Why Black Folk can no longer afford to wear Nike

First, allow me to say happy holidays as we are slam in the middle of the holiday season. In fact, when I called a local radio show recently, I actually wished them a happy Kwanzaa. More on that later. I never thought I would find myself putting my family on blast but recently, I feel as though I have no choice. That said, in the up and coming months, Kyle, you and others might see two particular family members on Dr. Phill. So for those anticipating the next set of firsts in the Pipe Line Press, you might see the first family members ever to hit national television syndication if they don't get their acts right and lets just say, all parties know I can do that.
Now-on to my political rant for the holiday season:
--We all remember that episode in American History called called the trans Atlantic slave trade I am sure. Last semester, during one of my video production courses I teach, I asked my students to indulge me a bit and had them watch this documentary report on nike. Looking at the report I transported back to the days of roots, just in the 21st century level. Maybe its me but for some reason I now have a clearer understanding of the illeffects of globalization. See, as we are so eager to have Nikes on our feet, we are not considering the fact that Slave Labor is the acting motivator in our fascination to "Just Do It." Lets face the facts, when Africans were brought to the country (called America) we didn't exactly arrive on the good ship lollipop let alone the love boat. We were beaten into submission, forced at gunpoint, let alone whip point, to actively participate in forced labor against our will. For what, the economic advancement of white bourgeoisie or the white elite. Some 200 plus years later, though the we are not physically in bondage, at least legally, somehow or another, we have dissociated ourselves from the political economy of struggle and human suffrage. There was this time when Muhammad Ali risked all to say he wasn't fighting a war to kill Vietnamese because they never called him Nigger. Then and now, that still gets the man the Platinum Express Street Credit Card because he would not capitualte in the killing of people who did not dehumanize him. A century later, we as black folk do, so much to the point where we actually sing songs about it. Airforce Ones, odes to Jordans. I mean ths is utterly sick. People who have been historically marginalized by the American way of life, truth justice and the American way, have now bought into 21st century slavery simply for the fact that the Asians making the shoes unfortunately some of us kill for, are not African. See, this is globalization gone bad. We are so dissociated with the plight of other people and so discombobulated with our own quest for materalisim, that we as a people don't seem to give a damn about our past nor our self, so how can we show compassion about for others. It's to me just crazy. The value that we (in general) place on the material goods in this country just staggers me. I mean lets think about it. If nike had a series of plants in Mozambique, Zaire, Congo, and Tanzania and paid these people 1.50 per day, placed them in the horrid of horrid living conditions, we'd be on the phone to Tom Joyner, Oprah, and god knows how else to call for an end to these horrid abuses. We'd call for NBA boycotts and make Spike Lee do a documentary about this. But no, it all reverts back to my Myles Law of Impact which says, it it doesn't hurt me, it doesn't concern me. Those who know anything about hip hop knows that hip hop is about the embellishment and the sustaining of life, not it's termination or exploitation.
For this reason,
I strongly state that black folk can no longer afford to just do it, we have to do it better. Until Nike can treat their workers like real human beings, I can no longer continue to wear or support the Nike brand.

The Twilight Zone Meets Spike Lee

This is my first attempt at V-Bloging-- which is nothing more than a video blog. For those who missed it, this is my first outing in 16mm film. I call it Elevator Music.
Enjoy

