A potential scandal in Greensboro no leaders are talking about--at least not yet

Well, what do we have here? Looks like another Flint is happening at our footsteps. If it smells like environmental racism, that because it is.

Is that supposed to be the price for a stinking megasite that is 20-25 miles southeast of Greensboro? Oh, and politicians being unresponsive to their constituents' needs. Where have I heard that story before? Do you all get what I said over three years ago about Greensboro being a model oligarchy now?

As far as the news media go, lower your expectations, folks. Triad City Beat is on its way out, so they won't even have the resources to cover this story after the 28th. Yes Weekly is the only possible remaining outlet that would be in the certain column. Maybe the public radio outlets but if certain people in D.C. get their way, those budgets could be slashed significantly. The establishment news outlets? Only if there's enough outrage. The official paper of record is a zombie outlet at this point. Which leaves the Rhino. Even though there has been a change in ownership, that publication does not have Southeast Greensboro as a primary demographic. 

 

2016: The Year in White Privilege

Given that white nationalists are empowered by Trump's election to the White House, a recap of enraging events that showed that this sector just couldn't handle one term of a black man in the Oval Office, let alone two.

Spring

• Harper published an admission by a Nixon aide that the "war on drugs" was, in fact, racially motivated
• Speaking of drugs, black people are being shut out from selling legal marijuana in Colorado due to drug war era laws
• There was a lot of outrage from white America over Harambe the Gorilla in Cincinnati at the end of 2015 but practically none a few months later when an alligator killed a two year old at a Disney resort
• The Stanford rapist aka Brock Turner's laughable sentence. His dad yapping about Turner's "20 minutes of action" was beyond reprehensible. There's also the possibility that Judge Aaron Persky may have cited "political correctness" in sentencing Turner to six months

Summer

• Gabby Douglas got blasted for not placing her hand over her hart when the national anthem was played for the women's gymnastics team while two men's shot putters who also failed to place their hands over their hearts after one of them won received no reaction from the same people who ripped the gymnast 
• The idiotic blogger who denounced swimmer Simone Manuel for making truthful comments
• Ryan Lochte essentially got rewarded for his bad behavior by getting that Dancing with the Stars slot
• This sicko in Iowa

Fall

• The whole DAPL-Standing Rock drama 
• Members of the tribe were treated harshly on the same day an Oregon court acquitted members of a militia who illegally occupied land further west

The only good thing that happened was the fact that the Supreme Court didn't allow a mediocre student to dismantle affirmative action in late June.

ADDED 1/7/17: Let's not also forget the heroin epidemic. When it hit black neighborhoods in the '70s, the response was "lock 'em up"but now, when white neighborhoods suffered the same fate in recent years, everybody talked about treatment and needle exchanges.

More food for thought

I first did this post of random thoughts during a rough time for the Wolfpack basketball program almost five years ago, and I've brought it back because the NC State team is struggling and will likely miss the Big Dance for the first time since 2011 and I need a diversion.

First up is the neverending drama with Downtown Greensboro Incorporated. Last month, it was revealed that the embattled organization will be getting competition. I say, good because the truth is that old saying about downtown Greensboro being a strip is spot on. When most people think about the Gate City's central business district, South Elm Street gets top billing and DGI's focus has been on that particular street and certain businesses that are a block or two west of South Elm while other parts of downtown might as well not even exist. Speaking of NC State and letdowns, the current DGI president and his immediate predecessor...Yeah, as an alumnus of that fine institution, I want nothing to do with either guy. Also, check out the EZ Greensboro and Dang blogs to show just how much of a mess DGI really is, contrary to the local fluff pieces.

Second topic is cola alternatives to Coke and Pepsi. In the Raw Cola is good for what it is but nothing special. Sure it has stevia, but it also has caramel color. When it comes to natural cola alternative to the Big Two, I'll stick to Virgil's.

My final topic is the all-white Oscars for the second year in a row. I will say this: "Creed" was the victim of a major screwjob but "Straight Outta Compton" was not. The latter centered around a rap group that served a backlash to the revolutionary attitude of rappers of the late '80s and early '90s. It may be time for black actors and filmmakers to completely go off the reservation by building up our own studios and selecting another location to set up "the black Hollywood" of the 21st century because it seems that Hollywood only cares about blacks when it's about slavery, segregation, or something that stereotypically paints us in a bad light.

Black political tuneout?

