Finger Lickin' Good: Sergio Garcia vs. Tiger Woods and America's Acceptance of Ethno-Specific Stereotypes

                                                      

                                                      

 

                                                                                      

 

                                                                                             

 

 

 

I grew up in the South.  Germantown, Tennessee to be exact.  And never in my life have I met anyone, who is a meat-eater, decline fried chicken.  From the days of frying it in a slave-cabin-like skillet in thick, white Crisco to using vegetable oil, the devouring and digestion of fried chicken has been a staple of American society since I can remember, particularly in the South—by Black and white Americans. About twenty years ago, my father was diagnosed with High Blood Pressure and we no longer had fried foods for dinner.  I adopted that diet and probably only eat fried foods four or five times a month.  The rest of my dietary palate is saturated with grilled foods.  I mean, seriously, I literally grill four or five times a week. But, I say this because I do not understand how eating fried chicken can be connoted with Blackness or be deemed a stereotype that maintains any validity.  As a lecturer, writer, and college professor, I have the opportunity to travel several times a year, all over the U.S.A., and whether I’m in the Northeastern, Southern, West, or Midwest regions, I always see several chicken shacks, restaurants, or diners that all serve (and often times openly promote on their windows or signs) fried chicken. 

So, when I woke up this morning and viewed ESPN’s Sportscenter and read the remarks of PGA golfer Sergio Garcia, who has had a long-standing feud with golf God, and arguably the greatest golfer of all time, Tiger Woods, quip, after being asked would he have Tiger over for dinner during a tournament next week, while at the European Tour’s gala players’ awards in London, England, “We will have him round every night.  We will serve fried chicken”, I not only found it offensive, but I found it extremely lame, unfounded, and assimilatory at best. Clearly, Sergio riffed his pathetic-at-best attempt at humor, and internalized hatred for Blacks, or at least the ones who dare play and excel at the gentleman’s game of golf, from golf legend Fuzzy Zeller’s book of racist remarks who, during the 1997 Masters, stated in reference to Woods’ winning of the tournament, “So, you know what you guys do when he gets in here? You pat him on the back and say congratulations and enjoy it and tell him not to serve fried chicken next year.  Got it?...or collard greens or whatever the hell they serve.”

            Stereotypes, particularly those of an ethno-specific origin, have existed for ages, and I often times laugh at them even when aimed at Black people, but this particular jibe from Sergio Garcia made me think a bit more.  Who is Sergio trying to impress?  Why would he mention fried chicken when attempting to belittle Tiger Woods?  Tiger is Black and Asian, and even a little ‘white’, correct?  Didn’t he once refer to himself as a Caublasian? (Funny how he seemed to create his own ethnic hierarchy within the name—Caucasian, Black, and ‘then’ Asian, but I digress)  What Sergio and all the non-Black people of the world need to know about the American Negro is that the frying of the chicken derived out of necessity.  For the most part, during American slavery, the only livestock the African American was ‘allowed’ to raise was the chicken.  True, there may be a pig or a hog here or there, but the chicken, as we all know, breeds in abundance and can be devoured from the rooter to the tooter.  As far as the frying of the poultry, I can only assume that it was a quick and easy way to prepare the main course of a more than likely paltry meal, and the grease, along with the flouring of the bird, made the chicken stick to one’s bones and increased the caloric intake due to the meat being fried in lard or grease,  and that was needed considering the laborious activities that the slave had to endure during those twelve to fourteen hour work days.  Oh, and it tasted great!

            But, I feel that Garcia is trying to ingratiate himself to a particular audience which is ironic seeming that he’s already been accepted by mainstream white PGA followers and advertisers.  It is reported that he has made over 43 million dollars during his time on the PGA tour, received over 16 million dollars in endorsements last year alone, mainly TaylorMade Adidas, and has been on the tour since 1999, so I am not sure if this particular distasteful ‘joke’ of his was an attempt to assimilate to the culture of American golf.  It is apparent by his name and accent that he is of the Spanish persuasion, though Spain is a European country, and his physical aesthetics would place him in the vague category of ‘white’, but his use of the fried chicken remark leads me to believe that his cultural and ethnic insecurities prompted him to further prove himself to the powers that be or that he ‘belongs’ with the powers that be—and in the world of golf, those powers are Anglican whites. 

            The tone of the media seems to be dismissing this blatant racist joke from a professional and international athlete as if we should just let it blow over or “move on from this” as was suggested by the PGA.  Why should we, as Black and non-Black people, just “move on”?  In the past month alone, Black scholars, particularly Dr. Boyce Watkins, launched campaigns against and boycotts of  Lil’ Wayne because of his insensitive, sexist, and derogatory lyrics referencing the lynching of Emmitt Till and Tyler the Creator’s alleged stereotypical portrayal of Black Americans in a commercial for Mountain Dew to which both individuals subsequently lost their endorsements from PepsiCo/Mountain Dew.  Should we give Sergio Garcia a pass?  Why, because he aesthetically resembles the ethnic group that resides atop America’s socioeconomic hierarchical structure?  Nope.  Adidas, we have a problem.  Follow suit and distance yourself from anyone who would utter such foolishness in a public forum.  Swing that golf club, win, smile on a commercial, and say the politically correct things or shut up. 

