2012: A Year of Reckoning, Awakening, or Both?

Now that the RNC and DNC conventions are over....are you ready for some football? :) My friend and hip hop journalist Davey D had me on his radio program (Hard Knock Radio) a couple weeks ago to discuss my latest essay on Race and the 2012 election... I was also an invited panelist for a session (on same topic) at the American Sociological Association's annual conference in Denver last month, and this "essay" = my notes for that panel. The essay is pretty long, but if you are interested, please check it out!

link = http://bit.ly/RvuaK6

The Long Hiatus

Yes, I do still have a blog. Memo to self: Post more consistently...if only a quick thought, or an interesting link to share. I will try to get better :)

Question - Is Red Tails worth supporting....REALLY?

SO all over my FB wall are posts about the movie RED TAILS. I am a strong advocate of supporting films with black actors in general, and i don't even hate on George Lucas cuz I like the original Star Wars trilogy :) Yoda is a life philoshoper...lol..


but I have serious reservations as I've been on a hollywood ban of any story about black people or people of color that insists on promoting either black subordination or white hero syndromes (Avatar, Blind Side,The Help, Precious, etc).

But the different opinions on this i've seen have been pretty interesting...As a student and teacher of AFAM history, I am particularly interested in our racialized understanding of not only that time in history but hollywood today...


This note is a reply to one FB post about Red Tails.

He posted:

"EXTRACT RACIAL PRIDE FROM THE DISCUSSION AND "RED TAILS" IS JUST A MOVIE ABOUT MEN KILLING PEOPLE."



part of my reply =

Context is EVERYTHING, and there is NO extracting from it. while i honestly do appreciate your humanist bend, ignoring "race" (which is a social construction) in a totally racialized world and history is not the answer. one of the reasons there was racial pride in the Tuskegee airmen = Jim Crow ruled at home and lynchings were commonplace....remember those? and trust me RACE MATTERED in lynchings. So black folks of that era lived in a context where their skin could truly be their sin still. so for you in one flip remark to say that folks should not feel pride in the history they have endured and still [I] rise above it all (literally for red tails )speaks more to your issues than theirs. The only reason you can now talk all the shit you talk so freely is because of SACRIFICES of PROUD BLACK PEOPLE that came before you that endured pain you'll never understand because of an "unreal" thing such as race that had very real consequences for their lives.

personally, i wasn't planning to see Red Tails because i don't need to see any more hollywood movies that insist telling stories of our history by throwing in white main benevolent characters to make it "marketable" and palatable to "mainstream" audiences...read white.


There is a movie i just watched (again) that is of the same era and gives you a great sense of why race matters...The Great Debaters.Whites played the roles they should have played in that story...as subjects in black life: as oppressors, as authorities (sheriffs), as fellow community members that they lived amongst in the South (sharecroppers) but there was NO white hero...no significant white character. And unlike Red Tails, Black women were represented.


But even more importantly, a serious message was conveyed...and lynchings, organizing, and civil disobedience were the juxtaposition of that message. On the one hand, it showed the efforts to organize sharecroppers (white and black together) into unions in the 30s...class consciousness. It also showed the reality of college students in the south, well accomplished and affluent but still powerless when it came to Jim Crow. Coming upon a lynch mob with a black man's burning body hanging from a tree...all they could do was hide in their black professor's middle class car and hit reverse before they suffered the same fate.



And upon reflection of that lynching event at the final debate in the movie, the youngest debater in defense of civil disobedience explained that there is no justice to depend on for a black person in the Jim Crow south. As black people we have chosen to try to excel in the system (like these debaters and the tuskegee airmen) or fight it through words and civil disobedience (like Frederick, Martin, Malcolm, SNCC etc)...The young man recalled the lynch mob they came up on, seeing the black body (strange fruit) hanging and having to run away before they were next, powerless to help that brother came to the conclusion that...AMERICA SHOULD BE GRATEFUL THAT WE CHOOSE CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE AS OUR MEANS OF PROTEST...that's the truth no one is ready for...but the reality of our humanity shines. you should show due respect for that humanity.



