Should Canada Accept Trudeau’s Apology?

by with 3 Comments CultureFeaturedInternational

Blackface, brownface, any face other than your own is wildly offensive. Maybe we can take solace in the fact that nobody is doing it today (at least we hope not), and every time it comes up it’s an old photo or from someone’s high school yearbook. But, when you consider the photo or yearbook is fairly recent (2001 recent), and not from the early 1900s, you still have to pause. Most of these images appear to be at parties where, of course, none of the Black or Brown people being portrayed are present.

The most recent brownfacer is Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who decided to do it at a party at a private school… where he was teaching. Yeah. At the time, Trudeau was 29-years-old, not necessarily the high school kid in the Deep South who claimed not to know better. Similar to all who get exposed in this act, he followed the textbook response, whether genuine or not he immediately apologized. He also just began his re-election campaign which makes the timing of such news awful.

If you’re a person of color in Canada, if you’ve supported Trudeau in the past, do you continue to support him? Victims of racism, usually minorities with Black or Brown skin, have grown weary of Black and Brownface, as well as monkeys and other animals and caricatures used to mock them. Images often from the 21st century. Excusing such behavior, especially from adults like Trudeau, is unacceptable.

Will Trudeau be forced to pay a debt to society, will he be forced to reconcile his past other than a quick apology? Probably not, and therein lies the problem. Rarely are politicians or those in positions of power made to make amends for their racist behavior, and if society and global communities are ever going to improve, that has to change.

Similar Read: Press Play & Focus on the Future

Fantasy Firearms… Could a Black Panthers Movement Save the Nation?

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedGun Debate

Roughly two weeks ago, on August 31st, 2019, another mass shooting took place in the cities of Midland and Odessa Texas. It was the second incident in Texas for the month of August 2019, and at the time of this writing, the week of September 8th, 2019, there have been 289 mass shootings in the United States thus far. For those who wonder what defines a mass shooting… the Gun Violence Archive defines a mass shooting as “a single incident in which four or more people, not including the shooter, are “shot and/or killed” at “the same general time and location.”

289… think about that. We as a nation have experienced MORE mass shootings (289) in the calendar year of 2019 so far than actual days (September 8th is the 251st day of the calendar year).

After each shooting; there are a couple of days of “gun control” “banning assault weapons” “mental health issues” blah blah… then a few days later back to whatever we were talking about before. Right now, the Texas shootings are long gone from the headlines, and now it’s back to Antonio Brown’s NFL saga, Hurricane Dorian (the Hurricane Trump thought it was heading for Alabama), and fantasy football… which is fitting… because it’s a fantasy for anyone who truly cares about gun violence in this nation to think anything will actually change.

So, what could cause a reaction from policymakers so dreadful they would immediately apply true prudent measures to gun ownership? 

To paraphrase comedian Dave Chappelle on his on Netflix special Sticks & Stones… there’s only one way to change gun laws and it’s for Black and Brown people to sign up in mass for gun licenses and ownership.

Let me explain via US history with two incidents in the 1960s…

August 1965 – Los Angeles

“Watts Riot” – Took place from August 11th to 16th, due to a police brutality incident against a pregnant woman. Immediately afterwards, the Los Angeles Police Department created “SWAT” or “Special Weapons and Tactics” designed to handle urban unrest, rioting, or widespread violence. In other words, a military level response to unruly and armed Black people.

1967 – California

The Mulford Act was enacted to repeal a California law that allowed the public carrying of loaded firearms. The bill was introduced by Republican Don Mulford, from Oakland, who wrote the bill as a response to seeing armed Black Panther members conducting patrols in Oakland.

The aforementioned acts in California would be duplicated on many municipal, state, and federal levels. The common trend… a response to armed and angry Black people.

So, what does that mean?

It means that if the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook, in which dozens of White kids were killed, didn’t cause anyone to blink an eye about our gun violence issues… then nothing else would… except the usual US history protection of White fear against a perceived Black threat. Yes, it was a joke made by Dave Chappelle, but the thought of legally armed Black people, immigrants or Muslims, or all three… OH MY!!! It would be the ultimate reason and motivation, again, to draft laws to vet gun ownership and curb gun production and sales.

