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The Inauguration. At Last.

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Not everything will change

So here is a frame that is increasingly annoying and troubling. The idea that presence of the Obama family in the White House presents a new face to America about what black families are.

Black first family changes everything

I agree, wholeheartedly, that the images presented over generations of what black people and black families are have been severely limited and problematic. The article slants the piece in such a way, though, that focuses on pathologies in the black community as the only reality. It sets the Obama family up as the ones who will not only correct that notion, but also the ones that will straighten out black America. And yeah, I get that there is some of that going on and that it is good. I don’t want all the “role models” out there to be involved in sports or music. However, it has never been the case that that is where all the role models are, where all the successful black people are. The images that are chosen to portray us are drawn either from that stream – sports or music, or from the stream that shows us the poverty stricken criminals, you know, the ones that Bill Bennett wants to abort.

As one of the women quoted in the article says, “We don’t get to see black love.” She is right – we don’t get to see it. That does not mean it isn’t there, hasn’t been there, and won’t be there in the future. We don’t get to see it in the media because it is not shown. What passes for black love is too often fetishized and pathologized. We are not used to seeing black love, not because it does not exist, but because it does not fit into the narrow frame of who black people are, according to those who shape the images we see. And yes, I am well aware that sometimes those images are shaped by us – black people.

The black first family does not change everything, as the CNN headline asserts. Yes, I am glad – so glad to see them there. But what will change everything is not just the image of this successful, loving black family in the white house. What will begin to change some things, and then more things, and maybe work towards changing everything is making sure more people have the opportunity to achieve the things this family has achieved is to assure the basics of life that provide stability to every citizen. Things like health care, decent educational institutions that are adequately funded and serve all children well, and living wages. Supporting families so that they are able to get what they need to survive physically will go a long way in maintaining good psychological, emotional and spiritual health. And no, it’s not just about throwing money at problems. It is about building a national – no, a global consciousness that understands that within a society, individuals and individual family units are connected to one another and it is within the best interests of us all to tend to that interconnectedness. If a society decides to throw away a segment of their population (whether designated by race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality, whatever) by first not acknowledging their humanity and from that denying them the rights and benefits of the society, then yes, things will go horribly wrong. Rugged individualism does not a healthy society make.

It is not until the very tail end of the article that we are given a glimpse of another reality:

Barbara McKinzie, international president of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, says she grew up in a small town in Oklahoma surrounded by black couples and an extended family of teachers and neighbors, who were knit together like the new first family.

She didn’t need to look at the Inauguration Day festivities to see a vibrant black family.

“It’s not new, but it appears new,” she says. “The president and his wife and children are not a novelty in the African-American community.

“It’s the only family I’ve known in my life.”

h/t Rachel’s Tavern

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Post Racial America Alert: In Which My Head Explodes

Seriously…. someone kill me now.

“I’m going to take it back with me to America for a better life.” Hilarity ensues.

h/t Angry Black-White Girl

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Inaugural Poem

“Praise Song for the Day,” written and recited by Elizabeth Alexander on January 22, 2009

Each day we go about our business,
walking past each other, catching each other’s
eyes or not, about to speak or speaking.

All about us is noise. All about us is
noise and bramble, thorn and din, each
one of our ancestors on our tongues.

Someone is stitching up a hem, darning
a hole in a uniform, patching a tire,
repairing the things in need of repair.

Someone is trying to make music somewhere,
with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum,
with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.

A woman and her son wait for the bus.
A farmer considers the changing sky.
A teacher says, Take out your pencils. Begin.

We encounter each other in words, words
spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed,
words to consider, reconsider.

We cross dirt roads and highways that mark
the will of some one and then others, who said
I need to see what’s on the other side.

I know there’s something better down the road.
We need to find a place where we are safe.
We walk into that which we cannot yet see.

Say it plain: that many have died for this day.
Sing the names of the dead who brought us here,
who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges,

picked the cotton and the lettuce, built
brick by brick the glittering edifices
they would then keep clean and work inside of.

