My relationship with a higher power and the accompanying institution of religion has been a tricky one to manage. For me, standing in the way of embracing belief is the institution and what I would deem as this mandate to accept "x religion" on "y terms". Such rigidity is truly the polar opposite of my ethos. And so for the better part of 29 years and some change, I've been in a sort of limbo with God, religion and the notio of a higher power. I've been content to label myself as agnostic, a place that felt vague enough to fit where I stood with it all. The protests in response to the murder of George Floyd represented a shift in action that many have waited too long for. While many of the riots were the result of a cause commandeered by opportunists, they nevertheless highlight what happens when a small contained fire is constantly doused by fuel. There is no way to discuss Black Lives Matter nor the events that have followed Mr. Floyd’s passing without zooming in on the past; pouring over the minutiae of Jim Crow, the War on Drugs and many other coded policies and laws that have been dog-whistles aimed to maintain the status quo. In order to move forward, these are the topics that need to be addressed as ultimately, these are the behaviors America’s youth are socialized to carry on. An enemy one cannot identify and spot, is an enemy that cannot be fought or defeated.
Between Africans brought to the North American continent as slave labor and the Native, indigenous population that were cast from their homeland to make way for the glorified America we see today, even history books have been unable to spin this narrative from the ugliness that it contains. That these groups still see the effects of their American introduction to this day speaks volumes as to how much those have set the stage for the American Dream to be a reality for those in favor. For a group that cultivated plantations and dared to dream of Manifest Destiny, these are not goals easily given up. The labor alone dictates that the instructions for upkeep would indeed be passed on to the offspring of these early American heroes. To understand today is to understand this goal. And even while the rules of the game may change, the game still finds a way to stay the same. Credit must be given to the system, how it has evolved, finding a way to not only exist but grow in its efficiency. With the ultimate goal to be self-sustaining in spite of the wishes to extinguish it. This is what came about with the abolishment of slavery, and even better institution that would be harder to defeat and overthrow: Jim Crow and its lineage. 1619 is often viewed as the genesis of slavery in America, yet this practice had been a tried-and-true phenomenon for at least 175 years up until then. In fact, the North American English colonies were late to the party. Seeing the impact the slave trade had for its European neighbors in Spain and Portugal, this institution represented perfect timing as the settlers of this land wished to start anew. As a nation is forming, just as a business, what works is etched in stone to repeat and build upon. Utilizing slave labor as a basis to cultivate and stimulate the economy, worked. When the rules of the game change, it’s time to adapt. In a fight to maintain their way of life, the Civil War broke out between the defectors - the Confederate States of America - and the Union. The Republicans - strong proponents of abolishing slavery - eventually persuaded then-President Abraham Lincoln to make a proclamation abolishing the practice, which would come after the Battle of Antietam. As W.E.B. DuBois would highlight in his work, Black Reconstruction in America, it was through Black laborers understanding their worth and value that ultimately tipped the favor to the Union, “the black worker won the war by a general strike which transferred his labor from the Confederate planter to the Northern invader, in whose army lines workers began to be organized in a new labor force.” While slavery may have been defeated, the aftermath of the South’s reintegration, the Reconstruction era, would prove to be a Southern victory; essentially landing the former Confederate entity in a better position than it previously held. The plan for Reconstruction included a strategy for the investment in schools, healthcare, and Southern infrastructure not simply for the former Confederates but thanks to the Freedmen’s Bureau this reached the former slave as well. Lincoln’s assassination would bring rise to President Andrew Johnson; and while Lincoln himself wasn’t necessarily the figure history boasts him to be, his successor was the opposite - unwilling to work with Congress and very much so seemingly a Confederate apologist of sorts. Reconstruction under Johnson gave way to Jim Crow, however, the true antagonist came from - as DuBois claimed - the psychological wage afforded to the white laborers sharing land-tilling duties with the formerly enslaved population. This, and this alone, can be seen as the father to the mindset we still see present today. It is the basis of the socialization that has kept much of the status quo from changing as the settings have changed over time while the code has largely remained intact. Two workers, bound together by circumstance and set side-by-side in having what should be deemed as the same goals in mind, were separated. A child of the divide-and-conquer stratagem, this was perhaps the best bit of adapting to new rules that occurred. “It must be remembered that the white group of laborers, while they received a low wage, were compensated in part by a sort of public and psychological wage. They were given public deference and titles of courtesy because they were white. They were admitted freely with all classes of white people to public functions, public parks and the best schools. The police were drawn from their ranks, and the courts, dependent on their votes, treated them with such leniency as to encourage lawlessness. Their vote selected public officials, and while this had small effect on [their] economic situation, it had great effect upon their personal treatment and the deference shown [to] them. White schoolhouses were the best in the community, and conspicuously placed, and they cost anywhere from twice to ten times as much per capita as the colored schools. The newspapers specialized on news that flattered the poor whites and almost utterly ignored the Negro except in crime and ridicule.” If this sounds oddly familiar - written in 1935 as an account of the late 19th century, it’s because this has been the foundation. The titles of courtesy and deference remained and grew, giving way to what we today know to be privilege. Treating the poor white laborer better bred the thought that if the black laborer was being mistreated that there must have been rationale to substantiate it. Nevermind that the poor white laborer didn’t receive any physical amenities - still putting them in the same boat as their black counterpart - but the emotional and psychological experience was deemed sufficient enough. As “us” versus “them” is firmly established, the white laborer is distracted from seeking to improve their own conditions. One could argue this was a tactic utilized by the current occupant of the White House during his Presidential campaign. It continues to work because while the livelihood of the white laborer is not ideal, it is not the experience of the black laborer - or so believed. Between the birth of the Ku Klux Klan, Black Codes, and other Jim Crow-era