know". This was a reaffirmation, a reality check and a notice to all that times are definitely changing back to when dissenting voices were handled with actions approved up to and including the deaths of those who dared speak against the system. Last night, America showed us all what it is and what it thinks of us as citizens and as minorities.
The question that stands now is this: Are we ready to get ready for what is coming? Now?
Friday, October 28, 2016
'A Black Death' (working title)
I figured I'd go this route once again...and while I'm am at it, I'll go ahead and finally plug my recently released compilation of spoken word pieces, Soul Therapy: a collection of works inspired by the life of Max Lit. This piece was written a little while after the release date so, of course, it is not in the book. But Soul Therapy has a section completely dedicated to issues such as the one addressed here and the ones I often address in this blogspace. If you frequent my blog and you can feel or relate to some of the content here, I think you will enjoy the book in it's entirety. If you haven't already purchased your own personal copy, you can get it here. You can also view my author page on Amazon here.
(note: this is part of a collaborative piece I am working on with my good friend; poet, activist and entrepreneur Marlanda 'Sapient Soul' Dekine. I am excited to not only work with her but to be a part of her hard work with Speaking Down Barriers and her other efforts to bring awareness to the masses.)
(note: this is part of a collaborative piece I am working on with my good friend; poet, activist and entrepreneur Marlanda 'Sapient Soul' Dekine. I am excited to not only work with her but to be a part of her hard work with Speaking Down Barriers and her other efforts to bring awareness to the masses.)
A Black Death (working title)
my
spirit escapes
the cold corpse
that's been lying on this
hot asphalt for hours
waiting for it's dignity
not even a white sheet
to shield it from observing eyes
not as much as a drop of decency
this is a Black death
my spirit escapes this cold corpse
that has been sitting in this car
as my child sits in the backseat
and my girl live facebook's the whole thing
policeman's gun still trained on me
this is a Black death
my spirit grieves along with
thousands as they protest
the death
of the cold corpse that I escaped from
in a jail cell
as a mug shot was
taken to somehow prove that
I wasn't killed while in custody
to somehow prove I killed myself
this is a Black death
that somehow needs justification
of a movement
to give meaning to the lives we've lost
will lose
and that will never matter as much
to others
as it does to those being hunted
those being exterminated
there are a million spirits with me
no longer searching for answers
because their ascension
was answer enough
now
they are just trying to protect those
left behind
but we are fighting a losing battle
missed child support payments
strike fear in the hearts of men like Walter Scott
but murders don't strike fear in the hearts
of cops who
set up scenes while no one is looking
drop body cameras
'cus no one is looking
yell out 'GUN!'
'cus some are looking
at the man selling CD's
loose cigarettes
loose niggers get
popped
and cops get shot
and now
the national debate is unbalanced
between Black lives and blue lives
while black and blue marks
bruise eyes
of the children watching the lies unfold
"All Lives Matter" we are told
and we Black lives know that
and get pissed 'cus
we also know it to not exactly be true
"all lives"
aren't Black lives
because if they were
then Max lit wouldn't have this cause
to speak of
but I do
sapient souls do
wise women's souls do
and we do
but it falls upon either
deaf white ears
or deaf privileged white ears
either or
both are one in the same
'cus there's not too many
who can remember the names
Tamir Rice
Freddie Gray
Sandra Bland
Korryn Gaines
Eric Garner
Trayvon Martin
Jordan Davis
John Crawford
Mallissa Williams and Timothy Russell
over 100 shots fired at the last two
and justice still escaped us
like my spirit escaped
each and every last one of those souls
these are Black deaths
Wednesday, October 26, 2016
Healing After Tragedy: Justice is Key
The space that this blog occupies is usually filled with stories regarding racial and social issues, tragedies and the subsequent aftermath. The names that have appeared in my posts will not soon be forgotten by me nor anyone who understands the content of my posts and can relate to my opinions. But these names will be forgotten by those who don't understand why an unjustified shooting of an unarmed, or allegedly armed, Black man, woman or child, can resonate with an entire community of strangers that have never met these individuals. It resonates with each and every one of us in the Black community because we know we could be next.
As these tragedies mount and become news fodder, as videos of our fallen brethren dominate our social media threads, headlines and news broadcasts, as countless debates are had regarding use of force by police and the perception of Black people in general, we are forced to find ways to heal, or at the very least try. At the most recent community gathering of Speaking Down Barriers that I attended, we talked about the path from trauma to healing and how forgiveness comes into play. One of the audience members commented that you can't heal or forgive if the trauma keeps occurring. Likening this scenario to a person who is constantly abused, physically, mentally or verbally, the first step in healing is removal from the abuse, or trauma. When it comes to the recent tragedies involving police shootings and the riots that have followed, many on the outside looking in have asked questions such as "What sense does protesting or rioting make?" and "How can you expect things to change when the reaction to these things always becomes so extreme?"
Before I go on, check out this article: The Truth According to Carmelo Anthony and try to understand this question and exchange between the writer and Melo:
Howard Bryant (writer): Yet you hear this cognitive dissonance when Baltimore hits and people say, “Why are they burning down their own neighborhoods?” without realizing they aren’t ours.
Carmelo Anthony (athlete/ activist): That’s right. We don’t own anything. That Rite Aid? That isn’t ours. And that’s what I’m talking about when I say it’s all part of something bigger. These times, they’re crazy. It’s not about the one thing. The system is broken. You hear people saying, “Justice or else.” I think you’re starting to see what “or else” looks like.
Carmelo Anthony grew up in West Baltimore. It was the case of Freddie Gray, a Baltimore man who died while in police custody on April 19, 2015, that sparked Anthony to action. Violent protests and riots ensued shortly thereafter, forcing the city of Baltimore to declare a state of emergency. The Baltimore City Prosecutors charged six police officers with various criminal charges ranging from 2nd degree murder to illegal arrest and reckless endangerment. When the cases began to go to trail, there was hope that justice would be served in some way, maybe not to all involved, but on some level. The first officer charged had his case end in a mistrial and the charges against him were later dropped. The next three officers to stand trial were found not guilty. All charges were dropped against all of the officers involved shortly thereafter. While the state medical examiner ruled the death a homicide due to "acts of omission" by the officers' failure to adhere to safety procedures while transporting Gray, not one officer was found accountable. Not even one. Not even the officer who drove the van, even though the autopsy report shows that Freddie Gray suffered a single "high energy injury" to his neck and spine, most likely caused by the van he was being transported in decelerating suddenly. Gray was loaded into the van with his hands cuffed and his ankles shackled. He was not strapped in. And yet, no one was held responsible.
Carmelo Anthony said in the aforementioned article that when he talks to his family and friends, the ones who've been around a lot longer than he has, say that these events are nothing new to them. And that is not just in Baltimore. If you go to Ferguson, Missouri where Mike Brown was killed, or you go to Charlotte, NC where Keith Scott was killed, people there will tell you similar stories. Go to Staten Island, NY where Eric Garner was killed and I'm certain that you can talk to people on every street and hear years and years of accounts like that. Walter Scott, the man who was shot in the back by former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager, was pulled over for broken tail light and fled because he didn't want to go back to jail for missing child support payments. And while there is video supporting the fact that Slager lied when he said that he felt Scott was a threat and that his life was in danger (the video shows Slager shooting Scott as he was running away), Slager's defense attorney says the video is “the main source of the false and incomplete narrative that permeates this community.” While this was in reference to having the trail changed to another venue since the defense team feels like their client will be subject to a "pervasive bias" if the trail is held in Charleston, I'd be pressed to not be convinced that he could also be referring to the Black community as a whole. Even when justice is trying to be served, accountability is still non existent.
I came across these interesting quotes and statistics when looking through articles related to the Walter Scott shooting. this was in response to the swift action against Michael Slager after he had shot and killed Scott.
"For a police officer to be so swiftly punished for wrongdoing was exceedingly rare.
"Police in South Carolina have fired their weapons at 209 suspects in the past five years, and a handful of officers have been accused of pulling the trigger illegally – but none has [been] convicted, according to an analysis by The State newspaper," the Columbia, S.C., daily reported.
"In South Carolina, it remains exceedingly rare for an officer to be found at fault criminally for shooting at someone."
