Uptown Notes

it’s okay, that’s where they made me at

This had me dying laughing!!!!

1) Why do folks think holding the door for me at Popeye’s or handing me a paper towel in the club bathroom deserves a tip?

2) Isn’t it a coincidence once Rev. Al starts making noise about Sean Bell his tax issues begin to make national news? And why will that deter some of ya’ll in a fight for justice?

3) Who is Black and isn’t proud of Barack Obama?

4) Who was taking note about what Barack said about the Sean Bell case?

5) How come we get tired if there are 2 “conscious songs” on the radio, but we are never tire from our feast of drug, gun, and sex talk on repeat?

6) Do you still think “radio program” is a figure of speech (shout out to DPz)?

7) Why when you get to the finish line is the starting line right behind it?

8) Why did so many people post shout outs to their Momma’s on facebook, does your momma have a facebook account?

9) Why do we keep ignoring all the “natural” disasters?

10) What are the ingredients for a perfect summer?

Okay, I’m getting really sick of reading political commentary by rappers talking about the world ending. Not that I don’t think we live in Babylon, but using the potential end of the world as a rationale for not voting is silly. If it’s going to end, go out and vote and then let it end. Two folks in particular have got me thinking on this:
Lil Wayne:

Who do you want to take the White House?

Barack, I guess, but I can’t make a real opinion. I ain’t watching no debates. I just want my people to understand that Hillary and Barack are not running for president–they running to be able to run for president. There’s a Republican party, too–we ain’t about to win, fool! A woman or a black man versus an old white dude? Fcuk no! They gonna be like, This black-ass nigga trying to come in my Oval Office? Fcuuuuuk no. The world about to end in 2012 anyway. ‘Cause the Mayans made calendars, and they stop at 2012. I got encyclopedias on the bus. The world is gonna end as we know it. You can see it already. A planet doesn’t exist: There’s no more Pluto. Planes are flying into buildings–and not just the Twin Towers, but dudes who play baseball are flying planes into buildings. Mosquitoes bite you and you die. And a black man and a woman are running for president!

DMX in XXL in March excerpted below:

So you’re not following the race. You can’t vote right?
Nope. (dumi’s note: wouldn’t this be a good time to mention felon disenfranchisement if that’s the reason he can’t vote?)

Is that why you’re not following it?
No, because it’s just—it doesn’t matter. They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do. It doesn’t really make a difference. These are the last years.

But it would be pretty big if we had a first Black president. That would be huge.
I mean, I guess…. What, they gon’ give a dog a bone? There you go. Ooh, we have a Black president now. They should’ve done that shit a long time ago, we wouldn’t be in the fuckin’ position we in now. With world war coming up right now. They done fucked this shit up then give it to the Black people, “Here you take it. Take my mess.”

Right, exactly.
It’s all a fuckin’ setup. It’s all a setup. All fuckin’ bullshit. All bullshit. I don’t give a fuck about none of that.

Political cartoon courtesy of http://www.mikhaela.net/

This Wednesday May 7th at 3pm around the city of New York, Al Sharpton is conducting a set of pray-ins to disrupt normal activity.

“The civil rights activist, who has promised to “close this city down” to protest last month’s verdict, said protesters would stage a “pray-in” Wednesday at half a dozen places in the city, including the police headquarters.”

The locations are as follows:
* Third Avenue at 125th Street;
* Park Avenue at 34th Street;
* Third Avenue at 60th Street;
* Varick and Houston Streets;
* One Police Plaza;
* 415 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn.
Hat tip to Gothamist … well, I have mixed feelings about linking there given the comments on the post. Blogs are amazing formats to display unfettered racial attitudes.

On a related note, for the folks who read this and say, “what is protesting going to do?” I think it’s important that we remember that protests are building moments in movements. Civil Disobedience, which was one of the bedrocks of the Civil Rights Movement, can still be used to raise awareness and galvanize people to a point of action. As the old saying goes, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” Our resistance cannot be confined to a moment, nor should it be defined by a moment. Look at these moments that Sharpton is facilitating as building blocks, not end points.