laws - essentially a century-long practice - it has been made abundantly clear the tenor of where the country stands as it pertains to sharing the ideals of America with its black population. Overt segregation and race-specific water fountains may have disappeared in “body” but kept alive in spirit. As slaves plotting escape needed to do to execute their plans, the instructions for this way of life became coded. Slavery ending didn’t mean those willing to fight to preserve it would suddenly share their toys nicely. They needed to be smarter, they needed to hide and adapt. Jim Crow’s ‘Negros only’ would only give way to the same thing, just communicated differently: redlining and other forms of society closed off to the unwanted. Even for those that scoff at cosigning the mantras of the Ku Klux Klan, the beauty of the psychological wage is the interweaving of the interest between those proudly flying their Confederate flag and those benefitting from the titles of courtesy and deference. The system, really the trick, is brilliant. Ironically, the “over my dead body” crowd that rant and rave about their Second Amendment rights have understood this to some extent. As NPR’s The Gun Show perfectly illustrates, the reform that came from the Black Panther Party storming the California State Capitol informed the White people behind the NRA’s about-face that this event could befall them as well. The LGBTQ community has also witnessed such vilification in their fight to secure rights to marriage, access to healthcare, and safety against people wishing to exact harm amongst their ranks. This battle between the oppressed groups of our country and the perpetrators of said oppression have been taken on as platforms of our two primary political parties. The problematic nature of this is that the calls for progress can be dismissed as mere talking points of the Democratic and Republican party; this resulting in a stalemate instead of advancements for human and civil rights. What has seemed to happen over time is the hardwiring of the same points of view from the late 1860s into the systems we rely on today. Has anything changed from the schoolhouses DuBois referenced to the school districts of today? Districts in suburban, predominately White communities are flush with resources while the school districts in inner-cities typically are at the bottom of each state’s school ranking list. To make matters worse, initiatives aimed at fixing this - such as Boston’s METCO program - only seem to highlight the elephant in the room, while doing very little to fix the school departments youth are lining up in droves to leave. What continues to be a paradox is how the realities minorities face are so easily acknowledged while simultaneously being downplayed. Pre-gentrification, many middle-classed Whites stayed far away from the dangerous cities that bordered their safe havens adopting a roll-up-your-windows and lock-your-doors approach to driving through said places, but somehow for the person living in these communities, the idea is for them to pull themselves up by their bootstraps as one’s ancestors - arriving in the U.S. from Ellis Island - had; completely ignoring that their assimilation did not follow the same trend as that of the Black slave descendant. Even with gentrification, parts seen particularly unsafe are still untouched, the same as how the revenue being brought into the city manages to only benefit the areas that are being gentrified and invested in. Nevertheless, any attempts to heal and undo should be applauded in their intent and the understanding should be that there will need to be many attempts - and all hands in - to find the right solutions. The city of Asheville, North Carolina passed a resolution aimed at identifying appropriate forms of reparations to pay to its Black population as an apology and atonement for its part in slavery and Jim Crow. While the measure is not perfect, there will be a lot of eyes on seeing how the city plans to roll out this initiative with specifics, what has been discussed thus far does get at the root of what needs to be addressed in any form of reparations that should be proposed. Per the municipal bill, the newly minted Community Reparations Commission would be responsible for developing programs and resources with the help of other organizations and cities that desire to play a role. The goal would be to increase home and business ownership for minorities and close the gaps that exist in healthcare, education, employment and pay as well as strategize efforts to grow equity and generational wealth. Councilwoman Sheneika Smith summarized the need for this initiative perfectly, “(Slavery) is this institution that serves as the starting point for the building of the strong economic floor for white America, while attempting to keep Blacks subordinate forever to its progress.” While not every participant in white America has had the access to reap the rewards of that ‘strong economic floor’, the cling to privilege - titles of courtesy and forms of deference - and individualism has created many accomplices in the lack of change. Americans are socialized to worry about themselves while still feeling capable of calling out the deficiencies of other Americans, despite no true attempts to help uplift or remove barriers to social mobility. This is due to the idea of jockeying for positioning on the societal totem pole, as opposed to understanding that too many Americans are in the same boat and together can demand a better situation if united. But those in power saw this strategy, worked, and were wise enough to create a system that allowed it to function on autopilot. Hopefully being aware of the trick can allow for better dialogue in toppling the oppression too many Americans face in the 21st century. An example is Ava Duvernay’s Netflix documentary, 13th, which shows how slavery had been abolished in all but name; an ode to how the amendment essentially allows slavery to be admissible for those imprisoned with the word except being present. The worldwide protests of the murder of Mr. Floyd and cries of Black Lives Matter have taken a large step forward towards that understanding of unity needed to undo this well-oiled machine. What we should have learned is that the chants of many far outnumber the silence of a few. And the constant push for change and reform can and will lead to progress. With the tricks of the enemy in tow, hopefully can work together as a nation to defeat this new iteration of 1619. We will need more listening, more understanding and more empathy to create a country that can finally live up to its Constitution’s creed.
Shocker! A writer is going to wax poetic about the importance of words and the use of language. LOL. But I promise they're important. No, the power is not in possessing a complex vocabulary of hoity-toity words but truly understanding the power of language. Here's an example:
Words predate our memories. We've been learning sounds, building towards being able to form sentences and express thought since birth. If an alien hopped out the UFO whip and asked you how you spoke words you couldn't say. You couldn't explain it. By this point, it's second nature. But in the process of thinking about this, here's a question, do you ever stop to dissect the words you use? Do you ever think about the weight of your words? The implications? In the clip above, Muhammad Ali refers to how everything 'white' has a positive connotation and conjures up good memories, yet everything black is the opposite.
