31 Flavors of Racism: Trayvon Martin

It is technically The Future. The year 2000 plus 12. What am I to make of the story of Trayvon Martin within this context of time and space? How many trips around the sun will it take for Black skin to earn a stamp of humanity in this country? Are our children forever cursed, and if so, exactly who or what is it that is doing the cursing?

In my three decades of life I've watched the Rodney King VHS tape, the Oscar Grant cell phone video, and now there is the Trayvon Martin 911 calls. I no longer care to discuss, dissect, or debate the What Ifs, the If Only, the In Light Of. I'm done with going over the symptoms one by one. It's not about what Zimmerman said or what Martin was wearing, who approached first, who was more afraid. My only issue at this point is what happened when the police arrived. That is the point in the story where I must begin.

In the case of the Rodney King, the police showed up and beat him until he was broken. In the case of Oscar Grant, the police showed up, threw the word nigger around, handcuffed and then shot him dead. In the case of Trayvon Martin, the police found a body, a gun, a shooter, and no arrest was made.

The system is broken on so many levels. The poor and disenfranchised of any ethnic background could attest to this in great detail. However the very specific and historic problem in regard to Black males is their animalization by the system itself. So that when an animal, be it a dog, a bear, a mountain lion makes it way around humans who feel fear in its presence the common understanding is that the animal must be put DOWN in order to protect and preserve HUMAN life. This is always the case when Black males are murdered by those authorized to carry weapons. The system goes into autopilot, and what has been automatically hardwired into the system of this country is that Black men= dangerous, violent, suspicious, guilty. Black men are approached as animals, ever ready to attack, always worthy of pursuit, no matter the context or circumstance.

I would actually prefer that authorities carry animal tranquilizers and keep it all the way real when putting suspects down, so that a brother has a chance to wake up. Was Zimmerman a professional cop? No. But he thought like one. He reacted like one. Once police arrived on the scene, they treated him as though he'd performed according to protocol. Zimmerman was given the benefit of the doubt. And what of Trayvon Martin? His skin marked him the sort of predator that translates into prey.

Today in many cities people have organized marches to wear hoodies in solidarity with Trayvon. The fact the citizens are symbolically memorializing their son must give Trayvon's parents some sliver of hope for this country. We await an arrest. We await a trial. And the cynic in me awaits the protests and perhaps insurrections that will result should the trial end as we have been taught such trials do.

Trayvon looks as though he could've been my son. I have a son. I am not a criminal. My husband and I are both college educated. My son is extremely intelligent, intuitive, and creative. And yet I know that none of these things matter. One day I will have to have a very serious talk with him about how to deal with people authorized by the government to carry guns, be they cops or security. I will have to teach him the very real danger that he could be killed for doing nothing so long as someone perceives him as a threat; that even if he is silent and standing still, his skin howls a history washed in blood so rich that racist mouths water for a sip. It is the same conversation I imagine Emmett Till's mother had with him before sending him down South in 1955. A conversation I'd bet Mary had with Jesus regarding Roman soldiers.

Will you have to have such a conversation with you son? If not, have you ever reflected on why that might be?

Shabazz Palaces

Though I'd blogged about Shabazz Palaces before, I wasn't really up on the music other than a casual listen. In February I saw them in concert at Yoshi's and had the whole top of my head unhook convertible style. It's rare that I go see an act without knowing any of the music in advance, but after having had the experience it's something I definitely recommend. There's an openness and freedom of expectation that can be hard to come by in our world.

Between their charismatic presence, the live instrumentation, and the depth of cool in which they dove with no bottom in sight, I was left with a high that stole traces of each breath. Shabazz Palaces travels 100 styles per hour fueled by a high-grade authenticity that cannot be bought.

I immediately went out and got the album. Once played on repeat in the car, the husband gave me a bit of side-eye, not having gone to the concert. I don't know what my reaction would've been if I hadn't heard everything live and raw; a difference perhaps akin to reading a text after you've been in class and listened to the professor break it all down vs going into it cold.

Here's a dope short film done to promo the album, directed by Khalil Joseph whose work I LOVE though I can't seem to find much info on the man. You can catch other examples of his lush and mythic dreamy aesthetic here.