            Lastly, research your ethnic jokes before you make one.  Fried chicken actually originated in Scotland and England.  Fritters have been around for hundreds of years and the Scotts fried chicken and actually brought that practice to the U.S. South in the 18^th century.  For that matter, fried chicken was a major staple in West African cuisine, and we all know that more than 80% of the African slaves were bought or kidnapped from the west coast of the African continent so I imagine he is somewhat correct in his comprehension of History and the nuances and the practices derived thereof.  Yet, like I stated above, Sergio’s joke is unwarranted.  If there is some negative connotation to one’s diet consisting of or including fried chicken, the Scottish should be more offended than the Negro, Mr. Garcia.  I suggest he stick to playing golf because History is not something he seems to be familiar with. 

 

                                                                                                 Gee Joyner

           



Don't Ask. I'll Tell It: NBA Player Jason Collins Goes and Tells It on the Mountain

 

                                                                           

 

     It is no secret that Americans, if not the entire world, maintains an ideological belief that the male athlete is a superhero of sorts.  A man that has extraordinary physical abilities that allows him to do things with his physical appendages that the majority of us mere mortals can only exhibit deep in the gallows of our minds via a vicariously voyeuristic perversion that is truly alive when we watch the athlete perform on the grid iron, diamond, or hardwood.  And because of these extraordinary abilities, the athlete is able to garner attention, accolades, and a massive bank account only rivaled by Fortune 500 CEOs, entertainers, and sheiks.  The aforementioned is where the conundrum of male homosexuality in sports morphs into a leviathan of hypocrisy, xenophobia, and even exceptionalism.  We, as a viewing and paying audience, want to be able to control our heroes.  We want our hero/athlete to be just like us, and if he is not like us or doesn’t prescribe to our social, ideological, and religious belief system, we feel duped.  We feel manipulated.  We feel conned.  In America, we like those whom we support to do as we say and what we want them to do, and at the least, we want them to conform while they perform.  Jason Collins, the 12-year veteran center for the Washington Wizards, has done all of these things, yet while he is being lauded as an activist for Gay Rights, he is being condemned, and further marginalized, just the same.

      Though Collins is no all-star nor a future Hall of Famer, the fact that he is a highly paid, professional athlete makes his disclosing of his sexual orientation (or sexual preference, depending upon you subjective perception of homosexuality) newsworthy, blog worthy, and fixture in media and social networking circles—at least for the time being.  What is interesting is that since President Obama’s public stance in support of Gay marriages our nation has been inundated with dialogue, both positive and negative, concerning not only Gay marriage, but homosexuality in general.  And, that is a good thing. And Jason Collins’ “coming out” in the revered public sphere of American athletics/sports is, by some means, another way to champion the rights of gays as well as breaking down barriers of discrimination so many homosexual Americans endure, both explicit and implicit, on a daily basis. Collins’ Sports Illustrated article in which he outed himself by stating, “I am Black…and I am gay” seems to suggest that he is somehow correlating the discrimination and inequality heaped upon the African American with the homosexual experience which seems to be far reaching.    And, I’m not so sure, “coming out” can be juxtaposed to other forms of inequality that are solely based upon one’s physical aesthetics.

     How can an employer not hire you if you are a homosexual if they do not ‘know’ you are a homosexual? Maybe I am a proponent of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’? Maybe your sexuality and sexual activity should be a personal thing, like your mate’s G-Spot or the fact that you abuse your wife or husband or children, either mentally or physically, or that you chug down a bottle of Smirnoff every evening after work to make it to the next day, or that you nasally scoff down five or six lines of Peruvian on a nightly basis to cope with your inadequacies, or that you eat a ‘family size’ platter of Popeye’s chicken while locked away in your bedroom to satisfy your pleasure principle. In my opinion, some things should be an individual’s own business.

        I am concerned that when Gay individuals compare their movement to that of the African American Civil Rights Movement they are minimizing the sociopolitical and economic restrictions that exist when discriminatory actions persist because of one’s appearance. Black don’t come off, but you can hide Gay. For instance, unless one walks around adorned in the androgynous garbs of an Adam Ant or 1980s…and 1990s…hell, 2000s, you would be hard-pressed to readily identify one’s sexual preference via the natural visual aid we call appearance.