As a citizen living in Greenville, South Carolina, I can't help but be concerned.
Where there is no justice, there can be no healing. Where there is no change in mentality there can be no healing. I am through talking about the perception of Black people in society and that affecting the "threat level assessment" in situations where officers or others are involved in shootings with Black people, armed or unarmed. The decision to shoot or not to shoot is a choice and it is a choice that is made too hastily too many times. I say this as a Black man who is deeply affected every time I see another unarmed Black person shot and killed by police or anyone else. I say this in regards to Terence Crutcher because he was complying to police orders with his hands up and then later with them on his vehicle when he was shot and killed, even though the police weren't responding to a violent situation in the first place. I say this in regards to the Keith Scott case as well, even though there isn't a definitive word or whether or not he had a gun. This report on the autopsy results is quite sobering. Keith Scott took a shot to the back and that shot, along with the shot to his abdomen were "the mechanism of death" according to the autopsy. His death has been ruled a homicide. As of right now, no charges or disciplinary actions have been filed against any officers involved. but yet, we have this.
If there is no justice, then the open wounds every Black person who gives a damn about our advancement in this society as a people will never heal. There will be more protests and more riots. Society will notice and one of two things will happen: either things will change swiftly or they will not. Either we will continue to bleed in the streets or we will all heal together as a human race, instead of factions of people that are constantly vying for supremacy or survival. Either we will have justice, or no peace. Unfortunately, I don't see even a little bit of justice on the horizon. All I see is more tragedy. We'd all better prepare ourselves.
As these tragedies mount and become news fodder, as videos of our fallen brethren dominate our social media threads, headlines and news broadcasts, as countless debates are had regarding use of force by police and the perception of Black people in general, we are forced to find ways to heal, or at the very least try. At the most recent community gathering of Speaking Down Barriers that I attended, we talked about the path from trauma to healing and how forgiveness comes into play. One of the audience members commented that you can't heal or forgive if the trauma keeps occurring. Likening this scenario to a person who is constantly abused, physically, mentally or verbally, the first step in healing is removal from the abuse, or trauma. When it comes to the recent tragedies involving police shootings and the riots that have followed, many on the outside looking in have asked questions such as "What sense does protesting or rioting make?" and "How can you expect things to change when the reaction to these things always becomes so extreme?"
Before I go on, check out this article: The Truth According to Carmelo Anthony and try to understand this question and exchange between the writer and Melo:
Howard Bryant (writer): Yet you hear this cognitive dissonance when Baltimore hits and people say, “Why are they burning down their own neighborhoods?” without realizing they aren’t ours.
Carmelo Anthony (athlete/ activist): That’s right. We don’t own anything. That Rite Aid? That isn’t ours. And that’s what I’m talking about when I say it’s all part of something bigger. These times, they’re crazy. It’s not about the one thing. The system is broken. You hear people saying, “Justice or else.” I think you’re starting to see what “or else” looks like.
Carmelo Anthony grew up in West Baltimore. It was the case of Freddie Gray, a Baltimore man who died while in police custody on April 19, 2015, that sparked Anthony to action. Violent protests and riots ensued shortly thereafter, forcing the city of Baltimore to declare a state of emergency. The Baltimore City Prosecutors charged six police officers with various criminal charges ranging from 2nd degree murder to illegal arrest and reckless endangerment. When the cases began to go to trail, there was hope that justice would be served in some way, maybe not to all involved, but on some level. The first officer charged had his case end in a mistrial and the charges against him were later dropped. The next three officers to stand trial were found not guilty. All charges were dropped against all of the officers involved shortly thereafter. While the state medical examiner ruled the death a homicide due to "acts of omission" by the officers' failure to adhere to safety procedures while transporting Gray, not one officer was found accountable. Not even one. Not even the officer who drove the van, even though the autopsy report shows that Freddie Gray suffered a single "high energy injury" to his neck and spine, most likely caused by the van he was being transported in decelerating suddenly. Gray was loaded into the van with his hands cuffed and his ankles shackled. He was not strapped in. And yet, no one was held responsible.
Carmelo Anthony said in the aforementioned article that when he talks to his family and friends, the ones who've been around a lot longer than he has, say that these events are nothing new to them. And that is not just in Baltimore. If you go to Ferguson, Missouri where Mike Brown was killed, or you go to Charlotte, NC where Keith Scott was killed, people there will tell you similar stories. Go to Staten Island, NY where Eric Garner was killed and I'm certain that you can talk to people on every street and hear years and years of accounts like that. Walter Scott, the man who was shot in the back by former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager, was pulled over for broken tail light and fled because he didn't want to go back to jail for missing child support payments. And while there is video supporting the fact that Slager lied when he said that he felt Scott was a threat and that his life was in danger (the video shows Slager shooting Scott as he was running away), Slager's defense attorney says the video is “the main source of the false and incomplete narrative that permeates this community.” While this was in reference to having the trail changed to another venue since the defense team feels like their client will be subject to a "pervasive bias" if the trail is held in Charleston, I'd be pressed to not be convinced that he could also be referring to the Black community as a whole. Even when justice is trying to be served, accountability is still non existent.
I came across these interesting quotes and statistics when looking through articles related to the Walter Scott shooting. this was in response to the swift action against Michael Slager after he had shot and killed Scott.
"For a police officer to be so swiftly punished for wrongdoing was exceedingly rare.
"Police in South Carolina have fired their weapons at 209 suspects in the past five years, and a handful of officers have been accused of pulling the trigger illegally – but none has [been] convicted, according to an analysis by The State newspaper," the Columbia, S.C., daily reported.
"In South Carolina, it remains exceedingly rare for an officer to be found at fault criminally for shooting at someone."
As a citizen living in Greenville, South Carolina, I can't help but be concerned.
Where there is no justice, there can be no healing. Where there is no change in mentality there can be no healing. I am through talking about the perception of Black people in society and that affecting the "threat level assessment" in situations where officers or others are involved in shootings with Black people, armed or unarmed. The decision to shoot or not to shoot is a choice and it is a choice that is made too hastily too many times. I say this as a Black man who is deeply affected every time I see another unarmed Black person shot and killed by police or anyone else. I say this in regards to Terence Crutcher because he was complying to police orders with his hands up and then later with them on his vehicle when he was shot and killed, even though the police weren't responding to a violent situation in the first place. I say this in regards to the Keith Scott case as well, even though there isn't a definitive word or whether or not he had a gun. This report on the autopsy results is quite sobering. Keith Scott took a shot to the back and that shot, along with the shot to his abdomen were "the mechanism of death" according to the autopsy. His death has been ruled a homicide. As of right now, no charges or disciplinary actions have been filed against any officers involved. but yet, we have this.
If there is no justice, then the open wounds every Black person who gives a damn about our advancement in this society as a people will never heal. There will be more protests and more riots. Society will notice and one of two things will happen: either things will change swiftly or they will not. Either we will continue to bleed in the streets or we will all heal together as a human race, instead of factions of people that are constantly vying for supremacy or survival. Either we will have justice, or no peace. Unfortunately, I don't see even a little bit of justice on the horizon. All I see is more tragedy. We'd all better prepare ourselves.
Thursday, October 13, 2016
Oil and Water: White Privilege, Black Art and Black History
I was privileged to be a part of a community discussion regarding the 'Requiem for Mother Emanuel' painting series by Dr. Leo Twiggs, artist and educator. These paintings were done after the tragic shootings at the "Mother Emanuel" AME Church in Charleston, SC on June 17, 2015. If you haven't seen the paintings in person, you can view them at the TJC Gallery in Spartanburg, SC through Oct. 28th. Or you can view them online here. I strongly recommend that you view them in person, if possible. I was asked to view the paintings at the gallery and then write a response piece to them (which you can view here). I reflected on my own personal feelings of this tragedy and on Dr. Twiggs' thoughts as well. The piece was later shared with him, Nikky Finney (who spoke at the event about her relationship with Dr. Twiggs and her experiences in South Carolina as an artist) and a few other interested people.
