A MAN WAS LYNCHED YESTERDAY

by with No Comment CultureFeatured

This weekend I experienced overt racism in Arizona.

400 years after the first African human beings arrived in shackles to the shores of the then English colony, Virginia.

162 years after a Chief Supreme Court Justice informed the plaintiff, a free Black man, that he could not try his case as he was not considered a person in the eyes of the American legal system.

72 years to the day after Major League Baseball allowed the first human with Black skin to play a professional sport in Brooklyn.

51 years after a reverend with a peaceful dream was gunned down on a balcony in Memphis.

2 years after sixty-three million Americans got dressed, left their homes, and cast a vote for the sitting President.

1 year after a Lynching Memorial, The National Memorial for Peace and Justice, opened in Alabama.

I, a Black American, experienced overt racism in an upscale Arizona restaurant in the year of our Lord 2019.

I’d love to tell you the full story but I refuse. Short of being referred to outside of my given name, the story unfolds in just the way you’d imagine it would.

I shared the story with my Black friends and they responded with a Bran Stark level of surprise.

I shared the story with my White friends and they responded with a Jaime Lannister level of shock.

It’s a tale as old as time. One that Black folks are all too familiar with and one that White folks are all too unfamiliar with.

As if I had forgotten, I was reminded that my blackness is still not welcome in American dining establishments. As the incident was unravelling, I quickly assessed what was happening and it felt like time began to slow down. The moment Black folks fear on a daily basis was actually happening.

This was not a drill. Man your battle stations. We are under attack.

I remained calm, composed, and graceful in navigating our group out of the situation. Not because of anything that I actively train for but because my DNA is hardwired for survival in these moments.

I always walk away from these incidents feeling like I cheated death. Like a victorious warrior in the Roman Colosseum, you almost want to let out a primal roar. However, I moved on clutching to my dignity, my pride, and knowing that my ancestors are always guiding me.

Then minutes go by, then hours, and then days and you struggle to breathe because you still smell that foul odor all around you.

It’s like stepping in a massive pile of dog shit. You look to wipe your shoes in the nearest puddle of water. You find a stick to pick out the particles of shit that are in the grooves of your shoes. You slide your shoes back and forth on the pavement hoping to remove any last bits that remain. You ask people around you if they smell anything funny. But everywhere you go all you can smell is that lingering smell of shit following you everywhere.

Major League Baseball celebrates Jackie Robinson Day on every April 15. Every team and player that plays on Jackie Robinson Day has to wear my favorite number, 42. I always try to attend a baseball game to see all the jerseys adorned in that beautiful number and honor Jackie’s lasting impact on my life.

It’s not lost on me that today is Jackie Robinson Day.

22 years after the inaugural Jackie Robinson Day and I am still yearning for the day that Langston Hughes once wrote about in his classic poem I, Too in 1926. The day that, “They’ll see how beautiful I am and be ashamed.”

Because, honestly, I’m tired of this shit.

Similar Read: A Peak Inside American Sports: Cheers & Protests

Press Play & Focus on the Future

by with 2 Comments CultureGen Z

I learned about the history of blackface in my music history class back in my junior year of college. It focused on popular music and blackface was a prominent form of entertainment dating back to the 1830s. In the late 1850s there was a surge of Irish immigrants due to the famine that overtook Ireland. The crops failed, leaving death to claim the Irish by means of hunger and/or disease. 

At this time, they weren’t considered White. According to author and historian Christopher Klein’s article published on History, they were even considered lower than Blacks for not being Protestants. American Protestants were afraid that the Pope was sending his army to take over America. This fear stemmed from when America’s forefathers fled Britain for religious freedom (Klein). While they lived in the same slums as Blacks, they were still not accepted as White. 

In an interview with author John Strausbaugh published on Vox, Strausbaugh states that blackface was taken up by Irish immigrants in order to set them apart from Blacks. At the end of the day, they were still just as fair skin as Whites. At the end of each performance, they would wipe the black off their faces, to say that well, at least we weren’t actually Black. Through the popularity of these performances, they gained White status (Strausbaugh). 

