Brown vs. Black - A Story Started Way Before Ferguson

This situation is starting to become very redundant:

Black kid walking/running down the street...

Cop or some wanna-be alleged authority approaches said Black kid...

Some form of harassment occurs...

Black kid ends up dead!

Let's switch trains, something I will do throughout this post, for a few ticks. I have a love-hate for Hollywood because there is so much dysfunction there but they somehow seem to sneak a lot of truth into those movies. Denzel Washington, one of the greats, had a scene in The Great Debaters I would like to reference: The Great Debaters Clip

"Take the meanest...most restless nigger, strip him of his clothes in front of   the remaining male niggers, female niggers, and nigger infants. Tar and feather him. Tie each leg to a horse facing an opposite direction, set him on fire, and beat both horses until they tear him apart in front of the male,female,and nigger infants. Bullwhip and beat the remaining nigger males within an inch of their life. Do not kill them, but put the fear of God in them,for they can be useful for future breeding. Anybody know who Willie Lynch was? Anybody? Raise your hand. No one? He was a vicious slave owner in the West Indies. The slave-masters in the colony of Virginia were having trouble controlling their slaves, so they sent for Mr. Lynch to teach them his methods. The word ''lynching'' came from his last name. His methods were very simple,but they were diabolical. Keep the slave physically strong but psychologically weak and dependent on the slave master. Keep the body, take the mind."

The scary part about Michael Brown's murder is that after he was killed, his body lay in the street for hours uncovered for all to see. Denzel said it, "strip him of his clothes in front of the remaining male niggers, female niggers, and nigger infants....tar and feather him..." They killed that Black boy in front of all those people and left his body, putting the fear of God. 

Since 2011, a little over 7,500 people have been shot with 1442 murdered in the Chicago, mostly Southside. Since 2001, the War in Afghanistan has resulted in the deaths of 2,238 soldiers. In Washington DC, there have been 72 murders, all but 2 are Black or Hispanic deaths. Less than 5 miles outside of DC in Landover, Maryland, a 3-year old girl was shot, accidentally, by an 18-year old Black male. The killer, Davon Wallace, 25, became upset over a shirt and decided to shoot up the entire house, killing the baby girl. You can read the details here. Just so we are clear, Davon became upset over another man wearing his shirt so he pulls out an automatic weapon and shoots up an entire house.

Following the Rodney King incident in 1991, the Los Angeles riots of 1992 occurred after all the officers were acquitted. The riots tore apart the homes and businesses in the Black community even though it was White officers who beat up Rodney King. Twenty-two years later, Michael Brown is murdered and Blacks riot in the neighborhood where the shooting happened...their neighborhood. They do not riot in the neighborhood of the officer who pulled the trigger. Why?

"Keep the body, take the mind." Credibility and consistency are things, that quite honestly, the Black community lacks and it shows through our actions. There is a war going on, literally, in Southside Chicago where more people, on average, have been murdered than the War in Afghanistan. As a culture, what have we done significantly to stop this? Yes, there are individuals who have taken the initiative to do something about this genocide but what are we doing as a people? 

A baby, a 3-year old child is killed right outside the nation's capitol over a damn shirt and not a peep, not a soul said a thing. As of today, Davon Wallace has been apprehended for the murder of this child but no one seems to be "rioting" over this tragic and senseless death! Why?

Why do we (Black people) not get upset over Black-on-Black crime versus when a crime is committed against us by a White person? Why do we riot and destroy our own neighborhoods and businesses when a crime is committed against us by a White person?

BECAUSE WE DO NOT SEE THE VALUE IN OURSELVES! We do not see value because our culture has been diabolically and psychologically torn down so that we are weak and constantly dependent on the master? Who is the master? Giver you a hint, throw you a lifeline....

