Tonight in Lawrence, Kansas, hip hop artist Talib Kweli Greene is performing sucker free.
Last week the New York lyricist announced that he requested gut-bucket liquor company Colt 45 to pull out as co-sponsors for his concert in the Mid-western region.
If only Black History Month could take a lesson from Kweli and stop selling our history for a couple of cases of Budweiser. And prolly Diddy with his tired Ciroc endorsements, along with Ludacris and Voodoo, or all the free Cristal Champagne advertisements, even Lee and his Absolut Brooklyn stint can recognize.
And someone puhlease tell the negro-thug rapper, Snoop to get off of Colt's payroll. He should've learned that hard living can kill after the death of Nate Dogg who was reportedly living a life of hard drink and bad eating before his strokes and ultimate departure.
Plus, black people already have funded liquor companies for seven generations.
Ask Haitians, they know all too well. It was the sugar plantations of Santo Domingo that started Brandy and Cogniac distilleries in France in the 17th century. And Brandy nor Cogniac is offering reparations any time soon.
I'm pretty sure someone's gonna be mad after watching the following video. I mean, how dare they desecrate the memory and sanctity that was Black womanhood in the struggle, right? Of course some people were born without funny bones, and yes every civil rights icon from back in the day never smiled, laughed, or had fun. I mean what would the civil rights movement be sans the struggle face if Negroes were happy like the women on The Real Housewives of Atlanta? We'd be still picking cotton for free like they did in the 50s I'm sure.
Last week the PR people for a new show on one of my favorite channels, Discovery ID (Investigative Discovery, sent me an email. They wanted to know if I'd be interested in an early screening of their new show Injustice Files. The show has since premiered, and it airs on Friday nights at 9PM EST. The show centers on unsolved civil rights-era crimes against people of color; a Cold Case Files for Negroes if you will. And, can you imagine how many such cases exist?
(Pasadena, CA) - In February 2007, the FBI officially launched a new investigative effort called the Civil Rights-Era Cold Case Initiative, which was tasked with taking a fresh look at racially-motivated homicide investigations that occurred prior to 1970. Since then, over 100 cold cases have been identified for this initiative as the FBI partnered with local and state authorities, the NAACP, the Southern Poverty Law Center and the National Urban League to help investigate these aging unsolved cases and bring justice to the victims' families. In an effort to bring attention to these important investigations, Investigation Discovery teamed with critically-acclaimed documentary filmmaker Keith Beauchamp, producer of The Untold Story of Emmett Louis Till, and CBS EYE Productions to showcase three cases included in the FBI's Civil Rights-Era Cold Case Initiative. In commemoration of Black History Month, Investigation Discovery launches THE INJUSTICE FILES... (source)
Ironically, my man Field Negro reached out to me over the weekend with info on a civil rights-era case that is still unsolved involving 90-year-old Recy Taylor. Taylor was a victim of a crime that many Black women were victims to then, that is never talked about. Of course this being Black History Month, if we're gonna talk about the advances and laud accomplishments of many who came before us. In my opinion, it's only right that we never forget the women permanently scarred like Ms. Taylor; women who were victims of rape:
ATLANTA (AP) -- Years before Rosa Parks fought for justice from her seat on a Montgomery bus, she fought for Recy Taylor.
Parks was an NAACP activist crisscrossing Alabama in 1944 when she came across the case of Taylor, a 24-year-old wife and mother who was brutally gang raped and dumped on the side of a rural road. Taylor survived only to watch two all-white, all-male grand juries decline to indict the six white men who admitted to authorities that they assaulted her.
Taylor was one of many black women attacked by white men during an era in which sexual assault was used to informally enforce Jim Crow segregation. Their pain galvanized an anti-rape crusade that ultimately took a back seat to the push to dismantle officially sanctioned separation of the races, and slowly faded from the headlines.
As a young boy, I encountered an issue I’m sure many other Latin@s, other people of color, and marginalized groups encounter. One day I asked a teacher why she didn’t teach the history of my people and her response was that my people didn’t have a history. When I reported this exchange to my father, he told me that was a lie and thus began my instruction on Puerto Rican Studies. One of the first figures my father taught me about was the Puerto Rican scholar, Arturo Alfonso Schomburg.
