Dave Chappelle: The Victim

by with No Comment CultureFeaturedSocial Issues

“The Closer” is dividing critics and fans of epoch-defining comedian, Dave Chappelle.

An “equal opportunity offender” for most of his career, the widely recognized GOAT in Stand-Up has spent a considerable portion of his last four Netflix specials either commenting/joking about trans issues or defending himself against criticisms by members of the trans community.

For most of his career, Chappelle has focused his observational humor on racism and his experience as a Black man in a very White nation. His early jokes were rich with cutting truths that laid bare the hypocrisies and evils of a country whose initial prosperity sprang from slavery.

With wit and satire, The Chappelle Show helped an entire generation of all races think and even laugh about the poison of racism. Dave’s experience as a Black man made his art personal, authentic, and believable. He could say shocking things with impunity because he owned the experience he was presenting.

With “The Closer,” Chappelle seems to be pleading his case more than simply trying to entertain. He is wondering aloud how the trans movement has gained so much traction and influence while Black Civil Rights movements from MLK all the way to BLM still struggles. He posits that Civil Rights leaders in the 60s had to make real, sometimes mortal sacrifices for change while today’s social Justice warriors mostly form woke Twitter mobs to cancel their opposition and wear “pussy hats” to raise awareness for their cause (neither being very effective).

He has some valid points within these comedic jabs, and if he is to be taken in good faith, perhaps there is much to be learned. The idea of “roasting” someone or something is to ridicule, exaggerate, and criticize every single possible weakness so that when the subject survives the lambasting, they are much stronger, maybe even invulnerable. Roasting is an exercise in building thicker skin.

If Dave is truly an ally (this seems up for debate), then the LGBTQ+ community would do well to take his jokes deeper than face value and try to use them to become stronger, maybe even laughing them off like all of Chappelle’s other targets that must do the same to enjoy his humor.

But, in this latest Netflix special, I can’t help but notice a seeming personal stake that Chappelle has in not just making jokes, but condemning those who have condemned him. It seems personal.

Everyone wants to believe they are “the good guy.” But a champion for justice and truth would not pick unworthy targets, right? A powerful mechanism of Comedy is how it maintains the status quo by ridiculing the outliers of society. The majority doesn’t like something about a minority, so a joke could be used to point out that difference in a mocking way and make the majority feel comfortable in their bigotry or ignorance. It’s a very regressive use of comedy and one Chappelle would probably never wish (intentionally) to use…

But perhaps that is exactly what he has been doing to the trans community for four Netflix specials now. And when they tell him they are victims and not worthy of this ridicule for all they have endured, Dave doubles down. He now believes *he* is *their* victim (or at least people he admires like Kevin Hart and DaBaby).

Perhaps the blind spot in Dave Chappelle’s hubris is that his success comes from speaking on his personal experience against injustice and hypocrisy that affected him. Audiences gained universal truth from his subjective experience because he eloquently captured and criticized them with the highest degree of wit.

White people were commonly a target of Chappelle’s most stinging accusations, but they heralded the comedian. Perhaps, deep down, they agreed with him and recognized the work still needing to be done in regards to race relations.

The trans community is not taking their abuse as kindly (for the most part – I have seen some positive reviews while scouring google, Reddit, and Twitter).

This vitriol from members of the trans community means either they have some growth needed to embrace the ridicule we are all subjected to when we have a place at the table, or maybe Dave is really doing more damage than he wants to acknowledge or believe. He ended his special saying something to the effect of, “I’m done telling trans jokes until y’all can handle it.”

Imagine if a White comedian tried to represent Black issues like Chappelle has? It would seem a bit out of place. Chappelle ridicules White people because he has felt antagonized by many Whites. He ridicules Black people because he has lived the Black experience. It doesn’t seem like Dave has any credible connection to the trans community apart from his friend, Daphne, that gives him authenticity in his use of the subject for humor.

Maybe these trans jokes should be told by the “Dave Chappelle of trans comedians” instead.

Similar Read: “I Haven’t Found (The Humor In) It, Nor Do I Seek It”

The Significance of Derek Chauvin’s Verdict

by with One Comment FeaturedRace RelationsSocial Issues

Guilty. The one word that signified the end of a three-week trial. The trial of Derek Chauvin on the murder of George Floyd is one that encompasses the remnants of 401 years of inhumane treatment of Black lives in America. George Floyd’s death is reminiscent of that of Emmett Till; galvanizing a new generation of Civil Rights activists to open the eyes of the world to say yes, Black Lives Matter. That we are people too, but more than anything else, we are human. 

