West Virginia racists against Obama, Obama’s Black vote, and the state of Hip Hop

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Yep, this article is able to link them all together.

First up we have this video of West Virginians being interviewed in regards to the Democratic Primary held there:

1. There are people who still think Obama is Muslim

2. There are people who think Obama isn’t American

3. There are people who think being president is about reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (which Obama does know by the way)

4. There are people who don’t want a Black president REGARDLESS of his stances on the issues and would rather vote for McCain, when they are a Democrat, as a result.

Read more

No Soul Train Awards this year

Say it ain’t so. I just read a Reuter’s article about how the Soul Train Awards are not happening this year. Check out the first line of the article that is very disturbing:

It’s the end of the line for the Soul Train Music Awards, which have largely been ignored by the African-American stars the event aims to honor.

(emphasis added)

That is truly disheartening that this generation of African American musicians are literally ignoring the Soul Train awards.

The article mentions that most of the winners did not show up to last year’s awards.

Ouch.

I bet every single one of them were at the BET awards (which I suspect will begin having a “video hoe of the year” soon).

Here comes Baracky!

Today is the Pennsylvania Democratic Primary. Everyone in that state needs to get out and vote because this primary has gone on too long. Hillary Clinton literally has no chance of winning even if she wins the state today.

The numbers just are not there.

So in celebration of Barack Obama, check out the below video. When I first started watching it, I was expecting to laugh, however, something else happened…

I GOT HYPED

Nubian Waves edition of The Erace Racism Blog Carnival

The Erase Racism Carnival is a collection of blog posts dedicated to creating a world free of racism. The Carnival is published around the 20th of every month.

If you would like to submit a post written by you or someone else or host the carnival, check out the home of the Erase Racism Carnival for more information.

With that said, here are the posts for this edition of the Erase Racism Blog Carnival:

• Thugs are the new Uncle Toms - You are familiar with the term, it has been used as the other ultimate insult to Black folk - ‘uncle tom’. It is time to revisit the definition. [NubianWaves.com]
• Chinue Tao Hashim 1977-1998 - “I remember thinking that I had always heard that key phrase “police shoot unarmed black suspect”–but this time, I was working among the people who understood these events intimately. It wasn’t a political rally or TV show. It was Cynthia’s son.” [Daisy’s Dead Air]
• 2007 The Year in Race, Ethnicity, and Racism: The Top 10 List of the Most Fashionable Racial Trends - [AllyWork]
• 1512: Hatuey, defied Spanish colonization - “On this date in 1512, the Taino Indian cacique Hatuey was burned alive at Yara, Cuba — the prototypical martyr of heroic resistance against the centuries of colonial onslaught to come.” [Executed Today]
• America’s Next Top Model calls Black History Month racist - I included this, not because of the old news regarding Adrianne Curry’s involvement, but because the article breaks down the history of Black History Month and why it is still needed. [Nubian Waves]
• Race, Gender, Politics and Employment Law - “Two issues that have crept into the campaign and also find themselves well-established in the workplace and employment law are race and gender. ” And also - Lynch, Noose, Golf and Employment Law [HR Hero]
• Obama falsehoods examined - [Bite My Words]
• For Allies: How “gender trumps race” plays out in the real world - “I just wanted to point this out so that those who are committed allies to women of color can see plainly and clearly what women of color are talking about when they say that they have serious issues with how they are written out of ‘feminism’ and ‘justice’.” [Brown Femi Power]
• Color Blind Love-A Look At Interracial Relationships - “It seems rather silly to me that a black man and white woman, or black woman and white man, should have any more difficulty maintaining a healthy loving relationship than anyone else.” [Telling it like it is]
• Feminism still isn’t for black women - “There’s been this running patter from famous feminist authors as Obama collects delegates that essentially says that black women should be voting with their vaginas and not with their skin color.” [The Angry Black Woman]
• The Racial and Economic Politics of Babywearing - “According the Wikipedia, babywearing is the practice of carrying your child in a sling or other type of carrier.” [Anti-Racist Parent]
• We All Walk in Different Shoes: Kenneth Cole’s New Campaign Steps Ahead - “So as thousands of designers and modeling agencies around the globe continue to reject models of color, of size, or of varied physical abilities, Cole has provided his buying audience, or even those who just stop to admire the advertisements as art pieces, the opportunity to judge beauty for themselves.” [Racialicious]
• If Hip-Hop Is Dead, Why is The N-Word Still Kicking? - “I’m still thinking about why a person would reject the word black and self-identify as a nigga. (No “er” for those of y’all keeping track.)” [Racialicious]
• Dr. King - an example of taking charge of your beliefs - “This article is going to recognize Dr. King in a different context - beliefs.” [Nubian Waves]
• The Wrong Kind of Asian - “Apparently I was the first Asian Rick had ever seen in real life - up close and personal.” [Anti-Racist Parent]
• How to suppress discussions of racism - I LOVE this article because it is so true. Race deflectors have been using these tactics for years. [Coffee and Ink]
• Slavery continued until 1961 for Wall family - “I just got finished reading about this and did some research myself to make sure it was true - and true it is.” [Nubian Waves]

