Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Saturday, May 30, 2015
Taking the Race out of Racism
I read good article in Slate today (url below) about young people's attitudes about race and racism. The authors outlined various studies that had been conducted as well as poll results showing that young people are just as fucked up about race as we are. There is a common thread in this country that has been playing out now for a couple of decades. In my estimation, it was sometime in the 1990s that white people began the pushback on race relations. Before that time, if we brought up race, we were either killed, 1950s, 60s and half of the 70s, or laughed at, derided or ignored (the worst indignity), in the 1980s. Now we have whole segments of white society coming together like never before openly, aggressively, hypocritically and incorrectly defending racism and white supremacy. Here's the trick though, they are defending racism and white supremacy but many of them have tricked themselves into thinking they are not. This cuts across political affiliations (white liberals v. white conservatives) as well as socio-economic status. Even poor white people think that we are in the most multi-cultural, post multiracial utopiest wet dream of a 1960s hippie. They have convinced themselves that we have evolved into a meritocracy, and they are teaching this bullshit to their kids, THAT'S why they are confused.
Let me explain, I have long stated that kids are not born prejudiced and biased, its a learned trait. For every grown racist, there was an older racist there to teach them. Did anyone notice the subtle word play, I said kids are not born prejudiced and biased, they are taught that later in life. They are taught these traits by someone older who has discovered the levers of racism. These are the individuals that believe that there is this mystical playing field whereon all kids in this nation have equal opportunities to succeed and if your child doesn't measure up, oh well, maybe they just wasn't smart enough, or tough enough, or disciplined enough, or they made bad decisions, or had bad parenting. That's not their fault, that just the way it is, white kids don't succeed all the time either. That's a good sentiment, makes sense until you recognize the FACTS. Messy things those facts, they sometimes don't support your conclusions. Those flaws that you find in many children of color are the direct results of the racism and white supremacy that is practiced in this country. There is a difference between being prejudiced/biased and being racist. I'm prejudiced in that I like women and men, black or white, who can have an intelligent conversation. The quickest way to get me out of your face is to say something so stupid that I have to give you that look. You know the “look” the look you give that says “you can't honestly believe that?” My dislike of dummies is irrelevant though. I can't affect the lifepath of all the dummies in this country. That's what racism does, it takes you on a path that we didn't want to go down. We can never be on the same level playing field if you do not allow us on the field in the first place, that's not prejudice, that's racism. While you give every child in your sphere of influence a ribbon no matter where they placed in the race, you give them a false sense of superiority over those who they don't see in the race at all. Bias is felt, racism is PRACTICED. Bias is a thing, racism is an action, even when the action is unconscious.
These kids then grow up to believe stupid shit like I believe racism would disappear if we would just not focus on race. Lets take the race out of racism. That's the kind of stupid shit that a vast proportion of them believe, shockingly, white AND black. What is funny is that when they hit adulthood, the white kids get with the program, the black kids keep hoping idealistically that this utopia is just around the corner. Taking race out of racism is like taking one round out of the clip. Instead of seeing my skin color, you instead see my name, you instead see my zip code, you instead see my criminal record, you instead see my FB page, you instead see where I went to high school (it wasn't in the suburbs, in fact, from kindergarten to 12th grade graduation, I can remember NO white classmates), you instead see who I'm married to, you instead see my credit rating. All these things you can use against me, to divide you from me and ALL of these things are linked to my race. I can really care less if you don't like me, just don't hold me back because of it.
That's why race can't be separated from racism. We DO NOT live in a meritocracy and even if we did, the people judging the relative “merit” of the person is biased towards his own ethnicity at the detriment of mine. That's is effective racism. This effective racism affects me no matter what you call it. Therein lies my argument with white liberals. They also believe in this fiction that things are so much better for black people that we should stand together to protest the other ills of society. They have also joined in on the pushback on racism. They preach assimilation. I call that the “we'll let you come around us, as long as you only think the way we think and we get to police how you express yourself” school of thought. We see it all the time, which is why I don't belong to many and almost never comment in “mixed” groups/pages. As soon as I get raw, there's always one so-called liberal who takes offense that I didn't say “some” white people. Not long ago I got into a discussion on a groups page with a white woman who actually took me to task (she thought) because I didn't say “some” white women. It got to the point that the person who started the post deleted it. All because I called a white person a racist, WHO IS A FUCKIN RACIST. I'm sorry, but this struggle that we are in is more important than your feelings. If you don't have the linguistic skills to understand that if the specific label doesn't apply to you and you alone, that I must not mean ALL white people, then why do you follow me, why are we friends? We can talk about racism but we are not allowed to point out specific instances of racism for fear of being labeled a “race baiter” or my personal favorite “playing the race card.” So be it, I got race cards like a Las Vegas casino got blackjack decks. Liberals are the only people in this country that can have a discussion about racism and never TALK ABOUT RACISM. You want to talk about the effects of racism, but not its root cause. I refuse to let a white liberal or a black liberal, tell me when I should be done being aggrieved, when I have had enough recompense, when its time to forget the past and move forward. We still living in the vestiges of the past. The past still colors each and everything about this culture and you have YET to deal with that past. At least conservatives let you know that they don't feel sorry for coming out on top, hell that was the plan. Liberals apologize for being on top but you don't see them rushing for the down elevators. Yes, you're so progressive you'll let a black guy date your daughter but you're not so progressive that you'll, en masse, support even a large scale societal discussion on race and racism let along develop guidelines to address the blatant inequality that exists in this society. You are horrified by the actions of your forefathers, but you're not so mortified that you'll give any of his stolen shit back. We must never lose sight of the fact that it wasn't just conservatives whose ancestors built fortunes during slavery, there were many liberals as well. The conservatives tell you to your face like ganstas “fuck you, I ain't givin shit up.” Liberals just be quiet, feel bad about it and donate to the local food bank. Taking the race out of racism is like not recognizing the corners of a square, that does not make it a circle.
This is why today's kids don't get it, we are screaming fire but no one listening. We're being drowned out by white supremacists and the media they control as well as liberals and black apologetic intergrationalists. In the immortal words of the late Rodney King “Can't we all just get along?” Nah bruh, we want to but they don't.
Deeeeeeerops mic, and walks from stage drippin blackness.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/05/millennials_racism_and_mtv_poll_young_people_are_confused_about_bias_prejudice.html
Let me explain, I have long stated that kids are not born prejudiced and biased, its a learned trait. For every grown racist, there was an older racist there to teach them. Did anyone notice the subtle word play, I said kids are not born prejudiced and biased, they are taught that later in life. They are taught these traits by someone older who has discovered the levers of racism. These are the individuals that believe that there is this mystical playing field whereon all kids in this nation have equal opportunities to succeed and if your child doesn't measure up, oh well, maybe they just wasn't smart enough, or tough enough, or disciplined enough, or they made bad decisions, or had bad parenting. That's not their fault, that just the way it is, white kids don't succeed all the time either. That's a good sentiment, makes sense until you recognize the FACTS. Messy things those facts, they sometimes don't support your conclusions. Those flaws that you find in many children of color are the direct results of the racism and white supremacy that is practiced in this country. There is a difference between being prejudiced/biased and being racist. I'm prejudiced in that I like women and men, black or white, who can have an intelligent conversation. The quickest way to get me out of your face is to say something so stupid that I have to give you that look. You know the “look” the look you give that says “you can't honestly believe that?” My dislike of dummies is irrelevant though. I can't affect the lifepath of all the dummies in this country. That's what racism does, it takes you on a path that we didn't want to go down. We can never be on the same level playing field if you do not allow us on the field in the first place, that's not prejudice, that's racism. While you give every child in your sphere of influence a ribbon no matter where they placed in the race, you give them a false sense of superiority over those who they don't see in the race at all. Bias is felt, racism is PRACTICED. Bias is a thing, racism is an action, even when the action is unconscious.
These kids then grow up to believe stupid shit like I believe racism would disappear if we would just not focus on race. Lets take the race out of racism. That's the kind of stupid shit that a vast proportion of them believe, shockingly, white AND black. What is funny is that when they hit adulthood, the white kids get with the program, the black kids keep hoping idealistically that this utopia is just around the corner. Taking race out of racism is like taking one round out of the clip. Instead of seeing my skin color, you instead see my name, you instead see my zip code, you instead see my criminal record, you instead see my FB page, you instead see where I went to high school (it wasn't in the suburbs, in fact, from kindergarten to 12th grade graduation, I can remember NO white classmates), you instead see who I'm married to, you instead see my credit rating. All these things you can use against me, to divide you from me and ALL of these things are linked to my race. I can really care less if you don't like me, just don't hold me back because of it.
That's why race can't be separated from racism. We DO NOT live in a meritocracy and even if we did, the people judging the relative “merit” of the person is biased towards his own ethnicity at the detriment of mine. That's is effective racism. This effective racism affects me no matter what you call it. Therein lies my argument with white liberals. They also believe in this fiction that things are so much better for black people that we should stand together to protest the other ills of society. They have also joined in on the pushback on racism. They preach assimilation. I call that the “we'll let you come around us, as long as you only think the way we think and we get to police how you express yourself” school of thought. We see it all the time, which is why I don't belong to many and almost never comment in “mixed” groups/pages. As soon as I get raw, there's always one so-called liberal who takes offense that I didn't say “some” white people. Not long ago I got into a discussion on a groups page with a white woman who actually took me to task (she thought) because I didn't say “some” white women. It got to the point that the person who started the post deleted it. All because I called a white person a racist, WHO IS A FUCKIN RACIST. I'm sorry, but this struggle that we are in is more important than your feelings. If you don't have the linguistic skills to understand that if the specific label doesn't apply to you and you alone, that I must not mean ALL white people, then why do you follow me, why are we friends? We can talk about racism but we are not allowed to point out specific instances of racism for fear of being labeled a “race baiter” or my personal favorite “playing the race card.” So be it, I got race cards like a Las Vegas casino got blackjack decks. Liberals are the only people in this country that can have a discussion about racism and never TALK ABOUT RACISM. You want to talk about the effects of racism, but not its root cause. I refuse to let a white liberal or a black liberal, tell me when I should be done being aggrieved, when I have had enough recompense, when its time to forget the past and move forward. We still living in the vestiges of the past. The past still colors each and everything about this culture and you have YET to deal with that past. At least conservatives let you know that they don't feel sorry for coming out on top, hell that was the plan. Liberals apologize for being on top but you don't see them rushing for the down elevators. Yes, you're so progressive you'll let a black guy date your daughter but you're not so progressive that you'll, en masse, support even a large scale societal discussion on race and racism let along develop guidelines to address the blatant inequality that exists in this society. You are horrified by the actions of your forefathers, but you're not so mortified that you'll give any of his stolen shit back. We must never lose sight of the fact that it wasn't just conservatives whose ancestors built fortunes during slavery, there were many liberals as well. The conservatives tell you to your face like ganstas “fuck you, I ain't givin shit up.” Liberals just be quiet, feel bad about it and donate to the local food bank. Taking the race out of racism is like not recognizing the corners of a square, that does not make it a circle.
This is why today's kids don't get it, we are screaming fire but no one listening. We're being drowned out by white supremacists and the media they control as well as liberals and black apologetic intergrationalists. In the immortal words of the late Rodney King “Can't we all just get along?” Nah bruh, we want to but they don't.
Deeeeeeerops mic, and walks from stage drippin blackness.
http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2014/05/millennials_racism_and_mtv_poll_young_people_are_confused_about_bias_prejudice.html
G.O.A.T.
I read a really good analysis by one of my homies the other day concerning the debate over who better Jordan or James. This is along the same lines as the classic debate over who is the greatest basketball player of all time. The G.O.A.T as its known in basketball parlance. I have listened to all sides, I have heard the opinions of experts who could quote you every stat in the book about the sports going all the way back to Cousy, Havlicek and Russell. I have also heard the opinions of those whose basketball knowledge is not much older than Air Jordan Xs. Since the Jay Graves Report, link below, used concise stats to support the notion that AT THIS STAGE OF THEIR CAREERS (emphasis added and intended) LeBron is a better player than Jordan, I want to flesh out the argument and go further.
Fiddy
First, a would be debater must take into account that the phrase “greatest of all time” is subjective. It is based upon subjective factors that must be addressed. What exactly do you mean by “greatest?” What is the measuring stick? If its purely points, Kareem will probably always hold that crown as the next highest point scorers are either out of the league (Jordan, Wilt, the Mailman) or close to it (Kobe). LeBron at his position will very likely not play enough years to amass that kind of point production, additionally, he's not a gunner like Kobe is. You can't use wins as there are people in the top ten that are blessed simply by being on superior teams for long periods of their careers. There are those that use the three peat as evidence of Jordan's greatness, well the Celts reeled off 8 straight. Even the decidedly lower rung Lakes rang up one three peat. Let's see, there are the MVPs, Jordan with five, tied with Bill Russell (who also has 11 rings, one of which as a player coach NO ONE has done THAT again) but he still trails Kareem with six. I won't even go into All Star MVPs as that's all for show. I won't even go into Finals MVPs because we all know the “star” of the winning team will get that even if he has shitty performances. Olympic gold medals, who cares, there are decidedly second level players that have multiple golds.
Finally, we get to the seemingly most potent argument made by the Jordan vs. James debaters. Jordan has six rings and never lost in the Finals, Bron Bron only has two, and has lost two. That can never be a true test of greatness, as lets see, Jordan is tied for TENTH on the list with his six rings. That is six out of the FIFTEEN years he played. Bill Russell tops the damn list with 11 out of 13 years played. Not 11 out of 13 trips to the finals, that means that BR won the championship all but two years he played. For Jordan to touch him he would have to have an astonishing 13 rings. If you use that logic, Robert Horry is “better” than Jordan, LeBron and Kobe as he has seven rings. That's just one contemporary player so the argument can't be said “it was a different league then.” Stats can be used to support any type of argument from best shooter, to best rebounder but best “player” is a different argument, one that does not lend itself to stats alone.
Now that that's out of the way, lets move to the more subjective things. Greatest of all time arguments are a relatively recent thing. No one ever really compared players to each other until the advent of Jordan. Bird and Magic were seen as rivals but no one ever asked who was better as they were both cold as Artic ice water. You couldn't ask which one you would take first as you couldn't go wrong with either one. Jordan was the first mega-media athlete. If anyone remembers, you have to be at least 50, when Magic won his first title, we didn't watch it on ABC or on ESPN. We watched it on TAPE DELAY. I remember I had to beg my mother to stay up late to watch the game as it didn't start till like 10:30 pm. Games out west would be over at 12:30 in the morning back then. It worked because there was not 24 hour nationwide news source either, so unless you knew someone who lived in L.A., you didn't know the score. After the league began marketing the East coast, West coast rivalry (incidentally where the 2-3-2 Finals format came from), Hollywood v. Blue Collar Boston, people began to notice this game of basketball. Jordan built on that. Somewhere between those two eras, including the overlap, the game exploded in ad revenue, endorsement money and popularity. So an argument can be made that the NBA and marketing firms created the “Jordan is best” aura. That drove the public perception that Jordan was all that. Want further evidence, a poll done by ESPN, was released TODAY that asked who is the most popular athlete. King James 3rd, Black Momba 4th, who holds the top spot . . . wait for it, waaaaittt for it. MICHAEL DAMN JORDAN. What did Jordan average last year? Zeroes across the board. How many wins, zip. How many playoff games, zilch. The man has not played in the league in over a decade. HOW is he the most popular athlete in the world? Because of marketing and perception. You cannot be the best athlete if you're NOT A FREAKIN ATHLETE any longer. Most people who bleed Bulls red because of Jordan, are Jordan fans because the NBA made it possible for them to be Jordan fans. You saw in real time damn near every game he played except when he was playing lowly teams like Milwaukee or Kansas City (yeah they had a team at one time). You were force fed MJ on everything from television to cereal, to horrible movies, to cartoons. This illusion led (forced) you to believe that he was a basketball GOD and no one is on his level. What the public didn't see was that MJ was probably the most polarizing major athlete in sports history inside the sport. You either liked him and he liked you or you didn't. He was arrogant, petty, childish and a complete ass outside of the public eye. Don't believe me, YouTube his acceptance speech at the HOF ceremony. Studmuffins flew in a guy from his old high school basketball team that was chosen the year he was left off the varsity squad, JUST to humiliate this guy. Dude, you 50 damn years old, let that shit go. You said to people who were paying attention that “look, he made the team and I didn't, I became the best in the world, he's a mechanic or something.” You come across as vindictive and petty for no reason at all.
rucker
Now lets get to the real. There is no “greatest” player of all time. The greatest player of all time never played in the NBA. There are six, seven billion (with a B) people on this planet, statistics say that you can never say that because no one even knows who all the players are. (just like you cannot say that life only exists on Earth because we've never found life anywhere else) Every hood has a player that nobody can touch. I mean EVERY hood has that guy that fights start over picking him first for the pickup game. Every suburban gym has that white guy with Bird range, Nash handles and Nowitski footwork. I remember reading an article in Sports Illustrated I think it was, years ago about a guy that a reporter had heard about and went to see that played ball barefoot and who shot a basketball like Payton Manning threw a football. Thing is, according to the reporter, this guy NEVER missed a shot PLUS he never shot a layup, he didn't miss from the key, the wing, the elbow, he didn't even miss from halfcourt. Supposedly, this was not some Dude Perfect bullshit but within the course of an organized game. Everyone knew the guy, no one knew where he lived or what he did to feed himself. He'd just show up, kill and leave. Best player I ever saw IN LIFE was a guy named Charles Merriweather. In case anyone thinks this is a fictional person, this guy won the Indiana State High School Championship in 1979 as a quarter miler. Google it. We used to call him Iz, short for Israel. Iz's problem was not being a stellar athlete, his problem was with cocaine and sticky fingers to feed the desire. I saw this guy play in prison. The guy was 6'6” tall, ambidextrous, with a 40 inch vertical. He could go left or right, take you in the paint and abuse you or pull up and shoot over you from 30 feet with accuracy, if you like Kevin Durant, that was Iz. I'm a basketball follower not a fan, I like MJ but I'm real enough to know that if he played for New York or Boston, I probably would not have liked him as much, as I rode with the Bulls all the way back to Artis Gilmore. I know players and I can evaluate them on their relative merits as players not personalities. I agree with my guy Jay, when Jordan came out, he couldn't go left and he didn't develop a reliable jump shot until he got within sniffin range of the NBA Finals. Like my homie said, people conveniently forget that Jordan won the NCAA 'ship as a freshman but never won another even though he played for NC for two more years. That was Worth and Perkins' team, he was just a round in the mag.
