Get Down or Sit Down, Part 4: Razing the Perch

Although social media and the age of information have been great for networking and expanding movements like never before, these advents have also given way to a much bigger problem: the self-righteous, pseudo-omniscient members of our society now have even wider, taller soapboxes on which they can prop themselves.  Granted, every last one of us sound off about something we feel is unjust or appalling and we often pull no punches when doing so.  However, when you hear the grumblings throughout the Black community regarding how we can't seem to unify to literally save our lives, that lack can often be attributed to the particularly and disturbingly pervasive mentality of "Blacktivism" from the comforts of "the perch".  In lieu of looking at all of their fellow brothers and sisters laterally, they often address 90 percent of them vertically.  So in the fourth and final part of "Get Down or Sit Down", I challenge many of my high-minded brothers and sisters as I "raze the perch" to cement a more down-to-Earth foundation for the movement...

Scribbler's "Get Out of My Brain!" Countdown of the Month (August 2016)

The month of July leading into August was an interesting time for music for a few reasons.  First and foremost, this is one of the few times where every song that entered the countdown stayed on the countdown--which is ironic because the beginning of the month found me flooding my ears with music, but I was probably tired of having melodies and beats on my mind for the majority of the last 24 days.  Second, there were a lot of times where one song would make me think of another song or one moment would remind me of another moment where I was thinking about the same song or sets of songs...pretty much a real fustercluck.  Third, I've had quite a few instances where I've had the desire to hear music either from those with whom I've broken bread or who I've known better than the back of my hand.  (Hold on...checking this extra hairy patch on the back of my hand...okay, I'm good.)  So in the August edition of the "'Get Out of My Brain!' Countdown of the Month", you all will witness "Moments In Intersectionality", "Moments In Shameless Plugging" and two other songs that won't leave me alone.  Let's jump to it...

RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!! (Vol. 1, No. 6)

There are days when I feel like I've betrayed the legacy of Rosa Parks, Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., Ralph Abernathy and everyone who participated in the year-long Montgomery bus boycott.  As much hell as Parks endured for sitting at the front of the bus and as much walking as the boycott participants did in lieu of financially supporting the Montgomery City Lines, I should at least sit in a spot halfway between the front and the back, right?  Well, ever since I've been catching the Metrobus, my inclination has been to either sit at one of the window seats or in the middle seat at the very back of the bus.  The reasons have varied between looking out the rear window of the old school GMC "Fishbowl" and Flxible "New Look" buses, having more space to sit on the five-seat row because passengers often don't sit between people and (perhaps the most noble reason of all) leaving the seats closer to the front for the elderly, the disabled, women to have first dibs.  No matter the reason, I usually don't feel but so bad because I fully exercise my right and my choice to sit at the back of the bus in lieu of being ordered to sit there, and that's what gives me confidence that Ms. Parks isn't turning in her grave.  Now that I've given the most introspective and serious intro to a "RANDOM THOUGHT ALERTS!!!" post ever, let's have some fun, shall we...

Scribbler's Rave & Favorite Five: A Countdown for Mrs. Scribbler

If I've said it before, then I'll say it again: as much as music keeps me going on my own, music is often the life blood between me and my closest family members, friends, lovers lost and lovers kept and Mrs. Scribbler is certainly no exception to that rule.  Whether it's been on long road trips, date nights, hanging out in the house or just random moments, there are so many songs and albums that have provided the soundtrack to our life as best friends, boyfriend and girlfriend and eventually husband and wife.  So to kick off the celebration of our eighth wedding anniversary, I share with you all a special "Rave & Favorite Five" dedicated to my Babushka.  Be warned: the majority of it might make you need a barf bag and be on your Ice Pick from Don't Be a Menace "aiight, that's enough of that sentimental sh--" flow.  Let's go...

Get Down or Sit Down, Part 3: The Great Distraction (The Numbers and Blame Games)

In a July 18 interview with DJ Envy and Charlamagne Tha God on The Breakfast Club, Dr. Umar Johnson made this one of many poignant statements: "Before you begin TAKING the Black life, you must kill the IMAGE of the Black life."  Now there are those of you who might discredit anything that I'm about to say in this post because I quoted "Dr." Umar, but there is no denying that "the powers that be" within the United States have contaminated the waters of social and political thought as it pertains to Black folks and people of African descent for centuries.  Even on Celebrity Family Feud when former WBO heavyweight champion Lamon Brewster filled in the "Black and [blank]" with beautiful, not one person out of 100 people surveyed agreed with him and that serves as a microcosm of America's mindset as it pertains to the positive imagery associated with Blackness.  So when you bust down what's happening in the conversations surrounding police brutality and inner city crime, many of the natural inclinations are either for people to hype up how police are killing us but we somehow deserve to be treated in that way or how we as Black people appear to care so much about police brutality but not "Black-on-Black crime".  In many of these instances, you have folks who will use numbers and statistics to validate their arguments that we are a violent people who need to be policed and controlled by any means necessary--even by excessive deadly force.  Therefore, in Part 3 of "Get Down or Sit Down", I will attempt to annihilate the foundations of those distractions in order to emphasize the need for justice--regardless of whether we are the perpetrators or the victims...