Similar Read: MLK: Bankrupt Justice 

I Can Hardly Remember A Time When Reports of Mass Shootings Weren’t a Regular Occurrence

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedGen Z

The first time I remember being informed of a mass shooting occurring was on December 14th 2012, the day that Adam Lanza opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary School. I was twelve years old, sitting in my living room, viewing the news coverage with my mom. I remember crying, and her asking me if I was crying out of fear of something similar happening at my school. My response was, “No, this is all just really sad.”

Seven years later, and I still experience the same feelings of sadness when I hear the news of yet another mass shooting occurring. However, reports of mass shootings have become so frequent that it would be impossible for me to remember how I reacted to the news coverage of each one, which is not okay. Sadly, many people are way past the point of caring and become more and more desensitized after the story breaks. After receiving so many breaking news reports that a mass shooter has opened fire in various locations, some people are able to shrug and move on, which is the kind of complacency that NRA members and the lawmakers they support are counting on. Despite their indifference and inaction, the repetitive loss of life at the hands of mass shooters is not something to be normalized. Active shooter drills are not normal. Students being given bulletproof backpacks as they venture off into high school is not normal. Students fearing that their lives will be cut short if someone were to enter their place of learning with a gun (whether it be an elementary, middle, high school or a college campus) is not normal.

The treating of mass shootings as if they are inevitable is where a majority of my frustration comes from. Lawmakers ignore the issue, offering “thoughts and prayers” and visiting locations in the aftermath of shootings, while refusing to actually do something by utilizing their power to create structural change that could prevent so many of these tragedies. In New Zealand, the Prime Minister worked to prohibit access to semi-automatic weapons weeks after a mass shooting took place. In Australia, 35 people were killed at the hands of a semi-automatic weapon, and twelve days after the shooting, Australia’s Prime Minister announced a number of changes to their gun laws: “High-caliber rifles and shotguns were banned, licensing was tightened, a “buy-back” scheme took some 650,000 guns out of circulation and remaining firearms were registered to national standards.” These are just two examples of leaders swiftly taking action to protect its’ citizens from senseless gun violence. America has done nothing like this. 

In addition to policy changes, an end to mass shootings cannot be brought without addressing two of the often-ignored factors that contribute to it: misogyny and racism. Many women—myself included—fear being gunned down for rejecting men, and way too many women have been. Black Americans get gunned down by police on a regular basis. The Charleston shooting that took place in 2015, the 2018 shooting at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, and the recent shooting in El Paso were all motivated by White Supremacy. (When you include the intersection of marginalized identities, the issue becomes even more dire). Mental illness, rap music, and video games are just a few things that have been used as scapegoats to avoid addressing these factors and doing the work to dismantle the systems that allow them to persist.

While I can hardly remember a time in my life where reports of mass shootings were not a regular occurrence, my hope is that the next generation won’t. While I’ll continue to advocate for comprehensive gun reform, I’d be lying if I said the feeling of hopelessness didn’t affect me. Countless lives have been lost; countless people have been traumatized—so honestly, what else is there to say that hasn’t already been said? What can be done to undo the years of damage that has been done by the normalization to mass shootings in the U.S.? Who else has to die before change comes? 

Similar Read: Bulletproof Backpacks, a 2019 Back-to-School Essential?

Corporate Social Justice, by Jay-Z

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We look up to our heroes… our athletes, entertainers, those who make it out. Society has deemed us only worthy of certain achievements, so when one of us reaches a certain level… it’s hard to admit, personally or publicly, when that person has messed up, or even worse, compromised their values for personal gain.

Obama was the first Black president. And because he was the first, he can do no wrong. I’m sure you’ve heard this argument before… from the loyal Obama supporter who’s willing do dismiss all reasonable logic when it comes to his presidency… just because he was the first.

Jay-Z is viewed by many in a similar light. He’s a billionaire. The first hip-hop artist to ever reach that status. He set the Blueprint, literally, for millions of innercity youth throughout the country. He’s loved and respected for it, and like Obama, for many, he can do no wrong.

But so exists the Obama supporter and the Jay-Z fan who can also call BS when they see it. If you’re a true fan, you’ve earned the right to criticize your heroes when they do unheroic shit. 

So when Jay-Z announced a Roc Nation partnership with the NFL to co-produce their halftime shows moving forward with a social justice campaign caveat attached to it, many people applauded the move, but just as many scratched their head and asked why. It’s a legitimate question, and I think the answer rests with his new corporate partner, the National Football League.

