What Colin Kaepernick's National Anthem Protest Tells Us About America When black athletes choose to point their aggression towards larger, systematic inequalities, there's always backlash By Morgan Jerkins
While black men only make up six percent of the American population, they comprise a staggering seventy percent of NFL rosters. However, their power is mainly found on the field, since there are currently no African-Americans who are a majority owner of any team and no African-American CEOs or Presidents. The majority of NFL players are black, while the NFL fan base is 83 percent white and 64 percent male. These are people who pay staggering amounts of money to watch black men who have their bodies battered on the field. As long as they run and tackle, keep their helmets on, and their mouths shut, then they are acceptable to the white mainstream public. However, when black athletes choose to point their aggression not towards each other but to larger, systematic inequalities, that's when the backlash begins.
White 49ers fans posted videos burning Kaepernick's jersey and actor Chris Meloni took to Twitter to criticize Kaepernick’s method of political protest, because, as the Law & Order: SVU star saw it, the quarterback was disrespecting the American flag (Meloni later deleted the tweet). People swarmed social media, calling Kaepernick a disgrace, that he was a privileged rich athlete, that he was equally arrogant and ignorant to the sacrifices of American soldiers. And it all had a familiar ring to it.
This outcry is reminiscent of Muhammad Ali's political activism when he refused to enlist in the Vietnam War in 1967. David Susskind, an American television host, said, "I find nothing amusing or interesting or tolerable about this man. He's a disgrace to his country, his race, and what he laughingly describes as his profession." The man that today we call "The Greatest" was ridiculed all across the country and media. "My conscience won't let me go shoot my brother, or some darker people, or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America," he said. "And shoot them for what? They never called me nigger, they never lynched me, they didn’t put no dogs on me, they didn’t rob me of my nationality, rape and kill my mother and father. … Shoot them for what?" What Kaepernick and Ali as black athletes unleash through their political activism is a rupture in what is expected of them and how their allegiance to this country has never been rightfully earned.
Toni Morrison once said, "In this country, American means white. Everybody else has to hyphenate." Kaepernick's protest, just as Ali's refusal to participate in the Vietnam War, tapped into an entrenched, historical fear of race in this country, that blackness is by default anti-American.
Colin Kaepernick Is Righter Than You Know: The National Anthem Is a Celebration of Slavery By Jon Schwarz
BEFORE A PRESEASON GAME on Friday, San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the playing of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” When he explained why, he only spoke about the present: “I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of color. … There are bodies in the street and people getting paid leave and getting away with murder.”
Twitter then went predictably nuts, with at least one 49ers fan burning Kaepernick’s jersey.
Almost no one seems to be aware that even if the U.S. were a perfect country today, it would be bizarre to expect African-American players to stand for “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Why? Because it literally celebrates the murder of African-Americans.
Few people know this because we only ever sing the first verse. But read the end of the third verse and you’ll see why “The Star-Spangled Banner” is not just a musical atrocity, it’s an intellectual and moral one, too:
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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So when Key penned “No refuge could save the hireling and slave / From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,” he was taking great satisfaction in the death of slaves who’d freed themselves. His perspective may have been affected by the fact he owned several slaves himself.
Mr. Church: Just Another Film About a Black Man Being a White Woman’s Servant This country has a fetish for black male subservience that translates into beloved, subservient characters on-screen. BY: KIRSTEN WEST SAVALI
And just like The Help—in which the white woman, who is firmly centered even as the black person drives the story, ends up writing a book and profiting from the labor of black people—in Mr. Church, the white woman is dependent, emotionally and financially, upon that black labor for her survival.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with black people being cooks, chauffeurs, doormen and maids. Black people are experts at finding a way or making one. And this is not about respectability politics and needing to see ourselves fully assimilated into a white supremacist capitalist power structure that forces people to value themselves by how many zeros are on their paychecks.