Blackface, I thought, no longer held a place in society. I thought we made progress. However, our black skin is still worn by white sheep who want to be the big bad wolf. With Gucci’s sweater that has an extended turtleneck which covers the face but has a large mouth printed around the hole in the neck, how were we not supposed to understand that as a new form of blackface? 

It would have been a completely different story if the turtleneck was simply longer than normal because in my opinion, the extended neck isn’t blackface. It just functions as a scarf and ski mask without all the extra material and allows for warmth without the bulk. But I and others like me cannot just look past the glaringly obvious. Apologies are not enough when discrimination, bias, and ignorance are stigmatizing our black skin. More has to be done. Reformation needs to start now. 

Daniel Day, affectionately known as Dapper Dan, is an African-American fashion designer who continues to work in collaboration with Gucci after this incident. It is a bold move that I believe others are not willing to take. Day is thinking about the future of Black fashion designers. 

The fashion industry is notorious for being racially exclusive. Take a look at advertisements in magazines and on television. Take a look at the runways. While the magazines might feature designers and models of color, the runways have always contrasted it with the whitewash. As Day has said in several interviews, he went through a lot to understand the industry/business and to keep his brand growing. These large brands are the stepping stones for Black designers to use to catapult their careers. 

By boycotting Gucci, that is a “now” solution. This will only resolve people’s gripes now but what about later? If we continue to boycott every incident individually, nothing will ever get done. Think of it as constantly pausing a movie every two minutes. It makes the movie much longer than it is, the plot gets disjointed by the constant stop and start, and the end gets pushed farther and farther away. By trying to handle each incident in real time, we are stopping and starting, pushing off the reformation that we seek. Reform will not happen if we keep getting in our own way. 

To make change, we have to be the change. We need to take a stand for the future and not everything that happens in the present. This is not to say that Gucci should be given a free pass, but as Day said in an interview with The Huffington Post, “this is an opportunity to learn.” This incident with Gucci is another moment that you could call a pause. There have been several pauses before this one and can be several pauses after this, but why not make this incident the last pause? In this pause, we can initiate the process of change and let it develop over time like a plot in a movie? Otherwise, we will always be dissatisfied with how things are and always call for change. 

Stop Giving Out Black Hall Passes

by with One Comment CultureDiversity & InclusionFeatured

Remember hall passes? I’m probably dating myself, but a hall pass was something needed in grade school to roam the halls during class time. I’m sure today there’s a hall pass tablet or something, but in the ancient days of the 1990s, we had handwritten hall passes which gave proof to any authoritative figure walking around to see we had a legitimate reason to be in the hallway.

A hall pass or a “pass” seems to always be given by Black people to those who have done blatant wrong against them or their people. On the latest episode of Oh That’s Racist, a few incidents have transpired, and as quickly as they became news people were defending the actions of the accused racists.

Stop! Please for the sake of decency and respect, stop defending wrong.

Liam Neeson

The English actor recently confessed that he wanted to seek revenge against ANY Black man after learning that a female friend of his was sexually assaulted. For the simpleton Hollywood crowd and fans of the “Taken” movie series stop defending him! 

His mentality lines up with the same psyche that escapes every other group of people in the world… except White men. And that psyche is to classify an entire group of people based on the acts of one. White men have done everything from running Ponzi schemes to the creation of domestic organizations that have burned homes, churches, and killed thousands of people including children… yet no one attributes that behavior as a cause to kill any White man. White men are judged as individuals, if at all. Never as an entire group of people. So no pass on this. 

Blackface

For the elected officials caught with pictures of themselves in blackface, there’s no such thing as “youthful” mistakes regarding your actions. A youthful mistake is signing up for an 8 AM class during your first semester at college. There’s nothing youthful about blackface. Nothing. There was never a time when blackface was an “innocuous” thing to have fun with. When these elected officials were younger they knew better and didn’t care. Why? See the previous paragraph. No pass again. 