From the Great Debaters

James Farmer Jr.: In Texas they lynch Negroes. My teammates and I saw a man strung up by his neck and set on fire. We drove through a lynch mob, pressed our faces against the floorboard. I looked at my teammates. I saw the fear in their eyes and, worse, the shame. What was this Negro's crime that he should be hung without trial in a dark forest filled with fog. Was he a thief? Was he a killer? Or just a Negro? Was he a sharecropper? A preacher? Were his children waiting up for him? And who are we to just lie there and do nothing. No matter what he did, the mob was the criminal. But the law did nothing. Just left us wondering, "Why?" My opponent says nothing that erodes the rule of law can be moral. But there is no rule of law in the Jim Crow south. Not when Negroes are denied housing. Turned away from schools, hospitals. And not when we are lynched. St Augustine said, "An unjust law is no law at all.' Which means I have a right, even a duty to resist. With violence or civil disobedience. You should pray I choose the latter.




Recommendation for the week: (Re)watch The Great Debaters.

2012...

...it's all about self determination, not self interests....and understanding the very REAL difference. 


easily distracted = easily manipulated = easily controlled. Seize power, don't cede power....i.e "self determination"...how?


“Take no one’s word for anything, including mine – but trust your experience.” – James Baldwin


Must read for the week:


Letter from a Birmingham Jail [King, Jr.]
www.africa.upenn.edu


‎"To put it in the terms of St. Thomas Aquinas: An unjust law is a human law that is not rooted in eternal law and natural law."

An End of an Empire ...or an Opportunity for a New UNITED States of America? Time Will Tell.

In 2008, I wrote a blog titled:

WARGAMES - The Fall of Empire

Basically, the status the U.S. has held as world superpower is eroding and eroding quickly. I would argue that this has been a self-inflicted fall, and a long time coming. While it will be painful, and most painful for the most vulnerable, I also believe it to be an opportunity for us to build a more perfect union....time will tell.

But times are a changing. 

In 2007, I wrote an essay I titled The Fire This Time

It was an analysis of post-Katrina community organizing, specifically around the Jena case of racial injustice. By using Spike Lee films as metaphors, I argued that this generation (hip hop) had matured and was ready to take the front line in the struggle. I argued that while power dynamics had not changed, and our history had always been one of resistence to repressive dynamics (particularly re: white supremacy), times have changed and now we are able to sustain a people based movement. My reasoning was based on the following:

1. Change would be cultural based.... A cultural generational shift would be part of the catalyst. Jeff Chang wrote an important essay about this cultural and generational shift: http://colorlines.com/archives/2010/11/jeff_chang_interview.html

2. The critical realization that "they don't care about us" so we must take care of ourselves (so poignantly expressed on live TV by Kanye West when he stated that Bush doesn't like Black people). While many may have given lip service to the notion before, the images from TV showed the reality of it...and there was no choice but to fully embrace self determination as the only path to survival...and freedom. Depending on the government or other people's "better nature" gets you "status quo". 

I tell my classes that the main lesson I want them to learn is that "they don't care about you"... "they" can be substituted by "power" or  "the status quo social structure".  So we must ACT to secure what is in our best interest and the interest of our families and community.

The road to hell is paved with good intentions... and the road to freedom and salvation is paved with ACTION (good deeds, acts, and service). And those that think they can get to the "promise land" through the actions of others, be it a leader or their "Savior"... will find that promise land forever elusive....

3. The changing world order has undermined the U.S empire's power..and Bush's overreaching policies (wars and more privitazation) actually helped accelerate the downfall. Multinational corporations now trump the power of nation-states ...market supremacy has replaced white supremacy as the #1 global organizing principle. Everyone is in a race to the bottom which is now within reach with the highest concentration of wealth among only a small percentage.

4. The other side of the same coin is changing world dynamics, specifically re: technology. Globalization has opened up the world...and made it much smaller at the same time. Disney was right: It’s a small world after all. :) Technology has forever changed the power to control information. Propaganda is still a viable tool via media framing, but with technology, information comes quickly and much more freely via a number of sources.  The status quo power structure will have to take more drastic means to maintain its control; hence more infractions on civil liberties, police state, corrupt politics, etc.