I used to tell people that Mike Tyson wasn't the “baddest man on the planet.” There is some WHITE guy working in a warehouse somewhere that would beat the breaks off Mike, he just wasn't a boxer. (remember when everyone thought Kimbo Slice was all that and a bag of wavy Lays till a big fat white guy smashed his ass on national television) The point is this, if you take Jordan and swap his spot with say Julius Erving, we'd be having this argument about Doc and LeBron. To those who don't truly follow the sport, we never saw the REAL Dr. J. That guy played back in the seventies before television covered games. That guy played in front of hundreds, not millions around the world. By the time Doc got to the point where he was on the national stage he was a shadow of his former self, but still good enough to make championship runs and dunk on boys. Playing on concrete floors beneath a thin veneer of wood destroyed his knees so he couldn't jump out of the gym like he could when he was younger. That guy would have to be in the conversation for G.O.A.T. Then again, how could not talk about The Big Dipper, this cat AVERAGED 50 points and 25 rebounds a game and STILL remains to this day the only NBA player to average 30 points and 20 rebounds over the course of his career. Jordan, Bryant or James never came close to that. Additionally, this was a time when the three pointer didn't exist, take away three point baskets from today's players and the all time scoring list looks decidedly different. Then there's the Big O who you don't hear the NBA talking about due to political differences (Google it). He is important to Black History in general because when he won the Indiana High School basketball championship while at Crispus Attucks High School, it was the first time anywhere in the United States that two all black teams had met for the championship. He beat my high school Gary Roosevelt in 1955, but I digress, had to get my G.I shout out in. The Big O averaged a triple double for the whole season. No one has ever come close to that. You can argue different era all you want, yes players are faster and bigger now, but mostly they are raw talent, they don't have nearly the skillset that older players had honed by years on the neighborhood courts, four years of high school and four years of college. New age players, they can dunk, they can shoot, that's all. They play sorry defense, they don't rebound. We make a big deal if LBJ gets 5 or 6 rebounds at 6'8”, Fat Lever led his TEAM in rebounding for four seasons, he was the damn point guard at 6'3” The reason why most have careers that last less than five years is not because they can't get on the court, its because they can't be put on the court. In this era, you can't even touch a player. In the old NBA, you could be slammed to the court with such ferocity that someone should go to jail. What happened, you got up and played on. Today, its a two game suspension for anyone who would dare to touch the leagues money makers.
The long and short of is, when you talk about who the greatest of all time is, it depends on who you ask and who they saw play. I'll tell you this, before you run off parroting what you heard on ESPN or talk radio, before you listen to Stephen A. Smith, research the early NBA. Look at the guys who made it possible for Lebron or Mike or Kobe to become multi-millionaires in the first place. Then come talk to me about the best ever.
Drops mic and walks from stage, drippin blackness.
http://www.thejaygravesreport.com/
Fiddy
First, a would be debater must take into account that the phrase “greatest of all time” is subjective. It is based upon subjective factors that must be addressed. What exactly do you mean by “greatest?” What is the measuring stick? If its purely points, Kareem will probably always hold that crown as the next highest point scorers are either out of the league (Jordan, Wilt, the Mailman) or close to it (Kobe). LeBron at his position will very likely not play enough years to amass that kind of point production, additionally, he's not a gunner like Kobe is. You can't use wins as there are people in the top ten that are blessed simply by being on superior teams for long periods of their careers. There are those that use the three peat as evidence of Jordan's greatness, well the Celts reeled off 8 straight. Even the decidedly lower rung Lakes rang up one three peat. Let's see, there are the MVPs, Jordan with five, tied with Bill Russell (who also has 11 rings, one of which as a player coach NO ONE has done THAT again) but he still trails Kareem with six. I won't even go into All Star MVPs as that's all for show. I won't even go into Finals MVPs because we all know the “star” of the winning team will get that even if he has shitty performances. Olympic gold medals, who cares, there are decidedly second level players that have multiple golds.
Finally, we get to the seemingly most potent argument made by the Jordan vs. James debaters. Jordan has six rings and never lost in the Finals, Bron Bron only has two, and has lost two. That can never be a true test of greatness, as lets see, Jordan is tied for TENTH on the list with his six rings. That is six out of the FIFTEEN years he played. Bill Russell tops the damn list with 11 out of 13 years played. Not 11 out of 13 trips to the finals, that means that BR won the championship all but two years he played. For Jordan to touch him he would have to have an astonishing 13 rings. If you use that logic, Robert Horry is “better” than Jordan, LeBron and Kobe as he has seven rings. That's just one contemporary player so the argument can't be said “it was a different league then.” Stats can be used to support any type of argument from best shooter, to best rebounder but best “player” is a different argument, one that does not lend itself to stats alone.
Now that that's out of the way, lets move to the more subjective things. Greatest of all time arguments are a relatively recent thing. No one ever really compared players to each other until the advent of Jordan. Bird and Magic were seen as rivals but no one ever asked who was better as they were both cold as Artic ice water. You couldn't ask which one you would take first as you couldn't go wrong with either one. Jordan was the first mega-media athlete. If anyone remembers, you have to be at least 50, when Magic won his first title, we didn't watch it on ABC or on ESPN. We watched it on TAPE DELAY. I remember I had to beg my mother to stay up late to watch the game as it didn't start till like 10:30 pm. Games out west would be over at 12:30 in the morning back then. It worked because there was not 24 hour nationwide news source either, so unless you knew someone who lived in L.A., you didn't know the score. After the league began marketing the East coast, West coast rivalry (incidentally where the 2-3-2 Finals format came from), Hollywood v. Blue Collar Boston, people began to notice this game of basketball. Jordan built on that. Somewhere between those two eras, including the overlap, the game exploded in ad revenue, endorsement money and popularity. So an argument can be made that the NBA and marketing firms created the “Jordan is best” aura. That drove the public perception that Jordan was all that. Want further evidence, a poll done by ESPN, was released TODAY that asked who is the most popular athlete. King James 3rd, Black Momba 4th, who holds the top spot . . . wait for it, waaaaittt for it. MICHAEL DAMN JORDAN. What did Jordan average last year? Zeroes across the board. How many wins, zip. How many playoff games, zilch. The man has not played in the league in over a decade. HOW is he the most popular athlete in the world? Because of marketing and perception. You cannot be the best athlete if you're NOT A FREAKIN ATHLETE any longer. Most people who bleed Bulls red because of Jordan, are Jordan fans because the NBA made it possible for them to be Jordan fans. You saw in real time damn near every game he played except when he was playing lowly teams like Milwaukee or Kansas City (yeah they had a team at one time). You were force fed MJ on everything from television to cereal, to horrible movies, to cartoons. This illusion led (forced) you to believe that he was a basketball GOD and no one is on his level. What the public didn't see was that MJ was probably the most polarizing major athlete in sports history inside the sport. You either liked him and he liked you or you didn't. He was arrogant, petty, childish and a complete ass outside of the public eye. Don't believe me, YouTube his acceptance speech at the HOF ceremony. Studmuffins flew in a guy from his old high school basketball team that was chosen the year he was left off the varsity squad, JUST to humiliate this guy. Dude, you 50 damn years old, let that shit go. You said to people who were paying attention that “look, he made the team and I didn't, I became the best in the world, he's a mechanic or something.” You come across as vindictive and petty for no reason at all.
rucker
Now lets get to the real. There is no “greatest” player of all time. The greatest player of all time never played in the NBA. There are six, seven billion (with a B) people on this planet, statistics say that you can never say that because no one even knows who all the players are. (just like you cannot say that life only exists on Earth because we've never found life anywhere else) Every hood has a player that nobody can touch. I mean EVERY hood has that guy that fights start over picking him first for the pickup game. Every suburban gym has that white guy with Bird range, Nash handles and Nowitski footwork. I remember reading an article in Sports Illustrated I think it was, years ago about a guy that a reporter had heard about and went to see that played ball barefoot and who shot a basketball like Payton Manning threw a football. Thing is, according to the reporter, this guy NEVER missed a shot PLUS he never shot a layup, he didn't miss from the key, the wing, the elbow, he didn't even miss from halfcourt. Supposedly, this was not some Dude Perfect bullshit but within the course of an organized game. Everyone knew the guy, no one knew where he lived or what he did to feed himself. He'd just show up, kill and leave. Best player I ever saw IN LIFE was a guy named Charles Merriweather. In case anyone thinks this is a fictional person, this guy won the Indiana State High School Championship in 1979 as a quarter miler. Google it. We used to call him Iz, short for Israel. Iz's problem was not being a stellar athlete, his problem was with cocaine and sticky fingers to feed the desire. I saw this guy play in prison. The guy was 6'6” tall, ambidextrous, with a 40 inch vertical. He could go left or right, take you in the paint and abuse you or pull up and shoot over you from 30 feet with accuracy, if you like Kevin Durant, that was Iz. I'm a basketball follower not a fan, I like MJ but I'm real enough to know that if he played for New York or Boston, I probably would not have liked him as much, as I rode with the Bulls all the way back to Artis Gilmore. I know players and I can evaluate them on their relative merits as players not personalities. I agree with my guy Jay, when Jordan came out, he couldn't go left and he didn't develop a reliable jump shot until he got within sniffin range of the NBA Finals. Like my homie said, people conveniently forget that Jordan won the NCAA 'ship as a freshman but never won another even though he played for NC for two more years. That was Worth and Perkins' team, he was just a round in the mag.
I used to tell people that Mike Tyson wasn't the “baddest man on the planet.” There is some WHITE guy working in a warehouse somewhere that would beat the breaks off Mike, he just wasn't a boxer. (remember when everyone thought Kimbo Slice was all that and a bag of wavy Lays till a big fat white guy smashed his ass on national television) The point is this, if you take Jordan and swap his spot with say Julius Erving, we'd be having this argument about Doc and LeBron. To those who don't truly follow the sport, we never saw the REAL Dr. J. That guy played back in the seventies before television covered games. That guy played in front of hundreds, not millions around the world. By the time Doc got to the point where he was on the national stage he was a shadow of his former self, but still good enough to make championship runs and dunk on boys. Playing on concrete floors beneath a thin veneer of wood destroyed his knees so he couldn't jump out of the gym like he could when he was younger. That guy would have to be in the conversation for G.O.A.T. Then again, how could not talk about The Big Dipper, this cat AVERAGED 50 points and 25 rebounds a game and STILL remains to this day the only NBA player to average 30 points and 20 rebounds over the course of his career. Jordan, Bryant or James never came close to that. Additionally, this was a time when the three pointer didn't exist, take away three point baskets from today's players and the all time scoring list looks decidedly different. Then there's the Big O who you don't hear the NBA talking about due to political differences (Google it). He is important to Black History in general because when he won the Indiana High School basketball championship while at Crispus Attucks High School, it was the first time anywhere in the United States that two all black teams had met for the championship. He beat my high school Gary Roosevelt in 1955, but I digress, had to get my G.I shout out in. The Big O averaged a triple double for the whole season. No one has ever come close to that. You can argue different era all you want, yes players are faster and bigger now, but mostly they are raw talent, they don't have nearly the skillset that older players had honed by years on the neighborhood courts, four years of high school and four years of college. New age players, they can dunk, they can shoot, that's all. They play sorry defense, they don't rebound. We make a big deal if LBJ gets 5 or 6 rebounds at 6'8”, Fat Lever led his TEAM in rebounding for four seasons, he was the damn point guard at 6'3” The reason why most have careers that last less than five years is not because they can't get on the court, its because they can't be put on the court. In this era, you can't even touch a player. In the old NBA, you could be slammed to the court with such ferocity that someone should go to jail. What happened, you got up and played on. Today, its a two game suspension for anyone who would dare to touch the leagues money makers.
The long and short of is, when you talk about who the greatest of all time is, it depends on who you ask and who they saw play. I'll tell you this, before you run off parroting what you heard on ESPN or talk radio, before you listen to Stephen A. Smith, research the early NBA. Look at the guys who made it possible for Lebron or Mike or Kobe to become multi-millionaires in the first place. Then come talk to me about the best ever.
Drops mic and walks from stage, drippin blackness.
http://www.thejaygravesreport.com/
BULLY
Even though we have switched gears and other issues are currently at the forefront, there are still way too many stories in the media today about our epidemic of bullying going on both inside school as well as outside school. I have wanted to share my thoughts on this subject for months but never got around to it. What made me think about the issue was my son coming home from elementary school with a backpack full of documents, pamphlets, handouts, etc, explaining to these 1st graders what bullying was and how to stop it. Me being the parent I am, I asked my 7 year old what he got out of the presentations. It would seem that there was a school assembly where the children were given speeches by administrators as well as law enforcement about the dangers of bullying and what to do if you are a victim of bullying.
Not being one to challenge authority (cough, cou***bullshit***gh, cough), I take them at their word that they are simply trying to protect the children from a phenomenon that has gotten out of control. If you look at many school shootings, many of the perpetrators are children who have always been seen as outcasts or been bullied by the “cool kids.” So I get it, bullying bad, acceptance of others good. What distresses me is the definition of bullying and what school officials consider bullying. What used to be considered normal character building childhood events are not categorized as quasi-criminal events that are sometimes used to mark a child's future. I'm sure there is not one single one of us who at one time during their childhood was not “picked on” by someone else. In the chaotic world of conflicting loyalties that childhood is, you were “in” the group on Monday, only to be ostracized on Tuesday and re accepted on Wednesday. Therein lays the problem.
We as adults seek to interject our adult sensibilities into the normal world of children. We do this for many reasons, up to and including trying to right wrongs done to us when we were children. We remember how we felt when we were eight years old and the little girl in homeroom made everyone laugh at us because our shoes were old and dirty. We remember how everyone laughed at us during gym class when we struck out playing baseball, so now we push our children to endure sports at young ages whether they want to play or not. We as parents now demand that our children be considered as winners no matter whether they actually won the race or not. That leads to a generation of average children who cannot deal with adversity or rejection. As they age and enter puberty with all of its attached difficulties, this child now has to deal with the added burden of not being the “princess” or “king” that their parents always told them they were. This leads to built up anger and non-conformity and sometimes to violent expression.
When we were younger, we fought, played the dozens, entered into groups, fell out of favor with groups, argued and were still friends after all was said and done. Today, schools administrators and parents in their zeal to stamp out “bullying” in all its various forms rob children of the opportunity to deal with life's problems. Children today have no interpersonal mitigation skills because they haven't had to deal with it. Everything that schools today call bullying is not bullying but simply children being children, half formed adults who have no filter. These filtering techniques develop later in life when children mature. By adults mitigating each and every little perceived slight that a child may encounter keeps that kid in a protective bubble. This bubble is popped usually around middle school when there are no adults to settle disputes and the child has no defense mechanism to deal with mundane problems. We see the results of these wrong-headed policies when we see beautiful children committing suicide because ONE person told them they were ugly or the “cool kids” refused them entry in the group. We see them lash out at those perceived slights by shooting up schools because no one came to their aid like they did in elementary school.
To add insult to injury, many school systems with their zero tolerance for bullying tag so-called bullies with predator tags that follow them throughout their school career. This leads to being barred from good schools, extra harsh discipline for normal acts of defiance and in the most egregious cases criminal records. When we used to fight in school, it was usually a few punches thrown, a trip to the principal's office, notification to our parents, occasionally a suspension and shaking hands afterward. Now with the added influx of camera phones, school fights turn into entertainment for the world to see. Our timelines on FB are replete with KIDS going in hard over who sent a tweet to who. Worldstar Hip Hop has built a multimillion dollar business off the acts of children fighting in school or the streets over things that years ago would not have garnered a second thought. These videos are increasingly finding their way into the hands of law enforcement who are ready, willing and able to levy felony charges against 15 year olds fighting over who likes who or who said what to who on Twitter or Facebook. These multibillion dollar corporations bear the brunt of this problem in that they have no policy denying the posting of these types of videos. To them, the better the fight the more likes and views, the more views, the more ad-dollars generated.
We as parents need to push back at that. If you have a prohibition against nudity, its a short step to prohibit violence in any form. It would make for a much better, much safer environment for our children. We, especially UI members need to immediately flag a vid if it contains violence of any sort. What that does is force FB or Twitter to take down the offending video. Start using the rules against these culture vultures who seem to think its cute to watch children of any color fight and bloody each other for someone on the other side of the planet's enjoyment. We also need to begin to visit our children's schools en masse. Start community groups to patrol the hallways, sit in on classes, sit in the lunchrooms and through the power of vigilance and observation quell these conflicts before they start. Yes we have jobs, but many of us don't or either have the flexibility to spend a day or two in the school. The point is, it must be a community effort. Out of 100 parents there should be a way for at least five to ten individuals to divide up the week to the point that the school is always covered. If we can find the time and effort to “turn up” on the weekend, we owe it to our children to be there to protect them at school.