For all of the talk about how much progress blacks have made, we surely have seen lots of rollbacks over the last six years.

Oh, you didn't know? Let me count the ways:

• Deliberate reversals of Civil Rights Era voting measures


• Open season on black males courtesy of stand your ground laws and legalized police brutality


• Nonindictments of police officers in Ferguson and on Staten Island after they killed unarmed black men


• A growing acceptance of whites using racist language--coded and overt


• This year's all-white Oscars in the only categories much of the public cares about


• "Selma" getting dissed for allegedly not "playing the game"


It could be very possible that once the current POTUS leaves the White House, blacks completely tune out of the political process. Of course, the big difference between the post-2017 and 1877-1965 periods is that the former would be a (mostly) voluntary disengagement as opposed to the Jim Crow Era's poll taxes, literacy tests, and death threats.

What would the impact of such black separatism have on society in general? For me, a potential negative could mean that blacks could have more animosity towards outsiders.

On the other hand, there are two upsides: First, the black infrastructure could be rebuilt. Rather than relying on false imagery like bling, tomorrow's black youth could look up to the Black Wall Streets of the 21st century as a way of getting rich. Second, political separation could provide a chance for the black community to "clean up" so to speak. Neither the promotion of anti-black ratchet music nor illegitimacy would be tolerated if there were strong black leadership.

And the Oscars are out

So, everyone's buzzing about what happened with the Oscars nominations--namely that there was a dearth of black nominees. At this point, why should anyone be surprised? After all, this is the same industry that once listed an overtly racist film in its top 100.

Do Denzel Washington playing a crooked cop in Training Day, Halle Berry sleeping with an old white man in Monster's Ball, the praise over movies like 12 Years a Slave, and "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" winning an Oscar for Best Original Song have anything in common? These movies all have black people in stereotypical or subordinate roles for which there were lots of critical acclaim. That the people behind Selma failed to send screener DVDs to the voters and the uproar over how LBJ was portrayed by the 37th president's apologists as may have been the movie's undoing is really a sign to me that there's still a lot of old boy club mechanisms at work.

My comments on TCB about the ICRM fiasco and more

The question was "Do you support the city taking over the Intl. Civil Rights Center & Museum?"

My comments:
I selected unsure because the spat has quickly turned into a battle between two elite cliques–the old money types and the east Greensboro power brokers. I remember when the city operated the Generals and how disastrous that was as said team folded one year after the takeover when nobody would step up to own the hockey team. I don’t know that a city takeover would be any better than what has happened for most of the museum’s existence.

On the other hand, how many times was the ICRM’s opening delayed due to whatever excuse Skip & Earl came up with? It’s clear to me that what happened to Lacy Ward was akin to Pat Riley pushing Stan Van Gundy out of Miami: Ward was turning the ICRM’s fortunes around and the two cofounders were jealous about that.

Expanded section (not on the site)
Skip & Earl represent an even bigger problem: They are perpetually stuck in the '60s. This mindset is also the reason why blacks of my generation and younger continually shut them out. For another thing, these old school leaders aren't interested in passing the torch to new blood and then they wonder why younger blacks are disengaged.

The decision to fire Ward wasn't about him adding members, it was about the fact that an outsider was running the ICRM much better than the so-called leaders could ever have.

Racial politics in NC

Given that North Carolina is home to the only coup in American history, it's quite understandable why blacks don't want anyone else interfering in our political matters. That said, it's up to us to hold elected officials accountable when they become ineffective.

Greensboro
In 2007, there was a failed recall effort against District 1 Councilwoman T. Dianne Bellamy-Small which ended up saving her political career.

High Point
Last year, the six white councilmembers ganged up on Mayor Bernita Sims and Ward 2 Councilman Foster Douglas due to the former's legal trouble and the latter's unwillingness to pay legal fees to the city.

The real issue is competence
Those were two examples of the black community giving politicians a pass. If I recall correctly, wasn't blogger Ben Holder the driving force behind the recall petition? In any case, the tactic backfired and Bellamy-Small remained in power for another six years when she was very likely en route to a defeat after two terms because she was at odds with Greensboro's black establishment. Bellamy-Small was known for her belligerence, refusal to get along with other councilmembers, and not getting any meaningful legislation passed in her decade as a councilwoman.

