You Didn’t Vote for Biden, You Voted Against Trump

by with One Comment FeaturedhighlightPolitics

Earlier this month, U.S. residents across the country held their breath. An 8-month period of coronavirus, a slumped economy coupled with rising unemployment rates, and uncertainty about who our Commander in Chief would be invoked anxiety around the recent “unprecedent” presidential election. Even more, so many people including myself were exhausted by the constant racial profiling of people of color, particularly Black men and the fleeting protests surrounding abuse and violence against Black women in this country. So, we mailed in our ballots, raced to the polls, and watched our television screens as we waited for CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, or our relatives on Facebook to tell us who won the election. And then it came.

Four weeks ago, those who voted blue celebrated the victory of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the first, Black, Indian, and woman Vice President of the U.S. Except we weren’t truly celebrating their victory. Instead, we were celebrating Donald Trump’s defeat.

I was frantically texting my family when it hit me. We defeated Trump and no longer were to be under a chaotic and destructive administration. But I realized there were still 73,786,905 people who voted for him, despite the lies, deceit, and manipulation. The people who voted for him still believed in him, reinforcing their support for white supremacy. From the “nice” suburban white mom to the raging “redneck” deep in poverty to the black republicans vilifying their race for a taste of political power, and the southern Latinx populations supporting Trump’s machismo and toughness, the other side of victory, defeat, matters as well.

And what’s also important is that Democrats, particularly those who are marginalized, don’t necessarily have the same agenda to equal the playing field. Kamala Harris being conservative in her role as District Attorney General of California hurt people of color – criminalizing them for their poverty. Additionally, Joe Biden sponsored the Crime Bill of 1994 that disproportionally affected people of color as well. We shouldn’t ignore this. Whether there’s representation on the federal level, doesn’t negate the brewing discontent and white fear on the local level and how progressive people can continue to be complicit in the systems that affect people of color, particularly Black and Brown folk.

So where do we go from here? I propose we continue to keep our leaders accountable for their actions and adopt a critical lens of politics that doesn’t put binaries on people because of their political party. We need to watch candidates closely and see their actions instead of their words. Politics is who gets, what, when, and how and for Biden he happened to run at the right time, arguably invoking our nostalgia for the Obama Administration. Nevertheless, communities are the ones who are catalysts of change and with the right checks and balances, we can continue to heal the nation.

Similar Read: An Imposter at the Homegoing

Amy’s Gotta Problem

by with One Comment CultureFeaturedRace Relations

There is an ire of intentionality behind white violence against black people. But white violence against black men has been at the forefront lately. As I write this post, America has just been introduced to another death of a black man at the hands of a white police officer. There’s something about the history of black oppression in this country that today’s news just lays on the thickest layer of grief a black person in America can feel. Although George Floyd’s life needs to be shared, this story, unfortunately, isn’t about him. 

It’s about Amy Copper and her attempt to threaten and likely kill a black innocent man. It’s deep. While Christian Cooper (not related) was in Central Park’s Ramble bird watching he noticed an unleashed dog. That is illegal in the Ramble and they have clear instructions on their website. He asked the dog’s owner, Amy Cooper, if she could please leash her dog. Among other things, unleashed dogs can harm other animals and humans. Instead of simply complying with a stated law, Amy decides to challenge Christian who then begins to record their interaction with his cell phone. 

It’s important to note that this was his single greatest weapon during this interaction. What ensued thereafter is beyond reproach. Amy begins to approach him and he asks her to back up and she points at him and threatens to call the police. What gave Amy the right to threaten police on an unarmed and non-threatening man? She clearly didn’t like that he asked her to leash her dog and used his race as a weapon to call the police. It was truly disgusting to witness via Christian’s video footage, but it was real. 

The threat of white violence utilizing police is disgusting. Amy emphasized that Christian was African-American in her call to the police. She said he was threatening her and her dog, whom by this time she was visibly chocking because she refused to leash it. Christian continued to record and posed no threat to her. Amy continued to Amy until finally leashing her dog and Christian thanked her and walked away. The ending shows that the police did arrive, but did not find Amy or Christian there because there was no real threat. There was only a disgruntled dog walker and a frustrated bird watcher who had an ugly interaction. 

