I've been negligent.....

I've got to get back to writing.. I will send out a few smokers now that I have a little time to breath again.......

Hanna Montana Twerking Adventure

I don't get it. I can't say she's not accountable (Billy Ray's Daughter), extending, how can we expect a level of emotional intelligence from her, when the cycle of Black female objectification isn't policed in "our own house?" The writer of this piece completely sidesteps patriarchal masculinity at every section regarding the packaging and false reproduction of "so-called" Black culture and parish the thought Black feminism. Last I checked Betty Shabazz, Coretta Scott King, and Michelle Obama never twerked. Now having said that, I also am cognizant of the fact I am talking about Black Feminism through a Bourgeoisie lens. I am willing however to cosign that this child's performance was unequivocally rooted in hypersexual stereotypes of the Black female body, all the way down to the Sarah Baartman throwback. I think what also has mainstream America in a tizzy is the fact that you have this blond haired, blue eyed, cookie cutter, fresh off the assembly line Disney kid, "Hanna Montana" suddenly has planted both feet into what larger dominant hegemony deems as low brow culture. (Please note, i am censoring myself) Because of this, she in essence has broken a slew of social contracts with mainstream America and consumer parents simply cannot relate. Lets be real, Hanna Montana was the biggest thing since sliced bread for 15 minutes. Bottom line, in a market driven media based economy, there will always be a market for controversy. Controversy sells, and at the risk of being blunt, as some folks "sold out" some other folks got paid.

Blurred Lines: Sagging Mentalities and Defeating Black Nihilism

This is why Don Lemon's five no talking points failed.. This came from Rev. Al Sharpton on the 50th anniversary on the March on Washington. Powerful stuff indeed.
"When I was younger I used to said to my mother, my friends said. Why are we dreaming. You need to be awake to fight. Well my mother said to me you got to understand what dreams are for. Dreams are for those who won't accept reality as it is, so they so they dream of what is not there and make it possible. They will romanticize Dr. Kings speech. But the genius of Dr kings speech was not just the poetry of his words, the genius of his speech is what the bloodshed in Bermingham with Metgar Evars having been killed, with James Farmer, one of his co leaders in jail, he didn't stand here and discuss the pain, he didn't stand here and express the anger, he said in the face of those that wanted him dead, that no matter what you do, I can dream above what you do, I see a nation that will make change if we pay the price, others saw voting booths we couldn't use, but King saw the possibility of an Obama 50 years ago. The world is made of dreamers that change reality because of their dream. And what we must do is we must give our young people dreams again. That's lead Sandars and Widegardern were talking about: you take the funds, you take the expertise and you tell the children they are nothing, and you tell them they aren't expected to be nothing, you build jails and close schools and you break their dreams and you wonder why they walking around with their pants down, because that's what you wear in jail, and if you think that's where you headed, you might as well get dressed before you get there. We need to give them dreams again; not to worry about sagging pants but about sagging mentalities. If we told them who they could be and what they could do, they would pull up their pants and go to work. We've got to change how we deal with this."
Al Sharpton
March on Washington
August 24, 2013

Upgrading the HBCU-- Inspired by Don Lemon

I apologize for not seeming to get off of this topic, at the same time, I try to find the value in points I don't 100% subscribe to. I remember when Don Lemon was at NCCU last year: his tone was nothing like this, a rant from the black bourgeoisie. That said he does have some points I think we may need to consider, but we just have to tweak the audience a bit. I would opt to see some of his no talking points put into place at the university level because that's where social intelligences are formed and reinforced. 1) REVISIT DRESS CODES: There have been too many times I have seen students, both male and female not look the part of a college student but that of someone going to the club, or chilling on the block. Like code switching, students must learn how to code switch in their dress. Students (male and female) should be required to have at least two business suits in their wardrobe. The business suit is a uniform of the business world, but unfortunately, students are missing that important message from home. 2) MANDATORY FACE TO FACE INTERVIEWS AS PART OF THE APPLICATION PROCESS: When I worked at the North Carolina School of Science and Math, high school students who were candidates for admission had to go through an interview process. This provided a gauge for both the student and the institution to really assess if the candidate was a good fit. I also think it forces the student to develop much needed oral communication skills which represent a growing part of the college experience and the global political economy. 3) INSTITUTE MANDATORY STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS: Personally, for me, the first time I went overseas to Europe, I was forced away from the xenophobic mindset that America was the center of the universe. In England and Spain, for me I experienced very little racism as I knew it. In Spain I was forced to learn rudimentary Spanish and I gained an appreciation for international travel. God willing, I will be able to go to Kenya next year. 4) RAISE THE ENTRANCE AGE FOR COLLEGE TO 21/MAYBE 25: I'll be honest, I did not gain an appreciation for college until I was 23. I nearly flunked out twice. But when I had to start paying out of my own pocket for grad school and put the student loans in my name, magically my grades became a priority. Further, as pointed out to me, the mind has yet to be fully developed at 18. During those years, the mind has little focus, and hormones are all over the place. This is that age of experimentation: sex, drugs, alcohol, defiance, (pick one that's not on the list). I didn't listen to too many people when I was 20, 21 or even 22. But again, those are my experiences and I don't want to generalize. 5) YEARLY APPLICATION TO THE UNIVERSITY/DEPARTMENT: In many of the best institutions, students are forced to have to justify why they should be allowed to continue in their programs. Students are required to submit portfolio material demonstrative of their journey towards their career path. In some cases, Ive seen students come back to school with no direction, no ambition other than to go back and hang with their friends. I think friendships are great, but you don't need a university for that. If you want to hang on the block, do it at home for free; don't waste your money or contribute to the astronomical amount of student loan debt. If you are at the university, you have entered a partnership to establish or in some cases change your career. Every year, that program plan should be visited and in some cases modified. That same program plan should be used in tandem with some means of yearly performance evaluation. If the quality of the student's work has not improved within one year, there is a breakdown that needs to be vetted. Maybe the student is not a good fit for the university or program and accommodations can be made to place the student where they need to be. Currently, this is not standard practice. Faculty, administrators, staff all receive yearly evaluations to justify why they should still be on the payroll. Students should have the same obligations. This concludes my version of no talking points w/out Don Lemon :-)

Don Lemon: Truthsayer?