You see, while Schomburg was in grade school, one of his teachers similarly claimed that blacks had no history, heroes or accomplishments. This exchange inspired Schomburg to prove the teacher wrong, and he dedicated his life to finding and documenting the accomplishments of Africans on their own continent and in the diaspora, including Afro-Latinos and led him to a life-long quest for Africana Knowledge. Schomburg would also become deeply allied with the African American experience and was one of the main figures of the Harlem Renaissance. He was also among the earliest advocates for Black Studies. Given his immense educational contribution to knowledge about the Black world, which continued to include a special interest in the Caribbean, Latin America, and Spain, Schomburg may be considered the most memorable of Afro-Latin@s in the United States. Schomburg’s life on the color line, his direct knowledge, and experience of racism in the Caribbean and the Untied States, and his kinship with other Afro-Caribbeans and African Americans served as a model for Afro-Latin@s through the first half of the 20th century. Almost one-hundred years after Arturo Schomburg called for the study of “Negro History,” he continues to serve as a symbol of diasporic unity and as an inspiration for Afro-Latin@s seeking knowledge about their African roots. Today, arguably the world’s largest repository of Africana, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, bears his name.
The following is an excerpt I found in my files. Take note that what Schomburg is proposing here is extremely radical for its time. He’s not merely proposing Black Studies, he’s also making a case for a pedagogy outside the Eurocentric paradigm. Furthermore, he’s inclusive of women, an unpopular and controversial notion at the time of its writing.
Fact: Some beds at juvenile detention centers cost as much as $100,000-150,000 annually. Fact: Public officials resist increases in education spending. A fraction of what it costs to lock a child up. Fact: Overwhelmingly, incarcerated children are people of color.
As a young man, one summer I managed to get a messenger job at a small brokerage house on Wall St. One of my best friends, a darker-skinned Nuyorican, had been working there before me and he put in the good word. By the end of the summer, I had moved up (again, with the help of my friend) working in offices, balancing the sheets at the end of the end of the day. That was a promotion and a raise.
At the time I was in my early 20s and I wasn’t very responsible: I would miss days and I wasn’t all that motivated. Yet, when another promotion came up later that year, my friend was passed up and the promotion was offered to me. This was bullshit, and everybody knew it. My friend had been there longer than I had, had more experience, and was there at work every day. We both knew it was because I was light-skinned and he wasn’t. I was going to quit because I thought it was bullshit (and summer was fast approaching), but my friend insisted that I take the job. He said they would only give it to someone else.
As we reflect on what would have been the 82nd birthday of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. we arrive at a moment where "Black" seems to be on everyone's mind...again.
Every January and February, the majority of Americans re-gain a consciousness of what we think we know about the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950's and 1960's. After all, it only makes sense given America's national celebration of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday (which often hits on a day other than his actual birthday) as well as February's designation of "Black History Month." January and February are when it is okay to celebrate Blackness in America, but for some, to say that is far-reaching and inconclusive for the still existent racism and ignorance surrounding the history of Blackness in this country and the world.
Yeah, I know it's hard to believe; especially since all the pics of her reinforces that angry black woman stereotype. Judging from the picture above, either she took her work seriously, or had some pent up sexual frustrations. I mean who has time to think about sex when trying to help others escape the clutches of slavery, right? Surely even the female version of Moses, Harriett Tubman, had her urges, right? Yep, and how come nobody ever mentions her husband John Tubman, and where was he when she was out helping slaves?
No but seriously, could you imagine gettin' your freak on on the Underground Railroad back in the day? Obviously it's hard to conceive wrapping it up, or protecting yourself from HIV/AIDS when being chased by bloodhounds and slave catchers when you're fresh off of gettin' your ass beat for dozing off while picking cotton. Just the thought alone could serve well as a potential Viagra commercial. But then again, now that I think of it, maybe that's why we have so many babies and unprotected sex as we do today.
