Black Lives Matter activists disrupt Sen. Bernie Sanders during a scheduled speech in Seattle.

Like thousands of people across the country, on July 29, 2015 I went to a Bernie Sanders  Meet up at Teamsters Local 728 here in Atlanta. (Note: Clearly I should be camera ready just in case I decide to get up and speak some place. I had been running around all day and didn’t get a chance to get pretty lol.)

I was pleasantly surprised to find this video today shared by a wonderful local activist I had the chance to chat with after the meet up. Just for a little context I began by giving a shout out to Brooklyn! I almost had a Voletta Wallace moment from the 1997 MTV movie awards and shouted “Big Ups to Brooklyn.” My dad, uncle, and grandfather are all Brooklyn boys forged in the heart of the jungle. I will take a NYC politician over a Chicago one any day of the week!!! As I got serious, I shifted into talking about why as a single mother, a woman, a black person etc. that I was motivated to vote for Bernie Sanders. Well to not only vote for him, but to volunteer and work with grassroots organization committed to effectuating change on a local and national level.

Is Bernie perfect? Nope.

Is he the Messiah? Not at all.

But for me Bernie is the person who has the vision and experience to address the various intersectionalities that make up my identity. So I decided to get involved and be the change I wanted to see. I opted to start building with people at the beginning stages of this movement than sitting around complaining about who wasn’t doing what when.  There will be no savior of blackness this election.  Wake up call folks…there has never been a savior of blackness. Not Lincoln, Johnson, Clinton, or Obama. No one president has “saved” us.   Anything and everything we have accomplished has been earned and paid for with our blood, sweat, and more blood.

I am completely aware of the criticism levied at his campaign on issues related to “people of color.”  However, like many people I am not a one issue voter. Education, Healthcare, Economy, and Social Security are all issues that ABSOLUTELY matter to me.  Yes we need a concerted effort to address issues of structural racism and lingering inequality affecting Black, Latino, and Native Americans.  But we also need to organize and unite locally and regionally to really start changing the tide.  50 years ago beautiful legislation was enacted at the Federal level, and the last several decades have proven how difficult it has been to enforce equality legislation on the state and local level. WE NEED PEOPLE TO ORGANIZE AND STAY ORGANIZED IN THEIR COMMUNITIES.

Instead of complaining about what the campaign IS NOT DOING…I’m involved with groups who are trying to help shape the future of the nation. Groups such as the Women for Bernie Sanders and People for Bernie Sanders are trying to engage and educate people, but are also open to dialogue and feedback.  Movement building (as many can attest) is not without bumps. We need to be able to provide constructive criticism/feedback while continuing to build forward moving, sustainable collaborative arrangements.  Furthermore, we need to strengthen our involvement at the local level. Sure we “Get Out the Vote” when it comes to big presidential elections, but we need to be as focused on our local level politics if not even more so. The backsliding and fiscal problems we have seen across the 50 states has to do with people not being engaged and showing up in midterm elections and special elections. It has to do with people not showing up at city council or school board meetings. Yes we are all very busy, but what is an hour? Pick a meeting, any meeting and just show up. Talk to your neighbors, children, checkout clerk at the supermarket.  We need to rebuild civic minded communities. Does your church or local community center have any information about local candidates? Know what policies are coming down the pipeline.  In some cases public comments are accepted online or by email!! A lot of meetings are being webcast or posted online for later viewing.

Just this week, we learned that one of the corporate monsters involved in the #WVChemleak #WVWaterCrisis is getting off very easy and gets to keep all his millions. I’m sick and tired of people gaming the system. It is time that we began to take back our country. To take back our communities. To stop allowing the powers that be run over and through us.  It is time we set both parties straight and let them know who they work for. Public servants are supposed to serve the public good and not their own.

You have to make a choice, are you gonna continue to warm the bench or are you going to get in the game?  Things do not have to continue as they “always have been.” Our history is full of great changes started by ordinary people!

[Originally posted at Mama Justice]

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The Baltimore Sun reports that:

Striding backwards at the head of about 40 men and boys who had walked 29 miles from Baltimore and had more than a half-dozen to go under the scorching summer sun Monday morning, Munir Bahar focused his gaze on the line of five boys at the front.

They had linked their arms around each other’s shoulders in an expression of solidarity to propel them forward through the pain.

Each was a member of Bahar’s Youth COR, which is tapping young people to serve as community ambassadors in the wake of the unrest after the death of Freddie Gray in April and the unprecedented spate of homicides across the city since…

Their journey from Baltimore to Washington was part of an effort by Bahar and his 300 Men March organization to shine a national spotlight on the group’s anti-violence work at a time when the killing in Baltimore is spiraling out of control. The city has seen more than 200 homicides this year, with a spike in recent months that has pushed the count far ahead of last year’s pace.