How are other cultures supposed to value our lives if we do not? If I am White and I am taking an objective perspective, I see Black people kill themselves without conscience and consequence but if someone else does it, it is a problem. Let's be clear, I am no way condoning murder in any way, shape, form or fashion but if we are going to riot, if we are going to demand change, let's do it with credibility and consistency. You cannot demand change in Ferguson if you do not take a stand in Chicago. You cannot demand the Stand-Your-Ground law be changed in Florida if you are not willing to do something about the bogus No Snitching "rule" that exists in our culture, in our neighborhoods. 

If a man walked up to you and called you a "nigger", would you punch yourself in the face? Well why would you destroy your own neighborhoods and burn down your own businesses when someone is killed? That makes absolutely no sense. I do not condone rioting and the destruction of anything, but if you are going to do it, let's not destroy our own but of those who trespass against us!

What is the solution? Where do we start? Our culture is psychologically weak, un-educated, and mentally under the control of others. What has to happen is a massive deprogramming that will start from the grassroots, it has to be intentional, and it has to be organized. I am talking about a major shift in the way we think, what we do, what we say, how we present ourselves, how we make and spend money, etc. 

Education - this does not just mean finishing high school, going to college, etc. We have to place an emphasis on the education of our culture and what we have done that has contributed to the success of the United States. We have to tell Nat Turner and Toussiant Louverture (Haiti) stories and how these men liberated Blacks and Haitians respectively, regular heroes. 

Presentation - grasping the concept of how we present ourselves to the world. First, PULL YOUR DAMN PANTS UP! Second, understand how you dress, how you look, how you present yourself to the world has a direct effect on how you are treated by others in the world. Is that fair, absolutely not. Is it reality, you are absolutely right! 

Media - understand how the media plays a strong role in how are culture is presented to others and how we can control what the media says about us. A great article on how the media treats White suspects and killers versus Black victims can be read here. Another example of how the media manipulates how we present ourselves can be seen here. The media manipulated the words of a four-year old! The point is, we have to understand that the media is as strong as any chain used to handcuff your wrists but, instead, they handcuff the mind. 

There are a number of areas that need to be addressed as part of the "deprogramming" process which will take years to complete. Michael Brown is one of many young men whose lives have been cut short for no reason. Why? How do we stop it? I am for one tired of all the speeches, marches, riots and articles that will continue until the next tragedy occurs. When will we attack the issue head-on and start re-building our culture so we can be consistent in our actions and methods while maintaining credibility in the eyes of others. We have to give the same attention to Southside Chicago as we do Michael Brown; we have to be as upset over the 3-year old girl in Landover as we were over Trayvon Martin. Our actions have to be, again, consistent and our message unified. 

We have to take back our minds and keep our bodies strong!

United States "Sterling" Silver

"Sometimes I dream, that he is me, like Mike, I wanna be like Mike. I wanna be, I wanna be, I wanna be like Mike!!!" I use to dream as a kid of being like Michael Jordan and then that famous Gatorade commercial came out and all you heard on the playground was, "I wanna be like Mike!" Do not really remember any fellow basketball dreamer ever yelling, "I wanna be like Donald Sterling" or "I wanna be like Jerry Buss!" Kids do not know the owners of the sports team they love, heck, sometimes the players that play on these professional sports teams do not even know who the owner is!!!

Donald Sterling, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, for like the 20th time, is in the papers, AGAIN, for being a bigot but this time he got caught on tape by his, by now, Mexican and Black Ex-girlfriend. I mean this guy...I cannot even explain it, you have to listen for yourself here. Just in case you need to be convinced he is a repeat offender:

• 2006: U.S. Dept. of Justice sued Sterling for housing discrimination. Allegedly, he said, “Black tenants smell and attract vermin.”
• 2009: He reportedly paid $2.73 million in a Justice Dept. suit alleging he discriminated against blacks, Hispanics, and families with children in his rentals. (He also had to pay an additional nearly $5 million in attorneys fees and costs due to his counsel’s “sometimes outrageous conduct.”)
• 2009: Clippers executive (and one of the greatest NBA players in history) sued for employment discrimination based on age and race.