Drops mic and walks from stage drippin blackness
Part of the Solution or Part of the Problem
Time for a rant. Ever since Mike Brown was murdered in Ferguson, Missouri I have read post after post, blog after blog and comment after comment about what we should or shouldn't do in response. I have heard from those that suggest we march, that we pray, that we boycott businesses, that we riot, that we shoot police officers indiscriminately (WRONG ANSWER), that we call in Al or Jesse or the BPP. I have read and signed petitions for President Obama to establish a Federal agency/law designed to take the investigation of police on citizen shootings out of the hands of local police for obvious reasons.
Some of these ideas I agree with, some I think are at best useless and worse counterproductive. I do not, for example, advocate violence of any type directed towards law enforcement except in lawful self-defense or the defense of a loved one. I do not advocate asking a fool to fly into our communities on a private jet to be the “voice” or “face” of the demonstrations. I do not advocate that we gather around white police commanders to “voice” our concerns and listen to self-serving platitudes entreating us to “let the process work” or “be calm in the midst of turmoil.” You know the statements, we've all heard them before. I'm at that point where I'm almost tired of hearing the family members of those who have been wronged saying “we don't need violence, we need peace.” I just want for one time, just one time an aggrieved mother or a grief stricken father to say with conviction and force “tear this bitch up, they didn't give a fuck about my child, I don't give a fuck about they shit.” But that's my revolutionary wet dream. Plus, we are not ready for movements of that type or magnitude. We are too fragmented, although with the advent of social media we are moving in that direction.
What I am especially tired of, downright weary to the point of exasperation, is US, many of who “claim” to be conscious doing the job of the dominant culture. What you are seeing in the coverage of what I term “our issues” is the deflection tool of propaganda. For example, our issue is murder of unarmed black men by law enforcement. (Luckily we have a few on video, this also speaks to the THOUSANDS that have happened without video who we have never heard of because the officer's version of events are taken to be true without question) We must not let the conversation diverge into an argument about black on black crime. It is immaterial to discuss Ray Ray and Man Man when the question is what law enforcement is doing in our communities. See to the truly conscious, not the pretender, we know that crime across the board is DOWN in our communities. Take for example Chicago, it is undoubtedly, undeniably, absolutely true that violent crime and shootings are tragic and unnecessary. Even one brother killed by another brother is too many. What the powers that be WON'T tell you is that compared to this same month 10 years ago, 20 years ago, crime is half of what it was in some cases a third of what it once was. They will have you believe that it is due to their efforts, that because of “boots on the ground” we have stemmed the tide of violent crime. In fact, what has happened is, again largely due to social media, we have began to wake up. Its slow, but social change is NEVER overnight. We are beginning to value the very thing that outsiders will say that we don't value. There are groups that are out in the community every night talking to these brothers and sisters, assisting these brothers and sisters but you don't hear about them because its not sexy enough for mainstream media. Unfortunately we have brothers making YouTube rants assisting the dominant culture with their message that there is something wrong with you niggas. Why do you burn up your own shit? Simple answer, its not our shit. It belongs to Indians, Asians and white people. Why do you loot, because that's part of the demonstration, that comes with it. I think back to Katrina and how news organizations showed pictures of blacks taking things from stores, “look at the looting taking place.” Same storm, pictures of white people doing the same thing “look at the desperate attempts of the citizens to live through this harrowing time.” Wait, let me go look in the mirror, I'm back, I had to check and see if I really gave a fuck about what white people think of civil demonstration. What the lumpen proletariat has to figure out is the reason why ever single time we have brothers and sisters murdered the conversation MUST turn to black on black crime and why the decrease in crime is almost never covered by mainstream media. It gets down to economics. Can anyone tell me why the Ferguson and County Police Departments have Bearcats, military grade assault rifles, drones, combat helicopters and armored personnel carriers? Ferguson has a population of 21 grand give or take, 60 to 65% are US. How many murders this year? ZIP, ZILCH, ZERO. So what do you have a tank for? What are you preparing for? You know these items are needed, but the money is there due to the demonizing of black men. In comes the same companies that sell arms all over the world to sell Barney Fife hand grenades and .50 sniper rifles. This madness has gotten to the point that even veterans, WHITE VETERANS, are saying “damn, we didn't roll that heavy in Iraq.”
So yes, you feel better after your rant, but what you have become is the unwitting pawn in the status quo's battle for the hearts and minds of white America. Look these niggas are animals, we need to put down this insurrection before it spreads. We militarize our police to keep you safe from them who want your stuff without working for it. We all know the usual slurs and slanders that we have to endure, whether we gainfully working or not. Since you guys think your position with the social order is so safe, next time you with your white friends, bring up the subject of race or white supremacy. What the events in Ferguson do is keep this issue on the front pages, since the funeral of Eric Garner, what have you heard about what is happening in his case from the mainstream media? What about Trayvon Martin. What I will say is this, every night there is chaos on the streets of Ferguson, the media is there. What we need to do instead of telling people to stop what they are doing is do something concrete yourself. If you do not live in Ferguson or are related to the victims of any of these state sanctioned murders, you have no right to tell someone else how they are to express their rage, their grief or their exasperation. If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.
Drops mic, walks from stage drippin blackness!
Some of these ideas I agree with, some I think are at best useless and worse counterproductive. I do not, for example, advocate violence of any type directed towards law enforcement except in lawful self-defense or the defense of a loved one. I do not advocate asking a fool to fly into our communities on a private jet to be the “voice” or “face” of the demonstrations. I do not advocate that we gather around white police commanders to “voice” our concerns and listen to self-serving platitudes entreating us to “let the process work” or “be calm in the midst of turmoil.” You know the statements, we've all heard them before. I'm at that point where I'm almost tired of hearing the family members of those who have been wronged saying “we don't need violence, we need peace.” I just want for one time, just one time an aggrieved mother or a grief stricken father to say with conviction and force “tear this bitch up, they didn't give a fuck about my child, I don't give a fuck about they shit.” But that's my revolutionary wet dream. Plus, we are not ready for movements of that type or magnitude. We are too fragmented, although with the advent of social media we are moving in that direction.
What I am especially tired of, downright weary to the point of exasperation, is US, many of who “claim” to be conscious doing the job of the dominant culture. What you are seeing in the coverage of what I term “our issues” is the deflection tool of propaganda. For example, our issue is murder of unarmed black men by law enforcement. (Luckily we have a few on video, this also speaks to the THOUSANDS that have happened without video who we have never heard of because the officer's version of events are taken to be true without question) We must not let the conversation diverge into an argument about black on black crime. It is immaterial to discuss Ray Ray and Man Man when the question is what law enforcement is doing in our communities. See to the truly conscious, not the pretender, we know that crime across the board is DOWN in our communities. Take for example Chicago, it is undoubtedly, undeniably, absolutely true that violent crime and shootings are tragic and unnecessary. Even one brother killed by another brother is too many. What the powers that be WON'T tell you is that compared to this same month 10 years ago, 20 years ago, crime is half of what it was in some cases a third of what it once was. They will have you believe that it is due to their efforts, that because of “boots on the ground” we have stemmed the tide of violent crime. In fact, what has happened is, again largely due to social media, we have began to wake up. Its slow, but social change is NEVER overnight. We are beginning to value the very thing that outsiders will say that we don't value. There are groups that are out in the community every night talking to these brothers and sisters, assisting these brothers and sisters but you don't hear about them because its not sexy enough for mainstream media. Unfortunately we have brothers making YouTube rants assisting the dominant culture with their message that there is something wrong with you niggas. Why do you burn up your own shit? Simple answer, its not our shit. It belongs to Indians, Asians and white people. Why do you loot, because that's part of the demonstration, that comes with it. I think back to Katrina and how news organizations showed pictures of blacks taking things from stores, “look at the looting taking place.” Same storm, pictures of white people doing the same thing “look at the desperate attempts of the citizens to live through this harrowing time.” Wait, let me go look in the mirror, I'm back, I had to check and see if I really gave a fuck about what white people think of civil demonstration. What the lumpen proletariat has to figure out is the reason why ever single time we have brothers and sisters murdered the conversation MUST turn to black on black crime and why the decrease in crime is almost never covered by mainstream media. It gets down to economics. Can anyone tell me why the Ferguson and County Police Departments have Bearcats, military grade assault rifles, drones, combat helicopters and armored personnel carriers? Ferguson has a population of 21 grand give or take, 60 to 65% are US. How many murders this year? ZIP, ZILCH, ZERO. So what do you have a tank for? What are you preparing for? You know these items are needed, but the money is there due to the demonizing of black men. In comes the same companies that sell arms all over the world to sell Barney Fife hand grenades and .50 sniper rifles. This madness has gotten to the point that even veterans, WHITE VETERANS, are saying “damn, we didn't roll that heavy in Iraq.”
So yes, you feel better after your rant, but what you have become is the unwitting pawn in the status quo's battle for the hearts and minds of white America. Look these niggas are animals, we need to put down this insurrection before it spreads. We militarize our police to keep you safe from them who want your stuff without working for it. We all know the usual slurs and slanders that we have to endure, whether we gainfully working or not. Since you guys think your position with the social order is so safe, next time you with your white friends, bring up the subject of race or white supremacy. What the events in Ferguson do is keep this issue on the front pages, since the funeral of Eric Garner, what have you heard about what is happening in his case from the mainstream media? What about Trayvon Martin. What I will say is this, every night there is chaos on the streets of Ferguson, the media is there. What we need to do instead of telling people to stop what they are doing is do something concrete yourself. If you do not live in Ferguson or are related to the victims of any of these state sanctioned murders, you have no right to tell someone else how they are to express their rage, their grief or their exasperation. If you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem.
Drops mic, walks from stage drippin blackness!
Symptoms
I have a subject that needs breathing on. We here in Open Discussion come from a wide range of ages, socio-economic statuses, and educational as well as consciousness levels. So everyone has a particular perspective to advance and we respect them all. What makes our forum great is that here in U.I., we have the opportunity to have our ideas and points of view fact checked, evaluated and disassembled. What this practice does that other groups lack is we tend to emerge from discussion better thinkers and hopefully better actors.
With that being said, we have all been understandably upset and frustrated by the events in Ferguson as well as other places around the country. WE are finally beginning to take a stand and demand better treatment from the status quo. To keep this momentum going, we must divorce the unproductive from the productive. What I charge each of you to think about the rest of this day and comment on tomorrow, hopefully on the Urban Intellectuals page is what we can do to use these events to better our situation as a whole and not as individuals. How do we not just focus on a symptom of the problem and not the problem itself, that problem being white supremacy, economic inequality and the fact that mostly every single issue that plague black communities from coast to coast can be traced back to economics.
For me, the first thing I encourage all of to do, no matter who you are or what your particular ax to grind is, we MUST stop with this “kill the police” rhetoric. One, because most of you softies are not going to do it and if someone does you are not going to be there for the aftermath, not even in support. So that needs to stop. Just as each of us are individuals who deserve not to be lumped into a category, each police officer, white or black, are not “bad” or “rogue” cops to be executed because of the acts of another. How do you reconcile killing an officer in Philly for the acts of officers in Miami.
Secondly, we must not fall into the trap that has been set before us. We see it but we disregard it with all this talk about “the only good cop is a dead cop.” These are the people who are like hype men behind a rapper, he can't rap but he can coon around and excite the crowd. These are the people who talk that shit but are the first ones to call the police when something goes down involving themselves or their property. I'll agree, I have somewhat unconventional views when it comes to law enforcement. I actually believe that change won't come to law enforcement until the good cops start standing up to the bad cops and the powers behind them that control what they do. That's the part of the story that we miss in our anger, rage and emotionalism. Law Enforcement is a TOOL of the dominant society. They don't care how many of them are killed just as they don't care how many soldiers that they send off to fight meaningless wars come back in body bags. They are the shovels throwing black and brown, and increasingly poor white bodies, into the bottomless hole of the Prison Industrial Complex. Our problems are bigger than police/community relations.
Third, lets not be short-sighted. Instead let us be more discerning. Intellectually as well as instinctively we know that not all police officers are bad. If we take the “kill the police” stance, what about your Uncle Bobby whose been the police for 25 years. What about your cousin's husband or wife who is the police. What if someone kills them for the acts of another officer? Then again, what constitutes an officer, who exactly IS the police? Do we count the officers who work in the county jail who brutalize and kill brothers every day? What about child support enforcement officers who carry badges and have arrest powers? We also can't be hypocritical, if a black officer kills a unarmed white man, why do we not become enraged then? Why do we not march if a black officer kills an unarmed black kid?
The long and short of it is, let us use this issue to develop strategies that uplift us as a whole and not be distracted by what is, in the long run, a symptom of the problem not the problem itself.
Drops mic and walks from stage drippin blackness.
With that being said, we have all been understandably upset and frustrated by the events in Ferguson as well as other places around the country. WE are finally beginning to take a stand and demand better treatment from the status quo. To keep this momentum going, we must divorce the unproductive from the productive. What I charge each of you to think about the rest of this day and comment on tomorrow, hopefully on the Urban Intellectuals page is what we can do to use these events to better our situation as a whole and not as individuals. How do we not just focus on a symptom of the problem and not the problem itself, that problem being white supremacy, economic inequality and the fact that mostly every single issue that plague black communities from coast to coast can be traced back to economics.
For me, the first thing I encourage all of to do, no matter who you are or what your particular ax to grind is, we MUST stop with this “kill the police” rhetoric. One, because most of you softies are not going to do it and if someone does you are not going to be there for the aftermath, not even in support. So that needs to stop. Just as each of us are individuals who deserve not to be lumped into a category, each police officer, white or black, are not “bad” or “rogue” cops to be executed because of the acts of another. How do you reconcile killing an officer in Philly for the acts of officers in Miami.
Secondly, we must not fall into the trap that has been set before us. We see it but we disregard it with all this talk about “the only good cop is a dead cop.” These are the people who are like hype men behind a rapper, he can't rap but he can coon around and excite the crowd. These are the people who talk that shit but are the first ones to call the police when something goes down involving themselves or their property. I'll agree, I have somewhat unconventional views when it comes to law enforcement. I actually believe that change won't come to law enforcement until the good cops start standing up to the bad cops and the powers behind them that control what they do. That's the part of the story that we miss in our anger, rage and emotionalism. Law Enforcement is a TOOL of the dominant society. They don't care how many of them are killed just as they don't care how many soldiers that they send off to fight meaningless wars come back in body bags. They are the shovels throwing black and brown, and increasingly poor white bodies, into the bottomless hole of the Prison Industrial Complex. Our problems are bigger than police/community relations.
Third, lets not be short-sighted. Instead let us be more discerning. Intellectually as well as instinctively we know that not all police officers are bad. If we take the “kill the police” stance, what about your Uncle Bobby whose been the police for 25 years. What about your cousin's husband or wife who is the police. What if someone kills them for the acts of another officer? Then again, what constitutes an officer, who exactly IS the police? Do we count the officers who work in the county jail who brutalize and kill brothers every day? What about child support enforcement officers who carry badges and have arrest powers? We also can't be hypocritical, if a black officer kills a unarmed white man, why do we not become enraged then? Why do we not march if a black officer kills an unarmed black kid?
The long and short of it is, let us use this issue to develop strategies that uplift us as a whole and not be distracted by what is, in the long run, a symptom of the problem not the problem itself.
Drops mic and walks from stage drippin blackness.
POWER
Soooo, B-MO is tense. There have been non-stop reports of violence and looting. There have been objects thrown at the police, there has been destruction of private property. There have been those who say “fuck it, tear some shit up.” An even larger group has been quick to say “this is NOT the way.”
Now let me state at the outset. I don't do “protests,” not out of cowardice or lack of concern about the issues, just simply because I don't go places where I may get killed because of the actions of the person next to me. As the old folks always say, bullets don't have names.
I don't however have the same visceral reaction that many do when they see scenes of looting and destruction. I am of the mind that all movements for social change require two avenues. For those of you who didn't live through the latter parts of the civil rights era, many believe that MLK would not have been as successful if the threat of Malcolm X was there as a counterbalance. You either talk to us about it or we tear shit up. I know its a simplistic analysis but at its lowest common denominator, that's what it was. For those who will scream, “but they tearing they own shit up!” Let's look at that realistically. That's not “our” shit. We have all had that conversation where we complain about “outsiders” coming into our communities and taking our dollars back to their own. We accept businesses in our communities selling sub-standard, knock off, expired bullshit and are quick to say, “if the Koreans weren't here where would we get our goods? If the Pakistanis weren't here, where would we get our gas and snacks?” Well, I would respond with, where can you buy a fucking apple or fresh meat or fish? Where can you purchase healthy food to feed your family in the hood? We lament about the absence of black businesses in our communities. Why that phenomenon exists is the subject of countless articles and books. (Manning Marable, Walter Rodney, Dr. Claude Anderson to name a few) Then we do a curious thing, we call our own people animals for destroying (looting) those same businesses you complain about
We complain that it makes us look bad, we say that it gives the “man” a reason to treat us badly. What that line of reasoning neglects, however, is that the “man” never needed a reason to treat us badly. Everyone of those protesters could have been wearing white and holding a bible and they still would be treated badly. Major cities and institutions have policies and procedures set up to deal with peaceful dissent. The protesters are herded into designated areas and allowed to sing their songs, say their prayers and in some jurisdictions, you are allowed/required to file for a permit to protest. We go for that shit. They don't fear peaceful protest because they know as soon as it rains, or gets too hot or too cold, you're going home. They know that its Baltimore today, but something will jump in Jacksonville, or Kansas City or Minneapolis or any number of places in the US that we are being killed. We will then divert our protest attention to Justice for [insert name of the next person gunned down or mistreated by the police].
Some tend to compare our protests with other groups. They say “well white people don't act that way,” and to that I'll state that you are correct, white people HERE don't do that. In Europe, they TEAR SHIT UP. (See attached photos, better yet, Google Image search European protests) White folks in this country are COWARDS. They have nothing to protest for. They actually do but they just don't realize it yet. They are like the “good” Jews at the beginning of Hitler's reign, they thought they were safe. The people some are trying to compare us to are just happy its us that are getting our heads busted every time they interact with the police. In actuality, more whites are killed by police in America than us, but the media makes more money out of highlighting us. They don't care right now because its not scary enough for the majority of them. They won't protest because they still believe that Officer Friendly is there to protect him and they are right.