“We’re just trying to show love,” said Eric Baker, 19. “Love is action. It can actually have a huge impact.”

The 300 Men March puts men who share an “enough is enough” mindset on the streets for regular walks through some of Baltimore’s most violent neighborhoods.

As Bahar sees it, with the right resources, the model could be scaled up across the city.

Bahar intended the 35-mile march from Baltimore to Washington on Sunday and Monday to draw attention to the program and the “Emergency Operating Plan” he has created as a pitch to potential donors.

Despite assertions to the contrary, black people regularly protest against inner city violence. We hold countless prayer vigils for young men and women gone too soon. The courageous work of the 300 Men March is just one of many examples. I commend those brothers for their bold commitment to peace and decency. I hope that the group receives many donations to fund their important work.

We must save our communities from self-destruction. To paraphrase Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, we need to rally in our own homes. We must ensure that our sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, brothers and sisters are not entangled in this sick culture of death and mayhem. As my imam says, this is “our community and our responsibility.”  We must rally against benign neglect, poverty, failing schools and unemployment as well. Those problems fuel the violence.

Lastly, we must hold our elected officials accountable for failing to adequately address the out-of-control carnage in Baltimore. We must march to the polls and vote out the politicians who have failed us. We must elect politicians actually have concrete and viable plans to improve Baltimore.

[Originally posted at New Possibilities]

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Might I remind you, the Republican party has lost the popular vote in 5 of the last 6 presidential election cycles. But hey, keep hope alive.

Yes, because this, like 2012, is the, “We’re tired of this n*gger,” and now, “Anybody but that Clinton b*tch,” election campaign. You know, the typical bigoted tripe and weaponized stupid that fuels the ideological bankruptcy that is the Republican party. Just look at the current frontrunner!

The best thing that could have happened during tonight’s debate on FOX would have been a group of GOP voters screaming, “Black lives matter!” But, that didn’t happen; nor did I ever expect it to. Hell, the Republican party has given no fucks about black people since slavery. If they did, maybe, just maybe, there would be at least some form of general consensus about the value of the lives of black people, other than the racist dog- whistle political pandering to its knuckle-dragging base.

You know, the ones angry and brave enough to shoot and kill black people at churches and the occasional movie theater? Yes, they’re included in that group of America-loving patriotic voters.

But, we expect Republicans to care all of a sudden?

My man Charles D. Ellison makes a good point on The Hill:

We haven’t really seen a true #BlackLivesMatter “win” — oh, yeah, save embarrassing moments for presidential candidates suddenly forced to rescript already scripted messaging. Yet, embarrassing moments and taped rants that go viral don’t necessarily mean group empowerment. It’s all momentary face-saving and low hanging fruit. Calibrating a talking point can be briefly fulfilling, but is the candidate really in your pocket? Sure, those moments are currently forcing folks on both sides to not forget about black voters, but the jury is still out on whether that’s forced any significant realignment on the issues beyond mere wedgie-inspired statements that “yes, OK, OK, you got me, stop, it hurts … Black Lives Matter, Black Lives Matter!”

 

But, what’s the policy pledge beyond that? Is anyone saying they’ll push or sign a law that forces rigorous national policing standards or demands totally enforced federal tracking of police brutality or gives real teeth to Justice Department audits of state and local agencies? And what’s the plan to combat linked issues such as crumbling schools, high poverty and systemic housing segregation once they get elected?

 

With one known national weekend convention in Cleveland under its belt, there is no real sense of what the big plan or mission is. When you ask, organizers are unresponsive. Some are outright dismissive: either you’re in or you’re out (a strange feed-the-crowd mindset for any social justice movement pushing for universal equity, fairness and transparency). Keep inquiring or offering insight on the essential political mechanics, and it becomes a generational shutdown (that’s “old school”) or visceral the-system-can-kiss-my-ass anarchy (“we tried that already” when, um, sorry, no, you really didn’t). Or, ask more and you are slowing down momentum and attempting to dismantle the cause, even if the questions are coming from a good place.

 

But these are important questions; decisive questions that will determine if it’s a one-hit wonder like its Occupy Wall Street cousin or whether it can really last. Will there be a sophisticated, multi-state voter registration and mobilization campaign in 2016? Is there a robust national political action committee in the works? Are you relying on conditional grants or are you raising the kind of grassroots money that makes public officials – and the law enforcement bosses they hire or approve – wet their bed at night when they think about it?