One such phrase I've tried to remove from my Batman utility belt is the tendency to label things as not being "black or white" - as in expressing that something is not this or that but rather complex in nature. Yes, I understand the idea of the difference between the colors themselves, making the statement factual in origin. But these are also the words we've chosen as a society to label people of African descent and people of a Caucasian or European descent. Since there's no way we're coming up with a new Dewey system for people, the entire phrase should be thrown away as it reinforces the difference between people, a weapon used to justify hatred and discrimination. This is how sneaky the system is. Yet, I've gathered you here not because I want to speak broadly about the use of language but because I want to talk about one word in particular and why, I know this will be controversial so hear me out, I think it does us more harm than good. Racism, racist and it's family of words. In short, it's incomplete. But you came here for the long version, so off we go. Too often we want things to be short and sweet. Twitter, a platform of words, has a character limit. But even as creatures we often prefer to take in information in bits and pieces. That's why a headline is so great. It can tell you what you're getting yourself into before you dedicate x amount of time to reading the article or post you clicked on. This does hold value. Time is of the essence, and sometimes yes, we need to gather information quickly and be able to plan and proceed accordingly. But dismantling systemic oppression and having uncomfortable conversations about race in America is not suited for Twitter. It may not even be suited for the constructs of an article or even a book. There's too many layers to uncover. Too many topics to go into. It's verbose. It's wordy. There is no short and sweet. It's multi-dimensional and convoluted. This is something we need to get used to as we use social media to engage in discussions of this sort. And part of that process means weeding out words that are what I call 'catch-all words'. A dresser is the word we use to describe a piece of furniture that is used to store clothes. What you mean to say is the definition but we can't go around saying this long ass descriptor and so we came up with a name - dresser. I say dresser and you know what I'm referring to. I say armoire or wardrobe and you know what I'm referring to. Racism, or calling someone a racist, is believe it or not one of those terms. In fact it's worse because there's so many layers to what a racist is that by simply labeling it as such allows you to miss out on so much good, 'nougat'-y nuance. Let's take a racist White guy. What's this person's level of education? What's this person's relationship with their family? What's this person's relationship with his "race"? What was this person's upbringing like? What's this person's story? Did this person have a particular encounter with someone of the race they're talking down upon? What are this person's fears? Are there any societal institutions this person belongs to? There's a number of stones to turn over and steps to retrace in learning who this person is. America has managed to have one great leap in matters of race and that's in successfully labeling the term on a similar pedestal to that of the cigarette. It's so marinated in this is wrong sauce that people saying or doing something deemed to be patently racist will tell you they aren't racist. And by the book, they might not be. This system is so steeped into their socialization, so steeped into their norms and values that they don't see their offending behavior as racist. It's just how they grew up. It's like me saying dresser and you've never seen a piece of furniture that holds clothes. I say dresser and it doesn't compute. That's what's happening here. You're describing something as 'racist' and the person has no compass for where to direct the word you're saying to anything they've experienced. Don't call them racist. That's a cop out. That's a convicted pedophile committing suicide after being faced with multiple life sentences in prison with no chance of parole. No, point the mirror directly to their upbringing and show them the cracks in the code. Show them the holes in the fairy tale they were brought up on. So much of mainstream life in America is based on a lie anyway, right? Santa, the Tooth Fairy, the Easter bunny. Add another one to the list for them. But since racism doesn't have a mascot, unless the Washington professional football team's logo or the old Cleveland Indians logo has entered the chat, this is what it needs to be. Explain, don't let them off the hook. Don't just tell them their fearless leader, 45, has them sipping the Kool-Aid - a la Jim Jones - tell them about how he doesn't respect their intellect and that's why he chose to run on their platform. Don't just tell them that donning the Confederate flag makes them a bigot. Hammer home how it doesn't make sense to champion America as being the global winners of Planet Earth but then they proudly parade the symbol of the side that lost the Civil War. Not only lost but had to come back to America with their tail between their legs. That's the flag that's supposed to offend me? Don't let them off easy but simply calling them a racist, ask them how it feels to have had a 400-year head-start and we've still managed to be in the race. Ask them how it feels that their children are coming up in our culture. Ask them how it feels that Whiteness, this thing held over our heads like a trump card, could be so great yet Black culture seems to be the dominant way of life in this country. If most could be vulnerable, maybe they'll admit to fear or uncertainty about what a world looks like where they are the minority. And no matter how much we say loudly and clearly that we are only looking for equality, again it doesn't compute.
Why?
Because this country and its fabric was never intended for equality. That wasn't just baked into the institutions of slavery and Jim Crow, it was woven perfectly into socialization - as natural to the instructions of the world as the cutting of the umbilical cord. âWhat's felt and lived doesn't need to be expounded on or explained. The nod Black people give complete strangers they pass by, especially when there ain't much of us around, can't be explained to someone who isn't Black. But we understand it. I don't need to explain why Black is better. I mean it's there in plain sight. With every attempt to hold us down, we still rise. So no, I don't need to yell and scream and call someone a 'racist'. I just need them to understand that I see through it. I read between the lines. I see your hurt. I see your faulty programming. I see you still believing in the Easter bunny. Still believing in this fictitious framing of the world. I see it and I know it hurts you to see us shining. No, you're not racist. You're weak. You lack functional intellect and critical thinking about the world around you. I won't call you a bigot. I'll point you to your own cognitive dissonance. The key to defeating your neighborhood racist, and coon too I ain't forget about y'all, is holding the mirror up. If they were idiotic enough to bait you by throwing out a hard -ER or an "All Lives Matter", make the battle worth their while. Give them something to stew on that'll fuck up their week. â All destinations are arrived at via a path. In most industries studying and adhering to these paths serve as blueprints to achieve similar success. Learning from the missteps of predecessors and taking advantage of a paved road, should lead to growth in a given field.
