Sergio Romo
Yesterday millions of people all over the world saw SF Giants pitcher Sergio Romo sporting a t-shirt that some thought was making a satirical in your face statement about racial profiling and being deemed ‘illegal‘. The shirt which read ‘I Just look Illegal‘, definitely raised eyebrows and got folks talking.
Some say Romo’s provocative t-shirt was a way of reminding people that in a day and time when many who are of Mexican descent are demonized, stereotyped and in the political and social cross hairs of those holding xenophobic outlooks, that they are in fact more often than not fellow citizens. Not only are they fellow citizens, but many have roots and family ties that run deeper to this land called America, then those doing the profiling. On various social media sites, there was many who gave props to Romo.
But many more found the shirt to be profoundly offensive and a big step backwards especially for those who have fought tirelessly to get folks to stop using the term ‘illegal’ when describing people who are undocumented..Whether it was intended or not many felt what Romo did was self mockery where he gave folks outside of immigrant communities that are frequently targeted, a license to further embrace a nasty stereotype..The concern is many who are now buying these t-shirts which are now selling off the shelves after yesterday’s widely watched parade are not getting the political context or the intended satire.
A recent article in the popular blog Think Mexican breaks down the concern many are feeling. One excerpt reads as follows;
…..Unfortunately, it was a very poor choice that sends the wrong message and validates racism and ignorance.
What does the phrase “I JUST LOOK ILLEGAL” really mean?
It’s based on the premise that there are people who are “illegal,” and thus people who “look illegal,” a term intended to dehumanize migrant workers in the United States, specifically those who make up the majority of this group, Mexicans.
By stating that one “just looks illegal,” the implicit message is that it’s okay criminalize people based on their appearance, as long as we distinguish between those who are “illegal” and those who only appear to be based on heritage and phenotype……..
The other message being sent with this shirt is that of racial self-mockery. Sergio seems to want to say: I’m Mexican, but I’m a jokester; I’m not a threat.
As we all well know, in the United States, Mexican Americans have been routinely stopped, arrested, and even deported under Barack Obama’s aggressive quota-based system of immigration enforcement. In the case of Raúl Castro, you can be a former US ambassador and governor of Arizona and still be detained by the US Border Patrol. And not just once, but several times.
Another excerpt is….
Imagine an African American wearing a shirt saying: “I JUST LOOK LIKE A MONKEY,” or a gay man wearing one that reads: “I JUST LOOK LIKE A CHILD MOLESTER.” The idea alone is absurd, as it should be. But the fact is, is that both were at one time popular slurs used to dehumanize gays and blacks, respectively.
You can read the rest of the article by clicking the link below
http://thinkmexican.org/post/34742243783/sergio-romo-i-just-look-illegal-tshirt-mockery-validates
Although not fully addressed in the article, is the two edge sword when pop culture icons and professional athletes use their celebrity to make political statements. It can be a great thing if you are in agreement with the statement. Celebrities are instrumental in shaping opinions and bringing attention to key issues.
The flipside is they can in an instance move the crowd in another direction. This is especially true if that celebrity embraces a word or phrase that folks find problematic. In the case of Romo, does he wearing this shirt overshadow the campaign to not call folks ‘illegal’? How does any of this shake out when many express frustration and even anger when athletes and celebrities remain silent and apolitical? Was Romo being subversive?
Anyway peep the article and share your thoughts..
This is what Hip Hop is ideally about..People coming together, building community and making a strong statement in the name of humanity..
Its Halloween and over the years there have been some great songs to mark the occasion.. Yes we all know and love Michael Jackson‘s Thriller.. That was epic and will never be topped, but here’s a few more that will always be in my iPod on Oct 31. They are the best of the best.
I wish here news outlets would be more mindful of this when speaking about Sandy.. It was a storm of immense proportions and devastation..Sadly what we see taking place are stories about when and how the stock exchange will open and what the cost will be.. I hope the rest of us recognize the humanity in others beyond our borders and the narrow framing of corporate news outlets..We can’t say we recovered until the folks south of us have recovered. All lives our precious, not just ours in the US..
***UPDATE*** We been getting word from friends and family who are close to Michael Tracy that his death has not been confirmed and reports of his death are cruel hoax. Fellow graph writer Copes2 says Tracy is alive and well and has been on Facebook.. His family is not so sure and are still trying to confirm whats going on and his current whereabouts.. Hopefully he’s alive and well… That’ll be major good news..we’ll keep you posted…In the meantime we encourage folks to learn about Tracy 168.. 
I’m not sure what exactly can be said at this time…All sorts of emotions are whirling inside my head and to be honest its hard to believe Jam Master Jay [Jason Mizell] is dead…Dude was 37 years old, had a wife and 3 kids.. I believe his oldest son is 15.. And if you ever met Jay, you knew he was a cool cat.. He didn’t bring a gangsta persona to the table. He wasn’t the type of cat who needed a bunch of body guards when he walked down the street. As far as I knew he wasn’t living foul, causing drama or somehow instigating any sort of ‘rap feud’ which are all but too frequent..
