I assume every black person has heard about 40 acres and a mule. Doing research for this post, I actually learned details but the gist was always known: The idea of what is owed to us to make amends for slavery, Jim Crow and like-policies/laws both overt and subtle.
I'm on the fence about reparations to be honest. The sociologist in me hates the idea that reparations has become weaponized. It's cool and in, the new fad. Yet the conversation exists solely on the surface with people discussing the basis of reparations without going into particulars. The pro-crowd needs to be well versed on the subject. Know what you are asking for. Know what your value is. My side of the argument, or really just my hesitancy on the topic, stems from history. Being aware of America and how this country plays ball, the idea that anything being given to anyone on the 'bottom of the totem pole' doesn't ever actually work out. Some see green pastures ahead, I see it as par for the course. For the uninitiated, 40 acres and a mule speaks to a post-slavery 'Special Order' that sought to provide the formerly enslaved a piece of the land they toiled on. Everything appeared all set with this measure until President Lincoln's successor reversed the order giving the lands back to the slave owners. No, I don't think all would've been fixed from Special Order #15 but here you have a specific initiative with the idea that this 'good' goes to former slaves. The same can be said in the present conversation about reparations: who is to say a future President doesn't try to reverse whatever reparation is decided upon, as surely this wouldn't be executed for quite some time even if HR-40 continues on. My second warning is the phrase: those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it. Although far from reparations (in fact still very much the act of oppression) the entire story of Native American reservations give me pause in this idea that the government will give away land and suddenly we have this fantasy level of autonomy and sovereignty. Maybe this is where my skepticism turns to cynicism but I see more Native American reservation (or really any inner city you want to select in America) than I see this real life version of Wakanda. Nevertheless, these are my initial thoughts. My pleas to handle this topic in a delicate fashion. Michael Render (professionally known as Killer Mike), creator of Netflix's Trigger Warning, had this to say: Mike drops way too many gems throughout that entire interview and I encourage you to check out the entire 26 minutes when you have the time. But in the section I used, Mike expresses the same--much better worded--caution that I share. If reparations is something tangible like the $2 million example Mike gave, what happens then? Does this $2 million reparation turn into the 'We gave you a Black president' line? Injustices will not disappear with the giving of land or the giving of money. $2 million is not the cost of Trayvon Martin or Sandra Bland. $2 million does not take back what happened to Kalief Browder or better yet the Central Park Five. I don't draw those lines of comparison to equate reparations with payment for those heinous acts but simply to introduce this into the discussion overall. Gentrification proves society doesn't have a problem with throwing money into the revitalization of cities. As such, shouldn't your push and pursuit of reparations be centered around atoning for the fear/hate that isn't so visible? If money can be burned through as Mike alluded to in the clip, and simply having the land doesn't say anything else about the state of the people on it, then shouldn't we be appealing to amending the real element of all of this that truly threatens our safety and progress: the minds of those with the power to maintain the status quo? At the Sunday meeting Mike mentioned, that would certainly be receiving my vote. I have a running joke with most with myself (because I was raised an only child) about the IHOP senior citizen discount. Basically when you hit 55--or one of those ages--you get a discount on your meal apparently. I don't know if this is actually a thing but I saw it at an IHOP one day and 'dreamt' (how is dreamt not a word red squiggly line?!) about having all the short stacks on my plate. What that's turned into is me looking forward to these birthdays and instead of frowning about the age counter going up, really looking forward to it.
I could get very specific about everything I've learned in the past year and I have those handy as I tend to get reflective on the year that's passed and what I want to focus on for the next year but I'll keep this light. I want to write more. I can recall those fights with my mom when dealing with anything about writing. Her grammatical corrections. I used to hate it and then I became the grammar/spelling police (still not perfect, hence my surprise over dreamt). I wrote in college. After a writing prompt my professor said I should write for the school newspaper. Took a while--confidence issues and doubt--but eventually I did it. Had athletes (I covered sports OF COURSE lol) compliment me saying they liked my articles. Had a former boss tell me about a connect she had at the Boston Globe. Ultimately, I didn't think writing--while I had confidence in it-- was something I wanted to do. Yet in spite of that thought I still kept up with the blog I had. Not as frequently as maybe I should've but that itch was always there. After doing a post inspired by Nipsey Hussle (RIP King) on said sports blog I felt that itch come back. My girlfriend has a spot for writing on her website and after reading her posts I wanted in again. After three posts and a sample post for my boy's podcast website here I am. But I needed this journey with writing. I needed to walk away. Chase this other dream for a while. Before realizing happiness was right here all along. My family is filled with artists. My uncle was an art teacher. My great-uncle has a record label. Every Mungin had that art bug. I hated that I couldn't draw and while it took 28 years I finally learned that my art was words. Nevermind that people have been saying this about me because of how talkative I am lmfao! Are things perfect? Abso-fucking-lutely not. But things are exactly as they need to be. And that's life honestly so I've learned with 28 years and a little over 3 hours on this Earth. I've learned not to be so hard on myself--we'll see how long that lasts--and to chase/do what fulfills you. Who fulfills you. Cherish family. Cherish moments. I thought about my great-grandmother affectionately known as Mama today. I miss her and her stories like CHiPs and As The World Turns. All I want is to make her proud. I suppose this is my art, my expression, my openness. After all, all you have to speak for you when you're gone is how you made people feel and the art you left behind. I'm very here for analogies. I'm shit at them in my mind. But other people? Amazing. Michelle Wu. You got my vote boo.
