Well, history doesn’t give us too pretty of a picture here. There have been times and places in the past within the US where similar demographic shifts have occurred, and they were most often met with fear and hatred. In South Carolina, and throughout many places the South, during slavery slaves often outnumbered Whites. In order to preserve their dominance, Whites created slave codes and many of the stereotypes and fears that pervade culture now, such as the stereotypes that Blacks were “lazy” and subhumun and also things like the “Mandingo” myth to create fear of Black men coupling with white women. These policies and fear tactics, rooted in many Church organizations, were designed specifically to keep Blacks from overtaking Whites and to keep the White nuclear family strong and fertile to keep the majority. After slavery, when free Blacks took major advances in controlling Southern states, the same types of codes and myths were spread to retake control from Blacks and ensure high white birth rates. And it worked. Throughout history, in times of social upheaval that threatened the White patriarchal power structure, Conservative groups (often allied with religious groups) fight back to maintain the status quo and usually win.

And look at today’s political and social climate. Look at the major currents that have moved from the fringe to the mainstream. It’s now within the realm of political correctness for folks on the Right to be as vehemently anti-minority, anti-foreigner, anti-gay, and anti-women’s rights as possible. That’s why Conservative donors urge people not to merely oppose Barack Obama; a Black, half-African President who is pro-gay marriage; but to HATE him, call him out, and disrespect him in ways few other Presidents have been. The new Conservative social agenda is pretty much staunchly against anything that doesn’t promote the propagation and success of the White nuclear family. They are anti-immigration and anti-minority (now using the “post-racial” view to support freezing in place or rolling back protections for minorities), and oppose minorities surpassing them either in numbers or power. They are anti-gay, in some backwards attempt to make their world more “straight” and encourage more heterosexual coupling and more power for heterosexual couples. They are anti-women’s rights, especially anti-birth control and anti-career advancement and liberation, because birth control lowers birth rates and because smarter, liberated women tend to have fewer children later and are more likely to eschew the nuclear family structure altogether.

There was a point to this picture….but I can’t stop staring

Where does that leave us? In the wake of some of the most important demographic and social news we’ve seen (that has gone largely unreported), what will change? I hope we’ll live up to the true ideal of the country and the power structure will be balanced between all ethnic groups and true equality will be embraced. But if history is any indicator, we’re in for a hell of a fight. Things are getting bad with this election cycle, but look for politicians like Rick Santorum to be more of the rule rather than the exception in the next cycles, and look for Tea Party reactive ideology to replace Reaganism as the core of Conservative thought. There’s a good deal of folks that don’t want things to change, and as they grow more afraid so will their rhetoric increase in intensity and so will all of the “isms” that function as a part of their “otherphobia.” That’s really scary, isn’t it?

Namaste.

We live a time when people can find validation and reinforcement with ease.  We have more autonomy over what we see and hear than ever before.  We can watch Game of Thrones or Ratchet Housewives of Wherever any time we want, instead of rearranging our schedules to get home by prime time.  Our radio stations are streamed from the internet and are catered to our music genomes. We can become overnight sensations with little effort, just by uploading a video to YouTube. We can write articles for the world to see and share.  Our sense of self-importance is only augmented by our photos on Facebook, our followers on Twitter, and our comments on Instagram.

So meta…

The concept of Post-Racial America only exists in a world where people can filter the information they receive and exaggerate the value of their opinions. If you can change the channel or close a website every time racial tension appears, it’s much easier to claim that racism doesn’t exist. It’s even easier if  your Facebook friends think the same way you do. We are constantly inundated with  reiterations of our own positions, so much so, that many of us are shocked when we learn of different perspectives.

One example of this phenomenon could be observed around the time of the Troy Davis execution.  Every time I opened up my laptop or checked my phone, I saw my friends sharing their feelings regarding the case.  The general sense of betrayal and bewildernment that arose in response to lack of solid evidence needed to take a man’s life seemed to be mainstream. My friends were live-tweeting from protests and half of the statuses on my Facebook news feed said “I Am Troy Davis”.  When I went to work and spoke with my White coworkers, I realized that the Troy Davis case hadn’t peaked their interest at any point.  I was shocked to find out that some of my white peers at work hadn’t even heard of the Troy Davis case.  So when Tayvon Martin was brutally shot in February, I wasn’t surprised when the topic didn’t hit the water cooler conversation until April.

When you’re unaware of social injustices, it’s easier to walk around in blissful ignorance.  But ignorance isn’t reserved for specific demographics.  Many Black people, especially those who are growing up in this “Post-Racial society” believe that blatant racism is a thing of the past.  Don’t get me wrong, subtle racism has gained quite a bit of popularity in recent years, but blatant racism is far from gone.  There have been times when I thought the bold racism of decades passed had deminished, especially when my white friends had pictures tagged of them at Obama rallies, humanitarian efforts in Haiti and 2 Chainz concerts.  But I am often awakened with a dose of reality in the form of public social network updates.  Like when the blogosphere noticed the influx of “Happy Nigger Day” Facebook statuses on MLK day.  Or when racist tweets flooded the internet after Joel Ward, a Black hockey player for the Washington Capitals, scored a game-winning goal against the Boston Bruins in the Stanley Cup. Or when people began tweeting their outrage and disappointment at the fact that the adorable character, Rue from The Hunger Games movie, was Black instead of White, even though the author described Rue as Black in the book.