Needless to say, Black folks are very, very upset. The day the tape was released, the Clippers had a playoff game against the Golden State Warriors in Oakland. Sterling was instructed by the NBA Commissioner, Adam Silver, not to attend the game. The players decided to play the game but in protest, they decided to not wear their warm-ups with the Clippers name on the front and wear black socks. Other teams followed suit in solidarity during their playoff match ups; both the Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls rocked black socks and headbands in support of their Clipper Brothers!

Tons of opinions have been flying and there has not been five minutes where something does not pop up on the Internet about this shameless debacle. I have had very spirited conversations about this topic with very good friends of mine and needless to say, we all have differing views and opinions on what should be done, when it should be done, and how it should be done.

The biggest opinion I have heard thus far involves the players not playing; a lot of people feel that Chris Paul and his teammates should have sat out that playoff game Saturday. The Clippers had a team meeting along with Head Coach Doc Rivers and they decided they were going to play. They were not playing for Sterling, they were playing for themselves, their coaches, their fans, for the city of L.A. Because they took the court, the players have been compared and likened to slaves on the plantation playing for the old white slave master.

There are some issues with this comparison and some questions that need to be asked and addressed. First, the concept of slavery does not exist today and it is a slap in the face to our ancestors to even dare say that multi-million dollar basketball players are slaves. The slaves, from what I understand, were beaten, never paid for their work, and were considered property that was bought and sold by slave masters. Now in defense of the comparison, the mentality of the slave master still exist. The institutional manifestation of slavery still takes form not just in professional sports but in all arenas. But to call professional athletes slaves is taking it a step too far.

Next, I love my Black people and the raw emotion and passion we exhibit especially during times like this. It makes me proud to know that people still do care and are willing to fight for what is right. It is very important to know and understand that it is okay to be emotional and to have an opinion; your opinion is not about being right or wrong, it is just important to have one. A good friend of mine passionately gave me his opinion yesterday morning on why they should have sat out Saturday. He used examples like Muhammad Ali and Jim Brown to show that today's professional athletes have no backbone and do not stand for anything. Is that a fair comparison? Are today's athletes as strong-minded, Pro-Black, and opinionated as the athletes from the 60s and 70s?

The average age of an NBA player is around 26 which means they were born in 1988. Anybody remember what it was like in 1988 and all through the 90s? For most of these kids, the most they had to worry about was the speed of their computer and how much bandwidth they could get to watch videos on their cellphones! None of these kids had to deal with real struggle like our grandparents did or have to know what it was like to play in arenas where you had "objects" thrown at you by the fans while they spit and screamed at you calling you the N-word. I would not be surprised if there were some athletes in any professional sport that have never been called the N-word! How can we compare an NBA player today to the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's of yesterday; two different times, two different NBAs, two different struggles. I would not expect Chris Paul to know or to understand how to think in a situation like this because he probably has never bee in a situation like this! But I do give these young men kudos for keeping their cool and being composed. 

Which takes me to my next point, why is it that every time a white man says or does something to Black folks, we go off and want to hurt ourselves? Let's take a look at the Rodney King case back in 1991 (by the way, there are some NBA players who were not even born when this happened) when LAPD were caught on tape beating a helpless Rodney King. After the police officers caught on tape beating Rodney were acquitted, Black folks rioted and tore up their own neighborhood. They did not take to the streets of Beverly Hills and loot the very people that actually committed the beating, no, they looted their own people? Was this suppose to stop police officers from beating Black folks in the future? No, because it still seems to happen!

I look at it like someone coming to me, looking me straight in the eyes and calling me a "nigger" and then I proceed to punch myself in the face!!! That's exactly what we do; sometimes, someone does something to us, ala Rodney King, and then we go and beat up each other? Does this make any sense? Why should the players sit out a game they love for a man who, in the grand scheme of things, cuts the checks? I understand that would show solidarity, it would show unity, it would show, maybe, that this generation stands for something. But, again, I do not think I want them to punish themselves for the ignorant words and thoughts of another man. FYI, if they did sit out, they would also not get paid their hard-earned playoff money (click here). In addition, according to the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), a player is docked 1/110th of their salary for missing an Exhibition, Regular Season, or Playoff Game. No, it is not about the money, but again, why should I hurt my pockets for what another man has said? That just does not make any sense. 