So we can't compare our methods to theirs and we need to stop asking others to do that. Some of us believe that in order to make them answer the door we must knock LOUDLY, to use an analogy. I don't presume to be a great orator or to have all the answers but I do think that Frederick Douglass was correct way back in 1857, back when we were still chattel slaves when he said:
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.”
We've tried words, it don't work.
Drops mic, walks from stage drippin blackness
Now let me state at the outset. I don't do “protests,” not out of cowardice or lack of concern about the issues, just simply because I don't go places where I may get killed because of the actions of the person next to me. As the old folks always say, bullets don't have names.
I don't however have the same visceral reaction that many do when they see scenes of looting and destruction. I am of the mind that all movements for social change require two avenues. For those of you who didn't live through the latter parts of the civil rights era, many believe that MLK would not have been as successful if the threat of Malcolm X was there as a counterbalance. You either talk to us about it or we tear shit up. I know its a simplistic analysis but at its lowest common denominator, that's what it was. For those who will scream, “but they tearing they own shit up!” Let's look at that realistically. That's not “our” shit. We have all had that conversation where we complain about “outsiders” coming into our communities and taking our dollars back to their own. We accept businesses in our communities selling sub-standard, knock off, expired bullshit and are quick to say, “if the Koreans weren't here where would we get our goods? If the Pakistanis weren't here, where would we get our gas and snacks?” Well, I would respond with, where can you buy a fucking apple or fresh meat or fish? Where can you purchase healthy food to feed your family in the hood? We lament about the absence of black businesses in our communities. Why that phenomenon exists is the subject of countless articles and books. (Manning Marable, Walter Rodney, Dr. Claude Anderson to name a few) Then we do a curious thing, we call our own people animals for destroying (looting) those same businesses you complain about
We complain that it makes us look bad, we say that it gives the “man” a reason to treat us badly. What that line of reasoning neglects, however, is that the “man” never needed a reason to treat us badly. Everyone of those protesters could have been wearing white and holding a bible and they still would be treated badly. Major cities and institutions have policies and procedures set up to deal with peaceful dissent. The protesters are herded into designated areas and allowed to sing their songs, say their prayers and in some jurisdictions, you are allowed/required to file for a permit to protest. We go for that shit. They don't fear peaceful protest because they know as soon as it rains, or gets too hot or too cold, you're going home. They know that its Baltimore today, but something will jump in Jacksonville, or Kansas City or Minneapolis or any number of places in the US that we are being killed. We will then divert our protest attention to Justice for [insert name of the next person gunned down or mistreated by the police].
Some tend to compare our protests with other groups. They say “well white people don't act that way,” and to that I'll state that you are correct, white people HERE don't do that. In Europe, they TEAR SHIT UP. (See attached photos, better yet, Google Image search European protests) White folks in this country are COWARDS. They have nothing to protest for. They actually do but they just don't realize it yet. They are like the “good” Jews at the beginning of Hitler's reign, they thought they were safe. The people some are trying to compare us to are just happy its us that are getting our heads busted every time they interact with the police. In actuality, more whites are killed by police in America than us, but the media makes more money out of highlighting us. They don't care right now because its not scary enough for the majority of them. They won't protest because they still believe that Officer Friendly is there to protect him and they are right.
So we can't compare our methods to theirs and we need to stop asking others to do that. Some of us believe that in order to make them answer the door we must knock LOUDLY, to use an analogy. I don't presume to be a great orator or to have all the answers but I do think that Frederick Douglass was correct way back in 1857, back when we were still chattel slaves when he said:
“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will submit to, and you have found out the exact amount of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them; and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or with both.”
We've tried words, it don't work.
Drops mic, walks from stage drippin blackness
Emancipation: How Emerge & Thrive Despite A Felony on your Record
You are finally free from the belly of the beast. You have dreamed of this day for months and in some cases years. You have all of the expectations, desires and balled up emotions of any hostage that has been held in captivity. You have meticuously planned your first meal (usually something you can't get while in prison), who you will visit first (Moms if she's still living), and what woman you can't wait to see (usually your child's mother or whoever has stuck with you throughout the ordeal). Yep, you have it all planned. After that first day, however, what do you do to pick up the pieces of your life?
The most common mistake prisoners make while incarcerated, especially "short-timers" (anything less than ten years to serve) is to not plan for the non personal part of their reemergence into society. We know we'll eat good food, we know that some will be happy to see us, we know that they'll be plenty of alcohol, plenty of weed and plenty of sex. That's all personal. The fact of the matter is that after about a week, the party has ended. Now what do you do? You have no job, you're a squatter in someone else's space and unless you hit the lottery upon your release, you don't have any money. In most states when you are released from prison they give you whatever funds you have on your prison trust fund account and whatever remittance that particular state gives you after your incarceration. In Indiana it was $35.00. Yes, you read that correctly. I was given $35.00 and a good luck and released into the world. I was lucky enough to have a support system in place to make it, I also planned for this day so I was ready. If you DON'T have that support system . . . well, maybe now you see why recidivism rates are so high. (Before you go there, don't even think about shelters and food pantries as a panacea for the recently released, there are millions of homeless and down on their luck people out there that you are competing with) You're like a 14 year old child in everything except mentality (hopefully) and physical age.
First and formost, you have to bet on you. You say you're a hustler, you say you have a plan. Be that person who you looked at for years in the mirror in prison. (all prisoners talk to themselves, occupational hazard). If you have the skills, if you have the presence, if you have the ambition, start your own business. Be a consultant. Do crisis management. Offer your services as a mentor in the Juvenile Center or Work Release or even Job Corps. Market yourself as a subject matter expert in all things crime and criminal justice related. As an independent contractor you insulate yourself from the whole resume/application/background check process. Depending on what your skillset happens to be, you are just as valuable to companies as an equal as you are an employee. Don't go out seeking to be an employee, go out seeking to be a business owner/entreprenuer. That being said, some don't have the resources or ambition to be their own boss. Some just are looking for employment.
So what can you do? For some forward thinking prisoners, the journey through incarceration is seen as attending an exclusive men only college campus, just one with no parties, no homecoming and no girls dorm to raid. You have nothing but time, so why not use that time to better yourself? The forward thinking prisoner graduates with some sort of degree, be it liberal arts, a vocational arts degree or in more rare cases, an advanced graduate degree. What most don't realize is that the reason most can't find gainful employment after prison even with degree is not WHERE you got the degree but the missing years in your resume. Your degree doesn't have a footnote that says "earned while locked up." Your degree will look exactly the same as any degree conferred to any student at that same time. There are two ways to handle this conundrum. One way is to not mention it. You basically don't tell anyone you were locked up while getting your degree and deal with the background check when it comes up. That is not ideal for a number of reasons, first when the background check comes back, you will look dishonest, like you were trying to hide your past. Secondly, it makes a prospective employer look even harder into your background to find out the particulars of your crime. You should never want employers making value judgments based upon a few words included in your criminal background. Its a very short leap to see Assault with a Deadly Weapon to imagining that assault happening in the workplace. Some employers won't even ask for fear of setting you off, so your application is trashed before you make it back to the parking lot. (Trust me, I believe its happened to me a few times) The best approach is to emphasize and highlight your accomplishment. If you made the Dean's List a few times, graduated with an exceptionally high grade point average or won a few awards, make that the topic of discussion not where you took classes.
Before your release you should also start to lay the groundwork for future employment. Write letters to businesses, organizations or corporations where you want to work. Send out hundreds of them, hey, what else do you have to do? Introduce yourself, include information about the company or organization, show the hiring manager that you have done the research into the company. Explain that despite your circumstances your employment would be a value add for that company. I always encourage brothers to pursue degrees in the Social Sciences. The reason for that is these professionals are usually more liberal and understanding then just going get a BBA or an MBA as your chances or rising very far in a profit driven professional are limited, one because you are black and two because you killed four or five people. (Normal people frown on that whole death and dismemberment thing, who knew?) In the social sciences field you have a built in advantage, if going to prison can be seen as advantageous by any stretch of the imagination. Other professionals can talk about being in the life based upon what they've read in textbooks. You can talk about it from experience. When you talk to at risk youth for example, your guidance and admonitions are more valuable than someone who can talk the talk but has never walked the walk. You can look at a room of youngsters and say "I know what is about to happen to you if you continue down this road, I've been there and THIS is what the likely outcome will be." That is invaluable to organizations that do this type of work.
Additionally, from an opportunity standpoint, there are simply more positions available to you as an ex-prisoner. If you earn your degree and you want middle management with a large firm, the numbers are against you. Its not ALL about racism or discrimination against you as a recently released felon, its simply numbers. If a given field employs say 3.1 million people nationwide, at any given time there will be at most a few thousand positions available due to churn, retirement, promotions and such. There are literally millions of individuals applying for those same jobs, your resume has to rise to the top of that pile, that is a heavy lift with your criminal background. Why hire you when this white guy over here with no record is available also. In social sciences however, those are not glamour jobs, those are positions filled with people who want to help. You won't get rich, there are no stock options to receive but you will be able to make a good living and help people along the way. Its at this point where your incarceration becomes somewhat of a selling point. If the organization deals with youth at a station on the school to prison rail line, you can be an asset at that station.
Lastly, the hidden gem out there that people overlook is GOVERNMENT WORK. Believe it or not, with a degree in Social Science you can work in most any state. EXACTLY 90 days after my release I was hired by the State of Indiana in the Family and Social Services Administration. Ten months later I was a Caseworker and after about a year I was an Eligibility Consultant. Most states hire felons in a variety of postions and divisions. So does the Federal Government. I don't know if its a matter of being more liberal in their devotion to non-discriminatory hiring or what. It just seems to be a better fit for those with degrees and felonies that are looking work. Try the Social Security Administration, as well as the Department of Veteran's Affairs. You'll be surprised. Again, you won't get rich but you won't starve either. The selling point for any government job is the benefits anyway.
Don't misunderstand, there will be bumps in the road. Your co-workers WILL find out that you have a felony and they WILL hate on you. I had one who wrote a letter to HR at the state capitol because she was mad I received a promotion to a position that she had been trying to get for years. You will somewhat isolated at first until they get to know you. You will be questioned by them to find out what you went down for. Don't lie because your case is a matter of public record. Tell them to look it up but mostly don't let anyone push your buttons because that hostility will be there until they are comfortable. Some will never look at you as equal but that's on them, don't feed into it.
Lastly, always remember you have been through an ordeal that many of them cannot imagine. I never went to a country club prison. I never went to a Correctional Facility (that's the new age name). I did time in PRISON behind a wall where everything is gray concrete and greenish blue streel bars, chickenwire and razorwire. I survived it and came out better for it. THAT is your advantage. Go with confidence because even though you will be denied more than you win, all you need is one job. One toe in the door and you're off and running. Look at those around you, even those looking down their nose at you and KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can't do what you did. Not going down, anyone can get caught up, but getting up after going down. THAT IS WHAT MAKES YOU SPECIAL, YOU GOT BACK UP, MANY DON'T.
old school joint
Drops mic and walks from stage drippin blackness.
The most common mistake prisoners make while incarcerated, especially "short-timers" (anything less than ten years to serve) is to not plan for the non personal part of their reemergence into society. We know we'll eat good food, we know that some will be happy to see us, we know that they'll be plenty of alcohol, plenty of weed and plenty of sex. That's all personal. The fact of the matter is that after about a week, the party has ended. Now what do you do? You have no job, you're a squatter in someone else's space and unless you hit the lottery upon your release, you don't have any money. In most states when you are released from prison they give you whatever funds you have on your prison trust fund account and whatever remittance that particular state gives you after your incarceration. In Indiana it was $35.00. Yes, you read that correctly. I was given $35.00 and a good luck and released into the world. I was lucky enough to have a support system in place to make it, I also planned for this day so I was ready. If you DON'T have that support system . . . well, maybe now you see why recidivism rates are so high. (Before you go there, don't even think about shelters and food pantries as a panacea for the recently released, there are millions of homeless and down on their luck people out there that you are competing with) You're like a 14 year old child in everything except mentality (hopefully) and physical age.
First and formost, you have to bet on you. You say you're a hustler, you say you have a plan. Be that person who you looked at for years in the mirror in prison. (all prisoners talk to themselves, occupational hazard). If you have the skills, if you have the presence, if you have the ambition, start your own business. Be a consultant. Do crisis management. Offer your services as a mentor in the Juvenile Center or Work Release or even Job Corps. Market yourself as a subject matter expert in all things crime and criminal justice related. As an independent contractor you insulate yourself from the whole resume/application/background check process. Depending on what your skillset happens to be, you are just as valuable to companies as an equal as you are an employee. Don't go out seeking to be an employee, go out seeking to be a business owner/entreprenuer. That being said, some don't have the resources or ambition to be their own boss. Some just are looking for employment.
So what can you do? For some forward thinking prisoners, the journey through incarceration is seen as attending an exclusive men only college campus, just one with no parties, no homecoming and no girls dorm to raid. You have nothing but time, so why not use that time to better yourself? The forward thinking prisoner graduates with some sort of degree, be it liberal arts, a vocational arts degree or in more rare cases, an advanced graduate degree. What most don't realize is that the reason most can't find gainful employment after prison even with degree is not WHERE you got the degree but the missing years in your resume. Your degree doesn't have a footnote that says "earned while locked up." Your degree will look exactly the same as any degree conferred to any student at that same time. There are two ways to handle this conundrum. One way is to not mention it. You basically don't tell anyone you were locked up while getting your degree and deal with the background check when it comes up. That is not ideal for a number of reasons, first when the background check comes back, you will look dishonest, like you were trying to hide your past. Secondly, it makes a prospective employer look even harder into your background to find out the particulars of your crime. You should never want employers making value judgments based upon a few words included in your criminal background. Its a very short leap to see Assault with a Deadly Weapon to imagining that assault happening in the workplace. Some employers won't even ask for fear of setting you off, so your application is trashed before you make it back to the parking lot. (Trust me, I believe its happened to me a few times) The best approach is to emphasize and highlight your accomplishment. If you made the Dean's List a few times, graduated with an exceptionally high grade point average or won a few awards, make that the topic of discussion not where you took classes.
Before your release you should also start to lay the groundwork for future employment. Write letters to businesses, organizations or corporations where you want to work. Send out hundreds of them, hey, what else do you have to do? Introduce yourself, include information about the company or organization, show the hiring manager that you have done the research into the company. Explain that despite your circumstances your employment would be a value add for that company. I always encourage brothers to pursue degrees in the Social Sciences. The reason for that is these professionals are usually more liberal and understanding then just going get a BBA or an MBA as your chances or rising very far in a profit driven professional are limited, one because you are black and two because you killed four or five people. (Normal people frown on that whole death and dismemberment thing, who knew?) In the social sciences field you have a built in advantage, if going to prison can be seen as advantageous by any stretch of the imagination. Other professionals can talk about being in the life based upon what they've read in textbooks. You can talk about it from experience. When you talk to at risk youth for example, your guidance and admonitions are more valuable than someone who can talk the talk but has never walked the walk. You can look at a room of youngsters and say "I know what is about to happen to you if you continue down this road, I've been there and THIS is what the likely outcome will be." That is invaluable to organizations that do this type of work.
Additionally, from an opportunity standpoint, there are simply more positions available to you as an ex-prisoner. If you earn your degree and you want middle management with a large firm, the numbers are against you. Its not ALL about racism or discrimination against you as a recently released felon, its simply numbers. If a given field employs say 3.1 million people nationwide, at any given time there will be at most a few thousand positions available due to churn, retirement, promotions and such. There are literally millions of individuals applying for those same jobs, your resume has to rise to the top of that pile, that is a heavy lift with your criminal background. Why hire you when this white guy over here with no record is available also. In social sciences however, those are not glamour jobs, those are positions filled with people who want to help. You won't get rich, there are no stock options to receive but you will be able to make a good living and help people along the way. Its at this point where your incarceration becomes somewhat of a selling point. If the organization deals with youth at a station on the school to prison rail line, you can be an asset at that station.
Lastly, the hidden gem out there that people overlook is GOVERNMENT WORK. Believe it or not, with a degree in Social Science you can work in most any state. EXACTLY 90 days after my release I was hired by the State of Indiana in the Family and Social Services Administration. Ten months later I was a Caseworker and after about a year I was an Eligibility Consultant. Most states hire felons in a variety of postions and divisions. So does the Federal Government. I don't know if its a matter of being more liberal in their devotion to non-discriminatory hiring or what. It just seems to be a better fit for those with degrees and felonies that are looking work. Try the Social Security Administration, as well as the Department of Veteran's Affairs. You'll be surprised. Again, you won't get rich but you won't starve either. The selling point for any government job is the benefits anyway.
Don't misunderstand, there will be bumps in the road. Your co-workers WILL find out that you have a felony and they WILL hate on you. I had one who wrote a letter to HR at the state capitol because she was mad I received a promotion to a position that she had been trying to get for years. You will somewhat isolated at first until they get to know you. You will be questioned by them to find out what you went down for. Don't lie because your case is a matter of public record. Tell them to look it up but mostly don't let anyone push your buttons because that hostility will be there until they are comfortable. Some will never look at you as equal but that's on them, don't feed into it.
Lastly, always remember you have been through an ordeal that many of them cannot imagine. I never went to a country club prison. I never went to a Correctional Facility (that's the new age name). I did time in PRISON behind a wall where everything is gray concrete and greenish blue streel bars, chickenwire and razorwire. I survived it and came out better for it. THAT is your advantage. Go with confidence because even though you will be denied more than you win, all you need is one job. One toe in the door and you're off and running. Look at those around you, even those looking down their nose at you and KNOW beyond a shadow of a doubt that they can't do what you did. Not going down, anyone can get caught up, but getting up after going down. THAT IS WHAT MAKES YOU SPECIAL, YOU GOT BACK UP, MANY DON'T.
old school joint
Drops mic and walks from stage drippin blackness.