Less than a week later, this past Tuesday, I attended a gathering of people in Spartanburg, SC that was billed as "an exploration of paint, poetry, race & grace". This was an event that was centered around the 'Requiem for Mother Emanuel' painting series. After Nikky Finney and Dr. Twiggs spoke, a curator from the Whitney Museum in New York City, Jane Panetta, gave a presentation on African American art. I got the feeling during her presentation that she was trying to enlighten a mostly white audience on the contributions that Black artists and Black art itself has made to American culture. I lost interest part of the way through, mainly because I feel like the interpretations she was giving regarding the art were very 'whitewashed', as it were. There were some harsh images that she presented regarding social structure and race and it seemed to me as if she sort of glossed over the feeling behind the art, so as not to ruffle the feathers too much of those in attendance.
The event ended with a chorus of young school children singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing", also known as the Negro National Anthem. In one of Dr. Twiggs' paintings, he quoted a part of that song that read: "We have come over a way that with tears has been watered/ We have come treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered" (had this part been sung, I would have seen the correlation). After the children sang the first two stanzas, the choir director turned to the mostly white audience and encouraged them to sing along as the chorus sand the first two stanzas again. For an event that I had been highly anticipating beforehand, and that had started off amazing with Nikky Finney and Dr. Twiggs, the follow up and ending were a huge let down. The end was inappropriate, plain and simple.
A very good friend of mine who had attended the event with me made this comment: "There are so many people white people in this room that feel like attending events like this is them doing something to encourage diversity". You could tell that most of the audience were wealthy to extremely wealthy white people. Anything regarding art usually attracts that demographic of people. But it takes more than attending an exhibit or gala centered around a black artist to understand the Black experience in America. A white curator explaining to a white audience in a "non-offensive" way what the Black artist was trying to convey isn't enough to help white people "get it" when it comes to racial and economic disparities in our country and around the world. And while some people were visibly moved, some to tears, during the event, there wasn't a breakthrough type of feeling or moment that neither myself nor my friend felt when it came to the white people in the room. We both walked away feeling like this and things like this event, are part of the issue.
I can't speak for an entire room of rich white people, but I didn't get the feeling that any of them walked away with a clear understanding as to why Dr. Twiggs felt the need to paint the 'Requiem' series. He spoke about his feelings after the shooting and what inspired the art and also explained the transition the series took once he actually went and visited the church. He spoke of the aftermath and how it seemed, if for a brief moment, that everyone in South Carolina had come together as part of the human race. He also acknowledged through that statement, that the moment ended as quickly as it started. While some white Americans and South Carolinians were indeed horrified by the massacre that had occurred, not much was done outside of the Black community to bring awareness to the still existent issue of racial hatred towards people of color, let alone white supremacy. When the Confederate flag that flew in front of the capitol building in Columbia was finally and officially brought down (after Brittany "Bree" Newsome courageously climbed up and took it down herself some 13 days prior), many white southerners felt it was an attack on their heritage. At the community gathering I mentioned earlier, those of us in attendance were asked to interpret some examples of revolutionary art from around the world. A white woman at the table I was sitting at said that she doesn't get art and she doesn't like trying to figure out what the artist is trying to convey when it comes to racial and social issues. She continued that she would rather just hear the issue and figure out a way to fix it. I can only imagine what went through her head as he saw the images of Dr. Twiggs' art, which was pretty self explanatory with it's images of the church and the Confederate flag in tatters, with it later fading away and with the bullseye and the nine X's representing the nine lives that were lost, later becoming nine crosses ascending heavenward. Art, either with physical drawings, paintings, photography, music, etc., has always played a part in telling the Black experience, especially during times when our voices were marginalized. When you talk about the arts, you can't have that conversation with out mentioning notable Black writers, painters, musicians, etc, because the Black experience is woven deep into the American tapestry. With that comes the horrific history of African enslavement, to which America has tried fervently to downplay and, in some cases, completely misrepresent.
Take a look at this image of a visitors brochure for the Middleton Place plantation in Charleston, SC (sorry for the orientation). This was borrowed from one of my very good friends' blog, Marlanda 'Sapient Soul' Dekine (check out her blog, here). If you are able to read it, you'll notice this interesting text when speaking about the Middleton Place Plantation Experience: "Feel the leisurely spirit of an earlier age as you explore the oldest landscaped gardens in America, visit the home of the distinguished Middleton family, and learn about the African Americans who sustained the agrarian plantation economy".
Excuse me. What?
The Middleton family were slave owners and were only distinguished to those who also owned slaves, or other uber wealthy families of that time period. The plantation economy wasn't "sustained" by African Americans because we weren't "African Americans" then. We were beasts of burden, field hands and house niggers at best. We were robbed of our names and given new names related to our owners to be identified as property. If you go to the website here and look a the brief explanation of what you can experience if you tour the plantation stable yards, you'll see that they have "costumed interpreters to demonstrate the skills once performed by enslaved Africans". I wonder if they show them getting whipped or hung.
This is just one instance in where slavery is somewhat romanticized in that it is not the real account of what the African slave trade was in this country. Our history is often mistold or not told at all, in an effort to keep us uneducated as to how we are still viewed in America. The expressions of those who attended the art event who were not black showed me that all that night was for them was a way to say that they participated in an event honoring a Black artist and his Black art. It was sort of like their "guilt penance". They did nothing there to further diversity in the Arts in Spartanburg. They did nothing to promote diversity. They clapped their hands, some shed some crocodile tears, sang the Negro National Anthem, had some hors d'oeuvres and some wine and left feeling pretty damn good about themselves. My friend I left insulted and disappointed.
I know that there have always been, throughout history, white people who have helped advance the movements that have allowed Black people in this country to have the rights that we have today. But also throughout history, our history has been told by white people in a condescending manner too many times. Dr. Leo Twiggs 'Requiem' series "captures humanity amidst horror" as the front of the city gallery brochure promoting his work says. He's been painting for, at least, 40+ years. His 'Requiem for Mother Emanuel', was a response to an American tragedy where a white man stormed into a sacred church for the Black community as a whole and shot and killed 9 Black people, including a United States Senator, Clementa Pinckney, all out of hatred for Black people. Sadly, this series is probably what he will be most remembered for, at least to people here in South Carolina. White people may want to try to forget the constant attacks on Black bodies in this country but as long as it continues to happen, history will continue to record it. You can re-word it to make it sound sexy and you can wrap it in art and present it at a gala event. You can have actors reenact it and you can praise those brave enough to tell the story. But white America, you can't tell our story and you can't try to teach us our history if you are not going to tell it right.
Less than a week later, this past Tuesday, I attended a gathering of people in Spartanburg, SC that was billed as "an exploration of paint, poetry, race & grace". This was an event that was centered around the 'Requiem for Mother Emanuel' painting series. After Nikky Finney and Dr. Twiggs spoke, a curator from the Whitney Museum in New York City, Jane Panetta, gave a presentation on African American art. I got the feeling during her presentation that she was trying to enlighten a mostly white audience on the contributions that Black artists and Black art itself has made to American culture. I lost interest part of the way through, mainly because I feel like the interpretations she was giving regarding the art were very 'whitewashed', as it were. There were some harsh images that she presented regarding social structure and race and it seemed to me as if she sort of glossed over the feeling behind the art, so as not to ruffle the feathers too much of those in attendance.
The event ended with a chorus of young school children singing "Lift Every Voice and Sing", also known as the Negro National Anthem. In one of Dr. Twiggs' paintings, he quoted a part of that song that read: "We have come over a way that with tears has been watered/ We have come treading our path through the blood of the slaughtered" (had this part been sung, I would have seen the correlation). After the children sang the first two stanzas, the choir director turned to the mostly white audience and encouraged them to sing along as the chorus sand the first two stanzas again. For an event that I had been highly anticipating beforehand, and that had started off amazing with Nikky Finney and Dr. Twiggs, the follow up and ending were a huge let down. The end was inappropriate, plain and simple.
A very good friend of mine who had attended the event with me made this comment: "There are so many people white people in this room that feel like attending events like this is them doing something to encourage diversity". You could tell that most of the audience were wealthy to extremely wealthy white people. Anything regarding art usually attracts that demographic of people. But it takes more than attending an exhibit or gala centered around a black artist to understand the Black experience in America. A white curator explaining to a white audience in a "non-offensive" way what the Black artist was trying to convey isn't enough to help white people "get it" when it comes to racial and economic disparities in our country and around the world. And while some people were visibly moved, some to tears, during the event, there wasn't a breakthrough type of feeling or moment that neither myself nor my friend felt when it came to the white people in the room. We both walked away feeling like this and things like this event, are part of the issue.
