History is not Black and White


As I write these thoughts, I realize that February has ostensibly become the cursory "celebration" of the contributions of Americans who happen to be black.  At best, knowledge of the legion of inventions and contributions by black scientists, astronauts, military generals, pilots, politicians, Fortune 500 CEOs, musicians, civil rights activists, engineers, doctors, entrepreneurs, attorneys, educators, inventors, writers and the perfunctory athletes and entertainers is a malingering subtext in the minds of the vast majority of Americans.  Ironically, a profound sense of sadness often accompanies this celebration of AMERICAN history because it has been relegated to the dust bins of cultural minutiae or trivia like the vast majority of programming that oozes from cable channels.

The narratives of people of color interwoven into the broader context of the jingoistic version of the shaping of this democracy are dissonant and incongruent with the goose-bumpey versions accompanied with a crescendoing rendition of "America the Beautiful" in the background.  Our place in the American tapestry from 1619 to 1865 soils the pages of the first primers issued to students with the indelible stain, stench and bastardization of the truths held to be self evident.  The Great Sin that irrefutably served as the de facto economic engine to usher in the Industrial Revolution and elevate the fledgling 13 colonies into a global economic power is an inextricable part of the history of black folks whether they choose to be identified as African American or not.

The zeitgeist that germinated the seeds of Trumpism finds the unpacking of this dolorous, multi-century chapter of moral depravity, ambiguity, ambivalence and impropriety unpalatable.  What we are essentially encouraged to do is engage in revisionist renderings of the antebellum South and re-purpose chattel slavery as indentured servitude gone wrong.  The arrested development of the Diaspora, the socioeconomic disparity and the endemic challenges seemingly domiciled within the communities formed as derivatives of Jim Crow, gerrymandering, and redlining are all fake news or more derisively a perennial playing of the race card to elevate the victim culture to an existential state of being.

In the state of Florida, there is a statutory requirement that Black History be taught as part of the schools' history courses.  In the month of February, my 10th grader's school opts to teach on the Jewish Holocaust- a popular theme because it is not a domestic tragedy.  The Native American holocaust ( 10-15 million Native Americans that occupied their indigenous territories were reduced by 90 percent); a byproduct of encroachment, removal, war and disease doesn't manage to warrant a blurb and the 10 or more million Africans that died in the trans-Atlantic slave trade during the middle passage requires a forensic search on Google because it "ain't being taught in "nam" classroom in the capital city.

The largest group of forced immigrants in this country have been loyal, patriotic and incalculably contributory for the entirety of their existence in this great nation.  The great tragedy of the yet unrealized dream of Dr. Carter G. Woodson in instituting the promulgation of black history as more than a subtext of American history is that the vast majority of citizens will never fully understand how much black lives have mattered in the development of this nation's wealth and global stature.

                                                                    Double Standard ?

On the morning of Superbowl 52, Edwin Jackson, a linebacker for the Indianapolis Colts, was killed by a drunk drinker who struck the Uber driver's car he had taken.  Unfortunately, outside of the pseudo-celebrity of being a professional football player, this tragedy would not warrant an expanded space in the bandwidth of incessant bad news that seems to clog the airwaves of almost every major network in this country.  However, this story will be re-purposed into a dystopic diatribe rife with xenophobia, nationalism and an unsavory mix of growing anti-immigrant sentiment fueled by an America First mantra that wreaks of a kind of stench directed at far too many people that don't fit the profile of the picture featured in this blog.

Every year tens of thousands of people lose their lives because good ol' American citizens get behind the wheel of a car after drinking well beyond the limits of sobriety.  Our obsession with spirits, brews, and wine has us consuming them by the millions of gallons and despite their capacity to create chemical dependence and absolutely destroy personal health and households, they are marketed with a fervor second to none.  There is nothing intrinsically evil about adult libations. Every beer commercial comes with a disclaimer to "drink responsibly" yet the built in fatality model of alcohol-related deaths associated with car crashes is kind of a given in our culture.

I am highlighting the death of Edwin Jackson by a twice-deported Guatemalan as a flash point that will be toxically politicized at the expense of a far less popular reality-death by flag-waving, stand for the National Anthem, card-carrying NRA member Americans.

