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Editorial: To Those Who Keep Asking; ‘Why ya’ll don’t care when Black folks kill Black folks’

March 23, 2012 By

This is for those folks who ask the question “Why ya’ll don’t care when Black folks kill Black folks all the time?”

Black people are just as hurt and concerned and angry when Black men die from gang violence, driveby shootings and “being caught up” every single day, as we are when white racist representatives of governmental institutions (that are supposed to protect and serve us) and ordinary white racist citizens murder us in cold blood.

Black people are just as hurt and concerned and angry when Black women die from domestic violence – murdered by those who say they love us – AND gang violence AND driveby shootings AND “being caught up” as we are when white racist representatives of governmental institutions (that are supposed to protect and serve us) – like Mitrice Richardson and the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department – and ordinary white racist citizens murder us in cold blood.

BUT:

1.  If you are dependent on the mainstream media to tell you that, you will not see it; they have no stake in that.

2.  If you are dependent on Black media, you may not see it there either; they may not have the resources to do it consistently.

3.  If you are not in close proximity to Black institutions or Black people – in other words, if you don’t know the folks that know – you are OOL – Out Of Luck.

In answer to your question “Why ya’ll don’t care when Black folks kill Black folks all the time?”  I say this:  “How come YOU don’t you care?”  It appears that this question ONLY gets raised when Black people vent their RIGHTEOUS indignation and anger over unjustified, racist murders.

If YOU really cared, then you would know about the organizations that exist to stop the senseless, every day murders of Black people by Black people:

1. You would know the names of these organizations

2. You would know when their meetings are

3.  You would know where their meetings were

4.  You would know the people who are a part of these organizations by name

5.  You would know the people who are a part of these organizations by sight

6.  You would go to their meetings

7.  You would ask them, “What can I do to help ya’ll?”

8.  You would ask your Black and mainstream media, “How come ya’ll don’t write/broadcast anything about these organizations on a REGULAR basis?”

9.  You would give them much needed money

10.  You would give them much needed money.

I live in Los Angeles, California.  These are the names I know:  Cease Fire, 2nd Call, Unity One, Unity Two, Professional Community Intervention Training Institute, Project Cry No More, Mothers of the Community, Unity in the Community, Peace in the Streets …

What city do you live in?  Do you know the names?  Why not?

That’s what I thought.

If you genuinely and sincerely wanted to know the answer to that question, then I apologize for my tone.  If you just like to stir up crap and make a scene because you’d rather the attention be on you, instead of JUSTICE for Trayvon Martin AND ALL THE OTHERS, you are a sick, sad creature.

written byThandisizwe Chimurenga

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Davey D Notes:

I’m glad my sista and fellow journalist/activist, Thandi wrote this piece… It needed to be said, and quite frankly a few folks needed to be called out on this. Folks who are guilty of this; are well-meaning but flawed at best and disingenuous at worse.

I been hit with the question/ assertion all this week and calmly had to point out that I had been to three well attended marches, town hall actions dealing with trauma and drama in our own communities.where were the folks asking? 

One of the activities, was a town hall with Too Short focusing on teen violence and misogyny at jam -packed Oakland City Hall.. I posted up the entire video and article so folks could see and experience themselves, Not one person who asserted that Black people don’t care had bothered to pass / share around that video and write up..You can peep the article and video HERE

Nor did they pass around the flyer and article about local rap artists and activist including T-Kash running a marathon this weekend to stop gun violence..Its something he frequently does…You can peep the info HERE

We have cats like Adisa Banjoko and the Hip Hop Chess Federation.. Not only is working w/ T-Kash, but he frequently does events that focus on martial arts, chess and Hip Hop.

He works with youngstas in the Mission district of San Francisco as well as goes to prisons to work with young brothas..His events are always free, well attended and inspiring… He was just up at SF State at our Hip Hop class working with folks and offering up internships for students to help with his efforts.. he also writes quite few columns for News One about what we can and should do to improve our communities.. You can peep him HERE

None who ask where the outcry for Black on Black crime, bothered to join the thousand plus folks who showed up at Allen Temple Church 3 weeks ago to address the issue of human trafficking/ teenage pimping and prostitution. It was put together by author/ activist Reverend Harry Williams who heads up a organization called Street Disciples/ Hood Movement 21 They are out and about every week in the streets trying to turn lives around.. 2 months ago they had a big gathering for community groups to come together and maximize efforts.. Reach him HERE

Almost none of the naysayers got on board to support the efforts of the 44% Coalition , a group of Black, Latina women along with a number of male allies who stepped to both Too Short and XXL Magazine around the issue of sexual assaults on Black and Latina women..

Apparently these folks weren’t up on the Detroit 300 who are patrolling their neighborhoods and coming after those seek to do harm… or 1Hood out of Pittsburgh, PA  where they not only patrolled the streets but set up youth media academy with the purpose of changing our image. Many of the videos done by Jasiri-x were put together by youth they work with and now train..You can see one of the projects they did about Pittsburgh HERE

These folks don’t seem to know about the tireless work and documentaries put together by former gang member Silky Slim out of Baton Rouge..This brother keeps himself on the front line of trying to stop the killings and turn people around from a life that he once led. You can peep his organization Stop the Killing Inc HERE

These folks don’t seem to know about United Roots, Urban Peace Movement, Silence the Violence, Love Life Foundation, Youth Speaks, United Playza , Homey, Barrios Unidos, Leadership Excellence  the Sista Circle, Homeboy Hotline, Dereca Blackmon’s Gender Walk,  Susan Taylor’s National Cares Mentoring Movement or the tireless work graph writers/ organizer like Refa 1 does .. I think it was last weekend he was out putting in work..and is gearing up[ to do a big event in the summer called Aerosoul  You can peep his work HERE

Maybe they don’t know about the work of Truth Minista Paul Scott out of North Carolina who frequently writes about ways for us to improve our community and backs it up with action.. You can read his columns HERE You can peep the video of him stepping to a malt liquor company -BLAST who he felt was trying to poison his neighborhood..HERE 

Maybe they dont know about artist like Mistah FAB who frequently goes to schools, does keep the Peace rallies, gives away school supplies and tries to give back..You can peep that HERE

He’s one of scores of artists I can name from Rebel Diaz in NY to dead prez to Ise Lyfe to Naughty By Nature, KRS-One, Bambu, Bun B, Kiwi, Metro P, Fly Benzo, Mystic, Mommas Hip Hop Kitchen, NY Oil, Wise Intelligent  who are always in their communities working to uplift, heal and end violence.

Maybe they don’t know about the work local artist Jahi does with young men who he takes under his wings.. A couple of months back they did a Guns Down Stop the Violence actions..Here’s a video

http://vimeo.com/34697057

There are so many more organizations and people to mention..Forgive me if I overlooked anyone.. because the list is super long, but I think folks get the point.. People are putting in work everyday in our communities, often unsung and highlighted in the media.. That doesn’t mean they don’t exist, nor does it mean work isn’t being done..

I will also add from my own experience, many of those who organize to heal our communities also organize around egregious incidents like Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant or Sean Bell. They do it because life is precious and they step up whether or not its done by a cop or it comes at the hands of each other..They do when the cameras are there and when they are not there..

But hey, as was pointed out in the article, there are many who ask the question ‘where’s the Black community when we kill each other?’ who are simply waiting for BET or CNN to cover it and blow things up-Don’t hold your breath..or even worse, maybe these folks simply can’t help but think the worse when it comes to us.. Like we somehow don’t care… 

-Davey D-

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

2 Sellouts: Larry Elders Defends George Zimmerman, Geraldo Rivera Says We Shouldnt Wear Hoodies

March 23, 2012 By

Larry Elders vehemently defends George Zimmerman

With each passing day more and more jerks step out the woodwork around the Trayvon Martin case. .  For example, we had talk show host Larry Elders, a Black man yapping away defending George Zimmerman, the wannabe cop who decided he wanted to hunt down and shoot an unarmed, law-abiding Trayvon Martin.