Let’s be honest, the NFL has blackballed Colin Kaepernick. It’s no longer about kneeling, because it if was Eric Reid and Kenny Stills who continue to kneel, wouldn’t have a job. This is about principal, and the NFL owners have decided to not sign him and hold firm to that position. While Kaepernick is not without fault, mainly for choosing to settle his collusion case and for signing a lucrative endorsement deal with Nike, you can make the argument that he did what he was sent to do, which was create a movement worthy of discussion and dialogue.

MLK and Malcolm were assassinated for their convictions. Someone inevitably had to pick up the torch to continue their movements. While Kaep is not a traditional Civil Rights leader, nor do I believe he’s striving to be, he’s still alive and well… it’s hard to justify the advancement of his movement without him being a part of it, especially when you’re set up to get a fat check in the process. For many, that’s common sense, and for others, they’re convinced that Jay-Z has a plan and we should give it time to develop. But you see, that’s not how social justice works.

If we appreciate anything about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and true social justice, it should be The Letter from Birmingham Jail he wrote in 1963 in response to eight white religious leaders of the South who questioned his visit to Birmingham, Alabama. If we just trust King’s intuition and grace in a moment of great contention and perceived controversy in America, we quickly realize that the “wait and see” strategy has never worked for oppressed communities.

“For years now I have heard the word “wait.” It rings in the ear of every Negro with a piercing familiarity. This “wait” has almost always meant “never.” We must come to see with the distinguished jurist of yesterday that “justice too long delayed is justice denied.”” – MLK 

So again, why should we wait, continue to wait, and trust that Jay-Z’s social justice campaign will deliver… with not even a blueprint or list of action steps? We shouldn’t.

The NFL wins big with this partnership. They get one of the best entertainers in the world to manage their Super Bowl halftime shows (which frankly have been hit or miss.) And more importantly, this entertainer happens to be Black and perceived to have a lot of leverage within the Black community. What better way to win back the good graces of many of their Black fans than partnering with one of their biggest heroes.

To make things even worse, we find out that Jay has been working on this deal for a year. If this social justice campaign was intended to be impactful, why wouldn’t they at least highlight the objectives of the campaign when they announced the partnership? Are communities of color expected to wait and see what the campaign entails?

Jay chose income over community, personal gain over values, and he’s paying the price for it. A week later and we’re still waiting on any details regarding this social just campaign. We can’t afford to wait… on the NFL, or Jay-Z.

Pointing Fingers

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedGen Z

There is a monster within our midst. This monster was born and bred in the Land of the Free, fed from the bosom of bigotry, and taught how to survive by means of trigger happy fingers. Now that the monster is running amok, we are quick to point fingers at each other. Did you know that when you’re pointing the blame at someone or something else, there are three fingers pointed back at yourself? 

This monster has been taking the form of mass shootings, which have unfortunately become endemic in the United States. From theaters to parks to schools to nightclubs to Walmarts to downtown night scenes, gun violence has become increasingly more pervasive and its reach keeps extending. It continues to take over any and all remaining safe spaces, if people even feel safe here anymore. 

On the first Sunday of August, many lives were threatened and many lives were claimed. 

Patrick Crusius, a 21-year-old White man, traveled 600 miles from his hometown of Allen, TX to El Paso, to this Walmart. It is inarguable that he was a man on a mission to “get as many [Mexicans] as he [could]”. Given that El Paso is comprised of roughly 80% Mexican and Latinx, it is accurate to deem this as a hate crime. Crusius allegedly posted a “manifesto” on a dark website, 8chan, which includes strong anti-immigrant sentiments. 

Authorities reported that Crusius unabashedly confessed to this crime, saying “I’m the shooter”. Crusius is being charged with capital murder, but it is still uncertain whether he will be charged for this mass shooting as a hate crime. According to The NY Times, authorities are still looking for a definitive link between the manifesto on 8chan and Crusius. If they are to find it, then they may prosecute him for the shooting being either an act of domestic terrorism or being a hate crime. Personally, I don’t understand how it can’t be both. 

There are people who claim that this rhetoric sounds like President Trump’s election and re-election campaign, which both contain antagonistic views of immigrants, legal and illegal. This is finger-pointing. We are looking for someone to blame for this and Trump fits the mold, close enough. 