      Are Gays, or is the LGBT, community piggybacking on the Civil Rights Movement? Yes, I know that Gay Rights are nothing new to the national agenda, yet I get sick of hearing the comparison between the two movements. I mean, really? How in the world is being ‘gay’ at the least similar to being Black. I can’t hide my hue or the tint of my skin or the permanent tan I’ve had from birth—Gays can. Sure, you will eventually have to bring your mate to the company picnic or the company Christmas Party or whatnot, but I can never leave my Black at home—no way no how. Sometimes, if I could, I wish I could leave my Black at home while searching for a prestigious position at an elite company that will afford me the opportunity to pay off student loans, for the two degrees and graduate certificate which I have earned, and garner me enough of an annual salary where I can properly provide for my son and his college education and first car and prom and attire he can wear to school without being ridiculed by his classmates for not having upper middle class garments and summer vacations abroad, but I cannot; I cannot hide my Blackness—you can see it in my skin and in the juicifully thick lips and kinky, black hair. And my walk and the base and rhythmic intonation of my voice and my…’cool.’ Gays can hide their sexuality. Even if they bring their mate to a company outing or out in public, who’s to say the two, or the couple, are not just close friends, or friends? People know me and my ‘Blackness’ aren’t friends—they know we are one—one in the same.  And I know everyone reading this article will reference the U.S. Miscegenation laws from 1913-1948 where 30 of 48 states enforced a ban on interracial marriage and the 1967 Loving vs. Virginia case where the Supreme Court ruled the Virginia Racial Integrity Act of 1924 unconstitutional and readily compare that one aspect wherein the Civil Rights and Gay Movements intertwine. But sexual preference, and the ability to display one’s sexual preference, and one’s race are incomparable like shit to fart—they both smell, but one is of substance and the other is just gas. There is a reason why old adages exist like ‘that’s like comparing apples and oranges’ or ‘that’s neither here nor there’—because arguments like this one fit that bill.

     On the contrary, or to assume the role of devil’s advocate,  The “coming out” of the first active same-gender-loving athlete in a major American sport has highlighted the matrix of misogynistic and patriarchal prevalence.  The imperial romanticism of male genderizing has stitched a skewed stereotype in our minds of what masculinity is and looks like.  As Collins makes his public projection, much of the buzz around is all is that fact that his body politic dismantles the stereotypical male queer.  Imagine this 7-foot, 255 pound gargantuan marching in the next gay pride parade.  This affirms our psychological and theological fears because our xenophobia and homophobia is grounded in a mythical sense of normativity.  The reason that Collins’ remarks have gotten so much attention is because our culture cannot help but admit our fixation and fascination with male sex and sexuality (especially when posited in the lions of the black body).  Much of this is grounded in our understanding of God and the Divine (more will be expressed in this regard later).

     Furthermore, since most of us suffer from a psychological and sexual deviance and lopsidedness rooted in conquest and not complementarity or sincere adoration, we are sexually scratching and clawing to maintain our social and societal privileges.  I believe these privileges (male and heterosexual) are the baseline for the suicide laps Chris Broussard attempted to run in his responsive commentary.  The problem with his reflection, however, is that it has been affirmed by a group of people that he arguably indicted along with his condemnation of Collins’ sexual orientation.  Broussard grounds his ideology in his theology while committing a common brand of biblical idolatry.  To use the bible as a source of discrimination is farcical and all too normative. 

     In the midst of the tragic irony, several of Broussard’s supporters have lorded and affirmed his critical commentary while missing what Broussard would arguable call “the plank in their own eye.”  Broussard’s approach to biblical sexual ethics indicted many people who condemned homosexuality along with him but cast aside his equal opportunity offense of premarital sex (which by definition of several “supporters” Facebook profiles, pics and posts they are willing participants in).  To be clear, Broussard has a human right to interpret his theology as he understands it. We all have a biased and subjective construction of spirituality.  But Broussard is misguided in thinking there is a clear definition of Christianity in a bible that has a testament canonized that preceded the birth of the “Christ.”  The early Hebrews were not Christian and Hebrew testament (which is part of the bible might I add) is not reflective of Americanized, Westernized and Europeanized views of the faith (even if they are spewed out of the mouths of black commentators). 

     But I applaud that Broussard was attempting to be an equal opportunity offender.  Sadly, however, people don’t take any offense to him indicting people who are sexually active (heterosexually) and unmarried.  This could be because people feel his analysis of heterosexuality is insufficient do to the cultural norms of promiscuity and sexual liberation.  But those same people feel his pseudo-bible based belief relative to same gender relations is spot on.  Go figure.