It is common to forget how young the hip-hop genre is, as much of its history is still being formed. So much so that Jay-Z can arguably be described as its first true businessman. Yes, there are other pioneers such as Puff Daddy, Dr. Dre and Ice Cube. Yet, these men - all multi-millionaires - paused their rapping careers in the face of their rising business profiles. While Puff is still the head over at Bad Boy, he hasn’t released an album since 2006. As for Dre, we’re STILL waiting for Detox. Besides comprising his role as mega-producer, the Aftermath founder cashed in after Apple acquired Beats by Dre in 2014. Dre’s N.W.A bandmate Ice Cube hasn’t had a RIAA charting album since 2006’s Laugh Now, Cry Later but has been busy as an actor, screenwriter and director since starring in the 1991 film Boys n the Hood as well as running the popular 3-on-3 basketball league, the BIG3. Jay-Z has laid the blueprint - pardon the pun - for rapper-turned-businessman while continuing his career as a top-tier musician. Many after have followed suit whether creating their own record label imprints, scoring endorsements from alcohol brands, or entering into sports management. But it was Jay-Z who taught us best from The Blueprint 3’s “Reminder”: “Men lie, women lie, numbers don’t” Besides the success of his own career, perhaps this line was also inspired by the Great Battle of 2007 between 50 Cent and Jay-Z protege Kanye West; where the artists duked it out over which September 11th release would sell more records. Mix in a change of scene with the ushering out of physical albums and the industry has truly become a game of page views and streams - the new currency as I would lament in my recent article about longevity in hip-hop today. In a world lived entirely on the internet nowadays the name of the game is attention. One of the casualties of this new normal is the extinction of the gangsta rapper. What was once a Turnitin.com-level of authentication of the life an artist rapped about, a musician’s connection with a gang is no longer good enough to capture the focus of fans. Today’s act must be able to gather as many as possible to their Instagram Live stories, not for music but for entertainment. Brooklyn rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine had a plan to merge the two in a way no other rapper, suddenly associated with a gang, had done before. Adorning himself with numerous “69” tattoos and sporting rainbow-colored hair, Tekashi was obnoxiously loud and abrasive to any and everyone. Backed by Treyway Entertainment founder Shotti and a sect of the Nine-Trey Bloods street gang, Tekashi moved with reckless abandon making countless enemies in his year of stardom following 2017’s introductory track “Gummo” until his November 2018 arrest on racketeering charges. Ultimately, this was a contract. Tekashi would provide the gang with capital to fund their operation while Shotti and the gang gave 6ix9ine credibility in his persona. We have seen this trick plenty of times with musicians under the same premise, yet it seems obvious these predecessors were smarter about the terms of their agreement. In retrospect, what transpired was Nine-Trey's own doing; allowing an unknown entity to have a level of access that would be used against them when Tekashi agreed to cooperate with federal prosecutors. Fast forward to today, a year-and-a-half later, Tekashi 6ix9ine made his first “public” appearance on Instagram Live upon his early release from prison amidst the COVID-19 outbreak. With fans and foes alike eager to hear 6ix9ine address his rationale for testifying against his co-defendants, a record-breaking 2 million viewers tuned in to hear the braggadocious emcee explain his experience with the Nine-Trey Bloods as well as the large fanfare he returned to. In addition to the live session, the rapper released new music shortly before the appearance. the song, “Gooba”, attaining a whopping 15 million views within its first eight hours on YouTube. Understandably, many within the hip-hop community were not pleased that the artist mockingly-labeled “Snitch9ine” had been welcomed with such a warm embrace. Besides the condemnation snitching has usually enjoyed, it has been the subject of increased controversy coming off the killing of LA rapper Nipsey Hussle and the incarceration of fellow Brooklyn emcee Bobby Shmurda. Hence, there is little surprise at the shouts of how seemingly unfair it is that Tekashi would not face public shame for his selfish actions. Yet, between the insatiable craving today’s music scene has for entertainers and an illogical expectation of honor amongst thieves, this is a move many should have anticipated. Typically, gang membership requires an initiation or a vetting process. Current members need to gauge one’s loyalty and comprehension of what it truly means to part of the syndicate. As it is theoretically easy to sensationalize the perks of gang life, membership is advertised as for life and despite inconveniences. The prospective gang member is taking an oath to uphold these expectations levied upon him or her, giving oneself to this enterprise for whatever they may gain in return. In other words, a contract is entered. Usually as the recruit has sought out the gang, and not the other way around, it can be surmised the person has already internalized this oath and its responsibilities. This is not the same contract nor terms that Tekashi made with the Nine-Trey Bloods, so to have expectations of compliance while not under similar circumstances of “vetted” gang members is baseless. Nevertheless, gang life and culture are and have been intertwined with hip-hop. For an artist that may have previously been involved with “street dealings”, the combination of legal, relatively stable income and the pressure of being a target amongst have-nots may lead an artist to slowly divorce him or herself from this lifestyle. Look no further than the case of rising podcaster Taxstone, whose online beef with rapper Troy Ave turned into an altercation that led both men to be imprisoned - severely halting the progress in their careers. Even for the street figures operating in the shadows, they have adapted to a new playing field with new rules. When called to action, these entities ensure their involvement is not public knowledge, something certainly not applicable to Tekashi and the Nine-Trey Bloods. I don’t fault any hip-hop fan that desires to boycott Tekashi 6ix9ine on moral standing - in fact I’d welcome it as I often question the presence of individuality in today’s game. If anything I am requesting that logic be applied in understanding Tekashi did not create this situation by himself. In the streets, one mistake or miscalculation can be the difference between life or death, whether gang affiliated or not. Shotti and the Nine-Trey Bloods made a mistake in dropping typical vetting measures with Tekashi and they paid the price for their miscalculation. While it is a weird sight indeed for someone to take pride in being a snitch, it is further proof that entertainment is king in this era. Don't hate the player, hate the game. It doesn't take too long from meeting me to learn where I'm from: Newark, New Jersey. It's a badge of honor, yet my relationship with my hometown hasn't always been on the best of terms. I would credit the better part of the last 10 years for that, moving away to New England to attend undergrad, graduate school and begin my professional career.