Post Racial America!

Ru[d]e awakening.

The scariest thing about these messages is that they are on social networks.  The same validation and reinforcement I mentioned earlier applies to these tweets and updates.  For every public profile on a social network, there’s 10 others that are private and just as bigoted.  Blatant racism is everywhere, it just has #hashtags now. But unless you’re following racists on Twitter or joined the an Aryan Nation Facebook group, you probably wouldn’t see people being that boldly racist.

Let’s say you had racist Facebook friends, do you think they’d appear in your news feed?  Most likely not.  Sites like Facebook and Google use algorithms to guess what information is most important to the user. The problem is that, these algorithms are based on your past user-behavior. So if you’ve never shared a Fox News clip or “liked” photos of Rick Santorum, websites will “know” not to share Glen Beck’s new book with you.  Basically, these algorithms filter the information you receive without your consent.

Facebook’s EdgeRank algorithm. The science behind the appeal of LOLcats

If a white man thinks that Black people are the main recipients of welfare and that they are simply lazy citizens looking for hand-outs, his online behavior will most likely reflect those sentiments. So when he Google searches “food stamps”, his search may return links from GlennBeck.com. My search, on the other hand, returns links for Mario Batali’s Food Stamp Challenge, in which average Americans attempt to feed their families on $31 per person to raise awareness about potential cuts to the food stamp program. So we end up in a Filter Bubble, where our opinions and perspectives are reinforced by information that we believe to be common knowledge or general consensus.

PICTURED: The Filter Bubble

As an author for 40AC, I’ve had to do a lot of Google image searches for “Black man”. My search query used to return pictures of Black men chasing people for fried chicken, drooling over white women, smiling over slices of watermelon or wearing nothing but a banana-hammock (my eyesight hasn’t quite recovered yet). The majority of those images were created by white people poking fun at and stereotyping my ingroup. As Google’s algorithms started to kick in, my image searches began to return more pictures of Black men in business attire. By no means am I complaining. I appreciate Google’s personalized search results, but I know that I live in a filter bubble of my own. A filter bubble that wants me to believe that average Americans think that Black men are upstanding and productive citizens overall. The same filter bubble that suppresses the Facebook statuses of my racist football teammates from high school.

Website algorithms and other uber-catered technologies promote ignorance of conflicting perspectives. This can result in a decrease in intellectual debates and it can weaken our grasp on reality. Try to go outside of the bubble. Know the opinions of people outside of your timeline. Deliberate consciousness is the best way for us to address the social issues that we face in this facade that we call Post-Racial America.

Blinders fit easily on the narrow-minded.

O.K.Kai

Filter Bubble TED Talk

The past couple days have been pretty hectic in politics, especially in the arena of gay rights. First, Joe Biden expressed his support of gay marriage, then the controversial Amendment One was passed to the North Carolina State Constitution (prohibiting legal recognition of and special privileges for any relationship/union other than a marriage between a man and woman), and today President Obama historically came out in support of gay marriage and in denouncement of the NC law. Pretty historic.

We haven’t spoken much of gay issues here. Quite simply, it’s a touchy subject, especially within the Black community. I’m not even sure if my views are exactly the same as those of my co-bloggers here. But personally, I think Amendment One, as well as the existing statute already outlawing gay marriage in NC and similar laws throughout the country, got things terribly wrong. From a moral standpoint, I think that even if you believe the Bible offers strong evidence against homosexuality and gay marriage ( I don’t), it also specifically prescribes that we love everyone and act as Jesus did. It also states that sins are equal. If you outlaw gay marriage as a sin, why not outlaw adultery or lying? It doesn’t make sense to me. To me it’s a way to ground our hatred in dogma…something that’s very easy to do in the Bible. From a legal standpoint, none of this should even matter, point blank. There is simply no compelling reason to legislate against gay marriage whatsoever. There is no state interest, and there aren’t any valid negatives of gay marriage for anyone. It sets an awful precedent, and in my reading of the Constitution sets the government directly against its original purpose….to protect individual rights, especially those of marginalized people without the power to protect themselves. I was saddened because this is my home, and I’d like to think highly of it.

Which is why I was happy to see Obama do the right thing and go from his “evolving” view on gay marriage to finally hitting level 36 and making a definite stand in favor of it.

I love Pokemon references

Maybe Joe Biden’s premature stand forced his hand. Maybe he had a change of heart after the pretty disheartening split over Amendment One in North Carolina, THE 2012 battleground state. Either way, it’s pretty significant. As Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York states, “No American president has ever supported a major expansion of civil rights that has not ultimately been adopted by the American people.” That’s pretty huge. And it reflects now that over half of the American population agrees with him. But he is putting his reelection prospects in jeopardy, mostly because of a key group (especially in southern swings like NC) that voted for him in record numbers in 2008.