I can't speak for an entire room of rich white people, but I didn't get the feeling that any of them walked away with a clear understanding as to why Dr. Twiggs felt the need to paint the 'Requiem' series. He spoke about his feelings after the shooting and what inspired the art and also explained the transition the series took once he actually went and visited the church. He spoke of the aftermath and how it seemed, if for a brief moment, that everyone in South Carolina had come together as part of the human race. He also acknowledged through that statement, that the moment ended as quickly as it started. While some white Americans and South Carolinians were indeed horrified by the massacre that had occurred, not much was done outside of the Black community to bring awareness to the still existent issue of racial hatred towards people of color, let alone white supremacy. When the Confederate flag that flew in front of the capitol building in Columbia was finally and officially brought down (after Brittany "Bree" Newsome courageously climbed up and took it down herself some 13 days prior), many white southerners felt it was an attack on their heritage. At the community gathering I mentioned earlier, those of us in attendance were asked to interpret some examples of revolutionary art from around the world. A white woman at the table I was sitting at said that she doesn't get art and she doesn't like trying to figure out what the artist is trying to convey when it comes to racial and social issues. She continued that she would rather just hear the issue and figure out a way to fix it. I can only imagine what went through her head as he saw the images of Dr. Twiggs' art, which was pretty self explanatory with it's images of the church and the Confederate flag in tatters, with it later fading away and with the bullseye and the nine X's representing the nine lives that were lost, later becoming nine crosses ascending heavenward. Art, either with physical drawings, paintings, photography, music, etc., has always played a part in telling the Black experience, especially during times when our voices were marginalized. When you talk about the arts, you can't have that conversation with out mentioning notable Black writers, painters, musicians, etc, because the Black experience is woven deep into the American tapestry. With that comes the horrific history of African enslavement, to which America has tried fervently to downplay and, in some cases, completely misrepresent.
Take a look at this image of a visitors brochure for the Middleton Place plantation in Charleston, SC (sorry for the orientation). This was borrowed from one of my very good friends' blog, Marlanda 'Sapient Soul' Dekine (check out her blog, here). If you are able to read it, you'll notice this interesting text when speaking about the Middleton Place Plantation Experience: "Feel the leisurely spirit of an earlier age as you explore the oldest landscaped gardens in America, visit the home of the distinguished Middleton family, and learn about the African Americans who sustained the agrarian plantation economy".
Excuse me. What?
The Middleton family were slave owners and were only distinguished to those who also owned slaves, or other uber wealthy families of that time period. The plantation economy wasn't "sustained" by African Americans because we weren't "African Americans" then. We were beasts of burden, field hands and house niggers at best. We were robbed of our names and given new names related to our owners to be identified as property. If you go to the website here and look a the brief explanation of what you can experience if you tour the plantation stable yards, you'll see that they have "costumed interpreters to demonstrate the skills once performed by enslaved Africans". I wonder if they show them getting whipped or hung.
This is just one instance in where slavery is somewhat romanticized in that it is not the real account of what the African slave trade was in this country. Our history is often mistold or not told at all, in an effort to keep us uneducated as to how we are still viewed in America. The expressions of those who attended the art event who were not black showed me that all that night was for them was a way to say that they participated in an event honoring a Black artist and his Black art. It was sort of like their "guilt penance". They did nothing there to further diversity in the Arts in Spartanburg. They did nothing to promote diversity. They clapped their hands, some shed some crocodile tears, sang the Negro National Anthem, had some hors d'oeuvres and some wine and left feeling pretty damn good about themselves. My friend I left insulted and disappointed.
I know that there have always been, throughout history, white people who have helped advance the movements that have allowed Black people in this country to have the rights that we have today. But also throughout history, our history has been told by white people in a condescending manner too many times. Dr. Leo Twiggs 'Requiem' series "captures humanity amidst horror" as the front of the city gallery brochure promoting his work says. He's been painting for, at least, 40+ years. His 'Requiem for Mother Emanuel', was a response to an American tragedy where a white man stormed into a sacred church for the Black community as a whole and shot and killed 9 Black people, including a United States Senator, Clementa Pinckney, all out of hatred for Black people. Sadly, this series is probably what he will be most remembered for, at least to people here in South Carolina. White people may want to try to forget the constant attacks on Black bodies in this country but as long as it continues to happen, history will continue to record it. You can re-word it to make it sound sexy and you can wrap it in art and present it at a gala event. You can have actors reenact it and you can praise those brave enough to tell the story. But white America, you can't tell our story and you can't try to teach us our history if you are not going to tell it right.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Speaking Out in America's 'Safe Spaces'
Read this first, if you please...
...and then this...
I guess even the people who are supposed to understand what protesting actually is, are missing the entire goddamn point.
A lot has been said and done since a camera zoomed in on Colin Kaepernick as he sat in silence during the playing of the national anthem at the beginning of the San Francisco 49ers second preseason game. He had done the same thing in the previous game but it wasn't until that 2nd game that the media noticed. And since then, several other players around the NFL and other athletes in other sports leagues have either sat or kneeled in protest along with him. While we all have our right to our opinion on either side of the matter, just like these athletes have their right to protest, it seems like the opinions against these protests are steeped in some sort of weird "Trumpist" ideals as to why our country isn't great. When it comes to issues of race and equality, the truth is, our country hasn't been great for a very, very, very long time.
Let's start of with the article Mr. Armstrong Williams, a Black man, wrote regarding the protests during sporting events. I was trying to gauge what angle he was approaching the subject with, whether or not he was saying that the protests have no place in sports because sports are supposed to be an escape for those attending the games or watching them at home. I came to the conclusion that he was walking the fine line of saying that the protests make people uncomfortable, and that is the point, or saying since protests do make people uncomfortable, athletes should find another way to protest so that the sanctity of the sport, America's escape, can be preserved. My take: it's still bullshit either way.
Part of the growing problem when it comes to race and equality in our country is that people are getting tired. White people are getting tired of hearing people of color still talking about oppression and people of color are tired of white people not fucking getting it. When you have other people of color defending not speaking out or even speaking out against acts protest, that to me is truly baffling. We're not making this shit up, folks. It's happening right before our eyes and as we watch Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton try to out stupid one another in their bid to succeed our nation's first Black president, it' clear where our country's political priorities are. And they are still not with the oppressed (And by the way, yes, oppression still exists in these United States of America in 2016).
When you take a look at what Ruth Bader Ginsberg says, I'm not at all struck by what she said. I'm struck that it came from her, a Supreme Court Justice. One could make the argument that she is way too old to still be in service as a Justice, but I am not going to give her that out. This is how she feels and she is a person who decides on laws and the interpretation of those laws. That's a problem. Racial injustice in this country has never been affected by inaction, and Ginsberg, of all people, knows this. It's speaks of a general attitude when it comes to the social perception of modern day activism. No one is looking at why protests are happening, they are just looking at the protest and wondering what they are complaining about this week.
The question I'd like to pose is when are protests actually appropriate? I mean, the whole point of civil unrest is that it is social disturbance. The fact that these protests take place where they would normally not is to bring awareness to those who may not be paying attention. When Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black gloved fists during the medal presentation at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, they did this so that they could bring awareness to the world of what the Black experience in America was at that time. It was very effective, was it not? With all of the dialogue surrounding Colin Kaepernick's not standing for the national anthem, it is bringing attention to the thought process of the average white American: Leave our flag out of your silly protests because that is unpatriotic. Which is why we have the issues we have today still going on as they have been for centuries.
Sure, Black Americans aren't slaves any longer (depending on how you look at that concept) and we can vote. Hell, technically, we can be President (although we more than likely won't see another Black president anytime in the near future). We can ride public transportation and sit wherever we like, go to integrated schools (sort of) and socialize in generally the same places as white Americans. But when a disproportionate amount of Black people and other people of color are victims of police brutality, are being arrested and jailed disproportionately and unarmed Black men, women and even children are being gunned down in the street by police officers and others, can we truly be appreciative of this country and where we are as a people? When we are seeing videos on the news and online week after week showing these acts, showing dead Black bodies in the streets like dead animals, hearing people say protesters should be "locked up like animals" and hearing conversations, or the lack thereof, at work or the grocery store or amongst people who we thought felt differently about injustice, can we feel any differently than when it was legally ok to lynch us and hang us? I had a white police officer at my job ask me what is the point in protesting (in relation to the protests after the Alton Sterling police shooting) and I couldn't really process the type of response I really wanted to give him. So I said "when people feel hopeless, that is what happens".