Yet, there's one geographic relationship that has probably never been strained at any point of my existence. This part of the city is well-known by natives and maybe known from those outside of the city through the high school that has historically served the neighborhood: Weequahic High School. The surrounding, baseball-diamond shaped area of Newark's South Ward, the Weequahic section, is what immediately comes to mind for me when I think of "home". While I only lived in the area for the first 10 years of my life, the fabric and essence of the neighborhood was foundational in the lives of my parents and immediate family; as they all hailing from the plot of land serviced by the 07112 zip code. The section felt like our own little town: a hospital, a library branch, a fire station, a bakery, a pizza parlor, a barbershop, a grocery store (although Pathmark was technically in Irvington) and last but certainly not least, a park--where the neighborhood's name originates from. In speaking with a co-worker, I had an epiphany. Somehow we had gotten on the topic of identity. This co-worker, a white male, was speaking about his association with his Italian heritage. And I--an African-American--spoke to the importance of this sense of belonging, of having a source. I spoke about there even being a difference between 'African-Americans' and Haitians, Jamaicans, Nigerians and other Black folk with either direct Caribbean or African roots. It might not seem so to those outside of the Black community but something seemingly so minute was an unspoken divide in identity and belonging. Then he said it! I don't remember the exact wording, but he essentially equated my association with my hometown to his Italy, a Haitian's Haiti, a Jamaican's Jamaica. Newark was my motherland. More so, the Weequahic section--the place I specifically had this origin relationship with. It was where I hailed from. Where my ancestors came from. Mind blown. Yet true. It was why I identified so passionately with this small, densely-populated section of Newark. It's why I became a fan of the Cleveland Browns, the first team outside of the New York Mets I had a connection with: this was the only professional team that shared Weequahic High's colors of orange and brown. For people brought to this country via slave ship as property; stripped of their names, culture, and mother tongue it made all the sense in the world that we would create again. New customs. A new sense of identity. And that's what growing up in the Weequahic section was all about. My family lived on Weequahic Ave between Bergen and Parkview Terrace. The son of the owner of the pizza parlor that was around the corner on Lyons Ave would tell me often how he grew up with my parents. Everyone knew everyone and back in those times if you did anything wrong, anyone on the block would discipline you as if they were your own blood. While kids growing up would cling to any piece of being from New York City that existed, or didn't, I was so proud to be from the Weequahic section. I had the privilege of growing up around my great-grandmother as I didn't have grandparents in my life. Hearing her stories, soaking up her knowledge and wisdom, I not only longed to be of that time that my parents came of age in but very much preferred it to what I saw in my generation. And while I am proud of my generation, in retrospect, for their bravery in fighting the status quo; I believe there are too many gems from our elders that should make its way into our daily lives. Such as knowing who Mrs. Nellie is. Knowing who Mrs. Butler is. Mrs. Lee. Understanding the importance of the relationships forged in-person over time is missing today. People, not kin to you whatsoever, equipped with just as much desire to see you succeed as your own relatives. Home. Moving to the Central Ward at 10. Going to Seton Hall Prep for high school. Moving to Massachusetts for college. My great-grandmother's passing. The house we all collectively gathered at every Thanksgiving--which sometimes fell on her November 24th birthday--no longer being in my family's possession. None of that could ever taint my love for this place. When I thought about what I wanted to study as a major in college, I thought of that strip of Weequahic Ave. I thought of the Newark Riots. I thought of the crack-cocaine epidemic of the 1980s. I thought of the present-day status of my city and my neighborhood. I wanted to understand. I wanted to fix. When I wanted to brand my writing--posts between here, What You Expect and wherever else my name graces the byline--there was only one choice for a logo: an homage to the Weequahic section. When I thought of a hashtag I could use to complement that logo, it was obvious: WQHC--Weequahic without the vowels. All I ever wanted to accomplish was to put my neighborhood on the map. I wanted the kids growing up to have pride in being from the Weequahic section. To chant this like those across the Hudson River claim the NYC borough they hail from. Mostly I just wanted to make the elders from Weequahic Ave proud. I hope I can continue to do that and hopefully take baby steps to restoring the great name the Weequahic section once had. Photo Cred You're gone. Well the physical you is. I can't believe I'm typing this sentence. Yeah, he's a human. Humans are born and humans die. But Kobe Bryant wasn't supposed to die. That energy, that fervor for greatness. That felt eternal. It is. It hurts right now but it's true. "Energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can only be changed from one form to another." Mamba Mentality is forever. You channeled your passion and drive into a relentless pursuit to accomplish your goals. Whether the 8 you wore at the beginning of your career was a constant reminder of the amount of championships you wanted to win in the NBA. To the 24 you switched to as a reminder of the amount of hours needed to master your calling. You retired from the game. Most assumed you couldn't stay away. All you did was enter into a new arena as a writer and director. You won an Oscar for crying out loud! You transferred that manic work ethic and attention to detail to go be great somewhere else. You are an inspiration. An inspiration to me, looking to find my footing in this craft that I care about. Determined to not simply fit into a box and eager to explore all topics and areas that I am passionate in. An overthinker and always cautious with words, I want to be great in this discipline. I want to inspire and encourage others. I want to attack a topic with such depth that there's no rebuttal. I want to learn. I want to educate. I want to grow. I wrote about you two weeks ago. You sat down with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson, reminiscing about your career but I was so enamored with the father you are. How you wrote as an ode to your daughter wanting young girls to have athletes to look up to in bedtime stories their parents read to them. How you only came back to watching basketball because your daughter picked up your obsession with the game. What's wild about all this is I grew up an avid Allen Iverson fan. I hated the Lakers so much for that Finals series! As I got older I grew so impressed with your longevity and re-invention. As I started back writing on Par 4 and What You Expect and I would dedicate prime sleeping and eating hours to writing, I came to understand your mind. I felt the same passion. The same energy. My life is the Earth and writing is the sun. And while it's stressful with all the things to do, I fucking love it. It's almost all I want to talk about. I have so many notes filled with content ideas and people to reach out to. Basketball was the conduit to getting to know you. And when that adventure was over, you went on to the next. It was never just about basketball. It was deeper, there were lessons. A bigger picture. It hurts you won't be here to continue that path. To continue to inspire and influence. To continue to teach. Just as some were beginning to see. It hurts that it seems like the people with so much "lust for life" leave us so unexpectedly. And while I am not religious in even the slightest, I feel that it's a lesson to those of us that get to experience these people to keep their energy alive. To incorporate their passion, their mantra, their essence into our lives. The man, the physical entity, known as Kobe Bean Bryant may not longer be here with us but we have been so fortunate to be introduced to Mamba Mentality. Thank you for blessing us with this knowledge and I hope to utilize the way you attacked the craft of basketball, writing, directing, coaching, fatherhood, etc., into my writing and my relationships as well. Mamba Forever.
You are the company you keep.
Think about it. Think about your friends, the people you attract. In some way, shape or form they are in your circle for a reason. No matter how minor, these people share an element of like-mindedness with you. This should also be the case with Donald Trump and his relationship with the chairman and chief executive officer of World Wrestling Entertainment, Vince McMahon. Both men, the heir to their family business, utilized their charisma to grow the empire they were tasked with maintaining. Perhaps it was McMahon's profession--scouting WWE stars--that gravitated him towards Trump. Before Trump was able to take his WWE persona to the big stage of Washington D.C. he had a few sips of tea on McMahon's product developing his craft.
Think of the first WWE superstar that comes to mind: The Rock, Stone Cold Steve Austin, Hulk Hogan. They had charisma. They had catchphrases. They moved fluidly between being a heel or a babyface--professional wrestling terms for the bad guy and the fan favorite. A 2013 WWE Hall of Fame inductee, we should have expected nothing less when Donald Trump took his talents to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The mantra: Make America Great Again. The merchandise. The rallies. The schoolyard bully approach to his rivals. Anyone that grew up watching the WWE knows this playbook all too well. And it is not surprising in this least this approach worked. The parallels between the sports world and the political ecosystem are closer than many of the latter may want to admit. While presidents have made an annual tradition of filling out NCAA March Madness brackets with the rest of the country, it is the man that attempted to purchase the Buffalo Bills NFL franchise that would officially merge these worlds. No, not the golfing piece--although he's done a lot of that--or working on his jump shot, a la Barack Obama, but purely the entertainment. Entertainment is lucrative. McMahon knows this and most importantly, Trump knows this. It got him a spot in the WWE Hall of Fame and it landed him in the highest position he could ascend to, President of the United States of America. Yesterday, December 18, 2019, Trump was faced with a credible threat to his "United States Championship" belt: the House of Representatives voting on two articles of impeachment for abuse of power. What's truly impressive is Trump is so good at this persona that people have been resigned to concede that Trump will make history becoming the first impeached President to be re-elected.