What Don Lemon, has initiated, or better yet, vocalized in my honest opinion was an uninformed rant in which he happened to hit some salient points. Was he raving like Bill O'Riley? No, but still he came across as a quarrelsome curmudgeon with an ax to grind. Do I get upset when I see students come to my class with their pants hanging down, of course. Do I disparage them with a barrage of classist elitist expectations. No; I treat them like I would treat a member of my family, "Boy pull your damn pants up in my room." You see I attempt to establish a rapport of care because for many of my students, to see an African American man with a Ph.D. teaching them; its an anomaly. In many cases, because of the crisis of the lack of strong African American male role models beyond athletics, there is a fierce internal negotiation when it comes to race and gender. I think this is due to emasculation of education. I also believe that because of the absence of strong African American men in the home, there is battle not just from male students but also from female students to have to negotiate African American male authority. So in many cases, I have to establish a special type of dominance that says I care about, I love you, and I love you enough to flunk you. Because of the politics of race in this country, we all know what I'm about to say next, we as African Americas must be exponentially better than our white counterparts just be recognized as 3/5ths of a human being. This is where I have the problem with Lemon's logic. With his rhetoric, I feel he says, if Black Folk play the role of "Charlie Good Negro" all the racial problems will be anesthetized. He fails to penetrate a plethora of the systemic social ills that in many cases exceed the controls of many African Americans of 1960s and beyond. I further contend that he fails to explore the concept of life chances vs life choices. White people in America are born into unearned privilege. As a culture, as a nation, we have normalized whiteness, we have awarded whiteness and we have placed race (particularly white supremacy) within every institution of the American way of life. Kimberly Williams Crensaw and other Critical Race Scholars have posited that in the legal system, the probability of of African Americans receiving what we call justice from majority white juries in the country is slim to none. This was evident with Zimmerman and this was evident with Till. So as I say this, Lemon's comments to me were the equivalent Rivera stated when he attempted to problematize Trayvon Martin for being killed. You look like an animal, you will get shot and killed like an animal. Again, I have fault with this logic because it robs African American young men of the inalienable right to be treated as a human being. Am I saying that we are perfect.. no, but at the same time, many folks in the hood were born into the hood, and statically, according to economist Bona-Silvia it is 20 times harder for African Americans to elevate themselves from poverty, 10 times easier for poor whites. This goes back to my point of informed opinion making. Clearly he had no information, no data, no real facts, and for me, and I believe all of you and others whose company I am happy to share, we are critical thinkers. Personally, I like to see evidence before one engages in hyperbolic judgements. I must say when I was in college, I did not take it seriously because, it was something to do, girls to see. Kim can attest to that. But when the real world smacked me in the face with the structures of institutional racism, wow that was a different beast. I'll go to one example I experienced just so you can see the challenges that African American men had to negotiate. I was working at The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. I had a master's degree in educational technology, but instead I was relegated to checking out AV equipment. Now I did this for 9 yeas and eventually I changed my job. I had an oppressive white female supervisor who I had titanic battles with over my job. We won't discuss the fact that I was doing the work 3 people by myself constantly. We won't talk about the fact that there was a living breathing document from the office of state personnel that cosigned that African American men suffered disparate treatment in state agencies. But I will talk about the fact that when I made this fact known, no one there listened to me. I will talk about the fact that I had a nervous breakdown and was out of work for three months. And I will talk about the fact that whenI came back, no accommodations were made to remove me from this oppressive supervisor. In fact, and here is the funny part, this woman tried her damnedest to bring out the thug in me. Right after I am back from medical leave, knowing that I had anxiety issues, she attempts to provoke a fight with me. She snatches a piece of paper out of my hand, trying to scold me. In the untrained mind, these were the options, A) I quit my job cry and run away, B) I smack the shit out of her and feel good for five mins and get hauled off to jai. What she failed to realize is that I had a lawyer, and I was taking good medication that allowed me to really think this process through... In doing so, I stated I'm injured, left the office, went to the magistrate's office and took our a warrant for her arrest for assault and battery. The point Im making is that before we bash folk for not having the competencies to battle racism and internal neglect, it is imperative that we think more in the line of DuBois and the 10 going back for the 90 as opposed to the bashing. Im not saying all of his points are valid, Im not saying all of his points are. Im saying, as best as I can you must come from a position of love and you must be willing to get your hands dirty in struggle.

