Miley Cyrus Ain't Hardly Serious...STILL

REVISITING Buffoonery and Blackface in the 2nd Decade of the 21st Century

In the Summer of 2013 Miley Cyrus mande a big sensation with her twerking escapades. Justin Beiber, Miley, etc are the latest incarnations of BlackFace. It is a lot more covert in the 21st Century - just as most forms of racism - to serve the purpose of concealing it. Yet most important: to make folks of color look like paranoid, chip carrying blowhards. Cool, I get it...not going to stop me though.

Original Post:

This whole thing swirling around Ms Cyrus and the way she was behaving during this 'show', is just another wack take on the music industry's looong history of appropriating what they THINK is African American culture and putting it in a package that appeals to Caucasian male youth. Continuing the sick, sexist AND racist cycle; passing it down to yet another generation of Americans. As a woman of color, who learned culturally-based popular dance from Soul Train, to then watch it repackaged an sifted out sideways on American Bandstand a week later, I am not surprised at this baffonery. Home girl may as well have gone all-the-way-live and busted out in 'Black-Face'.

My boy from Maroon 5 says, "I've got the moves like Jagger." Well, where do you think Mr. Mick got his moves? Can you say, Chuck Berry, Little Richard and James Brown? Mick Jagger is not alone in his appropriation however. Musicians such as Dr. John, Bob Dylan and Peter Gabriel were all influenced heavily by Professor Lonhair and Robert Johnson.  This mooching of 'Black' and Continental African cultural style has been going on ever since Europeans discovered Africa, lol. On the one hand, they felt as though people of African descent were beneath them and uncivilized, yet they were fascinated by the so-called primitive's level of artistry in music and adornment techniques. In addition to their knowledge of agriculture and complex cosmology.

George Barnes "was a world-renowned swing jazz guitarist, who claimed he played the first electric guitar in 1931...George Barnes made the first recording of an electric guitar in 1938 in sessions with Big Bill Broonzy." ~WIKI

Mr. Barnes grew up in a suburb of Chicago's South side and spent many hours in the inner South Side area, where all the folks of color are, soaking up the Blues and Jazz.

"He started his professional career at the age of 12, when he received his musicians' union card, and toured throughout the Midwest. By the time he was 14, he was accompanying blues vocalists such as Big Bill Broonzy and Blind John Davis." ~WIKI

Now, during the time that the young teen Mr. Barnes played with them, both Mr. Broonzy & Mr. Davis did not have the provilage of being given musicians' union cards, since they were not welcome in any 'White' man's union at that time. They were stuggling to establish their careers while Mr. Barnes was on his way to stardom. Mr. Barne's is "world-renowned", whereas the two gentlemen that he developed his chops from are just codas in American musical history. Yet when the two gentlemen went to tour Europe in the late 40's through 1952, they were greeted with standing ovations and media accolades. They are still highly respected and well known in European Jazz music circles yet virtually unknown in their birth country. During the time Mr. Broonzy and Mr. Davis were on tour in Europe, many young ones like, Mick Jagger, Steve Winwood and other musicians of the 'British Invasion' were exposed to this music and promted to delve into it further.

Robert Johnson, Ma Rainey, Charle Patton, Big Bill Broonzy Blind John Davis inspired the next generation of Black performers like Berry, Little Richard and Fats Domino, who seized upon the introduction of the electric Guitar, incorporated the old Blues, injected it with the energy of the inner-city aesthetic and the struggle for equal rights. They turned it into something entirely new.

Out of this innovation and redefinition of African American cultural style and music sprung good ole Rock and Roll. Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Steve Windwood, Jimmy Page, Keith Richards and Eric Clapton have all said, in interviews throughout their career, that they were influenced accordingly by these 'new' musicians; in additon to Blues singer's like Bessie Smith, Jazz artists like Dizzy Gillespie and Early 'Motown' Soul music.  Miley Cyrus' performance is yet another generation sucking on the teat of African American culture.