Saturday, April 25, 2015
Inside Stories
Finally I have time to sit down and put something on paper. I know that there are some who may disagree about some of the things I say or disbelieve my prose, however, when I talk about the “other” side, I'm talking from experience. When I wrote One Day Shy http://ghostndamachine.blogspot.com/2014/01/one-day-shy.html I gave notice that I had made ten years out of captivity and I would begin to share my experiences. I watched the young brother getting slammed by the police in Riker's Island and the bullshit “gang” fight that erupted later on. This video brings back vivid memories of my vacation. Many of us do not have the ability to describe that journey due to our lack of being able to use “white folks words.” Many of us have witnessed brutality behind bars that is almost beyond imagining. Hollywood has yet to provide a window into that world that's even CLOSE to being realistic. You have to go all the way back to the '70's to find good movies about prison (Penitentiary etc.) What you see on this video isn't even the tip of the iceberg, its a atom in the top 1% of the tip of the iceberg.
No one that has not been through these experiences can understand what its like being inside a space with other aggressive males where EVERYTHING is concrete and steel. Add to the mix the sadistic, high school drop out, borderline schizophrenic white boys who come to work there because they think they are tough. In my entire time inside I never met one who didn't have a desire to be the “real” police. They are gun nuts, militia members and in a lot of cases members of white supremacist organizations. But that's prison.
White media organizations call RI (Riker's Island) a prison, its not. Any brother from New York will tell you, RI is the equivalent of the County Jails that exist in little white towns in rings around all large cities with large populations of blacks and browns. That's why you see the odd brother in these videos, they are generally good brothers caught up in bad situations. That affects them, they don't come there to beat up prisoners but in their effort to fit in they do. Not all of them, a few. Generally they stay out of bullshit because to them its a job, a way to pay for little Keisha's braces and they know if they in it, they are like the first brother on tv shows, he ALWAYS gets killed, they will be the sacrifice. The white boys are there for the blood sport. The believe the bullshit put out by the media, that we are animals, that we are inherently prone to criminality. No, my friend we are more prone to poverty.
These county jails are essentially concrete and steel holding pens full of frustrated, afraid, confused brothers who have no idea of what's about to happen. They cling to the gang more out of familiarity than out of cowardice or allegiance. These holding pens are all sharp corners and blunt objects. You can get slammed on the table and be killed. You can take a awkward twist while WINNING a fight and kill yourself. Its a brutal existence. These are the unsung brothers, the brothers that didn't kill anyone, the brothers that caught with some weed. The brothers who stole a car. The brothers who, if they existed in a certain unmelaninated state, is going home with probation. These are brothers who can barely read trying to understand a process that is filled with dense, confusing terms. They will come out of these court proceedings with decades of time and they are mixed in with brothers that will get time served. Also of major importance is the fact that in some cases these brothers have been in JAIL for years. This brother had been there for 3 years for something he didn't do. It took you three YEARS to figure out that he didn't steal a damn backpack? There are tens of thousands of brother in this very same situation right now. Los Angeles County has 20,000 inmates, New York has 15,000, Houston has 11,000, Chicago 10,000, Phoenix 10,000 (for the browns), Philly 10,000. I could go on but the point is each of the largest jails in this country are in or around large populations of us and that's what locked up there, us. I'll deal with the finances of such a large population of captive humans in a future article. Suffice it to say, Philly makes 40,000 meals everyday, somebody getting paid to make those donuts.
Inside those jails are two types of prisoner. One is a gang affiliated youngsta, the other is what is called in some places a neutron. He's a brother that came to jail that wasn't in a gang. Because of his status, he is considered fair game for the lower ranking inmates to prove themselves on. Problem is, some of these youngstas can bump. They not in a gang because they can't be FORCED to join. At the outset I said that this video was bullshit. I say that because I've seen what gangs can do when they want to hurt you. This dude was jumped by at least seven people, he came out without a mark and was moving well. I saw a group of young guys jump on a white guy for snitching in the section. They threw a blanket over his head while he was in bed and beat him with socks with padlocks and bars of soap in them. That white boy looked like Frankenstein when he walked out to the bulletproof glass that separates the guards from the prisoners. He collapsed, they came got him and that was that. They weren't really trying to hurt him. When the gang rides in jail, most times you end up either dead or in the hospital.
He got slammed by the brother. Mannnn, I had a homeboy named P-Mo, he was one of those guys, he decided that he had a bigger fight with the system than he had with any other gang so he left the gang. Some didn't like that but P-Mo could fight. 150 pounds of fire in both hands. After knocking out some teeth and punkin heading a couple of guys, they left him alone. He then began a 5 year fight with the police. He was on Segregation where there are no cameras, where there are all white staff. He's in there beating them up sometimes once a week. After about five years of using him as a training aid for new officers on the unit they broke his neck in a “cell extraction.” Where would you be taking someone whose locked in a cell about half the size of the the average bathroom in the hood 23 hours of of the day? That happens everyday in the county. I would be willing to bet its happening as I write this and as you will read it.
If you are concerned with what is happening on the street, how we seem to be targeted by law enforcement, you have to be even MORE concerned about how we are treated behind bars. 97% of these brothers are coming home to you. They will suffer from PTPD (Post-Traumatic Incarceration Disorder). It is similar in nature to PTSD but it is caused by the singularly unique phenomenon of prison. There is conflict all around you. You live in a twilight world stuck between hope and reality. At least in war you can shoot back. In jail/prison your enemy doesn't have a heart to stab, it doesn't have a head to crack. You can't fight it, because we don't even know what “it” is.
Most of us have at least one fairly close family member or friend that is locked up. We haven't thought of them in a while because we have lives. Ask him, and increasingly her, what its like. Let them tell the story of what's behind the walls of those fortresses that you drive by everyday. Post those stories, let the world know that we make a big deal about how violent prisons are in other places yet our jails are no better. In many cases they are worse because they don't have to be that way.
This is JAIL folks, this is BEFORE you get a sentence. This is before the real show begins. This is the skirmish before the real war. This is the Hoosegow, next is the Pokey. .
Next up: Prison
No one that has not been through these experiences can understand what its like being inside a space with other aggressive males where EVERYTHING is concrete and steel. Add to the mix the sadistic, high school drop out, borderline schizophrenic white boys who come to work there because they think they are tough. In my entire time inside I never met one who didn't have a desire to be the “real” police. They are gun nuts, militia members and in a lot of cases members of white supremacist organizations. But that's prison.
White media organizations call RI (Riker's Island) a prison, its not. Any brother from New York will tell you, RI is the equivalent of the County Jails that exist in little white towns in rings around all large cities with large populations of blacks and browns. That's why you see the odd brother in these videos, they are generally good brothers caught up in bad situations. That affects them, they don't come there to beat up prisoners but in their effort to fit in they do. Not all of them, a few. Generally they stay out of bullshit because to them its a job, a way to pay for little Keisha's braces and they know if they in it, they are like the first brother on tv shows, he ALWAYS gets killed, they will be the sacrifice. The white boys are there for the blood sport. The believe the bullshit put out by the media, that we are animals, that we are inherently prone to criminality. No, my friend we are more prone to poverty.
These county jails are essentially concrete and steel holding pens full of frustrated, afraid, confused brothers who have no idea of what's about to happen. They cling to the gang more out of familiarity than out of cowardice or allegiance. These holding pens are all sharp corners and blunt objects. You can get slammed on the table and be killed. You can take a awkward twist while WINNING a fight and kill yourself. Its a brutal existence. These are the unsung brothers, the brothers that didn't kill anyone, the brothers that caught with some weed. The brothers who stole a car. The brothers who, if they existed in a certain unmelaninated state, is going home with probation. These are brothers who can barely read trying to understand a process that is filled with dense, confusing terms. They will come out of these court proceedings with decades of time and they are mixed in with brothers that will get time served. Also of major importance is the fact that in some cases these brothers have been in JAIL for years. This brother had been there for 3 years for something he didn't do. It took you three YEARS to figure out that he didn't steal a damn backpack? There are tens of thousands of brother in this very same situation right now. Los Angeles County has 20,000 inmates, New York has 15,000, Houston has 11,000, Chicago 10,000, Phoenix 10,000 (for the browns), Philly 10,000. I could go on but the point is each of the largest jails in this country are in or around large populations of us and that's what locked up there, us. I'll deal with the finances of such a large population of captive humans in a future article. Suffice it to say, Philly makes 40,000 meals everyday, somebody getting paid to make those donuts.
Inside those jails are two types of prisoner. One is a gang affiliated youngsta, the other is what is called in some places a neutron. He's a brother that came to jail that wasn't in a gang. Because of his status, he is considered fair game for the lower ranking inmates to prove themselves on. Problem is, some of these youngstas can bump. They not in a gang because they can't be FORCED to join. At the outset I said that this video was bullshit. I say that because I've seen what gangs can do when they want to hurt you. This dude was jumped by at least seven people, he came out without a mark and was moving well. I saw a group of young guys jump on a white guy for snitching in the section. They threw a blanket over his head while he was in bed and beat him with socks with padlocks and bars of soap in them. That white boy looked like Frankenstein when he walked out to the bulletproof glass that separates the guards from the prisoners. He collapsed, they came got him and that was that. They weren't really trying to hurt him. When the gang rides in jail, most times you end up either dead or in the hospital.
He got slammed by the brother. Mannnn, I had a homeboy named P-Mo, he was one of those guys, he decided that he had a bigger fight with the system than he had with any other gang so he left the gang. Some didn't like that but P-Mo could fight. 150 pounds of fire in both hands. After knocking out some teeth and punkin heading a couple of guys, they left him alone. He then began a 5 year fight with the police. He was on Segregation where there are no cameras, where there are all white staff. He's in there beating them up sometimes once a week. After about five years of using him as a training aid for new officers on the unit they broke his neck in a “cell extraction.” Where would you be taking someone whose locked in a cell about half the size of the the average bathroom in the hood 23 hours of of the day? That happens everyday in the county. I would be willing to bet its happening as I write this and as you will read it.
If you are concerned with what is happening on the street, how we seem to be targeted by law enforcement, you have to be even MORE concerned about how we are treated behind bars. 97% of these brothers are coming home to you. They will suffer from PTPD (Post-Traumatic Incarceration Disorder). It is similar in nature to PTSD but it is caused by the singularly unique phenomenon of prison. There is conflict all around you. You live in a twilight world stuck between hope and reality. At least in war you can shoot back. In jail/prison your enemy doesn't have a heart to stab, it doesn't have a head to crack. You can't fight it, because we don't even know what “it” is.
Most of us have at least one fairly close family member or friend that is locked up. We haven't thought of them in a while because we have lives. Ask him, and increasingly her, what its like. Let them tell the story of what's behind the walls of those fortresses that you drive by everyday. Post those stories, let the world know that we make a big deal about how violent prisons are in other places yet our jails are no better. In many cases they are worse because they don't have to be that way.
This is JAIL folks, this is BEFORE you get a sentence. This is before the real show begins. This is the skirmish before the real war. This is the Hoosegow, next is the Pokey. .
Next up: Prison
Wednesday, June 18, 2014
The Road Often Traveled
There is a petition on WH.gov that seeks signatures for the purpose of restoring basic rights to the literally millions of ex-convicts who lost those rights due to their convictions and prison terms. Most people can tell you about the bigger items of disenfranchisement that occur when you are convicted of a felony. Many know about forfeiting your right to vote in many jurisdictions, your right to right to own a firearm even for protection and depending on your conviction, your right to hold certain positions either in the workplace or public office.
What people don't know is how much deeper it is than just the two or three examples that some people can come up with. Being an ex-prisoner is like being a tourist in your own community. I use the term ex-prisoner because the term ex-convict is a misnomer. Its a term that doesn't actually mean what most think it does. In this country, you are NEVER an “ex” convict. You are a person that has been convicted of a crime that has either served your “debt” to society or did not get sentenced to jail time. Release from prison has absolutely nothing to do with that label “convict.” In very, very, exceedingly rare cases (if you are not white, rich or know too many secrets to be allowed to write a book) you can apply either to your governor (in state convictions) or the President (federal cases) for a pardon but pardons are subject to restrictions that vary from state to state such as only being applicable to arrests that do not lead to a subsequent conviction or smaller, less serious crimes such as forgery, voter fraud, embezzlement, see where I'm going, basically “white collar” crimes. It is designed that way to allow the lighter skinned crooks free reign to continue being crooks, just be better at it the next time. Pardons are also given rarely to those who have stayed out of prison for a lengthy time that varies from state to state with no more contact with the criminal justice system. Maybe one out of every 100,000 of these are granted. I'll have to look up the stats to find out the true numbers, but trust me, you have a better chance of being attacked by a brown bear and a polar bear on the same day you were attacked by a shark, on the beach. If you are black, and your crime is anything more serious than say you stole a bike at 16, you have a better chance of hitting the Powerball and MegaMillions on the same day. In other words, yeah its possible but HIGHLY unlikely.
That being said, you are never going to be an ex-convict. Now that you have that scarlet C branded on your forehead, what are your options? Well to be honest, you don't have many. Lets talk about housing. You can't live just anywhere as your conviction bars you from any housing complex that accepts federal dollars (notice how I used a euphemism for the projects) Yes, you can't live in the worst places in most cities. A lot of people think it only applies to drug cases, that's not true, it also applies to “violent” crimes of which we all know the biggies, Murder, Kidnapping, Armed Robbery, etc. But guess, what, the term “violent” means many things to many people, in some jurisdictions, its burglary, some its car theft, if you have a weapon with you. Its possession of a unregistered firearm. I don't know about you my readers, but I don't know many ex-prisoners that don't have one of the two types of convictions, especially black ex-prisoners. A common tactic used by prosecuting/district attorneys is to load black defendant's up with every crime that they can think of that could possibly stick. That's how a lone shooting, or burglary, or theft ends up carrying 100 years in prison. If the defendant is white, there is an effort to find the least serious crime that fits the fact, but that's an article for another time. Its not just what happens at sentencing that is unjust and outright racist, it begins the moment the police read you your rights. So most of your guys that you know just got out the joint are living with their baby momma, Mother, girlfriend, or family and are NOT on the lease. That's allowed as well as it creates the perfect trap for catching and developing snitches. Police pull up to her door, tell her they want information on this or that, if she refuses they tell her that she knows its a violation of her lease to have Bobby living here and they can evict her tomorrow (actually they can't but most people don't read their leases further than how much they have to pay).
We already know and have been exhaustively inundated with stories of employment discrimination by unscrupulous bosses. From forcing those on parole/probation to work longer hours for no pay knowing that a call to the ex-prisoner's PO will result in his going back to prison. If your check is short, who are you going to complain to? You can't just quit as part of your parole/probation agreement is you remain gainfully employed. But what if you can't find a job? FIND A JOB!!!!! Or go back to prison/jail. But Jalal I see/know plenty of ex-prisoners that don't have a job, did you ever ask them if they are in violation of their parole/probation? Many remain on the street because one, there's no place to house them, two, the authorities know its just a matter of time before they commit another crime or three, its not that important. The revolving door as always turning, its a never ending money pit for the powers that be. More ex-prisoners on the street, more money we can ask for in police presence especially if they are all in one place. The more enterprising of these brothers cannot even start their own businesses due to the fact that depending on the profession, many require licensing by the state they are in. For example, in Texas, you are disqualified from selling insurance, real estate, liquor, candy, among other things on a list so long it would be twice as long as this article. You also cannot be a fireman (why after a conviction you can't run in a building to save a life I'll never know), policeman, probation officer, counselor (in most places, some will allow you to be a therapist/assistant). You also are precluded from being licensed as a cosmetologist, social worker, PhD, MD, or J.D. (attorney). You can't be a member of the bar so being a “certified/licensed” paralegal is prohibited. Basically all the professions that would allow the ex-prisoner to raise his standard of living so that he does not have to commit crime just to eat every day are removed from possibility.
Lastly lets deal with the intangible effects of a criminal conviction. These are effects that are not codified in any law, rule or regulation. What happens when you are an ex-prisoner is that you immediately become index-able. You become visible in that electronic frontier called the world wide web. That has drastic effect upon not only your housing/employment opportunities but also to whether you are accepted in large swaths of this society. With the growth of businesses like Emily's List and InstantBackgroundCheck, or as I call it niggawitagun.com, now anyone can find out exactly who you are and what you were charged with. This has ramifications well beyond the noble and intended function of not wanting a sex-offender repairing your child's ceiling. It also means that if your name comes up at all, possible business opportunities simply move on. It also means that there are now maps that show not only where the rapist/child molesters live but also where the armed robbers live and burglars live. Hover over a name and up pops his criminal history with everything but the most important thing, THE DATE THE CRIME WAS COMMITTED. So now you live on the same block as Sammy the baby booty bandit who just got out last month and you haven't committed a crime in 30 years. You'll notice also that there is curious effect that I call convict redlining. All these individuals usually live in the same areas of town. They are pushed into these areas and people are surprised that the crime rates are decidedly higher in those areas. Also read into the fact that sex/violent offenders cannot live within a decidedly ambiguous and arbitrary number of feet of a school. What is a school, anything they say a school is, after school programs at the community center, school. Weekend bible study at church, school. If you own a home and the street is rezoned for a elementary school across the street in that vacant lot, guess what, YOU HAVE TO MOVE. So you sell your home and decide to move to the 'burbs. The first thing that the homeowner's association is going to do is run a background check on you and by law they don't have to accept you. Because more of us don't own our homes, we never think about how quietly these associations have grown in power to the point where even if you somehow make through the mortgage process, they are that last line of defense. It even trickles down to apartment complexes. High end complexes won't let you rent if your car has rust or a broken muffler, even if you somehow dodge the whole “felony conviction” thing.
