Category: Culture

February 6 Jesse Jackson

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Jesse Jackson

 

 

“Both tears and sweat
are salty, but they render a different result. Tears will get you sympathy;
sweat will get you change.”

-Jesse Jackson

 

 

In the last decade or so, the Reverend Jesse Jackson has
become caricatured for having a complicated personal life and making an absurd
statement about Barack Obama. However the 21st century image of
Jackson I’ll remember is this one.  The
picture doesn’t reflect the elation of a typical Obama supporter. The picture
represents an outpouring of emotion from a man who spent his entire adult life fighting
on the front lines of America’s race battles. And, in this picture, we can see
Jesse Jackson watching Barack Obama complete the journey Jackson began himself.

 

People often forget that Jesse Jackson was a civil rights
prodigy. While only in his mid-20s, Jackson became a trusted adviser to Martin
Luther King Jr., helping run Operation Breadbasket in Chicago and planning
national strategies. In the famous photo of the Lorraine Motel balcony upon
which King was assassinated, Jackson is one of the men surrounding King.

 

During the 1970s, Jackson worked to fill the void left by
King’s death and became the most prominent advocate for Black interests.
Jackson attempted to meld the interests of the old guard civil rights
community, the developing Black middle class and Black Power radicals by
emphasizing Black culture, pride, self-reliance and community. He also helped
develop the model of Black Expos which expanded into other communities across
the country.

 

Jackson’s obituary will most prominently highlight his 1984
and 1988 Presidential campaigns. Jackson was the first Black candidate to run a
national Presidential campaign that featured electoral successes.* Jackson did
so well in 1984 that eventual Democratic nominee Walter Mondale felt compelled
to choose someone who was not a White male in an effort to capture potentially
disaffected Jackson voters.#   

 

Even after failing to win the Presidency, Jackson stayed
engrossed in national politics, serving as Washington, DC’s shadow senator. Now,
the prodigy has become one of the elder statesmen of Black America; receiving
Jackson’s blessing is still greatly valued. He’s one of the strongest links between
the struggles of the Civil Rights Movement and the glories of an America in
which a Black person is President.

 

Today I am grateful for Jesse Jackson. You should be too.

 

 

FDO

 

 

*- Shirley Chisholm ran an inspiring campaign in 1972 but
never gained any traction. Chisholm demonstrated tremendous courage during her
short lived race and survived at least three assassination attempts.

#- His choice of Geraldine Ferraro was poorly received.

 

 

February 5 W. E. B. DuBois

 

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for W.E.B. DuBois

 

 

“The problem of the
twentieth century is the problem of the color line.”

 

-W.E.B. DuBois

 

 

This quote is from “The Souls of Black Folk”, one of the most
important articulations of the possibilities and struggles of Black people in
America. In it, DuBois coined the term “double consciousness”, creating a
concept that retains currency in Black communities a century later.  


W.E.B. DuBois provided us so many contributions that he’s
nearly impossible to characterize. He was a prolific author, renowned educator,
social activist, political philosopher and prominent anti-colonialist. In his
remarkably long life, DuBois served as a bridge between the worlds of Frederick
Douglass and Martin Luther King Jr.  


Early in his career, DuBois helped Blacks to shift away from
Booker T. Washington’s focus on schooling to learn skilled trades toward a
focus on academic knowledge based education.  His encouragement of artistic and cultural
accomplishment combined with his concept of a “Talented Tenth”* made DuBois a primary
inspiration for the Harlem Renaissance.


While it seems odd now, Dubois died as something of a social
outcast. This was largely because his politics were considered too radical by
mainstream Black Americans. By the early 1960s, he’d become convinced that Pan-Africanism
was the best way for American Blacks to respond to racial oppression in the U. S.
 In much of his writing and thinking,
DuBois anticipated and inspired the Black Power movement.  


DuBois is best known today as one of the founders of the
NAACP and Niagara Movement. As important as those developments have been, they
are only a small part of W.E.B. DuBois’ many legacies.