The other issue in this otherwise irrelavent drama is her 'dancing'. The ridiculous choreography in her 'performance' only served to project her sexual immaturity rather than reflect any kind of Feminist expression. The silliness surrounding this yong lady is making it difficult for women who have consciously made the choice to be professional entertainers; Exotic & Burlesque performers and dancers.  Strong, confident and empowered women that not only enjoy what they do -- they take it very seriously as an art form.

Belly Dancing is an ancient art form -- as well as the sensual dance forms that are part of the Vedas' Kama Sutra & Tantra. I was s Modern, Jazz & Improvisational dancer as well as an Exotic dancer for over 14 years; a continuing Belly Dancer and, recently (the past 3 years), a Tantric dance practitioner. I am concerned about the escalation of this into the ridiculousness of minutia, such as the wrangling over grinding vs gyration and making issue of whether Ms C is making a "feminist statement" or not.

I have no judgement regarding a young woman of any age experimenting with Sensual Dance Forms yet someone under 25 would not have the Life experience to truly and fully express the power of this Divine Feminine activity. It appears that Ms. Miley doesn't either.

ORIGINAL ARTCLE
http://www.newstatesman.com/music-and-performance/2013/08/memo-miley-twerking-not-feminist-statement

REMEMBERING: Islan Nettles

Two and a half years ago I attempted to write a blog post regarding the murder of a transgender Human Being that I knew. I could not because it was so raw. The backlash of violence against young people of color over the past five years has demanded a revisit from me. because although the police were not involved directly, their lack of response was equivalent to covert abuse.

The original, intended post:

I knew Islan Nettles. She was a intelligent, articulate and accomplished young woman. She had her whole Life waiting for her and a career in the clothing design industry. Insead, she was beaten to the point of Death.

I am sick to my stomach because what the NYS media monsters failed to mention, in ALL of the articles I'd seen for an etire week, is that the incident happened RIGHT IN FRONT OF THE 148th Street POLICE STATION! If it was a citizen considered to be 'White' or Caucasian', they would have been there johnny-on-the-spot; all over the 'perps': feet on necks, knees on backs and gun barrels pushed up against temples and/or throats! The entire neighborhood put on lock-down until a perp was found.  The police materialize, it seems out of thin air, when they want to Stop and Frisk you for handing a friend $5 standing in front of your own dwelling (SIDE-NOTE: I thank DeBlasio for being serious about cracking down on this and not just using it as a campaign nibblet - yet, the police are hard nuts and are no giving it up easily). The people crying about NYC turning into the Wild, Wild West or some 'Mega-City' straight out of a Judge Dredd strip obviously don't live in the communities where this protocol is being abused at every level of policing.

The precinct I'm referring to, located on Frederick Douglass Blvd (8th Ave) between 147th & 148th streets, has a history of harassment & detention of young Latino and Black males. Question: tell me how a beating of that level, right in front of the precinct with cameras upon the roof, NOT catch at least ONE officer's attention? In addition to the ones installed on top of the traffic light poles at the intersections of 147th and 148th streets?  Answer: because, the police are worthless when it comes to doing anything that resembles real, sincere support in this community. A neighbor told me that they overheard a officer say, "If we hadn't of responded as quickyl as we did, it woulda been worse..." Excuse me but, last time I checkd: Death is about as bad as you can get. Ummm, maybe I'm wrong, eh?! What's really funny? The day after the tradgedy, I was on my way back home from a walk at around 9:00pm that evening. As I  passed the precinct, I noticed that there was a cop on patrol out front, casing the block. LOL!!!!!! I had  to find the irony; the humor, to keep myself from wringing that man's neck. It's the first time I've ever seen that in the 10 years I've lived here (on 8th Ave -- only a few blocks from the station). The lives of Black folks don't mean much in the US - esp. young males, women and those of alternative gender orientation...the levels of racism, sexism, gender bias and class snobbery in this country is sick, insane and detestable.

NEWS ARTICLE
http://tinyurl.com/m6cpb7l

Radioactive Wolves Of Chernobyl [Full Documentary]

Radioactive Wolves Of Chernobyl [Full Documentary] | Witness the perseverance and strength of Ghaia! In the shadow of Chernobyl, wildlife that was once hunted and scared away by Stalin's socialist, land clearing and urbanization is thriving, despite the high levels of radioactivity found in the bones of much of the wildlife, plants and water.