We shouldn’t be surprised because Elders is the type of brother who as my friend George Galvis noted.. May be Black or Brown but functions white... meaning, he has brought into lots of aspects of white supremacy..He’s that type of guy..

I thought it was interesting he was defending Zimmerman knowing that good ole George has a domestic violence record… but hey what do i know?

I bring up Elder for another reason…because he’s a Libertarian..same as presidential candidate Ron Paul and folks need to fully understand the full extent of their thinking-Might makes Right..

Elders said the FBI need to investigate to keep up appearances… He later compared the Trayvon situation with that of subway vigilante Bernard Goetz who shot 4 Black men on a subway with an unlicensed handgun 25-30 years ago.. For those who don’t recall Goetz said he was being robbed..on other hand,  Zimmerman went looking for Martin who did nothing of a sort… Anyway.. you can peep the interview here..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iFllsX-AFf8

Geraldo Rivera says Black and Brown men shouldnt wear hoodies

Not to be out down we have long time news personality Geraldo Rivera (real name Gerry Rivers) who wanted to offer up some sound parental advice to Black and Latino parents… This morning Geraldo tweeted the following;

“Trayvon killed by a jerk w a gun but black & Latino parents have to drill into kids heads: a hoodie is like a sign: shoot or stop & frisk me”

The flaws in that argument should be clear as day, but for those who somehow are thinking, oh yeah.. if only Black men would pull their pants up and stop wearing hoodies, we wouldn’t be shot by racist clowns like Zimmerman...

I hit Geraldo back and reminded him of a few things.. First, 9-year-old Brisenia Flores was shot in Arizona by a wannabe border patrol agent..who busted into her house thinking her family were undocumented.. The father Raul wasn’t wearing a hoodie in the 100 degree Arizona sun when he was shot to death, nor was his precious daughter…

I also reminded Geraldo that 7-year-old Aiyanna Stanley-Jones from Detroit wasn’t wearing a hoodie as she slept next to her grandma when cops busted up in her house and shot her in her sleep.

I also reminded him that last year in New York City where Stop and Frisk policies are in effect, that over 680 thousand people were stopped in the streets and frisked by police officers who ‘suspected’ they had guns..less than 1% of those stops netted  anything.. That’s why we had folks like educator Cornel West and organizer Carl Dix and lots of other folks protesting the policy… Out of the 680k stopped over 80% were Black and Brown men..

Maybe its me, but that doesn't look like a hoodie.. perhaps homeboy shouldn't be wearing a biking helmet

The shows that I’ve done on this topic garnered the following info from ACLU lawyers..According to NYPD they look for people who make furtive movements which is subjective.. Some cops consider it furtive if you look at them as they drive by.. Some say its furtive when you look away.. Still others consider it furtive if you start scratching ..they say your acting nervous…  Translation; Hoodie or not you’re gonna get stopped and frisked..but lets not digress.. lets ask ourselves why are they doing an action that yields such a low return?

Back to Geraldo and his parental advice, I asked him if he’d prefer during the winter months or rainy days which was the case for Trayvon, that these Black and Brown men wear baseball caps instead, or ski masks? Perhaps a Yamaka, Turpin or a big ole Abe Lincoln style top hat..

Bottom line Geraldo is making the case that it’s up to Black and Brown men to make the police feel safe.. not the other way around..  What a damn idiot..

Two Sellouts rushing to the aid of a racist dog…

 

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman & This Country’s Culture of Suspicion

March 22, 2012 By

Nothing exists in a vacuum, so when looking at the tragic shooting death of unarmed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida because he appeared ‘suspicious’ to a self-appointed Neighborhood Watch captain named George Zimmerman, it can not be viewed in isolation. It’s part of something that’s much larger and systemic.

Many of us don’t like to admit it, but the fact is, this country has a long and sordid history where those who appeared ‘different’, meaning not white and male, were often deemed suspicious resulting in deadly consequences. Call it a Culture of Suspicion if you will, but it one that’s helped shaped social and political policy and impacted damn near everything we’ve done throughout the years.

TheBlack Codes, Vagrancy Laws, Jim Crow, Internment Camps, Salem Witch Craft Trials, Compulsory sterilization, Poll taxes, McCarthyism, Cointel-Pro, The War on Drugs, The War on Terror, The War on ‘Illegals’, The War on Women, these are just a few of the policies and measures that have emerged over the years out of this culture of suspicion…..And let’s be clear, so we’re all on the same page…The Culture of Suspicion is rooted in irrational FEAR and extreme ANGER.

It’s a FEAR and ANGER that dates back to the days of the pilgrims landing on Plymouth Rock where those who weren’t Anglo-Saxon in this case Native Peoples were ‘suspected‘ of being  ‘less than human’ and thus needed to be civilized, stripped of their land and exterminated. Can we say Manifest Destiny? That’s what that concept and ideology ultimately meant for Native Peoples..Can we say Genocide?

Nat Turner and FEAR of slave revolts has resulted in deep-seated suspicions of Black people that are alive and well today

This FEAR and ANGER was pervasive among those who brought  Africans to America in chains and enslaved us. Our culture was stripped, our language forbidden, our Africanisms stamped and literally beaten out of us.. Why? because slave owners had deep-seated fear of slaves revolting. All sorts of laws were put into place and all types of measures including divide and conquer tactics were employed to keep those who were then seen as beasts from rising up and doing what slaves like Nat Turner,  Gabriel Prosser and Denmark Vesey eventually did-kill or in the cases of Prosser and Vesey, plot to kill their white masters.

This FEAR of Black reprisals has resulted in nearly all traces of the over 250 of slave rebellions that went down in the American South being erased from our school history books.

What has remained are disturbing stories of Black men, being lynched and hung from trees in what was described by singer Billie Holiday as Strange Fruit. What’s remained  are eerie stories of entire Black town like Rosewood, Florida and Tulsa, Oklahoma being burned to the ground by angry white mobs because of FEAR and suspicion.of a Black man lusting after a white woman.

Sadly there’s a litny of stories about Black men being accused of looking at or lusting after a white women. This irrational Fear of a Black Dick and ‘suspicion’ gave rise of the Ku Klux Klan especially after the 1915 DW Griffith landmark film Birth of a Nation which had Black men lusting after white women as a main theme. You can see one of the more controversial scenes from that movie...HERE It also led to this country keeping anti-Miscegenation laws on the books up to 1967. Tragically it also led to countless  young Black boys who having their genitals mutilated when those lynchings I mentioned earlier took place.

Again for many this legacy of FEAR and SUSPICION throughout our history is a painful pill to swallow. As a country we don’t wanna have an honest conversation of how pervasive it was and is and how it’s permeated our collective mind-set.. We don’t wanna talk about how this Culture of Suspicion been used toward various   so-called minority groups in this country and the deep scars its left.

We don’t wanna talk about how we executed women who we suspected of being witches during the infamous Salem Witch trials.

We don’t wanna talk about how we rounded up Japanese American citizens during World War II and put them in internment camps because we were suspicious of them..

We don’t wanna talk about harsh and often fatal treatment levied upon men and women we suspected of being gay. How many have been killed, beaten, put into special classes to ‘straighten’ them out..