But we can’t leave this topic without thinking of the many times a 911 call has been used as key proof in a case against someone. Amy, without hesitation, called and told the police an African-American man was threatening her life. As we think about how easily a false accusation could have caused this Black man to lose his liberty or his life it is truly infuriating. What’s infuriating was Amy’s disregard for his life. In a follow-up interview, she told CNN “I’m not racist. I do not mean to harm that man in any way.”

Amy calling the police was intended harm. Highlighting his race on the call was intended harm. Faking an emergency to call the police was intended harm. Having your dog unleashed in an area that is illegal was intended harm. 

Christian was simply asking Amy to comply with a stated law. Amy attempted harm and now expects her apology to suffice. This is trauma. This is black trauma. This is black male trauma. The Amy’s of the world must be stopped. And the Christian’s of the world must continue to record and share.

Similar Read: Are We Surprised?

Albert Wilson

by with 2 Comments CultureFeaturedGen Z

“Whatever that is done in darkness will come to light.” This is a saying that I live by to keep myself from harboring hatred and resentment towards the unfairness that runs rampant in the quotidian. This isn’t foolproof by any means, as can be seen of the Albert Wilson rape trial. Did he do anything in darkness that warranted this level of retribution in the light?

The law was created to punish those who did wrong, and protect the ones who did right. How is it that now those who are wrong and who are right now have a certain appearance? How is it that retribution takes different forms depending on what the defendant looks like?

Brock Turner, a White man, raped an unconscious White woman behind a dumpster in 2015 and was convicted in 2016. There was hard evidence that proved these allegations to be facts. There were even witnesses of this assault. His retribution took the form of a six-month sentence. He served only three of those months because prison was detrimental to his young psyche. He was even allowed to have a cellphone during the time he was incarcerated.

Albert Wilson, a Black man, was accused of raping an underage White woman in his apartment in 2016 and was convicted in 2019. There wasn’t even evidence to call circumstantial. Unlike with Turner, semen was not found in or on the victim, and I use that term loosely here. The only DNA found on the victim was on her chest, where he kissed her. Wilson testified to having done sexual acts with the victim but did not have sexual intercourse. Hell, there is surveillance footage of the apartment complex, showing the consensual and mutual exchanges going into the building and coming out of the building five minutes later, not stumbling incoherence that the victim claimed. 

But when the White girl screams rape, it seems that our justice system does not stop to examine the evidence or lack thereof, ask the right questions to the right people, and get to the bottom of what happened. It didn’t matter to the all-White jury, most of whom were women, that there wasn’t any actual evidence to pin the proverbial tail on the donkey. It didn’t matter because the case boiled down to hearsay, and they only listened to the White voice.

The light’s retribution for what was not done in darkness is twelve years, and reportedly the “lightest sentence” issued for rape in Kansas. Wilson was sentenced to twelve years for a crime that there is no actual evidence saying that he committed. Where is the innocent until proven guilty? It seems that this kind of consideration is not colorblind, rather it sees color and discriminates accordingly.

If this case remains closed, Wilson might be on the fast track to joining the statistic of being a Black man wrongfully incarcerated via the lack of due diligence by the people who enforce these laws, meanwhile, White men like Turner are wrongfully freed.

We sweat the same sweat, bleed the same red blood, shed the same tears. While not all of us have melanin or the same amount of melanin, that should not determine how the law is enforced on us. The system is designed to protect, but the judges and the juries, they are the ones who turn it into a weapon. 

“No weapon formed against you shall prosper / And every tongue which rises against you in judgment / You shall condemn,” Isaiah 54:17. While everyone might not have the same faith, I think it can be said unanimously that these weapons are indeed prospering. The voices that rise against us, though we do condemn, we still fall.

What can we do? What we have been doing: raising our own voices. People have taken to Twitter to put out the word and raise awareness. The articles written by news platforms and the website www.freealbertwilson.com had been retweeted several hundreds of thousands of times.