Paula Deen and Why So Many Southern Racists Don't Believe They're Actually Racists

Racism: the Collective American Neurosis that no one wants to hear about, especially from the people who suffer as a result of it the most.

In fact the title should be:  'Paula Deen and Why So Many AMERICAN Racists Don't Believe They're Actually Racists'

I have my moments of racism; even as it pertains to my own culture, LoL. It is ingrained in Americans from the cradle to the grave by the most beloved and sacred of our institutions. The educational system and religion being the top two.

The only way to heal a neurosis is through employing some of the protocols used in psychiatric therapy,such as: dialogue and opposite role identification.  The most important aspects of dealing with this monkey-on-the-collective-back is 1) there needs to be an acceptance of the existence of the problem ; 2) letting go of Fear and opening our Hearts; and 3) a willingness to heal.

Paula Deen and Why So Many Southern Racists Don't Believe They're Actually Racists   - from Pajiba.com By Dustin Rowles | Think Pieces | June 26, 2013 |

A comment made by one of the readers of this article and my response:

IngridToday said:

"Paula Deen admits to using the n-word when being held at gun point.... because that'll improve the situation.

I'm from the North and moved to the South for a short time. I was surprised how many people absolutely believe the Civil War was *not* about slavery. One person tried to tell me slavery wasn't that prevalent and another that black people were better off as slaves because they had free room and board. She seriously insisted that slavery ended because it was too expensive for the landowner.

Of course, I had also had some use the n-word and immediately say he -at twenty- he didn't know any better because he's from a small town."

My response:

Unfortunately, Ingrid Today, the Civil War wasn't about slavery as it's primary interest. The impetus for the North's disagreement with Chattel Slavery was motivated more by dollars-n-cents than by any moral inclinations. The primary issue was that the financiers of the Northern 'Union' states recognized that slavery was giving the Southern Republic states a greater economic advantage. Too many Southerner's families, in relation to their silver-spoon-mouthed counterparts up North, were stinking rich as a result of the Chattel Trade. Wealth = Economic Flexibility = Political Power. The kind of power that would have bought them the Presidency, as well as, the ears and socioeconomic clout of corruptible reps in the Senate and Congress. The kind that would situate them in a position to rule the economy and shut down the Federal Reserve Bank and the fate of gold & silver would be in the South's control. That's what made them scream so loud about slavery: they were terrified of the clout it gave the South.  If slavery had continued, for as little as 20 more years, we would be calling this country the Confederate States of America. This was more worrisome to folks up North than the freedom - or not - of some Black servants and workers. The North was just as racist as the South anyway. History bears that out. That is why so many 'freedmen' went either far North into Canada or South into Mexico; or the Caribbean.

The Glass IS Half Full; So What You Got Now?

 

Study Examines Children And Racism

"AC 360° study: African-American children more optimistic on race than whites"

This study (click on title under picture for article site) completely shuts down the offensive knee-jerk accusations, by too many Caucasians, that people of color are  the cause of their own stressful experiences in this oppressive and exclusionary society because they're always harping on race and have a negative way of perceiving how they are treated.

Every conversation I've ever engaged in, attempting to have an open and honest sharing of my experiences as a woman of color with Caucasian friends or acquaintances, eventually winds up as me being accused of being an angry Black woman with a chip on her shoulder. I am then presented with the aforementioned defensive stance. Yet, this study appears to be saying that people of color are optimistic about their place in this oppressive and exclusionary world, from childhood no less, and are actually NOT walking around with said chip.

Go figure! Yet, I can agree with this wholeheartedly and suggest that it makes perfect sense, this optimism. I will offer a reason why:  it is what holds me together; what makes it possible for me to persevere in the face of assimilating the murder, by police, of the tenth child in Harlem within a month's time. Or the Transitioning of yet another friend because of lax medical care -- yet mostly from the stress of being born a Black man or woman in America. And all that entails from crappy housing to shoddy medical care and education to unfair lending practices to being charged way more for everything just because you live in the 'Hood. Oh - and not being able to get a cab back uptown from down the way.  I don't know about you but after a night of dancing in the Village, I'm tired and would like to get home. Quick...and without hassle.
 
