Dead Republic Walking? Douglass Reminds Us That We Have a Job to Do

It is always good to read and re-read the patriot and freedom fighter, Frederick Douglass' famous oration, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?", delivered 5 July 1852. You can read it in its entirety by clicking HERE.

I've posted or commented on Douglass' speech for several years, (before I started this blog) and I will continue to do so. After reading it consider how far we have come as a nation and how far we still have to go. The question we are faced with even as we celebrate America's independence this year, and for the sake of enjoying many more, is what are YOU willing to do to make this nation, your community, and your family better?

In the large political spectrum we must take the same excitement, passion, and fight we mustered to elect President Obama to hold him accountable as citizens and also support him as our president. Too many have retreated to the safety of their blankets of criticism to keep warm instead of offering reasonable critique and enduring the harsh weather and bitter cold faced by those who work for genuine change.

Even if President Obama adopted a Black Nationalist agenda (as some would like), he would fall woefully short of expectations. The work of changing this imperialist republic (that sells itself as a democracy) can only the achieved effectively if the citizenry are engaged into the political discourse. Only then can we truly hold our elected officials accountable, as well as ourselves. We are quick to say, "Oh, Oh, look at what he/she is doing! Can you believe it?" There are too many pointing fingers and not enough solutions created to our systemic problems. Again the question is what are YOU doing?

Remember Rome did not fall from outside invasion, it was internal strife that signaled the end their empire. Americans should take notice and act, or prepare to embark on the pilgrimage of destruction. Then again, maybe we are like the death row inmate whose death sentence is soon to be carried out. Maybe we are a "Dead Republic Walking"? I can only pray that we are pardoned by enlightened persons who embody the sense of hope and justice we all yearned for on November 4, 2008.

The Man In the Mirror: The Double Consciousness of Michael Jackson (Guest Post for Black Snob)

I recently did a guest blog posting for "The Black Snob" concerning Michael Jackson and W.E.B. DuBois' notion of "double consciousness". You can read it by clicking HERE.

It received some good feedback overall and I was excited to see the number of responses it generated. Whether folk agreed with me or not (or completely missed the point I was making) it was good to see some healthy conversation about Michael Jackson that nothing to do with how he died, who will control his estate or his children. Let us control the parameters of debate concerning him, not sensationalist media outlets.

In the posting, I referenced the single "They Don't Really Care About Us" from Jackson's 1996's HIStory: Past, Present, and Future Book I album. It was masterfully directed by Spike Lee. If you have never seen either version of the powerful video (or need to see them again) I posted both versions below. LISTEN! ENJOY! THINK!

"They Don't Really Care About Us (Brazil version)"



"They Don't Really Care About Us (Prison version)"



Michael Jackson was (and continues to be) a genius! Keep the music and his memory alive!


Special thanks and much respect for Danielle "The Black Snob" Belton for allowing me to write a guest post to her always engaging blog. RESPECT!!!

The Knife is Still in Our Backs...But at Least They Admit its There

I didn't want to write about an apology for slavery. I thought a latent action to right historical wrongs didn't warrant my acknowledgment, let alone attention. The knife placed square between the shoulders of Africans in 1619 had not moved an inch. It still rested firmly in the backs of their decedents. However, the more I thought about it the more I felt I had to say something.
On June 18, the Senate passed a resolution apologizing for slavery and I was not moved. The Washington Post said the statement paved the way for a "joint congressional resolution and the latest attempt by the federal government to take responsibility for 2 1/2 centuries of slavery." But paved away to what end to what has so far been a cipher of discontent with little responsibility or recourse paid by the perpetrators or the ones who still benefit from their actions today?

This "latest attempt" is just as meaningless, empty, and worthless as the declining dollar on the global market. The Washington Post article, "Senate Backs Apology for Slavery" is jarring in the verbiage that mentions that that government is attempting to take responsibility for slavery. That is in fact not true at all. For one to take responsibility for transgressions against another party has be more than mere words. Printed script does nothing to speak to a legacy of death, domination, and perpetual bondage. There is blood on this republic's hands and it brings pitiful offerings to the alter of forgiveness.

Moreover, the Senate was sure to write the language of the apology in such a way so that it could never be used against them in any type of litigation dealing with reparations. What kind of apology is that? It's simply a legislative version of OJ Simpson's "If I Did It" -- all the facts, none of the repercussions.

Congress has insulted the righteous intelligence of Americans, particularly those of African descent, with this decree. The admission of guilt does NOTHING to provide for actions to resolve the bitter, ugly, and inhumane history of the transatlantic slave trade (and its domestic cousin).