As a writer, I feel it is my responsibility to use my words to express my position. I never wish to name-call, particularly because I assume people to be rational actors. I've written on this platform about the status of political discourse so the last thing I wish to do is to stoop to such a level.
But...voting for Donald Trump in 2020 would be stupid (not calling the voter stupid but the act is inexplicably so). Here's why: Donald Trump is one of five U.S. presidents to be elected without winning the popular vote. The most recent of which being George W. Bush--the only president of the crew to win re-election. Of his peers: John Quincy Adams lost re-election to Andrew Jackson in 1828, Rutherford B. Hayes promised to serve one term and Benjamin Harrison lost to Grover Cleveland in 1892. Yet, even Bush--ranked second behind Trump in terms of number of votes trailed in the popular vote--required being in the midst of the Iraq War and the emotional toll of the September 11th terrorist attacks to narrowly win his second bid in 2004. Instead Trump has created a Venn diagram being the middle between the popular vote losers and the short list of presidents that have been impeached. Of his latter faction, the Impeached, Andrew Johnson failed to receive the nomination and, per the 22nd Amendment, Bill Clinton was not allowed to run for a third term. Thus, the 45th president will assumedly--pending the Senate impeachment vote--be the first impeached president to run to re-election. Given the tenor of politics in this day and age, it is a foregone conclusion Donald Trump would secure the nomination of his party set to face the victor in a crowded Democratic nominee race. So, let me tell you why this is stupid: 1a) You are asking me to believe that the person that did not win the popular vote in his first election--also a rookie to the world of politics--is going to win the popular vote this time around--fresh off an impeachment? 1b) Or better yet, you want me to believe he will lose the popular vote yet again and be bailed out a second time by the Electoral College? 2) As I tweeted, your job as President of the United States is two fold: don't get us killed and don't get the boot from your job. I assume part of the position is probably engaging in activity that is perhaps unsavory to the public and may potentially be an impeachable offense if made public. From this, your job is to not be so messy that this news gets out. If you are, you probably deserve to be impeached. If 42 other presidents, that have held this role over a span of 230 years, could manage to not get impeached then I'm led to think you're bad at this to be one of three. Which leads me to my last point... 3) Whether it has been strictly Democrats versus Republicans or some other combination of former parties, no President besides the first one, where there was no popular vote, has been elected unanimously. This means every single one of the remaining 44 presidents has had to deal with people that did not vote for him to hold America's highest honor. The idea that this impeachment is the result of a partisan agenda is laughable because again no one else, besides Andrew Johnson and Bill Clinton, gave their 'opponents' the opportunity to impeach. We are at an interesting time in our history with the 'Age of the Internet' in full force. Like similar revolutions, the future is up in the air; completely at the will of wherever this rollercoaster takes us. While Barack Obama began the standard of the @POTUS Twitter account, Donald Trump--15 years his predecessor's senior--has shown the dangers of this cheeky trend. Moving on from a world where news of Trump's impeachment would have come from the next day's newspaper, we could watch live from our Twitter accounts as the House deliberated on the President's fate. In the same feed, we could also hear Trump's rebuttal at a rally for his re-election in Michigan. What a world! I am someone that embodies the comedy and tragedy masks--I don't know what they're actually called. Some would say this is the Gemini in me, I would say growing up in America as a Black man created this dichotomy. The comedic side of me laughs heartedly at Trump's sophomoric pestering of his naysayers. The tragic side of me mourns for this country: too caught up in cheering for their own team to realize they are cutting off their nose to spite their face. Where do we go from here? With the weaponization of social media, we are all concerned about a revolt taking place as Trump has proven masterful at mobilizing his base. While we are again stuck debating the Montagues vs the Capulets, we stand at a crossroads of someone with the capability to transcend it all. Benjamin Franklin's reply as to if America was a monarchy or a republic is truly a question you must determine for yourself. And if we are to move away from this democracy we so cherish, is this your king?! Housekeeping: I'll be rolling out new, regular content on here soon called B Squared. This will feature me sitting down with people--hopefully folks I know and maybe getting to meet people through referrals and the like--for you, the viewer, to hear their stories. I am excited to get started as it's a project I've had in mind for quite some time now. Of course, I'll need to dot the I's and cross the T's and so that's what's standing in the way at the moment but I'm truly pushing to get started before the new year comes. Stay tuned! I would imagine most of America has now heard the name Colin Kaepernick.