We don’t wanna talk about the horrific legacy of Cointel-pro a government counter insurgency program headed up by FBI director J Edgar Hoover. We don’t wanna talk about how Hoover kept all sorts of Civil Rights, Black Power, Brown Power and Anti-War organization under a suspicious gaze and actively used every resource possible to destroy them. He went after everyone from Marcus Garvey to Martin Luther King to the Black Panthers and everyone in between.  Irrational fear, deep-seated anger and suspicion that those demanding equal rights were somehow not ‘real’ American were part of the rationale behind Hoover and the FBI actions.

To see how deep this gets.. I urge folks to watch this documentary to that lays out this culture of suspicion and Cointel-Pro.. You can peep it HERE: How the FBI Sabotaged Black America

The Importance of Connecting the Dots

Trayvon Martin

Again Trayvon Martin‘s tragic fate is not isolated. It has to be seen through this historical lens that reflects long-standing racial prejudices and attitudes and race based policy decisions in our society.

The unsavory actions of George Zimmerman coupled with the racial hostility he displayed in widely heard 9-11 call where he refers to Trayvon as a ‘F–king Coons  and his paranoia (calling 9-11 over 40 times in the past year) are not out of the ordinary. He personifies the culture of suspicion.

The questionable actions and neglect displayed by the Sanford police department (not talking to key witnesses and keeping Trayvon’s body for 3 days without telling his parents) not only have the look of an outright cover up, but they too reflects this culture of suspicion… The message their actions convey is that; Trayvon must’ve been in the wrong. A young Black male wearing a hoody is always suspect. There’s no way Mr Zimmerman would’ve shot him for no reason.

In looking at Trayvon’s murder its also important to connect the dots to fear based incidents currently going on.. Look at the type of anger and hostility directed by those we are suspicious of…

Angel Rodriguez, a Puerto Rican basketball player was greeted with chants of Where's Your Green Card by Southern Mississippi band members.

For example,it was just last week during an NCAA basketball game we saw band members from University of Southern Mississippi resort to chanting ‘Where’s your Green card?‘ as rival basketball player Angel Rodriguez attempted to shoot free throws. The band members along with some fans ‘suspected’ that Rodriguez who is Puerto Rican wasn’t in this country legally. Puerto Rico is a commonwealth of the United States, meaning they’re citizens.

Sadly similar scenarios played out in other schools around the country including last month in San Antonio, Texas where players from mostly white Alamo Heights started chanting ‘USA USA’ after they defeated their mostly Latino rivals from Edison. Again there was a suspicion that the players from Edison weren’t one of us (American) They must be illegall.

Some may be tempted to chalk these incidents up to sport fans being ignorant. And that may be true until we see this same type of attitude displayed by Presidential hopeful, long time Senator Rick Santorum. He recently stood before a crowd and remarked, that before Puerto Rico can become state folks living there will have to learn to speak English. Again that culture of suspicion at play. He’s suspects Puerto Ricans aren’t really one of us.. On a side note as was pointed out in a recent Reuters article, There’s no constitutional requirement to have an official language nor for a territory to adapt English as an official language to become a state.

Sadly the culture of suspicionit doesn’t stop there. There’s been a rash of anti-immigrant bills being passed with the harshest in Arizona (SB 1070), Alabama (SB 56) and just the other day Mississippi passing (HB 56). All are born out FEAR and suspicion.

We’ve had people like Texas lawmaker Debbie Riddle coin the phrase ‘anchor’ babies and ‘terror’ babies when referring to the children of Mexican and Middle eastern immigrants and push to pass laws to stop them.. This sort of fear mongering has resulted in entire communities being profiled and suspect.

9 year old Brisenia Flores was shot and killed after self-styled vigilante border patrollers suspected her family of being in this country illegally

People like Riddle help foster a deadly climate of suspicion with deadly consequences. For example, we should never forget what took place 3 years ago in Arizona when Shawna Forde a self-appointed border patroller formed the group anti-immigrant organization Minutemen Civil Defense Corps.

In May of 2009 she and some accomplices suspecting that a family was living in a neighborhood illegally, raided the home and shot the 29-year-old father Raul and his 9-year-old daughter Brisenia to death. The mother was there and left alive. Again the Culture of Suspicion resulting in vigilante justice.

The extreme measures taken on those ‘suspected’ of not being America are not just limited to hard-working, law-abiding immigrants. That anger and suspicion has been directed to President Barack Obama. We have a whole segment of society called birthers with people like businessman  Donald Trump and Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio leading the charge. In a recent poll over 45% of folks in the south believed he was a Muslim and over 25% don’t believe he was born here in the US..

The suspicions of the birthers is unprecedented. First, they demanded the president show his birth certificate. After he did that they demanded he show a long form certificate. After he did that, they accused the documents of being forged and wanted original draft cards. In fact as we speak Arpaio is launching yet another investigation into the president. Can you say Culture of Suspicion gone wild?

It doesn’t help that President Obama has contributed or reacted to this climate of suspicion, by deporting over one million people and increased surveillance in American Muslim communities..His policies dovetail with the policies of many police departments that have also heightened this culture of suspicion.

It was just 3 or 4 weeks ago that a ‘suspicious’ looking Ramarley Graham was standing outside his home in the Bronx when he saw police officers roll by. He walked into his home only to be followed by police who ‘suspected’ he had a gun.. Police busted into his house and shot Graham in his bathroom in front of his grandmother and a 6 year old.. No gun or weapon was ever found..

Jordan Miles is a 18 year old violinist who played for First Lady Michele Obama

Graham was one of over a whooping 680 thousand New Yorkers who police stopped and frisked last year in their attempts to find ‘illegal’ handguns.. Over 80% of those stopped and frisked were Black or Brown men.. less than a 1% of those stops have resulted in any weapons being found. This policy has led to racial profiling and Black and Brown men being seen as suspects before being seen as productive citizens in their community.

The case of Pittsburgh, PA  17-year-old honor student Jordan Miles being stop frisked and beaten beyond recognition with his dreadlocks torn out his head is another example of what happens under this culture of suspicion..

Ironically in both the Jordan and Graham cases the police accused both men of fleeing when in truth, knowing the history of such encounters they probably developed a healthy suspicion of police who are no longer seen as friendly public servant there to protect and serve, but a vicious gang with a badges and license to kill.

There are too many cases to recount.. but the results are damn near always the same death, scarred communities and a legacy of deep mistrust.. Trayvon Martin is the latest casualty in this long line of tragic mishaps.

What if the Shooter was Black and the Victim White?

John White shot a White Teen who showed up at his house with a mob..He was convicted and sentenced

There are many who have rhetorically asked this question. It’s done not so much to plant seeds of racial hatred and be divisive but to point out the inconsistencies and double standards that exist within our justice system. Its way for us to look at situations and hopefully be moved to change them.

One glaring example of a Black man protecting his family and shooting a white youth involves took place a few years ago in Long island New York. In August 2006, John White confronted 17-year-old white teenager named Daniel Cicciaro who had been threatening White’s son. Cicciaro showed up with a group of his friends to get at White’s son. Fearing for his safety White shot the teen who was on his property. He was convicted and sent to jail. You can and should read about that case HERE.

At the time of White’s sentencing there were many who compared his situation with that of a White man out of Texas, named Joe Horn who shot two Black men on his property who he shot and killed after disobeying police orders. Like Zimmerman, Horn wasn’t directly threatned but he went ‘hunting’ for the people he eventually shot..  You can read about that case HERE and HERE.

This should come as no surprise to anyone that we have this type of double standard. The question and challenge before us all, is how will we fix a broken, racially biased justice system?  Do we have to vote in new judges, new DAs and new prosecutors? Do we have to change the entire way we do business in the justice arena?

There are no easy answers and ultimately we are going to have to change people’s hearts and minds. Say what you will, but what fueled these confrontations and uneven results was racism and the suspicion that those who have darker skin are ssuspect..