When Malcolm X explained his misinterpreted "chickens coming home to roost" comments he also spoke about progress. Progress to him was not only taking the proverbial knife out of the back of African Americans, but removing the knife and taking action to make amends. No amends have been made, and there likely will not be. Most whites as well as their negro servants will say "get over it" but I have yet to hear someone tell the nation of Israel or Jews throughout the world to get over the Holocaust, nor have I seen any mention of NOT being accountable for the internment of Japanese American citizens in this nation during World War II. Both groups have had not only apologies, but reparations.

Maybe there is a victory here in this tragic and cowardly legislation, at least they now admit the knife is there.

Never can say Good-Bye...

On this past Thursday, we lost likely the single greatest performer and overall entertainer of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. For so many, including myself, it still seems surreal. Michael Jackson, dead? Can't be! Not the "gloved one" the self-proclaimed (and world recognized) "King of Pop"? Unfortunately, it is the truth...he is gone. But is he really?

Over the past few days I have seen any number of folks reliving old childhood memories about Michael Jackson. On television, radio, and of course the internet. The sense of loss with regard to Michael has been met with the joys of memories tied to the fabric of our lives through his music. More evidence of not just his genius but his connection to the global community.

Over the past three days I have listened to almost his entire discography and what I was able to understand and recapture were those moments growing up--when every moment corresponded to a different MJ tune. I remember sitting at my godmother's house watching "Beat It" for the fist time on MTV. Then too, recalling just as I had with my introduction to James Brown, trying in vain to mimic Michael's moves. But who didn't?

Where were you on March 25, 1983 when Jackson did the moonwalk for the first time? Even if you don't remember that particular day you do remember how your mouth dropped when he glided across the stage the first time you saw the video footage?



Many of us feel like we grew up with Michael. That is true to a certain extent. The fact is Michael Jackson was twenty years older than I so he was hardly my age, but for my generation we grew up watching Michael outside of the Jackson 5. We knew only the solo artist and were introduced later to his brothers. Older generations did indeed grow up with Michael from his earliest performances to his release of "Invincible." The unmistakable thing about him was youthful exuberance that was Michael Jackson, the artist, the performer, the man.

He was not only a slice of Americana, he was America -- filled with all the promises of innovation and excitement. From his influence on fashion and dance, to the use of new media, to when he broke down racial and all other barriers when "Thriller" aired on MTV. A lot of us forget about that. I sure did.

He also represented the valleys of life, those low moments that show our resolve and test our very spirit. From his legal woes and just the constant pressure to produce chart topping albums and unbelieveable performances, the case can be made that maybe he was a victim of his own success.

As each of us walks down memory lane playing our favorite Jackson tunes today, tomorrow, and years from now, I am left remembering one of his famous J5 songs, "Never Can Say Good-Bye."

We really never can say good bye to MJ, he is still here with us in each of us. Older and very young generations of all nationalities and ethnicities. I'll likely be in advanced age telling future generations what it was like to see the Moonwalk or how I used to run upstairs from the basement in my parent's house after seeing "Thriller" and hearing Vincent Price's malevolent laugh in my head, hoping not to get snatched by the zombies from the video.

Peace and respect to the spirit and memory of Michael Jackson -- "The King of Pop."

Exceptionally Unexceptional: American Pop Culture and the Black Aesthic

No matter what channel you are watching on television it seems that there is some sort of new "American Idol" type of talent show premiering. It has gotten so bad now that even the early morning shows, have talent competitions. Just recently the "TODAY Show" offered viewers a chance to sing with singer/actress, Jennifer Hudson and now they are working on their own "America's Got Talent" auditions.

Similarly, last week Oprah joined in the fun with her own version of "America's Got Talent" calling her show "The World's Got Talent". Joined by American Idol's Simon Cowell, Oprah featured several acts from around the globe culminating with the first American television appearance of Chinese singing sensation Jane Zhang. Zhang has gained international acclaim for her voice. I listened intently to see just what the fuss was about. Before she performed video clips of Zhang singing Minnie Ripperton's "Loving You" were aired where she hit every note. I was impressed somewhat with the range, but honestly I was not blown away with her voice.

Once she did perform one of her own songs to a resounding ovation, Oprah asked Zhang about her influences and she mentioned that Mariah Carey was a big inspiration to her. She recalled a story of hearing the song "Hero" for the first time, which really spoke to her. As I listened to the heart warming story I couldn't help but to think to myself that Zhang was a talented singer, but not the phenom that she was being billed as. She did more mimicry than anything else.

