african americans – Susan X Jane

Roots: Still Relevant, Kwiku Dog

Snoop Dog. Snoop Doggy Dog. Snoop Lion. DJ Snoopadelic. Snoopzilla. Big Snoop Dog. Snoop Scorcese. Over the course of his career, Calvin Broadous has worked under 7 different names. At the age of 45, he has been a rapper, actor, kids coach and rasta lion.

On the other hand, Kunta Kinte has always been and shall remain Kunta. Please DO NOT ask him to call himself Toby.

This week four channels under the A & E network will run the 2016 remake of the miniseries based on Alex Haley ‘s family history. The remake is well made, and as moving a story as before with an all-star team: Forrest Whitaker as Fiddler, and is executive produced by Lavar Burton. The remake is one of a handful of recent productions focusing on America’s darkest chapter of history including Underground, 12 years a Slave and Nate Parkers much anticipated Birth of a Nation.

But Snoop Whatever says these stories are no longer relevant. Is Snoop right about all these slave shows? Is America ignoring today’s racial tension in favor of whiteness’ walk down memory lane? Do these shows about the past keep us from moving forward?

Past present and future and bound together in an eternal equation. Toggling one part of the equation helps you solve for the rest. Snoop’s right when he says black people are still suffering today. Why not then see how those who rebalanced the equation before you did what they could? A lesson history teaches us is that your wokeness is not enough. Fighting, protests and even the changing will of many people has not resulted in equity for blacks–or any other group for that matter.

Watching Kunta take that whipping reminded me of the absolute power and strength that comes from being grounded in home and ancestry. But, at the end, he whispers Toby. This tiny whisper I used to think of as a sigh of defeat. When I was a child I wanted him to never give in. Now I know giving in is not giving up. That you can take a beating and live to fight another day with integrity intact.

As an adult traveling Americas treacherous waters of race, I was moved to see that he was willing to do whatever it takes to live and to keep fighting. That to whisper your slave name is not to be a slave. That Kunta–like me–could always carry his real name on the inside, no matter how the battle beats us down from day to day. Maybe that is what Snoop is missing.

Roots is not a slave story–it is the story of Africans enslaved who never laid down, who never gave up even when they wouldn’t see the fight finished in their lifetime. Roots shows black people in revolt, measuring their subversion for the greatest success, and building a life where there is none. They are not slaves, they are survivors. We are right be reminded that we are the children born of such power.

For young millennials who are hellbent on changing the world, watching Roots may seem like an old folks’ history lesson, but it is their history too. You’re wearing your hair natural, rocking dashikis and wax prints–why not a little throwback history too? When things get intense, its good to know your bloodline fought harder than a hashtag.

That is why Roots is still relevant. Snoop, your African name is still on the inside, too. You’ve referenced Italian directors, Japanese monsters, and Jamaican prophets in your name; maybe it’s time you found your Roots. You’re a child born on Wednesday: we’ll call you Kwiku Dog.

Mistrial: Justice Denied

The jury is back in the Michael Dunn case, mistakenly dubbed the “Loud Music Case”. A mistrial was declared on the main count: the murder of Jordan Davis. Though he was found guilty on the lesser counts, the murder remains unresolved. Once again, a young black man was killed, and the legal system supported his killer with the murky permissiveness of Stand your Ground.

George Zimmerman’s attorney Mark O’Mara wondered aloud on CNN if “perhaps Stand Your Ground has emboldened Dunn and other people to take the law into their own hands.” Just six months before, this same attorney defended Zimmerman’s right to hide behind the law as he stalked and killed Trayvon Martin. O’Mara further stated that he sees racial disparity in the system “all the time.”

How can the man who defend the law say that he knows the system that spawned it is racist? How can the boy listening to his favorite music with his friends be cast as villain by this law before he is even old enough to vote?

How can we say we care about our children in a country where lax gun laws, over-permisive self defense laws and a climate ripe with hate of all stripes results in the death of hundreds of children and thousands of people every year?

On the eve of Jordan Davis’ birthday, make a personal pledge that you will do what you can to stop the killing of young black men. Get involved in nonprofits working to change gun laws and end Stand Your Ground. Tell other people to get involved. Talk to the people in your life about the impact of implicit and explicit racism on all people. Hug the children in your life and teach them to fight for their rights. Whatever you do, you can do something right now, this week, this year.