Sports has the ability to bring together people from walks of life that may not otherwise have an opportunity or a vehicle to ever cross paths. This narrative is typically present in any heartwarming tale we may come across related to athletics. Sometimes though, sports shows us exactly how far we have to go. How different our worlds and realities are. Those events offer us a chance to try to bridge those gaps but often time fail due to a lack of listening and the penchant to run away from conflict instead of staying put and reaching a breakthrough. Part of this is rooted in communication which I'm going to simply label as a common human flaw. Colin Kaepernick made waves as the quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers, made infamous by his decision to protest during the playing of the national anthem before a pre-season exhibition match. When asked about it afterwards, Colin would go on to express a desire to bring attention to what had become rampant acts of police brutality in America. In fact, he would later go on to reveal the exact incident that led to his awakening. Personally, I don't think Colin knew the ramifications of his actions fully. I don't believe he knelt with the idea in mind it would lead to everything that has since transpired. I'm also willing to bet he doesn't regret a thing either. Fast forward three years later, the greater San Francisco native has gathered his bearings. He operates Know Your Rights Camp, a multi-faceted initiative aimed at education and increasing awareness and knowledge in interactions with law enforcement. He has also been an avid supporter of other causes, donating $1 million to various organizations dedicated to fighting oppression. In between these acts, Kaepernick finds time to stay in shape and continue to work at the craft that introduced him to this newfound lane. Still technically a free agent, Kaepernick has remained ready--awaiting an opportunity to resume what was a promising career for the former Nevada Wolf Pack signal caller. It can be assumed that the time for said opportunity was presented to Kaepernick this past Saturday as the NFL offered to conduct a workout for the embattled QB. Why? What suddenly changed on a random Saturday before Week 11 action? I would imagine the man that kept a ticker since he was denied employment also had the same line of questioning. Despite doubts, Colin showed up to town. What happened next has created the recent back and forth between those following this weekend's adventure closely. Kaepernick's crew alleges the NFL's workout featured multiple stipulations: the signing of a waiver--typically not utilized--which would have forced the QB to forfeit the ability to sue the league, no control of the private footage from the workout that would be available to all 32 teams, as well as no knowledge of the receivers whom would be linked to his one, true shot at getting back in the league. Kaepernick's response--which we now know had to be in action well beforehand--was to move the location and time of the workout to a different venue roughly an hour away from the original site. The change of plans, complete with the QB's own production team, would be live streamed allowing the public the transparency Kaepernick desired. The conversation that would follow ranged from questions of Kaepernick's desire to play to applause at the quarterback executing a crafty Machiavellian maneuver. It is said the average NFL career lasts roughly three seasons. At 32 years old, Kaepernick's tenure spanned double, logging six seasons since his debut in 2011. For a man doing quite well equipped with a new path and purpose, exactly what is the reason to prostrate oneself in what one could easily deem to be a farce of a workout put on by the NFL? While people are excusably led astray in Kaepernick's insistence that he is awaiting a job, no one also could have seen his venue switch happen either. What does he stand to gain in feigning interest in a NFL gig? It plays further into the idea of the NFL actively playing a role in keeping the former Super Bowl participant out of the league; adding credibility to the backstory of a football player so moved by an epidemic that he put his career on the line in his attempt to draw attention to the matter. And arguably, the NFL--and the parties acting on its behalf--really haven't done much to disprove his narrative; in part, because this entire situation has been handled expertly by Kaepernick. While many were annoyed at Kaepernick's silence, the quiet enabled the quarterback to make the most of the undivided attention he had during his workout. Quiet has also allowed the NFL and their missteps to speak loudly. This out the blue workout attracted representatives from 25 teams, despite no updates or reports from Kaepernick of any teams having been interested after Kaepernick's first offseason as a free agent. And yet, the public is set up to believe that if Colin Kaepernick complied, the smoke would be cleared and all would be forgiven? Colin Kaepernick has his detractors: Stephen A. Smith of ESPN being a prominent one and one would imagine after allegations that Jay-Z played a role in the workout taking place, he would be a new foe as well. Yet there seems to be this loud cry for Kaepernick to tuck his tail and beg for mercy. Instead of being angry at Kaepernick for wearing a Kunta Kinte shirt to his workout, maybe inquire why. Maybe try to piece together the puzzle of what statement he may be leaving for people that share his sensibilities. It seems a bit sad to me to see people simply fold at the notion of "oh well, politics as usual" or "this is America". Yet when someone dares to take on 'the machine', he's left out to dry. Am I advocating for boycotting the NFL? No, I have not stopped watching the NFL and don't plan on doing so anytime soon myself. More so, I'd like to know where the 'community' goes from here? The same community that has no problem extolling the virtues of the late Nipsey Hussle and his calls for Black empowerment have been gifted a player that's willing to put comfort aside in the name of standing up for what's right. And what does he get in return? Ridicule. He is told to shut up and throw a football. Not by Laura Ingraham or anyone else from the side of the aisle those remarks are usually expected. Often the Black community questions why it cannot create a luxury brand the likes of Gucci or Louis Vuitton. Maybe it is because when we have a Phat Farm or FUBU, we underappreciate its value and importance. At the same time, Black people are not monoliths. This is part of the difficulty in a call for a united stand. We have grown to occupy various upbringings and points of view. But my call isn't for everyone to outright agree with Kaepernick but simply to appreciate his act. He is not the perfect messenger. But who was? King was not. Malcolm X was not. Yet we have the ability to understand the bigger picture with those leaders. And seem to fight the ability to do the same here. So much of the micro, and its influence, dictate our views today. We have social media. We are in an age where we want our news in 140-280 characters. We want instant gratification. We don't want to look at the long term play. We don't want to speculate as to how Kaepernick may be viewed down the line. All we know is he said he wanted to play and he didn't follow instructions. He deserves to be punished. He's a clown. Pathetic. How would the generations of yesteryear take to us simply laying down and accepting the status quo? What points does Kaepernick receive in an age where athletes left and right can't stay out of the courtroom? For someone that signed himself up for all of this, he's answered the call. The impact of what Colin Kaepernick's name is today, what it will be 20 years from now has reached a level the NFL would not have been able to manufacture for him. But sure Stephen A, tell us how he's such a bad example for the kids. Kaepernick may not be successful in getting employment in the NFL. If I am a betting man, I'd say he's probably come to terms with that a while ago. But you appreciate a small step in understanding how the path forged allows the next person to walk that much further. Many lauded Jay-Z's signing with the NFL as an ability to change the organization from the inside. Yet there was one man trying to do that and getting slandered by the people clamoring for the change the most. Say less. At some point the actual conversation needs to commence.