Right after her performance Oprah had a Indian dance team of Suleman Mirza and Madhu Singh, who were trying to create a meeting of Eastern and Western cultures through performance. What it was was, however, was a dead on Michael Jackson impersonation that had some traditional elements of Indian dance.

No need for more examples, but my biggest gripe with these so called talent competitions is that they repackage the black aesthetic largely, the same way that whites have been doing since the nineteenth century in minstrel shows.

What I see from some of this so called "exceptional" talent is mimicry or even reappropriation of the highest order, from a Chinese singer who sounds like a blend of Minne Ripperton/Mariah Carey to a Indian brother who dances so much like the "King of Pop" that he would likely think he was looking in the mirror. Yes, imitation is the greatest form of flattery, but it takes real "talent" to sing with your own voice. Michael Jackson started out copying James Brown's moves, Prince has borrowed a great deal of his showmanship from Jimi Hendrix, Ray Charles in the very beginning of his career was imitating the great balladeers of his era until he sang and wrote from his own spirit.

Among contemporary artists, check out Justin Timberlake, Josh Stone, or even Robin Thicke--if they were African American, they would just be "good singers". Even the so called "blue eyed soul" of the eighties which is personified with Hall and Oates, Simply Red, or Tina Marie (though I know many of us have given her a plaque in the Hall of Soul Music) though heavily influenced by African American music made their mark because they had a "black sound." That does not take away from their work in my view, I'm still a fan of some of their music.

However, Oprah, Simon, Paula Abdul, Entertainment Tonight, and the rest of the plethora of popular culture media outlets, don't repackage something I can see on the streets and churches of Philadelphia, Memphis, Chicago, Los Angeles, New York City, or even in my hometown of St. Louis and tell me that these folks on television "got talent". They may have some, but in my book they are exceptionally UNEXCEPTIONAL.

Just as a parting shot, check out Patti Labelle singing "You Are so Beautiful" with the raspy voice of Joe Cocker (he was the Michael Bolton of the 1980s)...I think this proves my point.

Political Humor for the soul...Wanda Sykes

By now many have watched (or heard about) the stand up routine that was performed by comedian Wanda Sykes at the annual White House Correspondents dinner. Sykes as well as the Obama administration have taken some strong criticism for a joke about the conservative and virulent radio talk show host, Rush Limbaugh and the tragic 9/11 terrorist attacks.

CHECK OUT SYKES' ROUTINE IN ITS ENTIRETY



Let me just say from the outset that Sykes' jokes were funny as hell! For those such as the numerous bloggers, so-called journalists, and super conservative pundits and their agreeable servants, let me give you some context. Not to fret, however, I will spare you a historic walk down America's checkered past (as I would love to in this instance).

Sykes joked that she hoped Limbaugh's kidneys fail, just as he has wanted our Commander-in-Chief to do holistically. Limbaugh's continued calls for President Obama to fail in my opinion are tantamount to treason in many ways, if you really want to get serious about this. If I or any other person, particularly of African descent, had ever said anything like what Limbaugh has said (and continues to say) about President Obama, there would be a cry of outrage heard 'round the nation. At the very least a radio show that did so would be off the air and the host would likely be incarcerated (believe me that would find a way). "Traitor", "Benedict Arnold", "turncoat" and many other names would have been used to describe such a person or persons who acted in such a way. Remember what happened to rapper Kanye West when he said, that "George Bush doesn't care about black people" on national television during Hurricane Katrina? Luckily he survived that, but he expressed a real sentiment in the African American community.

(Go to the 1:34 mark)


However, I cannot recall at any time where folk actually wanted Bush to fail, die, or anything of the sort. Anger toward him, and his administration, had more so do with what they were, or were not doing on behalf of the American people. It was Bush's policies and the development of what historian Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. called the "Imperial Presidency" that made people angry (i.e., his abuse of power). The collapse of his approval rating epitomized by the "boo's" he received when he left Washington at President Obama's inauguration where an example of that profound frustration. Outside of jokes about Bush's lack of intellect and his life as an illustration of white privilege (check out Chris Rock's stand-up on "C-Grade students") I cannot even recall a comedian black, white, or of any color who said they wanted Bush to fail. Now, I have wanted policies adopted by his administration to fail, but Limbaugh wants everything that President Obama is doing to crumble to illustrate how right the "right" is.