Praise song for struggle, praise song for the day.
Praise song for every hand-lettered sign,
the figuring-it-out at kitchen tables.

Some live by love thy neighbor as thyself,
others by first do no harm or take no more
than you need. What if the mightiest word is love?

Love beyond marital, filial, national,
love that casts a widening pool of light,
love with no need to pre-empt grievance.

In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air,
any thing can be made, any sentence begun.
On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp,

praise song for walking forward in that light.

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Think

Your Word is “Think”

You see life as an amazing mix of possibilities, ideas, and fascinations. And sometimes you feel like you don’t have enough time to take it all in. You love learning. Whether you’re in school or not, you’re probably immersed in several subjects right now. When you’re not learning, you’re busy reflecting. You think a lot about the people you know and the things you’ve experienced.

What’s Your Word?

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Comments are Whack

Oh, yes, I am still alive. Very very busy (new semester, travel, etc.) and so much stuff going on that needs more time that I can give right now to ponder and write about in more than a slapdash fashion.

But posting YouTube videos is certainly slapdasher-y enough for me to deal with. So I present you with my latest video crush). I spent about the 30 seconds worrying about cultural appropriation but quickly got caught up in this rap about correct spelling! And correct grammar! And distinguishing between your and you’re! And by the time they started talking about racist, sexist and homophobic commenters I was certifiably in love. So I present to you “Yo Comments are Whack.” You may thank me later.

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Pride (in the name of love)

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Happy Birthday

You know it doesn’t
make much sense
There ought to be a law against
Anyone who takes offense
At a day in your celebration
‘Cause we all know in our minds
That there ought to be a time
That we can set aside
To show just how much we love you
And I’m sure you will agree
It couldn’t fit more perfectly
Than to have a world
party on the day you
came to be

[Chorus:]
Happy birthday to ya
Happy birthday to ya
Happy birthday to ya
[Repeat]

I just never understood
How a man who died for good
Could not have a day that would
Be set aside for his recognition
Because it should never be
Just because some cannot see
The dream as clear as he
That they should make it
become an illusion
And we all know everything
That he stood for time will bring
For in peace our hearts will sing
Thanks to Martin Luther King Jr.

[Chorus:]
Happy birthday to ya
Happy birthday to ya
[ Find more Lyrics at http://www.mp3lyrics.org/fs ]
Happy birthday to ya
(Repeat)

Bridge
Why has there never been a holiday
Where peace is celebrated
all throughout the world

The time is overdue
For people like me and you
You know the way to truth
Is love and unity to
all God’s children
It should be a great event
And the whole day should be spent
In full remembrance
Of those who lived and
died for the oneness
of
all people
So let us all beging
We know that love can win
Let it out don’t hold it in
Sing it loud as you can

[Chorus x4:]
Happy birthday to ya
Happy birthday to ya
Happy birthday to ya

[Background Stevie]
Happy birthday Ooh yeah
Happy birthday,
To you yea

We know the key to unity of all
People
Is in the dream that you had so
Long ago
That lives in all of the hearts
Of people
That believe in unity
We’ll make the dream become
A reality
I know we will
Because our hearts tell us so….

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Wow

“There is something immoral and sick about using all of that power to not end brutality and poverty, but to break into people’s bedrooms and claim that God sent you,” Sharpton told a full house on Sunday.

“It amazes me,” he said, “when I looked at California and saw churches that had nothing to say about police brutality, nothing to say when a young black boy was shot while he was wearing police handcuffs, nothing to say when they overturned affirmative action, nothing to say when people were being [relegated] into poverty, yet they were organizing and mobilizing to stop consenting adults from choosing their life partners.”

h/t Pam’s House Blend

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Demand justice in the killing of Oscar Grant – Color of Change Action Request

On New Year’s Eve, Oscar Grant was shot execution-style by a transit police officer in Oakland, California. He was shot in the back while face-down on a subway platform, unarmed and posing no threat. 1,2

Twelve days later–despite several videos showing what happened–the officer who killed Grant hasn’t been arrested, charged, or even questioned. He quit the force and has refused to speak. The District Attorney has done nothing.