 

Graduate students from Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley recently conducted the first “randomized’ field study that showed what we sort of knew all along: “money equals access to candidates.” So, what’s your government relations or lobbying effort on Capitol Hill since, with Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, lots of bills are being introduced but not much has passed (well, you’ve got the feds tracking police shooting data now, but what good is that if loosely enforced?). Several senators ban together on legislation in response to Cecil the Lion’s death — including one of only two black members of the Senate — and you’re wondering why they haven’t pushed anything yet on #BlackLivesMatter?

 

People might be talking about #BlackLivesMatter. But do candidates, policymakers and influencers really fear it? If not, you’ll still find yourselves frustrated and faced with the same issues and the same folks in power with no change of guard or policy in sight.

The fact that there were black folks on social media who were upset because‪#‎BlackLivesMatter‬ wasn’t acknowledged at the GOP debate, on FOX News – I repeat, on FOX News – made me laugh really hard. Like, really hard. I mean, it’s FOX News! They practically lynch black people on live television over there, for fuck sake. Okay, so I’m only kidding; but just a little.

Some were even more upset that the name Tamir Rice wasn’t even mentioned, although the debate was held in the very city where he was killed by a police officer. Which is really a joke when you think about the fact that Cleveland, Ohio is a blue collar working city long ignored by the Republican party since its industrial manufacturing heyday. Tamir Rice? Are you kidding me?

Hell, thanks to Republicans in congress, we can’t even get a jobs bill to land on the desk of President Barack Obama that would surely bring joy to the many unemployed black people in America. But yet y’all are upset that a bunch of REPUBLICAN candidates running to become president of these United States had the gall to ignore the lives of black folk?

Newsflash: It’s the Republican party! They haven’t given a damn about black people since the cause was ending slavery. And, this was at a time when the GOP was largely a party of northerners before realignment after the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964. But hey, perhaps the cause is better served by tweets of righteous indignation, rather than crafting and advancing real policy positions for which we can hold elected officials accountable. But, of course, it’s a lot easier to sit around waiting around for that hope and change will magically rain down upon us from the White House before Obama leaves office. You know, anything that’s not like actual work to build political influence outside of the silly hashtag that issues an ultimatum to the Democrats.

Yeah, good luck with that…

And while you’re doing just that, do remember that it is the Republican party leadership that’s trying their damnedest to make it harder for people of color – and black people in particular – to cast votes. Oh well, I suppose black lives do matter after all.

The post GOP Debate Gave “No Fucks” About #BlackLivesMatter appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Activist, Bree Newsome, arrested after removing Confederate Flag from grounds of South Carolina’s State House.

More often than not, it is the female that actually steps above and beyond to make things happen for their families, communities, and society. Think about where Black peoplewould be without the work of Harriet Tubman, Sojourner Truth, or Maria W. Stewart. We can take it to Madame CJ Walker or even to Angela Davis and Assata Shakur. Hell, we can even take it further with Ava Duvernay with what she did with Selma. It needs to be recognized that Black women are the societal glue for the Black experience.

Black Women As Heroes in Our Age

Black women are, and have been, showing the world what they should be doing. Serena Williams already had to mention how she refused to play in Charleston back in 2000 due to the Confederate flag. People need to realize that certain issues are actually old. We are talking about 2000. That’s 15 years ago. Yet, it was a Black woman representing for us.

It is 2015 and we have a new hero: Bree Newsome.

What occurred with Bree Newsome taking down the Confederate flag was nothing short of heroism. Instead of giving the same old rigmarole, she did something about the flag that many of us wanted gone for decades. She climbed at the top of the pole and took the flag down. Many of us rejoiced at what she had done. We realized that she stuck HER neck out to do what millions wanted done.

Again: it took a black woman.

Yet, there are plenty of us that have something negative to say. In a forum that I am a part of on Facebook, one of my art colleagues drew an astounding picture of the incident. However, some of the males wanted to make misogynistic and despairing remarks while questioning her dedication to the cause. If they would have did some research, they would have known that Bree Newsome is a filmmaker, artist, activist, and many other titles that even she hasn’t mentioned. However, here we are again: men finding a way to turn a situation into something misogynistic.

And you know what? It is getting old.

Fellas, it is time to listen up: Black people are having a rough go at it. Between people either wanting us dead or placing responsibility on us for other people’s issues (racism being one of them), it would be smart to actually SUPPORT the women that are going to bat for us. If you see a woman taking the lead to do something YOU did not do, then you should be cheering her on. This is not the moment of questioning their agendas or talking down on her for being a female. This is the time of action.

How can any man talk down on somebody while they sit in front of a computer while these females are risking their lives/livelihood for our Blackness?

Black Women Are Our Heroes Epilogue

If you came from a Black woman, then you should support Black women. If a Black woman does what you DIDN’T do, then applause is in order. There is no time for questioning, negative commentary, and mental meandering on the situation. The least that men could do is actually give proper respect to those that had the courage/gall to do what you WOULDN’T. Or, you can always try and be quiet.