Gucci Blackface

The blackface sweater Gucci attempted to promote and sell is a learning lesson for Black people who overvalue so-called “designer fashion.” First, the fact that an idea of a blackface sweater went from idea to drawing board to presentation to approval to production to promotion to the public, shows at no point in time did anyone with power within Gucci understand the historical context of blackface as highly problematic. That’s VERY telling. Secondly, yet another “designer fashion” brand has little to no respect for Black consumers, nor use for their cultural perspective, only their dollars. I hope this example encourages some Black people to stop placing such high values on material items and brands produced by companies and corporations that literally place no value on them as consumers. 

Class dismissed! 

The Struggle Is Black, The Word Is Black

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedRace Relations

Language is a social contract. We agree on the meaning of words and consequently we can communicate.

We agree that some words are offensive so that we can use them to offend. If “f*ck you!” was not offensive, then it would have no meaning when we said it to someone we were angry with. 

Offensive words are generally determined in the aggregate, via all of the mechanisms of culture: Media, Communities, Families, Government, Entertainers, and so on.

So who is allowed to say the N-Word?

Generally, it is impolite to comment on someone who is overweight as being “fat.” A person who has weight issues may self-ridicule, but to address that person’s issues for them is commonly considered offensive or cruel.

Likewise, it is rude to call someone ugly or hideous if they are disfigured or unfortunately featured (whatever that may mean, after all beauty is in the eye of the beholder). 

Weight and appearance struggles belong to the individuals that bare them.

So, I would say that the N-Word represents centuries of torture, murder, rape, ridicule, and exclusion endured by African-Americans, and therefore the word belongs to them.

The word was (and sadly still is) used as a weapon specifically against African-Americans. To defang the word, the Black Community over the last century has taken the N-Word from racists and claimed it as their own. This seems just.

The struggle is Black, the word is Black.

In short: America’s social contract regarding the N-Word is that African-Americans can use it however they see fit and it is simply off limits for other Americans.

Most all Americans agree to this contract, at least the ones who understand privilege and history. Even racists tend to fear the word because of how strong the national understanding has become, and how damaging the punishment for misuse.

Are there exceptions? There are always exceptions, but I’d say that even the exceptions are determined by the Black Community – which is also a nebulous concept, comprised of Families, Media, respected Celebrities, etc.

“But why do Black people get to say something and not me? That’s racist!,” says the ignorant person who is unable to understand historical nuance and the complexity of linguistics.

Using the N-Word assumes ownership of the word, and the majority of our modern society has decided that non-Black people simply don’t own it.

Even non-Black people who are extremely allied to the Black Community and given permission in their own Black social circles to use the word generally understand not to say it outside of those limited, friendly circumstances. One person may have a social contract with his or her friends, but this does not typically extend into the rest of society (until the issue has resolved once and for all everywhere in the country).

Will there come a day when anyone can use the word without offense? Will the N-Word ultimately share a status with other historically racist words that no longer offend anyone because the group of people the word insults is no longer disenfranchised? Perhaps.

But until that day, if I am asked: “Can non-Black people say the N-Word?” 

I would say, “No. At least not until the Black Community says yes.” 

The Race for the South

by with No Comment Diversity & InclusionFeaturedPolitics

2018 saw a new wave of Democratic candidates coming out of southern states. Alabama ushered in a surprise wave of excitement at the end of 2017 with the special election of U.S. Senator Doug Jones. However, that Alabama excitement did not spread into southern states for the 2018 midterms. States like Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Mississippi and Florida all had big races at the U.S. Senate or gubernatorial levels. The top tickets Democrats in those states lost.

Some lost by small margins while others were a gap large enough to consider it a landslide.  

Candidates like Stacy Abrams of Georgia and Beto O’Rouke of Texas tapped into new voters through the excitement surrounding their campaigns, but ultimately failed to secure the victory.  In Abrams case, voter suppression played a major role. As the first African American female to secure the Democratic nomination for governor – ever – she fought against the state’s Republican Secretary of State, Brian Kemp, who refused to resign even as he administered over the electoral process while running competing against Abrams in the race.