Black people. We simply don’t support gay marriage as a people, especially the older churchgoing folks among us who form the voting nucleus. Odds are many of you disagree with my stance or have a family member who does. One of the factors in Proposition 8 passing (surprisingly) in 2008 was that it was attached to the 2008 Presidential election, which had astounding Black voter turnout. Given that about 70% of Blacks polled in California supported Proposition 8, that was a big deal. And I can guarantee things are worse for gay marriage and gay rights in general among Black people in the South. I saw so many pictures of Black people fist-pumping over the news that Amendment One had passed and heard so much gay-bashing on Black radio that I, for a moment, wanted to trade my Black card in.

Hooray for unfair advantages!

But Obama risked a lot with his statement, didn’t he? He doesn’t want to push away all those church-going Black voters who vote liberal EXCEPT in matters of sexual equality? There are many who project that this might be the case. The extraordinarily high Black turnout in ’08 helped him carry states like North Carolina, despite them usually being red. Does taking a stance undeniably for gay rights and gay marriage carry the risk of losing significant ground in what projects to be a tighter race than in ’08?

I think not. I think Black turnout will probably normalize to low levels anyways, and it’s not like people will all the sudden vote for Romney. Also, given the general homophobia of many of those Black voters who are against gay marriage, they have been used to supporting and voting for Presidents who disagree with them on the topic. I also applaud Obama for simply doing the right thing. You don’t see that a lot in politics and it gives me some sense of hope that the governing structure isn’t totally posturing. It usually ends well when Presidents do. It also indicates that the country may be ready for reform, as unambiguous Presidential stances on civil rights issues tend to be more so thermometers than thermostats. From a political perspective, it may have been smart to move left and be unambiguous because now it will force Romney and the general Republican structure to the right and away from moderates. That’s how it works nowadays, when being a Conservative seems to mean simply opposing what Liberals endorse. It also wins the further support of gay voters, many of which have been disappointed with the President’s shifting views on their rights.

So no, I don’t think his announcement was a mistake, morally or politically. But it does put Black people in the spotlight and at a crossroads. Believe what you like to about gay marriage, the fact is that a sizable component of our people are homophobic and have a general antipathy towards gay people. Bottom line. Justify it how you want…but it’s flat-out wrong. And we abhor comparing our struggle with theirs, but this isn’t a race to see who is the most oppressed. The fact is that people are being discriminated against simply because of who they were born and who they choose to love. We know that’s not right, and we know that an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere. Within some of your lifetimes and within all of our parents’ lifetimes our people were persecuted and exiled from states simply for marrying outside of our race. We should be empathetic to all human rights struggles on this planet BECAUSE of the uniqueness of our struggle and our recognition of how the soul yearns for freedom. We can continue to pass on the hate of our oppressor and close ourselves off and ask “what has been done for Black people lately” or realize that we can care about the struggles of more than one people and that a rising tide lifts all boats. Or we’ll end up on the wrong side of history on this one.

Namaste.

The light-skin/dark-skin debate for Black women can be traced DIRECTLY to “The Fresh Prince.”

All of these pale in comparison to the topic this post covers: What, in fact, are the proper additives for Grits? As always, we begin at the beginning.

Grits as a food staple began, as many other foods eaten in the Americas, in the native communities that were present on the continent before the European conquest. Often also called “sofkee” or “sofkey” from the Muskogee language, grits were first prepared by the Native American communities from the American South. Grits consist of coarsely ground corn or hominy (corn that has been treated with alkali in a process known as nixtamalization). Traditionally ground in stone mills, the grinds were then passed through a screen with the coarser part being the Grits we coloreds know and love. However, it isn’t just phenomenon among Black people, Grits are a Southern staple that crosses the color line. The State of Georgia declared Grits its official prepared food in 2002. South Carolina proposed a Bill in its legislature stating:

Whereas, throughout its history, the South has relished its grits, making them a symbol of its diet, its customs, its humor, and its hospitality, and whereas, every community in the State of South Carolina used to be the site of a grits mill and every local economy in the State used to be dependent on its product; and whereas, grits has been a part of the life of every South Carolinian of whatever race, background, gender, and income; and whereas, grits could very well play a vital role in the future of not only this State, but also the world, if as Charleston’s The Post and Courier proclaimed in 1952, “An inexpensive, simple, and thoroughly digestible food, [grits] should be made popular throughout the world. Given enough of it, the inhabitants of planet Earth would have nothing to fight about. A man full of [grits] is a man of peace.”

Now you know the history. But what you really wanna know is what is the proper seasoning for this staple of Southern diet? The key additives seem to be:

1. Cheese, of whatever variety, but usually cheddar

2. Salt and/or Pepper

3. Sugar, sometimes in combination with cheese, but never in combination with Salt and/or Pepper.

4. Butter

In all my time writing for the blog, I have perhaps never encountered a dead-end. Alas, it seems there is no real answer to this question. The most commonly-thought solution is that in the North, grits are eaten with sugar, and in the South, particularly the Carolinas, pepper is the seasoning of choice. Cheese is often added both in the North and the South. Butter is often added during cooking, or immediately after plating. It can be served in a bowl or a plate. To be eaten with a fork or with a spoon.

The true answer to the Great Grits Debate is telling: There is no answer to it. There is no standard. Much like many other elements of the Black Community, there is no defining feature that could be considered the touchstone of the Black experience. There are Black folk who will argue to the death that Pepper is the only topping for grits. Other will still more fervently come down on the Sugar side of things. In my research neither prevails as the the de facto topping for Grits. Lest we forget, we are a people that are linked by the unique American experience. We are a product of a once-terrible past and sometime still-terrible present. However, our commonality of experience often stops at our skin tone. We are a people unique in our differences.