This is about liberal white fantasies of saving black people from themselves even as white people are served and saved by those very same black people. It is also in keeping with the constant barrage of imagery that reinforces the power dynamic that black people are a perpetual servant class with conditional access to society. Rule No. 1: Appear as nonthreatening as possible. This is what springs from the minds of white creatives far too often—the idea of black men as invisible men used for protection, under no assumptions or expectations of equity.
An excerpt from the New Republic - Hip-Hop Hymnals Why are rappers like Kanye West, Chance the Rapper, and Kendrick Lamar finding religion? BY FRANK GUAN
Often imitated, West now has actual disciples. Chance’s own mixtape, Coloring Book, is a match for Pablo in its holy righteousness; meanwhile the West Coast virtuoso Kendrick Lamar, who includes West among his myriad influences, explores sin and redemption on his recent albums. Listen to these three together and a striking trend emerges: Some of the most prominent and critically acclaimed artists in rap are finding religion. At first glance, this could be mistaken for a conservative shift, a retreat into otherworldly rectitude within an art form known for its realism and insolence. But these artists are also at the forefront of the ongoing revival of explicitly political hip hop—and in the context of Black Lives Matter, the religious themes in West, Chance, and Lamar take on a radical edge.
Naked Donald Trump statues pop up in cities across the US
Life-size naked statues of the Republican presidential nominee greeted passers-by in New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Cleveland on Thursday. They are the brainchild of an activist collective called INDECLINE, which has spoken out against Trump before.
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A statue in New York's Union Square quickly drew the attention of people, many of whom posed for photographs with it, before it was removed by the city's parks department.
"NYC Parks stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small," parks spokesman Sam Biederman joked.
White Male Privilege Is Why We Laugh At Lochte And Vilify Douglas Pay close attention to the words being used to describe them. By Emma Gray
Gymnast Gabby Douglas “disrespected” her entire country by not putting her hand on her heart and smiling enough during the Olympics. Swimmer Ryan Lochte is a “kid” who deserves “a break” for allegedly destroying property and lying about a traumatic robbery.
If you were wondering what white, male privilege looks like, this is it.
By COLLIN BINKLEY
Many U.S. medical schools are seeing a surge in the number of people leaving their bodies to science, a trend attributed to rising funeral costs and growing acceptance of a practice long seen by some as ghoulish.
The increase has been a boon to medical students and researchers, who dissect cadavers in anatomy class or use them to practice surgical techniques or test new devices and procedures.
"Not too long ago, it was taboo. Now we have thousands of registered donors," said Mark Zavoyna, operations manager for Georgetown University's body donation program.
The University of Minnesota said it received more than 550 cadavers last year, up from 170 in 2002. The University at Buffalo got almost 600 last year, a doubling over the past decade. Others that reported increases include Duke University, the University of Arizona and state agencies in Maryland and Virginia. ScienceCare, a national tissue bank, now receives 5,000 cadavers a year, twice as many as in 2010.
The significance of Simone Manuel’s swim is clear if you know Jim Crow
There is a reason why 70 percent of black teenagers, like those who died in Shreveport, and 60 percent of Hispanic teenagers can’t swim.
But it isn’t due to some genetic disorder, as some actually believe. It is because of abject irrational racism and Jim Crow and its vestiges.
It is rooted in complete ignorance that somehow the melanin from our skin could wash off, contaminate the water and infect any whites nearby. It is anchored to this country’s historical racial sexual hysteria, an unfounded fear of placing less-clad white women in too-close and contained proximity with black men considered innately lascivious, particularly when it comes to white women.
It can be heard in the scream of the segregationist Sen. Strom Thurmond of South Carolina in 1948: “I want to tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there’s not enough troops in the army to force the southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigger race into our theatres into our swimming pools into our homes and into our churches.”