The Zimmerman Is Hispanic Not White Argument

George Zimmerman

In recent days we’ve seen many in the media play this card and play it hard.. There’s a couple of things going on here that we should all think about.

First, is by playing up the fact that Zimmerman is half Hispanic suggests that he at one point or the other has been subjected to the suspicious FEAR laden gaze of society and hence he’d be a bit more sensitive and perhaps a bit more insightful when confronting folks, in particular Black folks. The implied thought is that Zimmerman, the half Hispanic would know what Black or Brown man to confront and not to confront better than the average white person..That’s utter nonsense so lets put that to rest..

Zimmerman was a racist who had a clear disdain for young Black males. He was as FEARFUL as any of the white person who has held similar attitudes. In short, what does Zimmerman being Hispanic have to do with anything? He drank the kool aid of white supremacy. His Hispanic background didn’t make him immune, the same way it doesn’t immune self-hating Black folks who buy into the same flawed belief systems where even with Black skin and having faced discrimination themselves, will see a young Black male with a hoodie and think the worse and become suspicious. Some of those FEARFUL Negros once they get a position of power or get to wear a gun and badge act out fearfully and suspiciously with the same deadly consequences.. So Zimmerman being Latino means nothing..

The other thing at play here is by the media highlighting Zimmerman’s ethnicity, Black folks are supposed to suddenly unite and start bombing on Latinos. We’re supposed to suddenly be upset with our Mexican, El Salvadorian or Puerto Rican neighbors?  Was Zimmerman acting on their behalf and carrying out their agenda? I think not..

If they’re gonna play the ethnic card with Zimmerman all of us should be asking is Zimmerman repping for a large Latino body of people who are in the same struggles and fighting against an oppressive system. Is he part of an organizations like La Raza, MeCHA , NDLON, Puente, and in are they vouching for him? Would he have been suspicious of one the courageous Dreamers, undocumented youth who actually Marched through Florida a year or so ago pushing for passage of the Dream Act? Has Zimmerman been out there protesting all the anti-immigrant laws popping up all over the country or was he the type to support them, suspicious off other Latinos confronting them asking if they’re criminals or here ‘legally’?

Again either your working to free people from oppression or your working for the system, helping keep people disenfranchised and marginalized. Don’t buy into divide and conquer tactics. Connecting the dots, uniting marginalized communities and addressing institutionalized oppression is not in the best interest of those in power.

I’m not sure what Zimmerman represents and who he rolls with, but his actions deserved to be punished. And while in many places there are Black and Brown tensions which should be addressed the shooting of Trayvon Martin is not the jump off into further divisions. Whats at stake here is the death of an innocent 17 year old coming home in the rain wearing a hoodie and carry a package of skiddles..He was confronted by large, overzealous, suspicious wanna be cop who killed him.. We must resist the attempts to keep this tragedy isolated from these larger issues and histories at hand..We must seek justice and seek it in such a way that it puts a major dent in some of overarching problems and prejudices impacting us all.

written by Davey D

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKaJoEyYXyI

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Oakland’s Townhall on Misogyny, Teen Violence & the Influence of Rap Music w/ Too Short

March 15, 2012 By

Last night (March 14th 2012) the Oakland chapter of 100 Black Men and Safe Passages, an organization from ‘Tha Town’ that is in the forefront of dealing with domestic violence and sexual assault, hooked up with members of the Hip Hop community to hold a town hall meeting inside City Hall.  The topic was Misogyny, Teen Violence and the influence Rap Music has on our behavior..

Lemme just say this from jump street.. what took place last night was riveting, honest, powerful and inspiring..It wasn’t a gripe session or a finger-pointing rap bashing occasion. It wasn’t an event where two generations (Hip Hop and Civil Rights) found themselves at odds blaming one another…

What you had at the Oakland Town Hall was a community who clearly understands there are important issues at hand impacting young minds and we have to go in another direction..

One of the highlights of the town hall was the discussion with Bay Area rap pioneer Too Short. But folks were clear from the beginning these issues are systemic and go way beyond one rapper, one magazine or one incident.. However, the recent controversy around Too Short  giving explicit ‘fatherly advise‘ to middle school age boys in an online video hosted by rap publication XXL had put him on the hot seat..

Short said he takes full responsibility for his actions and wanted to be part of the conversation to help rectify and repair the damage and disappointment he caused.. Many felt he was candid and forthcoming with his remarks and the evening ended with him noting this is just a starting point and him appealing to other artists in the room to change direction, expand their horizons and re-define the legacy of Oakland rap..

Last night’s Town hall saw in addition to Too Short, other key stake holders including elected officials, community activists and local artists  come together with a spirit of love, a desire to heal and eager to find ways to bring about brighter tomorrows..Some of the most powerful statements came from the young survivors of rape and sexual assault who shared their perspectives and solutions..

Alameda County Supervisor Keith Carson

During the Town hall, Alameda County supervisor Keith Carson along with a couple of members of 100 Black men set the tone, by discussing the harrowing statistics around sexual assault. Carson noted that every couple of minutes a woman is sexually assaulted. He said over 10 million kids had witnessed domestic violence and one out of 5 teenage girls has been assaulted..He also pointed out that since 2005 over 2 million boys/men have been sexually assaulted.

Carson surmised that the figures are probably much higher. he was just noting what had been reported. He also pointed out that rather than we point fingers and play the blame game, we come at this from the spirit of sparking dialogue with a goal of getting solutions to turn the tide..

Dereca Blackmon who is part of the We Are 44% Coalition gave a great presentation on the commodification of songs celebrating sexual abuse and degenerate behavior. She noted that many have come to see confuse videos with real life. She broke down how that impacts us all.

Dereca Blackmon

Afterwards Blackmon sat down with Too Short and had a 20 minute revealing discussion about the music industry, the role artists should take in turning things around and his own personal journey to understanding some of the issues being addressed. He talked about the XXL Controversy and eye-opening the conversation he had with writer Dream Hampton

The evening concluded with a panel discussion where we heard some power statements and solutions from young activists and artists, some of who are survivors of rape, sexual assault and violence.

The mood at the end of the evening was upbeat with many feeling very inspired. Sadly and in typical fashion some of that good energy was dampened by what was shown on the evening news.  In particular  KTVU and KPIX did what many described as hit pieces.. They left before the panel discussion that featured the young folks.. They didnt show any of the commentary from the survivors of rape and sexual assault who sat with Too Short and questioned him.. They totally ignored what everyone plainly stated the gathering was about.. It was not reflective of what took place last night.  In fact the reporter from KTVU seemed hostile that folks were coming together to uplift and not take down.. I encourage all to watch the video of the Oakland Townhall to get a better understanding of what took place..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tAl_6HJmvJg

As your watching the video, we want folks to keep in mind what took place last night was by no means was a new or unique in terms of the topics discussed. Every couple of years something pops off and captures the attention of the media or activists and hence such discussions unfold.. A few years ago we saw this topic broached after radio host Don Imus went on air called women on a college basketball team, ‘Nappy Headed Hos‘. His remarks set off a firestorm with people calling for Imus to be fired. He in turn countered and claimed that he made the unsavory remarks because he was influenced by rap music.. That in turn lead to many of us having reflective self-examination type discussions.

Nelly

A couple of years prior to Imus’s remarks, we had a situation involving rap star Nelly, who was shown on a video to his popular song ‘Tip Drill‘ swiping a credit card thru the cheeks of bikini clad dancer.. Again it set of a storm of controversy leading up to Spelman College rejecting him when he was scheduled to come on campus and do a Bone Marrow benefit and bring awareness to the plight of his cancer stricken sister..