5. But Bob Marley explains the root of all change: A hungry mob is an angry mob. The concentration of wealth is unsustainable and when people get desperate enough, they will fight back. and, you get....Revolution. And today that is in the Middle East. Tomorrow? It could be anywhere. It could be here.

for more on people powered change: Powerful People v. People Power: The 21st Century Edition

This past week was all about JOBS. On September 8, 2011, President Obama delivered his much anticipated jobs speech to Congress.

A friend also sent me an article that was buzzing around the internet titled: Are Jobs Obsolete?  This article is an important read for anyone who is interested in a more just world. Its premise is provocative, but Rushkoff (author) provides an interesting vision for the future. It is worthy of a serious dialogue.  After reading it, I thought of all the reasons it  makes good sense for this country given the crossroads we are at. In many ways, I see the roots of his premise already at play in countries like Jamaica and in cultures like Hip Hop, where traditional opportunities have always been scarce (read jobs) but survival depended on human ingenuity and self productivity.

I also thought of the objective reality we face that will make this vision difficult to realize  in the near future. The fact that on a finite planet, resources are finite and in a social structure where resources are unevenly distributed, material sustenance is not treated as a basic right, but is instead, used as a hegemonic tool to promote fear over freedom.  As long as material sustenance is always at risk, people can be manipulated via hegemony to the benefit of those controlling the resources. And until the masses control the resources, this manipulation is certain to remain. The present reality in the U.S. is also not the global reality. While the U.S. standard of living is in decline, "emerging markets" around the world are now experiencing a new standard of living and are now only gaining the [false] benefit of being an emerging power in the race to the bottom.  

So while Rushkoff's vision for the future is actually a reality for many already on a micro-level, to achieve macro implementation will mean that not only have we secured a world where all have basic human rights of food and shelter with no fear that they will lose them, but we have also secured a world where all will want no more than those basic human rights.  Cooperative systems will get us the former... they may not be able to guarantee the latter. I'm not sure what will... for that reason, the struggle continues...continuously.

Who is Our REAL Enemy?

I am starting to use my TWITTER acct more often....please follow me!  http://twitter.com/#!/gtwright​s1

Here is a collection of article links, retweets and posts you'll find!

@gtwrights1: It is time to read or re-read James Baldwin's classic, The Fire Next Time...written almost 50 years ago, the FIRE NEXT TIME is upon us NOW..

RT @MMFlint: Chase Bank foreclosed on Oregon soldier yesterday-the day he returns from Iraq! So I ask: Who is our real enemy?http://www.michaelmoore.com

RT @CommonCause; Stop Coddling Me and My Super-Rich Pals, by Warren Buffett:http://t.co/1tJzXw0

RT @tavissmiley: The new poor is the former middle class. #poverytourhttp://t.co/FIduL9S

RT @CatalystHouse: Meet the Global Financial Elites Controlling $46 Trillion In Wealth -http://t.co/zOn99Ku

RT @Debra129: Large Corporations Are Getting Tax Cuts to Send Jobs Overseas and Pocket Bigger Profits: It's That Simple http://t.co/Bz1LfQD

RT @RBReich: Richest 1% have largest share of nat'l income and wealth in 80 yrs.

RT@mrdaveyd: "extraction. what corporate entities are doing w/ economy. End result = wage slaves in US..booming middle-class elsewhere" - exactly!

RT: @InjusticeFacts: In 2009 the average CEO pay with stock options was $11 MILLION, the average worker pay was $31,000.

The record is clear. Corporate fascists are the real enemy.  This is powerful people v. people power, the 21st century edition...Rise UP!

