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

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. 

God Save the Queen: The Demise of a Regime

by with 3 Comments FeaturedGlobal

Our future at a standstill yet again. Brits really are living in a really tedious and overdrawn episode of Black Mirror. Instead of riding the crest of the wave of Brexit, we are very much drowning in its turbulence, our surf board bashing us in the face as it flails behind us. And yet I’m still trying to decide how I feel about it all, including Theresa May’s leadership. After all, she has had to steer a ship she didn’t want to be built in the first place.

Just a reminder as to why Britons are in despair over Brexit. If and how we leave the EU will determine the fate of the UK’s economy. Whilst countries such as Norway thrive outside the EU, the UK has built an economy based on an open market. Without absolutely any viable plan even being proposed for how we can make Brexit a success, the next 10 years is likely to be grim. Whilst our politics isn’t anywhere near as parody worthy as that occurring in the USA, the sting of our losses is continually being felt. 

Even with us being in limbo, we have already felt the impact of Brexit in the U.K. The pound is worth less than the Euro for the first time that I can remember. House prices have stagnated in London. The economy is predicted to shrink and foreign investment have either avoided us or pulled out. As an advisor to our National Health Service (NHS), I personally worry about maintaining our free accessible public healthcare system. The level of healthcare that is available free of charge in the UK is astounding. Cutting edge cures for cancer that would otherwise require life savings, pediatric spinal surgery, no qualms emergency treatment, HIV medicines, all available on the NHS. To see this potentially privatised resulting in denied equal access to thousands would perhaps be one of the greatest travesties to come out of Brexit.

Extra money for the NHS was one of many broken promises from the Brexit campaign we are still reeling from. If I had to name one positive from the campaign of lies that had been masqueraded on the side of an iconic red London bus, it would have to be what we have learned with hindsight. We have learned that it is easy to dupe even the cynical, supposedly educated British public. That pandering to xenophobia unites voters from both ends of the class spectrum. That we have strict advertising rules for multivitamins yet absolutely no safeguards to protect us from reckless, misleading claims from politicians. Even more astoundingly, that Jeremy Corbin, (leader of the main opposing party) also backed to leave the EU and no one has batted an eyelid.

As much as I shouldn’t, I can’t help but feel saddened by our lost status in the world. I’m not one to depict the UK as Royal Britannia on her chariot gracing her commonwealth subjects whilst eating scones with clotted cream and earl grey tea. However, I already miss the comfort in knowing that our politics were generally going to be somewhat centred. The time when we could roll our eyes, tut and say ‘ah, the rest of the world. What are they like?!’ I’ll say it, I miss our politics being dull. And now we take centre stage in our own slapstick amateur hour in political leadership. The chariot is now on fire and being led by blind horses hurtling towards the sea.

Currently, we are at another crossroads with a second referendum to stay/leave, early general election, no deal exit or renegotiation all on the cards. Unusually we are in a position where it is better to look back at what’s happened rather than attempting to look forward. As a young Brit living in London, it’s difficult to decide how I feel. Is this karma for the British Empire? Should we be aspiring to be like Norway/Switzerland? Have the experts got it all wrong? Or perhaps this a sinking ship and we just need to evolve into fish people to survive. And with the above being said, no Theresa. You have not done a good job.

Similar Read: The Predictable Divorce

Don Lemon… Domestic Terrorism and Revisionist History

by with No Comment CultureFeatured

A few weeks ago, CNN Host Don Lemmon inflamed the nation when he said, “The biggest threat in this country is White men.”  Well, he didn’t inflame the nation, mainly just Conservative White men, including President Trump.

Side note, writing President Trump still shocks me. It’s like early in the New Year when you haven’t gotten used to writing January yet. 

Anyway. 

The same people Don Lemmon inflamed with his comment are literally the same people who often say don’t talk about race, don’t talk about slavery, so no surprise there. The comment was NOT a comment against White men, it was against the White men who have been the chief architects for most of the recent domestic terror in this nation. While so many people dwelled on his comment, I think it’s important to note that White men have largely been responsible for the gross atrocities in our nation… specifically the genocide and damn near decimation of Native Americans, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. As much as some people might not want to hear it or dispute it… that’s history. 

The surprise for me is the repeated attempts to push revisionist history and narratives that are completely false. Notions such as “the Civil War was over states rights,” or that slavery does not have deep roots in the minds of extremists. Extremists that have used their boisterous ways and power to influence others. In fact, not only have they minimized the wrongs of this nation, in many cases, they’ve attempted to suggest that said wrongs never occurred.