No Vietnamese has ever called me Nigger

In the words of Muhammad Ali
"No Vietnamese has ever called me nigger." 1966
In 2013 I'll add
No Arab has ever called me nigger
No Britt has ever called me nigger
No Asian has ever called me nigger
No Native American has ever called me nigger
No Mexican has ever called me a nigger
No Jew has ever called me nigger
No South American has called me nigger
No Cuban has called me nigger
No Indian has ever called me nigger;
No gay person has ever called me nigger
No lesbian has ever called me nigger
No transgendered person has called me nigger
No bi-sexual person has called me nigger;
Now, some black folk have called me nigger
And yes white America has called me nigger but not exclusively in that word:
When you say, my black friend, you call me nigger
When you say, oh it's just a black guy, you call me nigger
When you clutch your pocketbook next to me, you call me nigger
When you dumb down education, you call me nigger
When you re district voting lines you call me nigger
When you stop and frisk me with no probable cause you call me nigger
When you ask me for urine, when I ask you for government aid, you call me nigger
When you don't teach me about my contributions except in February, you call me nigger
When you show me in cuffs more than you show me professionally, you call me nigger
When you show me illiterate, in rage instead of cognizant and oratorically sophisticated, you call me nigger
When you criminalize me, demonize me, politically problematize me, you call me nigger
When you gun me down with no reason, you call me nigger
When you follow me block after block and call it suspicious, you call me nigger
When you don't give me my justice, and you don't give me peace, you call me nigger
When I have to fight for my humanity from the grave, you call me nigger
When I have to teach my son at the age of six how not to respond when you call him nigger, you call me nigger....
When you put me into the prison industrial complex, you call it, rehabilitation and expect me to believe it, you call me nigger.
Yet, America wants me, to fight wars , pay taxes and give you my son to do the same? No, America cannot and will not have my son, and I am not for sale.
So call me what you want, say what you want to say;
But no way,
No how
Will I be America's nigger...
Excuse me, but I feel the need for Gin.

Taxonomy of Whiteness: An Application Through Zimmerman and Martin

Too much intellectualizing and not enough common sense. I honestly think the Stand Your Ground Laws and the Castle Doctrines need to be called Kill or Be Killed statutes. Not that I'm a linguist; but the rhetoric of those laws scream patriotism, machismo and patriarchy with impunity. "A man's home is his castle." Only the weak back down, "stand your ground!" But if you call it what it is literally (you are in a situation where you are about to be killed unless you kill) I think it forces self accountability and a cognition of human life, if only for a nano second. Though I will never know what happened, I believe Zimmerman "inserted" himself into a kill or be killed situation with the upper hand (a firearm) which to me was willfully negligent. I wonder had he not had a gun, would he have been so quick to get out of his vehicle. Would love to hear open honest comments. Last point, there are so many layers of race around this tragedy. I'll choose one that hasn't been talked about as much; the fact that it took 43 days and a social media campaign to force an arrest. If Zimmerman were African American and Trayvon was a "pretty white female" I firmly maintain that he would have been charged with every shooting since Lincoln and detained in police custody in under 43 minutes, possibly with a few bumps and lacerations. For me, as an African American man, as one who studies media and the social constructivist nature of it, it is exceedingly painful to have to constantly validate my existence, my humanity, my inalienable rights just to even breathe in a post racial American apartheid. That is what I honestly think dominant society has yet to fully understand; no one wants to be branded a problem; however, this Zimmerman case not only opened old wounds for the souls of Black Folk who have been problematized through every American institution, literally since Black Folk got off the boat, but that decision, albeit legal due process, rubbed salt in those wounds. To me, its not anger, but its pain, its real, and it hurts.

The Exploitation of Trayvon Martin

I saw this thing on Gawker, a story which featured Trayvon Martin dead body uncovered.

Wrote a letter about it, wanna read it here it go,,,

Greetings Mr. Weinstein: 

I trust this communiqué finds you well.  I came across your post from a good friend of mine who too is in the business of communication.  Upon reflection, when I first saw the photo, I was in complete shock.  The reasons for said shock were obvious; to see a dead child, who's death has sparked a national debate, left me speechless.  Examining the upper third, I did notice that it was from MS NBC's Tamron Hall. I want to believe this was not done with intent, but an honest misstep of judgment on the part of the photog in the courtroom and the ENG technician in the live truck.  Things like this happen in our market driven media based culture.  I'm not attempting to cosign on this as best practice; but instead understanding that mistakes do happen.  

This brings me to your conscious decision to re-present this over the web. I don't think you single handedly did this with any type of malicious intent.  This just reinforces the premise that one cannot un-ring a bell nor call a bullet back to the chamber once fired.  As I appreciate your attempt to share what you feel is newsworthy, and I do accept your news judgment, I feel respectfully that the methods, in this case at lease may need to be examined.  Unequivocally, this case is shocking,  bringing about strong emotional arousal.  Academically, my training points me to studies that link emotional arousal to sensationalism.  

In my honest opinion, sensationalism has infected what I like to believe is journalism.  I think it has "gone viral" in our newsrooms, our live trucks, to now our social media platforms.  This case, as I am sure you are aware has all the trappings of being a categorically sensationalized news case, which I hope to teach about in a case of best practices for new journalists.  What gives me reason for pause in this case is your decision to attach this photo.   The first obligation journalists have, according to the Society of Professional Journalist code of ethics is to seek the truth and report it.  The second obligation is to minimize harm.  Specifically it says, "— Be sensitive when seeking or using interviews or photographs of those affected by tragedy or grief."  Additionally it says, "— Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance."

I will not begin to entertain the question of your degree of hubris for the simple fact that I don't know you.  I am sure you are well intentioned and acted in a manner you believed was the right and just thing to do.  I want to say that I am beyond outraged regarding this incident.  As I am a father of a son;  I can promise you that if any harm as egregious as this were to come to him, my reactions as a parent would not be as controlled as they are in this message to you or as Trayvon Martin's parents.  I share your passion for social justice as without question, this case has parallels to Emmett Till and countless and nameless others who were recklessly dispatched by our culture of violence.  

At this time, I think what we have to do, what we must commit ourselves to doing is watchful observation.  I have my opinions and I have placed them in social media, but at the end of the day, court cases cannot be tried in the press nor the courts of public opinion.  I think your photo may have done more harm than good.  I was hurt. I was angered. Does this photo help to ease tensions or magnify them?