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Last year I had a serious question and now this year, especially in the year of our first African American president elect, I now feel the need to put it to the test. Can we please see a black santa clause? For real, its that time of year when we all go out and throw our good hard earned money away in the name of St. Nick -- well not completely but you can easily get the point, we go out spend money we really can't afford and still take our children to see Santa Clause who happens to be white. Previously I really would not have an objection but now that I am a parent, a socially conscious parent at that, I have to raise questions to the various social constructions. For years, the white house has been a place where the head white man in charge crashed for four years rent free. Now that is about to change. For years, folks who were true born again christians prayed to a "white" jesus. For eons powerful white men told incredibly small white lies which caused catastrophe. There has been a serious brain washing game with the color of white. Things that are white in this country, possibly others, are seen as being clean and innocent and pure. The institutions we have set up in this country, the ones we have blindly bought into, have set up a fractured fairy tale which plays out into the social reality we call life. The color system in this country represents a caste system on a plethora of levels and because of that, the effects can be horrific. For example, I can now understand why some parents don't want their children to see a white santa clause because of the reasons I have stated above. That said, because of how we have been conditioned as a society, if a Black, Brown, or even a Red Santa came down the chimney, before he got to the tree, he would be shot dead or seriously wounded. Marge, come quick, some [you fill in the blank] dressed in a red suit just broke in the house, I've got the gun on him. Imagine if you will the song I saw mommy kissing Santa Clause. Archie Bunker might be pretty mad. The news media might take it to the extreme. "If you see a[non model minority] man fitting this description, 6'1, 300 pounds wearing a red suit, call police immediacy." I can see the headline, Colored Clause Catches A Cap in that A$$! Lets not forget the economic hardship that might be imposed on KRS Cringel. Imagine trying to get a loan at the bank of the North Pole and his credit is jacked. Mr. Drysdale tells him he's over extended and they are giving thought to repossessing his sleigh. I love Christmas Specials, I grew up watching them, but never, not even in the Fat Albert Christmas Special-well let me check on that first, but the point I am attempting to make is that our media has put forth this image of santa being ever good and white. Now before my readers dismiss my rant as being unsupported rhetoric, allow me pause to draw attention to the serious matter of the character of Black Peter. This is curtsey of Mac Carey:
Black Peter, or Zwarte Piet in Dutch, began in Holland in the 15th century. His dark appearance is supposed to suggest a Spaniard, a reflection of Spain's occupation of the Netherlands at the time. Black Peter was also associated with pirates, a common threat to naughty Dutch children was that he would take them to a pirate's hide out and beat them. He was often represented holding a large stick for this purpose. The large bag that he held was rumored to be used for stuffing children in for the trip back to Spain. At the time "Black Peter" was a euphemism for the devil, and it was thought that St. Nicholas, being a representative of God, had beaten the devil and made him his servant. Thus it fell to Black Peter to hand out the punishments, while St. Nicholas dealt with the more pleasant sides of Christmas.
For more information you can visit this link: http://mymerrychristmas.com/2006/blackpeter.shtml
Ain't sad? All I want for Christmas, of course with the usual, God in my heart, my family in my life, and of course the cool million in the bank tax free, is some equity in myth making process. White doesn't always signify purity: see our outgoing president George Bush. That said if Christmas is for the kids, young and old, then why not make it for all the kids so Santa Clause is accessible by all kids

Whitewashed: Dead at 21

I had my second "quasi professional" speaking gig last week. I call it quasi professional because I am still somewhat new to this public intellectual thing. I was given the honor of presiding on a panel discussion regarding the new president elect Barack Obama. If I am lucky I will see if I can put a video post of it here on MLTW2F. It felt good to be able to actually speak with some authority on the topic considering that I was slated to give a talk about the possibility of an Obama win last year. Unfortunately, my back went out at the last minuet and I was forced to withdraw at the last minuet. In the discussion which had roughly 200 people in attendance, my game was on, I had my facts straight and then we got a person with a crazy question which really boiled down to a sneak attack on the President of the University where I teach. OK-- the pretext is simple. When Obama won the election some two weeks ago, the students caught the Obama fever. Hell I admit I caught a bit of it myself almost waking our baby. Well leave it to 19 year olds who felt they shook up the world the take on the University administration. Change, we want change had to have been going through their minds. Not really a bad thing provided it's done constructively. The key word here is constructively. The students had a list of concerns ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. For real now.. Yes, to have the residence halls flood and not have students promptly and adequately relocated is worth a little fall out. But to complain about the cafeteria food, come on now. Institutional food is institutional food. Prior to the pannel discussion, the students (rougly 100 freshmen) decided to have an uprising. Now i thought I did the right thing by attempting to put down this particular mutiny, they put their swords away to fight another day. It just so happens the day they chose happened to be mine. Great.. In listening to the laundry list of complaints, my ears became a bit dulled and my patience ran thin. It was as if my grandfather was on the stage with me when I heard one of his famous quotes, I think I will now call them "whit-isims." A classic whit-isim from 1991 revolved around my constant laments to ask for a new car considering the one he bought for me was falling apart. --"You are always asking for a new car but you have never asked me for a wrench to fix the one I bought you." Just like in 91, good sense went over like a lead balloon. When you are 20, you want things instantly. Its like we (black folk) think like 20 something white folk. Instant deposit equals instant return. Some 18 years later, I now know that is not the case. But we have been white washed to think like that. Our students don't realize that the HBCU was born out of struggle. (Now I know it's hard for me to say that considering I have called it the plantation with a black master) But it is true. Unfortunately, when one is 20something they just (myself included) just don't know ant piss. In particular, the next generation of Black Folk, the ones right under me, as they attempt to discuss the politics of oppression and blackness, they really believe that progress comes without struggle. One can rest on their potential. Noting could be further than the truth. The one thing I can remember saying from the first day of the Obama win to the next was that the excesses for underachievement have officially been put on notice. It's now time for a re-definition of afrocentricity. A new definition of self affirmation is upon the horizon and if we are not ready, we (as a people) will be swept in the undertow.