In Dayton, OH, Connor Betts finally got to enact his desire of becoming a mass shooter. Betts had expressed his desire to be a mass shooter since he was in high school. According to his old classmates, all he talked about was guns, extreme violence, and his “hit list.” This list was divided into two sections: a kill list for guys and a rape list for girls. With someone as vocal as he was about his intents, it begs to question why there was no further action taken against him. Betts had been a ticking time bomb since he was a high school student so I want to know how we could have given him the chance to explode. 

Something’s got to give. 

On Monday, August 5th, President Trump addressed these tragic events. While his sincerity could be called into question, if we focused on what he said, there is still a bone to pick with it. He blames violent video games and the internet for corrupting the minds of youths like Crusius and Betts. He also blames these violent acts on mental illness. Trump wants to start putting Red Flag Laws into effect through a bipartisan effort so that we can prevent arming “mentally ill monsters” in the future. Mental illness, video games, and the internet can be factors in decisions and intents such as these, but they are not the blame for them. 

Trump is pointing fingers at other reasons for these tragedies, but his remaining three fingers point at how he seems undecided about whether he’ll protect the people or the second amendment rights, how he feels there’s an influx of immigrants that are ruining our “great” country and making America lose its identity, and how his words and actions can be construed as misogynistic and racist. During his presidency, racist and sexist agendas have become more forthright. If our president can do and say these things, why can’t we the people do the same? 

One thing that stuck with me from Trump’s address is how mass shootings have steadily increased since Columbine twenty years ago. This increasing frequency needs to be stopped so innocent lives won’t be taken. This needs to stop now, but what would the solution look like? 

I like the idea of running background checks on individuals who are looking to purchase a firearm. It is certainly tedious work, similar to getting clearances for a new job, but this extra work can ensure that individuals like Crusius and Betts do not get their trigger happy fingers on them. This can be invasive, and it surely wouldn’t be infallible, but it would be a move in the right direction.  

The second amendment grants us the right to bear arms, and by placing the gun market under stricter supervision, it can be seen as an infringement of this right. I don’t see how we can more strictly regulate the sale and resale of firearms in America whilst remaining completely faithful to our second amendment right. However, as the saying goes, you can’t make everyone happy. 

I also like the idea of raising the age from 18 to 21; however, it is ridiculous to enforce because we are allowed to enlist in the army at the age of 18. We’ll be handling guns at 18, home and overseas, but will not be able to purchase them upon our return if we enforce a policy like this. 

Change is a ripple effect and it doesn’t happen immediately. Decisions have to be made in order for change of some sort to occur. We won’t know if it’s a bad decision or a good one if we don’t put forth the effort. President Trump is pushing for us to put our political differences aside because we need to stand together to make change. We need to relinquish ourselves of this monster we’ve created in the hopes of being and feeling safe within our own country. 

Similar Read: Gun Control: Could It Be That Easy?

Dancing With the Devil… A Brooklyn Perspective on Gun Violence

by with 3 Comments CultureFeatured

[This is the third installment of a three-part series on American gun violence. Read part one here and part two here.]

“You ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?”

This is the iconic question that The Joker, played by the legendary Jack Nicholson, posed to his victims in Tim Burton’s 1989 film, Batman. You see, what The Joker is asking Bruce is if he’s ever wrestled with fate. Moreover, did that tangle with fate deliver grief and sorrow to his life experience.

I sure have danced with that devil in the pale moonlight.

Late in the summer of 2011, I ventured out with my roommate to Queens (NY) on a school night in an attempt to lift his spirits as he was dealing with a breakup. I offered to be the designated driver for the night so he could take his mind off the emotions of the breakup and have a good time.

Coming out of the club that morning, as fate would have it, my roommate began to say that there were Angels all around us and that he could see them. I affirmed his vision to appease him and wondered to myself how much he had to drink. Seconds later each of us had the barrels of loaded guns pressed against our torsos. Our initial response was to push the guns away, to which our assailants threatened that they would shoot us. They stole our jewelry and then ran off into the night.

We quickly moved to the car and drove off towards flashing police lights in the distance. Thinking that we were trying to chase them, one of the robbers opened fire on our car eight times at close range. Similar to the photo above, I’ll never forget ducking down and looking back to see flames coming out of the muzzle of the gun. As I turned my gaze forward, the back windshield of the car in front of us shattered. Luckily the car was empty and we sped off towards the police lights. Thankfully, he was a terrible shooter and not one bullet struck our vehicle. The Angels that my roommate saw that evening and the availing prayers of my Mother had truly prevented us from being yet another fatality in America’s gun violence epidemic.