     The truth is, the biblical context of sexuality ("adultery", "fornication" and "homosexuality") has been skewed and sadly misinterpreted for centuries. For instance, we equate adultery and fornication as "sex outside of marriage" but that is NOT the "Biblical" concept. The "Biblical" concept is that sex to a married Hebrew woman is adultery. However, men could have as many wives as they wanted, and sleep with as many non-married women, Hebrew and otherwise, as they wanted. Fornication was, conceptually, "sex for hire" or sex with a prostitute and was frowned upon Biblically because it usurped financial power from males and empowered females. The bible gives us no real "sex education" (i.e. Adam and Eve have sex and conceive Cain - was that the first time they had sex? Who told them how to "do it"? Why isn't it mentioned? Because the bible isn't concerned with sex and sexuality like we are... In other words, the bible projects sex as a means of procreation and human control through conquest.  Paul said that “it is better to marry than to burn.”  In essence, this suggests that if you are having problems with “lust” or promiscuity, the best thing to do would be to get married.  How would you like that for premarital counseling today?  Again, the bible is a BAD PLACE TO GET OUR SEXUAL EDUCATION! So let’s not try to use theology as a justification for negative critics because Jason Collins and any other same gender loving person is courageous enough to “go tell it on the mountain.”

 

 

*A Collaborative Rhetorical text by Rev. Earle J. Fisher and Gee Joyner/ The Pastor & The Professor

 

 

 

 

           

           

 

 

 

 

 

           

           

Them Niggas Got Shot: The Disturbing Idolatry of King & Obama

                                                                                                                                      

I’m sure I’ll be rhetorically crucified in cyberspace by the American Negro.  I am almost positive this text may have an adverse effect on my personal, and. possibly, professional networks and even my occupation.  But I must do this.  I must write this.  I must continue writing this piece in order for me to rid myself, and my constituency of an internal and explicit hypocrisy.  A few times a year I travel to scholarly/academic conferences and listen to presentations of the numerous nuances of the ills of the “Black American Community” or the “Black Problem in America” or “What Blacks Need to Do Better” and I get disgusted, fidgety, and begin to feel out of place.  Just as out of place as I did when I was in elementary school when I was always the only Black kid in the class, or at recess, and, sometimes, at lunch.  The majority, in my opinion, was the other.  I guess you could say that I had reverse-xenophobia. 

I always feel socially uncomfortable with the gullible or those who revel in media interpretations of an event or an individual.  Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was a man of principles and a man of flaws. Just like Barrack Hussein Obama.  Except King’s social infidelities are more widely known because of J.Edgar Hoover (i.e. whore mongering, marital infidelities, sexual deviances, if you will—he allegedly patronized prostitutes per Hoover and the late Rev. Ralph Abernathy).  Yet, we all must understand, that Obama, just as Dr. King, is and was human.  I fear that too many of us laud these men’s secular accomplishments and deem the two to be deities in a sense as it pertains to the Black American struggle and pseudo-triumph over U.S. racist institutions (i.e. social, economical, and political). 

  I have been mildly entertained and hugely perturbed by cyber-debates that give analyses as to whether President Obama should be publicly sworn into office on the nation’s reserved federal holiday for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the analogous anecdotes of irony that have inundated Facebook posts and the Twittersphere.  Many believe that it is only fitting that the first Black President of the United States is being sworn in on the King holiday and will be sworn in with a bible which once belonged to Dr. King to take the oath.  The ironic thing to me is that we, as a very informed and knowledgeable audience, are even comparing the two men.  One is a prophet at the least and the other is a politician at best.  One dedicated his adult life to the Black Civil Rights Movement, as well as the Poor People’s Movement and the anti-war effort concerning the United States’ involvement and occupancy of Vietnam, and the other is a politician whom, whether it is in his heart or a mere political agenda to sway voters, has fought for women’s and LGBT rights and is a  warmonger by default (no U.S. politician can be elected Head of State without a plan for “national security” which is political jargon for U.S. protection via war and the possibility of war). 

Regardless of how much symbolism the two men have in American and Black American History, neither one of these men, in my estimation, would have or wants to be deified by the public as a Negro messiah.  Whether we like it or not, considering most Black Americans are Christians, neither King nor Obama are Jesus Christ.  King did not die for our sins and I seriously doubt Obama plans on it either.  But both men do bring a static, and, sometimes, fluid symbolic metaphor of the struggle and triumph of  the American Negro—liberation from physical enslavement, the lynching of Jim Crow, the dismemberment of occupational strongholds, ethnic redlining in real estate, and the desegregation of schools across the country, and Black politicians, and, now, a Black President.  The aforementioned has deconstructed the narrative of these two men, and their symbolic representations of the Black American struggle and experience in America and recomposed it as a myth of sorts.  No one individual or idea of an individual garners as much reverence in the Black community as Jesus, Dr. King, and now, Obama (Growing up, every Black grandmother I knew had a painting of ‘The Last Supper’, a portrait of Jesus and Martin Luther King on their living room or dining room walls).