New Years Eve, November 4th 2008

New Years Eve November 4th 2008
I never thought that I would be using the words from the Bush presidency to comment on the tremendous outstanding election results from November 4th. It was funny because my Godbrother asked, where is your blog, I know you have got something to say now!!!. It’s going to sound funny but I had to wait for a day for the reality to set in. Do we really have a Black president elect? When we first saw the declaration (Dr. Wife and I) we saw it on Fox news. Immediately I challenged it because I know how Fox news got us in this crap w-Bush screwing up the calling back in 2000. I don’t believe them, turn to CNN because they can’t be trusted. Hell, Fox news are a bunch of neocons anyway with an agenda. Now when Anderson Cooper came forth with the truth, well needless to say, I was shocked. I mean yesterday was like new years eve in November. I was high all day until I heard some of the racist fall out from the election. One of my fellow gymrats shared a story with me about how he had to keep his head down because some whitefolks felt the country was going to hell on a motorcycle. At NC State, the term Black House was sprayed on the free expression wall. The worst however came when I heard some moron say that this election was as tragic as September 11th 2001. Like I said before, white folks—not white people—but white folks are going to be in a serious state of psychosis while black intellectualism will be in demand. See, white folks who have really governed from a position of “race superiority” now have to go to sleep knowing that the man who is keeping the “football” also know as the Nuclear Launch Codes, doesn’t look like them and certainly may not think like them . That’s going to take some getting use to and it’s not going to be easy. The state of and the face what is “American” is going to change and my projection is that the status quo is really going to be shaken up. In the words of John McCain, “the people have spoken.”

Affirmations from my Oppressor.

For the love of black white folk.
I am trying hard to understand the concept of capitulation. Is it safe to wear the mask that grins and lies or do we have to shake the notion of the "twoness," the duality Dubois entertains. Washing dishes the other night, (yes even quasi intellectuals have to wash dishes) I actually found myself talking to my two year old son in hopes of having a conversation beyond the monosyllabic. His current vocabulary consists of "mine," "no," and "stop." Needless to say, I would be guiding most of the conversation. I was asking him to tell me the direction media. As African Americans who represent either scholars, technologists, consumers, or even owners and producers of media, what is our role as professors and scholars when it comes to those who have been historically disenfranchised and marginalized by the power of media. As instructors and scholars are we to just simply train our successors to get a job and continue the incessant patterns of foolishness or do we train them to be critical agents of change? I am finding myself at odds with a colleague who to me represents what is wrong with the industry. A fellow African American, a fellow scholar (he has his Ph.D. while I am working on mine) a former reporter, I fail to see what he is doing to make a difference within the politics of representation. Its as though I see a white folk in black skin and it happens. For me the danger in that manifests itself in further perpetuating the existing problem in post secondary education at the HBCU. The black student is being trained to be a cog in the machinery of labor as opposed to being exposed to higher concepts of critical thinking and transformative agents. I am confused, more so puzzled, because I strongly feel that just because as one becomes literate, one should be able to think: I would believe that as one learns how to function, the environment for said functionality should be one that fosters creativity and discourse. From that creativity and discourse, serious problems can be addressed. Instead, traditional media education/curriculum teaches you job skills. How to get a job, keep a job, adhere to standards and never provoke or probe to investigate; to find the truth. It as though the Negro Caucasian, capitulates and in doing so surrenders their power. The voice of the Negro Caucasian represents one who has been duped so much to the point where his or her perceived power is only the power that is given to them and not earned. Meaning, that same power can easily be taken at will by those who initially bestowed it upon them in the first place. That said, the Negro Caucasian operates as an agent oppression spreading the gospel of passivity. The Negro Caucasian represents a post modernistic Friday, whose religion says a still tongue makes a happy life and a closed mind demonstrates a beautiful mind. Our students, our successors must be yanked from the politics of apathy and thrust onto the main stage of critical intellectualism and self emancipation. Just as we set standards in style, we must now set the standard in reclaiming the modalities of discourse. We must reinvent ourselves (individually and collectively) not for the 21st century but for the 22nd, 23rd and beyond. We must come to the consensus that the only slave and master of us is us and cease and desist form affirmations by the oppressor.

The N Word Revisited

I know there is a reason why I think talk show shrinks should be taken off of the air. Dr. Phil proved some two weeks ago. I didn't have time to launch my grief about this when the show first aired but now that I have a little breathing room, I can at least begin to start. As we all know, the good rev, Jessie Jackson back in the summer decided to just jump completly off the chain using the N-word saying he wanted to castrate presidential candidate Obama. OK so being good producers at the the Dr. Phil show, someone decides, hey, lets devote an hour to the topic. Not a bad thought, but my goodness, the show, if you have time to watch it on youtube, is just completely denigrating to watch as nothing constructive came from this dialogue. In fact, this dialouge could seriously be considered "negrophobic" as I saw black folk and white folk just really at their absolute lowest. -- Note, you can add Dr. Phil to my list of white folk.
To begin, the show is made up of two comedians, Paul Mooney and Cheryle Underwood, one conservative white radio host, and Hill Harper, who in my opinion is being set up to be the next great black acomodationist (if he is not careful). Via satelite is Al Sharpton. Ok, lets get down to business. My chief gripe is that there was nothing intellectual about this conversation. The show boiled down to the double standard to black folk using the N-word why white folk cannot. Silly question. White people who have some sense know that the N-word is assaultiative speech which in turn has the potential to cause them great harm. What to me was missing from this diatribe was some historization of the word and its power of objectification. See, no one bothered to mention the fact that this word was used liberally like the lynch of the antebellum day. I think another part of this program that must be condsidered is the hegemonic control applied to the show

