This is one of the more difficult things I've found myself writing to date. Consequently, it may be one of the most significant and relevant pieces I've put to paper (metaphorically).
The inspiration to do this came from two seemingly dissimilar pieces of art which happen to be equal in value to me in their ability to provide commentary on the black experience and to serve as therapy for the black soul. The first is the song m.A.A.d City by Kendrick Lamar, a song which depicts rather vividly the violence and maadness that occurs on a daily basis in Compton, California. This has always been one of my favorite tracks, however it wasn't until after reading the beginning of Ta-Nehisi Coates' book Between the World and Me that I was allowed to put KDot's work into focus. Both pieces serve as brutally honest examples of the constant violence, depression, and poverty which masses of black people are subjected to. A reality I was never really exposed to. After reading the first c,hapters of Coates' work and re-listening to Kendrick's classic I felt, for the first time, the heavy truth that compared to my other siblings I have been extremely privileged. My hometown of Des Moines, Iowa has a histoy of de jure segregation and consequently inequality; consistent with America's legacy Des Moines has sentenced its Black residents to second class citizenship. This is an indictment which for most of my life I have avoided. Around the age of 7 my mother and step-dad moved our family out of a neighborhood designated for the poor, mostly black and brown residents of the city, and into what is the white - and effectively - sociologically less turbulent part of town. As a result I was not confined to a second rate education (I ended up attending one of the most prestigious and rigorous magnet schools in the country). Unlike KDot, Ta-Nehisi, and countless other Black people in my own city I did not have to dedicate "fully one third of my brain to my safety" or "make sure [my] colors were correct." I don't remember ever spending a day hungry, never did I really face the reality of incarceration as a realistic fear, never did I feel like I might have to participate in illicit activities to support myself or my family, never was I subjected to true second class citizenship. For the most part I lived the life Ta-Nehisi Coates described as only seeing on tv. Middle-Class comfort (that's not to say my parents didn't have it rough. Often times Black Middle-Class families are the least secure of the Middle-Class), the ability to focus my brain on things other than my safety, top notch schools, scholarships to top notch colleges, the freedom of not having to learn a code so as to protect my body, and - perhaps most profoundly - the opportunity to have a class of people to look down upon. That's not to say I did. I was always aware of my blackness, and proud of it. It was something I had picked up from two strong women in my life. My mother, who in her hay day would tout an Afro complete with a black power pick in the back of her hair, who danced disco and soul, later fell in love with Tupac and always told me black is beautiful. And my big sister who although having won Des Moines' Ms. Juneteenth pageant, never really spoke to me about blackness, instead she wore her own with stunning grace, marching through life's trials and tribulations chin held high. So I was always conscious of my identity, and when I got accepted into Central Academy as one of three black boys in my graduating class, I understood my blackness was antithetical to the purpose of the school which was to train the children of the white bourgeois. However, I cannot imagine that this psychological weight begins to compare with the violent terrorism multitudes of Black people are subjected to. I also recognized early on that my light skin (relative) gave me even more special status among black people. As early as elementary school I recognized how darker children would be teased, called "blacky", "darky", "african", "midnight." The ugly head of colorism was another form of violence I was never subjected to. At the same time some were being terrorized for their black features I would be praised on my freckles and green eyes (mostly by other black folk - most of my white peers instead became transfixed with my hair, many times asking to run their hands through it, sometimes commenting on how tangled and nappy it was). My proximity to whiteness (relative) means that I will be seen as handsome (again, relative to white standards of beauty) only at the expense of by darker, equally as beautiful, brothers and sisters. And of course there's the fact that I'm a man. I've already spent full, rather heated, blog posts on this subject but I find it'd be inappropriate not to address this privilege in this (and optimally every) post. Watching the damage we inflict on our sisters, mothers, wives, is disheartening. Especially because these Black Queens are the same ones who ride for us, have our backs, and support us through our own struggles. Even I used to complain about how "sassy" my sisters were, I'd tell them to lose the "attitude" even make fun of their "nappy" hair (their father is considerably