This verdict did not come without some angst or doubt that a sliver of justice would be served.  In the cases, of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor, Philando Castile, Sandra Bland, and Eric Garner, where was the justice? It has been the Black experience that our lives remain insignificant to that of our counterparts in the eye of the police. 

As we collectively breathe a sigh of relief now that we have a verdict, I cannot help but recognize that this euphoric feeling is only temporary. The verdict leaves me to beg the question, what happens next? What happens to the other officers involved? How will they be held accountable? Would there be new policies to include accountability among fellow officers? How will this change the way policing is done? For a system where ideologies of White Supremacy and racism are inherent, these changes needed to happen yesterday.  

Police Training…

This verdict sets the tone for America to reevaluate policing. It would be wise to consider looking at the training of police forces in other countries, which results in fewer police shootings and murders. We say we need more training, yet it seems the issue is not the frequency, but the length of time, quality, and substance of the information given during training. Too many people of color have been victimized due to those inherent values, mediocre quality in training, and the lack of interest and investment in continual support of the mental health (other than passing a psychological exam) of police officers. It is apparent that the policies and training are far beyond inadequate and lacking.

There is so much work to be done, and it requires all of us to work together to bring about effective change. The only way to move is forward, all of us, together.

George Floyd’s death and the trial of Derek Chauvin will serve as a milestone in how far we have come as African-Americans. The verdict has a special place in our history’s timeline. Just as Emmet Till’s death sparked the Civil Rights Movement, George Floyd’s death is launching a new wave of activists; leading a new era when it comes to justice: accountability. We are nowhere near true justice, but the will and desire to seek and achieve it has become the goal.

This case will forever signify one simple truth that we all know; that we are people; that we are human, but most of all: BLACK LIVES MATTER

Similar Read: Chauvin Verdict

An Imposter at the Homegoing

by with 4 Comments CultureFeaturedPolitics

Perseverance in the face of tragedy is a staple of the Black community. Surviving devastation has become so engrained in the Black psyche, it’s hard to separate the two. Events that appear insurmountable for many are often anticipated, a literal rite of passage. “How old were you the first time you experienced . . . (insert horrific event)?”

The Black “Homegoing” is a microcosm of that same Black experience in America. Early in the African Slave Trade, slaves were much more closely tied to their ancestral roots. Traditions were carried with human cargo during the Middle Passage. The newly-enslaved Africans believed death signified a return of the soul to the Homeland with the ancestors. Considering the horror they now faced, death was easily a much better existence. It mandated a celebration.

True to its DNA, the Black community persevered through centuries of the worst treatment of human beings in documented history. Relegated to the status of permanent livestock, hope for a life free from bondage sustained generations. That freedom could be in the physical form on Earth, living life as a “freedman” or it could mean a symbolic freedom with the soul released to a better place.

Forced cultural assimilation could never extinguish the will of the Black community to hold on to its humanity. The Black community now practiced a corrupted and modified version of Christianity. This form of population control sought to subjugate Blacks to permanent subordinate status by coupling their physical bondage with a far more insidious form of domination, mental servility.

Despite the clear objective of mental castration, the Black community still held traditions as sacred. Full forms of music, methods of cooking, story-telling, and manner of style/dress survived centuries of extensive efforts to sever any tie to the Black ancestral home(s). The Black community took this corrupted form of Christianity imposed upon them to further white supremacy and turned it on its head. The same Bible that was only presented to them in an abridged form (though never allowed in their exclusive possession) still provided hope to Blacks living a literal hell on Earth.

It is upon this backdrop that the Black Homegoing must be analyzed. One cannot overstate just how sacred the tradition is. After generations, Blacks in America replaced the African ancestral homeland with the heaven they heard preached in the Bible. They became synonymous and after generations, the Black community knew more of slavery than their actual bloodline. Sadly, slavery became the entire existence of the overwhelming majority of Black people in America.

Hope for something greater was all many had. Survival required them to hold on to the hope of reaching the “Promised Land,” lest they only exist to be subjected to daily torture. Whether that land be physical or spiritual, it was a blessing many sang of and sought daily. It sustained them. So one can only imagine the literal joy many felt to see another subjected to the same nightmarish existence, finally free. The celebration that “sent” that human being “home” was a recognition of them finally at peace. It was simultaneously providing hope for others. One day they too would no longer have to toil in the abyss of bondage.

The means of the Black Homegoing has evolved over generations, but the end is always the same. It is mandatory to celebrate that person’s life and the reality that the Black oppression in America can no longer harm them. While it is true that slavery in its original form has ended, it is still very much practiced in every state of the Union. Oppression and denial of the Equal Protection of the Law is likewise denied the remainder of the Black community that is not currently incarcerated.

