Last week the talking heads had a chuckle when reports circulated that Sarah Palin did not know that Africa is a continent...
Wow, what a news flash...
Let me let you in on a little secret. A lot of folks don't know that Africa is a continent. And quiet as it's kept, many black folks who spilled their Kool Aid laughing at homegirl couldn't name five countries in Africa, themselves.
Why? Because Africa is not really mentioned in this society and when it is, it is not shown in the best light. For most people, their vision of Africa comes straight from a Tarzan movie or one of those Sally Struthers "feed Ethiopia" commercials.
I can't remember learning too much about Africa in school, either. That is except for Black History Month when they taught about where slaves came from.
Not much talk about Ghana, Mali, Songhai, Egypt (Kemet), etc...
Do yourself a favor and pick up a book by Dr. Yosef ben Jochannan, Ivan Van Sertima or Basil Davidson about African history, this weekend.
Or until then, check out an article I wrote a few months back "Afrocentricty for Dummies (and other Conservatives)
http://nowarningshotsfired.blogspot.com/2008/03/afrocentricity-for-dummies-and-other.html
Showing posts with label Republican. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Republican. Show all posts
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Hangin' With the Homeboys
Hangin' With the Homeboys:
Courtin' the Black Vote '08
Min. Paul Scott
You can set your clock by it. Every election year they show up in front of a bunch of well dressed, college educated, middle class black folks who are supposed to "rep" the entire African American community. The moderator asks the same polite questions that he posed last election and he gets the same, well rehearsed answers that he got last election.
Just once, I'd like to see Tyrone "T-Boogie" Johnson grab the mic and yell,
"What ya gonna do for the hood, homie!"
as the stunned presidential candidates duck for cover under the dais.
Tis the season for political strategists to find new and imagin....
OK... they’re the same old, unimaginative strategies that they've always used; warmed over. It's the same technique year in and year out. Go to a few black mega churches, shake a couple of hands, attend the NAACP/Urban League Conventions and make a lot of grandiose speeches containing promises that you have no intention of keeping.
Simple isn't it?
Conventional wisdom says that if you invoke the name of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. enough times, most well off black folks will follow you through hell wearing gasoline underwear.
But that doesn't apply to "tha hood" where Dr. King, himself, found his harshest critics.
While you may be able to finagle a couple of votes from the black middle class by a nice speech, the hood wants action.
See, the people in the hood have "issues". Middle class blacks have "concerns" but poor folks have "issues."
While the biggest concern of Dr. Horatio Farnsworth Jackson may be the rising taxes on his summer cottage on the lake, Lakesha Johnson is more concerned about how she is going to pay the rent next month.
The irony of a presidential candidate being able to raise more money in an hour at a thousand dollar-a -plate fundraiser than all the folks in the kitchen washing the dishes will make all year does not escape the hood.
This is why many of us choose to spend time relaxing at the crib eating Oodles of Noodles and watching videos on BET instead of going to the polls on election day.
While many of the middle class will start hyperventilating at the thought of black folks not voting and start yelling,
"Your...(huff).. ancestors died.. (huff, huff.)..so that you...(gasp)...could have the right to vote!"
That piece of revisionist rhetoric does not quite match historical facts nor common sense.
Our ancestors died for Freedom and Equality, not to pull a lever behind a shower curtain. Voting was always meant to be a means to an end, not vice versa.
Someone once said that voting is a democracy's alternative to rioting in the streets. So, in that case, it can be said that one brotha with a Molotov cocktail did more for "Civil Rights" then all of Dr. King’s marches put together. I am sure that most historians will agree that if it wasn't for the fiery "militant" threats of Malcolm X, as an alternative to "King's Dream", we wouldn't have a day off work the third Monday of every January to celebrate his birthday.
In reality, voting is a compromise; a peace treaty between the "haves" and the "have nots" that says:
"Despite all of that mumbo jumbo that they taught me in history class about what the "Founding Father" dudes said about fighting against tyranny, I believe that all of my aspirations for Life, Liberty with a can of happiness on the side can be realized by getting up on Election Day, entering a booth and drawing a line with a pen that they will so thoughtfully supply..."
So all that gloom and doom "signifyin'" about the evils of abstaining from the political process may play in Peoria but not in Compton.
Politicians must realize that the suit and ties that they court every election year do not represent all of black America. That room of BMW drivin’ , expensive cuff link wearin' folks at the NAACP function is no more representative of all African Americans than the group of cookie bakin' , soccer moms at the Harper Valley PTA is representative of all white Americans.
If the presidential candidates really want to get down, get funky, get loose and get a real taste of African Americana then they need to come down to the weekly political convention that we have every Saturday morning at Byron's Barber Shop and Beauty Salon.
We'll save a seat for ya....