We can go on and on citing examples where the activities of artists ranging from  2 Live Crew to NWA to 2Pac to Snoop Dogg to Jay-Z and 50 Cent, have led to town hall style meetings, vigorous radio and TV debates to Senate and Congressional Hearings…

As was mentioned earlier, last night’s Town Hall which was held in the chambers of the Oakland City Council came in the wake of incident last month involving Bay Area rap pioneer Too Short and XXL Magazine.. The magazine produced an online video that depicted Too Short dispensing ‘fatherly advise’  to young 12 & 13-year-old boys on how to ‘turn out young girls’ and ‘take it to the hole’..

Rosa, Joan and Marc-Are Part of the Newly formed We are the 44%

This outraged a  number of Hip Hop generation Black and Latina activists, writers and scholars like Joan Morgan, Rosa Clemente and Dream Hampton to name a few, who felt that not only did this cross   some major fault lines but was the nail in the coffin for what they saw as increasing attacks on young girls, women of color and women in general.

These aforementioned sisters linked up with other women and a growing number of male allies like Dr Marc Anthony Neal, Lumumba Akinwole-Bandele and filmmaker  Byron Hurt to name a few who also who shared in the outrage to form the We Are the 44% Coalition.

We Are the 44% Coalition felt it was important that awareness be raised around the fact that 44% of sexual assault and rape survivors are under the age of 18 and that as a group they push to create a climate where what Too Short & XXL did is never repeated by other artists and publications.

XXL Editor and Chief Vanessa Satten

They demanded that Harris Publication which owns XXL take steps to fire the editor(Vanessa Satten) and donate space in the magazine to have issues of sexual assault to be adequately addressed.

They ‘blew the whistle’ on Too Short and demanded he educate himself and start working with organizations in our community that deal with sexual assault.

Soon after forming weekly online twitter chats started taking place with the hash tag #ItsBiggerThan2Short. It is there that many started come together to discuss these issues, demands  and craft solutions.

During last nights town hall there was a call to action for all of us to not allow the daily assaults on women both verbal and physical become normalized.  Many recognize there is currently an all out war on women both within our community and the society at large that is systemic and far-reaching..

We see attacks coming from law makers in Congress and the Senate where they hold all male panels on women’s reproductive health with them refusing to seat at least one woman to share insights and testimony.

We see legislatures in states like Arizona propose laws that would allow employers to fire a woman for taking birth control pills..

We see popular radio hosts and political leaders like Rush Limbaugh resort to publicly demeaning women by calling them ‘sluts’ and ‘prostitutes’ when he has a political disagreement.

We see many in our mainstream press as well as esteemed lawmakers at the highest echelons of power ignore and try to sweep under the carpet our military’s dirty secret.. Last year alone there were over 19 thousand sexual assaults.. A woman serving in our military is more likely to be sexually assaulted by our own male soldiers then be killed or wounded by enemy fire..

Now, 19 thousand is a staggering number, but one would not know that’s going down by looking at our mainstream news coverage.. an across the board news blackout  about 20 thousand rapes that have taken place on military bases rapes of women in our military the large number of rapes in our own military.

Rev Harry Williams

This was part of the backdrop that led last night’s Oakland’s Town hall meeting …The other part to this was the fact that Oakland and the Bay Area has some ongoing issues that has led to many people talking. First this is a major hub for human trafficking..Recently Allen Temple Baptist Church had a couple of gatherings where over thousand people came out..According to Reverend Harry Williams who heads up the Street Disciple Ministry at AT which deals the rise in human trafficking, in this depressed economy and a competitive drug game that has been sewn up by international cartels making it hard to get supplies, many have turned to pimping. He noted that from his work many who are returning from prison after doing long stretches have stepped into this arena with young girls being a primary target..

This has been echoed by Diamond a local artist and promoter who is also peer leader at United Roots and the Sister Circle which counsels young women. In a recent round table discussion she noted that she has seen increased aggression toward women over the past couple of years. Like Williams she noted that many are returning home after being incarcerated 15-20 years under California’s harsh 3 strikes law, which has all but eliminated rehabilitation and education. For those who don’t know California’s 3 Strikes law was put into place back in 1994 after the kidnapping and murder of then 12-year-old Polly Klass.. Over 40 thousand men were put behind bars under it.. Diamond agreed with William’s assessment that many are jumping into the pimp game to try and make money….

Both Williams and Diamond noted that this all doubly compounded with the rise of ‘Sneaker Pimps‘. These are young boys 11, 12 and 13 out here pimping young girls of similar age. Some are working for older men, but many others have come up without parents and live on the streets with this being the only hustle they know.

This wasn’t the main topic of discussion during last night’s town hall, but its important to understand this as part of the local landscape and the pervasiveness of what they call Rape Culture..  Anyone interested in the discussion we had on this topic with front line workers like Rev Harry Williams and Diamond can watch the video we did at the link below

http://livestre.am/1iKUN

http://livestre.am/1iKUN

Overall shout out to everyone who came out and represented.. Special Shout out to Chuck Johnson who reached out to all of us and set the ground work for an important discussion..

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

Huey Newton is More than a Song Done By Whiz Khalifa-Happy B-Day Huey

February 17, 2012 By

Happy 70th Birthday Huey Newton-Co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense…which sadly was destroyed by the FBI’s infamous Cointel-Pro Program  Newton was born February 17th 1942 in Monroe, Louisiana  and died in Oakland California  Aug 22 1989 after being shot by a drug dealer.. Below are a couple of videos that exemplify the brilliance and commitment Huey had for the struggle to liberate Black people.. Its important folks in 2012 remember that Huey Newton was more than just a song about weed done by Whiz Khalifa..

As you peep the videos below be sure to check out this excellent blog post that sums up alot of what Huey P newton stood for…

http://www.beatknowledge.org/2012/02/17/notes-and-quotes-from-huey-newtons-autobiography/

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ypqCYPduI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-LlkgNjZhQ&feature=related

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words-Where are the Women?

February 17, 2012 By

They say a picture is worth a thousand words and nowhere is that more true than yesterday’s GOP Hearings on Birth Control for Women..The official name was the Oversight and Government Reform Committee..As you can see seated at the table are 5 Men..All telling the country and the rest of the world how women should handle their bodies… maybe it was an oversight or just plain ole arrogance.. In either case there’s simply no excuse for this.

The GOP is trying to spin this as religious freedom issue not a women’s issue which is just as bad.. Because again–‘Where are the women?’

As was noted in this recent article.. two delegates walked out of the hearings..

Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Rep Mike Quigley walked out of the hearing.

They joined social liberals in a chorus of demands to know why women weren’t better represented among the ten-person panel organised by committee chairman Darrell Issa, R-California.

‘Where are the women?’ House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi asked when the hearing was brought up at a news conference.

‘The Republican leadership of this Congress thinks it’s appropriate to have a hearing on women’s health and purposely exclude women from the panel,’ she said.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2102411/Birth-control-hearing-Capitol-Hill-led-male-panel.html#ixzz1meVbcg3S

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Breakdown FM: Checking the Crates for Educated Fools… Episode 66

February 17, 2012 By

 

We had a great set this past week on All Day Play FM..as we continued digging in the crates and playing some great jams spanning all types of soul and funk genres..   We went digging in the crates and kicked things off with a classic joint from Berkeley based Digital Underground affiliated Mod Squad ‘I Want U 2 C‘. Its off the hard to find ‘People’s Park’ album…I wonder what ever happened to those guys, they were way ahead of their time.. They reminded me of Digable Planets keeping in mind I heard them b4 DP..  Rocked another crate digging classic ‘Educated Fool‘ by crooner Billy Storm of the Valiants..Don’t sleep on Mr Storm..

Bronx River Parkway, Ray Barretto and Sound Defects continue to be staples in my most recent playlists.. Nothing beats timeless music.