The First Generations of Power

One thing my mother told me, almost now ten years ago, was that if you had a child you wouldn’t be as outspoken as you are at your job. Mind you, in 1998, the time of my first panic attack, and my refusal to surrender to oppressive legalized white supremacy, also know as NCSSM, I was quasi immortal. Now some ten years later, those words finally are beginning to make some sense. I just completed my first attempt at my Ph.D. comprehensive examinations, (at this level it’s no longer just academic, it’s now a form of hazing) and I had to write a section on critical race theory. In doing so, I had to trace it back to the roots of colonialism. Taking no chances, I not only discussed colonialism but also tracked it to class domination beginning with Marx and Engles. The fulcrum was domination and oppression. As I wrote my answer, praying that I gave an intelligible response, I had to take a few steps back and survey past and current situations. Going back to the prophetic words of Dr. Ma, (including Neither a Borrower nor a Lender Be) I reflected on the work of Franz Fanon in his work Black Skin White Masks, he launches a discussion on dissent and race. In a nutshell he states that once an African man buys into the ideology of family, it symbolizes a form of social self castration for the simple fact that he looses the power of dissent. In contrast, the White man (who really has nothing to dissent about or for because he is of the dominant class) still maintains his power stronghold. Stupid question but I am going to ask it anyway: is this equitable. Of course not, but here is where I begin to finally get to my point. The first generations of power, by African American standards, in my opinion have run amok. Listening to Dr. Wife share her laments about the battles for power behind her onyx league “Ebony Tower” and then sharing like issues I have come to the following conclusion: We as a folk will not be satisfied until we have placed ourselves back into a state of servitude, physical bondage, and mental captivity. It as though the first generations of power are illiterate to the politics of power and diplomacy. Case and point: In 2004, right before I started my Ph.D. I was at a book signing for Dr. Michael Eric Dyson. I heard a question from the audience which basically asked why is it that the “black intellectuals” are not teaching or coming back to the HBCUs to teach. His answer came almost from a Redd Foxx stand up comedy routine. Some asked Foxx about going to Alabama. He said he wouldn’t even go to the hospital to get his mama out of the hospital. He would give her cab fare but damn if he was going. Well, Dyson responded pretty much the same way. I won’t teach at an HBCU because they want to pay the negro rate. When I first heard this, I was a little offended because I consider myself a product of the HBCU experience. A year and some change later, I posed the same question to Dr. Cornel West at NCCU. His reaction was even more telling. Do you know where I was the other day? I was in jail waiting to be bonded out because I participated in a march against the Iraq war. The people at Princeton could understand that, but at the HBCU, I might loose my job altogether. Another thing is that I don’t think too many students want to see Cornel West at 4:00 on Friday afternoon after five classes. I was still baffled. Why not teach at the HBCU. Now I know why, first generation power has run amok. In some cases the working conditions border the oppressive if not crossing the line all together. Buildings in states of disrepair, enrollment driven admission policies and worst, administration that cracks the whip as harsh as any overseer from the days of slavery: to me it’s as though we have recreated the plantation in hopes of turning out a non critical, incredibly passive post modern 21st century slave. I know that’s harsh but that’s really how I see it these days. Sure there is Howard, Morehouse, Spellman and possibly Hampton. These schools however represent the crème de la crème. At Howard we have not only a swimming team but a women’s lacrosse team as well. Howard and others I have mentioned are the marquis HBCUs which in some cases set the standard. That said, what is the standard? What is the standard for not only the quality of teaching and curriculum but what about the quality of life for the employee? At one institution, I took the time to ask a member of the custodial staff, if you weren’t doing this job right here, right now, what would you be doing. He stated he would be in political science. That took me for a loop but he said it. Now, where is the institution’s commitment to making that happen? Bleak at best I would say. In another situation, I observed that some J schools are training students to become employees in a business that has become less critical and more tabloid. In the political economy of capitalism, we are producing folks to be journalist, but that said, are we training them to be critical, influential powers of advocacy and change. No, at all costs, we must produce product. We must meet outcomes. In doing so, issues quality of life become secondary. The effect, we have become not only the slave but our own master as well. We refuse to step out of line because we are shackled to educational debt, mortgage debt, consumer debt, and so on. To step out of line and question our superior means we really put the bulls-eye on our chest while our supervisor loads the riffle. Again, I equate this to power run out of control. The sad part about the whole conundrum is this, we really can’t blame whitefolk this time. Yes, we observed and created our own institutions after their successful model. But the breakdown comes form forgetting that power in our antiquitc communities was something that was shared and never used to berate or objectify another. There was honor in being of service to your fellow citizen. One was not hired strictly out of nepotism, but because there was some type of apprenticeship and a genuine bond. Now it’s who you know and how you son and how you getting in and who’s the man holding me up (borrowed from De La Soul). Certainly we may be post modern, but our mindset as a folk all our own is Neo Colonial and this time not only are we wearing the black skin but also the black masks.