Powerful People v. People Power: The 21st Century Edition by @gtwrights1 link = http://t.co/6zoNvlX please RT

What Can Work….And What Never Will

Over a century ago, a struggle for the souls of black folk raged between different leaders with different approaches to black liberation. While all shared similar goals (of black freedom and self determination), these leaders embraced different and often deemed opposing ideological bends on how to achieve those goals. Should we work within a social structure and meet people where they are and build from there? Should we demand full human rights for all - always, regardless of the entrenched power interests whose very existence depends on denying us that humanity? Or would our efforts be best spent uniting as a people to build a nation to rival any that might try to oppress us?

With each leadership approach, victories were achieved, and defeats were inevitable. Washington, DuBois, and Garvey may not have had all the answers, and could not have individually achieved black liberation, but unlike many, they dedicated their lives to this necessary cause - our freedom.  No more could have been asked of them. To the all important question, “what did you do to bring about change?” these men had answers. But the question never is: “what is s/he (leader) doing to bring about change?” The only relevant question is: “what is each and every one of us doing to bring about change?”  The reason black liberation eluded them is because so many individuals then could not answer that question. Many still can’t.

This recurring ideological debate regarding the path to liberation has plagued us since day one. It flared up again during the triumphs and tribulations of the Civil Rights Era, and its most recent reincarnation can be seen in the debate between Dr. Cornel West and Reverend Al Sharpton over President Obama and his leadership (or lack thereof).

Dr. West has expressed great disappointment in President Obama, seeing much of Obama’s policies as an embrace of elite moneyed interests and American imperialism over the welfare of the mass majority of Americans, particularly African Americans who suffer disproportionately from all the plagues of poverty. Many progressives and left leaning academics agree with Dr. West’s portrayal of President Obama, voicing their frustrations daily on blogs and via social media sites.

On the other side of the debate, Reverend Sharpton avoids placing blame at Obama’s feet. While he agrees that the interests of the mass majority are not represented in the current power dynamics, unlike West, Sharpton does not see Obama as a “puppet of Wall Street oligarchs”. He believes Obama is working within a hostile political environment but will act on behalf of the majority when the majority actively engages him. Instead of seeing him as “the” problem, Sharpton chooses to work with Obama to try to build solutions.

Neither approach (West’s criticism of Obama or Sharpton’s support of Obama) seems to be getting us closer to the goal of progressive change. Again, nothing about this debate is new. The struggle for the souls of black folk rages on, with divisions forming and positions staked in concrete. While the debate has been respectful, it has monopolized a good amount of time and energy that one can only believe would be better spent in action, instead of debate.

 

What Can Work: Action

In his leadership and his humanity, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. provided a model of what can work.  While the struggle for the souls of black folk raged during his era as well, Dr. King rarely criticized those that opposed him and his approach. For example, Dr. King refused to publicly debate Malcolm X when challenged. King would not debate, his secretary told Malcolm, because "he has always considered his work in a positive action framework rather than engaging in consistent negative debate." (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/malcolmx/peopleevents/e_civilrights.html).

Dr. King was a true visionary because this "consistent negative debate" still takes up critical time today that could be spent serving and organizing our communities.  While history teaches us what leaders have achieved on their individual paths, we will never know what could have been achieved had “rival” leaders (Washington/DuBois/Garvey; Dr. King/Malcolm X) joined forces with a continuously engaged citizenry to collectively pursue a progressive path to freedom.

Dr. King understood that the biggest threat to the civil rights movement did not come from those burning crosses (adversaries) or those with different approaches to the same goal (ideological rivals). The biggest threat to progress came from the MANY that stayed safely away engulfed in their own lives, complacent, and often distracted (inactive). These are the ones that cry how horrible oppression and inequality are but do nothing to change it. It comes down to choosing to remain comfortable or to sacrifice, and unfortunately many stay comfortable. Progress takes sacrifice...progress takes ACTION.

 

What Never Will Work: Insanity

Some define insanity as doing the same thing over and over again expecting different results. While positive actions can work to achieve progress, some things never will work and it is time we come to that realization.


What won’t work?