Speaking of "safe spaces", I also remember student body organizations in several universities across the country creating safe spaces for Black students to come and be with their peers after several reoccurring instances of racial injustice and police brutality over the course of a very short period of time. These spaces were only for Black students and those students who helped organize them were criticized because some white students felt that was sort of reverse racist. What was missed on that whole thing by those who felt they were excluded was the feeling Black American have that we truly don't have anything in place to help us, as a group of people, to deal with the experiences exclusive to us. No one is creating these services for us because, outside of us, no one sees the need for them. So these Black students got together to help each other cope and heal from the tragedies that were directly affecting them and those that looked like them. Somehow, those spaces fell under the critique of probably the same individuals who feel like protests at sporting events by athletes, there to "only entertain, violate the "last safe spaces" where politics and religion aren't supposed to enter. Just plain 'ol American fun by athletes who look just like the people getting murdered outside the stadiums by people of authority.
I'm trying to imagine what would've happened if Colin Kaepernick just stood up and bowed his head in silence. What if he didn't wear his hair blown out in a huge afro? What if this wasn't a shell of the man who had taken the country by storm and his team to a Super Bowl with his brilliant athleticism a few years ago? What if the story of his white adoptive parents was never used as profile marketing fodder for said Super Bowl? What if Colin just went on, feeling as he did but not drawing any attention to himself? And what if, amidst no dialogue at all about this particular protest against police brutality, the shooting of Keith Scott in Charlotte, NC happened just as it did? The fact that these protests are still occurring because these tragedies are still occurring and people are focusing too much on the actual act of protest, the people protesting and the places these protests are happening instead of the reasons for the protests is indicative of how America views Blacks and other minorities. And that is that we should be happy to be here, living in a country where we have the freedom to do such things, during the time that we are living in. Because if this was 50 or 60 years ago, we'd all be hanging from trees. Oh, but yeah, we're getting shot and killed in the street on video now.
...and then this...
I guess even the people who are supposed to understand what protesting actually is, are missing the entire goddamn point.
A lot has been said and done since a camera zoomed in on Colin Kaepernick as he sat in silence during the playing of the national anthem at the beginning of the San Francisco 49ers second preseason game. He had done the same thing in the previous game but it wasn't until that 2nd game that the media noticed. And since then, several other players around the NFL and other athletes in other sports leagues have either sat or kneeled in protest along with him. While we all have our right to our opinion on either side of the matter, just like these athletes have their right to protest, it seems like the opinions against these protests are steeped in some sort of weird "Trumpist" ideals as to why our country isn't great. When it comes to issues of race and equality, the truth is, our country hasn't been great for a very, very, very long time.
Let's start of with the article Mr. Armstrong Williams, a Black man, wrote regarding the protests during sporting events. I was trying to gauge what angle he was approaching the subject with, whether or not he was saying that the protests have no place in sports because sports are supposed to be an escape for those attending the games or watching them at home. I came to the conclusion that he was walking the fine line of saying that the protests make people uncomfortable, and that is the point, or saying since protests do make people uncomfortable, athletes should find another way to protest so that the sanctity of the sport, America's escape, can be preserved. My take: it's still bullshit either way.
Part of the growing problem when it comes to race and equality in our country is that people are getting tired. White people are getting tired of hearing people of color still talking about oppression and people of color are tired of white people not fucking getting it. When you have other people of color defending not speaking out or even speaking out against acts protest, that to me is truly baffling. We're not making this shit up, folks. It's happening right before our eyes and as we watch Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton try to out stupid one another in their bid to succeed our nation's first Black president, it' clear where our country's political priorities are. And they are still not with the oppressed (And by the way, yes, oppression still exists in these United States of America in 2016).
When you take a look at what Ruth Bader Ginsberg says, I'm not at all struck by what she said. I'm struck that it came from her, a Supreme Court Justice. One could make the argument that she is way too old to still be in service as a Justice, but I am not going to give her that out. This is how she feels and she is a person who decides on laws and the interpretation of those laws. That's a problem. Racial injustice in this country has never been affected by inaction, and Ginsberg, of all people, knows this. It's speaks of a general attitude when it comes to the social perception of modern day activism. No one is looking at why protests are happening, they are just looking at the protest and wondering what they are complaining about this week.
The question I'd like to pose is when are protests actually appropriate? I mean, the whole point of civil unrest is that it is social disturbance. The fact that these protests take place where they would normally not is to bring awareness to those who may not be paying attention. When Tommie Smith and John Carlos raised their black gloved fists during the medal presentation at the 1968 Mexico Olympics, they did this so that they could bring awareness to the world of what the Black experience in America was at that time. It was very effective, was it not? With all of the dialogue surrounding Colin Kaepernick's not standing for the national anthem, it is bringing attention to the thought process of the average white American: Leave our flag out of your silly protests because that is unpatriotic. Which is why we have the issues we have today still going on as they have been for centuries.
Sure, Black Americans aren't slaves any longer (depending on how you look at that concept) and we can vote. Hell, technically, we can be President (although we more than likely won't see another Black president anytime in the near future). We can ride public transportation and sit wherever we like, go to integrated schools (sort of) and socialize in generally the same places as white Americans. But when a disproportionate amount of Black people and other people of color are victims of police brutality, are being arrested and jailed disproportionately and unarmed Black men, women and even children are being gunned down in the street by police officers and others, can we truly be appreciative of this country and where we are as a people? When we are seeing videos on the news and online week after week showing these acts, showing dead Black bodies in the streets like dead animals, hearing people say protesters should be "locked up like animals" and hearing conversations, or the lack thereof, at work or the grocery store or amongst people who we thought felt differently about injustice, can we feel any differently than when it was legally ok to lynch us and hang us? I had a white police officer at my job ask me what is the point in protesting (in relation to the protests after the Alton Sterling police shooting) and I couldn't really process the type of response I really wanted to give him. So I said "when people feel hopeless, that is what happens".
Speaking of "safe spaces", I also remember student body organizations in several universities across the country creating safe spaces for Black students to come and be with their peers after several reoccurring instances of racial injustice and police brutality over the course of a very short period of time. These spaces were only for Black students and those students who helped organize them were criticized because some white students felt that was sort of reverse racist. What was missed on that whole thing by those who felt they were excluded was the feeling Black American have that we truly don't have anything in place to help us, as a group of people, to deal with the experiences exclusive to us. No one is creating these services for us because, outside of us, no one sees the need for them. So these Black students got together to help each other cope and heal from the tragedies that were directly affecting them and those that looked like them. Somehow, those spaces fell under the critique of probably the same individuals who feel like protests at sporting events by athletes, there to "only entertain, violate the "last safe spaces" where politics and religion aren't supposed to enter. Just plain 'ol American fun by athletes who look just like the people getting murdered outside the stadiums by people of authority.
I'm trying to imagine what would've happened if Colin Kaepernick just stood up and bowed his head in silence. What if he didn't wear his hair blown out in a huge afro? What if this wasn't a shell of the man who had taken the country by storm and his team to a Super Bowl with his brilliant athleticism a few years ago? What if the story of his white adoptive parents was never used as profile marketing fodder for said Super Bowl? What if Colin just went on, feeling as he did but not drawing any attention to himself? And what if, amidst no dialogue at all about this particular protest against police brutality, the shooting of Keith Scott in Charlotte, NC happened just as it did? The fact that these protests are still occurring because these tragedies are still occurring and people are focusing too much on the actual act of protest, the people protesting and the places these protests are happening instead of the reasons for the protests is indicative of how America views Blacks and other minorities. And that is that we should be happy to be here, living in a country where we have the freedom to do such things, during the time that we are living in. Because if this was 50 or 60 years ago, we'd all be hanging from trees. Oh, but yeah, we're getting shot and killed in the street on video now.