The highlight for this week was my remix of Jimmy Ruffin‘s classic ‘What’s Become of the Broken Hearted‘.. In this remix we rocked the eulogy for Malcolm X as recited by the late great actor Ozzie Davis..

Finally found good digital copies of former Def Jam acts Downtown Science..featuring Sam Server and Boscoe.. It was a relief to finally rock a few songs of their one and only album that wasn’t on an overplayed, low sounding scratchy vinyl..

Here’s this weeks playlist and link to the show Enjoy

http://www.alldayplay.fm/episodes/episode-65-12

01-Mod Squad  ‘I Want U 2 C’
02- The Bamboos – The Witch
03-South Central Blues Band – Soul Of Bonnie And Clyde
04-The Braceros – Spanish Moss
05-Isaac Clark  – Do The Dog Funk
06-Willie Bobo – Spanish Grease
07-Busta Funk – Black Sugar (High Quality)
08-Bronx River Parkway – Bronx River Parkway El Resbalon
09-Billy storm – The educated fool
10-Ray Barretto – New York Soul (HQ Audio)
11-The Button Down Brass – French Connection
12-Soopasoul – Brand Nu
13-Global Deejays feat. Rozalla – Everybody s free-192
14-Quadrant Six – Body Mechanic
15-Crazy Elephant – Pam Remix
16-Young Holt Unlimited – Young Holt Unlimited – Pusherman
18-Parliaments – The Parliaments-Good Old Music
19-Jimmy Ruffin – What Becomes of the Broken Hearted (Malcolm X remix)
20-Soul Searchers – The Soul Searchers- If it Ain’t Funky (Original Version) .wmv
21-Sound Defects – The Sound Defects – Take Out
22-Black merda – Black Merda — Take A Little Time
23-Menahan Street Band – The Contender
24-Downtown Science – Out There But In There (Instrumental) 1991
25-Downtown Science – Radioactive
26-Immortal Technique – Ultimas Palabras
27-Sir Ibu-The Peacemaker
Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

The Activism Entry Point: Critiquing The Cancer in Occupy Debate

February 17, 2012 By

Longtime Berkeley activist Joseph Anderson weighs in on the ongoing debate around Occupy Oakland on the issue of diversity of tactics and the use of BlackBloc style tactics. He weighs in on the recent debate between Chris Hedges and Occupy oakland organizer Kristof Lopaur

Well, by now everyone in the Occupy movement is hotly debating “nonviolence” vs. “diversity of tactics”, as recently so in, “Chris Hedges and Kristof Lopaur of Occupy Oakland debate black bloc, militancy and tactics,” February 8, 2012, on KPFA in Berkeley, California. 

Chris Hedges

Both Lopaur and Hedges made some critically weak, flawed, at times somewhat disingenuous or self-contradictory and, in Lopaur’s case, often specious arguments in their radio debate. This so, even though I politically agree with Hedges, and although Hedges’ recent commentary, “The Cancer in Occupy,” seemed poorly supported journalistically. But, Hedges is dead on about, ‘Go do violence under your own name, not the Occupy movement’s.’

Hedges would have been better off just writing his opinion, presented analytically, but he deserves great credit for using his stature to get an “Anarchist”-suppressed, but mortally important, debate firmly out in the open and over progressive airwaves. Let me say that both of them have respectively done very good progressive work.

This is my partial, but most important, analytical response to Kristof Lopaur’s (and those he represents) support for Black Bloc, or otherwise, “diversity of tactics” in the Occupy Movement. My main point: Occupy Oakland, and the Occupy movement, cannot have both a diversity of people and a “diversity of tactics” at this time – and the movement can’t shortcut the process of attaining, and retaining, the first by jumping to the second. 

Kristof Lopaur

As most Occupy activists know by now, “diversity of tactics” is primarily, so-called, “Anarchist”/Black Bloc code phrase euphemism for advocating autonomous vandalism and gratuitous property destruction (against even small businesses and movement-sympathetic owners or managers) and recently a program of regular, police confrontation marches (lately toned down). 

However, all these kinds of actions – either disconnected from, transiently tangential to, or occurring long after the main events – actually involve a very tiny percentage of marchers or limited instances; nevertheless, when especially played up by the media, the public are quite unsympathetic and even hostile to them. Among the  latest instances were the vandalism at, followed by the American flag-burning on the very steps of, City Hall. 

At the last large march, on January 28, corrugated metal or long wooden ‘battle shields’ were futilely deployed at the front line ostensibly to protect other marchers – dramatic but ineffective actions – but the TV news visuals made it appear from a distance as if their true purpose was aggressive. (On TV or in news photos, from a distance, you couldn’t necessarily see the peace signs on the shields, a mixed visual anyway.) 

When the public sees these visuals, they can easily be manipulated by the police, mayor and media into believing virtually any lies or distortions about Occupy Oakland events. This enables the media – portraying out-of-chronology or even geographically unrelated, exaggerated, TV news video repetitions of vandalism (including graffiti defacings) – to easily convince the public that there was “widespread violence,” thus providing a pretext to justify the indiscrminate police beatings and torturously drawn-out mass arrests (using bitingly cinched plastic wire handcuffs) that took place long before any vandalism occurred. On the January 28 march, *409* marchers were arrested – virtually all of them guilty of only being “kettled” by the cops!

But, there has always been opposition within Occupy Oakland to violence (as commonly understood). That opposition within understands, in addition to any possible violence (or “diversity of tactics”) from within an Occupy, the ability of the police, and ultimately the 1%, to exploit such violence by even inspiring or instigating it (especially, childish, indiscriminate or politically unintelligible acts). Thus, this also leaves an Occupy vulnerable and open to police agent provocateur actions that create alienation within the movement or a huge public opinion backlash against it – which is, after all, exactly what provocateur work is meant to accomplish!: discredit the movement, scare people from joining it, and thus divide the working public. 

Highly sectarian leftist militant ideologues constantly show that they don’t even know how to relate to, or verbally and, just as importantly, visually communicate with ordinary people (by comparison, right-wing organizers understand this far better). Very few people are ready to jump directly from political inactivity (except merely voting) straight to hardcore militant, ‘armed,’ so-called, ‘revolutionary’ action, as Lopaur apparently advocates – let alone to start The Worldwide Armed Revolution To Overthrow Global Capitalism and Western Imperialism – today! 

But, political movements not only open to, but enthusiastically calling on, the general public to join need to first build up mass numbers – a diversity of people – before they can (as economic and political times get much more dire, urgent and, otherwise, essentially futureless, as in Greece) then support various forms of growing militancy for fundamental, perhaps even radical, change. 

This could be militancy, like greater direct mass action, like general strikes, or tens of thousands of people shutting down a major port or other critical centers, nodes or points of capitalist commerce or production. This so, even then not necessarily engaging in violence, but rather engaging people power – mass action’s greatest resource – to pursue actions which are not only militant but hugely popular! The marchers acclaimed and the public didn’t scorn the huge banner, “DEATH TO CAPITALISM!!,” boldly strung across the intersection of Oakland City Center during the massive Oakland “General Strike” rally there. 

Actually, I never considered social, global and economic justice and human rights to be a morally “militant” or “radical” cause; to me, mass oppression, systematic injustice, violating people’s human rights, the patriarchal control of women, legalized state murder, or neo-/colonial theft of another people’s land, is what’s militant and radical.

But, those mass numbers for mass actions will only continue to build up – and be retained – if there is an entry point mass movement, even if nonviolently militant, that many political activism newcomers feel relatively safe in joining and participating with in mass direct actions – and where these newcomers feel they can reasonably trust the judgements of the organizers. 