Throughout the many injustices of police brutality towards particularly unarmed people of color, at some point the microscope needs to zoom out to allow for actual progress to be possible. I believe this is the special situation that can spark the change the Black community has especially been clamoring for. Today, Amber Guyger--a 31 year old former Dallas police officer--was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of the September 2018 murder of Botham Jean. Guyger claimed that the apartment she was entering the night of the incident was her own, and upon coming in contact with Botham--the true inhabitant of the apartment--fired two fatal bullets in reacting out of fear to the prospects of a potential burglar. The details of the case can be inspected and debated ad nauseam. After watching the testimony, I believe Amber Guyger was guilty of the crime in question and should have been sentenced to serve time in prison. Under questioning, Guyger's lack of appropriate follow-up action in face of what had been admitted to be a mistake--an intentional mistake--felt most damning. Yet the most poignant pieces, for me, came in the discussion of training; the prosecutor drawing a parallel to Guyger utilizing her training in assessing danger and incapacitating said threat to seemingly not continuing with training in administering aid such as CPR that could have saved Botham's life. While the temptation is within arm's reach to levy this charge of inconsistencies regarding training on Guyger, I have a better target in mind: Guyger's profession. The shooting did not take place in the line of duty, this circumstance could have befallen any of Guyger's co-workers on any given day. Being a police officer is not an easy job and there are bound to be grueling, disorienting days that may result in inadvertently being on the wrong floor or keying into the wrong apartment. There is no context to battle over here, where Botham Jean's actions or deeds could be misconstrued and misinterpreted in a rationale to justify Guyger's decision to fire her weapon. And it is just that action Guyger took in response to the emotion she faced in that moment that perfectly aligns her profession in the cross-hairs that the job should have found itself in similar cases of 'excessive force'. The prosecutor cross-examining Guyger spent a decent amount of time focusing on the training the former officer had in de-escalation. In my estimation, this appeared to be a topic Guyger did not feel too drawn to from her time in the academy. The point the prosecutor attempted to get across was that Guyger should have taken the time to figure out why a strange man could have been in her apartment in the first place. There was mention of repairs that were taking place around the general time of year the incident occurred. Even the door being ajar or noticing distinctions within the unit that did not coincide with Guyger's abode all serve as inquiries that might have come up in a de-escalation situation compared to what actually took place. This bit on de-escalation and the police is not solely lost on Guyger alone--it is a point I made previously in Protect and Serve--in calling to question exactly what role guns ultimately need to play in diffusing a tense situation. In the instances of Philando Castile or even Trayvon Martin, the stench of the true culprit is loud: fear. Particularly, the authority to respond to fear using lethal--and unnecessary--force. And yet instead of having this conversation, as a whole we get wrapped up in a question of if the assailant's primary motive was born out of racism. Here's what 'you' sound like when questioning Guyger, Zimmerman, or Daniel Pantaleo's penchant for racism; the same people that rush to point out that the perpetrators of mass shootings are mentally ill. That is, 'you' are assisting in pigeon-holing progressive dialogue by individualizing an epidemic. One mass shooting is not about the gunman, the same way Botham Jean's death is not about Guyger. The question of the latter should be: what is it about police and the concessions they are afforded that loans itself to the justification of numerous, uncalled for homicides of people of color? Again, it is that these humans--who may or may not be afflicted with possessing subconscious biases against people of color--have the authority to respond to these often times irrational-in-the-moment fears by shooting first instead of de-escalating first. And as I asked in Protect and Serve related to the profession of a police officer and mentioned regarding society overall in So It Goes: A Weak and Stupid Country, if we keep proving time and time again that we cannot responsibly handle guns then why do we have them? I ask again, of police officers specifically, if there are officers within the ranks and there is no ability to spot these people in the vetting process then is it truly asinine to begin to question the role guns play in de-escalation strategies? Might the de-escalation training have greater impact and effectiveness if officers did not have the authority to utilize lethal and excessive tools that seem more geared towards killing than it does calming tense situations? When 'you' are ready to have the real conversation, come see me--I've been waiting.
Perspective.
Is the glass half-empty or half-full? In an age of Instagram stories, one can truly manufacture their narrative. Purposefully cluing their followers to see a picture one chooses to paint. This reality rears its head every four years in America when it is time to either elect a new president or continue for one last ride with the incumbent. Yet in a particularly sadistic twist, America has managed to create a game where actual gripes with society fit "just right" into the parameters of the two political parties. Preventing actual progress from being reached as those firmly planted on either end of the spectrum have shut off the mechanism for having communicative dialogue. The maze--ultimately being a big circle--comes from the country's own mantra: where the insistence upon freedom of speech and individualism has allowed its people to hide under the cloak of blissful ignorance. On one hand, Americans can boast about the newest iPhone or the ability to directly tweet at its nation's highest elected official to give him a piece of their mind. This is freedom, democracy at play in a sandbox without a care in the world. All the while the problems piling up in the closet threaten to viciously rip the door hinges off. A scholarly article on addiction posits, "many, perhaps most, see drug abuse and addiction as social problems, to be handled only with social solutions, particularly through the criminal justice system...science has taught that drug abuse and addiction are as much health problems as they are social problems." A true statement of course yet this undoubtedly comes back to a social problem in asking who in society takes on the lion share of health problems? Richard Wilkinson, co-author of The Spirit Level, focuses on the strong correlation between inequality and poor health discovering that countries with the highest disparity amongst social stratification tend to have worse health, more violence, more drug problems and more judgmental of those inhabiting the lower socio-economic classes. The book utilizes data to show the ramifications of attempting to climb the social ladder with a glass ceiling: 41% of Blacks in the U.S. suffering from high-blood pressure compared to 27% of Whites whereas globally the percentage between the races are, on average, closer to being equal. To add the cherry on top, Wilkinson describes the rates of social mobility in these countries as being low. However, this does not stop the attempt to climb due to the notion expressed by a collegiate professor that inequality fuels ambition; creating an escape where society believes it is performing a good in crafting motivation from scratch. Thus, the burning question--especially where it is considered controversial to insinuate that healthcare be a right instead of privilege--is how does a country which aspires to be great stop the hamster wheel? Surely at some point, society has to understand that it is running a race with its shoelaces tied together. Surely, the people have to come to the realization that the institutions it lauds operates more so like the WWE and less like the Constitution that it tries so passionately to live up to. More so, how can a society hellbent on progress still have only 27 amendments to a 230 year old document? As the figurehead for capitalism, how do we--as a nation--ensure that we are not devoured by this -ism? If capital and the acquisition of it rules the day, where does the social responsibility of capitalists lie? Because if everyone is out for self and their own capital and well-being than to whom do we bestow the title of stewards to? In America a tale more often told than the most popular fairy tales and bedtime stories is of how money does not equate to happiness. We have heard that the money is no good being buried in a casket with the remainder of the earthly possessions capital has harvested. And despite all of the suggestions and advice, we speed past the climate change signs straight off the cliff. At some point, society needs to realize this planet is not a bottomless mimosa and read between the lines of the popular story, Frankenstein. We have created a monster and unfortunately this movie is playing out not on the big screen but in the actual, literal reality. |
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Ty FosterQuestion everything. WQHC Archives
June 2020
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