 

Matthew 24:5 (KJV) states, “For many shall come in my name, saying I am Christ; and I shall deceive many,” which is indicative  of how many Black Americans, particularly Generation X and Baby Boomers, have posited both Dr. King and President Obama—as saviors of the entire race.  Not to say that King was a false prophet or Obama has a malevolent political agenda, but these men should not be lauded as a Christ or a messiah who the Black Americans have been waiting for.  What these men are and represent is the Chocolate Horatio Alger Theory embodied in their rhetoric and the social and political courses of their lives.  Each wanted change.  One for his people.  One for his country.  What’s ironic is that King was Black and Obama is of mixed heritage.  Does that not cover the gambit?   And the ideologies of both men seem to be a way of compensating and being individual freedom fighters for people of all ethnicities that reside in the U.S. of A.  King used social change and the injustice of Blacks in America to affect political change (Civil Rights Act of 1964).  Obama used politics to affect social change (his public support of Same Sex Marriage in the  summer of 2012). 

On this day, January 21, 2013, before comparing ideological beliefs and the social relevance, importance, and impact of these two symbols of the Black existence and contribution to the United States, how about we all just reflect on those invisible, Black backs that paved the way, often times with blood, sacrificed their time and efforts and intellect, and, sometimes, their lives like a Christ-like figure should or would that, if not for them, we wouldn’t even know Martin or Barack.  In Chris Rock's stand-up comedy movie "Bigger and Blacker", he juxtaposed the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I. G./ Biggie Smalls with the killings of Dr. King, Malcolm X, and President John F. Kennedy.  Rock says that King, X, and Kennedy were assassinated, yet, in comparison, as for Tupac and Biggie, "Them niggas got shot."  Maybe we shouldn't elevate the poster children for Black achievement and Black change as deities.  Maybe we should laud those daily grinders and grassroots workers as our sociopolitical heroes--be it your pastor, teacher, local community activist or civil servicemen, or parent(s).  In the end process, those who oppose the totality of human equality and opportunity will always subscribe to the ethnic hierarchical structure of the U.S. that has perpetually posited the Negro as an outsider and holistically inferior.  And if you asked them about King, or Obama, they'd say, "Them niggas got shot."  King literally and Barack metaphorically in that he will always be wounded by and bogged down with the weight of having had been the second coming...of Dr. King.

 

                                                                                          -Gee Joyner

 

 

 

That Damn Django!

It's hilariously frustrating to me how many public Black scholars and intellectuals and professors of History, Sociology, Literature, and the like, not all, but some, are intent on criticizing Quentin Tarantino and even Jamie Foxx, for their creation/writing/imaginative composition and participation in 'Django Unchained', yet most of the aforementioned Black voices, who are from either America's Generation X or Baby Boomer generations, laud other Black actors and actresses for their involvement and, sometimes, creation of cinematic Black caricatures. (i.e. Alex Haley and Ron O’Neil via 'Superfly').  In my opinion, Tarantino was and is not trying to rewrite Black American History by no means; the man is a writer and director of cinema that attempted, successfully I might add, to tell a love story via the lens of integrating the Hollywood genres of the spaghetti Western and Blaxploitation films.

            As a matter of fact, Tarantino is not only telling a love story, but he is also telling a story of vengeance and proper reparations that posits the Black male as a non-subordinate figure who is a prototypical hero of American cinema—Django is a John Wayne in a sense because he plays by his own rules and is the antithesis of the subservient Negro or subordinate slave of the times in which the movie takes place (1858), described as being “a rambunctious sort” by Leonardo DiCaprio’s character Monsieur Calvin Candy, the slave planter/owner of the Candyland Plantation which, through dialogue, constructs and brings to the forefront the notion that the Black male wasn’t as docile, timid, and fearful of the white patriarchal system. One could even argue that this piece of dialogue even deconstructs the notion of the Antebellum South’s totality of control of the Black male psyche and physical body.  Django does what most slave films do not—show the white slave master and all of the whites that exist in the vacuum of dehumanization getting what they deserve—death, and a violent one at that.

            But Tarantino has done something in American cinema that we haven’t seen in cinematic abundance since the 1970s—he has positioned the Black man as an American Cinematic Hero to audiences of all hues. What is profoundly important is that Tarantino’s Django exists in an era of American History, a troublesome era at that, rather than in an apocalyptic or futuristic era that deems alien beings as the other and objects of xenophobia or in a world where base survival is the most important nuance of life and one’s race is all but obsolete (e.g.  the Black heroes in alien takeover films or the post-apocalypse ‘Book of Eli’).  In a nutshell, ‘Django Unchained’ reintroduces the Black, cinematic hero to audiences that were not privy to the Black Exploitation heroes like Superfly, Shaft, Goldie, or Slaughter.  And because of Tarantino’s bankability, the creation of a Django may very well be the impetus for the reconfiguration of Hollywood’s casting of the Black male.