White Sexual Politics part 1

Ok,
So that I'm clear; in North Carolina, we have a political party comprised of middle aged to elderly white men who are controlling the sexual politics of the vaginas and uteruses of women?
And yes,
I'm a womanist and a feminist.

Are We The Niggers Of The World?

Southern chef Paula Deen is the newest celebrity to say something out of pocket regarding the politics of race in America. In a nut shell, Deen is in a legal battle regarding a hostile working environment, particularly saying nigger and glorifying a segregated South. My instant reaction, as one who is forever a student of media, was, "She's at the last five seconds of her 15 minutes." As an African American man, one of the benefactors of the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s and 1970s, though I never had to address a segregated South, my family is not that far removed from it. My grandmother and her daughters had to go to the colored entrance for ice cream in Henderson, North Carolina. A professional colleague of mine could only go to the colored section of the Carolina Theater here in Durham, NC. Segregation in the South was so bad that legendary comedian Redd Foxx said the following in a stand up routine, "I wouldn't go down South to get my mama out of the hospital, I'd send her cab fare, but damned if I'd go down there." From my oral history, I don't see Mint Juleps; instead, I'm reminded of that strange fruit that bears from southern trees.
Recently, I had an opportunity to discuss the Deen debacle with a high school friend of mine. It generated from an earlier post I made on Facebook which was this:
We are ready to roast her (Deen) in her own barbecue pit, in her own barbecue sauce for saying the "N" word and going back to a time of the segregated South. But when
Jay-Z and Kanye (West) roll out w- "Niggas in Paris" and preform it live at a Victoria's Secret televised fashion show, there's a cultural pass. In a post racial society, I smell a little hypocrisy.
My friend, who has confessed to me that he is white (lol) in earnest wanted me to explain why there is this racial double standard in the use of the word nigger. Because he is my friend and we never had an opportunity to discuss race, for me I embraced to opportunity. I didn't feel as though I was his personal expert on all matters African American, but instead it was an opportunity to share that side high school life in Knoxville, TN he was obviously oblivious to. I began somewhat snarky:
My professor answer would be, many of us (African Americans) have taken the tools of the oppressor (racists white folks) and adopted them to build a level of desensitization whenever it's used. However, when someone of power and privilege takes that pejorative and uses it in an assaultive way (ie hate speech) then it stirs up an oral history that's been passed down; up to I would say our generation (children of the 1980s). Think about it like this: when I was in Knoxville with you, I think you and I could agree, I presented a bit of an anomaly. My speech pattern was different (I was constantly told I sounded white) and in many cases, I was in accelerated classes. I had different interests. It didn't make me better than anybody. Now, I was in the minority on quite a few levels, and I really had no power. I had very little cultural capital. I had to wrestle with taunts, not just because of the color of my skin, but also because of the texture of my hair and because I was an heir to the advances of the civil rights movement. People teased me when there was the first nationally recognized MLK holiday at South Young. In fact the day someone did called me a nigger and spat on me from a roaming pick up truck with the confederate flag, I was frightened and powerless. Now, we jump to a generation of greed where profit is key. HipHop culture uses the word nigger liberally. I don't agree with it at all.... At the same time, the term isn't considered hate speech when it's used in the marginalized culture. But here is where it gets interesting, HipHop music (gangsta rap specifically) crossed over into hegemonic audiences. In some schools of thought, some scholars theorize that this entry into mainstream suburbia, may have created a cultural normalization of the pejorative. I think an equally salient theory is that belief structures are passed down and in some cases, the language is synonymous to the belief. From what I can say in certain Black cultures I've been able to circulate in, there is class division and in some cases, African American circles will shun one who won't engage in a battle of the dozens using the N word because they feel that the person is "not being black enough." Stupid, I know but it exists.
Just my .02 worth.
As I responded to him, I was beside myself because our cultural logic presents a contradiction. Our popular culture says its ok to say Nigger. Quentin Tarantino apparently has the American Express Race Card that allows him to use Nigger carte blanche. Co songwriter of Accidental Racist, LL Cool J has used nigger in quite a few of his songs. In our culture we have normalized not just the word nigger but even the nigger ideology as well. When we deconstruct the nigger ideology, we have to accept it as what is, as opposed to what we have enabled it to become. Webster's dictionary would lead us to believe nigger is derived from the Spanish word Negro, born out of referring to Latin Niger. Both references deal with Black people, yet the context addresses a matter of chattel property. Niggra, the Southern pronunciation, eventually evolved into nigger, also considered America's pariah. I think about what my favorite Beatle, the late John Lennon did so masterfully with the word nigger, "woman is the nigger of the world." He took the malignant cancer of nigger and injected it into the feminist movement. That resonates with me. So I raise this question in our post racial society, collectively: are we our own niggers, or are we (Americans) niggers of the world?

The Empresses Have No Clothes On

Winfrey and Vanzant on a fatherhood tour? Hmmm.