Can you See Me?

From what I understand, Whiteness studies is a strand of critical race theory. Critical race theory was born from critical theory which basically means the study of domination and the praxis of liberation according to Douglas Kelner. In critical race theory, the objective is simple. It centers on the historically marginalized in the United States and how the various structures keep power out from the marganlized. The structures at play pretty much are economic, social, legal, educational, political, and even medical. CRT is based primarily in the lived experience. Typically one must have "gone through" a baptism by fire or what some people call a consciousness raising. In my case, the experience which really changed my life was strangely my experiences with NCSSM. (for more in infomation please see previous posts) It was there where I experienced or better yet where I began to encounter the surreptitious dynamics of power and how powerless I was at the time. What was visible to me then and as well as now, is how whiteness and accessibility go hand in hand. When I first arrived at NCSSM, I was there with a Masters Degree in instructional technology. With a Master's I felt as though that I had some type of equality with whom I though were my colleuges. Ready to discuss theory, infuse technology current curriculum across the disciplines, I quickly humbled by the expectations of the dominant population. Go fetch is pretty much what my tenure resulted in. Go fetch this data projector, go fetch this slide projector, go fetch this, go fetch that. Never while I was there was consulted my ability to be analytical, but more so my physical abilities to support the dominant populous. In the words of my grandfather, for a while I thought I was walking in high cotton. As I grew more and more disenchanted, I realized that the high cotton was nothing more post modern plantation and I was one of the chattel. Despite the fact that I had an advanced degree, in the eyes of many of my White Folk counterparts I was their "boy." The porter. In some way I must have represented an anomaly because I quickly protested my treatment. Here is one example. One day in my office/equipment room I am working on my computer, playing around with Windows 95 and in comes gaulky looking white man who to this day still reminds me of bleaky buzzard. He came in and just took a projector like I wasn't there. I was floored. -- My reaction was direct,
"Excuse me but is there a reason you just walked into my space and stole a piece of equipment and not even say hello." His response was, "I'm in a hurry, I have a class to go to." It's here where I am thinking I'm in a professional setting but I'm not being treated professionally. -- Here was the problem, how do I let him know politely that there are boundaries and that I am not step and fetchit.
I paused and asserted myself minus a Richard Roundtree homage.
"I'm an easy person to get along with but you just can't come into my spot, not even acknowledge my presence and take my stuff."
"It's not your equipment it's the school's equipment."
"But I'm not a piece of equipment. If you want to borrow something or check anything out, you're going to have to go through protocol."
"I don't have time for this, I'm late for my class." in the back of my mind I am thinking, you're about to be late for your next birthday, but again, I chill.
"I don't want to delay you. That said, the equipment stays here."
"I beg your pardon."
"You're just not going to do this. I'm sorry but you are not going to do this, this way." Talk about dynamics of power and privilege. I mean this guy's actions were just straight up rude. Now where I came from, and HBCU, actions like this would get you quickly cussed out. In the backwoods of Palmer Springs, VA it might get you knocked out. But again I maintain, power and lack of power and elitism, Was it because I was black, was it because I was young, or was it because he was white, older, and an established member of the community. Don't know, don't really care. What I do know though is that I was slowly begining to understand what it meant to be invisible. I'm the blackest person in the room, yet I have no image, no shape or form in the eyes of this white man.

Microagression and WF2S

Before I begin, let me first of all take a moment to quickly say something that is totally a political. Recently there was an unexpected death in my family which as some folks know are the basis for the second type of Black Family Reunion. I mention this because one of my cousin's whom I had not seen in 20 years said that he actually reads my blog. _ I was floored to say the least.. So to that end I want to dedicate this entry not only to him but my cousin who passed away at the age of 40. -- Now on to business.