I don’t wanna hold a candle, pour liquor on a curb or go on the radio station and play all my Run DMC records and rebroadcast all my old Run DMC interviews. I don’t want Jay’s death to be reduced to yet another tribute. It seems like in the past two or three years we’ve been doing a hell of a lot of tributes. In the past couple of year alone we’ve lost Big Pun and DJ Screw out of Houston to heart attacks. Too Poetic of the Grave Diggaz passed from cancer, but he courageously recorded his last album while he had the disease. We lost Aaliyah to a plane crash and Left Eye of TLC to a car crash. We lost San Francisco pioneering rapper Cougnut and San Jose’s D-Mac who died together in a car crash just days before the Sept 11th attacks. Days after the attack we lost Boogie Knight of the group The Boogie Boys. Many of us are still grieving from last moth’s the sudden death of Money Ray of the Cold Crush Brothers. He was diagnosed with cancer in August and died 5 weeks later.
I don’t know if we’ve been able to fully grieve and process all this death. Many of us are still left with unanswered questions as to why? Why did this have to happen? It seems like as soon as we start the
And while one can easily make the case that there’s a lot of unsolved murders in our community in general, one would hope that we would be able to get to the bottom of some of these high profile slayings…The fact that we never seem to solve the murders of some of these artists the same way we don’t seem to be able to solve the murders of ‘Pookie’ or ‘Ray Ray’ from up the block, underscores the notion that in many circles the loss of Black life is no big deal…It don’t matter whether you’re a high profile artist or a d-boy on the local corner in the hood. It’s like we’re expected to die a quick and early death. And even sadder is the perceived circumstances of our deaths are all the same. In other words since last night, I’ve been fielding a lot of calls from local reporters who seem bent on making this connection to JMJ’s death with the deaths of 2Pac, East-West coast feuds and on going beefs in rap like Ja Rule vs DMX and Nas vs Jay-Z. This is not the Jam Master Jay I know.
I don’t wanna say Jam Master Jay and 2Pac in the same breath. I don’t wanna compare him to Biggie. I don’t wanna say JMJ is in a long line of rap stars who died violently…Jay deserves his own space in our minds and hearts. We all need to take time out and reflect on Jay the musician, the pioneer, the man, the father, the husband, the friend, the associate and not categorize and compartmentalize him. I don’t wanna see him reduced to another violent casualty in a ‘violent rap world’ as one TV reporter described it.
When the final pitch was thrown and a strike out ensued, resulting in the San Francisco Giants once again becoming World Series champs, I was tempted to hop in my car and cross the bridge like I did 2 years ago to celebrate with the tens of thousands who were already out and about at local bars or at the Civic Center watching the game on a Jumbotron.
It was hard not to contrast the sanitizing words used to described the destruction happening all over the city of San Francisco with how many of those same news outlets described Occupy, Oscar Grant and anti-war protests where far less damage and mayhem was caused. It was hard not to contrast the way many of those media outlets described spirited celebrations in neighboring Oakland ten years ago (2003) after the Raiders won the AFC Championship.
We all need a good laugh in the middle of all the vitriol of the Election 2012 season.. This hits the mark…We need more fun songs like this in Hip Hop..The song is pretty timely considering last night a couple of sisters broke into a beauty supply store here in Oakland and stole a bunch of hair.. No money or anything else..Just the hair..
After more than two years of non-stop campaigning, scores of debates and billions of dollars spent we are coming down to final 10 days of Election 2012. The lay of the land is such that in the Presidential race two of the primary out of the overall 25 contenders Mitt Romney and Barack Obama are at virtual tie..
More sacrifice is needed at a day and time, when voter suppression efforts are in full swing. At a day and time when we have racist, extremist types pulling out all the stops to make sure a growing population of Black, Brown and under 30 folks are disenfranchised it is not enough for you to simply vote? Steps will have to be taken to make sure everyone who wants to vote can do so, and each vote cast is counted. Here’s a small sampling of whats going on..
Voters in Black neighborhoods all over key swing states woke up 3 weeks ago to large 
We have another bill, Proposition 32 which is backed by Karl Rove and the Koch Brothers and is being marketed as an Election Campaign Finance Reform bill, states that corporations and unions can’t give to political campaigns.. When you read the proverbial fine print, you discover that exceptions are made for corporate executives and large corporations like Big Oil and Big Banks who can continue to give unlimited amounts of money as they’ve always done.If this bill passes, the only ones who will be restricted will be unions who these corporate interest oppose.
For those who feel there’s a lot at stake around the election of the next president, because of possible Supreme Court Justice appointments, the war on women and proposed harsh austerity measures etc, the action is in so-called swing states.
Some folks are having fun and showing up to large football games and here in the Bay Area or the World series to do canvassing and GOTV work while wearing their favorite teams jerseys or colors sporting the names of the candidates they wanna see win.. Will you consider doing the same? Will you go to some of these large collegiate and professional sports outing which bring up to 80k people and make your political desires known? I think you get the point.
Pittsburgh activist/ artist Jasiri X just dropped an incredible song and video called ‘Don’t Forget About the Hood‘.. Here’s what he penned with respect to the election and concept behind the video..