Hearing the gunfire, the NYPD acted quickly and ultimately apprehended the young men with our jewelry in their possession. We were a little shaken but the Officers asked that we return to the precinct to identify the shooters later that day.

The Officers had investigated the crime scene and determined that whoever was in the passenger seat would have been struck between the head and chest area – I was in the passenger seat.

With that in mind, the Officers then crammed six young black men into a small room and asked that I select the men who robbed us. Looking through a one-way mirror where they could not see me, I looked at these young men in the eyes and was overcome with strong feelings of empathy and sadness.

What could have transpired in the lives of these young men to bring them to this room? Was it low wages and poverty that brought them to this room? Was it the poor public education system that brought them to this room? Was it the American government backed distribution of crack cocaine to black neighborhoods that brought them to this room? Was it mass incarceration and the fatherless homes that those policies left in its wake that brought them to this room?

Having an understanding of the pitfalls in the area in which I grew up in Brooklyn, I had a surreal feeling knowing that there was a pane of glass separating me from an alternate life that I could have lived. In fact, I would later find out that one of the young men who robbed us lived in the neighborhood I grew up in. Here I was, a young black man working for American Express, living on my own, but wondering what I could do to prevent other young men from being in this room. In a way, I felt and feel a sense of survivors guilt. I walked away from that room muttering to myself, “there but for the grace of God go I.”

I know those young men went to jail and I think about them from time to time. I wish blessings on their lives and I hope that they can overcome the mistakes of their youth and the unrelenting punishment of the American prison system.

It has taken me a few months to complete this series on American gun violence and share my own personal experience with guns. Sadly, as time passed, I knew that before I completed this series that there would be another mass shooting. As I write this piece, I received yet another Notification of Death that ten people have been gunned down in a Texas High School.

Why do we need gun reform in America? Quite simply, too many Americans are having to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight… it needs to stop.

This article was originally published on 22 May 2017.

My Fellow Republicans, We Need to (Finally) Have This Talk

by with 4 Comments CultureFeatured

Dear Fellow Republicans,

This is not something I want to do. I’ve hinted about this for years, but my pleas have fallen on deaf ears. This is not something pleasant to discuss, but it is long overdue. I am not doing this because I feel pressure to please ‘the other side’, it is because my faith has convicted me to speak out, and when you feel the Holy Spirit leading you, this message will reach the people it needs to reach.

For too long, we have allowed a darkness to linger in our party. During the early Bush (43) years, we ignored it. In fact, most of our party leaders tacitly confronted it. Fueled by a growing evangelical movement that was less partisan and more racially diverse, there was a movement in the Republican Party to build upon the gains made in previous elections with minority communities, especially the Latino community. George W Bush rode this momentum to two terms by capturing Hispanic-heavy states like Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, and Nevada. Then something changed, and it opened the door to something that spread like wildfire and has a chokehold on us at this hour. 

It started with several protests that lead to the defeat of Bush’s comprehensive immigration reform. Anxiety about border security was stoked daily by national talk radio hosts and personalities like Sean Hannity and Mark Levin. A so-called conservative uprising, fueled by resentment to millions of people who were here illegally, seized control of the party and set the table for something far, far worse. Opportunistic political candidates leaped at the chance to further stoke this anger for electoral success.

Dan Patrick was a provocative state Senator from the Houston area. He owned a talk radio station, and he had a talk show on the channel. Perhaps the most infamous event his show is remembered for is getting a vasectomy on his live show. In 2014, he challenged the sitting Lieutenant Governor, David Dewhurst, and two other statewide elected officials in the GOP primary. His candidacy, fueled by Tea Party-affiliated groups like Empower Texas, was built upon one slogan, “Stop the Invasion!” He ran ads of people with darker skin climbing over a fence to further stoke the smoldering embers, and by the time the TXGOP convention came around, he was received like a rock star, completely overshadowing every other speaker. 

One year later, another media personality with his own show used the same template and rode it to the GOP nomination and the White House. He took the foundation that Dan Patrick and others had laid and built a national campaign that convinced rural people in midwestern states that illegal immigrants were crossing the border to rape and destroy our country. Now, most Americans believe we need competent border security. In the post-9/11 world, our national security is not negotiable. This does not mean we need to scapegoat groups of people. 