O’Rouke narrowly lost – 48.3% to 50.9% – to Republican incumbent Ted Cruz who saw his lead tightening closer to election day. Having served as the congressman for Texas’ 16th district, O’Rouke ran a campaign that didn’t rely on the traditional polling to advise him.  He pledged not to accept PAC contributions and raised nearly $2 million in the first three months through small donations.

Florida also held a gubernatorial election where Democratic nominee Andrew Gillum fought hard against the Republican nominee Ron DeSantis, falling by less than a percentage point.  Gillum was the first Black nominee for governor in the state of Florida in a racially tinged campaign. And down in Tennessee and Mississippi, U.S. Senate races were top ticket competitive races, but both Democratic nominees lost to their respective Republican candidates.

So, what happened? Voters were energized by the Democratic slate, but failed short to secure the top ticket seats. Conversely, these competitive races did usher in a new wave of Democratic talent for down ticket races. In Texas, Republican judges lost control of the Third Court of Appeals and the Fifth Court of Appeals.  In Tennessee, a wave of twenty African-American women were elected to local and state seats in Shelby County. Alabama had 55 women run for state-level offices. Gun violence advocate, Lucy McBath, won her congressional seat in Georgia’s 6th Congressional District.

While the larger races did not turn out how Democratic voters in the respective states might have hoped, they did help bring change in other down-ballot races and energize new voters. 2019 is here and now campaign teams are gearing up for 2020. Looking to the past, candidates can only hope for a better future. 

Major League Baseball And Mississippi Politics?

by with 2 Comments FeaturedSports

Major League Baseball (MLB) has a Political Action Committee (PAC). PAC’s are organizations that privately raise money to influence elections or legislation, especially at the federal level. Most corporations have one. That’s not the real story here.

The real story is that on November 23rd, their PAC decided to make a $5,000 donation — the maximum donation allowed under the law — to Mississippi Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith. How can they justify such a donation AFTER the Senator made several racially charged and insensitive comments on the campaign trail? The answer is they can’t, and by 8:30 am today (11/25/18), not even 48 hours later, they’ve asked for the donation to be returned. Official MLB statement…

“The contribution was made in connection with an event that MLB lobbyists were asked to attend. MLB has requested that the contribution be returned.”

Talk about optics for a league that has struggled with integrating African-American players since day one. In 1956, which was Jackie Robinson’s last year in the Majors, African-Americans made up 6.7% of all MLB players. Seventy years later there has been virtually no difference or improvement in that figure (2017 – it was 7.7%). Lack of inner city programs, engagement, outreach, etc., the list is long and probably worth another article as to why those numbers are so low.

Similar read: A Peak Inside American Sports: Cheers & Protests

Regarding the peculiarity of Major League Baseball and Mississippi Politics… the link is hard to find since the state of Mississippi doesn’t have a Major League Baseball team. The economics are simple… Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the country and their economy can’t support a pro team. Next to Louisiana, it’s the poorest state in the country with nearly 20% of their residents living in poverty. Hard to sell premium seating and book big entertainment events when their economy is in such condition. Sure, if Cindy Hyde-Smith wins the runoff election, perhaps her vote would count towards passing legislation that would positively impact the MLB and their owners. But with the outcome of the Midterms, Democrats taking the House and Republicans picking up a few more Senate seats, her vote probably wouldn’t matter. So the question remains, why?

I think it’s also worth noting that Charles B. Johnson, billionaire and principal owner of the San Francisco Giants, also donated to her campaign AFTER her “public hanging” comment surfaced. Mr. Johnson is one of the largest Republican Party donors in the country, but why is he concerned about Mississippi politics? He’s originally from New Jersey, attended Yale University, and is the former chairman of Franklin Templeton Investments, one of the world’s largest asset management firms with $740 billion in assets under management. California, and especially the San Francisco area, is probably the most liberal state and city in the country… in comparison to Mississippi, which probably couldn’t be more different regarding issues of race, politics, and progressive views.