This optimism, in addition to a uniquely African American-style sense of extra-dry and in-your-face noir humor, is what enables us, as a community and wider culture, to full-throat laugh at ourselves and our stereotypical, neighborhood follies: the Latin King with his hair net tied tight around his head, pony-tail dangling down his neck, rolling a splif and serving sing-song Spanglish up on the Handball court. The Mexican kid shouting, "Yo hooooowmz, I got next!!", in the King's face; not giving a sh$t about the blade in my man's pocket. The 'Chicken-Head Hoe' and the 'Wine-o' both hustling on the corner in front of the Bodega. The Young-Blood Bro riding in a pimped out Jeep with stainless spin-wheels and Old Skool Hip-Hop blasting crazy-boom bass.  The Latinas in the park with their toddlers round 144th, mixin' their milk shakes and spillin' them out of tight halter tanks to some soft-porn Reggaeton; the Pais' and Ese's on the basketball court lapping it up with their eyes. The Church-Lady in the 100th store-front church, fanning herself on the bench, hollering 'Aaaaaamennnn' and suddenly breaking into her 'Gettin the Spirit' dance. Or the Preacher, spitting Hell-Fire and Brimstone into the microphone...

After everything we've been through over the past 500 years as a culture; we are STILL HERE -- and still half-way sane. Not for nothin: the survival of my own experiences speaks to an unbridled optimism. Hell, a silver-spoon fed Upper Mountain Avenue boi would have offed himself a looong time ago. LOL!

So, now that we are clear on the fact that we Blacks, in fact, see the glass as half-full, what is it going to be now that this harping on race, negative perception is no longer a feasible defense for covert racism?

POLICE VIOLENCE IN UNION SQUARE PARK EAST

Today in Union Square Park a woman was excitedly talking to a friend.  Two police officers came up to her and said "Take it down Miss, you're talking too loud." Now no on else in the park was disturbed by this woman, only the police seemed to annoyed with her.  She confronted them with her assessment of the situation and basically told them they had no right to be approaching her in that way because she was not breaking any laws.  They told her to shut the hell up or they would place her under arrest.  She reminded them that there was no female officer present to perform this threatened arrest.  They told her to shut up once again.  This time referring to her as a 'bitch' for emphasis.  They got on the radio and called a supervisor.  We were all stunned yet we figured they were calling for a female cop.  Another man showed up, the supervisor.  They all put on these black gloves and proceeded to wrestle her to the ground - all three of them. One had her arms pulled behind her so tightly she was screaming. Another stamped his foot on her back and kept it there. And still another had his boot on the side of her face.  It was her face sandwiched between the pavement and his boot.

Everyone in the vicinity watching this was shocked and outraged at the treatment of this woman yet these neanderthals cursed at the crowd and ordered it disbursed.  They attempted to grab a guy who was video capturing the entire incident before they pulled her up from the ground and dragged her literally kicking and screaming to the squad car.  Yet, he was able to elude them and continue capturing all the way to the police car.  He came back and said they nearly gave her a concussion trying to put her in the car and slammed the door on her foot.  

I was hoping to find the video this gentleman captured on U-Tube but a search yielded everything but that. Yet, I did find a whole slew of police brutality and assaults caught on camera from various areas of this country.

What kind of society are we participating in? 

 

How are you recreating it inside AND outside of your communities?

BLACK YOUTH: IT'S OPEN SEASON & I'M DONE!

I'm done with this open season on Black youth and the SILENCE from communities outside of the inner cities! TOTALLY!  Done-done-done-done-done!

I'm coming un-done, actually, and gearing up for getting in-your-face with this one, so get ready.

This is MY blog.  Now, screw Spirituality and f^k changing my perception.  Yo, I'll change mine when you change yours,  'white folks' -- how about that one!? Yup, I am getting seriously wicked and rubbing sand paper all over you -- I don't  care how you feel about my attitude. You certainly don't give a sh!t about what's happening ALL OVER the USA to people  with excess melanin in their skin.  People who look like me.