darker than mine, so they are considerably darker than I, which makes all of this worse). For years I sat idly by while people, black white and otherwise, made fun of "ratchet," "ghetto," "loud," black women while calling white women who do the same "feminists" (Examine how Nicki Minaj and Katy Perry are talked about despite approaching music and the way they carry themselves in similar ways). I can no longer remain silent on this either. I must recognize this privilege. In the same way that white people must know their place in fighting for justice on behalf of people of color, I must understand when to stand back and let the voices of the less privileged resonate, as should all people who benefit from some form of privilege. This means staying away from the mic at a "Stop the Violence" rally. It means sharing the stories of those trapped in the cycle of poverty rather than centering myself by doing the "food stamp challenge." It means retweeting pictures on #MelaninMonday rather than posting one of myself. It means taking the word of rape victims rather than insisting on giving alleged rapists the benefit of the doubt under the guise of "lets not tear down black men." If we truly want justice we must spotlight the marginalized. That cannot be done without first confronting our own privilege. -515
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So Piers Morgan has done it again. If you don't know, Piers Morgan believes it his responsibility, even his duty to make a point of lecturing black people on how they should react to oppression. Whether it be how to conduct their social justice movements, which language to use among themselves, and now how to react to disappointments that arise when you feel you aren't being appreciated due to your skin color.
For those of you who don't pay attention, Nicki Minaj took to twitter to express her frustrations about what she believed to be a snub after she found out she would not be nominated for best video or best choreography at the upcoming MTV Video Music Awards. In her first tweet she claimed that if she made videos featuring slim bodied females she'd be nominated. She also went on to say if she was a "different 'kind' of artist" she'd be recognized at the VMA's (I took this as meaning not only black and thick bodied, but a hip hop artist who constantly tests what is and isn't acceptable for female artists to display in the realm of sexuality). In response Taylor Swift responded "I've done nothing but love and support you. It's not unlike you to pit women against each other," which showed me that not only does TSwift fail understand that you can be the most supportive white person in the world while still benefiting from privilege, but also that it is VERY condescending and wrong for a white woman to use the "we're all women" card to silence a woman of color's response to what she feels is oppression. So lets get to Piers Morgan. He wrote an article titled "Don't Play the Race or Skinny Cards Ms. Minaj - You're Just a Stroppy Piece of Work Who's Video Wasn't As Good As Taylor Swifts," which should already tell you what a sorry excuse for journalism the article was. Morgan did a few things to try and completely delegitimize Nicki Minaj's claims and her opinion as an artist in general. He engaged in name-calling going so far as to call her staff "goons," he called her a liar, First, lets address the idea that the fact that SOME black artists (2 of 5) were nominated erases the possibility that other black artists may have been snubbed to create room for other white, less socially deviant, and/or skinnier artists. The presence of some black recognition doesn't negate the fact that others may have still been snubbed to create spots for artists that don't make Americans uncomfortable. Nicki Minaj is probably the MOST discomforting artist on the market, where as TSwift is easily one of the most privileged celebrities in contemporary pop culture. I mean come on, Taylor Swift is the archetype American princess; she's a skinny beautiful white woman with beach blonde hair, sky blue eyes, a soft demeanor, and makes pop/country music and was victimized publicly by an angry black man. Are you really telling me that she doesn't receive institutional privilege? Even when it comes to how the story is framed she receives privilege; if you google this incident you'll most likely find a headline which claims that Nicki started a beef with innocent little Taylor, omits the fact that Taylor Swift silenced Nicki as a BLACK woman, and probably will have a picture of a scowling Nicki Minaj next to a picture of a smiling Taylor Swift. I think it is completely rational to say that were Nicki Minaj a skinny white girl who makes music and videos that don't challenge societal expectations and standards of sexuality and beauty for women she probably would be more recognized. But if we are talking numbers and using metrics... Nicki Minaj's "Anaconda" video has more hits than three of the five nominees, remained atop the billboard top 40 for nearly 3 months, was trending worldwide on twitter for weeks, and earned her a performance at the Grammy's. I can't finish this article before addressing the condescending