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What many may not understand is that Maya Angelou was more than a poem.

Maya Angelou and Who She Really Was

Maya Angelou, as many of my African American queens, was as complicated as they come. The same woman that wrote one of the most presidential inauguration poems of our time also was a 17 year old unwed mother before. The same woman that taught American Studies at Wake Forest also ran a brothel and was a stripper in her early years. The same woman that found spiritual and monetary riches also grew up dirt poor. In turn, Maya Angelou became a singing caged bird that found a way to fly free.

If you think about her previous circumstances and what she overcame, you would understand what made her wonderful. Statistically, she was not supposed to do what she did. Statistically, she was supposed to be one of life’s failures. Statistically, she was supposed to be a statistic. Yet, she knew that mathematic measures had no bearing on the measures of the mind (and soul).

Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that was she.

Maya Angelou and What She Really Represented

Maya Angelou was the epitome of womanhood. Maya Angelou was a feminist before people started coining the term. She worked tirelessly to speak for the unspoken, do for the broken, and represent the down-trodden. “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” was more than an autobiographical novel: it was a beautiful melody of liberty displayed in book form. Many successful women were not wrong in working closely with Angelou, either. Maya Angelou was the woman many women worked to be.

Maya Angelou was also the full representation of what Black Hope is supposed to represent. Long before Obama noted that we can have hope, Maya Angelou demonstrated how hope should look. Before Oprah became synonymous with business success, she found herself under Maya’s guidance. Before people read the tomes of Toni Morrison, Toniherself was being inspired by Angelou. Conclusively, Maya Angelou always served as an inspiration to greatness.

Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that was she.

Maya Angelou was Black America

In short, Maya Angelou was Black America. She represented how one should conduct themselves with style and grace. She also represents the fact that, no matter where you come from, where you are going is most important. She was the liege and motivation of so many important people out there. Thus, it would behoove all of us to honor a woman that lived her life for the sake of others.

Maya Angelou, your rest is going to be peaceful. You did your job. Now it is time for us to do ours.

Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that was she.

The post Maya Angelou: Phenomenal Woman of Humanity appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Still, I would really want to caution Homeboy Sandman about the analogies to education. Comparisons to “kicking out teachers from tenure” and “kicking out kids” gets dicey and promotes an imbalanced ideal that has not been fruitful on either side.

But the former is neither here or there. Let me regain my focus.

The Problem with The LA Clippers (And Black People)

The initial problem doesn’t have to do with “Black people” in a total sense. You see, this issue that he has is with basketball players on a basketball team. To be more exact, this has to do with basketball players on aPROFESSIONAL basketball team. So, these men came together and decided to handle the situation the best way they knew how. What they did was this: they held a silent protest and threw down practice jerseys (shirts or whatever) and wore stuff backwards.

Did they sit out the game? No.

Did they throw the game? No.

Did they boycott the organization? No.

Should we think differently of them? That depends on who you ask.

Am I impressed at what they are doing? Nah. I would have probably cursed Don Sterling’s name to the high heavens.

Should We Question the LA Clippers?

Before I get into the meat of what is going on, let me ask this question: who the fuck are we to question, or demand, what they do as basketball players?

I ask that because I was guilty of it in my last blog about this subject. I made my commentary about being surprised if anything happened. Hell, I wanted them to protest just as much as the next person. But, I gave it a little more thought. I realized that there could be a different approach.

Also, I present the query above because there are more ways to get what there is to get out of a situation. You see, you are dealing with people that have a choice to make. They can either “fight the power” or “keep it moving”. As much as we think they should do certain things, it is ultimately up to them. We can think what we want. However, we are not in their shoes. So, all of these well-meant opinions don’t amount to a heap of shit.

And those opinions include mine as well.

LA Clippers and The Usefulness of Protest

I do love how everyone hearkens to a time past in which we, as a people, would “fight for our rights”. You see, I agree with that sentiment of us being way too passive in situations. As I thought about it, I realized that everyone wasn’t protesting back then either. You had your marchers and you had your TV watchers. To be fair, everyone was not getting hosed while a dog bit their private parts.

The above paragraph leads to this statement: sometimes, you have to fight from the inside instead of the outside. Don Sterling is a filthy rich man. He is also a racist (soon to be former) owner of the LA Clippers and that infamous slumlord known for being racially selective to his tenants.

The LA Clippers Showed No Cowardice

The players cannot be thought of as cowards because they did SOMETHING. Cowards would have gone right along with the situation and gave no message. However, they are on the inside of a business. Think of it as a house. You can either demolish the shit or you can restructure it from the inside.