Flying back from the funeral, my flight was delayed. (Why should I be surprised in this day of the dysfunctional airline system) That said, I took an opportunity to continue studying for my comprehensives scheduled late this month. I was reading works by critical race scholars Richad Delgado and Jean Stefancic and I came across an interesting term; Microagression. According to their rendering, it represents a term from sociologist reflecting the sudden moments of dispiriting reactions to white (folk) oppression. In my speak, it's like the ice cold water hitting you in the face totally out of nowhere making you say DAYMUN. Many of us have experienced this but we just didn't have a name for it yet. What is important is that microagressions are not exclusively limited to people of color but more-so anyone who represents the traditionally marginalized. If you've read this far you might be asking, why is this important? I think for me, it is important because the microgression has the potential to become a macroagression if not contained at the start. My grandfather always said, Foolishness gets foolishness. Again in Russspeak, BS always becomes MS if not checked PDQ. To me, what is what whiteness represents: Unchecked BS which has been enabled to innocuously proliferate into the structures we live and are governed by with deliberate impunity. See it's easy for a white person who was born into wealth and social status to say and do virtually anything in America and instantly side step it. However, when potential first lady Michele Obama makes a statement, for the first time in my life I truly feel American, the statement is forensically analyzed. Why, could be because she is black and her husband is running for the title of “The Head White Man in Charge” also know as the President. I really wouldn’t have made too much of a big deal about this were it not for the fact that I have experienced a few of these episodes myself, so much to the point where I actually thought I was going through another acute case of WPFS (white people fatigue syndrome). Take for example one day when my son and I were leaving the parking lot. As I am trying patiently put him in his car seat, up comes roaring convertible BMW which barely misses us. I calmly keep my mind quiet and my words to myself because I know that coming from my lips will be a stream of absurdities. For some reason I recognize the social dynamics at play. This woman (white folk woman) and her teen age son simply did not see us. Again, I go back to the elisonian form of invisibility. Black people are just not visible to white folks. Because of that, the life of my son as well as mine are thrust into peril. In their minds, we just don’t matter. Needless to say I was fuming. To really go off and express myself the way I need to, not only just to get the frustrations and tensions off of my chest, but to constructively and directly assert our presence presents a serious challenge. At that moment, to go off and ackafool, (ackafool means to be exponentially belligerent abusive and threatening) places me at risk for being categorized as a stereotypical uneducated negro they see on TV. My family and I have worked too hard for me to wind up in jail for aggressively checking the glands of some Lilliputian Caucasian female I may never see in this lifetime again. So now that I have identified how microagression works when confronted by the asinine the question now turns to how to counter the microagression so that episode becomes a teaching episode. NOTE: word of caution—teaching is meant for ourselves, those who are opponents of white supremacy. Replaying the episode in my mind this is the approach I think I should have taken:

Approach the car and driver in a non threatening manner. (Hands may need to be above head)

Project in your voice a calm yet controlling tone. It is important that you control the situation on your terms.

Awareness. You should do your best to make the person aware of your presence. Something like this would be appropriate: “Excuse me, I am sorry to bother you but are you aware that you almost hit my son and me?”

Control the situation. The natural reaction could take a plethora of avenues so it is important that you maintain control of the situation. As they say something like I didn’t see you, your response should be in this manner. “I completely understand, I really do, these things happen. Were I in your position, I probably wouldn’t have seen me either. African Americans pose a serious problem for the inattentive driver especially at night.”

Transgress. In the traditional sense, one would think of transgression as being uppity. There is no need to be uppity as long as we can transgress with compassion through an educatory means. By this time the individual has been taken so far aback, your next words should drop them like a feather. Your follow up would be something like this. “I know it’s a bit of a bother, possibly a bit of an anomaly, but we are human, at least in the legal sense, very much like yourself. It would mean a lot to me and those who are like me if you would use your vehicle for it’s intended purpose as opposed to a vehicular weapon of mass destruction. Thank you for your time and have a good day.”

I sincely think that taking these five steps will certainly aid in the microagression cycle and really has the potential to defuse the acute cases of White People (now known as Folk) Fatigue Syndrome—WF2-S (White Folk Fatigue Syndrome)