For me, I get annoyed with this rhetoric problematizing Black fatherhood, particularly when the problems are often generalized by the sensational few who obviously do need help. I'm not going to say we are perfect, but I refuse to buy into this moral panic which suggests a majority of Black fathers are on a collision course with deviancy and catastrophe. First, (I hate to sound like a social science snob on this) neither of them have taken he time to conduct any research that either polls a statistically significant amount of the African American male population of fathers; nor have they taken the time to explore the adjacent limitations which may contribute to the barriers presenting challenges to quality parenting. I'm not saying this because of a gender bias: in fact I was raised primarily by my mother. The aspect of my rearing which was different was that she surrounded me by strong male role models, including my grandfather, my stepfather, and my godfather. I'm not attempting to say that Vanzant and Winfrey can't contribute to the conversation. I'm curious to hear their input. That said, I refuse not to be critical of the messenger or their motives. I'll close on this note. I have issue with Vanzant and Winfrey regarding their "intervention" with rapper DMX. I sincerely feel that DMX (though to some fault of his own) was really played as a ratings booster and they capitalized on this man's hard times. To me it looked as though it were the launching pad for something bigger and I think we are beginning to see the layers slowly reveal themselves. Again, in a general sense, I'm not saying that I'm too stubborn not to listen strong African American females in regards to being a better dad. I listen to my mother, my therapists, my circle of friends, and even some women I date because as a full time single dad raising a boy, I welcome all opinions. As I welcome those opinions, I also choose wisely, and some of the kernels of knowledge, in certain cases call for some serious self reflection on my part. So in short, before we collectively decide to promote Vanzant and Winfrey to be parental champions to a moral majority right wing conservative agenda (yes I said it, I refuse to take it back) we should take the time to seek our community resources and learn from the best sources, our trusted families and friends who ARE doing it right.

Moral Monday: How The Marginalized Are Prohibited From Civil Disobedience

From UNC's The Daily Tar Heel

One of the things my father taught me when I was a kid is that you have to fight your own battles.  I can remember when daddy (what I called him then) told me, under no circumstance was I to back down from the bus stop bully.  If I did, I would have a whipping waiting for me at home.  Sure enough, I didn't back down, and surprisingly, daddy became my own version of Batman, ordering the bully never to put hands on me again.  That was in 1977, when in North Carolina, James Hunt was the governor. Now, I'm a father, a professor, an agent of social justice, and again a target of a bully. This time, my bully is exponentially bigger than the one I dealt with in second grade.  The bullies are the legislators of the North Carolina state capital; up to, and including Governor Pat McCory.  Literally, as I sleep, and even with my eyes wide open, I'm witnessing state robbery without a gun.  The laws of inclusion are systemically being dismantled; voter disenfranchisement is rapidly becoming legalized; and education budgets are being decimated with unswerving accuracy.  In essence, my worst nightmare has been sowed; the Confederate South is ‘rising again’ with North Carolina on course to become a post modern, post racial, antebellum state, under the guise of industrialism.

In response to this threat, local NAACP chairperson Dr. William Barber has organized weekly "sit-ins" to challenge the legislative actions of the state: Moral Mondays.  The NAACP and others have strategically challenged the NCGA's actions by formally adopting civil disobedience to protest and hopefully force a consciousness raising among the folks who are in the political drivers seat.  Here is where I have the challenge.

I would like to be arrested for this political cause because to me, this too, is my fight, yet regrettably, I can't go.

First and foremost, I'm an African American man who has a skeletal job.  I'm a non-tenured professor.  I'm actively on the job market, even at my current place of employment.  Acquiring a criminal record, no matter how just the cause, for me, in my social position only adds another reason for potential employers to say, we'll pass on this applicant.  Not too long ago was I on the negative side of the employment statistic; no job, no insurance, no benefits.  I remember vividly the stark reality of having to go to the department of social services to file for much needed assistance so that my son and I could live week-to-week, check-to-check, prayer to prayer.  Do I risk my job as an adjunct professor, which Dr. Cornel West would call, “hope on a tightrope,” for what I know is morally just and spiritually correct?  

Another point I raise, do I have access to the financial and social capital to recover from an arrest?  In this age of social media, anyone can get access to your criminal record in a matter of seconds.  Chief among the folks who would know I've been arrested would be my students and of course my employer.  There's this tabloid called The Slammer which we know seeks public information on those who've been arrested, including the most visible sign, one's mug shot.  Imagine walking into class, knowing you've been arrested for social justice, but your students only see you've been arrested. Motivations, to the non critical student, mean nothing to them: what they see is a juicy hot topic for gossip that will undoubtedly make its rounds through their social networks, let alone your department chair, dean, and provost. Civil disobedience, I'm slowly learning is an act for the financial and social elite.  Yet with the political rollbacks, which in my opinion are more criminal, happening to me and countless other North Carolinians represents my fight.  I strongly feel a need to be there on the front lines, picketing, vocalizing my grievances, and yes, if need be, arrested.  Again, regrettably, I can't go.

Who I do see in attendance however are quite a few of my white liberal friends from Duke, UNC, and NC State Universities eagerly, and in some cases repeatedly getting arrested at the Moral Monday protests.  Being a student of critical race theory, for them, White privilege enables greater access to civil disobedience.  Very few of my White counterparts have to face the realities others and I have to negotiate.  Rarely do they know the anxieties faced by being challenged on your racial, economic, or immigration status.  As the overwhelming majority of those impacted by the actions of the North Carolina General Assembly those historically living on the margins, the cost in social capital is grossly disparate in comparison to those who are morally conscious yet have White privilege. White dissidence in this case signifies an exercise of one's First Amendment rights while minority civil disobedience could mean 1) increased incarceration time, 2) time from work, 3) a through vetting in the criminal justice system and 4) a challenge to ones immigration status.  I feel the Moral Monday protest functions not only as a call to political action but also a spiritual obligation (regardless of one’s faith). I refuse to be deterred, as I'm going to work through this so that I can actively participate, even up to and if need be; being arrested.  I may even write a letter from jail.  But I just want to make sure I have an opportunity to let it be known that even in civil disobedience, in my DuBosian tone, there are two systems, one that is privileged; one that is suspect.