Here we go again; another February, another Black History Month. Frankly, for the first time in my adult life I'm a bit conflicted on Black History Month. Yeah, I know that's hard to imagine hearing this coming from "Mr. Fight The Power Kill Whitey Die Die Die," right? I don't know, maybe it's an age thing where the older I get, like Christmas, I see Black History Month as something for the kids, and for their benefit. Yep, and I say that with the realization that the more they know damn sure wouldn't stop them from wearing their pants on the ground, or continuing to kill each other in the streets. Also, how much has Black History Month contributed to the on going fight for equality in a society where said inequality is rationed systematically?
I mean let's face it, it's a month chock full of info about the proud accomplishments of Black people; and that's a good thing; recognizing those accomplishments, that is. But pick any twenty random Negroes and throw them on a game-show where they had to answer Black history questions Jeopardy Style for a million dollars? Yep, you tell me if this game-show was aired every-night for the next twenty eight days of the month how many people would walk away winners intent on donating to the United Negro College Fund.
I'm not saying that Black History isn't important, nor are the many contributions of Black folks to society at large. Instead, like my man Larry Wilmore, I'd rather we got Casinos so we would never have to worry about twenty eight days of trivia that isn't as important or culturally significant as the silly outfits worn by Lady Gaga at the Grammy Awards last night. But then that's probably the fault of white folks. If they paid reparations then they wouldn't have to worry about being made to feel guilty by re-runs of Roots three times a day for twenty eight days. But then again, they gave us Barack Obama and a few Black Ms. Americas, so...
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know if you don't know your past you won't know your future and all of that. But why should we when there are folks among us who don't agree on whether to be called African Americans, Black or Negro. I mean if all that matters is the here and now and we should move past the dark days in our history as some believe we should. Hell, a significant number of Black people don't feel a connection to Africa anyway; and I'll be honest, this is very sad when we overlook our glorious past prior to the slave trade. That said, why then even celebrate Black History Month? If you're gonna tell history, Black history, why stop or start with slavery? Aren't we greater than that as a people? Oh well, maybe you can answer that question for me while for the moment I let loose my inner Republican:
Well, it is February first and that means it is officially Black History Month. I will probably spend quite a deal of time this month dealing with the issues that I find problematic about Black history month but I thought that in honour of the first day, we could all use a bit of positive energy . In that vein feel free to yell:
I Love Black People
See, didn’t that feel good? I KNOW it did. Ha ha ha…seriously folks happy Black History Month and hopefully the lessons learned this month will extend to the other eleven months of the year.
Recently there has been much buzz about whether there should even be a celebration of Black History Month. Yeah, the old joke is that "they" gave us the shortest and one of the coldest month to celebrate it. Yes, I'm fully aware of this. But the truth is: they didn't give us anything.
Having said that, it is my belief that Black History Month be continued, and continued to celebrate the achievements of African Americans. I would however like to see it broadened to address African History. I mean, sure we're Americans, but since we have the African tag, its only right. What do you think about that one?
But since as it stands, I cannot tell people how they should celebrate Black History Month. I wish I could because if I did, none of this would be happening. I'm going to assume that you the reader didn't click the link provided in the last sentence. Yup, I know you people are lazy like that. If you clicked the link you would have read the story of an Elementary School in Mississippi who saw it appropriate to add to their calendar of Black History Month celebrations...
COTTON PICKING DAY
Yup, that's right. Last Thursday everybody in the school were supposed to dress up like slaves and, well, pick cotton. I guess the idea was to show kids just how wonderful that job was. I say that because one smart man saw this as unfit and as a result it was canceled. After which they decided to change the name or the event to Career Day.
I'm all about our kids learning our history, but I think making them do this would have been taking it too far. But believe me that I say that with some reluctance because a part of me really wants them to know what it was like. Maybe if people (adults included) had an ounce of an idea of what it was like, maybe they'll stop with the talk of killing Black History Month. The sad thing about it, is that I'm sure the Negroes who are in support of the end to Black History Month all had tears in their eyes when Obama won and was inaugurated.
QUESTIONS: 1) Do you think Cotton Picking Day would have been appropriate? 2) Would you have allowed your kids to participate? 3) Do you think Black History Month should end?
“He who warned uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed.” -- Sarah Palin on Paul Revere