James Alexis Fields, whose mugshot I feature, deliberately ran over Heather Hyer at a rally in the polemic gathering of "alt-right and "alt-left' advocates in Charlottesville.  American Naval Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry is credited with the phrase, " We have met the enemy and they are ours." America has a disdainful history of singling out the segment of its population that they believe is the source of all its societal ills.  Yet when mass murders, gross violations of the Geneva Conventions, Wall Street pilfering, industrial-scale fraud in Washington and a smorgasbord of other malfeasance is committed by Opie Taylor, there is no national outcry to form internment camps, deport or ostracize a demographic that occupies every seat of power in this country.  Our hubris, our narcissism, our rank hypocrisy makes these impassioned cries to " get them ( illegal immigrants) outta here" ring hollow.  There is an innate tone deafness when it comes to the face of criminality
in America.

Don't worry, many people are not buying the double standard!

                                                               The Religion of Sports



Two of the world's largest practiced religions have pilgrimages that reflect the sacrality of those that follow them.  For Muslims it's Mecca and for Christians it is Jerusalem.  While the United States markets itself as a Christian nation with everything from megachurches to 5 member storefronts, the single largest religious gathering in this protestant nation occurs ever year in either late January or early February-formally known as the Superbowl.

The cathedrals of this denomination are massive, city funded architectural marvels reminiscent of the temple of Solomon.  Your patronage ( tithes, offerings- read ticket price) determines how close you get to fellowship near the Holy of Holies, the resplendent artificial turf or natural grass in which the church leaders, I mean, football coaches and their disciples gather to sacrifice life and limb for a coveted touchdown followed by ecstatic shouts of glory by the congregation, I mean fans.  This sacrament is broadcast for the world to see and the fervor displayed by the attendees is something reminiscent of the day of Pentecost when the licks of fire appeared over the disciples' heads as evidence of the Holy Spirit's presence.

If you think about it, these secular pilgrims spend about as much time, same day of the week, as the religious folks in their respective places of worship.  If the sacred folks go each weekend for 2 hours( if you live below the Mason-Dixon line and are Pentecostal add at LEAST another hour) that 's approximately 104 hours a year gathered for worship/ fellowship.  NFLism, not to be confused with Pentecostalism or Methodism, is a hybrid of idol worship and pantheism, convenes for four months out of the year, 16 weekends at about four hours per gathering.  If you include the tailgating, a last supper if you will of  grilled beef, chicken and enormous amounts of adult libations before the worship service then the total amount of hours easily jumps to 192! ( 12 hours : 8 tailgating + 4 at the game X 16).

Unlike your conventional church service, the congregation is loud for the entire time they are gathered except for the national anthem ( kneeling is NOT an option). Offering is gathered online with a few industrious members (scalpers) offering "discounts" for those who chose not to render their first fruits the old-fashioned way.  The praise and worship dancers (cheerleaders) for these massive gatherings nix the frumpy stuff and hop around the sidelines, just near the inner courts, shaking what their "mama" or a skilled plastic surgeon gave them.  The fans root for what I like to call the disciples minus one.  Two teams of eleven men ( offense and defense) who themselves are deified through stats, ESPN highlights, jersey sales and for a select few, Hall of Fame induction as they defy the laws of physics with Herculean feats of strength, acrobatic catches and Olympic-caliber speed all the while possibly worrying if the compilation of their collisions will leave them with calcified deposits of plaque in their brain in the future.

You are inclined to hear quite a few congregants speaking in "tongues" ( read cuss) if their team begins to perform poorly and their consumption of spirits has gone beyond the FDA recommendations.  Unlike Mecca and Jerusalem, the Superbowl is transient with the host city feeling like it won a lottery to allow all of the family friendly and adult entertainment that accompany it to engorge its coffers with stacks of cash. You can see an equally commercialized but uncompensated disciple version of this fanfare at the NCAA football national championship which happens to now feature a program that folks in the state of Alabama would struggle to determine if their allegiance to it is greater than their local church!

So, don't get it twisted regarding what you will be watching this Sunday; a day that is a de facto national and religious holiday.  If you don't believe me, monitor the church attendance on Sunday if the Super Bowl happened to be broadcast around noon!  Dilly, dilly!