The Write Stuff

In the world of single parenting homework in my house can be lie pulling teeth from a rabid crocodile. In fact, while trying to negotiate with Red Chief about his writing in kindergarden, I've come up really short. As one who teaches the occasional English composition classes, for me the problem is especially perplexing. You see, as a Kindergardener, by the time they complete end of grade assessment, kids are expected to be at certain bench marks. For Red, writing a page in under 20 minutes represents achievement. For some reason, I can coach my students, but I cannot coach my child. On the day he was supposed to have his writing test, I'm told to go see the teacher because Red only wrote two lines in 30 minutes. For me, this sends up an alarm because two weeks earlier when we dealt with this episode, I had to sit with him at the school; and with me looking over his shoulder, he wrote. On the day of the actual test, when I learned about this, my reaction was typical: this boy is being stubborn. At the same time, I'm thinking the boy needs proper motivation. So I drive him to Best Buy and I'm not too happy with myself for what I'm about to do. I buckle under pressure.
Pleading with him, I tell him look, if you do good on the writing test tomorrow, I will start making arrangements to get you the video game you want for your birthday early. Note this damn video game system cost $300.00. Yep, I was that desperate. True to form, he excels on the writing test. I flatly elated because I knew my son could do it, but really, I'm giving him $300.00 for two pages of writing. Something about this just doesn't seem right, but a deal is a deal and so I was committed to buying a $300.00 video game. Enter the deal breaker. After a trip to the zoo, Red's class is given an impromptu writing assignment where they have to write about the zoo the next day. Red turns in a paper with two lines and cavalierly saunters to the teacher to deposit his masterpiece. The teacher tells Redmond this is only two lines. Big Red tells her unapologetically, the zoo is over. Not too thrilled with his retort, she tells him she's going to tell his father. He's like ok tell him. Needless to say when I heard about this, I was calling his actions, completely unacceptable. Note, I was using my doctor professorial language in front of the teachers. When I was telling his grandmother about it, I called the boy a 21st century version of Gary Coleman. I was not happy with him and needless to say, the video game was put on hold (thankfully). So tonight, in going through homework blues, again I had to deal with mild defiance. I refuse to spank my child over academic non compliance, but it does not mean I can't withhold privileges. So his favorite toy was taken away. As he came back in tears, I felt bad. I can teach adults (well, 18 year olds) but I can't teach my child; this is unreal. So enter empathy and strategy.
Red and I had a talk. I showed him some of the positives of writing. I showed him my dissertation (which he drew on), some newspaper writings, a national pop article, and most recently, a response I got from the President (though I believe it was his team of interns). I told him that writing represents power and can take you many places. When I shared with him the salutation, I said even the President of the United States calls me doctor. No I don't know what that means to him, but I hope that he will one day understand that writing is the gateway to bigger and better things.

Obama's Morehouse Exposition Speech

Ok so I've read the speech, now that I've heard the context, I think I'm still unchanged.. In fact as Obama was attempting to give the interpretation of "Excuses are tools of the....." I think that he failed to mention the disparate conditions which make the odds so insurmountable for African American men.  Its as though he completely forgot the "war on crime" and drug legislation that  contributed to countless African American men who comprise the prison industrial complex.  In reading this, with a critical gaze, it appears as though he is anti affirmative action and to be quite honest, oblivious to the class disparity which exists in our country.  I'm curious to know if there was an African American speech writer here because as he mentions Washington and DuBois, they clashed, furiously.  In fact Washington was known as the "The Great Accommodationist" who didn't challenge White Oppression..... Gotta give the president a thumbs down on his Black Experience graduation speech.  C- at best, but of course, I'm using my affirmative action curve.      
"I understand there’s a common fraternity creed here at Morehouse: “Excuses are tools of the incompetent used to build bridges to nowhere and monuments of nothingness.” Well, we’ve got no time for excuses. Not because the bitter legacy of slavery and segregation have vanished entirely; they have not. Not because racism and discrimination no longer exist; we know those are still out there. It’s just that in today’s hyperconnected, hypercompetitive world, with millions of young people from China and India and Brazil — many of whom started with a whole lot less than all of you did — all of them entering the global workforce alongside you, nobody is going to give you anything that you have not earned. (Applause.)
Nobody cares how tough your upbringing was. Nobody cares if you suffered some discrimination. And moreover, you have to remember that whatever you’ve gone through, it pales in comparison to the hardships previous generations endured — and they overcame them. And if they overcame them, you can overcome them, too. (Applause.)
You now hail from a lineage and legacy of immeasurably strong men — men who bore tremendous burdens and still laid the stones for the path on which we now walk. You wear the mantle of Frederick Douglass and Booker T. Washington, and Ralph Bunche and Langston Hughes, and George Washington Carver and Ralph Abernathy and Thurgood Marshall, and, yes, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. These men were many things to many people. And they knew full well the role that racism played in their lives. But when it came to their own accomplishments and sense of purpose, they had no time for excuses."

I heard it on the radio

I cannot and will not pretend to be a part of a "moral majority" that will police cultural tastes. I'm not in that class of folks. However, I do sincerely believe that there is a time and a place for everything.
I won't pretend to identify with everything that's played on mainstream black radio. In all honesty, what currently is popular is not essentially for me and my tastes. I'm not promoting Black Bourgeoisie elitism (snobbery), I'm just saying I've grown into another level of adulthood. There's Russell at 42 and Russell at 22. There's a 20 year difference. Case and point: circa 1991, there was BBD's "Do Me Baby" and "Poison." Politically, parentally, and academically, I don't align myself with that type of music anymore as it reflects quite a few things I'm counter to, despite the fact that I listened to it then. Do I think that free radio must be more cognizant to their audiences; absolutely. That said, where does the activism for change begin? Who among us is willing to challenge radio station PDs GMs and owners regarding drive time obscenity? Better yet, who among us is willing to petition the FCC to create broadcast policy that says there are certain hours that will be obscenity free on the radio, akin to the family viewing hour in television. But understand, regardless of laws on the books, they are only as good as those who choose to follow them.