Sure, MLB has asked for the donation to be returned, but it should’ve never been made in the first place. In a league that is less than 8% African-American, why would they care about the optics or the pushback from the African-American community? Why… because decency, humanity, and morals still matter. Pro sports teams and leagues claim they want to stay out of politics, but they continue to make questionable decisions that put them right in the middle of political and social debates. Major League Baseball, and others like Charles B. Johnson, who unlike the MLB has not asked for his donation to be returned, need to be held accountable for their actions. If they won’t hold themselves accountable, then it’s up to the citizens to do so.

Trump’s Profound Effect on the Presidency of the United States

by with No Comment Gen Z

For better or worse, Donald Trump has had a profound effect on the Presidency of the United States – possibly more drastic and long lasting than any other President in modern history. After years of Republicans nominating nice guys for president (Ford, Reagan, both Bushes, McCain & Romney), they got weary of the nice guy’s finish last scenario the last couple of elections and nominated a fiery & crass bulldog in Trump. He is also the first POTUS in modern history to actually keep all his campaign promises, much to the delight of his supporters and dismay of his detractors. Instead of running hard to the right or left during the primaries and then pivoting back to the center for the general election like most Republicans and Democrats do, he ran to the far right and stayed there for the general election and then kept a hard right line throughout his young Presidency. This has caused a massive polarization in this country as he has the highest support from his party in the history of the Republican party, as well as the highest disapproval from the opposing party. This has caused a deep divide in our country that hasn’t been experienced since the Civil Rights era. 

Trump is doing a fantastic job and everyone should be happy, but there are many on the other side of the political spectrum that dislike him immensely because they can’t get past his brash and crass narcissistic demeanor. It turns them off and they feel it is below the dignity of the Presidency for Trump to act the way he does and say the terrible things he says. His supporters argue back that it is the only way to get results in the “swamp of Washington DC.” 

Love him or hate him, it is hard to argue with the results of his Make America Great Again campaign. Too many to list here, but his Tax Cuts, Deregulation, Exporting Energy, Renegotiating NAFTA and the South Korean Trade Agreement, getting us out of TPP, etc… has unleashed an economy like this country has never experienced. The manufacturing industry created over 300,000 jobs and 337,000 construction jobs have been created since President Trump took office. Fourteen states reached record low unemployment rates. The African-American unemployment rate reached its lowest ever recorded. Job openings have reached 6.6 million, the highest level recorded. Jobless claims reached the lowest level in 45 years (1973). The number of people dependent on food stamps has fallen by 2.6 million or 6.2% since January 2017. The number of people receiving unemployment benefits is running at the lowest level in 45 years. Average 3% growth in the last three quarters – under President Obama, annual growth averaged 1.9%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average hit record highs more than 80 times under President Trump, including closing higher than 26,000 points for the first time in its history. Since President Trump’s election, more than $5 trillion in wealth has been created for the U.S. economy. 

Economic confidence rebounded to record highs under President Trump because his pro-growth policies have and continue to put American workers and businesses first. The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index rose in November 2017 to a 17-year high of 129.5. The National Association of Manufacturers’ Outlook Index had the highest annual average in its history.  Small business optimism has sustained record-high levels under President Trump according to the National Federation of Independent Business. The Longest Consecutive Positive Monthly Job Growth on Record – Total payroll employment grew by 213,000 in June 2018 (18,000 over forecasts) led by gains in professional and business services, education and health services, and, once again, manufacturing.  This is the longest consecutive, positive monthly job growth period on record (93 months). Unemployment remains historically low, as the number of Americans filing for unemployment hit its lowest point since 1969. 

As good as all this economic news is, it means nothing if we can’t all come together and heal the divides in this country. All the jobs and money in the world won’t matter one bit if we can’t all get along and have a peaceful America.