way in which Piers Morgan not only attacked Nicki Minaj but also "Black Twitter" and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Piers Morgan starts by recounting an incident where his children asked for a Nicki Minaj autograph and were told by Nicki's staff that she would not be available to sign autographs. He started the article by documenting Nicki Minaj's trouble keeping employment due to her 'discourtesy to customers' and recounts an incident where he met Nicki on the set of America's Got Talent in which she allegedly "scowl[ed]" the whole time and later her staff which he called "goons" notified him that she would not be signing autographs after he tried to get some signatures for his children. I don't think I have to explain how problematic this caricature as Nicki Minaj as the angry black woman with an attitude disorder who is escorted by a squad of "goons" is. And to use it as justification for the snubbing of a major award? Please. He goes on to characterize black twitter as "a very large, vocal and angry social media group of mainly black Americans who collectively leap on any perceived racial insult or bias to expel their indignation," Of course his diction - words like angry, leap, and indignation - are not only inaccurate but also very disgusting and problematic ways to describe a group of "mainly black Americans". I think a lot about things I see on Twitter. Alas, it's true, the abrasive, abbreviated, and opinionated nature of the app creates statements and discussions that are fascinating to watch, no matter how mislead and misinformed they may sometimes be.
Yesterday I saw a conversation on twitter that started with a tweet that read "Next to slavery, integration is the most damaging thing to have ever happened to African-Americans", and went on in further tweets to express how Martin Luther King Jr. mislead "our people." The discussion that ensued was entertaining to say the least. Of course those who normally engage on twitter many times are very clever, sarcastic, and sophisticated in their humor. This one produced some great nuggets including "Fr I hate when I go to the club and a perfectly good rap song gets integrated with EDM trash" I digress. This sparked my interest, especially because this summer I've been doing a lot of reading and listening to the works of Martin Luther King Jr, as a challenge for myself to diversify the way I think about race in America (I've mostly only really indulged myself in black nationalism). First of all, Martin Luther King Jr, who is oftentimes made the historical poster boy for "integration", said himself that he did not think that integration could be legislated, "But you can legislate desegregation." MLK never really advocated for the full, or really any, integration of races. Rather his movements in the early sixties were referendums against basic humiliation and robbery of rights. I think that this gets lost in Black Nationalism rhetoric. Most of Malcolm X's criticisms of MLK were of his tactics rather than his goals of human dignity and basic equality under the law (They actually agreed on many fundamental issues like black economic empowerment, denouncing american militarism, black cultural and ancestral pride, and consolidation of black political power). Little policy was ever enacted, and even fewer resources were allocated, for integration. The relatively small amount of integration only happened in the Jim Crow South where segregation was a legal institution, whereas in cities in the North such as Detroit, Chicago, New York City, Milwaukee, Oakland, Baltimore, and so on in which de facto segregation was occurring. No money was ever budgeted to the cause, no commission reports were ever established to track process, there were no subsidized housing grants, little transportation offered to further integrate schools, little investment in making public schools truly accessible to the public, no grants to start black businesses, and civil rights groups never really followed up with legal resources to make sure integration was being enforced. The only comparable policy, Affirmative action was modest in scale and only really lasted a maximum of 30 years. In reality, since the civil rights movement there have been more policies that entrench segregation than policies that break it up; redlining, drug laws, over-sentencing, and the cutting of social welfare programs have done nothing to entrench the distance between white and black america. Integration is for the most part akin to the 40 acres and a mule we never received.... This was a short winded post. I'm really just a history nerd. -515 Let me start with this; I don't make pieces for people who ask borderline racist questions so that they can avoid seriously engaging in constructive conversations about race. Nor do I write for people who tell marginalized people how they ought to deal with systemically oppressive institutions. I write for my own curiosity and intellectual growth. I write to bring myself peace. I write because it helps me cope with living in a world in which my ancestral identity has been stolen and my body and my talents are constantly subjected to potential violence and plunder.