To make this even more personal, let me tell you about an incident that happened to me. My son turned four and in Texas that means he could go to preschool. Now since we live in an upscale part of Dallas, down the street from Deon Sanders, around the corner from a few Mavericks, there is serious MONEY here. I'm just playing the sidelines trying to provide a better life for my kids, you know the usual Amerikkkan dream bullshit. The preschool he ended up at is surrounded by upscale homes, the students dropped off in Benzes, Beamers and the occasional Rolls. (Google Frisco, Texas you'll know what I mean) I could care less about any of that, I drove up in my Dodge and didn't bat an eye. To say my son was one of the few black kids is an understatement, maybe 15, 20 in the whole school. My kid is friendly, not too militant (yet) and made lots of little white friends. On one occasion, the school had a parade in the school for all the little kiddos to show off their artwork. My wife couldn't get off so I said “what the hell” I'll go, its my kid. Now this is one of those schools that looks normal from the outside but go through the bomb proof doors on the other side of the concrete car stoppers, its a virtual prison inside. You have to be buzzed into the office. No just walking down the hallway. Must provide your DL to see your own child. But this is where shit went left. When you provide that DL, they do an instant background check. Guess what mine showed, yep, you got it. Additionally let me explain the insidiousness of the process. Many states have combined Sex/Violent Offender databases, that means that the batterers are lumped into the same list as the molesters, the armed robbers with the rapists. So what you say, well when you go to the registry it is emblazoned across the top SEXUAL PREDATOR and violent offender registry. Most people don't dig into your profile to find out that you were just a shooter, they don't have to. The simple fact that they see predator is enough for them to move against you. I have a real good friend that was denied initial entry into a union due to a lowly paid functionary that only saw sexual on the top of the list and assumed that he was a rapist. He got it straightened out and now he's a journeyman electrician that makes over $50 an hour, but how many people don't get the benefit of the doubt? Back to the story, the principal pulled me into her office and told me that in order for me to stand in the hallway with 30 or 40 other parents to watch a five minute procession of 4 year olds, she would have to “escort” me. So here I am being “policed” by a 5 foot nothing inch, 100 pound, with a brick in her pocket, white woman whose there to make sure that I didn't “cause any issues,” as she put it. Like I would come to the school to commit a crime in front of my kid. I was bracing myself for her to ask to frisk me.
Its kind of amusing to me as I know the fear that even a nice guy like me can engender in the average white person. That is what it is like to have that weight around your neck. That's the kind of experience that is not written about in the media or in books about the struggle. Those are the “death of a thousand paper cuts” that brothers go thru every day just trying to stay out of prison. So would I sign a petition that called for the rights of ex-prisoners to be reinstated, hell to the yeah, I would. Removing that disability would mean that my family and I could live wherever we would like and it wouldn't depend on whether or not the “community” accepted them and not me. It would mean that if some fool enters my home at 3:00 am with malice aforethought I could meet him with hollow points and not have the first question by the police be “do you know you are not allowed to be around firearms?” It would mean that I would be able to enter school grounds without a “bodyguard” being present. It would mean that when my name is ran through a thousand databases around the U.S., the first thing that pops up won't be ex-prisoner. That would mean that my chances of getting a loan for a mortgage or a vehicle won't be dependent on my criminal history. (oh, you didn't know that loan companies run background checks, you betta recognize) That would mean that when the police pull me over for a broken tail light when they run my license it won't buzz telling them that I'm a dangerous ex-prisoner that needs to be approached cautiously (read: that means keep his hands in sight and your hand on your weapon cause this nigga crazy) That would mean that I could raise my voice without seeming even more threatening that most brothers and sister are already. What that would mean in the end is I would be discriminated against, hated, feared, and discounted because I was a black guy like everyone else, not a black guy with a felony.
Drops mic, walks from stage, drippin blackness.
What people don't know is how much deeper it is than just the two or three examples that some people can come up with. Being an ex-prisoner is like being a tourist in your own community. I use the term ex-prisoner because the term ex-convict is a misnomer. Its a term that doesn't actually mean what most think it does. In this country, you are NEVER an “ex” convict. You are a person that has been convicted of a crime that has either served your “debt” to society or did not get sentenced to jail time. Release from prison has absolutely nothing to do with that label “convict.” In very, very, exceedingly rare cases (if you are not white, rich or know too many secrets to be allowed to write a book) you can apply either to your governor (in state convictions) or the President (federal cases) for a pardon but pardons are subject to restrictions that vary from state to state such as only being applicable to arrests that do not lead to a subsequent conviction or smaller, less serious crimes such as forgery, voter fraud, embezzlement, see where I'm going, basically “white collar” crimes. It is designed that way to allow the lighter skinned crooks free reign to continue being crooks, just be better at it the next time. Pardons are also given rarely to those who have stayed out of prison for a lengthy time that varies from state to state with no more contact with the criminal justice system. Maybe one out of every 100,000 of these are granted. I'll have to look up the stats to find out the true numbers, but trust me, you have a better chance of being attacked by a brown bear and a polar bear on the same day you were attacked by a shark, on the beach. If you are black, and your crime is anything more serious than say you stole a bike at 16, you have a better chance of hitting the Powerball and MegaMillions on the same day. In other words, yeah its possible but HIGHLY unlikely.
That being said, you are never going to be an ex-convict. Now that you have that scarlet C branded on your forehead, what are your options? Well to be honest, you don't have many. Lets talk about housing. You can't live just anywhere as your conviction bars you from any housing complex that accepts federal dollars (notice how I used a euphemism for the projects) Yes, you can't live in the worst places in most cities. A lot of people think it only applies to drug cases, that's not true, it also applies to “violent” crimes of which we all know the biggies, Murder, Kidnapping, Armed Robbery, etc. But guess, what, the term “violent” means many things to many people, in some jurisdictions, its burglary, some its car theft, if you have a weapon with you. Its possession of a unregistered firearm. I don't know about you my readers, but I don't know many ex-prisoners that don't have one of the two types of convictions, especially black ex-prisoners. A common tactic used by prosecuting/district attorneys is to load black defendant's up with every crime that they can think of that could possibly stick. That's how a lone shooting, or burglary, or theft ends up carrying 100 years in prison. If the defendant is white, there is an effort to find the least serious crime that fits the fact, but that's an article for another time. Its not just what happens at sentencing that is unjust and outright racist, it begins the moment the police read you your rights. So most of your guys that you know just got out the joint are living with their baby momma, Mother, girlfriend, or family and are NOT on the lease. That's allowed as well as it creates the perfect trap for catching and developing snitches. Police pull up to her door, tell her they want information on this or that, if she refuses they tell her that she knows its a violation of her lease to have Bobby living here and they can evict her tomorrow (actually they can't but most people don't read their leases further than how much they have to pay).
We already know and have been exhaustively inundated with stories of employment discrimination by unscrupulous bosses. From forcing those on parole/probation to work longer hours for no pay knowing that a call to the ex-prisoner's PO will result in his going back to prison. If your check is short, who are you going to complain to? You can't just quit as part of your parole/probation agreement is you remain gainfully employed. But what if you can't find a job? FIND A JOB!!!!! Or go back to prison/jail. But Jalal I see/know plenty of ex-prisoners that don't have a job, did you ever ask them if they are in violation of their parole/probation? Many remain on the street because one, there's no place to house them, two, the authorities know its just a matter of time before they commit another crime or three, its not that important. The revolving door as always turning, its a never ending money pit for the powers that be. More ex-prisoners on the street, more money we can ask for in police presence especially if they are all in one place. The more enterprising of these brothers cannot even start their own businesses due to the fact that depending on the profession, many require licensing by the state they are in. For example, in Texas, you are disqualified from selling insurance, real estate, liquor, candy, among other things on a list so long it would be twice as long as this article. You also cannot be a fireman (why after a conviction you can't run in a building to save a life I'll never know), policeman, probation officer, counselor (in most places, some will allow you to be a therapist/assistant). You also are precluded from being licensed as a cosmetologist, social worker, PhD, MD, or J.D. (attorney). You can't be a member of the bar so being a “certified/licensed” paralegal is prohibited. Basically all the professions that would allow the ex-prisoner to raise his standard of living so that he does not have to commit crime just to eat every day are removed from possibility.
Lastly lets deal with the intangible effects of a criminal conviction. These are effects that are not codified in any law, rule or regulation. What happens when you are an ex-prisoner is that you immediately become index-able. You become visible in that electronic frontier called the world wide web. That has drastic effect upon not only your housing/employment opportunities but also to whether you are accepted in large swaths of this society. With the growth of businesses like Emily's List and InstantBackgroundCheck, or as I call it niggawitagun.com, now anyone can find out exactly who you are and what you were charged with. This has ramifications well beyond the noble and intended function of not wanting a sex-offender repairing your child's ceiling. It also means that if your name comes up at all, possible business opportunities simply move on. It also means that there are now maps that show not only where the rapist/child molesters live but also where the armed robbers live and burglars live. Hover over a name and up pops his criminal history with everything but the most important thing, THE DATE THE CRIME WAS COMMITTED. So now you live on the same block as Sammy the baby booty bandit who just got out last month and you haven't committed a crime in 30 years. You'll notice also that there is curious effect that I call convict redlining. All these individuals usually live in the same areas of town. They are pushed into these areas and people are surprised that the crime rates are decidedly higher in those areas. Also read into the fact that sex/violent offenders cannot live within a decidedly ambiguous and arbitrary number of feet of a school. What is a school, anything they say a school is, after school programs at the community center, school. Weekend bible study at church, school. If you own a home and the street is rezoned for a elementary school across the street in that vacant lot, guess what, YOU HAVE TO MOVE. So you sell your home and decide to move to the 'burbs. The first thing that the homeowner's association is going to do is run a background check on you and by law they don't have to accept you. Because more of us don't own our homes, we never think about how quietly these associations have grown in power to the point where even if you somehow make through the mortgage process, they are that last line of defense. It even trickles down to apartment complexes. High end complexes won't let you rent if your car has rust or a broken muffler, even if you somehow dodge the whole “felony conviction” thing.
To make this even more personal, let me tell you about an incident that happened to me. My son turned four and in Texas that means he could go to preschool. Now since we live in an upscale part of Dallas, down the street from Deon Sanders, around the corner from a few Mavericks, there is serious MONEY here. I'm just playing the sidelines trying to provide a better life for my kids, you know the usual Amerikkkan dream bullshit. The preschool he ended up at is surrounded by upscale homes, the students dropped off in Benzes, Beamers and the occasional Rolls. (Google Frisco, Texas you'll know what I mean) I could care less about any of that, I drove up in my Dodge and didn't bat an eye. To say my son was one of the few black kids is an understatement, maybe 15, 20 in the whole school. My kid is friendly, not too militant (yet) and made lots of little white friends. On one occasion, the school had a parade in the school for all the little kiddos to show off their artwork. My wife couldn't get off so I said “what the hell” I'll go, its my kid. Now this is one of those schools that looks normal from the outside but go through the bomb proof doors on the other side of the concrete car stoppers, its a virtual prison inside. You have to be buzzed into the office. No just walking down the hallway. Must provide your DL to see your own child. But this is where shit went left. When you provide that DL, they do an instant background check. Guess what mine showed, yep, you got it. Additionally let me explain the insidiousness of the process. Many states have combined Sex/Violent Offender databases, that means that the batterers are lumped into the same list as the molesters, the armed robbers with the rapists. So what you say, well when you go to the registry it is emblazoned across the top SEXUAL PREDATOR and violent offender registry. Most people don't dig into your profile to find out that you were just a shooter, they don't have to. The simple fact that they see predator is enough for them to move against you. I have a real good friend that was denied initial entry into a union due to a lowly paid functionary that only saw sexual on the top of the list and assumed that he was a rapist. He got it straightened out and now he's a journeyman electrician that makes over $50 an hour, but how many people don't get the benefit of the doubt? Back to the story, the principal pulled me into her office and told me that in order for me to stand in the hallway with 30 or 40 other parents to watch a five minute procession of 4 year olds, she would have to “escort” me. So here I am being “policed” by a 5 foot nothing inch, 100 pound, with a brick in her pocket, white woman whose there to make sure that I didn't “cause any issues,” as she put it. Like I would come to the school to commit a crime in front of my kid. I was bracing myself for her to ask to frisk me.
Its kind of amusing to me as I know the fear that even a nice guy like me can engender in the average white person. That is what it is like to have that weight around your neck. That's the kind of experience that is not written about in the media or in books about the struggle. Those are the “death of a thousand paper cuts” that brothers go thru every day just trying to stay out of prison. So would I sign a petition that called for the rights of ex-prisoners to be reinstated, hell to the yeah, I would. Removing that disability would mean that my family and I could live wherever we would like and it wouldn't depend on whether or not the “community” accepted them and not me. It would mean that if some fool enters my home at 3:00 am with malice aforethought I could meet him with hollow points and not have the first question by the police be “do you know you are not allowed to be around firearms?” It would mean that I would be able to enter school grounds without a “bodyguard” being present. It would mean that when my name is ran through a thousand databases around the U.S., the first thing that pops up won't be ex-prisoner. That would mean that my chances of getting a loan for a mortgage or a vehicle won't be dependent on my criminal history. (oh, you didn't know that loan companies run background checks, you betta recognize) That would mean that when the police pull me over for a broken tail light when they run my license it won't buzz telling them that I'm a dangerous ex-prisoner that needs to be approached cautiously (read: that means keep his hands in sight and your hand on your weapon cause this nigga crazy) That would mean that I could raise my voice without seeming even more threatening that most brothers and sister are already. What that would mean in the end is I would be discriminated against, hated, feared, and discounted because I was a black guy like everyone else, not a black guy with a felony.
Drops mic, walks from stage, drippin blackness.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
One Day Shy
I have planned these blogs for months now. It’s the kind of thing that you always know that you must write someday but now that the day is here, where do you start? I guess the easiest thing would be to explain the title. One day shy refers to my journey really since leaving the Marine Corps. A lot of my friends and associates will be surprised to learn that as of yesterday, January 14, 2014, it will be exactly 10 years since I was released from the Indiana Department of Correction. That, in and of itself, is not all that uncommon. People are released from prison every day. What is extraordinary is the length of time it took for me to get to that release. To begin I have to go back, waaaayy back, to 1984. Specifically October 23, 1984. That was the day I was sentenced to 44 years in prison. The particulars are not that important, many of my friends and a few of my classmates went to prison that same year. Oh, yes, you did read that correctly, 44 years which in Indiana means that a convict serves 50% of his sentence. That’s 22 years for those that are slow counters. Needless to say, that relatively short statement (44 years incarceration) had a profound effect on my life and the man that I became. I was released a few months early for good behavior as well as earning my degree so I was released after 19 years 364 days. In other words, one day shy of 20 years.
Many of my friends always ask me why I know so much about prison/jail related issues as well as criminal justice in general. I just smile and tell them I read a lot. The truth is, I know so much because I lived it. I watch theatrical representations of prison. I watch “reality” shows about prison. I read, listen to podcasts, watch news stories about prison and think to myself, “if only they knew.” A lot of what you see on television is sanitized, it’s a caricature of what incarceration is, and only begins to scratch the surface of what a long term bit is like. When I went in 1984 prison was different than today. Now prison is sectioned off into pods. In the early eighties, prisons were “wide open,” a term that meant that inside of the forty foot wall I was behind, convicts ran everything. Convicts were responsible for everything from race relations to prisoner movement. Convicts controlled what you ate, when you went to the doctor and even what particular religion you practiced. If you ask many of my friends, prisons were better then. I use the word “better” very loosely as prison is never good, its just a matter of being marginally “better” one day than the last.
That being said, I went to prison at 22 years of age. That is considered young by many prison standards. Due to the seriousness of my crime I was sent to a maximum security prison in southern Indiana. The Indiana State Reformatory was designed to hold only prisoners with sentences in excess of 30 years. It was also where the “young bucks” went as opposed to the Indiana State Prison which incarcerated older, more seasoned convicts. An ongoing shell game existed in the DOC whereby the administration would transfer prisoners between the two to control their influence and to break up what would become lifetime bits. You’ll read the term “bit” a lot in this work as it means to serve a sentence. A sentence is a bit, and doing time is considered “bittin.” To say I was subject to culture shock doesn’t even begin to do justice to what was to become every waking day of the next almost, one day shy, twenty years of my life. One of the common misconceptions the uninitiated have about prison is the time worn vision of getting off the bus and walking between two lines of degenerate, homosexual rapists just waiting to prey on the first-time prisoners. Nope. Didn’t happen, doesn’t happen. Most people, and I think I’m qualified to say most, who go to prison know someone there. It can be a friend from the block, a cousin, an uncle and sadly in many, many cases your father. I’ll touch later on how many fathers and sons I was locked up with. I’ll even tell you about a real good friend of mine who saw his son join him AND his father in prison. (Before you profile them, this was not a question of a bad family dynamic where there was no guidance, it was a case of really, really, really bad luck.) Their story was atypical.
I will also mention many people but I’ll change their names, one for their protection/privacy, two due to the disheartening fact that, hell, I just don’t remember. I also don’t want my writing to make one think that I’m looking for sympathy. I did what I did, I did my time for it. I learned more than one can expect from a fucked up situation and I became a better man for it. My main reason for sharing, and in some cases oversharing, is to enlighten the uneducated. I’m not special, everything that I’ll describe is happening as we speak to some other ex-convict. I hope that my writing will help some of you understand what your brother, uncle, cousin, father, son and increasingly, sister, aunt, cousin, mother and daughter is going through trying to reconnect with this crazy world we live in.