Min. Paul Scott is a writer and activist in Durham NC. His blog is http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com
Courtin' the Black Vote '08
Min. Paul Scott
You can set your clock by it. Every election year they show up in front of a bunch of well dressed, college educated, middle class black folks who are supposed to "rep" the entire African American community. The moderator asks the same polite questions that he posed last election and he gets the same, well rehearsed answers that he got last election.
Just once, I'd like to see Tyrone "T-Boogie" Johnson grab the mic and yell,
"What ya gonna do for the hood, homie!"
as the stunned presidential candidates duck for cover under the dais.
Tis the season for political strategists to find new and imagin....
OK... they’re the same old, unimaginative strategies that they've always used; warmed over. It's the same technique year in and year out. Go to a few black mega churches, shake a couple of hands, attend the NAACP/Urban League Conventions and make a lot of grandiose speeches containing promises that you have no intention of keeping.
Simple isn't it?
Conventional wisdom says that if you invoke the name of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. enough times, most well off black folks will follow you through hell wearing gasoline underwear.
But that doesn't apply to "tha hood" where Dr. King, himself, found his harshest critics.
While you may be able to finagle a couple of votes from the black middle class by a nice speech, the hood wants action.
See, the people in the hood have "issues". Middle class blacks have "concerns" but poor folks have "issues."
While the biggest concern of Dr. Horatio Farnsworth Jackson may be the rising taxes on his summer cottage on the lake, Lakesha Johnson is more concerned about how she is going to pay the rent next month.
The irony of a presidential candidate being able to raise more money in an hour at a thousand dollar-a -plate fundraiser than all the folks in the kitchen washing the dishes will make all year does not escape the hood.
This is why many of us choose to spend time relaxing at the crib eating Oodles of Noodles and watching videos on BET instead of going to the polls on election day.
While many of the middle class will start hyperventilating at the thought of black folks not voting and start yelling,
"Your...(huff).. ancestors died.. (huff, huff.)..so that you...(gasp)...could have the right to vote!"
That piece of revisionist rhetoric does not quite match historical facts nor common sense.
Our ancestors died for Freedom and Equality, not to pull a lever behind a shower curtain. Voting was always meant to be a means to an end, not vice versa.
Someone once said that voting is a democracy's alternative to rioting in the streets. So, in that case, it can be said that one brotha with a Molotov cocktail did more for "Civil Rights" then all of Dr. King’s marches put together. I am sure that most historians will agree that if it wasn't for the fiery "militant" threats of Malcolm X, as an alternative to "King's Dream", we wouldn't have a day off work the third Monday of every January to celebrate his birthday.
In reality, voting is a compromise; a peace treaty between the "haves" and the "have nots" that says:
"Despite all of that mumbo jumbo that they taught me in history class about what the "Founding Father" dudes said about fighting against tyranny, I believe that all of my aspirations for Life, Liberty with a can of happiness on the side can be realized by getting up on Election Day, entering a booth and drawing a line with a pen that they will so thoughtfully supply..."
So all that gloom and doom "signifyin'" about the evils of abstaining from the political process may play in Peoria but not in Compton.
Politicians must realize that the suit and ties that they court every election year do not represent all of black America. That room of BMW drivin’ , expensive cuff link wearin' folks at the NAACP function is no more representative of all African Americans than the group of cookie bakin' , soccer moms at the Harper Valley PTA is representative of all white Americans.
If the presidential candidates really want to get down, get funky, get loose and get a real taste of African Americana then they need to come down to the weekly political convention that we have every Saturday morning at Byron's Barber Shop and Beauty Salon.
We'll save a seat for ya....
Min. Paul Scott is a writer and activist in Durham NC. His blog is http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com
Monday, August 6, 2007
Thug-o-phobia
Thug-o-phobia:
Fear of Black Men as a Criminal Defense
Min. Paul Scott
You’ve seen the gag a million times on 70's sitcoms. A nerdy white guy rolls up on a group of tough lookin’ black dudes just chillin’ on the block, then all of a sudden the white guy yells for no apparent reason,
"Please, just take my wallet !!!" ...while the Black dudes look at him like he’s lost his darn mind.
I guess ole "Kneel and Bob" Allen must have left his wallet at home when he went to the potty in the park, last month.
According to news reports, Florida Representative Bob Allen (Republican) was arrested last July 11 for soliciting sex from an undercover black male cop. The reason he gave was his fear of black men...
Now many will quickly ask what rational person would believe such a cockamamy story ?
But hold on, now..
Allen is not the first one in history to cop the fear of a Black man plea...
How many cases of the slaughter of black men can be attributed to the fear of the rise of a "Nat Turner" type leading a mass insurrection against plantation owners during slavery ?
Also, one of America's biggest fears has been the rape of white women by Black men. (However, you gotta admit the fear of the rape of white men was kinda original.)
There are many cases, like those of the Scotsboro Boys who were accused of raping two white women in 1931 and Emmit Till who was murdered for whistlin’ at a white chick in 1955, where black men were prosecuted "southern style."