Sykes' joke, aside from wanting Limbaugh's kidney's to fail, also includes a reference to Limbaugh as being one of the 9/11 hijackers, which is just an analogous labeling because of what many (including this blogger) perceive as his anti-American comments. Hoping for an administration to fail is just that. Limbaugh's comments in accordance with Sykes' joke make Limbaugh love this empire as much as the 9/11 terrorists did. When the Bush scandal erupted in the 2000 election, black and brown folk everywhere, along with all others who voted for Al Gore, had to take that one on the chin, rumbling under their breath like the cartoon characters Yosemite Sam or Elmer Fudd when they couldn't catch Bugs Bunny. Regardless, we endured it.

This notion that anything related to 9/11 as untouchable through comedy is rubbish. I have heard jokes about slavery, the civil rights movement, the Jewish holocaust (by Jews themselves) that have been done is a very crafty way. None of those jokes took away from the horror and ugliness of historical fact or memory. Likewise, Sykes never said that the tragedy was not just that--a tragedy, because it was. However, her use of the terrorists as a grouping for Limbaugh, was genius. The really funny thing is watching those who are so-called journalists in the audience who were trying their best not to laugh or look like they found no part of her routine funny, knowing that C-SPAN and other media outlets were covering the event.

Comedy, and specifically African American humor has existed to point out the dirty, ugly, inhumane, and vile things in American life. There is an old saying that I used to hear (and still do sometimes) from older generations of blackfolk that "Sometimes you have to laugh to keep from crying." I think the sensitivity to Sykes' joke is misplaced and just something else for the very White House Correspondents who were at this dinner to talk about instead of their misreporting (remember when you watch television you rarely see real "news", even if you are only watching Rachel Maddow or Keith Obermann).

To Wanda Sykes' credit she did write a page in history Saturday night. She became the first African-American woman and first openly gay person to ever perform a comic routine at the White House Correspondents' Dinner. I guess she made some more history by being the most talked about comedian after a performance as well. That said, I have a message for Wanda Sykes (if she should ever read my blog), "Sister keep doing your thing!"

For those media outlets that continue to attempt to make this a "news worthy story", negating the real problems that are plaguing this nation..."I hope you fail."

PEACE.

2009 Hip-hop Conference at CAL-U

If you are in the Pittsburgh area this weekend come check out the CAL-U Hip-hop Conference.

Keynote Panel Friday, April 17th@6PM and will feature scholar Dr. Tricia Rose and acclaimed artists Chuck D, Common, and Ursula Rucker.


Chuck D

Common

Ursula Rucker

Dr. Tricia Rose

I will be speaking in a round table discussion Friday, 3PM entitled, "Strategies to Improve the Black Community in the New Millennium: Teen Pregnancy, Hip-Hop, Health Issues, 'Post Racial America' & the Prison Industrial Complex."

Other panelists will include: Dr. Jefferey Ogbar, Dr. Stefan Bradley, Dr. Derrick McKissick, Dr. Norma Thomas, Dr. Catherine Cusinberry, Dr. Sean Goliday, Dr. Frank Vaught and time Konhaus.

Lest We Forget...

As I sit in my study today I listen to Bob Marley's timeless, "Redemption Song". The words still hit me as hard as they did the first time I heard the tune over a decade ago. I still remember the most striking lyrics to me where, "How long shall they kill our prophets while we stand aside and look?" As I listened and reflected on those words I thought of the countless numbers of folk who have given the ultimate sacrifice for the cause of freedom in this country.

Today, forty-one years ago in Memphis, Tennessee, the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., was assassinated--another prophet killed. I was curious to see how would this day be treated by the mainstream media outlets, so I scanned the television to see what would be said, if anything at all. I was horrified to see that the two most advertised specials were the re-airing of CNN's "Eyewitness to Murder: The King Assassination" (which first aired last year) hosted by journalist Soledad O'Brien as part of the cable news station's "Black in America" series, which has drawn a great deal of my ire for its misguided attempts at promoting racial tolerance or inclusion. Additionally, I noticed that several news reports spoke about the release of some new photos from the day of Dr. King's assassination. Life magazine apparently has released thirteen new photos from that dreaded day.

