Alex & Mike [Summer Portrait Series 2009/25]

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[SPS09]

Quit Frontin': You Need To Stop Assuming We Have the Impact of Obama's Presidency Figured Out - Here's Why

I accidentally stumbled across this essay today. Coincidentally I found it whilst I was still thinking and thinking about what my friend Cassady's questions [here]. Questions that I didn't as much answer as throw open for discussion. I got lazy. You know us blacks....

I think we're too impatient in waiting for the Magic Negro to make everything all better when we don't even have the impact of his election figured.

Remember the day after? November 5, 2008. After all that breath-holding followed by intense partying? Remember the collective, "what the fuck do we talk about now?" I remember that (mostly because it was only eight months ago and I ain't got Alzheimer's yet). The Great Election of 2008 was over, it was a blowout and there were no controversies to fight over. There we all sat, on our asses, all hoarse from the "Yes We Did!" chanting. All that effort and all that good will and all that anticipation of shit that would go wrong on election day and inauguration day (and all those emails from the Obama campaign) and.... What now?

And sure the Inauguration was beautiful and unprecedented in its scope. We all high-fived and cried and clenched ass cheeks until he got his ass back in the limo and shit. We died a little when John Roberts tried to trick Barry's Muslim/socialist ass into flubbing the oath. But, again, we had to ask ourselves, what do we know? I keep hearing about what it all now "means." I've herd the term "sea change" like a million times. Every white liberal, no, everybody seems to have this shit figured out. The liberals say it's a Revelation. The conservatives say it's a Travesty. Really? Five months in and we have it figured, huh? Ignore the birthers for a minute since they are fucking crazy as hell but here's what I know:

First, before anything, please people, please, please, please stop using the term Post-Racial. All of you. It makes absolutely no sense and it only annoys the fuck out of EVERYbody. Barack is half-Kenyan half-Kansan. So what? He looks like a black and racists still call him "nigger." Post-racial? I don't think so. I'm a half-black Jew and I'm what? I'm not post-racial, am I? I'm very racial. I'm more pre-racialist if anything. Race is still everything. Just because Corey Booker, Adrian Fenty, Devon Patrick, and Barack Obama won an election does not mean we are post-shit. Last I checked all them niggas were niggas and everybody still calls them niggas and will call them niggas in perpetuity. You never hear about Governor Patrick as anything but the "Black Governor of Massachusetts."

There is no such Santa Easter Bunny Tooth Fairy as "post-racial." I argue we are now more racial than less because we are now more overtly aware of our collective and individual nuances. As long as we have colors and hues and specific characteristics of the races, we will never, ever become post-racial. That's stupid liberal, Kum Ba Yah, head-in-the-sand, defeatist thinking. People just happen to be choosing smart, young, forward-thinking leaders who happen to be black. It's a trend that surely will end though. It's definitely not a Black Thing.

Also, do not assume that we will have another black president in our lifetime. How much have I had to endure hearing about how Barack's election opens some kind of asylum of black presidential candidates.

Barack Haters: Rest assured that Barack was probably an exception and Pac Man Jones and Michael Vick won't be running as a team in 2012. Grow up. Shut up.

Barack Lovers: Get over yourselves and quit saying asinine shit like, "once you go black, you never go back." What? Barack's now fucking America? That's crazy low-intelligence shit, people. Bush fucked America but we were drunk and passed out from the 9/11 roofies he sipped in our cocktails.

Barack seems like a great dude and all and the next great dude, probability speaking, will probably not just happen to be black. Them's the odds. Likewise, as the great pendulum just swung from conservative to liberal, expect that shit to swing back at some point in our lives. Whoosh! Even the best case is we'll have a string of boring, moderate, media-savvy Mitt Romney types before we have another black president. You betcha, Sarah! You still "in it to win it," Hillary?

White people can now go back to like it was before the election. You can now stop making eye contact with me and every other black person you encounter in some sort of fake ass solidarity. We were Americans before the election and we are still Americans (unless you're a black Ivy League professor going into his home). Why weren't you making eye contact before, huh? We heard. We know: Obama won. The sheriff's a nigger. Of course it's cool with us, though, that's obvious. And thanks for voting too, but stop looking my way like I care about NPR. You can stop acting like it's the first day of college orientation.

And black people? You can still keep making eye contact with me because look at the fuck what we just got! Are you dreaming? Because I must be dreaming because Holmes is in the 'Hizzie...he's like us, yo. But I'll pretty much be over you looking my way for eye contact pretty soon as well.

You know what? It is OK to criticize Barack the Mighty Black Magic President too. We do not have to justify every move he makes like because he did it, it's the right thing. He's not nor is he going to be perfect. So quit treating him like he's Jesus. Look what happened to Bush once he got inside the bubble of yes. Barack needs the exact opposite. Every liberal, moderate, and conservative needs to hold Barack and all of government accountable as hell. We forgot to keep a watch out on that shit and we almost wrecked the American motorcycle because we got lazy with hubris and started pulling wheelies and shit without wearing a helmet. And look at us now. We have John Roberts. A monster recession. Afghanistan? Looking like the next Vietnam to me. We just don't know how this will play out so let's keep it real.