But because Holder--or whoever--made the push to oust Bellamy-Small and ex-Councilwoman Florence Gatten's attacks in early to mid 2007 (Note: all Gatten had to do was to keep her mouth shut and Milton Kern would have never made it to November since it would have been Johnson-Gatten), black power brokers and ordinary East Greensboro residents alike perceived things from the viewpoint that "those white people are interfering in our business" and turned conventional wisdom on its head until Sharon Hightower ousted Bellamy-Small last year.

Unlike the Gate City, the Furniture City's black establishment and Old Money factions have showed no real signs of being in tandem, so there could have been a deep racial divide that would've taken a long time for High Point to heal.

Months before that failed effort to oust Sims, the odds of her being reelected weren't good based on the City Council's efforts to move municipal elections back to odd-numbered years and reinstate primaries (it'll now be up to us voters to decide). Given that both attempts passed along racial lines (6-3), Sims could have gotten some real big sympathy votes if she had run for a second term--not to mention the racially charged quotes mentioned in the Yes! Weekly article.

Instead of being humbled by her personal events, Sims said this:

If it wasn’t for pursuing that seat, I probably would have run again, and I feel very comfortable that I probably could have won again. I don’t have any doubts about that

Running for a State Senate seat in 2016? How about getting your personal house in order before resuming (what's left of) your political career, lady? I voted for her in 2012 but wouldn't have done so this year if she were even more delusional into running for a second mayoral term.

A pivotal moment for hip hop culture

Commercial rappers have to change their tone starting now. Daveed Nelson and Jason Whitlock were right to denounce the overall state of hip hop. What has passed for hip hop in the last 17 years is heavily tilted in favor of negative stereotyping—which may have not only led to George Zimmerman getting away with murder but Zimmerman’s supporters resorting to ugly tactics to demonize Trayvon Martin and black people in general. Over the last decade, rap music has heavily focused on the negatives—bling, thugging it up, treating women as sex objects, glorifying illegitimacy, excessive drug use. As long as blacks go along with what the ratchet rappers are selling, then, the stereotyping of blacks by other races will continue. Yet, there has been a bit of backlash to the Whitlock column locally (a nighttime DJ and a gossip reporter were both bemused by Nelson’s statements) and nationally (two allhiphop.com postings that paint Nelson as out of touch and another member of the Last Poets distancing himself from Nelson’s comments).

Young Jeezy and Pharaohe Monch were the first two rappers out the gate with post verdict songs last Monday. I’m not concerned with underground artists following the latter’s lead, it’s the mainstream acts keeping up with Jeezy that concerns me. They need to stop rapping about strip clubs, pill popping, and cars and they need to start addressing the ills of the black community and work with bona fide leaders to provide logical solutions.

I am tired of the hip hop community refusing to either give or receive constructive criticism while making excuses for the way things are in today’s rap scene because it is a disgrace that there is no more originality on commercial radio today. Rather than defending the status quo, these people need to listen for themselves. While the worst features of black America continue to be exported to Africa, Africans—for the time being anyways—continue to reject materialistic rap music while using rap to address various issues in their countries and on the continent. Speaking of which, it’s a telling sign that even artists from the motherland have called out their much richer American counterparts.

Given hip hop culture’s short attention span, it has to seize the opportunity that it has to reshape how other races should look at us as a race. If the Trayvon tributes/Zimmerman dissing songs are forgotten a year from now rather than being a catalyst for change, then rap music will deserve to go the way of jazz (once prevalent but now treated as a novelty) or disco (its original form long dormant).

How Hip Hop Culture Lives Up to Anti-Black Stereotypes

"Everything old is new again"
Peter Allen

The above quote can most certainly be applied to hip hop culture because it has moved backwards in the last two decades. I will now dissect the modern comparisons that were once used by bigots to denigrate blacks from the 19th century to the Civil Rights Movement.

Here are the four most common stereotypes being replicated today:
1. Blackface. Racists don't need to lampoon black people when rappers are experts at doing it. Countless songs and videos feature these artists cooning it up. Flavor Flav's VH-1 show was just the tip of the iceberg.

2. Sambo. Portrayals of lazy, irresponsible, and carefree people are very common on songs and in videos.

3. Mandingo Negro. Rappers endlessly brag about how many women that they have slept with, exhibit sexual bravado in the form of being a "player," and love using phallic (about themselves) or gluteal (about their conquests) descriptions.

4. Sapphire. Online videos on YouTube and websites like World Star Hip Hop show loud-mouthed women cutting men down to size.

My response: What is the black community going to do to combat these horrible stereotypes?