Eat your Grits the way you wish.

Morgan Freeman, looking sharp on his 135th Birthday.

What is more important than the historical roots of the phrase is what it has come to mean: A promise never kept. Or more closely, A promise with little inherent value. The orders were revoked in the Fall of the same year by then President Andrew Johnson. Black people get mad as Hell when someone reneges in a game of Spades. This shit is liable to make a newly-freed slave slap several niggas in the mouth. The name 40 Acres and a Cubicle was chosen because in today’s world, a solid job in corporate America stands as the new promise for the modern Black. The irony comes from the commonality that this, too, may be an illusory promise. It may be the dream of assimilation, wealth, cocktails parties and lunch “on the firm.” It may just be a nightmare.

WELL I’M FINALLY GETTING MY CUBICLE.

The other writers of this blog have been working in offices for some time now. My perspective here has usually been through the prism of my law school. Liberal-leaning and a paragon of “diversity,” I haven’t encountered near the same level of unconscious, subtle racism that my colleagues have. It may be about to change. Beginning at the end of this month, I’ll be working a fairly large-sized firm here in DC. Never mind the name. But the significance of it to me is that this will be my first foray into the career I’m paying a small fortune to enter. Will it be everything I dreamed? Will I be having “lunch on the firm?” Will I encounter many of the same hurdles my co-bloggers have written so eloquently about? No matter what comes my way, I’ve developed a fool-proof plan for minimizing racial tension in my new-found office lifestyle.

1. When asked about what music I listen to: Deny any enjoyment of rap, in fact, my response will always be “Classical.”

Music taste can be a sensitive subject. I enjoy the most ignorant lyrics sometimes. They often make for great songs. But in the workplace, this may garner me strange looks. Imagine trying to explain that you’ve been bumping the new 2 Chainz track to your supervisor when he asks what you’re listening to in the elevator. I can’t imagine that conversation not being awkward. A few days ago I was rather awkwardly asked by a Jewish classmate of mine if I listened to rap. He stumbled over his words and I could tell he didn’t want to offend me by presuming I did listen to rap. The non-Blacks often err on the side of caution when it comes to cross-cultural questions.

Close approximation of my classmate.

2. Resist the urge to go into lengthy descriptions about HBCUs. Or mention that Morehouse is all male.

It is always a constant struggle in cross-race conversation when I get asked about my undergrad. You say “Morehouse.” The Caucasian ear hears “Morehead” and the next thing you know, they’re telling you all about their cousin Sally who went there and asking if you know her. [deep sigh] My plan is to keep it brief when asked about College. “I went to school in Atlanta.” Should suffice. Maybe mention Morehouse, but always in the context of MLK so they can get the reference. That’ll save me a bunch of time.

3. If ever taken out to lunch, never order a chicken dish.

We’ve been here before. Though I find the bird delicious, and quite healthy when baked, it’s just too much of a risk to blow my cover by ordering the pollo. I know, I may be tempted, but I must remain strong. It’s for the good of the people that I am willing to make these sacrifices. With Great power comes Great responsibility.

4. Code switch when speaking with the Black female receptionist only. Everyone else gets standard English.

I often read the posts of my fellow authors with great scrutiny. They’ve written some great stuff in the past year. Code-switching has been a recurring theme. All people speak casually when around their in-group. It’s natural. But us Blacks, well, we gotta be careful. I was once responding to a question in my Criminal Procedure class, and used the phrase “Take the L.” I felt exactly like how one must feel when they sneeze accidentally and a fart makes a break for it with triumphant success. I gotta watch my words. Keep it real with the homies, but it’s all received pronunciation with everyone else.

5. Never, ever, answer the question “Is it true what they say about Black guys?”

Despite the low likelihood of this question ever being asked in a law firm office, especially considering the trouble Patton Boggs is about to be in, I’ve really gotta be ready for anything. This rule I’ve made for myself really speaks for itself.

“There’s only one real way to find out . . .”

Massa has finally set me free and I’m moving up to the big time. I’ll have a desk. I’ll have a cubicle. I’ll also have to keep my wits about me in a new environment. I will now be operating in the world of “The Man.” With careful attention to context, I know I can navigate the Corporate American jungle with success as a Black man.

Ya’ll wish me luck.

If you didn’t know yet, the New Jersey Nets have become the Brooklyn Nets and are embarking upon a slight rebranding campaign based in hip-hop imagery and a sleek Black & White frills-free design template allegedly designed by the (minority) boss himself, Jay-Z. Personally, I think it’s pretty cool. You got the home of hip-hop and hip-hop’s undisputed emperor unleashing hip-hop and taking the new experiments in monochromatic jerseys and design pioneered by “cooler” teams like the Heat and expanding them. They’ve got “Brooklyn’s Finest” and “Hello Brooklyn” and “No Sleep Till Brooklyn” shirts (taking a moment here to say Rest in Peace to Adam Yauch aka MCA of the Beastie Boys. It’s a sad day when someone so young, especially a pioneer such as himself, passes away so early from cancer. Fittingly, he’ll be relevant to this article). One of the nicknames for the squad is the Brownstone Ballers. Now they may not pick up Dwight and still look to be a lotto team in the next few seasons, but damnit they’re dope as hell.