 

 

Today I am grateful for W.E.B. DuBois. You should be too.

 

 

FDO

 

 

*- the idea that it is the responsibility of the best and
brightest Blacks to work toward the improvement of their race, lifting others as they go

 

 

 

 

February 2 Stevie Wonder

 

 

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Stevie Wonder

 

 

 “Just because a man
lacks the use of his eyes doesn’t mean he lacks vision.”

-Stevie Wonder


 

Stevie Wonder is a living legend in an obvious way. The
owner of 22 Grammy Awards*, legendary songs and albums Wonder has had profound
success as a musical artist. It was largely Wonder’s success in transcending
the racial and musical barriers of the 1970s that paved the way for the
unprecedented crossover stardom of Black 80s singers Michael Jackson, Prince,
Whitney Houston and Lionel Richie. While these accomplishments are amazing,
Wonder’s greatest legacy may well be found in the ways he’s used his celebrity to
bring attention to social concerns. 


With the possible exception of Coretta Scott King#, no
individual deserves more credit than Wonder for the creation of the Martin
Luther King Jr. federal holiday. Wonder’s birthday song for King has even
become the model for birthday songs in Black homes today.


By the early 80s, Wonder had developed an emphasis on
pan-African identity, themes and issues. Wonder wrote about African politics,
Third World life and helped break Bob Marley into the US market. He also participated
in events designed to raise awareness and money to combat hunger, poverty,
drunken driving, AIDS, and drug use.


Stevie Wonder was also deeply committed to the end of the apartheid
system in South Africa. He was one of the most prominent Americans to argue
that our country needed to deliberately disinvest from South Africa. Wonder
helped provide public forums for Nobel Laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu who had not
been widely known in this country.

 

The combination of Stevie Wonder’s sunglasses, head shaking
and broad smile have become a cliché as is his perpetual musical optimism. What
is not cliché is the sincerity of Wonder’s dedication to the causes of peace
and justice “all throughout the world”. 

 

Today, I am grateful for Stevie Wonder. You should be too.

 

FDO

 

*- the most for any male solo artist

#- check back later this month for more 

 

 

February 1 Frederick Douglass

This Black History Month I’m Grateful for Frederick Douglass

 

“Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

-Frederick Douglass

 

 

The accomplishments of Frederick Douglass are so numerous they seem mythological to many of us today. For a Black person, born a slave in the first half of the 19th century, to have become so accomplished was literally unimaginable until Douglass did it.

 

A few highlights:

Douglass freed himself after illegally learning to read; worked as an abolitionist and suffragist; published The North Star and other newspapers; wrote multiple autobiographies; expanded benefits for Black soldiers in the Civil War; received nominations for Vice-President and President.

His autobiographies captivated the country and, for many Northerners, provided the first clear demonstration that Blacks could be the intellectual equal of Whites. Douglass was the first Black person to garner a truly national reputation, the nearly universal respect of Whites, and to be treated as an equal by an American President.

In fact, I consider Douglass to be the original president of Black America. He was the first person who could be said to have represented the most urgent interests of Blacks to the whole country.
It’s nearly impossible to conceive even now but Frederick Douglass was born as a slave and died as one of the most important people in the world.

 

Today, I am grateful for Frederick Douglass. You should be too.

FDO

NBA 2012-13 Preseason Predictions

 

MVP:  LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Chris Paul

Rookie of the Year:
 Anthony Davis, Damien Lillard, Harrison
Barnes

Most Improved Player:
 Derrick Favors, Omer Asik, DeMarcus
Cousins

Coach of the Year:
 Lionel Hollins, Erik Spoelstra, George
Karl

Pacific Division
Champion:  Los Angeles Clippers

Northwest Division
Champion:  Oklahoma City Thunder

Southwest Division
Champion:   Memphis Grizzlies

Southeast Division
Champion:  Miami Heat

Central Division
Champion:  Indiana Pacers

Atlantic Division
Champion:  Brooklyn Nets

 

Western Conference Champion:  Memphis Grizzlies

Eastern Conference Champion:  Miami Heat

 

NBA Champion:  Miami Heat

 

There are many teams with the potential to be great this
year, I’m excited to see how high they manage to climb. The LA teams, Spurs,
Thunder, Grizzlies, Nuggets, Heat, Nets, Pacers, Bulls and Celtics all have a
chance to win 55 games. A few of those teams may even threaten 60 wins.

