"FUCK tha police comin' straight from tha underground--
a young nigga got it bad 'cuz I'm brown."
-Ice Cube from N.W.A., "Fuck Tha Police" (Album: Straight Outta Compton, 1989)
"On tha count 'ah three, say 'fuck tha police!'
One, two, three--'FUCK THA POLICE!' "
-J Dilla, "Fuck Tha Police" (Album: Exclusive Collection by DJ Rhettmatic, 2001)
Sorry for postin late, but I had to work some shit out in my brain about the happenings of this weekend. And it's not even about the incident itself, which when considered in retrospective isolation is not nearly as bad as other similar incidents that I've witnessed and heard stories about. The fact that my evening was going perfectly on Friday night until I walked past 5 squad cars on my block is what upsets me the most. The t-shirt I had been wearing underneath my work shirt earlier in the day said it all: "It's all fun and games until the cops show up."
At the end of a longer-than-usual Friday, all I wanted to do was flop down on my sofa with some good grub, a beer and a good movie and wait till I fell asleep in all three. It was a wonderful nite outside, so after I got back from the grocery and 'package' stores with supplies for the weekend, I walked up a block practically salivating over the tasty jamaican jerk chicken and cabbage I was about to throw down on. The first thing I noticed as I came over the small hill to my destination was the flashing lights; the second thing I noticed was that there were three sets of them lined directly across the street from my jamaican eatery. As I got closer I discovered that there were two more cop cars in the adjacent alley and a gaggle of people (prolly around 8 or 9 total not counting the cops) scattered in and around the 'package' store across the street. Everyone seemed to be moving slowly and deliberately, including the cops. I definitely got the feel that something was 'off' about the whole situation, but I decided to pull the "just another cop invasion of the neighborhood" reasoning and refocus on my food.
Walked outta the restaurant 10 minutes later re-salivating, and as I left I saw three cops walking one guy, very slowly and calmly, away from the building and away from the squad cars. Now I was curious. The man in 'custody' was not saying anything or acting out, and he didn't have cuffs on at all. He looked completely sullen, like he knew what was about to go down. The cops led him about 20 feet away around to the side of the building where they couldn't be seen by the other people on the street. Then they threw him, face first, into a patch of muddy grass. The guy lay there trembling for a bit, like it hurt to move. The cops then proceeded to cuff him, pick him up and bring him back to one of the squad cars. And I proceeded home, shaking my head the whole way.
Now that the details are clear, let's analyze. Knowing only these details provided, I'm thinkin there are probably only two ways that you can look at this situation. Most white folks--scratch that, most folks in general, I believe--would probably react by asking "what did that guy do to deserve THAT?" or "I wonder what brought THAT about?" The problem with asking that question is that in doing so you automatically assume that the actions of the cops were acceptable in whole or in part--even potentially justified. Even in a sarcastic or rhetorical manner this type of reaction doesn't fly--it potentially assumes that the victim did absolutely nothing to deserve THAT, which is just as bad.
The other reaction you could have, the reaction that I had and that most people have who've seen their fair share of shit like this before, is to ask "Was THAT really necessary?" I wish more Americans asked themselves that question whenever they encounter incidents like this, because it's the only reaction that seems truly appropriate for this type of thing. You don't ever need to know anything about what happened beforehand, all you need to know is what was happening at the time. And what was happening at that time was a suspect being completely cooperative and non-threatening, and giving no indication of changing his disposition whatsoever. He could have spit in one of the cops' faces and cursed him out before I arrived on the scene or he could have been doing absolutely nothing at all. It doesn't matter. That's why law enforcement officers are trained in the use of 'NECESSARY force,' not just 'force'. Taking a suspect who is not threatening the safety of anyone around him in any way away from eyewitnesses to 'teach him a lesson' by physically assulting and humiliating him is never fuckin' necessary. We expect and pay for our law enforcement officials to take the high road when they are disrespected, NOT to retaliate.