Thursday, July 28, 2016
The Fear of a Black Planet: The Greenlighting of Black People
I am convinced that Black people in this country are under what I like to call a "greenlighting". I coined that phrase right after I heard about the Alton Sterling And Philando Castile murders (yes, murders). Interestingly enough, we've lived in this greenlighting society for pretty much our entire American existence. This greenlighting, to me, is the unwritten permission that police (white or otherwise) or anyone else who feels that Black people are a threat to them or what they hold dear have...to kill us. If that sounds a bit extreme to you, take a minute to watch the video below.
It's called 23 Ways You Could be Killed if you are Black in America
I don't think I have ever felt this hopeless. At a time when I should be celebrating the successful release of my first published book, I am lost. I feel numb most days. I go through the motions at work and I am constantly irritated by the general public. I suddenly feel like a small fish in a tank full of predatory other fish. I'm anxious, at times and just here other times. Watching that video compounded all of the feelings that I've just described.
Why? a) Because it's fucking true. b) Because this has been too much of a common occurrence throughout, at least, the last 20 or more years. c) Because it has become an epidemic over the last 5 or more years and last, but not least and only for the sake of brevity in this post, d) Because speaking up on the issue seems to be another problem in and of itself.
Don't get me wrong on that last point. It's not a problem for the people who look like the Black men, women and children who have been murdered by police and by regular white citizens who supposedly viewed them as a threat. It's not a problem for those who have been behind the guns and the chokeholds because most of them have avoided indictments and prosecutions. The problem is with the police officers across the country who take offense to the #blacklivesmatter movement and turn their backs on those who they have taken an oath to protect because they feel like there is an anti-police atmosphere that is being perpetrated by the media and politicians. The problem is with the white public who respond to the movement or any mention of it with "All Lives Matter". The problem is the pointed finger at the Black community when white America responds to our outrage with "Well, what about Black on Black crime?" The problem is with a society that doesn't give a damn about the lives of any minority, let alone Black people. The problem is the fact that we are debating over the human lives of people.
Let's talk about the police for a minute. We hear the argument all the time, "there are good police and there are bad police". I can honestly say that is a true statement. But the system of policing gives officers full autonomy to act as they see fit. When you have poorly trained officers with God complexes and bigotries deeply engrained in them, it is a recipe for disaster. I had a police officer tell me one time during a traffic stop taking place, in my own driveway nonetheless, that "in the state of South Carolina, the law says when an officer tells you to do something, you are supposed to do it!" I translated that as "Nigger, don't you know that in the state of South Carolina I can shoot your Black ass, dump you in the woods and not even worry about it tomorrow?" When a police officer expects a Black person to obey his commands and feels like he isn't being given the proper respect or response and his recourse is to turn aggressive in tone or demeanor, in a non-life threatening situation, that officer should not be an officer, let alone carry a gun. Many of these officers who have been involved in incidents where the death of Black person was the end result have only been police officers for a few years, with a number of them having related instances already on file. These police officers act with total disregard for human life and no thought of repercussion from the so called justice system because recent history shows a pattern of such officers often being found not guilty of any serious charges. Here's a disturbing case in point. Cleveland officer Michael Brelo was charged with 2 counts of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. On November 29, 2012, Brelo and several other officers were involved in a 22-mile chase with a car driven by Russell with Williams as a passenger. The chase started when the car sped away from an undercover officer, during which the car backfired. According to prosecutors, the officers mistook the sounds for gunshots and the chase ensued, with speeds reaching up to 100 mph. According to police, the chase ended when Russell rammed a police car in a middle school parking lot. It was at that point that 13 officers, with Brelo among them, began firing over 100 times over the course of 8 seconds into the stopped and disabled vehicle. Brelo, at some point, jumped onto the hood of Russell's car and shot 15 times downward into the windshield. He told investigators that he thought Russell and Williams were shooting from inside the car and he believed he and his partner were in danger. Out of the 13 officers who fired into the vehicle and killed Russell and Williams, only Brelo was charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter. He would later be acquitted by Cuyahoga County Judge John P. O'Donnell alone, not by a jury, of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault. Here are the reason the judge decided to acquit officer Brelo:
-The officers' first round of gunfire was permissible because they had reason to believe they and the public were at risk. (I can agree with that).
A question I have heard on two separate occasions from two conversations with two different white police officers is "Why do people protest here (in South Carolina) in reaction to what happened in Texas or Minnesota?" One officer said he posed that question to a protester and the person's answer was that he was doing what Dr. Martin Luther King and other Black leaders did during the civil rights movement. The officer was quick to rebuff the protester's answer, saying that during Dr. King's time, those marches and protesters were fighting against federal laws, trying to elicit change on a federal level. In hearing his answer, I recognized that he must feel like the killings of Sterling and Castile (among so many others in the recent past) were just isolated incidents that don't reflect a broader issue regarding the treatment of Black people by police officers who routinely abuse their authority. That officer also struck me as an individual who may be of the mindset that if you don't necessarily see a problem, then there is no problem. That, there, is exactly the problem. There are some people who don't see what's happening around the country between police and minorities as a problem. But those same people will look at the retaliatory acts of the shooters in Dallas and Louisiana as a problem. They look at the Black Lives Matter movement as a problem, as anti-police. They look at the protests and the rallies and the athletes and other celebrities speaking out as a problem. They look at the pieces I wrote about race and social issues in my book as divisive, as adding to the issue instead of trying to find a solution. They say things like "Well, if he wasn't (selling loosies, CD's, walking in that neighborhood, etc.), or "If he/ she would have just complied with the officer, then they wouldn't have shot him/ her. When people start to try to rationalize irrational behavior, then the problem, again, is bigger than the people with the guns or the authority. The problem is even bigger than the system. The problem starts with the mindsets of the people who have a skewed perception of what our society is supposed to be.
We are under a greenlighting, Black people. Be safe.
P.S. The shootings of those police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge were unjustified, plain and simple. Those officers were doing their jobs and did not deserve to die in retaliation to what other officers have unjustly done to people of color. Hopefully, one day, their loss of life will be remembered as part of what changed the course of what we are experiencing now.
It's called 23 Ways You Could be Killed if you are Black in America
I don't think I have ever felt this hopeless. At a time when I should be celebrating the successful release of my first published book, I am lost. I feel numb most days. I go through the motions at work and I am constantly irritated by the general public. I suddenly feel like a small fish in a tank full of predatory other fish. I'm anxious, at times and just here other times. Watching that video compounded all of the feelings that I've just described.
Why? a) Because it's fucking true. b) Because this has been too much of a common occurrence throughout, at least, the last 20 or more years. c) Because it has become an epidemic over the last 5 or more years and last, but not least and only for the sake of brevity in this post, d) Because speaking up on the issue seems to be another problem in and of itself.
Don't get me wrong on that last point. It's not a problem for the people who look like the Black men, women and children who have been murdered by police and by regular white citizens who supposedly viewed them as a threat. It's not a problem for those who have been behind the guns and the chokeholds because most of them have avoided indictments and prosecutions. The problem is with the police officers across the country who take offense to the #blacklivesmatter movement and turn their backs on those who they have taken an oath to protect because they feel like there is an anti-police atmosphere that is being perpetrated by the media and politicians. The problem is with the white public who respond to the movement or any mention of it with "All Lives Matter". The problem is the pointed finger at the Black community when white America responds to our outrage with "Well, what about Black on Black crime?" The problem is with a society that doesn't give a damn about the lives of any minority, let alone Black people. The problem is the fact that we are debating over the human lives of people.
