THE NEW SLAVE MELANOMA

Whether by design or an unintended by-product of racism, the caging of black progress remains in perpetuity as we concentrate on our ‘victimhood’ as opposed to our way out, our triumph and our true independence (being unshackled by anything and everything that enslaves us).

I love the music, the marketing, the presentation and even the valor in Mr. West’s SONG, “New Slaves" but as an individual who wants the same equality and non-discriminative world that Ye is supposedly fighting for, I disagree with this approach. I’ll put it this way; Sergio Garcia did not have to apologize for suggesting that he’ll serve fried chicken to Tiger Woods at dinner. A lot of people looove fried-chicken, including Blacks so why apologize for offering food? If my buddy Mark (Italian) was coming over for lunch, I’ll probably have some pasta and ish on the menu… No one truly cares or hates Kanye for sleeping with white women and even if they do, it does not prevent it so what is the issue? He won’t be beaten or jailed for it, of this I am sure…

If Kanye wishes to better the race, he should be encouraging young blacks to stay away from negativity/slackness. There is injustice in our society and there will always be more injustice towards the less powerful (least powerful in the case of Black America). Until we put ourselves in a better position to negotiate and affect our circumstances, a thousand projected screens belling out the ills of racism is only an exercise of our sight and hearing senses.

If the ‘Chief Keef’ was frowned upon and the ‘Justus Williams’ was promoted, I find it very impossible that the CCA and DEA will be marching into our communities or HBCU’s for that matter and arresting young black men pursuing their education and dreams in order to fulfill their quota for the US prison industrial complex.

As an artist, Mr. West is unparalleled in expressive passion. I read an article that sought to justify Ye’s ‘activism’. It was a very well written piece and had enough references (mostly from Ye’s previous work) to satiate the zealous fan or one-up any doubter in Ye’s mission.  I do not doubt his mission. I just happen to have a different mindset. Obviously, I do not have the reach of Yeezus but I hope that the 10 people that read this, maybe one person can pick some positivity from my concepts.  My grandpa once told me that, if I indeed have a bighead and someone made fun of it, I should just grow a pair and keep it moving. It is provocative and it is jaw-dropping – New Slaves - but what will it truly accomplish? Some argue that we need awareness and we need to have a conversation. I say we need to let it go. Not in the sense of forgetting but in the sense of appreciating our past and using it as a motivator for the better.

I wanted to write a separate blog-post for the recent censorship hoopla surrounding certain rappers lyrics, especially that of Rick Ross and Weezy but for lack of motivation I’m making all this one big post about misplaced energies. While the overzealous women’s activist group Ultraviolet paraded the streets protesting Rick, there is a law on the books in California that essentially acquitted an actual rapist because his victim was an unwed woman. I don’t have the energy to link it but just google it. This is what I speak of – misplaced anger/energy in a direction that will yield no effective change on the injustice that caused said angst. There isn’t one solution to the plight of ‘black people’ but I think the continuous outlook of ‘us vs them’ won’t win true equality and/or independence. The world is a thinking man’s (all humans ie) game. If our real strategy for equality is to cry and vent our way with any real platform we get, we’ll always be stuck in a position of victimhood. The moment we evolve to a diverse group of people not defined by our color, even as proud of it as we remain and become fully entrenched in every aspect of society, not just sports and entertainment, we will begin to command true respect which leads to true equality. Think of it this way, the laws and policies that affect us negatively are not going to be overturned by ‘affirmative action’. When we build hospitals, schools, roads, businesses, factories, industries etc and control them, our economic power will change the way we are treated by our fellow humans. 

You may not like the Jews or have some dislike of their position in society but the fact is, they control the financial industry and from that, they influence societies bottom line, hence, public policy, enough that institutionalized racism can’t be implemented against them – they are too important – to the world economy . The concept of friends in higher places or political positions - they themselves also occupy powerful/important positions. Independence does not mean depending on your former oppressor to give you handouts or reparations or whatever you feel is owed to your people. It is about picking up from whatever they left you with and building something so valuable from it that you can trade it back to them and everyone else as a commodity – on your own terms and conditions. This is about pride and we need to redirect our pride from our prouder past (great ancestry) and use it as a platform for asserting our importance to the larger world community. 'Gimme gimme' ain't got we nowhere so let’s try a new approach. Not victimization but responsibility. This is obviously not a blanket judgment of all black people but simply an opinion or rebuttal to the school of thought that dwells on the plight of black people and constantly casts us as victims. I’m sick of being viewed as underprivileged by default due to my pigmentation and you should be too. We are more than color and it is about damn time we show it.