What does it take to get non-black society to understand why blacks have such a negative attitude toward cops? Why are there some 2,000 videos displayed on YouTube from a "police brutality" search? Why does the country's richest black county (Prince George's in MD, +60% black, double the national black median income) have 12 police shootings (5 fatal) in 14 months? And why in the hell does no one else seem to be asking these damn important questions? These are the people we pay to PREVENT brutality and killing from happening, right? I mean seriously, given the history, how can you not expect a bunch of hood n__gas from South Central and Detroit to tell the police to go fuck themselves when they and too many other inner-city Afro-Americans have had more experiences with 5-0 that looked like what I described (and much, much worse) than the 'hero cops' experiences that make pretty headlines? Straight up--where Dilla and N.W.A. are from, cops don't react, they retaliate. It's impossible to truly gauge what this kind of approach or mentality is doin' to the inner city, where danger for cops and citizens alike is at its highest, but it's pretty easy to see what it ain't doin', and that's keepin' the peace.
So as long as the cops keep throwin folks in the mud whenever they're in a bad mood, I'm gunna keep bumpin my Dilla, my N.W.A., and my Kweli around the 3rd Precinct whenever I'm in a bad mood.
but maaaaaaaybe the volume won't be turned up quite as high as it would be at home...
May 9, 2008
May 7, 2008
Clearin' the Air
"I b lyin' if I said I didn' want millions
More than money saved, I wanna save children
dealin' with alcoholism and afrocentricity
A complex man drawn offa simplicity
Reality is friskin' me..."
-Common, "The 6th Sense" (Album: Like Water For Chocolate)
So that you know what you’re getting into here, ask yourself the following question: how would you react if a good friend whom you haven’t seen in many, many months came all the way across the country just to pick a four-and-a-half hour verbal fight at 2AM on race, politics and leadership with you? If your first inclination would be something along the lines of, “You know what? I’d start a BLOG with that dumb-ass prick, THAT’S what I’d do!!!”—or if you are sufficiently entertained by the concept as to be willing to risk the potential letdown of further reading--then you have indeed read to the right place, my friend(s).
I suppose that now you’re wanting to know more about the verbal fight (I call it that because the word ‘argument’ just doesn’t do what it was justice). Uuuummm, I did not fare well in this battle. I was told that since I left my ‘institution of higher learning’ some years ago people I once called friends were “putting my personal shit on blast” everywhere on campus. I was accused of being everything short of a full-blown sellout with regard to Afro-American issues when we were undergrads. And, most importantly, this man informed me that just about every black person in and around the yard was under the impression that I was just another one of those self-hating black conservative types who didn't really give a shit about ‘his people’. Ow. The funny thing was I was caught off guard with the comments not because I didn’t know how messed up my rep was on campus, but because I anticipated (and looked forward to) fighting over stupid shit that weekend like who reps the better coast, whether or not hip hop is dead, whose celebrity dreamgirl was better, etc. (Kerry Washington all day, by the way. It’s no contest and my friend knows it.)
In all fairness I already had a pretty good idea what the perceptions of me were like long before we had it out that nite. I can look back on 3 early decisions I made in college that led folks to believe the ‘anti-hype’, if you will. First, I stopped hangin around the first group of black friends I made on campus. Let’s just say that the southern boy who used to hang almost exclusively with the 12 other black folk in his high school (yes the number is an exaggeration) got the wrong initial impression of black folk outside of the south. To make matters worse, I also made the conscious decision to accept the ‘token’ mantle that had seemed to settle above my head after my freshman year. In doing so, mind you, I thought I was hitting a triple bonus: I’d gain victories and cash for black organizations statewide, earn my people's respect by setting a good example, and effect real change in a system that more often prefers to create the perception of change. Riiiiiiight. As you can prolly guess, the 'self-hating black man' and 'brainwashed Uncle Tom'-type labels stuck, the victories I did manage to squeak out ended up being fairly Pyrrhic, and the institutions I was involved with didn’t change much.
Then I decided to register to vote as a Republican.
I’ll just let that sink in real quick, give everyone time to run to the bathroom and throw up, sob, pass out, etc., whatever u need to do. It’s cool, I understand.
We good now? Alrite, back to the story. Out of everyone who knew I was calling myself Republican only one person, who is literally a card-carrying member of the ACLU (and happily informs anybody who may or may not wish to know whenever he gets the opportunity), ever legitimately asked me why--and not just the kind of 'why' that really means “WHY?!? WHY, DEAR GOD, WHY?!?!? WHAT IN THE NAME OF SALVATION IS WRONG WITH YOU, FOOL?!?!?!?!?” So at long last, we get to the heart of this particular collection of words on a (web)page: Does anyone ever stop to ask why a black person might be a Republican, let alone (God forbid) any type of conservative? Does anybody even care anymore? Did anyone ever really care in the first place? Has the concept of an African American conservative become so mind-bogglingly impossible, so inconcievably rediculous, even so utterly, reprehensibly vile and disgusting (k, I'll stop now) in today's America that it defies all possible logic and reason?