So what should be done, what can be done? First, we have to establish what the goal is, what do we want to see as the end result? A lot of times we react off of emotion and do things that do not make any sense and do not change the behavior or thoughts of the people who actually sparked the controversy in the first place. My goal is to not punish the players, but to punish Donald Sterling? How do we go about punishing a billionaire? 

You hit them where it hurts? In the pockets! You take away what they love which is the game of basketball; you take away the Los Angeles Clippers.

Suggestion #1 (a personal favorite)

Head Coach Mark Jackson of the Golden State Warriors suggested that the fans should boycott game 5 at the Staples Center. He then went on to say, "I have an idea that's even better...If I was a white person in LA holding a ticket to game 5, I would find any and every black person I could find and sell my ticket to...Fill every seat in the arena with African Americans while Sterling sits in the front row and they all stare at him. Homies for days in the arena!!!" I love this suggestion by Coach Jackson. If the fans boycott the games, this cuts off ticket revenue. An arena full of Black people would just be CLASSIC!

Suggestion #2

Donald Sterling is removed as an owner. Now this is a very, very slippery slope and if you have been following the comments of Dallas Mavs owner, Mark Cuban, he makes some great points. The NBA Constitution is confidential and not available to the public but some who have access to it have leaked and commented on what the NBA Commish, Adam Silver, and the rest of the league owners can do. Article 35 allegedly gives Adam Silver the power to levy a sanction that would require Donald Sterling to sell the team. Other lawyers are arguing that the "broad powers" of Article 35 do not apply to Sterling's situation. Here is Article 35, you be the judge. 

Michael McCann of SI.com reports that "The NBA's constitution reportedly contains language permitting owners to authorize the league to sell a team without an owner's consent. The language only covers very limited circumstances and these circumstances concern league finances--namely, when an owner can't pay his bills. There is reportedly no language authorizing the NBA to sell a team because of an owner's hurtful remarks or embarrassing behavior. Even if conditional language could be construed to authorize a forced sale of the Clippers, NBA owners would likely be reluctant to do so given the precedent it would set."

I am sure you are asking why would ANY NBA owner be reluctant to push another owner out like Donald Sterling? This is the slippery slope I am referring to; at the very core of this whole controversy, we have a woman who secretly recorded a conversation that went viral. Did we not just go nuts over the NSA and how they were spying on American citizens illegally? What is the difference between what the girlfriend did and what the NSA did? At least the NSA can say they were doing it to protect Americans, the girlfriend just wants money! If the NBA team owners all got together and removed another owner, their brother (because it is a fraternity), for essentially voicing his own thoughts that he did not know were being recorded, we are tinkering on privacy rights while stomping on major parts of the United States Constitution. Regardless of what he said, Donald Sterling has every right to be a bigot, it is not a crime to be racist in America. But we do have laws that protect the privacy of every citizen. As an owner, they have to think about how this could be turned and use on them one day. 

Suggestion #3

There is a way the owners can be taken off the hook for the removal of Donald Sterling. It would require all the players of the NBA to get together and demand their respective owners to vote to get rid of Sterling and if they don't, they will not play next year. That would mean that there would not be an NBA next season and that would affect the pockets of all the NBA owners. Right now, just about every NBA owner has come out and voiced their position and all have said they do not support the Sterling in any way, shape, or form. If that is the case, the players should make the owners put their money where their mouth is; they should go on strike for the 2014-2015 NBA season until Donald Sterling is forced to sell the team. You can take it a step further and demand that the NBA sell to a Black man, preferably Magic Johnson. Not one NBA team is owned by a Black man and maybe it is about time, well, the perfect time, for that to change.

Sometimes I dream...sometimes I do dream that one day we will use the power that we do have and use it in a manner that does not hurt ourselves but hurts those that trespass against us!!!