this is a test

White for just one day

Were I White For Just One Day

--Thinking about that, particularly from the perspective of a "post modern neo white abolitionist" (don't ask me, I literally just thought that one up) what would I do with it. Going back to my thesis on whiteness, what does it mean, for me thinking about that, I would have to go back to notion of invisibility. Being white, in America, means one has a cloak of invisibility and a stamp of normalcy. Being white means that I have complete access to resources and can go places as calm as I please. Being white means I am able to drive my car with the vehicle registration plate expired and not have to have heart palpitations when a police officer drives behind me. Being white means I'm not suspect. It's an invisible power that political, social, economical, legal and even sexual ramifications. Lets dissect this thing for a second or so. DuBois stated at the turn of the 20th century that the biggest issue facing America was the issue of color. Color, in the context of the United States, operates on a caste system of sorts. The color white has been placed at the top of the color hierarchy. If an inanimate object is white, it's virgin, pristine, positive. The antithesis of course is not white or more common black. To be black is to be vile, dark, sullen, negative. Exploring the politics of color and caste, the black white binary has power through its long history in American popular culture. Because of the gross miss association of white and positivity, this misnomer becomes historicized and ultimately normalized through various structures which in turn feed into a cultural capital. This cultural capital I would like to refer to as simply propaganda, which Chompsky discusses. Examining how media inundates an uncritical audience to the nuances and power of the politics of the color discourse, we find that those who are in power have absolutely nothing to gain by challenging the current operation of business. To challenge a structure that that is self promoting would be sociological suicide. Just as in critical race theory, there no meritocracy in white supremacy. Oppressors simply do not stop oppressing just for the sake of goodness and humanity. It would erode the power base and simply put, using Mylesspeak, "it would be too much like right." No to be white for one day is what is sold to African Americans, Latino Americans, and others who are not in model minority status.

To be Continued..

Teflon Johns

Cheating in the next room

My God, this must be the season for stupid moves by the democrats.  John Edwards, whom I thought would be a good running mate for Obama got caught with his hands in the cookie jar.  Can we get music ready and the flashing lights going again... Here we go, DAMN!!!! I'll be the first to admit that the probability of me running for any type of elected office is slim.  That said, discretion is the key.  If you know you that you have a checkered past, why run for the top office in the country, especially when our country is so desperately in need of change.  Cheating is cheating and if you are married, you have singed on to be monogamous which means no indiscretions, no liaisons, and of course NO CHEATING!!!!  That said, many skirt around the rule which pretty much explains why marriage counselors and divorce lawyers are still in business.  Many of us won't have careers which will be public i.e. public servants.  But, the power of whiteness prevails hence why we have the Teflon John syndrome. Because I am a white man, with power, with money with social status, I am Teflon John which translates into, I can get out of anything.  What is ironic about this is how Edwards was busted.  Not the Washington Post, the New York Times, not even the Daily Planet, but the National Enquirer, America's smut rag number 1.  The National Enquirer, a tabloid who has a history of capricious, notorious, mind numbing fodder journalism cracked the case!! DAMN!!!!  This is irony at its best.  The national enquirer who has been the target of numerous lawsuits for over the top libelous stories and crazy paparazzi actually scored one of the biggest stories of the year.  This is the type of stuff I would on cheaters or Maury Povitch.  When we think about cheating itself, it's the thing has I guess has some type of a class status to it.  We (as a public) really don't expect our top officials to do it let alone get busted by the National Enquirer.   The people we are used to seeing get busted are those who represent the lower economic class status.  These would be the same people we see getting busted on cops.  But Edwards got busted in the process of creeping w- a possible love child.  All that aside he will pay a high price in the court of public opinion.  Like I said, it had the potential to do great damage to the democratic party.  Getting back to my case on the Teflon John-- he obviously didn't get away with it but the shear arrogance that was displayed not only by him, but others who have walked this road suggest that these actions represent more than a set of isolated cases.  "I'm large, I'm in charge," represents a philosophy that is inbred.  When you have money, these aren't problems, but more so just the cost of doing business.  If I creep, I'll just go to my cheating account and pay the person off.  This could be argued as a means of expressing masculinity.  In actuality, at least from this POV, its tacky.  Just be a man about it and tell your wife, I want to creep (if you are that bold).  Better yet, ask for divorce or why not stop the trouble before it starts and not get married.  If you do get married, do what it takes to stay married, be the person your spouse fell in love with from the jump and eliminate the middle man or woman all together.  It's idealistic and not realistic and I know this.  I have to give credit where credit is due; Bernie Mac God Rest His Sole stayed married for 30 years.  Now I know they may have had beef, but the beef never made the public streets. 

None of us are saints which is why there is the hope of salvation but damnit, don't test the boundaries all the time. Maybe we need to have a show Cheaters, the Celebrity Edition or Baby Mama Drama the capital hill files with Host Bill Mare.  Or better yet why not do something that is just really intelligent, if you are a public official, you have to sign a morals clause which states you can be removed from  your position for various causes without question.  I'm sure if that were the case, Capital Hill might have quite a few vacancies    