Originally, the consensus argument was, “We support legal immigration, not illegal immigration.” Never mind the intermixing of the terms ‘illegal immigration’ with ‘immigration’, this was the party line used to deflect claims of xenophobia or racism. Then over time, there was a backlash against legal immigration as well. When deciding on what kinds of immigrants we should prioritize (skilled, unskilled, college-educated, etc.), the same people oppose any changes or increases because immigrants would drive down wages. Basically, we are ok with people coming here legally, but we are going to put up every roadblock to prevent you from coming here. Last October, the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) released a survey that measured American attitudes towards immigration. Some of their findings are startling, though not surprising.  They found that “74 percent of Republicans think immigrants are a burden, while only 35 percent of Democrats do.” The generational divide on this point is also significant, with 62 percent of seniors believing immigrants are a burden, but only 32 percent of young Americans. As the Republican party sheds young professionals and college-educated voters to market to older White working-class voters, these attitudes are solidified in the party’s structure. 

In the last 15 years, I’ve had a front-row seat watching the progression (or regression) of the party from a suburban, middle-class party with an interest in Hispanic voters to an older rural, working-class party who openly questions if the person speaking Spanish at the booth in the coffee shop in town is here legally. The reality is the racial and xenophobic anxieties were always there. Party leaders like the Bush family, John McCain, and many others did a good job at diffusing these impulses, or at worse, muzzling them. With the rising influence of social media, these anxieties have been fed by talk show hosts like Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, and Lou Dobbs. When you combine it with daily Twitter diatribes from the President, you have a nearly unbreakable support system.

Now I realize that many of you have stopped reading out of anger, and some have created new profanities, and most believe I am a gutless RINO sellout. I also owe you an apology. When I saw these cancerous symptoms a decade ago, I did not actively confront it. I would mention it bothered me on a Facebook post, but at political events, I normally walked away instead of pushing back. I let my political ambitions trump what I knew was wrong. I would defend the party against outsider attacks because while my team has its faults, it is still MY TEAM. I knew one day this intervention would have to happen, and the tragedy that took place at the Walmart in El Paso was the final straw.

The terrorist responsible is a 21-year-old man from a middle-class Dallas-Fort Worth suburb that is best known for having the most expensive high school football stadium in the country, and it is the home of Kyler Murray, the 1st pick in the NFL Draft this year. This person drove 600 miles to a majority-Hispanic city because he wanted to ‘Stop the Invasion’. From what has been discovered from his social media activity, he was inspired by the terrorist that executed 9 people at the church in South Carolina, and he was a passionate believer in the anti-immigration rhetoric used by our president. No, I do not believe the President is liable for the shooting, but it needs to be a wakeup call. A mentally disturbed racist using identical language of one of the most powerful political figures in the state, killed fellow Americans because he was blinded by hateful rhetoric that is used interchangeably by many political activists and elected officials. 

In the youth group room at my childhood church, there are walls painted by students as an expression of what it means to be a Christian. On the wall behind where my youth pastor would preach is a school of fish pointing one direction, with one fish facing the other way. Sometimes, you must buck peer pressure because your peers want you to go along with something you know is wrong. Right now, this could be that moment, and I accept that.  

I will leave you with this. Ask yourself this one question. Is an illegal immigrant a human being? I am not asking what you think needs to be done to solve this complex issue. This is a simple yes or no question. If you asked this question on your social media account, will your friends and allies be able to answer this simple, basic question? If your answer is ‘yes, but…’ or anything other than a simple ‘yes’, you have successfully dehumanized a group of people. If you call yourself a person of faith and fail this simple test, you need to ask yourself what idol you are actually worshipping. The world and this country needs a vibrant, healthy Republican Party. We cannot treat or ignore the symptoms any longer. We must treat the disease instead. I am under no illusion that the treatment will be tough, and the immediate side effects will not be pleasant, but we can choose to take our medicine and start the recovery or let the disease kill us. The choice is yours.