Too bad “Best nickname” and “best attendance” only get you awards in the WNBA….

But what’s happening here is a pretty interesting case study in the NBA’s ongoing Odd Couple-esque relationship with hip-hop. The NBA needs hip-hop as it is perhaps the most urban-relevant of the major American sports leagues and draws from the culture of modern basketball itself, which is decidedly underclass and has supplanted the Princeton archetype with a much more “colorful” interpretation of style. There is a reason why the NBA merged with the freewheeling ABA and a reason why its rise to true prominence nationally coincided with the rise of hip-hop. However, the NBA is also often at odds with hip-hop and its mostly African-American listeners (often including the players). This is predictable when a group of out-of-touch billionaires make the real decisions and pay the bills. “Blackness” is cool until it’s “too Black” and the moment players break from their tightly scripted molds of the acceptable expressions of Blackness and hip-hop they are labeled “thugs” and “hoodlums.” Ask Allen Iverson. This is why a case like New Jersey Brooklyn is interesting. You have a Russian owner who doesn’t seem to care much about “character” or how “Black” the players seem (indeed, this is a man with more alleged criminal ties than ANY player or exec in the league) who cares about having fun and winning with style. You have a group of minority owners that include hip-hop moguls and THE hip-hop mogul in Jay-Z. You have Brooklyn, itself a microcosm of race-cohabiting dynamics and hip=hop culture. And you have an increasingly large contingent of White fans and commentators who are growing uncomfortable with the whole thing.

I’m surprised the move wasn’t canceled because of “basketball reasons”

Enter Phil Mushnick, sportswriter for the New York Post. This isn’t a post where I blast the NY Post for their content or delivery (although it seems as if many of their articles are written by roid-raging barely-literate idiots). But Mushnick utilizes a particularly incendiary writing style where he often says insensitive or racist bullshit and has a shitty excuse later. An article he wrote last night may have been even too much for him and for the Post (I know). In it, Mushnick (in a sidebar unrelated to anything else he’s writing about) states:

As long as the Nets are allowing Jay-Z to call their marketing shots — what a shock that he chose black and white as the new team colors to stress, as the Nets explained, their new “urban” home — why not have him apply the full Jay-Z treatment?

Why the Brooklyn Nets when they can be the New York N——s? The cheerleaders could be the Brooklyn B—-hes or Hoes. Team logo? A 9 mm with hollow-tip shell casings strewn beneath. Wanna be Jay-Z hip? Then go all the way!

After being (perhaps rightfully) flamed by all of Twitter and numerous news outlets for being racist, he offered the following excuse/nonpology:

Such obvious, wishful and ignorant mischaracterizations of what I write are common. I don’t call black men the N-word; I don’t regard young women as bitches and whores; I don’t glorify the use of assault weapons and drugs. Jay-Z, on the other hand…..Is he the only NBA owner allowed to call black men N—ers?

Jay-Z profits from the worst and most sustaining self-enslaving stereotypes of black-American culture and I’M the racist? Some truths, I guess, are just hard to read, let alone think about.

This is the type of stupidity and willful feigning of ignorance with respect to racism that I hate. And it’s really just a masked way to complain that white folks don’t get to say the “N Word.” We’ve been over this. Get over it. You shouldn’t want to say it because when you say it, it hurts people. Sorry. You can’t change that and your stupid whining can’t either. But it does seem like Mushnick has some points in his nonpology that seem at least partially valid right? I mean Jay-Z did and does glorify/promote some pretty awful stereotypes in his work. He does profit from a regrettable element of hip-hop culture. But statements like Mushnick’s are less the nuanced criticism that he thinks and more a blanket uninformed attack on Black culture.

Look, we get it. Any marketing campaign that deals in hip-hop is going to have to eventually brush up against the less….PC elements of the form. But to say a campaign in hip-hop led by Jay-Z is unworthy and would invite misogyny, etc to the club is a fundamental miscalculation about what hip-hop is. Almost every music genre has misogynist and violent elements, because frankly those sentiments are woven into the very fabric of our society. There’s underground country music devoted to being able to carry guns and kill intruders. Red Hot Chili Peppers said some pretty wild things about the female gender. While the problem may be more public and hyperexaggerated in Black culture (as Black culture is  a kind of canary in the coal mine for the rest of America), hip-hop at its best represents the true spirit of the sport and is the true cultural expression of many who embrace it. Yes, Jay-Z is the man who bragged shamelessly about selling cocaine in his youth, but he’s also the man who exhorted thousands of Black youth to get out and vote and who donates regularly to the President. Hip-hop has a tremendous capability for destruction but a commensurate capability for construction….and that seems to be exactly what the Nets need right now. It just seems like the hypocrisy surrounding hip-hop and the NBA is getting deeper. And let’s not even get into the realities of why hip-hop and Black culture are so often dysfunctional in the first place. Kids in inner cities are put in shitty schools with no resources for betterment starting at age 4. While there are necessary elements of self-determination, policies are made specifically at the expense of Black people every year. “Self-enslavement?” Please.