I couldn’t risk the further judgement of those, especially organizers, in Occupy Oakland who have an absolute ideological stranglehold against ANY  “nonviolence” resolution. That stranglehold failed to realize that such a resolution was critical to Occupy Oakland’s actions, public perception and success: to define itself  based on nonviolence regardless of the actions of others. 

A generous but failed resolution, called a “Proposal on ‘Action Agreements’,” that I and others presented, was critical, so that the mayor, the chief-of-police, the chamber of commerce, and the mainstream media couldn’t repeatedly blame and try to smear Occupy Oakland for increasing crime and for every act of violence that occured literally anywhere in Oakland, as though crime had never been happening in this big city before. Their #1 weapon is to directly associate Occupy Oakland with violence.

In fact, downtown Oakland felt a lot safer at the time, instead of steadily and ominously semi-deserted at night, while the police chief and the mayor hid  the following information: except for, then and afterwards, a huge spike in violence in downtown Oakland by the police, crime in Oakland actually dropped by 20% during the Occupy Oakland encampment.

The now national Occupy movement, acting as it began at this stage of great public disaffection with the economic and political state of affairs, even against the ‘Good Cop, Bad Cop’, duopolistic, corporatist and militaristic political parties, starts as just such an entry point – especially with highly visible, physical, citizen centers, the Occupy encampments themselves. There was a place people could go to politically talk to people 24 hours a day, create a community oriented to human needs, and even creatively organize direct mass actions. 

OWS began a mass, public, political, citizens’ civic engagement and organizing hub for many ordinary, but finally ‘had-it,’ people who realize that the current economic and political system is not serving “us” – not serving human needs (the 99%, especially of the world), but rather corporate greed (the 1%). A diversity of people were interacting and even living with a diversity of people !

Given this groundswell ferment, Occupy movement activists should be most concerned with building up that level of engagement and participation – gaining a diversity of people – rather than ideologically pushing autonomous “diversity of tactics,” an “Anarchist”/ Black Bloc agenda to jump-start and lead “The Revolution!” And “autonomous” means too few people, or individuals, too unaccountable, deciding too important decisions, with too critical consequences for us all: sounds like the system of government we have now! The consequences on the rest of us are not “autonomous.”

The ideological agenda, imposed on the movement, would contain the seeds of the movement’s own destruction. Or, at least the destruction of Occupy Oakland as a movement: it could otherwise survive paramilitarized police excesses and brazen brutality –  exposing that the city can come up with millions of dollars for that and, perhaps, a million more in the always almost inevitable legal costs negotiating lawsuits for committing egregious bodily injuries (or worse) and un-Constitutional mass arrests. 

In order to achieve a diversity of people, there has to be at least one general mass movement that is an entry point  for people to get involved in the original goals of OWS, including demanding an alternative to the political and even economic system. But, Kristof Lapaur and the “Anarchists”/Black Bloc want this entry point movement to be one that is not committed to nonviolence (as commonly understood, not ideologically hairsplit), but indeed advocates violence (or whatever Kristof and the parochial ideologues ideologically want to call it) from the start! 

The “Anarchists”/Black Bloc (and Kristof) really seem to want to turn the Occupy movement into some kind of ‘armed’ guerrilla (or, at least, Black Bloc) movement: “We have to learn how to move cohesively through the streets, to take offensive [it originally said “attack”] and defensive initiatives…” (Pgh. 7, Statement of the OO Move-In Cmte, reading like all sanguine PR releases, talking about everything but the critical problem: it never once mentioned continuing, headline-stealing, public-alienating vandalism or, lastly, flag burning).

Lately, at certain, especially, much smaller, weekly, nighttime, “F The Police!,” marches, organizers and leading participants would appear to engage in regular passive-aggressive confrontations (again, recently toned down) with the police. They played cat-&-mouse, with the march aimlessly winding over the entire downtown area and, often, surrounding neighborhoods, with no particular, practical goal. A weekly schedule of nighttime, traffic-snarling, merchants-angering exercise of directly confronting the cops – however much they do deserve it – in the streets of Oakland might make us – often brutalized by the police – feel good, but begins to lose its message, displaces that of the Occupy movement, and confuses the general public, turned off, after a while.

What the “Anarchists”/Black Bloc contingent within Occupy Oakland has really done is, too often, snatch movement dismay or public anger from the jaws of complete victory, or ‘would-be’ victory. (Like, the January 28, “Move-In” march, another relatively large, peaceful [except for the police], festive turnout, showing sustained interest, even if, with the planners’ methods, an ill-considered objective, Occupying the mammoth Kaiser Auditorium.) That contingent is actually ‘doing the work of the 1%‘ by subsequently generating: 

(a) negative TV news video headlines and great public disappointment (over indiscriminate downtown vandalism, naturally played up and generalized by the TV media), after an otherwise unimaginably successful day of the Oakland General Strike rally and, respectively, two massively huge nonviolent port shutdowns by up to 50,000 people, with the, otherwise, overwhelming support of a public that was awed, deeply moved, and morally with us; 

(b) later, even more negative TV news video headlines (distracting the public from even more OPD excesses and brutality that otherwise would have been the headlines) and a public backlash (after city hall vandalism and American flag-burning on its very steps), instead of the same overwhelming public sympathy that UC Berkeley and Davis students and academics – who sustained the moral high ground – when they suffered brazen police brutality (the only TV news headline videos available then, because the students didn’t ‘cooperate’ with the mainstream media’s penchant exaggerations of, hypothetically, any student violence);

Given the above, how is the ordinary person – who doesn’t want to directly provoke, goad or engage in weekly, nighttime, mock, let alone any real, streetfighting against the police, who doesn’t want to advocate, condone, or physically associate with vandalism and gratuitous property destruction in the streets of their city (let alone flag-burning and accusations of destroying children’s art at City Hall), who doesn’t want to be a part of that particular kind of group or movement, and who doesn’t know what possible escalation of violence to expect next from such a group – supposed to feel comfortable (or even physically or legally safe) participating in such a movement? 

How do self-indulgent Black Bloc advocates compare smashing a few local business windows, setting a couple of overturned dumpsters on fire, or burning the flag for a moment, back in downtown Oakland, to, instead, a major port shutdown by 50,000 peaceful marchers for miles!? And what do you think the TV news would lead with?: “Violence again from Occupy Oakland…!” But, the greatest successes of Occupy Oakland have always been nonviolently achieved.

Under “diversity of tactics,” would an ordinary person want their employer and workplace, their church, synagogue or mosque (especially given state surveillance or criminal entrapment against Muslims), or any other social institutions to which they belong, to find out – let alone their friends and neighbors find out – that that they are actually a participant in such a movement? That kind of movement is going to alienate most people – the very kind the organizers claim they want to attract. But, I have my doubts about that claim, to hear those parochial ideologues at Occupy Oakland, including Kristof, who smack more of insular, elite vanguardism.

Without any safe entry point mass movement for newcomers to join, the movement, especially the Occupy Oakland movement, will stagnate, dwindle down, and turn into just another politically irrelevant, small, narrow group of ideological true believers and such buzzflies, incapable of any unsuppressed, true, open self-examination and, thus, who, themselves, will never succeed in meaningfully changing anything in society. 

Or, as one veteran activist anguishedly said to me, “It’s sad to think that this could be just another promising [but illusory] burst of energy that’s just going to wither away with sharp dissension [and regularly alienatingly controversy that fatigues people’s souls and steals the main goals and successes] and flagging interest.” Like, ‘Oh, no…, those people again…‘

written by Joseph Anderson

——————————————————————————————————————————

FYI: for copy of “Proposal on ‘Action Agreements’,” November 20, 2011; Ref. under OccupyOakland.org, Open Forum tab, Discussion, “Did DOT Pass GA?,” February 7, 2012; by Joseph Anderson, February 8, 2012: “Nonviolence” resolution proposal presented to the Occupy Oakland General Assembly…

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,

“I Got the Rap Game Singing At Last like Etta James”

February 16, 2012 By

In the wake of the passing of Etta James, my good friend and producer from London, England, Agent of Change, sent me a incredible beat sampling her unmatched voice for a dedication. The result is below. I pray it’s a worthy tribute a phenomenal woman.