And who can forget the hysteria surrounding the Central Park Rape case that made "wildin" a household word in white America, back in 1985.
Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, author of the book "The Isis Papers" has chalked this paranoia off as "the fear of white genetic annihilation." To break it down, this means that if black men and white woman continue to have interracial relationships, in a few years , because of the dominance of the "black" gene there will be no more white people. A funnier more X-rated version of this theory was delivered by Warren Beatty in the 1998 movie, "Bulworth."
We must never forget the fictional black dudes that were accused of murders that white folks committed.
Remember Charles Stuart, the Boston man who blamed the murder of his wife on a black man or South Carolina’s Susan Smith who had an APB issued for black men, world wide, for the drowning of her children back in 1994?
Politicians have also found it politically expedient to blame "tha brotha’s," as well. Think back to 1988 when George Bush’s "Willie Horton" ads had white folks looking behind every bush for a black boogey man.
During the 90's, thanks to movies like Boys in the Hood and the popularity of rappers like the late Tupac Shakur, the image of the young black male became synonymous with "Thug Life. So, I just assumed that in 2007, since most of the "gangsta rap:" is purchased by white people, the stereotypical image of the black thug came with a " for entertainment purposes only" disclaimer.
But there is nothing humorous about this image, especially when it could be responsible for sending black men to jail, unjustly.
Although, Bob Allen was cold busted, he thinks that he should still be able to keep his job representing the good folks of Florida.
I just have a problem with a dude that is so petrified of black men that he would "assume the position" being responsible for making laws that will effect the lives of thousands of black boys.
I am tired of Black men being thought of as blood thirsty thugs.
The people of Florida should be also and demand Bob Allen's resignation...
Min. Paul Scott is a writer and activist in Durham NC. His blog is http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com
He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com
Fear of Black Men as a Criminal Defense
Min. Paul Scott
You’ve seen the gag a million times on 70's sitcoms. A nerdy white guy rolls up on a group of tough lookin’ black dudes just chillin’ on the block, then all of a sudden the white guy yells for no apparent reason,
"Please, just take my wallet !!!" ...while the Black dudes look at him like he’s lost his darn mind.
I guess ole "Kneel and Bob" Allen must have left his wallet at home when he went to the potty in the park, last month.
According to news reports, Florida Representative Bob Allen (Republican) was arrested last July 11 for soliciting sex from an undercover black male cop. The reason he gave was his fear of black men...
Now many will quickly ask what rational person would believe such a cockamamy story ?
But hold on, now..
Allen is not the first one in history to cop the fear of a Black man plea...
How many cases of the slaughter of black men can be attributed to the fear of the rise of a "Nat Turner" type leading a mass insurrection against plantation owners during slavery ?
Also, one of America's biggest fears has been the rape of white women by Black men. (However, you gotta admit the fear of the rape of white men was kinda original.)
There are many cases, like those of the Scotsboro Boys who were accused of raping two white women in 1931 and Emmit Till who was murdered for whistlin’ at a white chick in 1955, where black men were prosecuted "southern style."
And who can forget the hysteria surrounding the Central Park Rape case that made "wildin" a household word in white America, back in 1985.
Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, author of the book "The Isis Papers" has chalked this paranoia off as "the fear of white genetic annihilation." To break it down, this means that if black men and white woman continue to have interracial relationships, in a few years , because of the dominance of the "black" gene there will be no more white people. A funnier more X-rated version of this theory was delivered by Warren Beatty in the 1998 movie, "Bulworth."
We must never forget the fictional black dudes that were accused of murders that white folks committed.
Remember Charles Stuart, the Boston man who blamed the murder of his wife on a black man or South Carolina’s Susan Smith who had an APB issued for black men, world wide, for the drowning of her children back in 1994?
Politicians have also found it politically expedient to blame "tha brotha’s," as well. Think back to 1988 when George Bush’s "Willie Horton" ads had white folks looking behind every bush for a black boogey man.
During the 90's, thanks to movies like Boys in the Hood and the popularity of rappers like the late Tupac Shakur, the image of the young black male became synonymous with "Thug Life. So, I just assumed that in 2007, since most of the "gangsta rap:" is purchased by white people, the stereotypical image of the black thug came with a " for entertainment purposes only" disclaimer.
But there is nothing humorous about this image, especially when it could be responsible for sending black men to jail, unjustly.
Although, Bob Allen was cold busted, he thinks that he should still be able to keep his job representing the good folks of Florida.
I just have a problem with a dude that is so petrified of black men that he would "assume the position" being responsible for making laws that will effect the lives of thousands of black boys.
I am tired of Black men being thought of as blood thirsty thugs.
The people of Florida should be also and demand Bob Allen's resignation...
Min. Paul Scott is a writer and activist in Durham NC. His blog is http://www.nowarningshotsfired.com
He can be reached at (919) 451-8283 info@nowarningshotsfired.com
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