Thug / Life: When Keeping It Wrong Gets Real

Here’s that word again: thug. You’ll remember that we talked about Seattle Seahawk’s Richard Sherman’s public skewering just a couple of weeks ago. After a bragtastic post-game interview the twitter verse and TV were positivly abuzz with the word thug.

There was some debate, some finger pointing and–most coherent of all–Richard Sherman’s own thoughtful analysis that the word thug has come to stand in for the n word as acceptable hate speech against black men.

To his point, a Google search of the word reports a sharp uptick in its use in the last two decades. Before you blame all that on hip hop, I’m pretty sure Fox news analysts who called Richard Sherman a thug aren’t bumping TuPac on the ride home.

This week the word thug is on trial–literally–in the case of Florida v. Michael Dunn. Dunn is charged with shooting into a car of 4 teens, killing 17 year-old Jordan Davis. He is defending himself with an affirmative defense, claiming he shot the teen in self-defense under Florida’s ~~abominable~~ controversial Stand Your Ground law.

Rhonda Rouer testified in a Florida courtroom on Saturday in the trial of her fiancé. Rouer testified that when she and Dunn pulled into the convenience store parking lot next to the victims’ Durango, he said to her, “I hate that thug music,” in reference to the music the teens were playing. Lest you think this was an isolated “thug” and nothing should be made of it, consider this quote from Dunn himself:

The jail is full of blacks and they all act like thugs…. This may sound a bit radical, but if more people would arm themselves and kill these fucking idiots when they’re threatening you, eventually they may take the hint and change their behavior.

Dunn wrote those words from a jail cell where he sat charged with second-degree murder for killing a young boy whom he referred to as a thug just seconds before shooting him.

Sit with that irony for a second.

Words create the world around us. Words are the material that we use to build societies. Words like good, bad, man, woman, us and them set the boundaries of our culture, and help us decide what is worth doing and what isn’t, who deserves our compassion and who doesn’t. Words matter.

Thug. Trap. Hood. Gangsta. Brute. Beast. Nigger. These words are a chain tying men of African decent to centuries of oppression. These words are used not in ignorance but presicely because they come packed with meaning, hate in four letters, a reminder of the persistence of racial prejudice and a time when such words were weapons wielded by lynch mobs.

Now the words are on the stand. They come out of Rhonda’s mouth and in four letters point an accusing finger at the only the threat in the parking lot that night: Dunn’s own racism. Before Dunn had any interaction with the four young boys in the truck next to him, he had called them thugs– the last word in a coded chain of hate words going back to this country’s worst hours. In other times, a man might have chosen a rope, or a whip, but Dunn chose a gun, and decided who would live and who would die.

He was a grown man with a deadly weapon. According to Dunn’s own testimony the boys turned down their music when he asked, but when he heard swearing a few moments later he stated “I wasn’t asking for any more favors.” He decided the punishment for noise was death, then claimed stand your ground justified his actions.

It’s 2014, not 1814, so we free people of all races have to make sure our imperfect union does what it can to realize the dream of all men and women being created equal and where we have the right to life, liberty and loud music if we choose. Just like those men before him, we must hold Michael Dunn accountable for the racism and violence he visited on his victims. Let’s pray the jury makes that gun toting thug aware of the weight of words with a simple “guilty.”

Bondage Chairs and Black Cakes: When Art Isn’t Art

This week as we celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day Russian socialite and editor of Garage magazine Dasha Zhukova showed just how far we’ve come by perching atop a chair in the form of a black woman in bondage for the website Buro 24/7. The image ricocheted around the world, followed closely by outrage, and a limp apology. The chair is a reproduction of designer Allen Jones 1969’s version featuring a white woman—which, by the way, is bad no matter what race of woman is represented.

In the chatter that followed there were not a few people who excused the image on the grounds that the chair was a work of art. It should be pointed out the artist that made it makes no claim that this is supposed to provoke race conscious thinking. Anyways, the argument goes that part of the job of art is to provoke so no matter how offensive people may find it they have to give it a pass—an art pass. It brings to mind another piece of provocative art by Swedish performance artist, called Ni**er Cake.