  Unlike the ‘Blaxploitation’ or ‘Black Exploitation’ films of the 70s, which were mainly viewed by and profited from majority Black audiences, ‘Django Unchained’ is being viewed, celebrated, and financially compensated via the pockets, wallets, and coin-purses of not only Black, but white audiences as well.  Quentin’s Hollywood bankability, directorial respectability, reputation, be it good or bad, and fame affords this film the opportunity to be distributed, accepted, and lauded by audiences and critics of all socioeconomic and ethnic residences.  You could say, ‘Django Unchained’ is the Hollywood’s ‘Roots’, a television network’s production, as it pertains to accessibility and availability of consumption. 

By no means am I writing as some sort of white apologist for the exploitation of Black American life or the Black American experience, but I am writing in defense and support of a film that redirects how Black and non-Black audiences view of a leading Black man or hero.  Django is neither subservient nor in need of Dr. King Schultz’ (Christopher Waltz), the white bounty hunter with whom he works, aid and assistance in saving him from a violent predicament or unwanted quandary (e.g. the Rush Hour franchise).  And he doesn’t die!  Django is all man:  dirty, rugged, tough, physically savvy and skilled, if not supernaturally accurate, in the art of handling a firearm.  Everything the American viewing audience has been conditioned to believe, endorse, and promote from the prototypical white American gun-slinging hero. 

And as far as the argument that is circulating on blogs and the web concerning the politics of gender constructs, can we not posit the dystaxy or "cinematic flashbacks" to Broomhilda (Kerri Washington) and Django's love for her as the "main character"? For example, the entire premise of the movie is one man's longing for the "present" not absent love of his wife. Sure, the male protagonist is the hero, yet the hero is fueled both emotionally and physically by the memory and the longing for his wife.  I believe this revisionist cinematic piece of History disseminated via a cinematic representation is just as profound and potent and important as Tarantino’s ‘Inglorious Basterds’ which is ironic in that I didn’t hear many Jews complaining about that film (please see Dangerfield Newby or John Brown’s raid on Harper’s Ferry to see the similarities between Django and Newby as a historical reference).  If I had an extra arm and hand I’d give this film three thumbs up.  It’s worth the time, money, and intellectual analyses. 

                                                                                                          -Gee Joyner

                                                                

The Passion of the (Negroes’) Christ: Why America Will Never Elect Another Black President

       I thought about introducing this piece by copying and pasting one of the numerous, if not exhausted, references by political media pundits  equating Barack Obama to the Messiah (metaphorically speaking of course), or a savior, for the United States of America.  Then, I decided that would be too obvious, too contrived, lame, even corny, at best.  So, I thought about giving a brief 145 word historical analysis of the African in America since 1619 and the nuances of the subordinating, debilitating, and socioeconomic and political stifling vis-a-vis prescribed attributes and derogatory stereotyping of the Black American which has had catastrophic effects on our psyche and self-esteem. But, I decided against that introduction as well.

      By now, my scholars, students, and Intelligentsia are laughing and enjoying the literary trope I’ve used up until this point.  I’m literally introducing the piece with all the introductions I claimed I was against.  I guess you could say  this piece will be a ‘stream of consciousness’ in the vein of philosopher William James, who coined the term in his book ‘The Principles of Philosophy’ (1890).   

 In my opinion, and subjective reality constructed by the ethnic hierarchy that existed in this country long before my father lay with my mother in the late 70s, there is no scholarly path in which I can intellectually walk in order to definitively compose a rhetorical construct that posits President Barack Obama as America’s Christ, yet that’s what the POTUS has become; A savior.  A messiah who’ll cure the ills of the Black ghettos and inspire the Millennial and their offspring and their offspring’s offspring to be great, to challenge the status quo, to break down barriers, to make race, or color, invisible, if not non-existent or a non-factor. So, I will write until I’ve reached my limit—let’s say 1000 words, so that I won’t lose your attention. 

In order to juxtapose Obama’s presidency and his relevance in Black American and American History to that of the historical pertinence of the notorious C.H.R.I.S.T., one must compare the similarities between the two; both were accused of sedition and both men were deemed divine saviors.  Merriam-Webster defines ‘sedition’ as overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority to tend toward insurrection against the established order. Wasn’t Jesus Christ accused of using subversive rhetoric against the Roman Empire? Hasn’t Obama been accused by far-right wing conservatives, most Republicans, and even some Democrats as being a Socialist? And for one to deem Obama a socialist would suggest, in terms of the ideological understanding of the U.S. government, that the Barack is also a culprit of sedition.  This, in my liberally narrow view of the nuances of the politics of government would be considered a form of sedition because of the president’s alleged socialist views, which, in Karl Marx’s definition, is an in-between time between capitalism and communism and calls for the redistribution of wealth to the masses—which would inadvertently challenge the socioeconomic and political hierarchical structure that inundates American politics, society, and the nation’s History.  How dare the POTUS even think to deconstruct and reconstruct the hierarchical structure that has worked so well for capitalistic America?—(insert laughter and hyperlink satire here)  