Trump has done a great job with the Business End of America. Now he needs to turn inward and do the same with the Emotional End of America, or his Presidency will be a disaster. President Trump – Make America Care & Love Again!  #MACLA 

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CULTURE CON REVIEW: BLACK PEOPLE AT PEACE

by with No Comment CultureFeatured

Remember what it felt like when you walked into Toys R Us (R.I.P. to my guy Geoffrey) as a kid? You almost dislocated your parents shoulder out of the socket you’d be so eager to race towards the aisles. You’d see the other children playing with all the newest toys with joy on their faces.

That’s what it felt like to be at Culture Con 2018. Except this time there was no proverbial parent holding me back from indulging in Black Boy Joy. Culture Con is an amazing one day conference that embodied, both visually and audibly, what it feels like to be a black creative in New York City. There were artists of all ilks represented in the room where it happened.

The color pallette featured the bold colors of the African diaspora encapsulated in an exposed brick Industrial event space on the Brooklyn and Queens border. Half of the space highlighted the corporate sponsors who have invested in growing their Black consumer base. Companies like Essence, BET, Dove, Tidal, and Vaseline to name a few. In the front of the space is where the inspiration bellowed out. Interviews were headlined by John Legend, Charlamagne Tha God, La La Anthony, and hosted by Taylor Rooks.

All of the speakers offered a wealth of information and encouragement on how to best tap into their creative inspirations. I could write full pieces on the pearls of wisdom that were spoken in that room but the one that jumped out to me the most was by 23 year old Tyler Mitchell. Mitchell, the first black photographer to shoot a Vogue cover in their 126 year history, shot the iconic Beyonce cover back in September 2018. While the audience gushed over the thought of being six degrees of separation from Queen Beyonce herself, Mitchell spoke of the inspiration behind his photographs, “In my work I try to elevate the Black body into not being a thing… I just want to shoot photos of Black people at peace.”

Black people at peace? Black people at peace? Black people at peace?

The words are still ringing in my hippocampus as I continue to wonder if my people will ever be at peace with the cultural gnats that continue to nag us on a hourly basis. Let alone capturing what that would look like in high end photographs. Here’s to Tyler Mitchell as he continues on his journey!

However what was most gratifying was the collective soulful vibe of the folks who were in attendance. The style was impeccable and the unity was palpable. You could almost reach out and touch it or taste it dancing on your taste buds. There was heaps of denim, leather, silk, suede, and a smattering of statement pieces that unapologetically affirmed our blackness. My personal favorite was an all black hoodie that read, “I’m Black yall, im Black yall, im Blackity Black I’m Black yall.”

Culture Con was a modern Black Gatsby style celebration of Blackness and boy did it feel good to be surrounded by a room full of like minded humans who not only want to create but continue to leave our indelible mark on American Culture. After all as Jay-Z once said, “We are the culture. Nothing moves without us.” Nothing.

Until we meet again to experience peace and joy together, Culture Con!

Returning to Work

by with 3 Comments FeaturedPoliticsRace Relations

The highly anticipated midterms are over… Not necessarily a “blue wave” but enough Democrats won to reclaim the House. So now the Dems can call for investigations, subpoenas, etc. We’re not sure how much success they’ll have, but if nothing else it’ll add to the circus that Washington has now become. 

If you’re a Black American, regardless of where you reside, you were hopeful Gillum and Abrams would win their Florida and Georgia Gov races respectfully. Let’s be honest, you were probably more than hopeful. You might’ve donated to their campaigns, at the very least your eyes were probably glued to CNN or MSNBC as they reported and updated the numbers. 

But while we didn’t want to admit it, the writing was on the wall when the coverage for these two big races began to fade and focus was redirected to other less historic or risky races. Gillum jumped to a lead, but Florida is Florida, and once the panhandle numbers came it was a done deal. Abrams on the other hand never appeared to have a shot. Her opponent jumped out to a big lead and held on. 

