'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.)

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

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.

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.

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.