  Secondly, both Christ and Obama have been posited throughout History as messiahs who have come to rid the world of sins and restore the morality of humanity while offering salvation and an afterlife in Heaven.  By no means do I believe that Obama is comparable to Christ in the theological context of “washing away” the sins of man and offering man a place in the Heavens, yet in the 21^st century American context, the election of a bi-racial and visually aestheticized Negro, Barack Obama was, and in some people’s eyes, particularly Black Americans and liberal whites, is the personification, and a living testimony of what America was always meant to be:  a land void of race and appearance as a societal hindrance, a nation in which anyone from any circumstances can rise to great heights, achieve great feats, and loves all. 

The POTUS was supposed to heal the hood and ‘save’ Blacks from the dastardly ills of inner-city life by the mere winning of the 2008 Presidential Election.  He was supposed to be the laser that was to destroy over four centuries of racism in a land that is now the United States of America.  A messiah for not only Black America, but a messiah for those Americans who tend to say that Blacks that still speak out and speak against racism are ‘race baiters’ and often say the proverbial, “Get over it,”  “Move on,” or “It’s the past, so leave it there.”  He was proof that there are no hard feelings towards Americans of the darker hue.  There couldn’t be, could there?  Non-Blacks and Non-Biracial Americans voted him into office, right?

Briefly let me further delve into another similarity between the Christ and Obama.  Just as Jesus was rejected by the Jews, so has Barack been opposed by his own people à la Isaiah 53:3 (KJV) which states, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”  And have we as the American audience seen not only Blacks, but Americans as a whole reject the POTUS?  Common sense would tell us that the highest political office in the nation would lead Obama to endure the sorrows and hardships of the citizens of this nation.  When his slogan of “hope and change” is mocked by political analysts and laymen alike, do we not believe this causes the man grief?  As odd as it may seem, in my thirty-four years on this planet, I have never seen the POTUS referenced by his first or last name without the esteemed title of ‘President’ preceding it as much as I have in the last 44 months (“..and we esteemed him not.”).  Is it because of his aesthetic being a visual aid for his blackness?  Sure, he is biracial, yet he looks like a Negro.  You be the judge.  I don’t want to be accused of ‘race baiting.’ 

It seems as if the nation, both Black and white, liberal and conservative, Democratic, Republican, or Independent, are telling the nation, the Negro has had his chance.  Why would any other person of color even want to pursue the office of the President?  You will be criticized and poked and prodded daily.  Not that other presidents didn’t endure the same treatment, but it is much more intense when you share the lineage with those who have been stereotyped as the U.S.’ stepchild  via slavery, Jim Crow, and de facto racism.  Hell, even Jesse Jackson, a respected Civil Rights leader and harbinger in Black (presidential) politics was recorded saying he wanted to “cut his nuts off”.  (talk about being rejected by your own people).  High profile Black entertainers, scholars, and members of the nation’s intelligentsia have even come out voicing their uber-criticism of the man’s every move and nuance of his administration’s agenda (e.g. Lupe Fiasco, Cornel West, Boyce Watkins, Tavis Smiley to name a few). 

He’s been attacked by white and Black sociopolitical critics for not attending every Black Caucus or NAACP event or Smiley’s State of the Black Unions, yet don’t we as a people want the man to be the President of all the people, not just some?  I know I do, even though I have been critical of his failure to, in my assessment, adequately address racism and the effects thereof since his time in office, but I’m coming around, folks.  I am trying to become more understanding of what it is to be unbiased and hopefully President Obama’s detractors, on both sides of the sociopolitical aisle, can do the same.  Yes, he’s been a savior, a messiah-of-sorts, particularly for the Black American psyche.  He’s debunked the myth that a Negro could never become the POTUS.  He’s exhibited that a Black man can have fidelity and equality in his marriage.  He’s destroyed the myth of the absentee Black father.  In essence, he can always be upheld as the Black exception to ‘the rule.’ 

  With the aforementioned being said, I doubt the nation will ever elect another Black President, simply because no other Black American would willingly endure what Obama has endured in nearly four years, and the mere electing of a Negroidian American only catapults the issue of race in America to the forefront of the American psyche, and I do not believe America can deal with the issue head on again.  Well, maybe for “four more years.”  See you all in November when the POTUS’ national popularity will be resurrected if only for one night.   Peace to the Righteous. 