“I get banned for not liking Bush and now Trump can practically put a hit out on Hillary and he’s still all over country radio! Hypocrites!” - Natalie Maines of the Dixie Chicks
Americans vacationing overseas find themselves on a Donald Trump apology tour
Yep, this summer, an overseas vacation has become a relentless apology tour, and just about every American with a passport is being interrogated by the rest of the world about our bizarre Republican presidential candidate.
Doaa Elghobashy, left, of Egypt and Kira Walkenhorst of Germany compete in the women’s preliminary beach volleyball during the Olympics in Rio. Credit Lucy Nicholson/Reuters
No area is as sensitive as that of the treatment of women, women’s roles, women’s sexuality, dress and ambitions. The story is often presented as one of Western emancipation versus Islamic subjugation. That, however, is an inadequate characterization.
What follows are accounts by two women, an Egyptian and an American, of their experiences with the hijab. Chadiedja Buijs is a graduate student in Cairo. Norma Moore is a former actress living in Boulder, Colo., who recently visited Iran, where the rules obliged her to adopt Islamic dress codes.
(These accounts make for fascinating reading. To me, the money quote is below).
My hair, the curves in my body, were given to me by God. To cover my head and wear shapeless clothes feels like I am pretending not to be a woman and that somehow I am responsible for keeping men’s sexuality within social bounds.
Here’s the bottom line: There are only three things you can do when it comes time to elect a president. You can stay home and punt; you can choose between the two major party candidates; or you can cop out by doing something that looks like voting but has no effect whatsoever on the outcome of the race.
That includes strategies about writing in the name of a retired general, leaving the top line blank, or voting for a third-party candidate who has as much chance of winning as the YouTube Keyboard Cat.
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Right now we live in a world that’s been messed up by the bad decisions George W. Bush made about invading Iraq. He was elected president in 2000 thanks to a few hundred votes in Florida. A state where Green Party candidate Ralph Nader got 97,488 votes.
Most of the Green voters undoubtedly thought they were showing their disdain for both Bush and the deeply imperfect candidacy of Al Gore. And Nader is a man of fine principles. But look where those 97,488 votes got us.
An excerpt from the Root - Yes, We Innovate: These 8 Engineers and Scientists Are Creating the Future Today These pros in science, technology, engineering and mathematics are helping to lead the tech revolution. BY: SHERRELL DORSEY
Education: University of Michigan, Bachelor of Science in aerospace engineering; master’s degree in space systems engineering
On her career journey: “I am the co-founder and CEO of STEMBoard, a technology-solutions company that specializes in developing defense and intelligence systems. My responsibilities include leading development, expansion and management of STEMBoard’s defense contracts and private-sector clients. Prior to STEMBoard, I was an aerospace engineer at the NASA Ames Research Center.”
On the future of the industry: “A background in aerospace has allowed me to transition from working as a NASA engineer to a CEO of a growing startup. It’s not the education, it’s the application. The inventions we take for granted were all at one point considered unlikely. This is particularly true today, as the best and brightest from the next generation are creating their own jobs rather than waiting for someone to hand them an opportunity. Those with the boldest ideas and the ambition to see them through are the ones who will be most successful.”
My brother, Forrest, has completed his two-year journey of writing his memoir. I'm thrilled to report that it has been published and is available on Amazon. The link is below.
His is a fascinating story of his life as a musician, a federal agent for the Drug Enforcement Agency and a business owner, that began in China, Texas. It is also the story of his transformation from being a straight up cynic to a full-fledged believer. Not a holy-roller, but someone who now recognizes that there are no coincidences, but stepping stones getting us to that place we are destined to be.
Stopping Traffic For Grief
By Rev. Cindy Maddox
To the middle-aged woman who gestured angrily and yelled as we passed...
To the 30-something man in the power suit who honked and forced his black SUV through our line...
To the person who tried to pass us and then moved his car into our lane to block our progress...
Perhaps you don’t know. Perhaps you didn’t recognize the hearse and the flapping flags on the first few cars. Perhaps you didn’t notice that we all had our lights on and our hazards flashing. Perhaps your mama never taught you to show respect to the dead by showing kindness to the grieving.