 

But
there’s only one team with a substantial margin for error and that’s the Heat.
If LeBron, DWade or Chris Bosh gets hurt, the team will suffer but not falter.
That’s the difference between Miami (and the pre-Harden trade Thunder) and
everybody else. 

 

FDO

 

 

Rape Without Rapists?

 

I am fortunate enough to have dozens of extremely thoughtful
friends. Some of them were kind enough to share their thoughts via Facebook
about the recent rise in attention paid to the GOP platform position that
abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape, incest and maternal health
concerns. Public statements by GOP Senatorial candidates Todd Akin and Richard
Mourdock have pushed the issue of pregnancy via rape into the national
spotlight. Something I’ve noticed and struggled with is that virtually none of
the public discourse I’ve heard about women’s choices actually talks about the initial
decision maker in this scenario: the rapist.  

 

In some ways, this whole debate is representative of the
broader dysfunction of our society. I have yet to hear important political
conversation about challenging America's rape culture. Everyone says rape is
bad then continues on to their talking points. No one's talking about how we
can ensure that sex is chosen, pregnancies are deliberate and all babies are
wanted. 

 

Instead of focusing on how to deal with the aftermath of
sexual violence, why don't we spend time and energy training our young people
to understand sex, abhor sexual violence and value others as themselves? That simply
isn’t happening. My goodness, who decided that sexual assault can't even be as demonized
in our culture as cigarettes?

 

Ultimately, I would love Akin and Mourdock's accidental
statements of belief to start a national conversation about sexual violence but
I have little hope that will happen. Instead, we will probably just keep
focusing on what we expect from the women who are victimized by rape. After
all, that's a lot easier than acknowledging that there are perpetrators of
sexual assault around us every day and our culture basically ignores them. It's as though we simply expect there will be a certain amount of rape in America. How awful. 

 

FDO

 

 

 

 

Numbers Never Lie…

 

Yesterday,
I realized I was experiencing the confusion of numbers. Multiple times in
this one day I realized that I felt just a little baffled. And every time there
were numbers involved. Here are a couple examples.


I
live at roughly 39.8 n Latitude and on 10/25 the high temperature was about 80
degrees. The forecast high for 10/26? 49 degrees.


Gas
prices typically have some variation and I’m accustomed to seeing significant
shifts in the span of a mile. I’m not accustomed to massive price differences
between stations at the same intersection but yesterday I saw gas priced at $3.17@
the Speedway on the southwest corner of Thompson and Arlington while at the
northwest corner Village Pantry’s regular gas cost $3.49.

 

No meaning here; just confusion. 

 

FDO

 

 

 

 

Kevin Durant vs. LeBron James

 

What most basketball fans seem to be hoping for is that tonight begins a critical new chapter in NBA history: KD vs. LBJ.

 

In 2012, LeBron still has ‘the conn’. He’s the best player, 3x MVP, Olympic Gold Medalist, one of the 20 greatest ever[i]… while Durant has visions of those achievements he’s still clearly in 2nd place right now. That’s as it should be though, both in the sense of a natural progression and in terms of building interest.

 

The best outcome for the development of this rivalry is the one I anticipate happening. LeBron wins. (Yes, of course, that means Miami wins but in the world of NBA marketing, it’s LeBron.) If LeBron wins, he’ll be elevated out of the circle of Greatest Non-Champions[ii]. However, if he loses, he’ll be 0-3 in the Finals. That would be an extraordinary weight to bear.