 

Your loyal friend,

 

Luke

Trump Is Wrong, And So Are We

by with 3 Comments CultureFeaturedPolitics

This is America. Where a President can insult a city of 600,000 residents over his own conflicts with Representative Elijah Cummings. The truth is, our border is being run with wild incompetence and cruelty. The harder truth is, so is the city of Baltimore. Don’t all jump at once – I am a firm supporter of Baltimore, but the city has been left behind time and time again. It has seen its share of scandals and – wait, am I talking about Baltimore or our president? Truth is there are gross similarities here. And let’s get one thing straight, Washington, DC, where Trump calls home, is experiencing a historic rat infestation all over the city. Like, real rats, not the folks cycling in and out of the White house tearing our democracy apart and then running to the hills when they realize the president is Master Shredder. 

As a very wise Facebooker recently said, “Baltimore deserves our own AOC or Ilhan Omar.” It is time for someone to FIGHT for the people of Baltimore and challenge the status quo. Cummings has retained support by relying on voters in Baltimore being uninformed and voting against their own self-interests. This is also how our president maintains a 40% approval rating on average – it has been reported that the educational level of Trump’s supporters averages an 8th-grade reading level. Our democracy is no longer based on facts, truth, and real issues. And Trump attacking Cummings because he has not been a strong enough advocate for Baltimore is interesting considering our country is the laughing stock of the developed world. 

So what can we do? Well, we need to get informed. Those that are informed need to take an Each One, Teach Twenty-One approach. We don’t have time to just hope for the best. It is time that we as a nation get the facts, learn the issues, and challenge those who we vote into office to DO WHAT WE NEED THEM TO DO. This includes every level of elected office starting with the school PTA, city and county council, state legislatures, and our national elected officials. You want to stop having to deal with Trump and Cummings? VOTE THEM OUT. We have a rat infestation. Not just in Baltimore, not just in DC or New York – we have an infestation of rats who have pimped all of us into electing them so they can do as they please with the power we hand them. Trump is dead wrong. And now that we know better, we are dead wrong if we do nothing to change the fabric of our nation, including Baltimore.  

Similar Read: War Taxes And Other Radical Ideas From the Left

TRUMP’S HOME IS WHERE THE HATE IS

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“Immigrants are the lifeblood of this country – we’re a nation of immigrants – and neither of us would be standing here today if it wasn’t.”  

“Clichés. There’s a point of saturation.”

At the beginning of T.C. Boyle’s premonitory fiction The Tortilla Curtain (1995), White American liberal humanist Delaney opposes his wife’s Kyra pejorative view of immigration. These words definitely sound like they were spoken yesterday during a White House press conference. They sound like something you can overhear in a bar, at a bus stop, in front of the school gate, at a family dinner party. They sound like something an American president whose grandparents were born in Europe and whose third wife holds a Slovenian passport would definitely not endorse. The only thing is that he actually does. In the eye of his devotees, Trump’s efforts to blackmail Sweden over the totally legal and justified incarceration of A$AP Rocky, professionally counselled by Kim Kardashian, undoubtedly contradict the groundless allegations of racism.  His nonsensical understanding of law, justice and freedom of speech is simply appalling.

How many times have people intimidated strangers to go back home if they weren’t happy with the way things are done in [insert any country, preferably dominated by a White population]? No criticism allowed, no awareness-raising on serious issues, no calling out inappropriate behaviours…  As a theoretical stranger, your dissident voice does not matter. Your opinion does not matter. Instead, your name, your skin colour, your mother tongue does. It’s not about who you are, where you were born or what you do, it’s about what you threaten and who you endanger. By raising their voices, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ayanna Pressley became scapegoats for the likes of fictional Kyra thinking in real life. And sadly, there are many, who like Kyra reckons that “everybody’s got a right to work and have a decent standard of living, but there’s just so many of them, they’ve overwhelmed us, the schools, the welfare, the prisons and now the streets.” 

Guess what? They’re overwhelming the Congress now. Except that they didn’t cross any border at night like coyotes, they were born free or given refuge and nationality lawfully. And they belong here as much as anyone who wants them to leave. 

“The more you give them the more they want, and the more of them there are,” says one of the characters in The Tortilla Curtain. Without a doubt, many immigrants took instead of waiting for something to be given to them. Ask Native Americans. Delaney sees Mexicans as migratory animals and the displacement, “made for war, for violence and killing, until one group had decimated the other and re-established its claim to the prime hunting, breeding or grazing grounds.” This is what Trump and his base are afraid of: losing their grounds to these women who fight for the greater good. The war they are anticipating is not to be made with bows and arrows, guns and swords on a battlefield. They instead feel like this herd of females is going to decimate their insubstantial White male domination over a nation of immigrants. Blows given with words. Fatal injuries caused by justice and equality. Carcasses of White patriarchy littering the land of the free. 