 

                                                                                       - Gee Joyner

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bitches Ain’t Shit But Hoes and Tricks: Fear of the Black Female Voice in Hip Hop and How Dream Hampton May Have Single-Handedly Emasculated the Black Rapper

                                                            

     Rumors and truths are always revealed by those that are ‘in the know’ or have ‘private’ access to others.  Journalists, writers, and reporters or biographers are an artist’s worst nightmare. Particularly if that alleged artist may be a plagiarist-of-sorts.  One Tweet, said with so much obviousness that Samson-after-the-fall could see, has basically obliterated the authenticity of not only one Nasir ‘Nas’ Jones, but also the validity of talent and creativity in the entire realm of Rap/Hip Hop music.  Will we begin to question all of the greats or self-proclaimed greatest rappers of all time?  Via @dreamhampton, the social media audience was privy to the following post:  Dream Hampton

“I think Jay writes what he believes. Nas' "Nigger" album was largely written by Stic of dead prez and Jay Electronica @JusAire...”  

     This one tweet may have single-handedly blown the lid of authenticity off of Hip Hop/Rap music as a whole. I will not attempt to deconstruct the misognistic and gender hierarchical structure that has existed in Hip Hop, which mirrors and mimicks American society, since its inception in the late 70s and burgeoning presence in popular culture in the 80s, but I will try to defend not only Dream Hampton as a writer, author, journalist, and Hip Hop historian, but women as well who do not fear public criticism in speaking freely about social, or in this case entertainment, issues.    

    

     The potency of this tweet really struck a chord in the Hip Hop community because the one rudimentary element, atleast from a fan’s perspective, of the genre of music is that the lyricist is the verbal and written author of either their verses or their songs and for one to allege that Nas, who is considered by the consensus to be one of the all-time greats in the Rap game, had a ghostwriter to pen his album ‘Untitled/Nigger’ is mind-boggling to Rap aficionados, if not blasphemous.  How could this great poet allow another great poet to do his work for him.  It’s like the valedictorian cheating on a final exam.  Why would they need to do that?  They are already talented and respected and have cemented their place in History.

     Aside from Dream Hampton’s accusation that Nas subcontracted Stic Man of Dead Prez and Jay Electronica to write the majority of the lyrics on his ‘Untitled’ album, to which both Stic Man and Jay Electronica have publicly denied to Vibe Magazine, the more problematic circumstance is the Hip Hop community’s backlash aimed at her for this assertion.  I am not sure whether it is because she may be throwing salt in the game by causing those who use ghostwriters to now avoid that ‘artistic’ option, which in essence would cause many a ghostwriter’s plate to be a little more empty or because Hampton, a woman of color, chose to speak out.  It’s situational irony at its best:  A woman, who has been around Hip Hop’s greatest artists and minds and has been the auditory recipient of a plethora of dehumanizing and objectifying lyrics aimed at females, decided to pull Nas’ card.  I would say that is feminine empowerment to say the least. 

     Would fans of Hip Hop and Nas be as offended and blatantly disrespectful if Dream was a Black man?  Would anyone even be talking about this allegation as much?  Would Jus Blaze had stated that Hampton needed to be “bled out” as she claims he stated in an open forum to if she had been a male?  Particularly a male who could have not only verbally defended themselves or physically and, more than likely, violently retaliated against that threat.  Probably not. 

Rap music, its artists, and its audience has been subjugated to the ideological dominance of the Black male since the music’s inception, and the fact that a female had the proverbial balls to out Nas’ possible artistic plagiarism in an artform that is predicated upon authenticity and the backlash from male artists, fans, and music producers reiterates Snoop Doggy Dogg’s old adage from his ‘Doggstyle’ album that “Bitches ain’t shit but hoes and tricks.”  Maybe Snoop meant that women should not be trusted and will do anything to one-up a man and bring a tragic demise to the male species similar to a whore on the 'hoe stroll' that will rob a John and tell the police that he assaulted her,. 

     But what was wrong with what Hampton tweeted, if it was a truth?  Was she not being authentic in exposing Nas' lack of artistic effort on the 'Untilteled' album?  Why is Dream being villified by Hip Hop?  I guess she's a bitch or a 'hoe' or a trick because she told the truth on a man--even if she was doing her job as a journalist or an insider and a social commentator.   Former U.S. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm once stated, "The emotional, sexual, and psychological stereotyping of females begins when the doctor says, "It's a girl."  Well, I say to Dream, "You go, girl." (in my Martin Lawrence voice)  You have succeeded in turning Hip Hop on its head and you didn't have to physically and verbally sex yourself up like a Lil' Kim or a Foxxy Brown or a Nicki Minaj to do it either.  Your mere tweet of less than fifty words is more potent and impactful than the exhausted Rap beef.  It seems like those males in Hip Hop who are for some reason mad at Hampton for 'lying' may be the bitches, hoes, and tricks that Snoop Lion referenced almost twenty years ago.

                                                                                                      -Gee Joyner