The Black Homegoing is a celebration of those realities no longer controlling the life of the person currently celebrated. This is true of any Black American, be it the homeless man that remains nameless or a Civil Rights ICON. So with this context in mind, the passing of the arguably the greatest remaining vestige of the Civil Rights Movement necessitated the greatest Black Homegoing imaginable in the world of COVID-19.

John Lewis fought his entire life for the Black community. Literally penning a letter of instructions to the people from his deathbed, Lewis always sought to advance the Black community from the tortuous reality he endured for 80 years. The path was slow and arduous and unfortunately too long for Lewis to see it to fruition. With this reality in mind, Lewis’s Homegoing was planned. It involved multiple locations and services on multiple days, one last crossing over the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and his being honored by a who’s who of both the Black community and the world of social justice. Lewis was to be eulogized by the last President this country has seen, the first Black President of the United States, Barack Obama. It must be noted that the Obama Presidency likely never occurs without John Lewis and all he fought for, a reality that was never lost on neither Obama, nor the Black community.

However, before that sacred event could be concluded, America had to have one “last laugh.” In total, three former Presidents spoke at Lewis’s final service of his Homegoing. Ironically, the Republican former President knew full well what was and was not appropriate. George W. Bush’s words were eloquent and gracious, a far cry from his Presidency. His dialogue actually made many ponder on how far he had come, almost wishing the current occupant of the Oval Office could be more like him.

But true to form, White America had to make its indelible mark of despotism on the life of John Lewis one final time. Bill Clinton, a man that once joked he was the first Black President, is perpetually too comfortable in exclusively Black spaces. Indicative of his nature, Clinton would not waver during the sacred Black Homegoing for a sacred icon of the Black community. His words, reminiscent of the Willie Lynchism tactics imposed during slavery, sought to illuminate a perceived division in the struggle for Black liberation.

It was an underhanded and veiled slight, spoken quickly in a manner that would lead the passive listener to believe that John Lewis openly disagreed and clashed with another icon in the struggle for Black equity. While praising Lewis, Clinton referenced a division HE remembers in the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). SNCC was an organization of student protestors and freedom fighters who sought nonviolent means to protest and resist segregationist practices in the South. SNCC was founded by 126 student delegates from various institutions. Among them were John Lewis and Stokely Carmichael. Their goal was uniform, direct-action challenges to civic segregation and the political exclusion of the Black community. SNCC sought to eradicate both with all deliberate speed.

Lewis and Carmichael may have personally favored different means of achieving their goal at times, but not to the point of pitting one against the other as an adversary. Put simply, they were fighting the same beast at the same time, seeking the same outcome. But, leave it to Clinton to impose revisionist history during the Homegoing for John Lewis. “Thankfully, Lewis prevailed…” were the words of Clinton, hinting that there was some struggle to “liberate” SNCC from the oppression of Carmichael. It was shameful and uncalled for.

Stokely Carmichael was a freedom fighter and not an oppressor. His contributions to the Civil Rights Movement cannot be quantified any more than those of John Lewis. Carmichael coined the phrase Black Power. A phrase many take for granted today, was unheard of when he first said it. One of the most revered alumni of Howard University, Carmichael set the world on fire with his powerful rhetoric. One cannot speak of the struggle for Black liberation without mentioning the name Stokely Carmichael (or Kwame Ture the name Carmichael took in later years). 

Much like John Lewis, Carmichael is a sacred icon. To speak negatively of Carmichael invites passionate debate or worse. It is an insult to the Black community to degrade its icons. Clinton did exactly that while on invite to an exclusively Black space, a sacred Black Homegoing for a sacred Civil Rights icon. He pitted one icon against the other without either of them alive to refute his subversive tactic. It was horrific.

However, the Black community will always survive. It will always endure. True to its character, the Black community brushed off this nasty tactic, which could have easily placed a stain on such a sacred moment. After all, those in attendance (either physically or virtually) were waiting for someone greater. While he is an imperfect human (a trait he wears on his sleeve openly), Barack Hussein Obama is a master of understanding the moment. Obama delivered one of his best speeches of recent memory, eulogizing the great John Lewis appropriately. By the conclusion of his speech, Clinton was a distant memory, as he should have been. John Lewis was appropriately sent “home.” He was finally at peace, no longer burdened by the cancerous disease that plagued his life. Racism could no longer harm him. He was finally free and no form of oppression, be it overt or the “wolf in sheep’s clothing” from Arkansas, could ever touch him again.

Long live John Robert Lewis, an icon and personification of the Black experience in America.