Let's talk about the police for a minute. We hear the argument all the time, "there are good police and there are bad police". I can honestly say that is a true statement. But the system of policing gives officers full autonomy to act as they see fit. When you have poorly trained officers with God complexes and bigotries deeply engrained in them, it is a recipe for disaster. I had a police officer tell me one time during a traffic stop taking place, in my own driveway nonetheless, that "in the state of South Carolina, the law says when an officer tells you to do something, you are supposed to do it!" I translated that as "Nigger, don't you know that in the state of South Carolina I can shoot your Black ass, dump you in the woods and not even worry about it tomorrow?" When a police officer expects a Black person to obey his commands and feels like he isn't being given the proper respect or response and his recourse is to turn aggressive in tone or demeanor, in a non-life threatening situation, that officer should not be an officer, let alone carry a gun. Many of these officers who have been involved in incidents where the death of Black person was the end result have only been police officers for a few years, with a number of them having related instances already on file. These police officers act with total disregard for human life and no thought of repercussion from the so called justice system because recent history shows a pattern of such officers often being found not guilty of any serious charges. Here's a disturbing case in point. Cleveland officer Michael Brelo was charged with 2 counts of voluntary manslaughter in the shooting deaths of Timothy Russell and Malissa Williams. On November 29, 2012, Brelo and several other officers were involved in a 22-mile chase with a car driven by Russell with Williams as a passenger. The chase started when the car sped away from an undercover officer, during which the car backfired. According to prosecutors, the officers mistook the sounds for gunshots and the chase ensued, with speeds reaching up to 100 mph. According to police, the chase ended when Russell rammed a police car in a middle school parking lot. It was at that point that 13 officers, with Brelo among them, began firing over 100 times over the course of 8 seconds into the stopped and disabled vehicle. Brelo, at some point, jumped onto the hood of Russell's car and shot 15 times downward into the windshield. He told investigators that he thought Russell and Williams were shooting from inside the car and he believed he and his partner were in danger. Out of the 13 officers who fired into the vehicle and killed Russell and Williams, only Brelo was charged with two counts of voluntary manslaughter. He would later be acquitted by Cuyahoga County Judge John P. O'Donnell alone, not by a jury, of voluntary manslaughter and felonious assault. Here are the reason the judge decided to acquit officer Brelo:
-The officers' first round of gunfire was permissible because they had reason to believe they and the public were at risk. (I can agree with that).
- Brelo's second round was permissible because a reasonable police officer could decide that, even after the 100 shots, the threat might not have been over in part because the pair might still have been moving. (I disagree. 100 shots into a car with Brelo shooting 15 at pretty much point blank range eliminates ANY threat).
- While evidence showed Brelo's gunfire caused at least one wound each to Russell and Williams that would have killed either of them, the pair also suffered other lethal wounds, probably from other officers' guns. (But none of the other officers were charged. Why not???)
- Since evidence doesn't prove Brelo's shots were the ones that killed the pair, he can't be found guilty of voluntary manslaughter. (And, apparently, neither can any of the other 13 officers who fired 100 shots into the vehicle).
- Brelo is also not guilty of the lesser charge of felonious assault because it wasn't necessarily clear the threat was over. (We've already determined that to be bullshit. It should have been more than clear that after 100 shots, the threat was over).
I used this case as an example because it shows the broadness in interpretation that the justice system uses in order to not hold officers responsible in situations just like this one. When you think about the recent police shootings and killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, the divide is drawn but it isn't based on right or wrong. It is clearly based on how Black people, especially but not reserved to Black men in this country, are perceived by white America. We are a threat, either physically or idealogically. For an officer and a judge to feel like after 100 shots were fired into a car, with 15 coming from an officer standing on the hood of that car at point blank range, that a threat could have still been immanent is preposterous. For that same officer and judge to feel that this was warranted behavior and that the officer should not be held accountable for the deaths of two human beings speaks volumes to how much value the justice system places on Black lives. The fact that this acquittal came directly from the judge and was not allowed to be handled by a jury smacks of something a whole lot more threatening to me as a Black man. It shows that the system is rigged, one way or another, to not value Black lives on an equal playing field. Say what you will but this case, along with all the other ones we know about and the countless others we don't know about, makes that very obvious fact.
Another point. If these people were still viewed as a threat after 100 bullets were pumped into the car they were in just because those officers thought Russell and Williams may have had a gun, why is it that the apprehension of Dylan Roof was handled so differently? Those officers knew he had just went on a shooting spree in a church full of Black people that included US Senator Clementa Pinckney. There were no bullets, there were no deaths. Just a routine arrest and subsequent protection as he was being transported to various points on his way to prison. His life was held in much higher value after he had committed a horrendous crime. Take a look at the video above again and tell me, of all those people mentioned, how many of them had done or were doing anything that warranted any type of deadly force? How many of them were posing an actual threat?
A question I have heard on two separate occasions from two conversations with two different white police officers is "Why do people protest here (in South Carolina) in reaction to what happened in Texas or Minnesota?" One officer said he posed that question to a protester and the person's answer was that he was doing what Dr. Martin Luther King and other Black leaders did during the civil rights movement. The officer was quick to rebuff the protester's answer, saying that during Dr. King's time, those marches and protesters were fighting against federal laws, trying to elicit change on a federal level. In hearing his answer, I recognized that he must feel like the killings of Sterling and Castile (among so many others in the recent past) were just isolated incidents that don't reflect a broader issue regarding the treatment of Black people by police officers who routinely abuse their authority. That officer also struck me as an individual who may be of the mindset that if you don't necessarily see a problem, then there is no problem. That, there, is exactly the problem. There are some people who don't see what's happening around the country between police and minorities as a problem. But those same people will look at the retaliatory acts of the shooters in Dallas and Louisiana as a problem. They look at the Black Lives Matter movement as a problem, as anti-police. They look at the protests and the rallies and the athletes and other celebrities speaking out as a problem. They look at the pieces I wrote about race and social issues in my book as divisive, as adding to the issue instead of trying to find a solution. They say things like "Well, if he wasn't (selling loosies, CD's, walking in that neighborhood, etc.), or "If he/ she would have just complied with the officer, then they wouldn't have shot him/ her. When people start to try to rationalize irrational behavior, then the problem, again, is bigger than the people with the guns or the authority. The problem is even bigger than the system. The problem starts with the mindsets of the people who have a skewed perception of what our society is supposed to be.
We are under a greenlighting, Black people. Be safe.
P.S. The shootings of those police officers in Dallas and Baton Rouge were unjustified, plain and simple. Those officers were doing their jobs and did not deserve to die in retaliation to what other officers have unjustly done to people of color. Hopefully, one day, their loss of life will be remembered as part of what changed the course of what we are experiencing now.
Saturday, March 5, 2016
Some Things Change While Others Stay the Same
The past few months have brought some significant changes to my life. Some of those changes I actively put into play and some came without warning, as a surprise. A few were long overdue and some I have not fully digested yet. While I won't go into detail about those changes, what I would like to dive into are the things that I have noticed that have not changed so much. I am sure you have noticed, too.
A few months ago, I posted an entry here, vowing to not allow the unravelling that I had experienced during that time to continue. I was determined to not let the things that were happening around me and around us to allow me to fall down the dark hole of seclusion and despair. Black lives were being extinguished, justice was not being served and people who looked like me were being vilified for speaking out about it. I must honestly admit that I have failed in that endeavor. I am still undone.
Some of that "undone-ness" is directly related to some of the unexpected changes that I mentioned in the beginning of this post. But most of it is related to the things around us that seem to be destined to remain the same. The racial divide in this country continues to grow and hard battle lines seem to have been drawn. While our nations first Black President comes to the end of his historic two terms in office, the political race for his successor has once again exposed this country for what it truly is, and has been since it's inception; a fraudulent democracy that is only for the people that move in elite circles and are not of color. It has seeped so far into our modern and everyday lives that when injustices are committed, small and great, acknowledging and speaking on these situations are met with ridicule and scorn. People on the "other" side of the divide speak of "complaining" and "whining". They speak of "entitlement" and "baiting". They flip the script. They are basically telling us to "get over it and ourselves" because it is not that important. We don't #matter as much as we think we do. They are telling us they don't care and don't care to even act like they do anymore.
The race to replace Barack Obama has been going on since he was inaugurated in 2008. Failure to unseat him in 2012 was viewed by many as a failure of our American exceptionalism. And now since he has reached his term limit, our country has seemingly turned to a person who has never been recognized in any type of positive light. He's made a joke of an already severely flawed political process and people have rallied around him, even though his message is based on nothing but posturing and bravado. And the American public is eating it up because he speaks of the things they feel they haven't been able to say because it isn't "politically correct these days" to spew hatred and bigotry. They love Donald Trump because he is not Barack Obama. He's as ignorant as they are, he is "one of them". And the other options aren't any much better for the most part.
