Get Down or Sit Down, Part 2: The Great Distraction and the Erasure of "Black"

The need for understanding and recognition is as natural for human beings as eating, sleeping and dropping three hot ones a day.  (BTW...if you're not doing the latter, then step your whole grains and water games up, slim.  I drop PSAs within PSAs.)  However, Black people, who weren't even legally considered 100 percent human for 78 of their first 246 years in this country, have struggled mightily with those basic human needs more than most other races in American society.  Between erasing and replacing our entire heritage, language, religion and culture, it was clear from the outset that we were a disposable people.  Pepper in some of the most heinous acts in world history including but not limited to all of American slavery, the Black Wall Street Massacre of 1921 that killed over 3,000 Black people and the gruesome murder of 14-year-old Emmitt Till and it was even more apparent.  So when you have groups of people who insist on changing the hashtag as well as the narrative from #BlackLivesMatter to "#AllLivesMatter" or "#BlueLivesMatter", Black people are once again faced with the harsh reality of living in a country full of revisionist historians who don't understand why we've been saying variations of "Black Lives Matter" since forever.  Hence, as I soldier on with Part 2 of "Get Down or Sit Down", I will attempt to unveil how these assertions of which lives matter cunningly detract from Black people's issues...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: Tuesday Night at the Movies, #5 Blade Runner

Before we begin breaking down why this movie has made my "Rave & Favorite Five" out of all of the movies that could've possibly made the final cut, allow me this caveat: I'm not really into science fiction flicks.  To be clear, I'd take them over horror movies, Westerns, anime and most martial arts films in a heartbeat, but I don't clamor for them over comedies, dramas, action flicks or animated films.  So when I had to dissect the underlying meanings behind Blade Runner for a film class during my junior year of college, I wasn't thrilled at first.  However, director Ridley Scott (known for Thelma & Louise, Gladiator, Black Hawk Down, Hannibal, American Gangster, Prometheus and The Martian) knew how to draw in a fence straddler like me: make the cinematography exhilaratingly irresistible, the storyline brilliantly cavernous and bring in an innovative mind to compose a score well before its time.  Next thing I knew, I was an immediate fan--so much that between watching Blade Runner and reading George Orwell's 1984 in high school, I was convinced that I was going to make the hip hop equivalent to both.  Let's just say that never came to life--and considering how unrefined my rap flow and production were, it's probably a good thing that it didn't--but what did remain was a permanent love affair with a masterpiece.  So although I originally wanted to go through my favorite scenes from each movie in this part of the "Rave & Favorite Five" series, I have decided to enumerate the top overall things that have catapulted Blade Runner to #T5DOA Status...

The American President: Donald Trump & The Societal Exposé, Part 1

Observing the meteoric rise of businessman Donald Trump during his campaign for the Republican nomination for President of the United States, several pundits, political analysts and social media experts have run to the same defense: "There's no way that Trump can win the general election.  The American voter is much smarter than that and this would be an insult to their intelligence."  However, let's keep it 100: is the rise of Trump and the real possibility that he could be the 45th President an insult to the American voter and the democratic political process that we darn near deify, or is it an indictment of America?  At so many patriotic events, we are encouraged to sing Katharine Lee Bates and Samuel A. Ward's "America the Beautiful" as a sign of our solidarity with what is often billed as "the greatest" or "the most powerful" nation in the world.  Given the historically divisive social climate in our country, how "beautiful" is or has America ever been and to what "greatness" is Trump truly returning us?  He represents everything that many Americans--regardless of race, class, gender, sexual orientation, generational gap, religion, etc.--believe and exhibit, whether they realize it or not.  In a four-part series over the next several weeks, I intend to highlight many of the harsh and sobering realities about America and manifest just how "American" Donald Trump is...

Scribbler's 11th Hour Post of the Week: Why Chris Rock Was the Right Host for the Oscars

I don't know how this debate ever got started among Black people, but it's one of the many moments where we just have to compare two people who are often nothing like each other stylistically speaking.  For years, the question was who's the funnier comedian between Chris Tucker and Chris Rock?  Maybe it's because they're both Black and named Chris, but whatever.  Most people I know said Chris Tucker was funnier, and I understood it because between Friday, Money Talks and Rush Hour, he frankly made better and funnier movies.  On cue, a lot of those same people said that Chris Rock wasn't funny at all...because no two Black folk being compared to each other can both be good.  (See the Jay-Z vs. Nas, Beyonce vs. Rihanna or old school hip-hop vs. new school hip-hop debates as the evidence behind my shade.)  However, although Tucker was funny as a stand-up comedian, I've always preferred Chris Rock in that capacity because I felt like he injected more social commentary without sacrificing the funny.  I thought the whole "you put the money in a book" bit from Bring the Pain (1996) was one of the funniest things that I've ever heard because, like most poignant comedy, there's a lot of truth behind that joke that says so much more about the issues in our community than the punch line can convey.  So amidst the most scared section of White America not having the best five-year period regarding race relations let alone the best Black History Month, it was only fitting that Chris Rock hosted the 88th Academy Awards.

Scribbler's 11th Hour Post of the Week: The Cultural and Historical Importance of Cam Newton's Super Bowl Appearance

The easy post would be to talk about the upcoming golden anniversary of the Super Bowl--or at least that's the post that most would expect coming from the unapologetic football enthusiast.  So I could easily ramble on and on about the matchup between two former No. 1 overall picks in Peyton Manning (1998) and Cam Newton (2011).  Building up the drama between the No. 1 scoring offense (Carolina) and the No. 1 overall defense (Denver) is a cakewalk.  Highlighting that this is the third straight time that both of the No. 1 teams from each conference are facing each other in the Super Bowl is child's play.  I could even salivate over the fact that Cam Newton could end up being the third quarterback in NFL history along with Joe Namath and Joe Montana to win a college national championship and a Super Bowl.  However, as we are two days into Black History Month, what is even more interesting to me is that Cam Newton could be the first Black starting quarterback in NFL history to win a college national championship and a Super Bowl.  Let's be clear: I love Peyton Manning as a person, a football genius, an excellent ambassador for the NFL and the epitome of good sportsmanship.  If he were playing anybody else, then maybe I'd be rooting for him.  Nevertheless, I have decided to cheer for the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 for the following multilayered reason: a victory for Cam Newton would not only be the first Super Bowl win for the Carolina Panthers franchise, but it would also be another triumph in the rich legacy of Black history as well as the American cultural and historical narrative.  As the late, great James Brown once said, "In order for me to get down, I got to get in deep..."

"I'm Not a Racist, But..."

Okay...so maybe you're not as racist as this guy.  Maybe your family never owned slaves.  Perhaps you don't walk up to the first person Black person you see and call him or her a "nigger".  There's a possibility that you don't believe in burning crosses on lawns or hanging "strange fruit" from trees and then having a ham sandwich and a cold glass of lemonade with the family to celebrate it.  However, you might be bold enough to say this...