One more thing. Mushnick implied in his apology that Black folks are the reason for the prevalence of the “N Word” and that his children heard it first from rap. Clearly it’s our fault that the word is even in the lexicon, right? Because White folks are trying so hard to move on and not think about race. I leave you with this:

Namaste.

Post-Racial America has put Black people in a precarious situation.  We have remained steadfast in our pursuit of equality and equity, and we have made incredible strides throughout this nation’s history.  As we  counter the affects of thousands of years of continued exploitation, degradation and oppression, we in turn agitate the narrow-minded members of the majority.  They use the progress that we’ve made as a nation as an excuse to stop maturing.  Many members of the majority have exhibited behavior that encompasses several pathological defense mechanisms, including distortion, denial and delusion. They have decided that racism doesn’t exist  anymore, the affects of government-sanctioned slavery, mass murder and oppression have been eradicated, and that Black people are simply lazy, ungrateful and sensitive.

As insane and unfounded as that may sound, that stance has been adopted by many in this nation (just watch Fox News).  Nowadays, White people will call me racist just for mentioning race.  Every time a Black person claims to be a victim of oppression or racism, their’s a group of white people rolling their eyes somewhere.

“I mean… they must’ve had a reason to pull you over….”

This common response to our plight has made many of us, especially those of us who work with white people, apprehensive when we feel the need to respond to a racial offense.  Many of us try to avoid being the Black person in the room that claims that everything’s racist.  Even my firm’s vice president didn’t say anything when the office gave him a du-rag and Madea Goes to Jail on DVD as retirement gifts.

I was in a meeting with my consulting team yesterday, and my manager was explaining how data from different cities was worth different values.  ”For example”, she said as she began pointing at each team member, “Jill could be worth 1.25, Megan could be worth 1″.  She was about to point to me and both of the white girls had already received their values.  I honestly wasn’t paying that much attention to the example, I already understood how weighting worked.  That is, until she said,

“Kai could be three-fifths”

Before I could even digest what I heard, Milton, the other Black guy on the team, received a value of one-halfth.  To a white person, this could seem like a non-issue. To a Black person, who would’ve only represented three-fifths of a person under the Three-Fifths Compromise 150 years ago, the shit’s offensive. If I were sharing an example regarding the development of a railroad, I wouldn’t point at Ling Wang and tell him that he could lay the tracks.

“Word?”

Ignorance of history or its residual affects is not an excuse for this shit.  Black people continue to fight for the right to be considered whole people, outside the realm of taxation and representation. I told you guys a few posts ago that one of my coworkers said I could dress like a slave during a costume parade. And she suggested it with a smile on her face. You may be under the impression that behavior exhibited without malicious intent cannot be racist. If that is your stance, I would like to direct you to our Unintentional Racism Files.

I’m not sensitive, I’m tense. In past posts, I’ve mentioned the adverse physiological and psychological affects of racism on African-Americans. We are agitated by ignorance on a daily basis. The tactic of denying the existence of racism has only promoted ignorance among many within the majority.  So they’re suddenly surprised when they hear about an unarmed Black kid getting shot in the chest by self-proclaimed neighborhood watchman. Us Black folk already knew that thousands of Black kids had been slain for less.

When Joel Ward, forward and Black guy for the Washington Capitals, scored a game-winning shot in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup, mad white folks lost their shit.   Thousands of racist tweets from fans of the defeated Boston Bruins hit the web littered with racial slurs and bigoted saltiness. There were so many tweets, that the Boston Bruins organization had to release a statement condemning and apologizing for their racist fans.  But Ward was already used to bold racism, he’s a brother on ice.  He even said that he really just cared about the fact that they won and were moving on to the 2nd round of the Stanley Cup playoffs.

So yeah, racism exists. People hated it when a Black guy scored a goal in the hockey. Imagine how they felt when President Obama took office.  Post-Racial America is not what it claims to be. Us Black people are still victims of police brutality, still getting stigmatized as “threatening”, still encountering discrimination at the doors of opportunity, and still getting blamed by the Republicans for every other damn thing. I feel as if I am under constant, but subtle attack, and rightfully so. If I take offense to being called a slave, or “three-fifths” or a “thug”, or Mary J. Blige singing about fried chicken, its because things aren’t peachy keen.  Facebook and Twitter were strewn with updates about “Nigger Appreciation Day” this year on Martin Luther King day and I saw a KKK rally the last time I drove through Texas.  I have every right to feel antagonized and targeted. Those who have not experienced constant racism may perceive those feelings as sensitivity. That’s completely okay, so long as they display some cultural sensitivity to dissapate the delusions of Post-Racial America.

O.K.Kai

Thanks for continued visits to the site even in our recent downturn in content. Turns out when you have a writing core of graduate students, things get kind of…..hectic around finals time. It’s been crazy because some of the BEST news items came across my desk when I was working on my thesis. This guy, Allen West, is one of them.