Legally, there is not much that could have been done to rectify this situation. Still, it was imperative to send a message. That message was sent when Don Sterling started losing sponsors for his team and was eventually put on an indefinite suspension from the league. With that, changes can be made. Then, things can go on along without a hitch.

Plus, what is to be said about the other people in the organization? Do we actually want to make them suffer to send a message? Don Sterling was not going to be hurt any more than he already has been. He is still going to be rich. He is still going to be racist. So, should we sacrifice a whole bunch of people for that one? Or do we play it smart and put him in a position of “losing something” and keeping everything else intact?

They went for the latter.

The LA Clippers Did Better Than A Simple Protest

We have to realize that protesting works when there is a suitable solution that presents progress. This one situation would do very little toward Black struggle. The bigger issue with Black struggle is that we have not found our own independence. Protest screams acceptance. It is 2014: we have to get beyond acceptance. We have to be productive.

The post The LA Clippers, and Black People, Are Not Cowards appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Remember when Daniel Strauss-Kahn — a very wealthy, powerful, and influential white man — was arrested for the “alleged” sexual assault of a Black woman who worked as a maid at a New York City hotel? Remember how the media made her out to be a whore who lied about her accusations? I wish *we* were all pissed off about it then, much in the same way we’re upset about the attempts of “certain people” to smear Trayvon Martin. After all, charges were eventually dropped against that very wealthy white man without as much of a peep from activists and advocates for justice.

But hey, she was an African immigrant; yep, she wasn’t really Black. So, clearly she wasn’t deserving of justice like Trayvon does, right? Yep, I not only “fight the power,” I fight hypocrisy as well. And please believe, there is enough hypocrisy within the Black community often tossed out by the racial identity police among us to go around. My man, Dr’ Jared Bell breaks it down in a piece entitled: You don’t need a ‘hood pass’ to help Black folks: The politics of identity in Racial Justice activism. In it, he writes the following:

When you, as a Black person, have developed the ability (as millions of us have) to navigate both the world of oppression and the world of privilege, it really strikes a hatin’ nerve in some people. Some White people, yes. But, more painfully for those of us who honestly love ourselves, a lot of Black people! It is an interesting class dynamic that exists in our community, whereby those with higher amounts of income, higher levels of education, middle-class/suburban value systems, or interests outside of the pre-approved list of “stuff Black people like” are deemed to be less down, less real, less Black.

The saddest part is that it’s not just our friends and family that feel free to whip out that Identity Cop badge. Those of us who have spent any time as activists, organizers, or social change workers know that it is sometimes our fellow revolutionaries who are the quickest to play that “po-po” role. Because (like all activists) they tend to be passionate about their cause (whatever it may be) and in a position to lead others into social action, they can sometimes create a “with us or against us” dynamic that devalues and dishonors anything outside of their mission. And when that mission is racial justice, when that perspective is race consciousness, too often the dynamic that gets created is, ‘If you’re not working on this, in this way, at this time, you don’t really love Black people.’

And let’s be real: it goes further than that. In my experience, the message that really ends up being transmitted is ‘If you are not working with these kind of Black issues, these kind of Black people, and this kind of Black experience (most likely related to poverty, criminal justice, drug involvement, violence, or illness), well then you’re just not Black.’ 

Yes, our own close-minded, limited notions of what constitutes Black identity, Black life, Black issues, and TheBlack American experience even shape our efforts to free ourselves from the boxes imposed upon us by others. You can’t get any more ironic than that.

So why is it that Black Justice workers, those dedicated to challenging the structures and systems that restrict the full range of our lives, so often fall prey to these very same notions that 1. ) Black=poor, under-educated, unemployed, disenfranchised, suffering, victim, etc. and 2.) anything else=Not Really Black? Why is it that these activists are sometimes so judgmental towards causes that don’t fit with their notions of “what Black people really need?” Black psychologists might call this internalized oppression, a phenomenon whereby subjugated people begin to adopt and apply to themselves the prejudices and discriminatory practices of their oppressors.

I can remember a fellow Black Justice activist scoffing when he learned that I wanted to attend college after high school. He asked me why I thought I needed to “go learn other stuff” and I responded that I still loved and planned to continue the organizing work I was doing; it was just that I was multidimensional. He rolled his eyes, “Well, I’m unidimensional, and I’m fine. Why you gotta go be multidimensional?”

Then as a psychology student researching global Black identity, I was told that my work was not really relevant to the community, that I should focus on something like homelessness, drug addiction, or youth violence. Obviously, these are important issues on a very practical level. But remind me again why they are the onlytypes of issues deemed relevant to Black people? I think such sentiments say less about the value of my work (after all, even victims of violence and drug addiction need to know who they are at some point in order to fully heal) and more about the assumptions of what constitutes “Black issues.” In my mind, if you’re Black and you have an issue, that’s a Black issue. Case closed.