Jesus, I hope not. Cuz that might just make me the absolute dumbest muh-fuckin black man on the planet.
As much as I hate to admit it now as then, I used to be a purely 'reactionary' Republican. I reacted against a political party system that seemed (and still does seem, at times) designed to ensure that minority votes in general are used, not heeded. I was also reacting against my own people, who seemed (and still do seem, at times) to reject me for the rediculous, energetic, confused, slightly eccentric, strong-minded, contradictory, ghetto and suburb-ass f__ked up hot mess of a black man that I was and am today. I felt that most of my black 'friends' were assuming things about me and judging me when they were supposed to be asking things about me and questioning me. So, this first blog entry is meant not to “straighten the record” (that will happen in due time), but to "clear the air" for myself so that I'm 'goin into this 'lil project without any false ideas about or any particular preference for how I'm being perceived. And THAT finally gets me to the 3 reasons why I’m doing this blog in the first place (besides an 8-ball lookin asshole who wouldn't know good hip hop if it kicked a hole in his speaker, pulled the plug and it jet):
REASON #1. To put my two cent's worth of commentary on race, politics, sports, society, etc. into the internet collection plate, and give folks a peek into the mind of a black male that calls himself mildly conservative--not the bullshit mainstream American political definition of the word, mind you, but a definition that will get hammered out in (near) future entries.
REASON #2. To work out a conceptual framework for a realistic and actionable black conservative philosophy, and to make an argument for why such a framework presents the best opportunity the Afro-American community has of achieving authentic, tangible improvement for the whole of the Afro-American people--what I call real progress. I feel like the sooner such a framework becomes a lens for looking at politics for Afro-Americans, the sooner we will begin to see why within the context of past and current American governance neither 'conservative' nor 'liberal' should be treated like a dirty word, but 'Democrat' could and maybe should have the same distasteful stigma these days as 'Republican' amongst our people and Americans in general.
REASON #3. To be perfectly honest, this blog also provides me with an online restroom in which to have a mental bowel movement from time to time exactly as I’m doing rite now. Altho I plan to stick with the relevant topics of the times in Afro-America, I'm gunna touch on anything and everything that happens to tickle my fancy, yo. So if you’re into quirky Southern humor, sports obsessions, Afro-Americanism and/or Kerry Washington then welcome to B-Talk, and I hope I’m able to tickle your fancy from time to time, too--and for all u ladiez readin out there I mean that in the dirtiest way conveyable via the online blogosphere.
More than money saved, I wanna save children
dealin' with alcoholism and afrocentricity
A complex man drawn offa simplicity
Reality is friskin' me..."
-Common, "The 6th Sense" (Album: Like Water For Chocolate)
So that you know what you’re getting into here, ask yourself the following question: how would you react if a good friend whom you haven’t seen in many, many months came all the way across the country just to pick a four-and-a-half hour verbal fight at 2AM on race, politics and leadership with you? If your first inclination would be something along the lines of, “You know what? I’d start a BLOG with that dumb-ass prick, THAT’S what I’d do!!!”—or if you are sufficiently entertained by the concept as to be willing to risk the potential letdown of further reading--then you have indeed read to the right place, my friend(s).
I suppose that now you’re wanting to know more about the verbal fight (I call it that because the word ‘argument’ just doesn’t do what it was justice). Uuuummm, I did not fare well in this battle. I was told that since I left my ‘institution of higher learning’ some years ago people I once called friends were “putting my personal shit on blast” everywhere on campus. I was accused of being everything short of a full-blown sellout with regard to Afro-American issues when we were undergrads. And, most importantly, this man informed me that just about every black person in and around the yard was under the impression that I was just another one of those self-hating black conservative types who didn't really give a shit about ‘his people’. Ow. The funny thing was I was caught off guard with the comments not because I didn’t know how messed up my rep was on campus, but because I anticipated (and looked forward to) fighting over stupid shit that weekend like who reps the better coast, whether or not hip hop is dead, whose celebrity dreamgirl was better, etc. (Kerry Washington all day, by the way. It’s no contest and my friend knows it.)