Let this level of violence start being perpetrated against Jewish young people or any youth considered 'White'.  Y'all  would have the phone's faxes, laptops, desktops and cell phones burnt up from Obama's office to the Pentagon.   Especially Obama!! You'd be railing: he'd be cross-nailed, tarred & feathered then drawn & quartered.  There would be  Emails, FB and Twitter posts shared up the router's a$$!

STOP.  Stop lying, you know you would.  I've seen you do it for freeking ANIMALS!

We are human beings!!

Last summer, a 'white' couple in Virginia got their door busted in by police and the husband was arrested. Jeeze - the  posts and shares on FB were insane and the views and comments on the U-Tube video were off the hook!  Bashing the  cops and oh - the sympathy for those poor folks.  The ishnit was even hopping in the European media!! Hey - it should  have been, of course, the police violated their civil rights.  All I'm saying is:  when it comes to people who don't look like  you or live in your neighborhood, where is your incredulousness and your raised voices to the heavens?

Alright, I do understand the problem is that 'white folks' have this guilt thing and they say "I don't want to hear about it anymore."

Uhm. As if they ever did in the first place?

Point in fact, a CBS Online follow up article regarding the police shooting of 18 year old Ramarley Graham  'Family of Slain Bronx Teen Shot By Narcotics Officer Rallies For Justice'


Here's some of the comments:

texxx:

"HEY NICCAS DON’T FREAKIN RUN FROM THE POLICE….

WE HAVE NO SYMPATHY FOR YOU RAMARLEY….YOU SCREWED UP

Graham’s mother has admitted that her son smoked marijuana and that he was chased by a narcotics officer."

All I can say is f^k you TEXXX. Triple X, eh? Damn perv. Or maybe you think you're a Vin Diesel kinda guy. Screw you none-the-less TEXXX!

I guess wiggers, slackers and 'white' college kids DON'T smoke weed.  Get the hell outa here, man.  They smoke all day  long at the Strawberry Fields area of Central Park, here in NY.  However, there isn't a overwhelming police presence  breathing down their necks while they hang out in the park.  The 'white' kids in my building by weed right outside, in the  front, where my Boi sells it every day and then they make their way up the hill to the A train. Yet, the Black youth get the  Stop and Frisk treatment on general principal - NOT the 'white kids.  If you stop enough people, well, eventually you're  gonna catch someone with a joint in their wallet, right? And off they go to the precinct - or maybe they run because they  don't want to get kicked out of school or in trouble with Mom.  Or they don't want to get roughed up by those cops (which  happens routinely when they are 'arresting' someone in my community). But oh, they're NOT supposed to have a normal  human reaction, right? 

This kind of BS is reminiscent of those psuedo-sciences and their claims of Blacks not having the same kinds of emotions at whites, etc., that began with Carl Linnaeus in the early 18th century with his Craniometry. And  Friedrich Hegel, who said, "Africa is no historical part of the world." Hegel further claimed that Blacks had no "sense of  personality; their spirit sleeps, remains sunk in itself, makes no advance, and thus parallels the compact,  undifferentiated mass of the African continent. Christoph Meiners split mankind into two divisions, which he labelled the  "beautiful White race" and the "ugly Black race".  Coincidentally, there was an article in the May 2011 Psychology Today  titled “Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?”  THIS IS IN THE 21ST CENTURY!  {middle  finger raised to laptop screen}

Here's another in denial dumb-a$$ commentary:

Edde:

"At the end, what their looking for is Money, which they will most likely get, but, true, an innocent person would not run  from the police.

As to the death, that appears from all reports to be an accident, I can only assume, their was a brief struggle in that  bathroom, Officer had his weapon out, gun discharged accidentally.

If this were a person crossing on the street and a car hit and killed him, it would be ruled an accident, insurance would  payout for the fatality, which would not amount to the amount they will be suing the City for."

WTF? Comparing a car to a GUN? I get it EDDIE: you are a moron!  