The storyline is simple… White Conservative/Republican men refuse to acknowledge that the lion share of mass shootings and serial killings in this country are carried out by hate groups and civil militias comprised of White men, or as some media outlets truthfully refer to them, White Supremacists. (Fact.) 

Revisionist history… really bad revisionist history… so bad, it reminds me of an episode on Martin in which Martin and Gina tell very different stories of how they first met. Each told their version of the story with extreme bias. The real truth of how they first met had to be told by a neutral party to avoid bias and blatant lies. It’s a very funny episode because it’s TV… not real life minimized to talking points by the extreme right regarding issues of humanity in this nation. 

“American Democracy: A Paradox”

by with One Comment FeaturedPolitics

[In response to I Still Believe In My Country And My Party]

Thank you for your service. 

For the Games of the XXX Olympiad (i.e. 2012 London Summer Olympics), I found myself standing in my living room in Sydney, Australia. I had only been living in the land down under for a few weeks and a strong sense of emotion came over me when I heard the announcers say to cheers, “And here come the Americans!” As I watched this multiethnic delegation process into London Stadium, a tear rolled down my face as I noticed that the Aussie announcer made no mention of a hyphen. There was no mention of the hyphen by which we Americans divide one another on a daily basis. There was no mention of African-Americans, no mention of Hispanic-Americans, no mention of Asian-Americans, no mention of Caucasian-Americans; just Americans. For the first time in my life, I was not African-American or Hispanic-American, I was solely an American; a patriot on foreign soil.     

Over the last six years, I’ve studied to gain a deeper understanding – beyond what I was already taught in school – of American history. I’ve lost myself in various books and documentaries on how we have arrived at this place in history. I too, arrived at the conclusion that the founding documents of this Democratic experiment, known as the United States of America, was truly brilliant as you put it. 

However, as I began to place myself throughout brilliant moments in American history I began to wonder what life would’ve been like then. I wondered what would life be like as a New Yorker in 1776, what would life be like to experience a young nation expand its territory in the early 1800s, what would life be like to see the first photographs in the 1850s, what would life be like to experience a nation take up arms against itself in 1861, what would life be like to witness her began to heal her wounds during the Reconstruction in 1865, what would life be like to hear about human beings taking flight for the first time at Kitty Hawk in 1903, what would life be like to experience this young nation embrace globalism and join its Allies in fighting the first World War in 1914, what would life be like to experience Americans flocking to cinemas to watch the nation’s first blockbuster film, Birth of a Nation in 1915, what would life be like to hear FDR announce the New Deal in the 1930s, what would life be like to experience Pearl Harbor and subsequently increase our participation in World War II in 1941, what would life be like to see my hero, Jackie Robinson, break MLBs color barrier at Ebbets Field, Brooklyn in 1947, what would life be like to see that New Deal become the engine of American prosperity in the 1950s post WWII, what would life be like to experience human beings landing on the moon and the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s…

Sadly as I placed myself throughout American history, racism quickly ended my moments of wonderment.

Fast forward to the present and the meteor sized crater of income inequality between blacks and whites, the value of public education in lower socioeconomic neighborhoods, law enforcements disproportionate violence against black bodies, Flint Michigan still not having clean water, 4,645 Puerto Ricans dying in the absence of federal leadership, and the immense pressure that the current President is placing on the cornerstones of this Democratic experiment.

I can’t help but vacillate between being in awe of the brilliance of her ideological words and ashamed of her deeds.

As a black American, I can not bring myself to fully align and endorse Conservative approaches to the antiquated Documents by which we are governed. And with that being said, given that we are still governed by this paradoxical Document, I cannot accept America’s misconception that her values are morally superior to any other nation until she exemplifies those values in not only her words but in her deeds to all her citizens; specifically her citizens of color.    

While this nation has had brilliant moments in its 242-year history, the backdrop has always been and will always be racism and the relentless preservation of white supremacy. So while I wish I could live my daily life in that tearful patriotic moment I had in Sydney; the consciousness of our collective experience impacts my ability to do so. In fact, immediately upon my return from Sydney in 2013, America found George Zimmerman not guilty in the murder of Trayvon Martin. So in a way, I am envious of your privilege to still believe in country and party but I, unfortunately, am unable to join you on that perch.

My patriotism lives in the steely resolve of my community and the soaring indelible impact that we have had on American history and culture. 

How do you define your patriotism?