I encourage you to share my story. Comment on my blog, suggest it to others. Oh, and click on an ad so Google will pay me my measly pittance for using Blogger as opposed to WordPress or one of the other blogging sites. Also look out for the collected works to be published later on this year.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
The N-Word
I have told myself time and time again that I would write something about the argument that is going on within our nation about the term nigger/nigga. I have went back and forth with myself about whether or not it is ever okay to use this word, whether in casual conversation with the fellas or heaven forbid with a white guy.
I believe that we as elder brothers/sisters in the struggle have lost sight of the reality of the situation. Realistically speaking, language is dynamic. A broader conversation could be had about profanity in general but for now let’s just talk about the so-called n-word. First and foremost, we need to stop calling it the “n-word.” When we say that, we may as well say nigga/nigger. When we hear that we don’t think nasty, we don’t think Neptune, we don’t even think narcissistic. We know what is being implied. To me, this gives others license to use the term but be protected by linguistic work around. The argument will be “well I didn’t say nigga/nigger, so see, I’m not a racist. I would much prefer the word not exist but I’m not retarded, I don’t live in a vacuum. I live in the real world.
That being said, there is a primary, undeniable reason today’s generation throws nigga/nigger around with no seeming sense of the word’s power and unfortunate history. It has nothing to do with a lack of grounding in our history. It has very little to do with the constant bombardment of the word through popular media. It is simply the FACT that unless you are at least 35 year old for the most part, you have no personal connection to the word. I, at 50+ years old, still remember “going down south” in the sixties, early seventies. I remember the stern warnings from the Great-Grandmother, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. I remember being told that I was from Gary, Indiana and that was a wholly different world for Blacks than Port Gibson, Mississippi or Chattanooga, Tennessee. There were things that you could get away with up north that would get you hurt in the south. Most of today’s generation didn’t have that experience. They, for the most part, have NEVER been called a nigga/nigger in anger. At least that’s the way they take it. No white person has ever looked at them and with venom dripping from their voice told them “nigger.” So there is no emotional connection to the word.
That’s why they are so comfortable with their friends and even white acquaintances using the word. It has become just another part of the common lexicon like bitch, hoe, ratchet, ghetto, etc. Although these words can be used to describe anyone in our society, they have become part and parcel used more often than not to describe us. Due to this overuse of these phrases we have come to be desensitized by their use. A nigga is my boy, “that’s my nigga.” “Bitch please,” how we argue with our queens. It’s all just culture now, a culture that we can rail against but eventually we have to accept our ineffectiveness and move on. We have to quit trying to go against the tide of cultural Amerikkka. Our battle cannot be fought in blogs; we’re outgunned by videos, YouTube, Facebook, twitter, etc. We are also in pitched battle with other mature “adults” who also use the word cavalierly in normal conversation. I’ll even admit I use it. I try not to, but when in Rome . . . As a casual aside, I actually went over 10 years without using it during my exploration of Black consciousness. Then culture changed and everything was nigga this, nigga that, bitch this, ratchet ass hoe that. Additionally, thousands of times a day on radio, thru Pandora, I-heart-radio etc., we hear the word. Record companies appear to reward our people for how many times they use the most degrading terms, as well as other exhortations to conspicuous consumption. It is exceedingly hard to combat this trend. As distasteful as it may be to us, what I and the conscious brothers/sisters I rotate with call the “lumpenproletariat” (look it up if you’re lacking in your 19th century Karl Marx) don’t see it that way. To make them understand the true nature of the term would require tearing down almost everything they think they know and instilling in them their true nature. Does anyone have time for that? Is that more important than teaching them how to respect their mates, or how to stop killing each other for little or no reason? Is that more important than teaching them how to avoid the pitfalls in life that will either kill them or incarcerate them? I think that we have bigger fish to fry, as the old folks used to say. Call me whatever you’d like but just don’t shoot me.
So the question was asked, is there any such thing as honorary black, or is it ever acceptable for white guys/gals to call you, or me, a nigga? Although it pains my heart to say it, I would say it depends. It depends on the situation. I’ve had young white guys who didn’t know me approach me like “what’s up my nigga?” (Suffice it to say they never did it again) They did it because their contemporaries never checked them. They did it because where they are from its acceptable behavior. They don’t see the world as polarized as we do. Some of them have true love for their ”niggaz.” They grew up in the hood and they know no more than their friends what the word truly means. Honorary blackness is out of the question as they’ll undoubtedly learn as they grow into their parents and are accepted by the society as a whole. I’ll bet money that Eminem probably used the word when he was young and running with D12 but when he became more attuned to the nuances of civilized behavior he realized that everything ain’t for everybody. He realized, like many before and many since, that everybody ain’t your guy and some people will tear your head off for the use of that term. In other words, he grew up. He became more mature. As long as we as a society accept their use of the term, endearment or not, they will use it with impunity. Usually, all it takes is for one brother to threaten, or perpetrate, violence due to their use of the word for them to realize that it is a no-no. What cannot be done is remove the word from the English language as a whole. It’s like Pandora’s Box, once its contents have escaped, they can never be returned to the box.
I believe that we as elder brothers/sisters in the struggle have lost sight of the reality of the situation. Realistically speaking, language is dynamic. A broader conversation could be had about profanity in general but for now let’s just talk about the so-called n-word. First and foremost, we need to stop calling it the “n-word.” When we say that, we may as well say nigga/nigger. When we hear that we don’t think nasty, we don’t think Neptune, we don’t even think narcissistic. We know what is being implied. To me, this gives others license to use the term but be protected by linguistic work around. The argument will be “well I didn’t say nigga/nigger, so see, I’m not a racist. I would much prefer the word not exist but I’m not retarded, I don’t live in a vacuum. I live in the real world.
That being said, there is a primary, undeniable reason today’s generation throws nigga/nigger around with no seeming sense of the word’s power and unfortunate history. It has nothing to do with a lack of grounding in our history. It has very little to do with the constant bombardment of the word through popular media. It is simply the FACT that unless you are at least 35 year old for the most part, you have no personal connection to the word. I, at 50+ years old, still remember “going down south” in the sixties, early seventies. I remember the stern warnings from the Great-Grandmother, Aunts, Uncles and cousins. I remember being told that I was from Gary, Indiana and that was a wholly different world for Blacks than Port Gibson, Mississippi or Chattanooga, Tennessee. There were things that you could get away with up north that would get you hurt in the south. Most of today’s generation didn’t have that experience. They, for the most part, have NEVER been called a nigga/nigger in anger. At least that’s the way they take it. No white person has ever looked at them and with venom dripping from their voice told them “nigger.” So there is no emotional connection to the word.
That’s why they are so comfortable with their friends and even white acquaintances using the word. It has become just another part of the common lexicon like bitch, hoe, ratchet, ghetto, etc. Although these words can be used to describe anyone in our society, they have become part and parcel used more often than not to describe us. Due to this overuse of these phrases we have come to be desensitized by their use. A nigga is my boy, “that’s my nigga.” “Bitch please,” how we argue with our queens. It’s all just culture now, a culture that we can rail against but eventually we have to accept our ineffectiveness and move on. We have to quit trying to go against the tide of cultural Amerikkka. Our battle cannot be fought in blogs; we’re outgunned by videos, YouTube, Facebook, twitter, etc. We are also in pitched battle with other mature “adults” who also use the word cavalierly in normal conversation. I’ll even admit I use it. I try not to, but when in Rome . . . As a casual aside, I actually went over 10 years without using it during my exploration of Black consciousness. Then culture changed and everything was nigga this, nigga that, bitch this, ratchet ass hoe that. Additionally, thousands of times a day on radio, thru Pandora, I-heart-radio etc., we hear the word. Record companies appear to reward our people for how many times they use the most degrading terms, as well as other exhortations to conspicuous consumption. It is exceedingly hard to combat this trend. As distasteful as it may be to us, what I and the conscious brothers/sisters I rotate with call the “lumpenproletariat” (look it up if you’re lacking in your 19th century Karl Marx) don’t see it that way. To make them understand the true nature of the term would require tearing down almost everything they think they know and instilling in them their true nature. Does anyone have time for that? Is that more important than teaching them how to respect their mates, or how to stop killing each other for little or no reason? Is that more important than teaching them how to avoid the pitfalls in life that will either kill them or incarcerate them? I think that we have bigger fish to fry, as the old folks used to say. Call me whatever you’d like but just don’t shoot me.
So the question was asked, is there any such thing as honorary black, or is it ever acceptable for white guys/gals to call you, or me, a nigga? Although it pains my heart to say it, I would say it depends. It depends on the situation. I’ve had young white guys who didn’t know me approach me like “what’s up my nigga?” (Suffice it to say they never did it again) They did it because their contemporaries never checked them. They did it because where they are from its acceptable behavior. They don’t see the world as polarized as we do. Some of them have true love for their ”niggaz.” They grew up in the hood and they know no more than their friends what the word truly means. Honorary blackness is out of the question as they’ll undoubtedly learn as they grow into their parents and are accepted by the society as a whole. I’ll bet money that Eminem probably used the word when he was young and running with D12 but when he became more attuned to the nuances of civilized behavior he realized that everything ain’t for everybody. He realized, like many before and many since, that everybody ain’t your guy and some people will tear your head off for the use of that term. In other words, he grew up. He became more mature. As long as we as a society accept their use of the term, endearment or not, they will use it with impunity. Usually, all it takes is for one brother to threaten, or perpetrate, violence due to their use of the word for them to realize that it is a no-no. What cannot be done is remove the word from the English language as a whole. It’s like Pandora’s Box, once its contents have escaped, they can never be returned to the box.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Solving Black on Black Violence
Where I think that we must begin is by acknowledging the fact that there has always been and will always be interethnic violence. One only need look at Africa to see that we fight each other, sometimes for reasons that make absolutely no sense to an outside observer. That being said, we must also realize that economics drive violence. This is because economics drive the underlying roots of violence, be it alcoholism, drug use, joblessness, despair and hopelessness. If we don’t think that violence is rooted in economics, look at more prosperous neighborhoods. When you have a job, you usually don’t drink or use drugs to excess. You don’t have time for it. When you have a job, you usually don’t have time to be in the streets 24/7. When you have money in your pocket that you earned, you usually don’t spend it on frivolous pursuits. Of course there are those that defy this description, both white and black, but the stats indicate that most people arrested for crimes that can be described as “black on black,” are unemployed.
We must also not look at our situation as somehow different than other ethnic groups. Most Caucasians are killed by Caucasians, Asians by Asians, Hispanics by Hispanics, Pacific Islanders by PI’s, etc. Ours is the most dramatic due to the fact that the media has a narrative about us that it needs to support so the murder in the hood is covered more extensively than the murder in the burbs. Yeah, we kill each other, but so does everyone else. Ours is more important to us because it is us.
But as I always say, we pundits, commentators, bloggers and two-centers are exceedingly good at describing the problem or symptoms of the problem but we SUUUUUCCCCKKKK at putting forth solutions. That being said, these are mine.
1. Forget our mindless rush to be accepted by the dominant culture. If the last 4 to 6 hundred years have not taught you anything, it should have shown you that you will never be accepted. We have to begin to accept each other in all our flaws. From the talented tenth to the sagging brother on the corner, we must believe that we are all in the same boat. That means instead of disparaging the so-called “sell-out brother” or castigating the so-called “thug,” we must understand that in the eyes of the dominant culture, they are the same. Look at how many of our successful people have gotten their “nigger wake up call” in the last few months/years. When we stop being scared of going to the hood, we will find out that not too long ago, we were in the hood.
2. We must also start adopting schools. I live in the burbs, not because I enjoy being around white people rather than my people (I have yet to go to or even be invited to the clichéd barbeque or superbowl party with my white neighbors and I’m not trippin), but instead because my genius ass kid can go to a school that caters to his smart ass in ways that the inner-city can’t. It sounds hypocritical because my kid goes to school out here but if ALL of us were to descend on the schools en mass, we could then influence the quality of what our children are taught. The one thing that I do respect about the citizens out here is that they are invested in their children’s schools. You can tell the difference between the exemplary schools and the academically acceptable schools. In the better schools the parents are in the schools everyday, EVERYDAY. Not the same parents but different ones. Some with jobs, many stay at home moms. The fathers all contribute time and skills to make all the pageants, plays, carnivals and get-togethers possible. (Oh and yes there are many, many white single moms out here too, so let’s leave out the deadbeat dad issue, we’ll deal with that at a later date) You’d be surprised at how having parents in the school cuts down on a lot of the petty conflicts that children get into. It also serves as a check on the gang activity, kinda hard to recruit a kid for the GD’s if his mom is with him, she’ll usually veto that membership offer.
3. We have to start investing in our neighborhoods. We have well over a trillion dollars in buying power spread out amongst us, however, we choose to donate those funds to businesses owned by those that don’t look like us. For example, in almost every major city in the U.S. you have Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Havana, Greektown, virtually every major ethnic group has a defined area that services their needs, up to and including Indians (from India), Pakistanis, Jews, etc. Where is our defined area? The Hood? The projects? Where are our mini-marts, our bodegas, our bowling alleys, our clothing stores? Is it because we don’t have the expertise to operate these types of businesses. No its because of our destructive mentality that “his” ice is colder. Their products are cheaper and of better value. Its because we believe that all we have to offer is entertainment. We can ball, we can rhyme but heaven forbid we decide that finding a cure for breast cancer (which kills more of our women than any other group) is worth going to school to learn to do. We begin our children’s lives, especially males, with a ball in their crib with hopes that he will be the next Jordan or the next Vick. What about the next George Washington Carver, the next Elijah McCoy, or Madame C.J. Walker? Their impact on this world will be felt long after Michael Jordan becomes Chuck Cooper. (Who???? The first Black NBA player for those who don’t read) So it’s the usual refrain, spend money with those who look like you. Employ those who look like you. Its not wrong, at least its no more wrong than what American businesses have been doing for decades. Which is essence the same thing. They’ll be those that will scream that its not that simple, why isn’t it that simple. We’ve entirely missed the boat on this new thing called crowdsourcing. There are numerous websites that allow someone with a good idea to ask the general public for funding. There is also microlending wherein those in a particular community provide small loans for those seeking to establish businesses in a general area. We need to take advantage of those tools.
4. Educated, influential black men need to educate our young black men that the dope game is over, its done, its prison waiting to happen. Just like we have billboards all over the hood advertising malt liquor and cigarettes or pastor chicken wing’s Sunday church service, we need to construct the largest, brightest, high-definition sound playing billboards we can build that sets out in plain language just how much time these dummies will get if they continue to do the dumb shit they do. Unfortunately, they don’t find that out until they get to jail, kinda like barring the door after you’ve been burglarized. Don’t believe the notion that they don’t read or can’t comprehend. Before the police get them, go down there and tell them what the deal is. Black lawyers need to hold open houses at community centers, in parks, on corners and explain how the massive incarceration of black men and women is the NEW slavery. (Read the 13th Amendment kids)
5. Lastly we need to start suing media companies for the damaging messages that are continuously broadcast in our communities. Yes, we will destroy the income of many an aspiring rapper but so what? They spending their money in Caucasian businesses anyway, jewelers, car dealerships, clothing stores, etc. I used to be of the mind that it was “just entertainment.” As I’ve grown older, I’ve witnessed the damage that these negative images put forth by those who look like us have on our communities. If you tell a developing brain day after day that they need to “move weight” to be successful, that anyone that’s not from your crew is a “hater” or an “enemy” that needs to be dealt with extreme prejudice that’s what they will grow to believe. They’ll find that its harder and harder to separate fantasy from reality. Every time some child gets killed as the result of a Facebook post, sue Facebook. We may never win a single case but we can put enough pressure on media entities that they’ll begin to change their practices.
My ideas may not seem very plausible. Who knows, they may be a total failure but at least it’s a start. At least I’m not wasting your time telling you things you already know. I’m not describing a community that you have no experience with. Again, we need to stop outlining the problem and think about, no matter how farfetched, solutions. Like the old adage, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem
We must also not look at our situation as somehow different than other ethnic groups. Most Caucasians are killed by Caucasians, Asians by Asians, Hispanics by Hispanics, Pacific Islanders by PI’s, etc. Ours is the most dramatic due to the fact that the media has a narrative about us that it needs to support so the murder in the hood is covered more extensively than the murder in the burbs. Yeah, we kill each other, but so does everyone else. Ours is more important to us because it is us.
But as I always say, we pundits, commentators, bloggers and two-centers are exceedingly good at describing the problem or symptoms of the problem but we SUUUUUCCCCKKKK at putting forth solutions. That being said, these are mine.
1. Forget our mindless rush to be accepted by the dominant culture. If the last 4 to 6 hundred years have not taught you anything, it should have shown you that you will never be accepted. We have to begin to accept each other in all our flaws. From the talented tenth to the sagging brother on the corner, we must believe that we are all in the same boat. That means instead of disparaging the so-called “sell-out brother” or castigating the so-called “thug,” we must understand that in the eyes of the dominant culture, they are the same. Look at how many of our successful people have gotten their “nigger wake up call” in the last few months/years. When we stop being scared of going to the hood, we will find out that not too long ago, we were in the hood.
2. We must also start adopting schools. I live in the burbs, not because I enjoy being around white people rather than my people (I have yet to go to or even be invited to the clichéd barbeque or superbowl party with my white neighbors and I’m not trippin), but instead because my genius ass kid can go to a school that caters to his smart ass in ways that the inner-city can’t. It sounds hypocritical because my kid goes to school out here but if ALL of us were to descend on the schools en mass, we could then influence the quality of what our children are taught. The one thing that I do respect about the citizens out here is that they are invested in their children’s schools. You can tell the difference between the exemplary schools and the academically acceptable schools. In the better schools the parents are in the schools everyday, EVERYDAY. Not the same parents but different ones. Some with jobs, many stay at home moms. The fathers all contribute time and skills to make all the pageants, plays, carnivals and get-togethers possible. (Oh and yes there are many, many white single moms out here too, so let’s leave out the deadbeat dad issue, we’ll deal with that at a later date) You’d be surprised at how having parents in the school cuts down on a lot of the petty conflicts that children get into. It also serves as a check on the gang activity, kinda hard to recruit a kid for the GD’s if his mom is with him, she’ll usually veto that membership offer.