Police officers go through specific ONGOING training  protocols to learn how to use a gun AND to apprehend and arrest people in high-anxiety situations.  You go through a  few hours of driving school and take a test - ONCE - to get a license for driving a car. And you can get a driver's license  as young as 16 in most states. And most folks don't even follow the rules of the road, like sticking your hand out the  window and pointing when you're making a left turn into a intersection.

NO COMPARISON you bass-ackwards fool!

Let's see what else I can dish up for you.  How about this insensitive bore?:

Glenn Erdmann:

"Your son would be alive if he was not smoking weed and he did NOT run from a narcotics officer. Next."

Let me find out ...  Yo, my man, I'll make sure the NEXT thing you experience is my spit in your eyes.

What is this harping on the weed and his running?  Lots of people smoke weed.  And, he's a Black kid in the Hood.   People who don't live in The Hood don't experiences the same BS we deal with in our communities. You have NO CLUE  as to what it's like and are speaking on something you do not have a reference for.  To top it off: you don't even consider taking a moment of your time to understand it or learn more about it. Yet, you'll Google Animal Abuse all afternoon at  your desktop on your job when you should be WORKING.

The last comment was by an arse called 'Joe', who posted a 2 minute and 29 second U-Tube video of some Islanders  players beating up on a couple of Rangers, on the ice, during a game.  Very intelligent metaphore, Joe. Gotta give it to  you for originality, my man...

Now, in Florida, they have a 'Stand Your Ground Law', where you can perpetrate deadly force against someone if you feel threatened by them.  You are not required to retreat first.  Now this young man, Treyvon Martin was being followed by this so-called  'Neighborhood Watch' captain.  The guy was profiling the kid.  Now, my question is why was it wrong for the young man to feel threatened?  The man following the young man claims the kid jumped at him. Well, why could this kid not implement the 'law'?  If you were being followed by some strange guy you would have a serious problem with that, right?  But it's okay for the 'Captain' to shoot to kill. A stinking pile of bull crap! 

The following WEB link is a FOX News ONline follow up story.  Most of the second video is garbled and it gets cut off at the end - how lame - they didn't even bother to make sure it was produced  properly.  Another example of how Black issues are minimized, marginalized and/or outright discredited.  Dissed by omission.

Both videos have 3 newscasters and all of them are 'white.  We all know they could have had a person of color on that panel. Especially since they attempted to discuss the street violence in inner-city communities.  One of them asked her  colleague why this case is getting so much attention when there is so much violence in 'these' neighborhoods on a consistent basis.  WTF would she know about it?  However, I'll address it because I live in one of 'those' neighborhoods.
'Trayvon Martin: Florida March Protests Teen's Shooting Death Want Justice & Prevention' 

Who allows guns to flood into our communities?  Who lets the drugs get off the boats and airplanes into the community?   Who sanctions liquor licenses to sell wines and spirits? Certainly not me or the folks who live here. Yet we are blamed  and judged for the results of these allowances.  This kind of overflow of contraband and liquor is not present in the suburbs and affluent communities of the US.  The only place the same kind of activity can be seen is in rural 'white'  communities and the reservations of the First Peoples Nations.  The bayous, backwoods and trailer parks of poor 'white' America are filled with petty crime, drugs, alcoholism, sexual and criminal violence.  Yet they are not judged with the same rod as Black folks and Native Americans;  noses aren't being stared down in those 'white folk's' streets and homes.  Yet the behavior is similar:  the neurosis of economic oppression and exclusion.  However, we people of color have a extra bonus demerit by virtue of being - of color - therefore ostracized and not worthy of consideration when violence is perpetrated in our communities by police or 'white folks' who are scared or wary of us.  Yet - I'm not supposed to be scared of a cop chasing me down or some strange 'white' guy following me without cause.

Stupid ishnit.

I think you are getting my point, Brothas & Sistas.  And I am hoping that the 'white folks' who happen to read this are as done with me as I am with their silence.

So, there it its 'whitey': your Crash Course In The Hood.