All that support, time, energy, “sweat equity,” registering new voters, younger voters, etc… wasted. Minorities including Black Americans have given a lot to this country. If Democrats can’t win elections with great candidates against opponents who blatantly traffic in racism and bigotry, then perhaps Dems aren’t the answer or the party for minorities? Or perhaps a drastic shift in leadership is the only way to get over this hump? 

Across this country, millions of Black Americans and minorities are mustering up the strength to return to mostly all-White offices and workplaces (today and the rest of the week) having suffered another moral and legislative defeat that hits them in every way possible. Where does that strength come from? Where are the safe places needed to exchange thoughts, vent, and move on? Trying to do so… after an 8-10 hour workday… year after year… election after election… can’t be healthy. 

Advice… don’t engage in political discussion, don’t take the everyday frustrations that come with any job personal, and stay close to family and friends who either know your pain, can relate, or have exemplified empathy. 

Dems should take a hard look at how they decide to campaign and strategize moving forward. Taking the “high road” sounds great, when you win. But they lost, two devastating and deflating losses. In both Florida and Georgia, their opponents made it about race. Not just race, but nasty racism… whether it was “monkey this up” or repeat overtly racist robocalls, digs at their education and fitness for office, Republicans in Florida and Georgia made up their mind that they were gonna hit low, hit hard, and hit often. That’s exactly what they did, and it carried them to victory. 

Gillum, Abrams, and Dems collectively did the exact opposite. They stayed high, and once again, to no avail. Is the solution to go just as low, probably not. But when you run two highly qualified charismatic candidates in Gillum and Abrams, and still lose, you should probably take a hard look at your playbook, strategy, and party leadership. 

Change is never easy, but it is inevitable. Since Dems expect or count Black Americans and minorities in their tent, they need to start making changes and winning the games/elections they should win, because something tells me this younger generation won’t be as patient and understanding as those that came before them. 

An Argument To Respect Omarosa?

by with One Comment PoliticsTrump AdministrationWomen's Rights

Should every citizen in this country be offended by the President when he calls a woman a dog?  A Black woman at that, considering the deep history of racism in this country when African-American’s were often referred to as animals in an attempt to degrade and further dehumanize them?  Minus the fringe, most would say yes… we should all be offended.

But this isn’t the first time he’s called a Black woman a dog, a female dog, aka a b***h. In the literal sense, he called hundreds of Black women dogs when he referred to NFL players as “sons of bitches” for deciding to take a knee in protest during the National Anthem.  In the ongoing debate of whether we should take Trump’s comments and tweets literally or figuratively, the media completely missed or ignored his NFL SOB comment as disrespect to their mothers, who all happen to be Black women. Perhaps it’s the American culture of sexism that seems to permeate all groups and often forgets women’s rights, especially women of color.

Despite the early morning tweet attacking Omarosa, which many would call sexist and racist, it’s hard to defend her.  Over the past two decades, she’s built a reputation on being arrogant, extremely rude, and overly confrontational toward anyone who has criticized Donald Trump.  It’s especially hard to defend her if you’re a person of color who doesn’t identify with the current Administration and their policies. In many circles, she’s considered a “sell-out”, and despite the lip service, she’s been cast away as someone who does not have the Black community’s best interest at heart.

And let’s be honest, it’s hard to believe Omarosa’s recent epiphany in realizing Trump is a racist and a bigot. Because for nearly 20 years of knowing him well, including 3 appearances on The Apprentice and her short stint in the White House, she adored him, publicly praised him, and vehemently defended him at every turn.

So for many people, regardless of how sexist, racist, or cruel the tweet might’ve been, they’ve made up their mind that Omarosa is not worth their time or effort. Can we blame them? Truly an important question considering America’s current political climate. Is it possible to remove our disdain for a person and recognize the bigger picture, which is that despite many of Omarosa’s past comments and actions proving to be detrimental and harmless, does she deserve respect and decency? After all, she’s a woman, a Black woman… just like the mothers of those NFL players Trump was referring to when he attacked them and their sons nearly a year ago.

“Every critic will have to bow down to President Trump.”