In the case that you haven’t had a clear discussion of Black Liberation Theology, check out this Times article (hat tip to JCP)and if you’re uptown or actually near a computer. The Schomburg is going to have a great event on May 12th from 6:30-9:30 entitled “Understanding Black Liberation Theology: A 40 Year Retrospective“. The event will feature various experts and be simulcast.

This is the diagram that sits at the entrance to the Schomburg. One of my favorites! Unfortunately they don’t have a picture available for purchase at the store, only a very expensive original print. Maybe one day they’ll make it available!

I’ve been thinking recently about “beef” in part as I watch TV, movies, or even as I sit in public places in eat. I’m really feeling Mos’ verse from What’s Beef.

Yo, Beef is not what Jay said to Nas,
Beef is when working niggas can’t find jobs.
So they try to find niggas to rob,
Try to find bigger guns so they can finish the job.
Beef is when a crack-kid can’t find moms,
cause they in a pine box, or locked behind bars.
Beef ain’t the summer Jam on Hot 97.
Beef is the Cocaine and AIDS epidemics.
Beef don’t come with a radio edit.
Beef is when the judge’s callin you defendant.
Beef, it come with a long jail sentence,
Handed down to you in a few short minutes.
Beef is when your girl come through for a visit,
talkin bout she pregnant, by some other nigga.
Beef is high blood pressure, and bad credit;
Need a loan for your home and you’re too broke to get it.
And all your little kids is doin’ is gettin bigger,
You try to not raise them around the wild niggas.
Beef is when a gold-digger got your seed in her,
A manicured hand out, like, “Pay me nigga,
Or I’m tellin your wife,
And startin up some foul rumors that’ll ruin your life.”
Beef is when a gangster ain’t doing it right,
And other gangsters then decide to do with his life.
Beef is not what these famous niggas would do in the mic,
Beef is what George Bush would do in a fight. (that’s right)
Beef is not what Ja said to 50.
Beef is Weldon Irvine not being here with me.
When a soldier ends his life with his own gun,
Beef is trying to figure out what to tell his son.
Beef is oil prices and Geopolitics;
Beef is Iraq, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip.
Some beef is big, and some beef is small,
But what y’all call beef is no beef at all.
Beef is real life, happenin every day,
And its real-er than the songs that you gave to Kayslay.
This has been a Black Star P.S.A.
From Mos Def, Pretty Flaco, Black Dante,
From the Black Star Embassy B to the K!

Remind me not to eat random food I find laying on tables… oh wait I have enough sense not to do that to start with.

If you’re in the Los Angeles area or particularly at Pomona College I’ll be doing a talk there on Thursday at noon. The flier is below, I look forward to checking out the sagehens.

… In a month or so my ears are going to bleeding. Bill Cosby, Black America’s favorite father, has decided to release a Hip-Hop album next month. Thankfully Cosby had the foresight to not rap on it … thank you God, for real! But the album will be ‘positive’. Call me the eternal cynic but there are very few rap albums that have fit this mold over the years that have been worth listening to. If you’re not wearing a dashiki, locks or flowers, I don’t want to hear it. And for all the folks who have been wondering about Cosby’s recent rantings and if they a function of “old Black man disease” then check out this Atlantic Monthly article. For the record, I think the Atlantic monthly article is interesting but really skews what conservatism means and personal responsibility is.

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. One of the most striking images I’ve ever encountered and occasionally have on my desktop is “The Soiling of Old Glory.” For me, the image captured the complex (albeit negative) emotions that surrounded busing as a solution to school segregation. While we often think of racial antagonisms as rooted in the South, these tensions were present all over the nation. The stain of racism is sometimes deepest in the parts of the country where White and Black live near, but not always next to, where we compete for resources, and where the things to be gained from hatred are the smallest. Boston, in the case of this photo, typifies that reality. Recently Slate ran a slideshow series on the image to accompany the new book on it. I don’t have the book, but I wonder could words ever capture the meanings and magnitude of this photo. I surely know I couldn’t.