Thirty minute comedies often fall into two generic tropes—cheesy family-funny or slap-stick funny. And with Mike Epps as a part of the initial cast of Survivor’s Remorse, I was expecting either a “just another day in the life of Day Day” from Next Friday or a clumsy “I’m safe but not safe for the kids” Uncle Buck. Instead Mike Epps’ character, Uncle Julius, has been the catalyst for this season’s heaviest topics—like death.
Current Black intellectuals tend to skew to the liberal side of things. From the ancient thoughts of Cornel West (tuh!) to the Millennial-enticing Ta-Nehisi Coates, Melissa Perris-Harry, Michelle Alexander and Marc Lamont Hill, these modern philosophers tend to skew far left compared to the general African American community. Why? I don’t know. Maybe because “centrist” intellectuals become doers ascending to the highest political position in the land while liberal/“progressive” intellectuals become commentators. (Shade intended.) But that’s another subject for another time. What I would like to focus on is Marc Lamont Hill’s plea for a third party to shock our current political landscape—or what is mistakenly characterized as a “political revolution.” Is a third party necessary? What will it take for this “political revolution” to succeed? There are several fallacies with this notion of a third-party revolution.
The Democratic National Convention ended. We dreaded anticipated President Barack Obama’s farewell speech, and we looked for some sign of humanity from Robot 476469-10 aka Hillary Rodham Clinton (HRC). Did she succeed? Did the Obama-Clinton coalition solidify their legacy in American Politics?
So, the RNC is doing what they normally do. Using religion, racism and homophia to scare people into voting for them. They pulled out all the typical phrases “we’re the party of Lincoln,” “we freed the slaves” and what not. Then there were the typical “I have a black friend” tokens—Sheriff David Clarke and some pastor. (File this pastor under the folder “False Prophets” next to Pat Robertson. The guy who prophe-lied and said God told him Mitt Romney would be president.) They even named Omarosa, the perpetual troll, the Director of “I have two black friends” Outreach or some other bullshit titular role. Too bad they didn’t pay attention to how the RNC put Allen Keyes and Michael Steele (one of the few reasonable Black Republicans) out to pasture. The only speeches worth listening to were from the co-founder of PayPal (he pulled their card) and believe it or not, Donald Trump‘s children. (I refuse to believe Donald Trump raised those children and not some nanny of color named Bula Mae or Maria Manuela Lopez. “There goes my African American.”)
Charlie Neibergall/AP
At this point, there’s nothing more that Bernie Sanders can do to be President. After winning the delegate count and popular vote, Hillary Clinton has officially been endorsed by the beloved Senator Elizabeth Warren, Vice President Joe Biden and President Barack Obama. Yet, Bernie is still pushing forward. Just when you think his campaign is gone, he flares up like a bad case of herpes. Now, there’s much speculation about what will Bernie do next. I have a few suggestions. Here are some things Bernie Sanders can do post the democratic primary.
Source: DZ
There’s been a plethora of Prince tributes that have floated around the Internet, with the most beautiful one coming from Erykah Badu. In her tribute, she recalled her many interactions with The Purple One. One of those was when her mother asked Prince to sign a copy of his Dirty Mind album. He protested. “He wasn’t into that no mo.” This is the side of Prince that has been ignored since his passing. I could write a lot about his musicianship. He has over 500 songs to pull from. I can write a lot about his hidden sense of humor. He spent over 15 minutes ribbing Morris Day (on drums) and calling his Ex “Cloreen Bacon Skin.” Or I could go for the obvious and write about his gender-bending style. But there’s one aspect of Prince that intrigues me the most that is often overlooked. It is this duality he had when it came to spirituality and sexuality.
I recently ran across a video by media mogul Nick Cannon titled “Too Broke to Vote.” There was Nick Cannon a young black man, draped in American regalia standing in front of an election poll painting our current political landscape. In essence, he was insinuating that America’s current voting process is bought and/or pre-determined and that choosing between any candidate…you’re…well…the word that rhymes with STUCK. These words sound good to the ears, but is it actually true? Are we too broke to vote? Although this may sound good, there are some fallacies in this argument, which is often the sign of a pseudo-intellectualism. As one YouTuber commented, “nonobjective cynicism is sheer laziness.” Now, I’m not criticizing Nick Cannon’s artistic expression. He may very well just be expressing a sentiment and may very well cast his ballot come November. But bullshit is very delectable to bullshitters. You can roll it around in powdered sugar to make it appear more delectable. It’s still nothing more than sweet bullshit.
In case you haven’t heard already, BuzzFeed published a video with a list a questions for black people from black people. The video was a bunch of questions that can basically be reduced to, “Why you make us look bad in front of white people?” As explained before, this is another form of intra-racism but from the perspective of a black kid raised in or trying to catapult themselves into suburbia. You know…a classist paradise.
If you’re a black person climbing the economic, you’ve probably encountered White Liberal Racism. This form of racism is less “I hate Black people” and more like “Black people are interesting, let me save them” racism. This form of racism isn’t always apparent. Often buzzwords like “microagressions” or “cultural appropriation” are used to describe them. You’ll encounter White Liberal Racism a lot more now with the ascension of Senator Bernie Sanders. Enter condescending rhetoric on why black people should support Bernie Sanders or even more condescending rhetoric on why black people are voting for Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. This brand of White Liberal Racism often falls into two basic stances. “Black people are less educated. Therefore, they don’t know what’s best for them.” “How dare you vote against your own interests as an African-American woman. I expected you would be smarter than that,” as witnessed by Democrat superdelegate Akilah Ross Ensley. You may think Clementine from the creative department can’t possibly be racist. He drives a Volvo. Supports gay marriage. Is an environmentalist. And most of all, HE BARACKED THE VOTE…TWICE. Yet, he’s a white male that gauges his privilege for the “less fortunate” as long as the “less fortunate” remain “less fortunate” than he is. But enough on Berniesplaining. White liberal racism isn’t anything new. What is more dangerous is White Liberal Racism masked by Black and Brown skin.
Yesterday, I read a passage from Sista Souljah‘s Midnight: A Gangster Love Story. Midnight, the protagonist, is doing a favor for his friend Bangs and begins a conversation with her grandmother about the father of Bangs’ child. Bangs told Midnight that the father of her child was killed in an accident. However, the grandmother, in defense, slipped and mentioned that the father is actually her son. Bangs, barely a teenager, had a child by her alcoholic uncle. The grandmother deflected the situation, “And we don’t talk about that in here.” A notion to leave the past in the past and to never bring it back up again.