Today I break that rule. I have to. I understand that the people who normally ask this question so as to artificially conflate, complicate, and corrupt discussions about any kind of violence that black people are subjected to don't REALLY care about the black victims of "black-on-black" violence. Or the black victims or any kind of violence. But I do. I find the question extremely insulting and condescending. So I'm answering it once and only once, and I will direct the assholes who accuse me of using black victims of said crime committed by white supremacist America to somehow advance my own political motive to this link. So here goes: first of all the term "black-on-black crime" itself is misleading and unnecessary. There is nothing extraordinary about the fact that most violent crimes in which a black person is victimized are perpetrated by other black people. Crimes are committed against those who occupy your same space. To say "black-on-black" crime is to imply that black people are more predisposed to kill/assault/rob each other than other groups of people which is untrue (If you REALLY need proof click here). To assign race to crime is superfluous. The second point is that a murder which a stranger commits and pays for with jail time is far different from a murder in which your tax dollars pay for, in which the killer almost never even sees a court date, and in which the killer most likely receives a pension for. The third point is that elevated rates of violence in black communities, whether perpetrated by a street criminal or government subsidized "law" enforcement, are both manifestations of the same problem. Black communities have been systematically robbed of resources for 400 years. This results in a situation in which the competition for a very scarce amount of resources is so intense that it many times turns fatal. Not only that, but the only way to enforce the laws that justify and perpetuate the plunder of these communities is also through violence. Violence is an epidemic that is caused by poverty and desperation.White supremacy doubly rears its violent murderous head in black communities on a daily basis in these ways. And finally, for you condescending pieces of..... WE DO TALK ABOUT BLACK VICTIMS OF STREET VIOLENCE. ALL THE TIME. CONTINUOUSLY. We happen to have hearts, and actually care. So we pay attention on a daily basis. Because it actually affects us, and we don't just bring up the subject when put on the fence about our privilege. We live with the consequences of violence. The victims are our brothers, sisters, cousins, aunts, uncles, and in my case fathers. We pay homage to victims, go to their funerals, hug their mothers, pay our respects, make timeless music about them, visit their graves, and carry grief in every day we have to walk without them. Furthermore. Newark, Chicago, Harlem, Brooklyn, Detroit, Gary, and Baltimore ALL HAD STOP THE VIOLENCE RALLIES IN THE LAST YEAR. Those were all cities that came up in the first page when I googled "stop the violence rally". Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc. (shameless plug for the greatest fraternity on God's Blu Earth) has partnered with the President in the My Brother's Keeper program, a program aimed at taking at risk (black) youth off of the streets and out of harms way. In almost every city in which violence is a problem you will find anti-violence coalitions, you will find churches tackling this problem, you will see community organizers and mayors and city councilmen tackling this problem. The sad thing is that despite their efforts, the only thing that will truly alleviate the slow burning genocide of black people in our inner cities is an end to systemic black poverty. Something which they have little control over. A final word for those of you who ask "what about black-on-black crime?" Shut. The. Hell. Up. You don't really care. You don't have to live with lost friends, fathers, brothers, cousins. You don't have to hug the family members as you can feel their tears soak through the shoulders of your shirt. You've never had to turn on the news and see that a kid you were just in P.E. with Wednesday is in critical. You don't know what its like to hear stories of an officer in blue calling your mom a bitch, tazing and detaining your cousin for no reason, threatening to beat your uncle. You don't know what its like to watch people walk around with "RIP [insert victim's name]" shirts in middleschool. You don't know what its like to watch over a dozen of your boys fall KIA to the school to pipeline prison by the time you throw on the cap and gown. This is Des Moines I'm talking about. This isn't Chicago, Harlem, Compton, West Side Baltimore. Do you know how terrifying that is? No, you don't know. And your degrading calls for me to take responsibility of a condition that is perpetuated by YOUR privilege just so you can hide from the reality that your comfort - your safety - isn't earned, can be labeled as nothing less than racist and heartless. So sit down. and shut up. -515 |
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October 2018
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