Dead Giveaway: this ain't Shalamar

Dead Giveaway: I like that song by the 80s R&B trio Shalamar, but this is not about that. This is about Charles Ramsey, who may now have a mash up hit "Dead Giveaway."
Market driven media: this cat is good for ratings on multiple levels. He's Joe Everyman, albeit mashed up w- Amos and Andy and Sanford & Son. In this case, Ramsey is the story. He's unexpected "Easy Rollins" who stumbled up three missing white women and ushered them into safety. These women have been in captivity for 10 years. Nothing extremely heroic: Ramsey did what I hope many of us would do, examine a social frame, explore the problems, and eventually fix it. However with the culture of convergence, he's now become the newest African American Internet sensation. His interview has gone viral. Now he's in the ranks of Sweet Brown, the gay Black guy whose now straight and Ms. Kapowya, who says man them rocks was big. The common denominator I see as a Media Examined is that most of the folks who have the microphone and cameras really are not children of the Kerner Commission; they are white broadcasters and editors who have come out of lily white mass comm programs where the challenge of diversity or media literacy was never taken seriously. Entman and Rojecki talk about the politics of representation in Black Image in the White Mind. I think within the news cycle we live in, sensationalism brings in the cash. Not only are broadcast stations cashing in, but so too are would be record producers as they creatively take their sound bites and remix them if you will into catchy hooks. Sweet Brown who says, "ain't nobody got time for dat," and now Ramsey's "dead giveaway." It's quite interesting when we begin to analyze these themes beyond the tactile level. In the texts I've seen, there is a latent visualization of poverty, social neglect, and even "dysfunctionaliam" within the lower to underclass representations of African Americans at the center of sensationalistic news texts. Immediately what comes to mind is the text of the Cleveland bus driver and his infamous sound bite "you going to jail now!" right before he delivers the upper cut that was seen all around the world to an African American woman. What about the Black mall cop in Atlanta who tasered the belligerent Black mother in front of her kids. When I showed this to my students they were hysterical, but again going beneath the surface, the psychological effects of economic poverty are being played for ratings.
In matters of Black Sexual Politics
Ramsey normalizes the racial apartheid in this country in various levels. Not only does he normalize it but I think he reinforces it by saying a white woman running into the arms if a Black man is still considered forbidden, or in his language, dead giveaway. When we really break it down, he really articulates historical paradox which that African American men negotiate with in this country daily. We may never know his true motivations; was he disturbed to the point where he couldn't eat his hamburger in peace or did he see something and hear something that was beyond his "normal frame of reference" that something here isn't too normal? That is not a dead give away.

Getting My Head Sprung to Accidental Racist

Not every first step is a giant leap. That said, it is what it is, a first step. Recently I was asked to weigh in on "Accidental Racist" the collaboration of Brad Paisley and LL Cool J, aka Uncle L, aka James Todd. I made a deliberate effort NOT to listen to the song, but instead read the lyrics. My knowledge of country music is limited: Jerry Reed's "East Bound and Down" the theme of Smokey and the Bandit and Waylon Jennings's "Just the Good Old Boys" the theme of "The Dukes Of Hazard." These were songs I grew up to and can recite every lyric to this day. Ironically, as a kid, both media texts really represented key points of my childhood. When I saw the Burt Reynolds's Trans Am dodge and duck Jackie Gleason, or when I saw Bo and Luke Duke jump the "General Lee" through the mountains of Hazard County, I never for one moment thought about the Confederate Flag as a symbol of hate. To me as a little Black/African American boy, I saw car jumps and comedy. Who could forget Boss Hogg or Roscoe P. Coltrane properly pissed because they couldn't catch the Duke boys. In the end, it was all good clean escapist fun. As I grew older, becoming more educated and socially conscious, the confederate flag had a double consciousness of its own. As it was a symbol of the confederacy during the civil war, it dually became synonymous to slavery and hate. As we all know, the civil war was ended only when President Lincoln issued an order that emancipated the southern slave, a war measure, noted by famed historian the late John Hope Franklin. When I think about this Paisley/Cool J collaboration, as I look at it through a critical media lens, the song functions as an exercise in semiology and the politics of race and representation. When I view the song that way, the media text begins to make sense to me. When we discuss semiology, it represents the study of signs and symbols and various interpretations. If we extend beyond that into how various realities are socially constructed, then the song forces the audience to explore their individual histories or life stories they bring to the table. In short, how has your life, along the axis of race and class been socially constructed prior to your introduction to the media text. At this point I think the text latently highlights a "King-like" text, there are two Americas, one Black, one White. I think it becomes clear when the song explores the interpretation of symbols, the confederate flag, the do rag, the sagging pants. I get this, it is basically a 21st century "We Are The World"/"Can't We All Just Get Along?" I even get the point of both artists playing it "safe." No one wishes to play the Kanye West card, let alone Tupac. But lets play Fantasy Island for a minute. Lets say that the duet was executed with Johnny Cash and Tupac, or
Kris Kristopherson and Public Enemy. Lets say we didn't discuss the rebel flag but instead discussed Trayvon Martin and Eve Carson. Lets say The Dixie Chicks and Queen Latifa teamed up to challenge the war on women. So as I think about the song "Accidental Racist," I think about the potential that could have been but barely got off the ground. This song could have "got your head sprung" while at the same time promoting a message of commitment to racial harmony. Instead, this is weak and in my opinion both artists should know this. That said though, I do applaud them on the attempt and initiating some type of discussion.