As you can see I posted links to blogs covering different aspects of race. That is just an example of how race isn’t a clear cut issue.

Get to reading and discussing!

Thugs are the new Uncle Toms

You are familiar with the term, it has been used as the other ultimate insult to Black folk - ‘uncle tom’. It has been around ever since the character, Uncle Tom, made his appearance in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s anti-slavery novel, ‘Uncle Tom’s Cabin‘.

Side note: The Uncle Tom character in the novel has long been debated as whether or not he was a noble hero or the proverbial ‘uncle tom’. This article ignores the debate and focuses on the use of the term today.  Also, the person pictured is Josiah Henson (his autobiography may have inspired Stowe’s title character, Uncle Tom).

The term uncle tom is generally used to insult African Americans whose political views or allegiances are viewed by critics as being detrimental to other blacks. In addition to seeming as being subservient to White America.

It is time to revisit that definition.

Why not add the word “actions”?

It would now be read like this - the term is generally used to insult African Americans whose political views, allegiances, or actions are viewed by critics as being detrimental to other blacks.

That opens up a new can of uncle tommery (yeah, I just made that up). If you add the word “actions” to the general idea, then you start seeing a lot of Black folks that are doing things that a detrimental to other blacks.

We tend to harbor this huge amount of disdain for those who “sell out” or “live to serve White folks”, but what about those people who are destroying our community and reinforcing negative images?

Rappers

Yeah, you know I had to bring them up. Now I have to say that I am a hip hop head and love the likes of A Tribe Called Quest, The Roots, Common, and underground cats like Jean Grae, MF Doom, Jazzy Jeff, and of course the beat mastery of J-Dilla.

Even though there are rappers that are producing phenomenal music, there are also those who are producing crap. You know, the music filled with the usual talking points: violence, sex, alcohol, and misogyny.

No one with a straight face can say music like that impacts the community in such a massively positive way that you would start reciting poems every morning about rainbows.

So with that said, why aren’t rappers who are negative influences regarded as uncle toms as well?

Street Thugs

Yeah, you know them - the carbon copies of what you see in music videos. The ones who think respect is gained by pulling a gun on someone or fighting someone over shoes. Those who think that the only way to make it in this world is through the misery of other Black folks.

Yep, you guessed it - shouldn’t they be considered uncle toms as well?

I’ve had a gun pulled on me twice in my life time and it is not fun. The first time, the guy got a chain and the second time the group (yes, group) got about fifty cents and a hat. I was a teenager when those instances happened and I was robbed by other teenagers. (Side note: what makes broke teens think they are going to get a dope pay day by robbing other broke teens??)

Those who feel the need to recite rap lyrics in public to feel ‘hard’ - and similar situations

This happened to me the other day on the subway. This dude was sitting a few seats down from me and was listening to his Ipod. The guy barely knew the lyrics he was reciting, but he knew the buzz words handily (the cuss words, anything talking about how he is going to rob someone, etc.)

It was all a show to let people know around him that he was ‘hard’. That he was not someone ‘to be messed with’.

Whenever this happens I just want to yell at the person and tell them to shut up because it makes you angry and embarrassed at the same time. If you are not familiar with this scenario, rent the Chris Rock movie, “I Think I Love My Wife”, and wait for the elevator scene where the guy gets on rapping and Chris Rock, in embarrassment, moves to the back of the elevator.

Yeah, so people who choose to spread the buffoonery - why aren’t they regarded as uncle toms?

In Conclusion

I can go on and on listing things that could be seen as uncle tomish, instead, I am going to leave you to do that in the comments.

I know there are social factors at work when it comes to the behavior of my brothas and sistahs. However, there were social factors at work 50 years ago and we chose to enlighten and empower ourselves. Why can’t that happen today?

Change happens when you choose to make change yourself. If we choose to stay in the same mindset, we will never move forward.

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