 

If Durant wins, he’ll be considered among the most precocious champions ever but he still won’t be in the inner circle of that group[iii]. If Durant loses, that’ll be seen as perfectly fine! OKC is so young that reaching the Finals is a tremendous accomplishment in itself and the battle to climb the last peak will be a dominant storyline next season.

 

One juicy subplot that’s not received much attention yet is highly intriguing to me. This summer, Durant and James are both on the US Men’s Olympic team. They’re both incredibly well equipped for the international game and likely to share minutes, leadership and practice time. How different will London be if James’ Heat are champions or if Durant’s Thunder have the rings?

 

KD vs. LBJ. Sounds great to me.

 

 

FDO

 

[i] Please don’t try to find 20 better players. You can’t.

[ii] Guys like Elgin Baylor, Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Dominique Wilkins, Stockton-to-Malone… Very good company.

[iii] Kareem, Bird, Magic… AMAZING company! 

 

2012 NBA Finals Preview

 

Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Miami Heat: The Summer Storm Series

 

I have no idea what’s gonna happen in this series.

 

There, I admitted it. No one else seems to be able to acknowledge how confusing these playoffs have been but I think the shifts in momentum and pressure have been extraordinary and difficult to anticipate.

 

Just consider that 2 weeks ago, many folks in the media were openly wondering if the Spurs could go through the playoffs undefeated[i]. The Thunder were too young and Russell Westbrook too egotistical, Scott Brooks couldn’t make in game coaching moves and the post combo of Kendrick Perkins and Serge Ibaka didn’t score enough. Remember all that talk? Now, Charles Barkley is openly asking Tim Duncan to retire and the Spurs are being written off (again) as championship contenders going forward. The Thunder are being ordained as a likely dynasty and Kevin Durant is being anointed as the true heir to Kobe Bryant as the NBA’s next great winner.[ii]  

 

Last week’s primary dramas centered on the Heat’s failings.  Many pundits questioned which of Miami’s Big Three would be sent packing this summer, along with Coach Erik Spoelstra. Falling behind 3-2 to the Boston Celtics apparently meant that the Heat’s team building model was fatally flawed and the Heat would suffer accordingly. LeBron James’ Game 5 fiasco[iii] continued to reveal him as a “master of panic”[iv]. That all changed when Miami won two incredibly impressive victories and appear to be clicking as at no other time in the playoffs.

 

All this is to say that over the course of the last 4, 5, 6 or 7 games of this NBA season, we’re likely to see an amazing variety of twists and turns. In basketball more than any other major American sport, change happens abruptly. One half, one quarter or even one shot can transform a game. That’s part of the joy of basketball!

 

To my way of thinking, there are more Heat players who can transform a game. In a series with rough equalities across the board, I think that matters quite a bit. Combining that with an edge in experience, desperation and the one player who can do everything on the court, I anticipate a Miami victory. Perhaps the end of the Thunder’s season will mirror last year’s as they lose to the eventual champs on the road. That means I’m gonna ride with Liam’s Mum[v] and predict Miami winning in 5 games.

 

I’m not sure I believe it either.

 

 

FDO

 

 

 

 

[i] I tried to link to the discussion on ESPN’s First Take but the video’s been removed. Should I feel surprised?

[ii] I think Tim Duncan should feel offended by this whole line of reasoning. Duncan has been the best player for 4 championship teams. Kobe’s been the best for 2 titlists.

[iii] His game high 30 points and game high 13 rebounds would be considered extraordinary for anyone else.

[iv] Shaq’s derisive comment about his former coach Stan Van Gundy has been applied to James numerous times.

[v] It’s an ESPN’s Mike and Mike joke. 

 

Justified Use of Force

 

Every year there’s a new one

A Diallo, King or me

Clamoring loudly

Broken faces on TV

We ask so many questions

But no one’s forced to answer

 

With sympathy’s short half-life

Soon most are hoping for the noise to stop

And the questions to disappear once again

Just like us

In our lives

And our deaths

 

 
 © Gayle Force Press 2003