Issues of disparity and injustice are major, urgent, and extremely important issues to address. No doubt they impact us all at a base level, and they affect us disproportionately. But they are not (and really, never have been) the only important issues that Black people deal with, nor are they a personal calling for every Black person that walks the Earth. For many of us the principles of African humanism are woven into the fabric of our being, ever-present in whatever causes we take up. But the breadth of Black experience in this historical moment requires us to be broader than our basest problems, to grow beyond oppression even as we are still struggling against it. That does not mean that we abandon our efforts on basic issues such as housing, criminal justice reform, education, and other crucial causes. On the contrary, many of us devote ourselves to fighting for these until the most vulnerable among us are secure. I’m not naive on this point. However, we must also acknowledge that many Black people, at least in the industrialized world, have their basic material needs already met. What they don’t have is the freedom to break out of the boxes imposed on the identities and trajectories of our people, both from without and from within. These brothers and sisters, many members of the Hip Hop and Millennial generation, are facing a whole different level of dilemmas. They are navigating a space and time unique to a post-Civil Rights but pre-equality era, trying to individualize while still seeking some communal shielding from the institutionalized oppression they know exists.

When our own social change leaders police our Blackness, and (by extension) the type of work that we view as supporting that Blackness, they play into the hands of those who would have us all facing west as the sun rises in the east. There are some higher level questions we need to tackle, not just as Black people but as human beings, which appear to have nothing to do with our oppression. And yet they have everything to do with our oppression, because it is only in a domineering system that we would collectively be encouraged to neglect and forego these most basic human dilemmas (What is the meaning of life? Who cares…Black people shouldn’t ask such questions).

It is hard to address issues of meaning and purpose when you’ve got The Man on your neck, I know. That’s why our socioeconomic activism and political engagement is, and will always be, necessary. We cannot sleep on that, because we cannot sleep on our responsibility to brothers and sisters whose very survival and existence is constantly under threat. Our people are still more likely than Whites to end up poorly educated, incarcerated, unemployed, and prematurely dead in this society, and that’s real. We cannot hide our heads in the sand and pretend that we don’t all (at some level) constantly serve as targets for oppressive forces in society. Trayvon Martin is proof of that. The System exists.

So what was the point to all of this? Well, aside from what Dr. Bell said above, I’d say that our “selective activism” works against us all. I may not be as fiery or compelled to go into “kill whitey mode.” But please believe that as a Black man with rhythm, I am able to walk and chew bubble gum at the same time. I can speak up and out in the interest of justice for Trayvon Martin; but while doing so,  I can speak out in the interest of justice for many more among us. You know, other Black people like Anna Brown, and Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. who they’re not focused on right now?

At the end of the day, you don’t have to be Black to demand justice for Trayvon Martin. As a matter of fact, a coalition of like-minded individuals willing to act in the interest of justice should be encouraged. However, we must realize that there are many issues that can be addressed in the name of racial justice by using Trayvon as the backdrop. Sure this might sound exploitative to some. But, condemning others as “not being down,” because they choose to speak on any of the other issues surrounding this case is counter-productive, in my opinion.

The post One Million Hoodies, Racial Justice, & Why “We” Black People Can’t Get It Together appeared first on Madness & Reality.

Kony is Africa’s most notorious militia leader.  During a decade-long campaign of intimidation in northern Uganda, Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) kidnapped tens of thousands of children and youth for use as soldiers and sex slaves. The conflict displaced more than a million people into camps. Kony and his commanders were eventually chased into the ungoverned border region between the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan. The LRA is now diminished and on the run. But it still conducted more than 300 attacks last year, generating fear and instability far beyond its numbers.

The effort to bring Kony to justice is broad. The International Criminal Court (ICC) has indicted him for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Both Presidents George W. Bush and Obama made the pursuit of Kony a priority. In 2010, the U.S. Congress passed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act, urging the apprehension of LRA leaders and the protection of civilians. On the ground, regional armies are cooperating with United Nations peacekeepers and US special forces to corner Kony and his lieutenants.

[…] Some criticism has been directed against Invisible Children, an organization that can speak in its own defense (and has). But a broader case is also being made against the global campaign to stop Kony. The crimes of the LRA, it is argued, have been exaggerated and the attention they are receiving is disproportionate.