Who is Allen West? He’s a member of the Congressional Tea Party Caucus and ALSO a member of the Congressional Black Caucus (the first Republican member since 1997). And he’s pretty much completely insane. This is a guy whose view on race makes Herman Cain look like W.E.B. DuBois

The cost of liberty is less than the price of pizza

Allen West is an enigma. This is a guy who (allegedly) was once in the Black Panther Party as a youngster but also has ties to criminal biker gangs. He’s surprised even members of his own party by openly claiming that 80 members of Congress were card-carrying Communists, a statement that even the official Communist Party refutes. He’s called President Obama the “dumbest person in America” right now, and despite being invited to and attending this weekend’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner, he slammed it afterwards for eroding the Republic. He’s likened Black Democrats to slave overseers and compared himself to a modern-day Harriet Tubman leading Black voters away from the Democratic Plantation.

Wait, what?

Not pictured: his shotgun

This man has probably said more ridiculous things about race than Rush Limbaugh. And of course he denies racism in almost all forms, especially against Barack Obama, except when it comes to any and every attack against him by liberals. The thing that bothers me is that it seems like, with his prominence, as well as the meteoric rise of Herman Cain, that the easiest way to be heard as a Black politician is to be a complete buffoon and to become some sort of real-life version of Uncle Ruckus. This isn’t an attack on Black Republicans. Although I still don’t quite understand why anyone who has been the subject of racism would vote Republican, there are Black Republicans who I respect and even admire, from Colin Powell to Condi Rice (seriously…..but that’s another blog post). However, it seems like the new breed of Black Republican is a loud-mouthed idiot who goes out of his way to compare Black Democrats to slaves and uphold the same complex systems of denying-racism-when-convenient philosophy held by Tea Partiers. I don’t like to use the term “Uncle Tom,” especially given the fact that Blacks are not monolithic and that it is perhaps a good sign that we occupy as broad a philosophical and political spectrum as the majority, but to cast such a blind eye on obvious racism that clearly has defined one’s own life simply to advance your standing in the eyes of a watchful White power structure seems…..wrong.

Is this what the new breed of Black politician will look like in America? A bunch of loud-mouthed ignoramuses whose sole job seems to be to be to provide “expert opinions” and real-life examples to Conservatives as to how they aren’t racist and to how Black folks who bring up race are the real problem? Although we wrote about amazing politicians like Cory Booker, it seems like the easiest path to prominence is West/Cain style idiocy. I was reading a profoundly insightful interview from Brother Ali, a white rapper, about Trayvon Martin, where he laments about the only real social currencies that Black people have in society being sexiness, coolness, and scariness. Read that interview by the way. It’s awesome.

This is Brother Ali

But one thing I think he forgot (perhaps because of the controversy a White rapper broaching the subject would spark) was the fourth currency, ignorance. And I don’t mean simple “I didn’t learn how to read but want to play pro basketball so I don’t care” type ignorance that’s harped upon in the media. I don’t mean being a Republican who acknowledges racism but disagrees with the avenues to change it or even the need to do so. I mean a deep anti-intellectualism that denies any type of social responsibility and rejects “Blackness” as a distinction to be reviled or ashamed of. Ruckusism, I call it. There are entire crops of Blacks who grew up through racism and saw the efforts of Civil Rights leaders to make THEIR lives better, but instead choose a narrative that rejects that. They think they’re being Booker T. Washington-esque…but they’re more like Flo-Rida. I guess this would be a natural time to point out that Allen West lives in Plantation, Florida. Perfect.

Like I said, this isn’t an attack on Black Republicans. I just hate seeing people who get the education and standing that so many Blacks would die for and so many have sacrificed for them to have come to prominence and waste the opportunity by only spewing ignorance and stupidity. Maybe Allen West doesn’t even care about what it means for the Black community as a whole, but certainly he should care about his children, who will be forced even more to only be measured by the four currencies because he feeds into them. This isn’t a simple left/right ideological difference. It’s a reflective rejection of elements of his Blackness for political gain and votes. I’m not with it.

Namaste.

Artist's rendition

At this point, the legend of Cory Booker is getting a bit far-fetched. This guy played D-1 Football at Stanford, studied at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar, got his JD from Yale (where he set up legal clinics for poor Black folks and was a Big Brother), and at the age of 36 became the mayor of Newark, NJ, which has cut gun crime in half and reduced expenditures under his tenure. He’s been on the Board of Trustees at Columbia and Stanford and was on the Executive Committee of Yale. He has been the subject of many assassination plots from local gangs but continues to walk the streets alone, unarmed. He was a major campaigner for Obama, and turned down a spot in the Cabinet to continue his term as mayor. When the state politicians left for vacation in late 2010 and the Snowpocalypse hit, instead of staying and waiting to be dug out, Cory Booker instead took to manning a plow HIMSELF and digging out residents who tweeted him, one at a time.

Because that’s just what badasses do, damnit.

No gloves, like a BOSS

I mean what else can the man do to prove his awesomeness? With all due respect to Barack Obama, his assistant Reggie Love, and myself, Cory Booker has to be the coolest guy walking around. Hell, he’s on equal footing with the Most Interesting Man in the World, and he’s fictional. He’s Black Chuck Norris. He can divide by zero. And he’s 10 years younger than my dad. My life is kinda…..lame in comparison.