At this time, that is all that we can do besides hope and pray for either an acquittal, like what Michael Rosfeld received, an appeal, a retrial, or complete exoneration. Unfortunately, it seems like our justice system will provide neither. 

Similar Read: Antwon Rose

Kareem Hunt and the Power of Belief

by with No Comment FeaturedSports

The short story, “The System of Dr. Tarr and Prof. Fether” by Edgar Allan Poe, appeared in the November 1845 issue of Graham’s Magazine. Most literaries wouldn’t cite it as one of their favorites, but it did produce one of the most famous cliche lines ever… “Believe nothing you hear and only one half that you see.” That line was delivered by the head of a private hospital for the mentally ill, which also happens to be the setting of the story. Simply, he was referring to the gossip of others. The head of the institution attempts to place wisdom into one of the patients who is unsure of who to trust and what to believe because of gossip in the hospital.

A combination of opinions, bias, fear, and a host of other elements play into who and what we believe… and the recent Kareem Hunt incident is no different. 

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve heard and/or seen the viral video of Kansas City Chiefs star running back Kareem Hunt shoving and then attempting to kick a woman in a hotel hallway. There should be no debate on what we all saw in the video… but… like with everything else, what some believe will determine the fate of Mr. Hunt and if he should ever be allowed to play in the NFL again. 

For a long time, major historical events have been captured on film. Viewing historical events creates takeaways, takeaways generally aligned with preconceived notions and beliefs. When belief is placed ahead of facts and logic, the results can be terrifying. Not sure what I’m referring to? Well let’s go down memory lane and look at a few historical events in which the video recording clearly showed one thing, yet the aftermath and subsequent events did not fall in line with the recording. 

  • Rodney King beating by five members of the Los Angeles Police Department. The 1991 video recording still wasn’t enough to convict the police officers of excessive force. The jury did not believe the five White officers used race when factoring in the beating of King, instead of following LAPD protocols. 
  • From the mid-1990s until the end of the 2000s, the United Nations sent weapons experts to inspect and determine if Iraq had any weapons of mass destruction. Despite numerous reports AND video recordings of the inspectors showing no signs of active production of weapons of mass destruction, the George W Bush Administration double-downed on its belief that Iraq was linked to sponsoring terrorism against the United States and that it would provide terrorist organizations WMD’s, thus justifying an invasion of Iraq. Thousands of lives lost, billions of dollars spent, and many many many years later, NO such WMD’s have ever been found.
  • We’ve seen this countless times before with police shootings, and the all lives matter crowd famously pushing back with “we weren’t there” and “we don’t know all the facts yet.” Responses designed to circumvent the racial elements in questionable police shootings and to uphold the belief that if the person would have obeyed commands, stated their blood type, and recited the alphabet backward… the victim would still be alive today.

As we can see, those with the ability to control the outcome of incidents will do so to favor and confirm their beliefs. 

Now back to Hunt… 

The video showing Hunt assaulting a woman drums up the infamous Ray Rice video in which he assaulted his then fiancé in a casino elevator. After the offseason altercation with his fiancé, Ray Rice started the following season suspended; however, during his suspension, the casino elevator video was leaked by TMZ. The imagery of Ray Rice knocking out his fiancé was too much to be unseen, and Rice never played in the NFL again. That video forever changed the consequences of domestic violence in all sports, a change welcomed by all if applied appropriately.

Hunt’s fate is still unknown at this point; however, the circumstances should be viewed differently. Hunt’s assault wasn’t domestic, which isn’t and shouldn’t be viewed the same. Hunt’s assault was the result of racial slurs from the woman who also attempted to strike him. The suspension and release of Hunt from the Kansas City Chiefs right after the video leaked is valid. Having consequences for conduct unbecoming of a professional athlete is warranted and necessary. However, the beliefs and preconceived notions behind seeing a 5’11 200-pound Black man striking a 5’3 135-pound White woman is one that will probably place longer and harsher punishment on Hunt than it should. Hunt deserves punishment of some sort, and after such punishment, he should be allowed to play in the NFL again, obviously with strict guidelines regarding his off-field behavior. Anything more than that is a slap in the face of fairness.