It’s time to demand that California Attorney General Jerry Brown take over the case and arrest Grant’s killer, and to ask that the US Department of Justice launch an independent investigation into the conduct of the local authorities. Please join us and ask your friends and family to do the same:

http://www.colorofchange.org/oscar/?id=2099-643515

Oscar Grant is the third man murdered by BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) police in the past 17 years. All three victims were Black and none posed a serious threat. In each case, BART and county authorities have failed to hold the officers accountable.3

In the previous cases, BART’s internal investigations concluded that the officers felt threatened by the victims and were justified in pulling the trigger. It’s unbelievable given the circumstances of the killings:

In 1992, 19-year-old Jerrold Hall was shot in the back by a BART officer as he tried to leave the parking lot of a station. The officer was responding to reports of an armed robbery and said he suspected that Hall and a friend were involved. The officer tried to detain the two, Hall ran and then the officer shot him in the back and killed him. Hall was unarmed, but the officer said he thought Hall was on his way to get a gun and return for a showdown.4

In 2001, a mentally ill man named Bruce Seward was the next victim of the rogue force. Seward, 42, was naked and had been sleeping on a bench outside the BART station when an officer approached him. Seward did grab the officer’s nightstick at one point, but there were several options for subduing him. Instead, the officer shot and killed him.5

In addition to BART’s internal investigation, Alameda County’s District Attorney is also investigating Oscar Grant’s murder–but the office’s record on investigating police killings is horrible too. In both cases just described, the District Attorney bought BART’s argument that the officers felt threatened. As a result, the cops were cleared of any wrongdoing.

In the case of Grant’s murder, the DA has already let 12 days pass while doing essentially nothing–the officer who killed Grant is able to travel and leave the state, and he’s free to talk with other officers and attempt to construct a story to justify his killing of Oscar Grant.

The problem with Alameda County’s DA goes beyond BART police murders. In the past two years alone, there have been 11 fatal police shootings in Oakland (not including that of Oscar Grant).6 When asked, the officials at the District Attorney’s office could not remember a single case in the last 20 years where an on-duty cop had been charged in a fatal shooting in Alameda County.7 It gives the clear appearance that the District Attorney’s office just doesn’t have the will to prosecute police crimes.

California’s Attorney General needs to step in now and arrest Oscar Grant’s murderer. And the US Department of Justice should investigate the failure of the authorities in Alameda County to act. It’s the first step towards justice. After that, we will push for systemic changes to create public accountability for BART and other police departments. Creating those structural changes will be a much longer fight, but Oscar Grant’s tragic death is a wake-up call that should give us a real chance to help prevent this from happening again.

Please join us in demanding justice, and then ask your family and friends to do the same:

http://www.colorofchange.org/oscar/?id=2099-643515

Thanks and Peace,

— James, Gabriel, Clarissa, William, Dani, and the rest of the ColorOfChange.org team
January 13th, 2008

References

1. “BART shooting captured on video,” San Francisco Chronicle, 1-06-09
http://tinyurl.com/7jr4f8

2. “$25 Million Lawsuit Announced In BART Shooting,” KPIX, 1-04-09
http://tinyurl.com/a87ya4

3. “BART cop shooting: we’ve been here before,” Daily Kos, 1-08-09
http://tinyurl.com/86ts2v

4. “Lethal force,” San Francisco Bay Guardian, 12-12-92
http://www.sfbg.com/entry.php?entry_id=7799

5. “BART police condemned by slain man’s family,” San Francisco Chronicle, 7-18-01
http://tinyurl.com/84ullk

6. “Forum on officer-involved shootings held,” KGO-TV, 12-11-08
http://tinyurl.com/73mx26

7. “Death threats against BART officer,” San Francisco Chronicle, 1-07-09
http://tinyurl.com/9xk425

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