·         Scapegoating – Whether it be Muslims, “illegal immigrants” (read Mexicans), gays, “big government”, or Obama (from the right of the political spectrum), or Republicans, Wall Street, American imperialism, racists, or Obama again (from the left of the political spectrum), blaming others for our woes is standard practice.  Instead of working actively towards progress, scapegoating allows us a convenient fall guy to point to when no real progress is achieved. The problem with scapegoating is that it provides excuses, but no solutions. So while Dr. West may be correct in his analysis of President Obama’s policies, once Obama is no longer president, his critique will just shift to the next “leader” who maintains the same policies and status quo power structure. An understanding of the problem may be achieved, but a solution to it never will.

What won’t work?

·         Idealism - Depending on people's "better nature" gets you "status quo". There is no doubt that corporate fascists and their paid cronies in government will do what they must do to maintain power... that is a known entity that is solved and needs not revisiting.  Being surprised at corporatists and politicians for being corporatists and politicians is as effective as being mad at a dog for being a dog and barking.  The time we spend criticizing, disillusioned and disgusted from unrealistic expectations is baffling and can only be understood as gripping on to idealistic tendencies that counter progress. While it reveals our basic humanity to want to believe in our fellow mankind, that humanity could be better revealed through service and action. Instead of wishing for better from others (Obama, elected politicians, corporations etc.), we must demand better from ourselves! We must use our energy to seize our power and ACT! It's one or the other - they either control us, or we control them, and while critiques will not change power dynamics, actions will.

What won’t work?

·         Negative Framing – In framing progress, we should be against nothing...just be clear what we are for (Iyanla Vanzant). When we concentrate on what we are against (racism, sexism, white supremacy, capitalism, fascism, homophobia, etc.), we frame the struggle in terms of negatives and sooner or later can lose the true purpose of the struggle...LIFE.  If we frame the struggle in terms of life affirming principles - peace, justice, love, and sustenance, our eyes remain on the prize. 

What won’t work?

·         Ceding our power to “saviors”.  Whether we are taught powerlessness (see Carter G. Woodson’s Miseducation) or whether it is an inherent quality of human nature, most choose not to become personally invested (engage in action) until they feel in some way personally affected (self interest). Many might see the five alarm fire next door but few act unless they are immediately in danger from the fire – but by then, it is possibly too late. If not immediately in danger, we tend to cede our power to so-called “authorities”…leaders, experts, and other “saviors”, instead of acting on our own behalf.  We need to realize that functioning out of self interest just gets us status quo (survival)....functioning from self determination (seizing our power) can lead to progressive change.

It has been said that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. While the hell of slavery has ended for our people, the heaven of freedom still eludes us today.  If the road to hell is paved with good intentions, the road to heaven (the “promise land”) should be paved with POSITIVE ACTION (good deeds, acts, and service). Those that believe they can get to the “promise land" through the actions of others, be it a leader (Obama) or a Savior will find that promise land forever elusive. If we truly want to realize black liberation and end the struggle for the souls of black folk, the only relevant question we must ALL ask and answer = “What are YOU doing to effect change?” When we ALL have an answer to this question, progress will be realized. Yes WE can…but the struggle continues….continuously.

 “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed upon them, and these will continue till they are resisted with either words or blows, or both. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppress.” - Frederick Douglass

"The time has come. This is it. People are always saying.. 'Oh they, they'll take care of it.' 'The government will do it. They'll' ...They who? It starts with us. ..it's US. Or else it'll never be done." – Michael Jackson 

Two Words: On Wisconsin!

Two Words.

Self Determination.

Corporate Fascism.

Your Choice.

TWO WORDS: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkFOBx6j0l8

From the debate raging online and via twitter, I see miseducation is alive and well. Workers from teachers to firefighters once called public servants are now being called freeloaders. It reminds me of something RZA said in the documentary, Rhyme and Reason [paraphrasing]: why am I beefing with this brother and he has nothing and I have nothing while these other folks over there have everything and nobody is beefing with them. That doesn't add up..I deal with mathematics.