~This is CrashHood, signing off from this brain-bash; tasked with blowing your wig back... and hoping to be done with this garbage perpetrated on a daily in The Hood sometime soon.  
====================================================

MUST READS:

Racism is ingrained in US! It's rampaged about our society through several  institutions:  Religion, Sociology, Politics and Evolutionary Science.  In  order to understand the present numb and dumb reaction to Black issues by ordinary, 'average Joe' Americans, one  must check the history.  

'Psuedo-Science and Race'   http://www.math.buffalo.edu/mad/special/pseudoscience-race.html

AND  how it effects the PRESENT:

“Why Are Black Women Less Physically Attractive Than Other Women?” 
- Psychology Today, May 2011
http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/why-black-women-are-less-physically-attractive-tha

"Ugly" Black Woman?

The NYPD shoots another nigga -- the third one this week. 

Ask me if I'm surprised at this. No.  I am a bit perturbed about the response from the residents of NYC, tho.  Damn!  Let these mofo's start killing white kids left and right -- especially Jewish kids -- and see what happens. Yeah: I'm going off but right about now I'm not feeling very 'Spiritual' about this.  Give me a few hours, I'll be okay but at this moment I need to have the space to be angry and get ill about it. So F&ck you if you think I'm being racist or anti-semetic or WHATEVER! To read the article CLICK HERE.

In the inner cities of America: POLICE ARE HAZARDOUS THE THE HEATH AND WELL-BEING OF YOUNG BLACK MALES! PERIOD.

What's Obama Got To Do With It? We Need To Step Up To the Plate.

A FB Note originally written on April 26, 2011:

Several incidents over the past two weeks has reminded me, once more, about the fact that so much has been and will remain the same in communities of color. The election of an African American man seems to have served the purpose of putting folks further into the comfort zone of denial. The facts are that the same program still remains in place for people in communities of color. Many with new faces but the intentions and outcomes are the same. The continuation and escalation of violence, exclusionary tactics (called Jim Crow in the late 1800s), under education and unemployment, to name only a few.


I passed a small rally on the way back from the post office in from of PS173 on 8th avenue and 149th street on Friday. Students and teachers were calling attention to the takeover of a charter school board that they graciously allowed to take space on the 3rd floor of the school. The board renovated the space putting in marble tiles, updated computer systems and state of the art educational tools and furniture. The public school in the remainder of the building is still using furniture from the 1950s and -60s and has to fight for basic supplies. This charter school board is now trying to lobby Mr. Klein to allow them to take over the entire school and push the public school children and their families out. This very same story happened last year with a school around the corner from me on 144th street between 7th/8th avenues called Countee Cullen. I did some volunteer work for them and they eventually beat back the vultures. I exchanged info with a couple of teachers from PS173 and told them I would get contact info for them so they can find out how C. Cullen handled their business with the city and charter corp. that wanted to wholesale snatch their school. I did some research in other inner cities throughout the US and this appears to be a new tactic for excluding children in certain neighborhoods and income brackets (which boils down to children of color being in the majority). A Google search came up with a myriad of articles on takeovers by mayors, charter school boards and private sector groups from Pennsy, Michigan, Milwaukie, LA, Chicago, etc.; an article in the Independent detailing the rise in occurrences (http://www.indypendent.org/2010/01/29/taking-the-public-out/); and loads of studies detailing the basic formula for these takeovers, how they hide under the auspices of "No child left behind", etc. This stuff is no different from the segregation tactics of the mid 1950s thru 60s, it's just slicker like many of the oppressive, exclusionary racist policies that have been resurfacing across the socio-economic spectrum. They are designed to make the greater, privileged society think things are cool when the folks who have to live it continue to see the same treatment their grandparents and parents endured.