So what else could the man do but run into a burning house last night to save a woman? It completely fits with the vision of this Black Übermensch that he’s cultivated so far. He’s described as having been trapped in the burning kitchen but PUNCHING THROUGH the debris to get out. He suffered and shrugged off second-degree burns in the process, but of course none of the injuries that caused him to be hospitalized yesterday stopped him from coming to work today. I’ve called out sick for BURNING MY TONGUE ON COFFEE once.  Booker calls it his “Come to Jesus” moment.

I call it something different. I think today is the day that we finally realize Booker’s secret: that he is either a Terminator reprogrammed from his original mission to kill us all, or that he is a superhero with legitimate superpowers. Nobody punches their way out of a burning home while carrying women to safety. Especially not Rhodes Scholars.

This guy is a Rhodes Scholar. Does he look like he could even punch his way out of a walk-in closet?

All I know is we need to be watching this guy more carefully. We’re onto you, Cory.

Also, he’s going to be President one day, so watch out for that.

Being a Black man in America has always been scary.  The United States has used us as slaves and turned a blind eye to or advocated us being publicly slaughtered. The Federal Bureau  of Investigations has executed plots against our communities that sought to destroy our leaders and suppress rebellion. Law enforcement agencies have sicked dogs on us, disproportionately accosted us, used excessively violent force on us and continue to murder us while unarmed.  Yet, we’re the most suspicious and threatening demographic in the US.

“Yo….wtf”

The diabolical practice of stigmatizing the most vulnerable and victimized groups in America has unfortunately worked.  Arizona state governor, Jan Brewer, infamously stuck her finger in Obama’s face because she thought, “he was a little threatening”.

An 18 year-old, unarmed, Black man was shot and killed by two security guards in Dekalb County Georgia.  The security guards worked for an apartment complex down the street from where the victim was shot and were way out of their jurisdiction. They claimed to have been investigating a “suspicious” vehicle full of Black people in front of the victim’s house.

Four white cops shot a Black ex-cop, Howard Morgan, 28 times. Then Morgan was sentenced to 40 years in prison after he was released from the hospital for trying to kill the officers.  The accounts by the police officers state that Morgan fired first.  Even if that’s true, they shot him 28 times. You have to be really threatened by someone to shoot them 28 times. Black men aren’t bosses at the end of a video game.

“You’re almost out of lives Whitey!”

That’s  just a recollection of the last month or so, and I didn’t even mention the fact the Trayvon Martin case has only just begun its lengthy and trying journey.  The case has brought a lot of attention to the undercurrent of racism that flows through this country.  As a result, I’ve been feeling more threatened by White people than ever before (while gaining an ever-increasing respect for our ancestors). All of these blatant threats to the lives of Black men has had me feeling targeted and vulnerable. I don’t like that feeling.

So I decided to go to a rave.

I figured that my emotional and spiritual homeostasis could be rejuvenated by some racially heterogeneous wild times. So I hit up my friends and told them about a rave in Atlanta with a “mixed crowd”.  The crew was down, and we hit the club.

When we walked into the party, it was exactly what I had imagined.  There were people of every race raging at full capacity.  Black, White and Asian were all jumping to the sophisticated sounds of Deadmau5 and Skrillex.  The atmosphere was intense and euphoric, there wasn’t a care in the world (partially because the drinks were dirt cheap).  We went in until the rave shut down, and we headed to my friend Ricardo’s car to get some Waffle House.  I looked at the back seat and only saw one dude. I turned to Ricardo and said, “We’re missing Ben son”. Somehow, we had left Ben in the club.  Just then,  Ben walked up to the car, opened the door, placed a drunk white girl on the seat and sat down. Ricardo turned around and yelled, “What the hell Ben!”.  Ben, a theology major, put his hands up and said, “Listen, this girl’s friends left her, she’s drunk, and she just needs a ride to campus”. Mind you, this girl is completely incoherent and probably couldn’t recall her name if we asked her.

She looked like this, but covered in vomit.

I asked Ben what her name was. He didn’t know, but he had no intention of sealing the deal with this girl. He really just wanted to do a good thing.  Ricardo shook his head and said,

“I’m sorry man, we can’t drive through the city after a huge rave with four Black guys and a passed out white girl. I’m not getting pulled over”

I cosigned and shook my head.  Black men have a long history of being thrown under the bus just because a white woman was simply around them.

…a fabricated rape charge.

Ben tried to debate the issue, but we were determined to avoid the risk.  So we lifted the shitfaced girl out of the car and placed her gently at the front of the club with some people who seemed nice.  When we got back in the car, Ben sighed and said, “I really don’t fuck with ya’ll right now.  That was messed up”. Maybe it was, but not more messed up than the racial climate of America.

And just like that, my state of blissful ignorance was gone.  The rave was simply a brief intermission from racially tense America. We couldn’t even be good late-night samaritans without assessing the risk we’d be taking as Black men. Hopefully, as we bring more attention to social injustices against our people, the risk will reduce to some degree. Our harsh and difficult circumstances must be made public knowledge in order for us to properly convey the gravity of the situation. Habitually targeting a specific demographic with violence and oppression can adversely impact the perspectives and behavior of all people.  It can lead to a racial group’s demise, put you on trial for 2nd degree murder, and it can leave you drunk and stranded at a closed club.  We all stand to benefit from a withdrawal from ignorance.

Realize where the true threats really lie.

O.K.Kai