Similar Read: Until the Revolution of 1776 is Complete

You Are NOT Your Ancestors!

by with 5 Comments CultureFeatured

Popular opinion always sides with the right side of history. Hindsight being 20/20, that’s an easy decision to make. It’s real easy to armchair quarterback the Civil Rights Era, boldly proclaiming from 2020 that you would’ve marched arm in arm in 1965. But the reality is, 2020 is not 1965 and we have no idea the danger our elders faced as the walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge.

The painful truth is that many sat paralyzed in 1965, overwhelmed by the reality that participation then could literally mean death. Truthfully, their paralysis was justified in 1965. Being vocal and/or visible was a death sentence for many, including the greatest icons of that era. In 1965, one had to weigh the fight for justice against the sanctity of their family and home. Four little girls in the 16th Street Baptist Church speak to that tragic reality in a way that many in today’s world could never comprehend.

To say those that did sit out the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 60s were justified in their terror is an understatement. It was pragmatism at work. It was simply life, where an alleged whistle in the wrong direction could get a child beaten, dismembered, and dragged to the bottom of a river. There’s a painful contradiction in many shunning those that did sit out, when they didn’t live in those times.

The more painful reality is that many today still sit out, while facing far less severe consequences. Many that have boldly proclaimed they would rather die than be enslaved or that they would never take the disrespect that our ancestors braved. That same crowd that boldly wears the, “I’m not my ancestors, you can catch these hands” T-shirts, while marching in safe spaces, 50 plus years late. They are right about one thing, THEY ARE NOT THEIR ANCESTORS. They don’t have the heart to balance life and death by seeking basic dignities in every facet of survival, such as a water fountain or bathroom.

We are currently living in a time where the Chief Executive blatantly espouses prejudice, racism, bigotry and division in a manner that makes Nixon or Reagan seem tame. Yet, the “I’m not my ancestors” crowd isn’t certain of what to do. We are seemingly more concerned with the open marriages of celebrities, foolish people arguing over their “Constitutional right” to not wear masks, or the never-ending quest to prove who is the most conscious in the room.

One must pose the question, what does any of that matter to progress?

To that same crowd of social media warriors, fighting for the newest and boldest cause that is trending on Twitter, the time for hypotheticals has long passed. In reality, it was an illusion and the time for hypotheticals never arrived. Oppression never ended. Freedom was never fully achieved. So what is the wait about? When is the time right? Should we postpone true liberation longer for a more opportune time? Maybe it will be more convenient in 2030. It’s only another decade away…

But you’re right, YOU ARE NOT YOUR ANCESTORS! They fought. They didn’t wait. They survived atrocities that would seem unbearable to many now who complain of not having fully functional A/C or bad WiFi signal. Our ancestors didn’t get comfortable waiting around for a more opportune time. Our ancestors fought, knowing some would likely die. Our ancestors, and many white allies, had far more heart than many of the social justice warriors of today preaching from digital pulpits in their comfortable homes. Our ancestors died for our comfort, while we sit this one out because “we are too busy” or “we should be social distancing,” as if police violence isn’t as big of a threat as COVID-19.

July 17, 2020, marked the death of two Civil Rights Era GIANTS. As we view their collective legacies, both individually and jointly, we must take pause to determine what is next.

We have let our ancestors down in our comfort. Ironically, that comfort was built on the backs of our ancestors’ sacrifice, not our own. Are we willing to sacrifice our comfort and individual “successes” to push the future of our people forward? John Lewis and C.T. Vivian both did. That was their life work. Collectively, many of us have not. Again, we are NOT our ancestors.

While we complain from our WiFi soapboxes and boldly proclaim what we would’ve done on social media, our community is still engulfed in a deliberate and subversive form of genocide. While we bicker over what #BlackLivesMatter should mean, our children are dying at the hands of police, systemic racism, and at the hands of other children. Yet, we sit those out to stay comfortable. That same comfort we have not truly earned, but instead inherited. So yes, we are NOT our ancestors. They were better men and women.

To those who hypothesize on what they “would’ve done” during slavery or Jim Crow, you no longer have to hypothesize. The time is now. A bigot occupies the Oval Office. This Administration openly works to roll back the social progress of the last 50 years in an attempt to make America what it was in the “good ole days.” You don’t have to hypothesize on what you would’ve done when facing police dogs, fire hoses, clubs, prison, lifelong persecution, or death. You won’t get your hands dirty engaging in GOOD TROUBLE during a time when the consequences of said action pale in comparison. You would’ve sat out the movement of the 50s and 60s because you’re sitting out now. It’s the same mentality of subjugation by appeasement. To you I say, you’re damn right, YOU ARE NOT YOUR ANCESTORS!

Similar Read: MLK 50: BANKRUPT JUSTICE