As this story has been unfolding over the past month something is being lost in translation. We’re wearing our hoodies, we’re calling for justice and we’re angry that the system has failed us once again.
Black activist and leaders like Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Tavis Smiley, Cornell West, and others have spoken out, and even President Barack Obama waded in on this tragedy that has galvanized the African American populace across the nation. The New Black Panther party has even put an ill advised $10k bounty on George Zimmerman’s head, because if something happens to him the BPP will be blamed for it and will be promptly arrested which will bring tension to it’s highest point since OJ’s trial. And still something has been looked over in the narrative that is unfolding.
Even with Geraldo Rivera’s idiotic, down right hypocritical stance against the hoodie no one has mentioned that George Zimmerman was the aggressor. By his own admission in the 911 call, when he told them that he was following Trayvon, he should have been pegged as the aggressor, arrested and locked up for first degree murder.
The law that police say is keeping them from arresting Zimmerman should be applied to Trayvon Martin with 100% impunity. Continue reading
Too Many Chiefs Not Enough Indians
The quote for Black people should be; Too Many Indians That Think They Are Chiefs and Not Enough Chiefs for all These Damn Indians.
I wholly understand the first quote but over the years I have come to realize that it’s not as accurate as I once thought. The reason for this is that these Indians that are trying to be chiefs are really acting and they have no real understanding of what it takes to be a chief. They posture themselves and try to talk like a chief but they can’t walk the walk, not even a block, let alone a mile in the shoes of a real chief.
They get ahead of themselves when dealing with Black on Black situations, but if you toss them into the room with a white chief they quickly play the subordinate role. (more on the Black on Black situation in a post to come)
On the other side there’s the multitude of Indians and not enough people willing to stand up as chiefs. This is when it has to do with enlightenment and uplifting of the Black community. All of a sudden no one wants to be the chief, no one wants to die for the cause anymore or be the martyr. They all want a chief to step up, whom they will conveniently try to undermine when given the chance. (more on The Crab Syndrome in a coming post)
So let’s refresh the phrase a bit to include the latter 2 so we can really become more enlightened on the way we think.
The Divided States of America
It just dawned on me what republicans are hinting at when they call Obama a dividing force in America.
At first I just listened to the words politically and thought that they were trying to reference the fact that he’s Democrat and they are Republicans. This view spawned the usual response from the political pundits when they heard it.
“The President has been trying to work with Republicans and reach across party lines to get things done,” is what Democrats say, “It’s the Republicans who are not trying to bring the political parties together”.
The Republicans on the other hand continue to say that this President is a dividing force in America, no matter how much the President tries to work with them. This has been the narrative and it continues to be a Republican talking point.
Then today, as I was listening to Politically Direct on Current TV, they played a few sound bites from Romney who had won the New Hampshire primary the night before and it hit me.
There are 2 things that came to mind when hearing it, and both lean to the side of race baiting, a play on the inherent bias of white Americans against Black Americans. I always wondered how so many Right wing Republican hypocrites could have the audacity to say that a man who has continued to try to work with them to the detriment of his own base could be considered a divider and this is why.
- White Superiority Complex – White men in this country have always viewed Black men as their subordinates, beneath them, no matter who they are or what they do. Because of this they view anything that a Black man does that doesn’t bend to the there will as being an attack on their white manhood. A Black man that is out of line and doesn’t bend to the will of a white man when instructed to do so is considered a rebellious, cocky negro, who thinks he’s somebody, and they cant have that.This gives rise to the mentality that if you don’t obey their every whelm and I do something to you, it’s your fault. As in, this uppity Negro thought he could sit at the same table as us whites, and when we told him to move, and he didn’t, we grabbed him by the neck and beat him to a bloody pulp. It was his fault; he should have done what we told him to do!
- It’s a way for them to let other white people know, without having to say it plainly, that Obama has whites going against whites. And as a white man who has a superiority complex, this is not right. White people need to stick together. Continue reading
Bootleggers Tuck Your Red Tails
This post was inspired by a recent article about the new movie Red Tails, and George Lucas’ appearance on The Daily Show. In the article and interview he stated that the movie almost didn’t get made because Hollywood execs didn’t know how to market it due to the all Black cast, well a cast with no major white roles, so they wouldn’t green light it. He had to spend his own money on it and hoped it would make its money back plus bring in a profit.
I believe the budget was $58 million with an all Black cast and director, which is almost unprecedented in Hollywood. Most of the Black movies that get green lit in Tinsel Town have a budget of about half of that, but George pushed on and got the movie to be released. Before this movie the highest budget for an all Black cast and director was $45 million given to Spike Lee for Inside Man, which grossed $184,376,254 worldwide, a $139 million profit. That spurred them to give Spike $45 million more to shoot Miracle at St Anna which failed miserably at the box office only grossing $9.3 million worldwide. After that bomb in 2008 all Black cast or predominantly Black cast were relegated to the smaller budgets that they were used to receiving before Miracle at St Anna.
Personally I believe that the cast of Fast 5 was an all Black cast but for some reason Vin Deisel and The Rock doesn’t qualify as Black in some people’s eyes. The budget for it was $125 million and grossed over $626 million worldwide. So what we see is that money can be made off all Black cast but we need to help out by going to the movies as opposed to copping it on bootleg when it debuts.
So this is what we need to do. We need to support this movie with more vigor and a sense of urgency that we didn’t do when Miracle at St Anna came out. Why? Because as George said, if this movie bombs it will be even harder to get an all Black cast and director green lit by Hollywood for a high budget film.
Bootleggers, you know who you are, tell the people at the barbershop or on the streets that you don’t have a copy of Red Tails. Give it a couple weeks before you do your damage. All and all you will only be loosing a few bucks by not selling this one when you first get it. As a whole, $100’s of thousands to millions will be lost but that’s spread out amongst 1000’s of people across America, but Black actors and directors stand to loose millions on top of untold millions because of your actions. Continue reading
A Response to Your Vote is Your Voice (on the Smiley and West show)
I had a chance to speak my opinion on The Smiley and West Show, then I commented on the post afterwords, you can click the link above to hear it and this is what I wrote in the comments section.
Thanks for the comments.
As the segment for the show had time restraints I wasn’t able to fully explain my position on the Your Vote is Your Voice statement that Tavis put on Facebook.
To better clear it up, I’m not an advocate for not voting. I understand that voting is an intricate part of America, but it is a choice, not a mandate. If you choose to vote then cool but if you choose not to vote, then cool, it’s your choice.
As for Your Vote is Your Voice, I equate it to saying No Vote = No Voice, or if you don’t vote shut up, which Tavis said he believed was accurate, and that if you don’t vote keep your mouth shut. We did agree that people who have been imprisoned and cant vote in some states was wrong and that something should be done about it but as for regular people, just shut up.
This is where my problem lies.
As a product of Generation X, growing up in a predominantly Black neighborhood I have seen first hand how voting has done nothing for these neighborhoods. People vote, neighborhood remains the same, schools get worst, crime doesn’t stop, repeat every couple years. It’s cyclical and every couple years we have politicians that re-promise their constituents the world but never deliver. Continue reading