Well, here are some numbers to consider:

1. The Walmart Corporation is richer than over 150 countries.

sources: http://www.globaltrends.com/features/shapers-and-influencers/66-corporate-clout-the-influence-of-the-worlds-largest-100-economic-entities

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29

http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune500/2010/full_list/

2. And a good amount of that wealth goes to 4 people: The Walton family members who take 4 of the top 10 spots on the Richest Americans list, with net worth totaling 80+ billion dollars.

http://www.forbes.com/wealth/forbes-400

3. While the pay gap between a company's CEO and its employees has a ratio of 11 to 1 in Japan and 12 to 1 in Germany, the United States ratio is an exorbitant 319 to 1.

source: http://csis.org/blog/us-tolerance-income-inequality

4. And for the most staggering numbers: the 500 richest individuals in the world have the same income as 416 million people on the poor end of the pay scale....416 million.

source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/09/13/opinion/13kristof.html

TWO WORDS: CLASS CONSCIOUSNESS

Probably the two most dreaded words in American politics = class warfare. But they are still embraced quicker than these two hated four letter words: Karl Marx.

The reason Karl Marx is so feared is because he rightfully exposed the fallacy of wage labor.

Capitalism is a way to make money off of other people's labor. But Walmart could not make any money without the cheap labor it gets from the workers that make the manufactured goods it sells [usually Chinese workers making slave wages], or the employees that provide the labor and customer service at its stores [making near slave wages with few benefits], or the customers who buy the goods its WORKERS produce [and those customers are spending money that they earn working for (sometimes near slave) wages ].

Marx predicted that this alienation (outlined above) would eventually lead to class consciousness...and the truth is, we may finally be seeing forms of class consciousness playing out all across the globe as we speak..from Egypt to Wisconsin...Bahrain to Iran. And the bigger truth is, we have corporate fascists and overreaching leaders to thank. As I've said many times, power will take as much as it can get away with and no less...people must fight for what we rightfully deserve. No one will give it to you.

The choices in this country could not be clearer. On one side is the language of "cuts" and "deficits" and "sacrifices", but in this language only one side of the coin is being shown. As I tell my classes all the time, one's advantage is directly linked to another one's disadvantage. They are inevitably linked. The big lie that hegemony in society perpetuates is that folks gain at no one's expense. But on a finite planet, the pie of resources is limited. And how it is dished out at the dinner table matters. If one person takes 99 slices, that leaves 1 slice for 99 people to fight over. The other option is a more equitable distribution of resources. Only people that get more and are okay with others having less prefer the former.

What free trade did to the private sector, political corporatists are now trying to do to the public sector...weaken collective bargaining and workers' rights. Instead of all seeing the reality of a new gilded age where the rich are getting richer, the middle class is being asked to accept the new "reality" and join the ranks of the working poor while big banks get bailed out with our tax dollars so they can horde that cash or use it to open markets overseas.

The truth the U.S. middle class has not been told is that it is expected to join the global race to the bottom, where we will be expected to compete in a global market where workers make less than a dollar a day. They are setting up Americans to "sacrifice" ...to get used to a lower standard of living and accept this new world order where a small elite of corporate fascists get 95% of the pie while 95% of the world must fight for the 5% crumbs...including you now America.

Unfortunately it never is the 1% that does its own bidding...it always is the manipulated who have bought in to the narrative that the elite has sold them. People that believe that giving tax breaks to corporations and busting unions will bring jobs to America have no geopolitical sense of reality.

example = http://www.huffingtonpost.com/video/video_4000.html?1298147211

Instead of bashing me and my fellow union members for collective bargaining and securing better wages and benefits, why not demand the same for yourself?! Stop doing the bidding for corporate fascists and start putting your interest first!

TWO WORDS: STAND FIRM!

Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill Protest from Matt Wisniewski on Vimeo.

link = http://vimeo.com/20089255

Despite the resistance to change by some, resolve and growing class consciousness may be too strong to stop this time. But know this, even where peaceful protest can not overcome police state barbarity, universal law will. The house of cards will fall...it always does.

Two Words:

Stay Strong

Keep Pushing

People Power

In Unity

....On Wisconsin!

For more on this topic. please see my previous note: The Fire this Time: A Few Thoughts on Egypt

Link: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150134175456131