To be honest, I’m only half-surprised by the “go back home” comments. I expected them to be paired with “do the cooking and watch your kids” advice. This would have been completed the picture: these foreign, arrogant and silly women would have known where they truly belong: in the kitchen of some remote village in an underdeveloped country, cooking rice for their out-of-hand offspring. Well, that’s probably where Melania would be if it hadn’t been for her good looks and luck – although I’m not sure this is my definition of luck. In 2018, Melania herself complained she was “the most bullied person in the world” in an interview. Why wasn’t she encouraged by her dear husband to go back home after voicing her discontent with the way people treated her in the USA? That would have been sound advice, and also hopefully pretty effective. Nevertheless, she still hasn’t raised her voice to defend these women in the same situation as her. She may be stuck in the kitchen after all. 

On a personal level, as the mother of bi-national children who have only once ever set foot in the country where their father comes from, I’m bracing myself for the day someone tells them to go back home if they don’t like it here. They have only one home. They were born and are being raised to consider this home a safe place and the world their oyster. I’ll be glad whenever they come home because it is filled with compassion and love for others. Unlike Trump, our home is not where the hate is. 

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“Others May Doubt My Patriotism, But I Never Will” 

by with One Comment CultureFeatured

According to Merriam-Webster’s dictionary, patriotism is “love for or devotion to one’s country.” As an American Muslim female living in the United States, my patriotism is likely different from that of a typical American.

I was born in the United States to an immigrant father and an American mother. Three of my four grandparents are immigrants. My grandfather came to the United States to flee religious persecution in his home country. Although he was raised in a small village, his migration to the United States led him to pursue a college education and eventually end up as a professor with a Ph.D. His love for his country stems from the opportunities that his immigration afforded him, both religiously and professionally. Most immigrants in his situation feel similarly in their devotion to this country.

Being born and raised in the United States, my situation is slightly different. While the US was a second home for my grandparents, it’s the only home I have ever known. I can only call myself an American – I was born and raised here, and the only language I speak is English.

This past year’s presidential race changed the way I conceptualized patriotism. I have always been fairly aware of people who have racial, ethnic, and religious prejudices, but I always found solace in the idea that these people do not represent the majority. However, witnessing Trump’s presidential campaign forced me to reconsider. If someone who not only condoned but also promoted intolerance and bigotry gained traction with so many people, what did that say about my fellow American citizens? Regardless of whether or not he ended up becoming president, I no longer found solace knowing that many Americans supported him.

When Trump enacted a travel ban that prevented immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States, it made me rethink my patriotic ideals. Yes, I still have the opportunity to practice my religion freely. But the man who is leading our nation explicitly stated that he wanted to find a way to ban Muslims from entering the very same country that I cherish for its religious freedom. He regularly equates Islam with terrorism, whether explicitly or implicitly. To think that the nearly half the country thought Trump would be fit to be leader of the free world was mind-blowing to me.  

Seeing people’s reactions to the ban; however, restored my faith in the citizens of the US. Several demonstrations were planned at our local airport and around the city as soon as the ban was enacted. Much to my surprise, the majority of people protesting were not Muslims or immigrants. They were concerned citizens who were not okay with Trump’s attempt to prevent an entire religious group from entering the “land of the free.” Several non-Muslim friends reached out to me that week. One of my friends texted me to say that he was sorry that there were people in this country who were intolerant enough to support these policies, apologizing on behalf of people he had never met. While I was comforted by the unconditional support, I was forced to make peace with the fact that there are still a significant number of people who will never accept me or my fellow Muslims as they accept others.

Perhaps naively, I have always believed that people who have racist and prejudiced beliefs cling to them out of ignorance. Yet, even if out of ignorance, those people elected a president who reflects many of the dark aspects of America – aspects that most of us would rather live without.

Do I love my country? Yes. Does my country love me? That’s more complicated. I am fully aware that a large portion of this country, including its leadership, will always view me as an outsider. But I am American born and bred. I love watching football, July 4th fireworks, and a good barbecue. I’ve never sung another national anthem, and I never will. Others may doubt my patriotism, but I never will. 

Similar Read: Patriotism Is A Dirty Word

This article was originally published on 4 July 2017.