In all fairness I already had a pretty good idea what the perceptions of me were like long before we had it out that nite. I can look back on 3 early decisions I made in college that led folks to believe the ‘anti-hype’, if you will. First, I stopped hangin around the first group of black friends I made on campus. Let’s just say that the southern boy who used to hang almost exclusively with the 12 other black folk in his high school (yes the number is an exaggeration) got the wrong initial impression of black folk outside of the south. To make matters worse, I also made the conscious decision to accept the ‘token’ mantle that had seemed to settle above my head after my freshman year. In doing so, mind you, I thought I was hitting a triple bonus: I’d gain victories and cash for black organizations statewide, earn my people's respect by setting a good example, and effect real change in a system that more often prefers to create the perception of change. Riiiiiiight. As you can prolly guess, the 'self-hating black man' and 'brainwashed Uncle Tom'-type labels stuck, the victories I did manage to squeak out ended up being fairly Pyrrhic, and the institutions I was involved with didn’t change much.
Then I decided to register to vote as a Republican.
I’ll just let that sink in real quick, give everyone time to run to the bathroom and throw up, sob, pass out, etc., whatever u need to do. It’s cool, I understand.
We good now? Alrite, back to the story. Out of everyone who knew I was calling myself Republican only one person, who is literally a card-carrying member of the ACLU (and happily informs anybody who may or may not wish to know whenever he gets the opportunity), ever legitimately asked me why--and not just the kind of 'why' that really means “WHY?!? WHY, DEAR GOD, WHY?!?!? WHAT IN THE NAME OF SALVATION IS WRONG WITH YOU, FOOL?!?!?!?!?” So at long last, we get to the heart of this particular collection of words on a (web)page: Does anyone ever stop to ask why a black person might be a Republican, let alone (God forbid) any type of conservative? Does anybody even care anymore? Did anyone ever really care in the first place? Has the concept of an African American conservative become so mind-bogglingly impossible, so inconcievably rediculous, even so utterly, reprehensibly vile and disgusting (k, I'll stop now) in today's America that it defies all possible logic and reason?
Jesus, I hope not. Cuz that might just make me the absolute dumbest muh-fuckin black man on the planet.
As much as I hate to admit it now as then, I used to be a purely 'reactionary' Republican. I reacted against a political party system that seemed (and still does seem, at times) designed to ensure that minority votes in general are used, not heeded. I was also reacting against my own people, who seemed (and still do seem, at times) to reject me for the rediculous, energetic, confused, slightly eccentric, strong-minded, contradictory, ghetto and suburb-ass f__ked up hot mess of a black man that I was and am today. I felt that most of my black 'friends' were assuming things about me and judging me when they were supposed to be asking things about me and questioning me. So, this first blog entry is meant not to “straighten the record” (that will happen in due time), but to "clear the air" for myself so that I'm 'goin into this 'lil project without any false ideas about or any particular preference for how I'm being perceived. And THAT finally gets me to the 3 reasons why I’m doing this blog in the first place (besides an 8-ball lookin asshole who wouldn't know good hip hop if it kicked a hole in his speaker, pulled the plug and it jet):
REASON #1. To put my two cent's worth of commentary on race, politics, sports, society, etc. into the internet collection plate, and give folks a peek into the mind of a black male that calls himself mildly conservative--not the bullshit mainstream American political definition of the word, mind you, but a definition that will get hammered out in (near) future entries.
REASON #2. To work out a conceptual framework for a realistic and actionable black conservative philosophy, and to make an argument for why such a framework presents the best opportunity the Afro-American community has of achieving authentic, tangible improvement for the whole of the Afro-American people--what I call real progress. I feel like the sooner such a framework becomes a lens for looking at politics for Afro-Americans, the sooner we will begin to see why within the context of past and current American governance neither 'conservative' nor 'liberal' should be treated like a dirty word, but 'Democrat' could and maybe should have the same distasteful stigma these days as 'Republican' amongst our people and Americans in general.
REASON #3. To be perfectly honest, this blog also provides me with an online restroom in which to have a mental bowel movement from time to time exactly as I’m doing rite now. Altho I plan to stick with the relevant topics of the times in Afro-America, I'm gunna touch on anything and everything that happens to tickle my fancy, yo. So if you’re into quirky Southern humor, sports obsessions, Afro-Americanism and/or Kerry Washington then welcome to B-Talk, and I hope I’m able to tickle your fancy from time to time, too--and for all u ladiez readin out there I mean that in the dirtiest way conveyable via the online blogosphere.
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