And look at the GOP. First McCain then Palin got all Hope 'N Changey on us because they had nothing else; so they copied Barack Co. (who copied Clinton '92 and Kennedy '60). Now the Grand Old Party has their own Homie, as chairman. But, just because Michael Stephen Steel is the first black GOP Chairman does not translate into the GOP giving a shit about our black asses. Mark my words. The GOP still only has one true love: moneypower.

We do not have this figured out. Quit trying so hard so early. Take your ADD meds, alright?

Quit frontin'.

Limited Unstructure #100 - A Check in the Mail

When i was really young
like four or five one day
a kid reported that when
it is raining
and
the sun is also shining
that the devil
is beating his wife
something I continue to remember

Now my child a kid
at the ripe age of seven
reports that when
it is raining
and
the sun is shining
they call it "monkey rain" now
evolution will always involve
orders of primates

There has been much recent
talk of epitaph
and legacy and eternity
we are as much our own
bloodlines
as we are not "them"
liberation and freedom
results from revelations
of our very own hero-ness

We are leaving the bread crumbs
like brick-paved roads
tiny clues to follow
spiderwebs of puzzles
we are the ones
that the people know
like hearing Petty's
wake up time
by accident or coincidence

Ask Ty...July 24 [The Obama Question] -- UPDATE WITH ANSWER

It must be Tuesday Friday, Middlespace Cadets, because I'm answering your questions

Q: Dear Ty,

Some questions for the man of truth:

I was all jacked-up in November when HOPE won out over the war mongering greed heads. I remember dancing in the streets and drinking pints late into the night. That evening and the next day, being a photographer, I went out and took a series of images to use in a project which lead up to "these historic elections." Just yesterday I looked at those images again and they didn't seem quite so historic anymore.

I keep seeing Obama inviting TV crews over for his White House lawn BBQs or going with him to Phat Burger and such, to show that he's the people's man. He even threw out the first pitch at the All Star game and I hear besides playing pick-up basketball that he's tuning up his golf game. Golf? Really?

So here are a couple questions I have regarding the New Era of Hope.

Obama promised that he's get the troops out of Iraq within the next year. Is that going along as planned? I know he HAS sent a bunch of troops to Afghanistan which is pretty awesome right? Maybe he can just have the troops walk across the desert from Iraq to Afghanistan. Wouldn't that be easier? When he said OUT he didn't stipulate HOME, did he?

Is it true that Obama voted to re-instate the Patriot Act. And if so does that mean this email is being monitored by the NSA?

What's going on in New Orleans? I hear that a bunch of the people aren't being allowed to move back into their Public Housing homes (which is situated between the French Quarter and downtown-big money real estate) even though the housing units DID NOT have any damage from Katrina. I also heard that 40% of the city is still without power....that sounds familiar...kinda like Iraq. Why hasn't Obama gone down to New Orleans and done something? Wouldn't it help the economy and unemployment to give the people jobs to build their own houses? That would be like killing two birds with one stone...kinda like FDR's Great Works project after the Real Depression. On the other hand if those people don't move back we could build spiffy Wal-Marts there and maybe even a Phat Burger joint--betcha Obama would come visit then?

The only thing Obama has done is bail out the big banks but now people say that THEY are running this country and he's just their puppet.

Oh, that's right he also bailed out the Auto Industry so we could put more cars on the road--like that's what we need. How about ditch the Car Industry as we know it and put those billions into Green Technology, like the Electric Car and efficient mass transportation? Uuuuuhhh...yeah.

I'm confused. Nothing happens in DC. I thought this was gonna be like the '60s or something but now it seems like these guys get the keys to the White House and along with it drink the Kool Aid. Is Obama selling out already? Or am overreacting?

I mean it's only been 6 months. But where is the BLUEPRINT for GREEN TECH JOBS to SAVE THE PLANET? NO MORE WAR! FUCK OIL! EVOLVE already!

Show me a plan--any plan.

Thanks,

Cassady
San Francisco/Oakland, CA

PS: Obama just did a sit down with the nation. He sure sounds good when he talks about health care for all Americans...but wasn't that Hillary Clinton's idea back in '93? Is this guy the ultimate pitch man or what? I like to listen to him talk. He sounds smart. But what is REALLY happening? Am I gonna be able to get my job back at the Gas n' Sip or am I gonna have to go on welfare. Just say something controversial, man...even Bush knew how to do that...

Ty: Good questions and even better observations, Cassady. Here--after a sleepless night pondering this from every angle imaginable--is my answer:




Just a guess,

-ty

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Ask Ty... archive on LU [clicky]
Ask Ty... archive on AKD: [clicky]

The Greatest Show on Earth

Standing at the Crossroads (with Robert Leroy Johnson)

Well. Here we are...at the crossroads again. And we got here by circumstances of time and history. Perhaps we've been at these here crossroads since forever, still trying to decide which way to go, waiting for some signs. This is the New America, after all, but it's the same as it ever was, don.