You couldn’t know, of course, that the woman inside the hearse was only 20 years old. You couldn’t know that she leaves behind parents and siblings and a young husband and a one-year-old baby girl. You couldn’t know anything about the person in that hearse or the many people who followed. But you still could have stopped. You could have waited. You could have recognized that someone else’s pain was greater than your need to get to lunch.
I came across an interesting website that sells books by the foot. The address is
http://www.booksbythefoot.com.
These well-worn biographies will give your library that lived-in and cozy vibe. Hardback books in fair condition or better, these books are perfect for interior decorating, TV/movies/stage/photo props, AND MORE! http://www.booksbythefoot.com/shop/pc/Well-Read-Biographies-4p217.htm
If you're in need of an instant library to show off your literary heft (or your wannabe heft), this is the place to make it happen.
The Mystery Of Why Sunflowers Turn To Follow The Sun — Solved In a newly-published article in Science, the researchers say the young plant's sun-tracking (also called heliotropism) can be explained by circadian rhythms – the behavioral changes tied to an internal clock that humans also have, which follow a roughly 24 hour cycle. A young flower faces east at dawn and greets the sun, then slowly turns west as the sun moves across the sky. During the night, it slowly turns back east to begin the cycle again. "It's the first example of a plant's clock modulating growth in a natural environment, and having real repercussions for the plant," UC Davis professor and study co-author Stacey Harmer says in a press release from the university. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/08/05/488891151/the-mystery-of-why-sunflowers-turn-to-follow-the-sun-solved
Clint Eastwood has boarded the crazy train, for sure. Does that negate his body of work?
What do you think?
It's hard to watch his movies and not remember the crazy . . . right?
From CNN -
Is it fair to slam Clint Eastwood over Trump support?
By Lewis Beale
But human beings are complex creatures, which means that Eastwood is a set of contradictions. His defense of Trump's comments about Hispanics and Muslims is no doubt reprehensible, and has caused many people to label him as a hardcore racist. But in excoriating him, those same critics have forgotten that for years Eastwood has, in his own way, been one of the most racially sensitive people in Hollywood.
Years ago, a friend pointed out to me that Woody Allen, darling of film critics and urban intellectuals, never seemed to cast any minorities in his films, even in the background.
Yet Clint Eastwood, often reviled for his conservative/libertarian politics, has consistently cast, and acted with, black performers, many of them in key roles -- not just in the "Dirty Harry" films, where for example, Felton Perry played his partner in "Magnum Force," but also in pictures like "Bronco Billy" (Scatman Crothers) and "The Eiger Sanction" (Vonetta McGee). I wrote a piece about this for the Los Angeles Daily News, and to this date, no one has contradicted my findings.
When I was in Sacramento, Ben & Lupe surprised me with an amazing birthday party! It was an incredible treat seeing so many friends, many of whom I hadn't seen since I left the country almost five years ago. HUGE thanks to all of the people who came out.
I partied then, and now I'm in Houston reflecting on the great time I had and counting my blessings for these six decades.
I thank God . . .
For these 60 years, remembering that my brother Terry died at 51. He would have been 61 on August 2nd.
I thank God . . .
For my surviving brothers, Willie & Forrest, and the fact that we have come to understand the importance of keeping in touch, no matter what.
I thank God . . .
For my sons, Ben and Frankie, and their families, as they grow in responsibilty and truly take on the mantle of being grown up and all that that entails.
I thank God . . .
For my friends, many lifelong, and some new, who have helped me to see the world through their eyes.
I thank God . . .
For my time abroad, where I learned more about life and living than I thought possible.
I thank God . . .
For understanding, that no matter what, forgiveness is the key that unlocks the resentment, disillusionment, and hatred that settles so easily, and so subtly in our hearts and minds.