It is probably true (thank goodness) that Kony’s greatest crimes are in the past. He is no longer active in Uganda, where even his northern tribal allies turned against him. Attacks in eastern Congo and southern CAR are mainly raids for supplies instead of mass atrocities. But this is precisely because the LRA is under constant pressure. When Kony attempts to gather his forces – as he did in September in CAR – his Ugandan army pursuers are quickly on top of him. Obama has deployed more than 80 special operations forces in the region to help coordinate these operations.

Even a diminished Kony is dangerous. And the evil of the man himself can scarcely be exaggerated. In Uganda, I’ve met former LRA child soldiers who were forced to kill their own parents and neighbors in order to sever their ties to community and sympathy. I met a young man who looked at Kony without permission and had his eye removed in punishment. In January, I met two girls in the DRC who had recently escaped from LRA captivity. They had been used as sex slaves and pack animals – punished, when they tried to escape, by having melted plastic poured on their shoulders. All Kony’s victims – past and present – deserve to see justice done.

[…] People are interested in Kony’s fate because of the scale of his past crimes and the vividness of his evil. But the LRA problem also attracts attention because a resolution is within reach. Kony is a cult-like figure, with a mystical hold over his followers. Removing him from the scene would likely result in the collapse of the LRA as an organized group. The net around Kony, with American help, is tightening. Even a little additional effort might make all the difference. The LRA may not be the biggest problem in the world, but it is a serious problem on the verge of solution.

The criticism is sometimes made of advocacy groups – on Darfur, or conflict minerals, or the LRA – that they oversimplify complex issues. This charge is often leveled by foreign policy experts who multiply complexity for a living. One gets the impression they would rather ignore meddling idealists and write their white papers in peace.  But experts and advocates both have important roles. The views of experts should inform the policies of public officials. But advocates help to push officials toward decision and action. When I was in government, strong outside advocacy made my job as an internal advocate easier. It revealed a constituency for urgency.

The pursuit of Kony is urgent. The effort is both bipartisan and multilateral. And the hunt is closing in.

Trayvon Martin died innocently at the hands of someone else through no fault of his own – that’s the story for now, at least. As such, him and his family deserves justice; and, many are doing what they can to ensure that they do through online petitions, and other forms of collective activism. Nowhere do we see anyone questioning the need for justice, or at minimum the arrest of the gentleman who killed him. How dare would anyone question or even suggest that his death was justified. Hell, he was an unarmed teen stopped by a neighborhood watchman for being black and in the wrong community at the wrong time. Hardly a crime punishable by death here in the U.S. last time I checked; but hey, this is America. This is not how we’re supposed to do things in this country, no?

Where is the Justice for Trayvon Martin?

After all, isn’t an injustice anywhere a threat to justice everywhere? In this information age now reduced reduced to one hundred and forty character twwets and status updates. Isn’t it awesome that the world is a lot smaller, and that we’re all interconnected? And through the magic of social networking, irrespective of race, creed, or color, that we can all come together and make a difference in our own small but significant way? Isn’t it a beautiful thing that collectively we can speak for the voiceless in he interest of freedom, justice, and equality for all?

Watch the following to learn more:

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Jay Z is an over-rated rapper who has stepped on a lot of toes while climbing on the shoulders of many to get to the top and sticking his dick in very interesting holes. But let me be clear.

A lot of “celebs,” both black and white have been stopping by Occupy Wall Street for Anachist cred. Then as fast as they arrived, they have traveled back to their nice housing and relatively excluded lives, while many soldiers have been pitching tents in snow, shit, and with homeless folk who have been forcibly planted by local enforcement as a diversion.

The pimp-like moves of notable 1 percenters have been something I pointed out when Russell Simmons and Kanye West brought their tired, raggedy assess on the stroll a couple of weeks ago. Namely, Kanye wearing a pricey gold chain, and Simmons not being called out for his Rush Card follies. The Rush Card was a pre-paid credit card venture targeting people of color, poor people and the youth, that promised to assist people in building credit, but was a sham that overcharged card holders and didn’t build shit but Uncle Russ’ portfolio.

Russell to Jay: " Can a nigga borrow a dollar?"

Also, Priscilla, I wholeheartedly reject you arguing that Occupy Wall Street is the most important social movement since Civil Rights. Your pompous assumptions is what we call in the hood as having your flat, “Ass on Your Shoulders”.

You see Priscilla, while you were dry grinding to “99 Problems” in the club, or your mother was finally learning how to do the Cabbage Patch to “Baby Got Back” the both of you’s were dancing to a social and cultural movement that even has you using its vernacular. Hip Hop.

Today you can’t go 10 minutes without a commercial or a news anchor using hip hop vernacular or a popular movie blaring the latest hip hop song as the backdrop. Hip Hop used to be that black shit that those type of people did. Today, everybody talks the lingo, wears the dress, wants to fuck Kanye, or singing “Black and Yellow”. Hell, even the Jews have stake in it with their wonder-rapper Drake.