I am of the belief that the current political structure is BS. I think it's faker than professional wrestling. These two parties work together to create a monopoly, drawing the line splitting issues and topics and then watching them play out against one another in their very own Super Bowl. I find this backwards and stupid. In no other arena would you be wholly dependent on these two parties without questioning the structure of the party, the purpose of the party. Basically I think we act like baseball does about issues pertaining to the Democrats and Republicans and just chalk it up to one of the worse words in the English language: tradition. Now that you've gotten my two cents, here's Michelle Wu--an at-large Boston city councilor--giving her three cents. "Want to fix our broken democracy? Have a block party" Basically, Michelle says when people are thinking of these hot button issues like immigration or abortion they are acting alone and out of a lack of trust. This distrust comes from not being able to anticipate other people. And instead of viewing this simply in the macro sense it's actually very micro. You don't know your neighbors. From her op-ed in the Boston Globe, "Forty years ago, 1 out of 3 Americans spent time with their neighbors at least twice a week. Today 4 out of 5 people don't see their neighbors regularly, and one third don't interact with any neighbors at all." Now a certain someone already told you about social media and that's part of it for sure but the absence of block parties really does feel significant. I grew up with them in the Weequahic section. Looked forward to them as a kid to ride my bike down the street without having to look out for cars, to go in anyone's backyard for food, just seeing everyone on the block happy and festive. In fact, I'd honestly say that did a lot for the community in the Weequahic section. That helped everyone to get to know who their neighbors were and through that those people became part of your extended family. I'd also guess that this is where that phrase 'It takes a village to raise a child' might have come from. Not only did we have block parties (and go to neighboring streets block parties (I see you Pomona and Weequahic Ave) but the Weequahic section itself used to throw a festival down Bergen Street in the summer with music and food. That was my childhood and that's why I'm so fond of where I grew up despite well Newark being Newark. I wouldn't have been able to express it so eloquently, so effortlessly but this is the fix. People getting to know their neighbors. People getting to know the stories of the people they judge from afar on the nightly news. This puts a face to topics like immigration and abortions. Not so much that those are things you learn about your neighbors at block parties lol but maybe you think twice about those topics knowing people outside of your typical comfort zone. Politics aren't black and white (which speaking of analogies and phrases that one is the absolute worst). Yet that's exactly what the two party system wants you to think. They want to ask you a question and have you answer and that answer is where you fall on the matter. That answer dictates who you vote for. But the world is very much a shade--multiple in fact--of gray. It's nuanced and complex. Just like people are. And so maybe you aren't having attending a block party soon (you should) but maybe try striking up a conversation with your neighbor, it might help you feel attached to the place you live and feel happier about mankind in the process. Maybe.
There's many points of comparison between America's most popular sport organizations. Typically when two entities are alike yet competing we see a Game of Thrones like battle for the Iron Throne--the hearts and attention of the American (and international) viewer.
The NFL is a little busy with PR issues (like this, this and this) while the NBA seems poised to continue to grow in popularity although it still trails the NFL in ratings and team worth. In this day and age though, we have something called accountability we hold many corporations to...well sometimes. In the face of the Colin Kaepernick saga, NBA players, at the encouragement of commissioner Adam Silver, have spoken up about the former QB's fight with the NFL. Although the NBA has a rule that prohibits players from protesting during the National Anthem, the NBA earns praise by magically finding a way to make money and still do the right thing. Like this According to TMZ Sports, multiple teams in the NBA are flirting with the idea of going away from the term "owner". I will say there's a level of uneasiness to predominately Black leagues having predominately white men judge and claim ownership (like all these measures to restrict free agency: the draft and this cute new supermax) over said Black man's physical prowess to line that white man's pockets with capital. Maybe its deja vu but I could swear something of the variety sounds familiar. This especially comes on the heels of LeBron James saying on a previous episode of The Shop that NFL "governors" had a slave mentality. So your move NFL. While you may be in the lead now, this is the long game. Your job as a league is to maintain your presence as a multi-billion dollar entity for the unforeseeable future. This isn't done by being traditionalist (cough MLB cough cough) it's done by adapting and appealing to the youts. The NBA has continuously done this very thing and with the NFL having a 'Season 8 Game of Thrones episode'-long pattern of bad looks it is through small gestures like experimenting with a more apt title for a team owner such as chairman, majority stakeholder or governor that could firmly move the NBA up the power rankings over the No Fun League for good. |
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Ty FosterQuestion everything. WQHC Archives
June 2020
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