3. We have to start investing in our neighborhoods. We have well over a trillion dollars in buying power spread out amongst us, however, we choose to donate those funds to businesses owned by those that don’t look like us. For example, in almost every major city in the U.S. you have Chinatown, Little Italy, Little Havana, Greektown, virtually every major ethnic group has a defined area that services their needs, up to and including Indians (from India), Pakistanis, Jews, etc. Where is our defined area? The Hood? The projects? Where are our mini-marts, our bodegas, our bowling alleys, our clothing stores? Is it because we don’t have the expertise to operate these types of businesses. No its because of our destructive mentality that “his” ice is colder. Their products are cheaper and of better value. Its because we believe that all we have to offer is entertainment. We can ball, we can rhyme but heaven forbid we decide that finding a cure for breast cancer (which kills more of our women than any other group) is worth going to school to learn to do. We begin our children’s lives, especially males, with a ball in their crib with hopes that he will be the next Jordan or the next Vick. What about the next George Washington Carver, the next Elijah McCoy, or Madame C.J. Walker? Their impact on this world will be felt long after Michael Jordan becomes Chuck Cooper. (Who???? The first Black NBA player for those who don’t read) So it’s the usual refrain, spend money with those who look like you. Employ those who look like you. Its not wrong, at least its no more wrong than what American businesses have been doing for decades. Which is essence the same thing. They’ll be those that will scream that its not that simple, why isn’t it that simple. We’ve entirely missed the boat on this new thing called crowdsourcing. There are numerous websites that allow someone with a good idea to ask the general public for funding. There is also microlending wherein those in a particular community provide small loans for those seeking to establish businesses in a general area. We need to take advantage of those tools.
4. Educated, influential black men need to educate our young black men that the dope game is over, its done, its prison waiting to happen. Just like we have billboards all over the hood advertising malt liquor and cigarettes or pastor chicken wing’s Sunday church service, we need to construct the largest, brightest, high-definition sound playing billboards we can build that sets out in plain language just how much time these dummies will get if they continue to do the dumb shit they do. Unfortunately, they don’t find that out until they get to jail, kinda like barring the door after you’ve been burglarized. Don’t believe the notion that they don’t read or can’t comprehend. Before the police get them, go down there and tell them what the deal is. Black lawyers need to hold open houses at community centers, in parks, on corners and explain how the massive incarceration of black men and women is the NEW slavery. (Read the 13th Amendment kids)
5. Lastly we need to start suing media companies for the damaging messages that are continuously broadcast in our communities. Yes, we will destroy the income of many an aspiring rapper but so what? They spending their money in Caucasian businesses anyway, jewelers, car dealerships, clothing stores, etc. I used to be of the mind that it was “just entertainment.” As I’ve grown older, I’ve witnessed the damage that these negative images put forth by those who look like us have on our communities. If you tell a developing brain day after day that they need to “move weight” to be successful, that anyone that’s not from your crew is a “hater” or an “enemy” that needs to be dealt with extreme prejudice that’s what they will grow to believe. They’ll find that its harder and harder to separate fantasy from reality. Every time some child gets killed as the result of a Facebook post, sue Facebook. We may never win a single case but we can put enough pressure on media entities that they’ll begin to change their practices.
My ideas may not seem very plausible. Who knows, they may be a total failure but at least it’s a start. At least I’m not wasting your time telling you things you already know. I’m not describing a community that you have no experience with. Again, we need to stop outlining the problem and think about, no matter how farfetched, solutions. Like the old adage, if you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem
Thursday, July 18, 2013
Trayvon Martin The Aftermath Part Two: The Blackout
Blackout
As I’m quite sure many of us have done over the last few days, I have sat down and thought about what I think would be an adequate response to the TM verdict handed down in Florida. I won’t go into a long description about what happened, as unless you’ve been in a coma or otherwise off planet we all have heard from multiple sources who did what and how. The only unifying theme is still no one knows exactly what happened, and that’s not an issue. We believe we’ve been wronged and that’s enough.
We as Africans in this country have volumes of evidence that support that belief but that is not the thrust of this article. I am not here to describe what anyone with a third grade capacity to read can go to the library and research. I’m here to talk about what we do next if we are really dissatisfied with how we are treated in this country. I hope my readers will excuse me but I have a thing for preambles. I’m a big believer in the setup.
Our problem with a noteworthy response is two-fold. One, the response must be big enough to make our intended audience take note and two it must not in any way lead to us harming others or being harmed by others in ignorance/fear.
Let me first explain what won’t work. Pictures, however artfully done, won’t solve the problem. Facebook posts with Jesus’ (Jesus’s?) arm around TM are useless as they migrate slowly off the page, replaced by pics in Ghetto or Ghetto Fabulous or Vine or some other momentary pastime. Long, passionate blog posts, articles or YouTube rants, (with the exception of mine of course) aren’t effective as the only ones of us with a readership/viewership large enough are long on descriptions of the problem and short on solutions.
The true problem with forming and executing an effective, meaningful response is our respective level of dissatisfaction. I’ll admit I heard this from a late brother of mine Mahdi Nu’man who described us as Africans in America in a khutbah at Jum’mah services some years ago. See my friends/loved ones/haters as well, any response to what Africans in America now claim to be the latest “last straw” or the “I’m fed up and I ain’t gon take it no mo” moment in our history in the country is largely dependent on to what degree one participates. (Damn, I guess I’m the king of the run on sentence as well) There are some of us who are 10 percent dissatisfied and there are those of us who are 100 percent dissatisfied. The biggest difference between now and the civil rights era was that back then, they were 100% dissatisfied. Things couldn’t get any worse than they already were without going back to slavery. We have made great strides since then and now there are many of us who have something to lose. We identify/sympathize/empathize with what happens to us around the country but only to a point. Not to the point where we will jeopardize what we have worked for to get where we are.
Before you begin the requisite howling, raising of pitchforks and lighting of torches, let me explain that I’m not in the hood envious of those who are more fortunate than I. I live in a upscale gated community in a suburb north of Dallas. I don’t live here because I’m scared of or any way ashamed of my people. I’m here because they have the best schools in the area. Unfortunately, where we are forced to live for economic reasons, for the most part, have horrible school systems. (I’ll talk about tax based school systems in another article) But I digress. I have African friends who are PhDs, and who possess MBAs. I myself am simply lazy, I am maybe two or three classes away from my MA, having already graduated with a BS. I also have close friends that are a bit less . . . what’s the word, uhhh, safe. I have close friends that I wouldn’t want to be caught in a dark alley with. (Their lower self may get the better or them) I love them both as they are both reflections of the same person. The point is that my more erudite, accomplished friends may not be 100% dissatisfied with what it may take for this culture to respect us. My niggas from the hood though, down for whatever.
THE FINAL SOLUTION
Believe it or not, my plan won’t take much beyond a bit of sacrifice; it will though take us ALL, each and every last one of us. My plan will involve everyone from our illustrious President to that brother doing life, or its equivalent, in all of the jails and prisons in America. Whether you are a teacher, a judge, a policeman, criminal, inmate, or a fireman, I’m talking about you. Whether you host a nationally televised talk show, a weblog, or stand on a box in the middle of a vacant lot like Lawrence Fishburne in Boyz N Da Hood. My plan doesn’t involve boycotting any business as that has shown to be somewhat limited in scope. I read a rumor that the Koch brothers financed GZ’s defense so we should boycott Charmin or Bounty or something. Any plan must be bigger than that due to the fact that many of us (most) use the store brand of paper products anyway. I don’t want us to march on the statehouse in any state or city hall in any city; we’ve been marching so long our feet should fall off. We are not going to esign a petition to any lawmaker or write a letter to our congressman. All of these solutions have been tried and they have all failed.
What we need to do is indicate to the rest of this country just how important we are to its EVERYDAY function. We need for those who claim that we need to quit whining about slavery, and making everything a race issue to see just how integral we are to EVERYTHING that goes on in this country. We need a national BLACKOUT. We need every last one of us to take a week off from work beginning say . . . Trayvon Martin’s birthday. Whatever your industry is, get sick for a week. For those of us with job security, just don’t show up. For those of us with bills to pay and need our little bitty job (most), call in sick with MERS or EBOLA or West Nile Fever. Now when I say BLACKOUT, that’s what I mean. I mean everyone. No nurses, no doctors. No air traffic controllers (are any of them African?). No entertainers. No athletes. No home health aides. No pharmacists, no drug dealers. Whatever you are, whatever you do. If you own a business, close for a week. No haircuts, no tease and flips. No soul food. (It’s fattening anyway) We don’t need leaders either, so the good Revs can stay home and take the week off too. We don’t even need your job to be done. Hopefully President Obama will come home to the Chi and spend some time in the hood where he’s from. (Hmmm, though under my plan his African Secret Service agents will be home too, well we’ll work on that one)
Now that’s part one. Part two is while you’re off for that week; rediscover your family, your community. Talk to your neighbors; make amends with that guy from down the street that you argued with at the last HOA meeting. Talk about how to make our communities safe without arming everyone to the teeth. Talk with those gangbangers who everyone is afraid to make eye contact with. No spending of our dollars. I mean none. No gas station visits. Stay home or walk, we need to walk more. No Wal-Mart, no Target, Dollar General/City/Family, nothing. Keep your money in your pocket. Drop your cable or satellite plan down to local channels for a week. Change your cell phone plan down to the basic plan for one week. Turn your lights off, go by candlelight if possible. Oh, and no church, no tithing, no mosques, no zakat. If the powers that be see we’re not even going to church they’ll know we’re doubly serious. This society needs to see that this country cannot function without us. We are more than just a subset of society that can be overlooked whenever something happens that we don’t agree with. My plan will cost this economy billions in lost revenue, lost profits and lost productivity. That is exactly my goal. The only thing that America respects is that which has the capacity to cost it money.
Of course they’ll be those of other ethnicities that are married to us, have children by us or share children with us. We are not exclusive, if you want to join, be our guest. Just know that this is not about you, it’s about US. No disrespect, love you to death, appreciate your support but this is a black thang. It’s okay for us to have a thang too. Like St. Patrick’s Day or Cinco de Mayo.
Of course they’ll be those of US who disagree with everything I’ve said and that’s fine as well. Of course, there will be pain. There will be those who lose their jobs, but look at it as the impetus for us to build businesses. Put yourself in the shoes of the employer who fired someone for participating in the blackout. They can't fire us all. Who will want to face the backlash of losing all of the black dollars we spend with their company. We’ll see who is 100% dissatisfied and to whom our treatment is a problem but “just not that deep.”
(Next Post: Going back down south)
As I’m quite sure many of us have done over the last few days, I have sat down and thought about what I think would be an adequate response to the TM verdict handed down in Florida. I won’t go into a long description about what happened, as unless you’ve been in a coma or otherwise off planet we all have heard from multiple sources who did what and how. The only unifying theme is still no one knows exactly what happened, and that’s not an issue. We believe we’ve been wronged and that’s enough.
We as Africans in this country have volumes of evidence that support that belief but that is not the thrust of this article. I am not here to describe what anyone with a third grade capacity to read can go to the library and research. I’m here to talk about what we do next if we are really dissatisfied with how we are treated in this country. I hope my readers will excuse me but I have a thing for preambles. I’m a big believer in the setup.
Our problem with a noteworthy response is two-fold. One, the response must be big enough to make our intended audience take note and two it must not in any way lead to us harming others or being harmed by others in ignorance/fear.
Let me first explain what won’t work. Pictures, however artfully done, won’t solve the problem. Facebook posts with Jesus’ (Jesus’s?) arm around TM are useless as they migrate slowly off the page, replaced by pics in Ghetto or Ghetto Fabulous or Vine or some other momentary pastime. Long, passionate blog posts, articles or YouTube rants, (with the exception of mine of course) aren’t effective as the only ones of us with a readership/viewership large enough are long on descriptions of the problem and short on solutions.
The true problem with forming and executing an effective, meaningful response is our respective level of dissatisfaction. I’ll admit I heard this from a late brother of mine Mahdi Nu’man who described us as Africans in America in a khutbah at Jum’mah services some years ago. See my friends/loved ones/haters as well, any response to what Africans in America now claim to be the latest “last straw” or the “I’m fed up and I ain’t gon take it no mo” moment in our history in the country is largely dependent on to what degree one participates. (Damn, I guess I’m the king of the run on sentence as well) There are some of us who are 10 percent dissatisfied and there are those of us who are 100 percent dissatisfied. The biggest difference between now and the civil rights era was that back then, they were 100% dissatisfied. Things couldn’t get any worse than they already were without going back to slavery. We have made great strides since then and now there are many of us who have something to lose. We identify/sympathize/empathize with what happens to us around the country but only to a point. Not to the point where we will jeopardize what we have worked for to get where we are.
Before you begin the requisite howling, raising of pitchforks and lighting of torches, let me explain that I’m not in the hood envious of those who are more fortunate than I. I live in a upscale gated community in a suburb north of Dallas. I don’t live here because I’m scared of or any way ashamed of my people. I’m here because they have the best schools in the area. Unfortunately, where we are forced to live for economic reasons, for the most part, have horrible school systems. (I’ll talk about tax based school systems in another article) But I digress. I have African friends who are PhDs, and who possess MBAs. I myself am simply lazy, I am maybe two or three classes away from my MA, having already graduated with a BS. I also have close friends that are a bit less . . . what’s the word, uhhh, safe. I have close friends that I wouldn’t want to be caught in a dark alley with. (Their lower self may get the better or them) I love them both as they are both reflections of the same person. The point is that my more erudite, accomplished friends may not be 100% dissatisfied with what it may take for this culture to respect us. My niggas from the hood though, down for whatever.
THE FINAL SOLUTION
Believe it or not, my plan won’t take much beyond a bit of sacrifice; it will though take us ALL, each and every last one of us. My plan will involve everyone from our illustrious President to that brother doing life, or its equivalent, in all of the jails and prisons in America. Whether you are a teacher, a judge, a policeman, criminal, inmate, or a fireman, I’m talking about you. Whether you host a nationally televised talk show, a weblog, or stand on a box in the middle of a vacant lot like Lawrence Fishburne in Boyz N Da Hood. My plan doesn’t involve boycotting any business as that has shown to be somewhat limited in scope. I read a rumor that the Koch brothers financed GZ’s defense so we should boycott Charmin or Bounty or something. Any plan must be bigger than that due to the fact that many of us (most) use the store brand of paper products anyway. I don’t want us to march on the statehouse in any state or city hall in any city; we’ve been marching so long our feet should fall off. We are not going to esign a petition to any lawmaker or write a letter to our congressman. All of these solutions have been tried and they have all failed.
What we need to do is indicate to the rest of this country just how important we are to its EVERYDAY function. We need for those who claim that we need to quit whining about slavery, and making everything a race issue to see just how integral we are to EVERYTHING that goes on in this country. We need a national BLACKOUT. We need every last one of us to take a week off from work beginning say . . . Trayvon Martin’s birthday. Whatever your industry is, get sick for a week. For those of us with job security, just don’t show up. For those of us with bills to pay and need our little bitty job (most), call in sick with MERS or EBOLA or West Nile Fever. Now when I say BLACKOUT, that’s what I mean. I mean everyone. No nurses, no doctors. No air traffic controllers (are any of them African?). No entertainers. No athletes. No home health aides. No pharmacists, no drug dealers. Whatever you are, whatever you do. If you own a business, close for a week. No haircuts, no tease and flips. No soul food. (It’s fattening anyway) We don’t need leaders either, so the good Revs can stay home and take the week off too. We don’t even need your job to be done. Hopefully President Obama will come home to the Chi and spend some time in the hood where he’s from. (Hmmm, though under my plan his African Secret Service agents will be home too, well we’ll work on that one)
Now that’s part one. Part two is while you’re off for that week; rediscover your family, your community. Talk to your neighbors; make amends with that guy from down the street that you argued with at the last HOA meeting. Talk about how to make our communities safe without arming everyone to the teeth. Talk with those gangbangers who everyone is afraid to make eye contact with. No spending of our dollars. I mean none. No gas station visits. Stay home or walk, we need to walk more. No Wal-Mart, no Target, Dollar General/City/Family, nothing. Keep your money in your pocket. Drop your cable or satellite plan down to local channels for a week. Change your cell phone plan down to the basic plan for one week. Turn your lights off, go by candlelight if possible. Oh, and no church, no tithing, no mosques, no zakat. If the powers that be see we’re not even going to church they’ll know we’re doubly serious. This society needs to see that this country cannot function without us. We are more than just a subset of society that can be overlooked whenever something happens that we don’t agree with. My plan will cost this economy billions in lost revenue, lost profits and lost productivity. That is exactly my goal. The only thing that America respects is that which has the capacity to cost it money.
Of course they’ll be those of other ethnicities that are married to us, have children by us or share children with us. We are not exclusive, if you want to join, be our guest. Just know that this is not about you, it’s about US. No disrespect, love you to death, appreciate your support but this is a black thang. It’s okay for us to have a thang too. Like St. Patrick’s Day or Cinco de Mayo.
Of course they’ll be those of US who disagree with everything I’ve said and that’s fine as well. Of course, there will be pain. There will be those who lose their jobs, but look at it as the impetus for us to build businesses. Put yourself in the shoes of the employer who fired someone for participating in the blackout. They can't fire us all. Who will want to face the backlash of losing all of the black dollars we spend with their company. We’ll see who is 100% dissatisfied and to whom our treatment is a problem but “just not that deep.”
(Next Post: Going back down south)
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