Pricilla Grimm

Now if you want to talk exploitation, let’s have a conversation in which we bring the important social movement to the table that pre-dated your shit by about 35 years.

In fact, the audacity of hip hop and its radical roots is intertwined in your shit too, Shawty.

Don’t get it fucked up. Occupy didn’t just fall out of the air, it is a continuum of protests that have been occurring since Civil Rights. It would’ve been well noted if you could have called Jay Z out for pimping out another social movement pushing for progress as we simultaneously exploits a musical genre that changed the social, political and cultural climate of America.

A little information for your Negrophile records, hip hop that was played at one pointed blatantly challenged the status quo. However, you are a little too young in your Suburban education to know that. Oh yes, I am assuming.

This is why I disagree with your description of which you used to castigate Jay Z. As you said he had “the political sensibility of a hood rat”; however, I will challenge you two meth addicts and throw in an Oxycontin abuser that you don’t even know that a hood rat may fuck a lot of dudes in the hood, but that doesn’t mean she can’t read or isn’t politically astute.

Priscilla, Jay Z didn’t just fuck for beats to get all of that dough. His is quite political, just not how you like it. And your urban jab actually confirms why some folk aren’t feeling Occupy Wall Street’s over-educated, White lean. But I guess you are speaking with the sensibility of an Sub-urban Rat that is simply the left side of a vulva.

And in the words of my alter ego, a hood rat from South Central, “Occupy these nuts, bitch.”

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And that’s how it is here at the NYC site at “Liberty Square.” Not all is as it seems…

This past Saturday during one of the working group meetings I belong to, someone joked about “the other occupation” (I literally spent all of my Saturday at occupation-related “working groups”). We all laughed because this is the side of #OccupyWallStreet almost no one reports on or knows about.

It’s not that it’s kept secret. #OccupyWallStreet has at least 50-60 different working groups all addressing a multitude of issues ranging from on-site logistics (medical, sanitation, comfort, media) to various political issues (People of color working group, Politics and Electoral Reform), to internal organization (Structure, Facilitation).

All these take place near the #OccupyWallStreet and it’s where all that happens here is made possible. Most people and the media focus on the General assembly or going to the Liberty Square (Zuccotti Park) site to get a feel for the occupation, but it’s the working groups where the real action is at. At least it is for me.

There are all kinds of trainings offered by experienced activists who have been part of struggles all over the world. For example, this past Saturday I was sitting next to a gentleman who was one of the organizers/ protestors at Tiananmen Square. At a later meeting, I was able to exchange ideas with/ learn from two women who had just come from Palestine and Greece. They were part of the flotilla that was “captured” and detained, accused of running arms (the charge was bogus and it backfired because the activists had actually invited media to inspect the boat before the charges were hurled). Another had a special affinity for me, because she had done work around the bombing of the Puerto Rican island of Vieques!

From the gentleman from Tiananmen Square, I learned about ways to better streamline meetings and setting structure and accountability. The two activists just back from Greece held a day-long meeting for a “training the trainers” seminar (unfortunately, I wasn’t able to attend). The Structure working group I joined is looking at organizational models borrowed from successful global movements such as the Zapatistas, the anti-nuclear movement, and occupations occurring in Athens and Rome. Today there’s a day-long conversation on “Re-envisioning Money” (here) and a training by the working group, Direct Action (here).

In short, what you might perceive as random or even chaotic is actually a very well organized, consciously and intelligently planned movement. This past Saturday, a reporter from the NY Times left in a huff because we took a group consensus asked that he not tape our meeting. Having been burned by a media that is more interested in getting a handle on the movement in order to frame it from a perspective unable to grasp a grassroots consciousness, many of us are cautious in allowing such access. This has been one of the strokes of genius about our movement because the media cannot find a way to repackage our message, which is not defined by a list of demands, a set of goals, or any single issue. I speak for myself when I say the following, but I believe this is true: the “occupations” now taking place all over the world are really about a re-conceptualization of the kind of world we desire. We are forcing the social discourse to consider alternatives that have not been entertained; we are forcing society to grapple questions that haven’t been asked; we are helping create a new language that can engage a narrative that can see the possibility and engage the human potential for a society that is more just, more empathic, informed by the fact that we — all of us — are interconnected in ways we have ignored.

And the beauty of all this is that it’s all taking place in a purely transparent process, without the control of money or of the old dinosaurs that must surely realize their way has failed and failed miserably.

Mark my words, years from now, people will ask, “What were you doing when the #OccupyWallStreet movement first took hold.” what will you say?

My name is Eddie and I’m in recovery from civilization…

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