In the area of the justice ("in-just-us") system I continue to see constant police violence, manipulation and abuse of power. Last week a 86 year old woman was beaten nearly to death during a 'routine' investigation of a 14 year old boy, who happened to be her grandson, and had her residence listed as 'last know address'. The boy was implicated in a shop-lifting incident at a local bodega where some milk and other items were taken. They wanted to know his whereabouts and proceeded to beat the info out of her. Last night, on the corner of 145th street and 7th avenue, a block from where I reside, a mentally impaired young man - wearing a medical bracelet AND chain indicating this fact - was beaten unconscious and placed in the back of the squad car. With his head hanging out of the door and his eyes lolling, they attempted to close the door. A bystander had to yell at them in order to prevent the door being closed against his head. The gentleman was threatened with arrest. Another bystander, recording the entire incident, was wrestled with so that the officer could confiscate his cell phone. Others created a diversion and the gentleman was able to flee. Friends of mine who live in a building overlooking the area were able to see the entire incident clearly and relayed the story to me. The beaten young man's girlfriend, who is also mentally challenged but higher functioning (the young man cannot speak) tried to get the police to understand that they had the wrong guy. The person they were looking for left a bodega and instead of confronting him outside the establishment as he was leaving, the officers followed the 'suspect' for a few blocks. He somehow ended up walking in front of the young man and his girlfriend and they mistook the young man for the other guy. (??) Two days ago some friends of mine were playing chess at 145th street Park when several officers approached them, lined them up against the fence and proceeded to check them and the entire line of tables for alcohol. Folks had beer and small wine bottles IN BAGS not open to view yet somehow tickets were issued for having open containers of alcohol to the folks who had beers only. The summer hasn't even started yet. I can only imagine how it's going to be out there this simmer: constant harassment. We are adults and many who relax at the game tables are veterans yet we are not afforded the right to enjoy sitting in the park without being harassed about petty garbage. Folks on the street, in front of their residences or bodegas are being approached by police when they display any kind of hand to hand exchange. Some of these incidents end up in violence, abuse or with the person being arrested. The case is dismissed, of course but that person's time was wasted and their life was disrupted. Young boys 10-12 and 13-14 are being chased down and thrown to the ground.- for taking silly crap like potato chips. I saw a young man no older than 14 with three grown police men on top of him and one standing with his foot on the boy's back! They are starting folders on children as young as 9-10 years old for stuff that we've all done as kids - silly stuff like jumping the turn-style or climbing the pool fence and going swimming when it's closed. Police are getting 'collars' for this kind of thing in our neighborhoods!

I have experienced profiling and unwarranted searches myself and was arrested once for trespassing in my place of residence. I stayed overnight in jail just to have my case dismissed. At 12% of the population, African Americans make up 80% of the incarcerated with Latinos right behind them. The unemployment rate in NYC is 54% for Africa American males and cities across the US post similar percentages (this kind of disparity hasn't changed since the enactment of co-called civil rights laws).

Racism and it's results effect folks on a daily -- contrary to what others who do not experience living in black, brown or yellow skin (unfortunately that is the criteria to which the majority of people in this society view other human beings) may want to believe, it has never stopped. Since Jim Crow was enacted at the end of the 19th century to this day -- it has been the same deal for people in my communities.

It won't stop until those who are placed in that category referred to as privileged have the courage to change their paradigm and remove the blinders of denial. And I do not mean rich people, politicians or those who have stolen power. I am referring to the folks who live outside these neighborhoods and who have been afforded, by the afore mentioned political structures, to partake of certain benefits by virtue of the arbitrary connotation of a class and race called 'upper middle class' and 'white'. This silent majority, in tandem with the struggling classes, has the ability to reshape the current socio-economic structure into a more feasible and equitable existence. We just need you to take the self imposed blindfold off, remove the gag from your mouth and step up to the plate.

HOOD STORIES: Series I - La Bodega 

-- My daughter's partner, in a NJ 'hood goes to the store. Police are coming hears a racing police car as it rolls up on the sidewalk and halts at the store's entrance. So, her man walks away from the counter apprehensively, like most young men of color living in the 'hood, and he leaves the store. The store owner rushes out yelling, "Yo, man you forgot your cookies." Her partner could give to $hits about those cookies, "I'm gonna just keep walkin', I'll be alright...just keep walking". Why popo rolled up on the sidewalk in front of the store, where children could have been coming out and been hit, is one more example of the disrespect people in inner cities have to endure from those sworn to protect and serve.