Black in America on CNN--SOSDD

Being Black In America on CNN

Same Old Show, Different Day

Maybe that is too hard, then again maybe it's too light. Too Black Too Strong, What do you do, you integrate it with cream what use to be strong now is weak, what used to keep you awake now puts you too sleep. That is what happened with this special documentary. With all the hype about this "ground breaking" documentary, the folks who put the teasers together for this really should be lauded. That said the documentary was just pitiful. Not in the content. Lets face it, we've seen this content before. It's like every 20 years the groundbreaking documentary which places African Americans under the microscope for study must come out. Apparently, its like the Olympics with a 15 year lag. Lets see CBS did this possibly in the 60s, ABC did it in the 80s and now CNN in 2000. So by 2018, it will be NBC's turn. The tragedy that I can see is that what was talked about in 1968 hasn't really changed for the better in 40 years. Its like we are taking the same documentary off the shelf, re-packaging it for a new generation and passing it off as something that is GROUNDBREAKING!!! EARTH SHATTERING!!! For me, in a media sense, Groundbreaking and Earth Shattering is Star Wars 1977 or The Matrix 1999. Why, because those films represent evolutionary change. Something that has never been done before. That said, this discourse on race has been done to death. Please don't get me wrong. The dialogue needs to continue but that said, take the opportunity to do something different. For example, DO SOMETHING!!!! As one who studies media and did very little journalism, the rule of thumb is to be objective, be neutral and allow the story to happen. That said, lets go to the rule of the other four fingers and do something else. In one sequence last night, I saw an underground hip hop artist Obrian (Soledad) was highlighting. He didn't have the major deal, he didn't have all the fame of Curtis Jackson but he was progressive and making a positive contribution to society and incidentally, getting evicted from his house. Why is CNN/Time Warner sitting back on their A (you fill in the blank) and allowing this to happen in front of my very eyes? To me breaking the rule of thumb and becoming socially engaged, making sure this man was not evicted and partnered with an agency to give his program some stability would have been the more socially responsible thing to do. This angers me because as we saw earlier, where their was this brother who showed up 5 hours late to his daughter's birthday party, at the urging of CNN, he's put on blast to see his other child in front of a obviously pissed off sister, who is pregnant with twins from another person. To me that mirrors, the Maury Povitch show and played all into the "Baby Mama Drama" frame. That to me is not necessary. In fact it was a disservice all the way around.

Then I have to talk about sponsorship as well. It was good to see the McDonalds commercial her and therewith the little girl talking about owning a chain of McDonalds as well as the other commercials with the African and African American families in the airport. To me that resonated because the showed some degree of social connectivity to what the program was trying to do. But what about other sponsors like Allstate or Meryl Lynch, Met Life, IBM, Microsoft, Nike. It's this gross lack of corporate sensitivity to the issues that the program attempts to bring light which really says volumes. Though I can't say I agree with Michael Moore 24/7/365, I will say that the man not only talks the talk but he also walks the walk. They may be publicity stunts, going to Cuba for health care, asking the members of congress to enlist their children in the Iraq war, or taking bullets into Wal-Mart Corporate Headquarters, the symbolic gestures at least say force you to see you don't have to stand for the status quo. I'm not saying that CNN/Time Warner has to give out cash to solve everyone's problems but what I am suggesting is that corporate politics need to match their charter for social responsibility. An opportunity was missed to really make a difference and instead what I watched was the further exploitation of people's hard times and misery while bolstering high ratings.

Making Black History Everyday

Essentalizing Black Masculinity runs a slippery slope. Often times we have rather dangerous tendency to compare ourselves to a hegemonic ideal. By that, we tend to subscribe our identity to rather co-op our identity to a set of constructs based on the foundation of exclusion. Now what does all that mean? In short, because we have been blinded, and in some cases operate as willing accomplices to the isims of capitalism, sexism, self based racism and of course materialism. Because of these isims capitalism is a rather nasty notorious game we are forced to play. How does this all work into the hegemonic construct? Hegemonics, a term from Antonio Gramschi, is based partially in the thesis of Dos Kaptal by Marx. Where as Marx looks solely at economics being used at the epicenter of class struggle, Gramsci explores the notion of culture and those who control culture very much on the schematic of the Bougoie and the Proletariat. That being the case, if we look at culture and how our this post modern American culture functions on the ideology of materialism, well, unfortunately we have become to accept the myth as now fact. The more stuff you have, the money you have, the more powerful you are perceived to be.

That said, I can speak on this only because I, with all due deference, represent a part of the talented 10^th who have been afforded the time, the life chances and other opportunities to wrestle with these power dynamics and pontificate upon them on demand or at will. The converse of this goes back to my power thesis. Power in this country is personified by money and material items part due social systemic reinforcement; the media, the court system; the social systems. Sadly, we as Black folk are not critical of these messages we receive and thus we easily accept it. Black men are not supposed to show emotion, Black Men are to act as patriarchs, we’re suppose to have this cool pose that Majors and Bilson talk about. The reality is that we are supposed to be Teflon. Its not possible but we try to do it. This in turn leads to illness and premature death by black men at the hands of other black men, white men, and even black women.

Everyday I don’t flash, loose my cool, loose my self respect, stay out of jail, get closer to that Ph.D.—believe it or not, that’s how I make Black History everyday.