On Lil Wayne and Others

This is a profound thread indeed. There's a part of me that says we really can't "knock" a man when he is down, for me it's not good karma. If we turn the conversation to society, commercialism, free market and of course, supply and demand, well, Wheezy, along with a boatload of other artist would have to stand accused for the proliferation exponential negativity being spread in the popular culture. HipHop culture, not exclusively the music, is organic. It's not just the artists making music, but it's a cannon of texts which we must look at for varying functionalities. The texts are not simply to entertain; they also operate as agents of political discourse, education, the dissemination of spirituality, the display of public grievances, and even the informing of threats to our safety and well being. It goes to what McLuhan discussed in his thesis, the medium is the message, which simply states media operates as a mirror of culture so to speak. Can we blame an artist 100% for provocative lyrics, when those same provocative lyrics have serious meaning to their reality. Can we blame an artist for replicating what they may see as a vehicle for economic emancipation? Please don't misunderstand me or my opinion on vulgarity and what I deem obscene. When I first Karate Chop, I was one of the first in line to want to knock some sense into their heads. When I heard Ni%%as In Paris, again I was ready to go shell. I caught myself though because that type of action doesn't help anybody; instead, I looked at it as learning opportunities to teach my students, audiences of Lil Wayne, Kanye and Hova about Emmett Till, the Harlem Renaissance, Negretude. In many cases, the young artists who are the most "out there" are really man children who have been alienated by elders and the Black Bourgeoisie who in my honest most candid opinion reneged on their part of DuBosian social contract known as The Talented Tenth. Now we fear, and in some cases work to eradicate the already marginalized. We problematize those who have been civilly muted as opposed to problematizing the systems and structures which enabled this cacophony of chaos...
Indeed, we do have work to do...
Just my opinion.. Thank you for reading...

Learning While Black

I had an interesting conversation with my cousins on Facebook the other day. As they are biracial, it was conscious raising to learn about their experiences in high school and compare them both to mine. One of the first common threads is that high school can be a psychologically traumatizing spot for anybody. But in our three cases, we experienced racism in three different ways. In their case, they had to negotiate the taunts of being biracial. In fact the quote that inspired this post was when one of my cousins was referred to as "the Black guy who dated someone's sister." This to him may have been innocuous, however when I saw many of his friends posts, it looked as though they were trying to say, don't sweat the small stuff. Me, being probably too deep was like, there is nothing to sweat, and yeah, you are at least 1/2 African American...As his sister chimed in, she gave more of the back story. They both went to pricy private schools, but it broke the household in the process. She to an all girls school and being a true ethnic minority in a heterogenous gendered school, her Black Consciousness may have been more magnified. He on the other hand went to a school where the marginalization was more economic. Maybe he was taught that race doesn't exist there. At least that's his thought pattern today. For me, the racism was twofold and really more institutional. I was a freshman in high school in Knoxville, TN. My English grades in high school were lousy. I blame that on the fact that the teacher and I simply didn't get along. That said, my standardized test scores for English reflected something totally different. I placed in the 95 percentile of American students for mastery of the English language for my age group. Because my test scores were slow getting to my new high school (which was out of state) the guidance folks placed me where the existing data recommended; remedial English. In this classroom, in my adult opinion, I think this is where they placed the students who were behavioral problems. The learning in this room was minimal. Because I spoke in un-accented English and I crushed the assignments in the class, I was labeled the little professor by one of the Black students. I was called Oreo on a regular basis until finally me and the other Black child in the class got into a shoving match. The disinterested white teacher took us both like two animals by the scruffs of our necks off to the vice principal's office. There we received our paddling and went back to class. Finally when my scores arrived, I was placed in an appropriate English course, accelerated. But here, I was the only one, and viewed as the anomaly, I was trying to be white....
Today, some 28 years later, I tell my students linguistics has little to do with race and more to do with being literate. I wish someone told me that in 1984.

Learning While Black

I had an interesting conversation with my cousins on Facebook the other day. As they are biracial, it was conscious raising to learn about their experiences in high school and compare them both to mine. One of the first common threads is that high school can be a psychologically traumatizing spot for anybody. But in our three cases, we experienced racism in three different ways. In their case, they had to negotiate the taunts of being biracial. In fact the quote that inspired this post was when one of my cousins was referred to as "the Black guy who dated someone's sister." This to him may have been innocuous, however when I saw many of his friends posts, it looked as though they were trying to say, don't sweat the small stuff. Me, being probably too deep was like, there is nothing to sweat, and yeah, you are at least 1/2 African American...As his sister chimed in, she gave more of the back story. They both went to pricy private schools, but it broke the household in the process. She to an all girls school and being a true ethnic minority in a heterogenous gendered school, her Black Consciousness may have been more magnified. He on the other hand went to a school where the marginalization was more economic. Maybe he was taught that race doesn't exist there. At least that's his thought pattern today. For me, the racism was twofold and really more institutional. I was a freshman in high school in Knoxville, TN. My English grades in high school were lousy. I blame that on the fact that the teacher and I simply didn't get along. That said, my standardized test scores for English reflected something totally different. I placed in the 95 percentile of American students for mastery of the English language for my age group. Because my test scores were slow getting to my new high school (which was out of state) the guidance folks placed me where the existing data recommended; remedial English. In this classroom, in my adult opinion, I think this is where they placed the students who were behavioral problems. The learning in this room was minimal. Because I spoke in un-accented English and I crushed the assignments in the class, I was labeled the little professor by one of the Black students. I was called Oreo on a regular basis until finally me and the other Black child in the class got into a shoving match. The disinterested white teacher took us both like two animals by the scruffs of our necks off to the vice principal's office. There we received our paddling and went back to class. Finally when my scores arrived, I was placed in an appropriate English course, accelerated. But here, I was the only one, and viewed as the anomaly, I was trying to be white....
Today, some 28 years later, I tell my students linguistics has little to do with race and more to do with being literate. I wish someone told me that in 1984.