Let’s be clear–both examples of ‘art’ are racist as hell. In both cases, those responding to criticism defend their use of racist imagery by throwing the art pass. But here’s the problem with that argument: we aren’t seeing these images in the controlled context of an art establishment. The chair is not standing alone, but is to us part of the set for the cover of a magazine. The cake is not confined to its gallery performance but slingshots around the world surrounded by the laughing minister of culture.

When we see these magazine covers or press conferences, these are media constructions, not objects of art, so they are governed by different rules of production and viewing. Given the careers of those doing the apologizing, they were likely to have a very good idea of just how much attention such images would generate. These images, and the fire stores they create are no accident, but are carefully constructed to generate attention. That’s what media is.

What we see that so rightly sparks outrage is a scene where people lounge and laugh as they engage with these racist objects. There is no critique of power and prejudice, so only anger is provoked, not analysis. In both cases, it is the way these objects of art serve as set pieces for powerful white people that reinforces the old school racist imagery of white dominance over black bodies.

So no to your art pass, and no to your apology.

One more thing. They say turn about is fair play. Russian artist Alexander Kargaltsev released his own image (warning:NC-17 material)Alexander Kargaltsev in response to Buro 24/7. By reversing roles, Kargaltsev say he “reverses the visual injustice and offense perpetrated by that editorial and in a way restores the equality of genders, races, and sexual orientations.” But to act out the same scene of degradation you object to only turns the wheel around again. Offended? You should be, but we have to rise above those we resent rather than continuing to play tit for tat. As we see from the examples above, just because you create provocative images, that doesn’t mean that they will provoke change

Shasheer’s Here But Drake Takes the Cake

This week Saturday Night Live debuted their latest cast member, Shasheer Zamata. Her addition to the 39 year old comedy ensemble came after well-publicized and deserved criticism led to the show ~~bowing to pressure~~ listening to the criticism and—surprise, surprise—finding the talent they thought was so elusive. Shasheer brings the total women of color on the show to 4 of 138 cast members over 39 years, or almost 3%, still well below the 18% that women of color make up in the general population. Hype bubble busted.

Shasheer’s talent is undeniable, but let’s take a look at the actual episode. First let us say that this talented young actress has earned her spot on the show, with a solid track record in comedy. Shasheer appeared in several of the opening skits to satisfy the hungry eyeballs. But making media diversity work is about two things—the number of people of different races and also the quality of the character that they portray. While Shasheer did make it into 4 sketches with 5 characters—more than some of the other new cast member added in the fall–I’m not so sure we really got to see her stretch her wings.

In her debut episode, Shasheer played Keenan Thompson’s wife at a bar mitzvah, a dancing smoking Rhianna-as-Blossom, Two Chains’ younger sister, a backup singer, a girl hosting a slumber party and a student in detention. Ground breaking? Not yet. So while SNL did ~~finally get it together and try to do the right thing~~ incorporated more diversity into their line-up by adding a black female, the jury is still out to see if they will provide the opportunity for her to play characters that go beyond stereotypical roles.

Here’s the bigger story: stealing the diversity card for the show was the guest host Drake. Of course he appeared in more sketches, but what made the night his was the diversity of roles he played. Drake himself has a background that breaks stereotypes: rapper but not gangster, Canadian, multiracial and, as he told us, polite. Because we know him to be all these things, SNL played with the kinds of characters he portrayed with barely a nod to playing a chain-wearing gang banger.

It seems like SNL was able to write interesting roles for Drake that asked us to question racial boundaries as we laughed. The range of charters he played brought a sparkle of diversity into an otherwise typically stereotypical episode. Now if they can just learn to keep those roles coming for their regular cast members, they may be on to something.

Santa Claus, The Tooth Fairy and Black People

This week the Pew Foundation released a report confirming that so-called “Black Twitter” exists. In case you thought this meant that Black people are finally discovering the interwebs thingy, Okayplayer–a long time round the way site–lays down some history of Black net nation. If you remember Black planet, you know we didn’t just get here, but welcome to the party, Pew.