Filed Under: 2009-Daily Hip Hop News

Can We Honor Whitney Houston by Taking a Stand to End Addictions?

February 12, 2012 By

With the sudden and tragic passing of Whitney Houston, there’s no doubt there will be scores of tributes. There was a tribute last night at music executive, Clive Davis‘ famous Pre-Grammy Party. There will be one tonight at the Grammys.. Rumors are singers Jennifer Hudson and Chaka Khan will sing in her honor…

There are already tributes on various radio stations as we can tune in and hear Whitney Houston Music Hours… Many deejays are digging into their grates working on Whitney Houston mixes…

There’s no denying the artistic talents Whitney possessed.. If we had to take a poll and ask who has/had the best voice in music, Ms Houston would no doubt be in the top 10.. Songs like ‘I Will Love You‘ and  ‘Greatest Love of All‘ best personify her greatness.  She was a giant among giants who will surely be missed.

With that being said, as great as her singing has been. As inspiring and as jaw dropping as her songs have been.. As engaging as she’s been on screen and in concert we will have to do a lot more than a mixtape or Grammy tribute to honor Whitney Houston. We will have to do lot more than induct her into the Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame or grant her a star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame.. . Our honoring Whitney will be us taking some decisive action and making a long-term commitment to end the scourge and dirty little secret that has long plagued this entertainment/ music industry-Drugs and substance abuse. It’s hard pill to swallow. It’s an ugly truth.. But we all have to step up to the plate.

Atthe time of this writing, I along with most of us have no idea as to what ended Whitney’s life so suddenly at age 48.

Sadly as people came out of their initial shock, speculation of drug abuse was on many people’s minds and tongues’.  CNN’s Don Lemon said during his breaking news broadcast yesterday that we have to talk about Whitney’s addictions because it was such a big part of her…Correction Don.. Addictions have been a big part of American society. I’m gonna come back to that in a minute..

During various broadcasts about Whitney’s passing, we heard discussions about her losing her voice and making a comeback. A comeback from what? Her demons.. Eventually all conversations about Whitney came back to that infamous interview with 20/20’s Dianne Sawyer where she talked about drugs and how crack is wack…

Whitney & Bobby

Today everyone wants to honor Whitney, but yesterday she was the butt of jokes and comedic routines. While everyone pointed fingers at Whitney and acted all righteous about her abuse, many of us were ADDICTED to watching the train wreck that her life had become. We were addicted to the reality show with her and former husband Bobby Brown. We were addicted to the gossip around her. is she still dating Bobby? is she dating singer Ray J? Was she drunk or high at the last party?  How many times did we wake up and turn on some urban radio station to hear  a host getting their clown on about Whitney Houston..Now many of those hosts wanna lead the way to doing tributes for someone they routinely

She became the poster child for drug abuse and addiction in an industry that is chock full of people dead and alive who have all succumbed at one time or another to some sort of addiction. Over my 25+ years in this music industry I’ve seen a whole lot of ugly truths we like to keep hidden behind the glitz and glam. Anyone in the music/ entertainment industry can tell you stories of  executives & shot callers who routinely do lines of coke, pop pills, do speed, take ecstasy or drink themselves under the table while ‘moguling‘. Those abusive habits are far too often shared with the talent/ artists.. In a business where egos are massive and insecurities shallow, taking a ‘lil something something‘ to get amped up or ‘get you open’  is all too commonplace. People don’t wanna talk about it, but its true.

Even the King of Pop had addiction problems

If we look at the pantheon of great Black artists hooked on drugs of one type or another the list is long.. Billy Holiday, John Coltrane,  Jimmy Hendrix, Dorothy Dandridge, Dinah Washington, Richard Pryor, Ole Dirty Bastard, Sly Stone, David Ruffin, George Clinton, Frankie Lymon, DJ Screw, James Brown even the King of Pop Michael Jackson and that doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface. Keep in mind these are just Black artists. If I start adding names outside our community like Amy Whinehouse, Kurt Cobain, River Phoenix , Elvis Presley and Jim Morrison to name a few, the list gets substantially longer…

Why are we not doing anything about addictions  in our community?

During the pioneering days of Hip Hop which is the generation many of us are a part of, many of those early pioneers who paved the way had serious bouts with an array of drugs.. cocaine, angel dust, freebase, sherm, alchohol etc..If you really look at the history you see by the mid 80s, many pioneering figures disappeared for time. Many had to deal with those demons. Some returned to the fold, many didn’t.  Many are still struggling 30 years later.

By the time the crack era hit in the early 80s all the way up to the 90s.. if folks weren’t hooked on taking it, they were hooked on selling it…A lot of that is outlined in the VH1 Documentary Planet Rock the Story of Hip Hop and the Crack Generation .

Our collective pride and addiction to looking good and being cool in the face of danger has not allowed us to even talk about this in any sort of honest way.. It’s not a pretty picture. But we lost another star way before her time and she was apart of that legacy-whether it was directly related to her cause of death or not..

Addictions are prevalent… They’re all around us and underscore the hypocrisy of America.. We got folks clowning Whitney for substance abuse problems while they sip syrup, shoot up, snort cocaine, do meth or literally sell their souls and their mamma’s soul for 15 minutes of fame..

Daughter Bobbi Kristina Lost Her Mother-Are we thinking about that?

So many of us our addicted to gossip, celebrity culture, living the fast life or a version of it. We’re addicted to money, cheating on spouses, material possessions. Many of us are addicted to high drama and raucous discourse. We’re addicted to shouting down one another, being vicious vs compassionate.  We’re addicted to pushing each others buttons. We’re addicted to wanting to know more about the drama behind Whitney’s death more than we are the state of her daughter Bobbi Kristina who just lost her mother. How many of us took a moment to say a prayer or reflect on what she might be going through?

Hell many of us are addicted to our iphones, ipads  and other gadgets that we feel we must have at all costs even as they make us go into debt to own them or give us brain tumors to use them..

Someone said Whitney represented a generation of people. Yep she sure did .. She repped the good, the bad and the very ugly and painful.. She was not alone in her addictions.. We all share them. Some minor some major.. In honoring Ms Houston will we talk about that or remain addicted to painting rosy pictures and acting like we aren’t touched by the scourge of addictions that’s systemic in our society? And if you don’t think our addictions are systemic, I suggest we take a long hard look at the so called war on drugs and the current carnage taking place South of the border in Mexico and Columbia.. Who do you think is the economic incentive for all the drugs being shipped into this country from those places? It’s us… Who do you think was the one behind funding secret wars ala Iran-Contra through the sale of cocaine?  Us again..

Heck if we really wanna get deep, lets talk about what our troops are dealing with on the battlefield and how they cope after 3 or 4 tours  and what many wind up doing to deal with life on their return.. No we don’t wanna talk about those addictions.. We wanna act like there’s no such thing..

In 2012 if the best we can do is a mixtape and few tribute songs then we missed the mark

If we wanna really honor Whitney, how about helping put an end to the demons that plagued her and so many others? If we wanna honor Whitney, how about us having a honest, impactful and earnest discussion about addictions and mental health so we can spare future generations of this pain.

Something to ponder..RIP Whitney Houston

Davey D

Filed Under: 2012 Daily News Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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