We live in a time when people who have justifiably rallied together to preserve the lives of people who look like them are being marginalized. We live in a time when Beyonce gets called a "race baiter" for performing a song on one of the nation's biggest stages that reminds everyone what the last few years have been like for young Black males and women in our country. That Super Bowl performance reminded our country of a time when Black people scared them, when the Black Panthers reminded us of the power we had when we came together for a common cause. They vilified her like she did something wrong, like young Black men and women aren't being gunned down by police and others in the street. We say "#blacklivesmatter" or wear "I Can't Breathe" T-shirts and we get accused of reverse racism. They want us to forget Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Feddie Gray, Walter Scott and the nine people that Dylan Roof killed in the Charleston Church shooting. They want us to forget the countless others that made and didn't make the news. They want us to forget how things were and how they never really changed. Shit, they want us to forget slavery, so why should we expect anything less, or anything more for that matter?
When I talk to white people who support Donald Trump, I am not surprised because of who those people are. They are the people who preface conversations based on race with "I'm not a racist, but..." or "I know you may not agree with my views on (said topic), but...". Others say things like "I was born and raised as a conservative, so...". I work with white police officers who feel like anyone who speaks out against police brutality is anti-police. I find myself trying to speak my mind but not violate company policy. I know that if these people read my blogs or heard my poetry and songs, they probably wouldn't speak to me. And I know that it has nothing to do with a difference of opinion. It would be because I am not the type of Black person they thought I was. And that would be their mistake, not based on anything else but ignorant perception.
I have been reading Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me, an open letter to his son attempting to answer questions regarding how to live in this world in a Black body. It details some of the things he had to do to survive in his own Black body growing up in West Baltimore. It chronicles his time at Howard University and his professional experiences in his Black body. It is him trying to tell his son everything he needs to know to figure out how to live and be Black, in a world that is a bit different now than it was when the author was younger, but pretty much the same when it comes to us and our Black bodies. In the small portion of the book that I have read, it sort of pains me to know that this man really fears for his son. He recognizes that his son has a hope that he never had because the truth was always right in front of him. His son is living during a time where he has seen and heard the idea of change being real, to a certain extent. The father is trying to spare his son the disappointment of reality blindsiding him and crushing his spirit. He is just trying to prepare him for the reality of what our society is, it being the same as it has always been. It pains me because I have had similar conversations with younger men than myself and with others really close to me who had their "nigger moment" and it almost broke them. The truth hurts, especially when you knew it but didn't want to believe it.
So I am admittedly undone, with no real vision as to how I can put the pieces back together. I have relationships that have suffered due to that and some that have weathered the storm. I have projects that have stalled and others that will thrive due to the experiences that I have had during this time. I have goals that I know I must meet and things that I wanted to do at one time that I have had to push to the back burner. But the one thing I can honestly say that I have gained from all of this is a bit more clarity on my views of the world and the way people who don't look like me view me. I know now that I am not wrong or crazy to feel the way I do, to feel like as much as things seem to have changed and progressed that it is all a mirage. Because at the end of the day, we will still be viewed as undesirable niggers in a white dominated society by those in control. It is what it is, unfortunately. Maybe that is my first step to becoming whole again.
A few months ago, I posted an entry here, vowing to not allow the unravelling that I had experienced during that time to continue. I was determined to not let the things that were happening around me and around us to allow me to fall down the dark hole of seclusion and despair. Black lives were being extinguished, justice was not being served and people who looked like me were being vilified for speaking out about it. I must honestly admit that I have failed in that endeavor. I am still undone.
Some of that "undone-ness" is directly related to some of the unexpected changes that I mentioned in the beginning of this post. But most of it is related to the things around us that seem to be destined to remain the same. The racial divide in this country continues to grow and hard battle lines seem to have been drawn. While our nations first Black President comes to the end of his historic two terms in office, the political race for his successor has once again exposed this country for what it truly is, and has been since it's inception; a fraudulent democracy that is only for the people that move in elite circles and are not of color. It has seeped so far into our modern and everyday lives that when injustices are committed, small and great, acknowledging and speaking on these situations are met with ridicule and scorn. People on the "other" side of the divide speak of "complaining" and "whining". They speak of "entitlement" and "baiting". They flip the script. They are basically telling us to "get over it and ourselves" because it is not that important. We don't #matter as much as we think we do. They are telling us they don't care and don't care to even act like they do anymore.
The race to replace Barack Obama has been going on since he was inaugurated in 2008. Failure to unseat him in 2012 was viewed by many as a failure of our American exceptionalism. And now since he has reached his term limit, our country has seemingly turned to a person who has never been recognized in any type of positive light. He's made a joke of an already severely flawed political process and people have rallied around him, even though his message is based on nothing but posturing and bravado. And the American public is eating it up because he speaks of the things they feel they haven't been able to say because it isn't "politically correct these days" to spew hatred and bigotry. They love Donald Trump because he is not Barack Obama. He's as ignorant as they are, he is "one of them". And the other options aren't any much better for the most part.
We live in a time when people who have justifiably rallied together to preserve the lives of people who look like them are being marginalized. We live in a time when Beyonce gets called a "race baiter" for performing a song on one of the nation's biggest stages that reminds everyone what the last few years have been like for young Black males and women in our country. That Super Bowl performance reminded our country of a time when Black people scared them, when the Black Panthers reminded us of the power we had when we came together for a common cause. They vilified her like she did something wrong, like young Black men and women aren't being gunned down by police and others in the street. We say "#blacklivesmatter" or wear "I Can't Breathe" T-shirts and we get accused of reverse racism. They want us to forget Trayvon Martin, Mike Brown, Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Feddie Gray, Walter Scott and the nine people that Dylan Roof killed in the Charleston Church shooting. They want us to forget the countless others that made and didn't make the news. They want us to forget how things were and how they never really changed. Shit, they want us to forget slavery, so why should we expect anything less, or anything more for that matter?
When I talk to white people who support Donald Trump, I am not surprised because of who those people are. They are the people who preface conversations based on race with "I'm not a racist, but..." or "I know you may not agree with my views on (said topic), but...". Others say things like "I was born and raised as a conservative, so...". I work with white police officers who feel like anyone who speaks out against police brutality is anti-police. I find myself trying to speak my mind but not violate company policy. I know that if these people read my blogs or heard my poetry and songs, they probably wouldn't speak to me. And I know that it has nothing to do with a difference of opinion. It would be because I am not the type of Black person they thought I was. And that would be their mistake, not based on anything else but ignorant perception.
I have been reading Ta-Nehisi Coates' Between the World and Me, an open letter to his son attempting to answer questions regarding how to live in this world in a Black body. It details some of the things he had to do to survive in his own Black body growing up in West Baltimore. It chronicles his time at Howard University and his professional experiences in his Black body. It is him trying to tell his son everything he needs to know to figure out how to live and be Black, in a world that is a bit different now than it was when the author was younger, but pretty much the same when it comes to us and our Black bodies. In the small portion of the book that I have read, it sort of pains me to know that this man really fears for his son. He recognizes that his son has a hope that he never had because the truth was always right in front of him. His son is living during a time where he has seen and heard the idea of change being real, to a certain extent. The father is trying to spare his son the disappointment of reality blindsiding him and crushing his spirit. He is just trying to prepare him for the reality of what our society is, it being the same as it has always been. It pains me because I have had similar conversations with younger men than myself and with others really close to me who had their "nigger moment" and it almost broke them. The truth hurts, especially when you knew it but didn't want to believe it.
So I am admittedly undone, with no real vision as to how I can put the pieces back together. I have relationships that have suffered due to that and some that have weathered the storm. I have projects that have stalled and others that will thrive due to the experiences that I have had during this time. I have goals that I know I must meet and things that I wanted to do at one time that I have had to push to the back burner. But the one thing I can honestly say that I have gained from all of this is a bit more clarity on my views of the world and the way people who don't look like me view me. I know now that I am not wrong or crazy to feel the way I do, to feel like as much as things seem to have changed and progressed that it is all a mirage. Because at the end of the day, we will still be viewed as undesirable niggers in a white dominated society by those in control. It is what it is, unfortunately. Maybe that is my first step to becoming whole again.
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