Adventures In Hip Hop: Don't Get Caught Up In No Throne

Mixed People Files: Lou Jing

This is "Shanghai Black Girl Lou Jing" who competed on a sort of Chinese American Idol back in 2009. Soon after the blogs in China apparently lit up with racist attacks regarding her background and skin color. Many of the comments were your standard run of the mill monkey/ape dark skin bullshit, mixed with attempts to shame her for her parents not being married.

Lou Jing has never met her father. She has never found her own reflection in the face of any of her Black relatives. I tried to envision the isolation of being mixed in any environment where Black people are close to nonexistent. Picture trying to find hair products. Imagine the strength of her mother, who in addition to the normal pressures of being a single mother, also had to carry the weight of her culture's condemnation on her back because her child's very existence put all of her business out in the street for judgement. And yet, based on Lou Jing's self-confidence and positive attitude, it would seem that her mother raised her with grace.

Many accounts cited China's status as a homogenous society as the reason for the vicious racial attacks, but I don't buy it, if only for the fact that "Chinese" people are in no way homogenous; at least not in the sense that we are taught to blindly see all Chinese people as the same. China is an empire built in the same way the the United States or the USSR were---by containing and controlling various territories by force and mandating a national identity. Yet the facts remain that across a landmass as great as China, there are various ethnic groups with different cultural traditions: food, music, dance, religions etc. And I would suspect that some of these ethnic groups are discriminated against more than others, despite their "Chinese" status. Whether the darkness of one's skin color plays a role I could not say, but in a country where pale skin is given highest favor I'd be willing to wager, Yes.

If China is homogeneous, it has more to do with the fact that its immigrant population is made up of people from rural parts of the country as opposed to people from other nations. As Jing was born to a Chinese mother, was raised on her native soil, is fluent in its languages, and has never experienced any other culture yet is still perceived as an outsider--What then makes someone Chinese? What makes someone American? South African?


In an interview with the BBC, Jing herself makes some interesting points about the backlash regarding her mixed race status in her homeland, pointing out that racial discrimination is present in all countries of the world, but in China it seems particularly focused towards people of an African background due to the assumption that Africa is less developed. She also noted that she found it interesting that children of mixed Chinese-white parents do not receive nearly as much negative attention.

As China seems poised to step into the ring as the next leading world power, as they actively pursue natural resources in Africa no less, its closed immigration status raises some interesting questions about the future of race relations and perceptions of who will be allowed to be "Chinese."

You Lyin'. You Ain't Never Met No Martin Luther The King!

We mustn't turn our martyred activists into saints. Better to remember their humanity and the qualities that made them 'just like us' and activate our own potential to be extraordinary. One who seeks to change the injustices in this world does NOT need to be perfect, only courageous.
I love the body language in this picture. There's a palpable sense of surprise and excitement in the room. Add to that the tilt of the old dude with the cigarette, whose angle seems to say, "Well hold on now, lemme see if he's really gon' make this." He got the smile already cocked like it would just be too cool for words to witness the Dr. King hit the corner pocket.  

And then there is King himself; perched up there in such a way as to communicate to the room that he's not new to this; that he is all that they believe him to be and perhaps more than they might expect.  He looks confident and comfortable.  He looks determined to line it up and hit his mark---in a way it mirrors his same determination to lead his people to Freedom with style and grace.  King's face says: I'm going to do my best to make this shot for the people, come what may....

The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse

I was blown away when I came across this album cover for Duke Ellington's, The Afro-Eurasian Eclipse (A Suite in Eight Parts) which was released in 1971. I had no idea that Ellington was releasing music all the way into the 70's. And judging by the title and cover art, he had some very serious equations he was still working out in his mind. How futuristic funk anthropologist of him! As anyone who reads this blog knows, I'm ALL about the Afro-Asiatic connection.

I'm On My SF Shit

JB is the homie. And his Steeeeez is definitely 100% organic. #Partake

The Jealous Guys have hella videos you can check for, but I really like the premise of this one. Plus the verses have some weight to them; nothing wrong with making the brain rewind to seek its reward.



While the horns on the track take you there, DaVinci does his part to up folks on the cost of living that life.