I have just viewed the photos and I am profoundly frustrated. There is one very gruesome picture that shows a man cleaning up the blood from the balcony of the Lorraine Motel, and that image while graphic is very telling. King's memory been hijacked to mean one of two things: (1) a snippet of a speech that does not recount the first most revolutionary aspect where he declared, "America has defaulted on this promissory note insofar as her citizens of color are concerned," or (2) the fact that he was murdered, killed, assassinated...(whatever nomenclature you choose to use) on this day. Do we view King to bring him out twice a year to recall his grand oratory and strength of purpose like some kind of holiday ornament? What does his death and more importantly his life mean to us?

In his usual flare for making convoluted, problematic comments (like the one that Bill Clinton was more black than Barack Obama) Andrew Young mentioned that viewing the photos, "In Christian terms" Young proclaimed, "you know that after the cross there is the resurrection. In secular terms you learn to realize that without a storm there's no rainbows."

There are couple of things wrong here. Young is giving power to the pictures from the standpoint that you must see the death of King to understand his message and secondly, he is likening King to the Christ, which has not atypical of many in their recollections of the slain leader. Let me first say that I do not have a problem with the pictures as a remembrance of the horrors and evil of the human condition. They, like pictures of those whites who gathered to partake in the spectacle of lynching give us a sobering pause into the history of violence in this nation. My issue about viewing the pictures has more do to with how we contextualize them. In a voyeuristic world where we are inundated with images in the "twenty-four hour news cycle" we must be vigilant in our interpretation of our history.

Dr. King was a man first and foremost and full of the frailty and shortcomings that we all are, however, his courage in the face of insurmountable odds is worthy of celebration and honor. Although we must remember that when he spoke out against the Vietnam War, there were not a lot of people "celebrating" him--white or black. Dead men make such convenient heroes for the cowardly. Furthermore, it is not fair to King's legacy to even flirt with the type of messianism that Young is employing in his comments.

We should consider and concentrate our thoughts on WHY King was killed. He spoke truth to power. He placed himself squarely in the cross hairs of an assassin's bullet just one year to the day before his death when he delivered his most prophetic critique of the United States. The title of the speech was "Beyond Vietnam/A Time to Break Silence" and from the pulpit in Riverside Church in New York City he called the United States the "greatest purveyor of violence in the world today." That is still the case forty-one years later.

In a society where children are witness to any number of violent scenes, my thoughts center around how they view Dr. King and his death. While they enjoy the world of rainbows that Young thinks they reside in, is King's holistic message being transmitted and translated outside of a few posters, commercials, photos, buttons and documentaries? Those of us in the African American community must always ensure that his death is not diminished to a "flashbulb" moment where there is this gulf of disconnection that we saw illustrated with Jesse Jackson's comments directed at then Senator Obama mentioning that he wanted to castrate him. Jackson's visceral comments and even sadder crocodile tears at the inauguration give witness to the generational gap that persists between those who "marched with King" and those who would read his words and watch him through video a generation later.

In my study of history, I always have stressed to students (as my mentors have stressed to me) context. The contextualization of history is important. Children in schools all across this nation no matter what the color are introduced to African American history as one that begins in chains with no mention of the dignity and majesty of the cultures that transplanted Africans were stripped from. That type of teaching is incredibly powerful in the most destructive kind of way. Africans who were brought to these shores were men, women, and children who were human beings not chattel.

Similarly, Dr. King was not just some fallen hero who marched for so called civil rights, but indeed lived his life to help the dispossessed in America and abroad. In his historic "Beyond Vietnam" speech, King soberly pleaded, "

"Now let us begin. Now let us rededicate ourselves to the long and bitter, but beautiful, struggle for a new world. This is the calling of the sons of God, and our brothers wait eagerly for our response. Shall we say the odds are too great? Shall we tell them the struggle is too hard? Will our message be that the forces of American life militate against their arrival as full men, and we send our deepest regrets? Or will there be another message -- of longing, of hope, of solidarity with their yearnings, of commitment to their cause, whatever the cost? The choice is ours, and though we might prefer it otherwise, we must choose in this crucial moment of human history."

King's words ring ever true as President Obama has just made his first visit to Europe as the first black leader of a western nation. There is a fervor of anxiety, hope, and excitement that these nations are imbued with that must also take hold in our communities if we are to rise like a phoenix from the ashes of militarism, materialism, and racism.

As "Redemption Song" fades out and Marley strums the last few chords, I wonder how long will we let them continue to kill our prophets in our collective memory and do nothing. What we remember is just as important as how we remember. Marley reminds us, "Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery; None but ourselves can free our mind." How many of us are willing slaves that choose not to free ourselves and instead give into a society that would tell you how to remember and what to remember.

Lest we forget. Lest we forget.