As a white-black/black-white human male of America who is paying attention, I get to hear all sides on this one. Wait, there are only two sides this time. Here's what I hear:

From the whites: "Well, there wouldn't have been a problem if he [Prof. Gates] would have complied with the officer's requests."

From the blacks: "Exactly! That's typical of how we're treated from the ghettos to Harvard. He's [Prof. Gates] probably lucky he wasn't beaten, tasered, or shot."

Both positions are correct. Gates would have been fine (but pissed) if he had indeed done exactly what the officer ordered. Sure. And, Gates is lucky he's not dead in this all-too-typical situation. Once Sergeant Crowley positively ID'd Prof. Gates, he should have also complied with citizen Gates' request for name and badge number. The ostensibly equally protected citizen had a beef to resolve. People can, in America, have beefs with cops. But once a beef arises it then becomes a matter of how said beef is squashed. Even if a pissed-off old black man is raising his voice in demand of badge number and name...should he have been arrested? In his home? This is how old dudes roll and you know I'm right. The officer could have done something to resolve the situation too. Both heads could have been cooler, sure.

Let's play a game. Let's replay the story but make the professor white this time. A little old white man. Harvard professor. Everything the same except race. Same outcome? Probably not because: 1) Nobody would have called to report a break-in and, 2) The cops wouldn't have fronted so hard. And you know I'm right (look into your heart). "Sorry sir, our mistake. Yes. Here's my name and badge number, sir. Have a good day." [See: A Cop's Perspective]

Yes the cops did act stupidly. Why? Because they COULD act in any damn way they wanted. Blue is the roughest gang in town, people. You see, there was a perfect storm of race, class, and power. This didn't necessarily happen DESPITE of Obama's New America (no whaaaaa!). Think about it...it probably happened BECAUSE of Obama's New America. Here's a police officer, he was wrong in his assumptions. He didn't catch the blacks breaking into a house but he caught a black actually living in that house. A little old man who, in turn, wanted to exercise his post-mistake constitutional rights. What is a police to do? The little old man is speaking up for himself, in America. Cop gets pissed and he decides to squash the beef the way he squashes beefs with black people. Lock that fool up! Call him "disorderly." Teach him some manners and nobody will ever know or care. But the officer never for a moment believed that this little old black man was a Harvard professor and one degree of separation from the black governor and the black president. Sergeant Crowley actually didn't know who they were dealing with. Not. At. All.

Here is an eloquent old black man (race factor) who makes more money than you, is better educated than you, and lives in a better home (class factors), yet the officer still holds the majority of power. Perfect Crash. How you like Obama's New America now?

Speaking of Barry Oh!®, here's what Dayo Olopade said this morning with regard to the president's "acted stupidly" comment:

"Obama's remarks had the authority of a lawyer who knew the specifics of the applicable law, and it gave him the chance to spotlight an initiative he worked on ardently while in the Illinois state senate, where he wrote a bill to deal with racial profiling by police officers. But his comments also carried special resonance because he is a black man in America."

I don't know Ms. Olopade, but she sums my reaction quite well. About time somebody said something. Remember, even then-Senator Obama had a difficult time getting a cab...in America. What do you think the cops would have done to him in this situation, the young eloquent professor Obama?

Sorry white people. You lose this one. Until you live in the black shoes, you'll never, ever know how wrong or typical this situation is. Even you crybaby liberals will never, ever get this one.

And black people, pay attention to this one. It's important. It could be you or me next time. Like I've told my friends, every time the police slow down to eyeball me in my neighborhood down the block from my home, I steel myself for the beating I'm going to get when I calmly and eloquently ask, "Why do you need my ID, officer?"

We're at the crossroads in The New America...just sayin'. We need some more time and history I guess.

Sword Mightier

While people were frontin' on the Leatherman I keep in my "purse" you wanna know what I was doing? Working. Reading, writing, taking pictures, making music, discussing topics, encouraging and mentoring others, and publishing work all for the work to have. That's what I was doing.

I just read, in fact, in Harper's that the percentage of Web logs on the Internet not updated in the past 4 months is equal to the number 94. Rephrased for you: 94% of the blogs on the net haven't been updated in a full third of a year. Weak. I guess people are too busy tearing others down in the comments' than being bold enough to make their own stuff (see: United States of Snark).

I don't know why, though, but I am fascinated with that descriptive statistic. 94%. I am by no means surprised, however. Web logs are, after all, as much whim as they are peer pressure. Were a whim, that is. Very few rely on the 20th century antique Web log as a showcase for their being anymore.

Remember we first built entire Web sites and shit. We posted ALL our stuff on Home Pages with fancy flashing, bold, scrolling text. It was ugly but it was novel. We were finally free. Evolution dictated that our attention and effort-spans got us into the social networking sites. EVERYbody had a MySpace, Facebook, Friendster account [speaking of Friendster, check out this whaaaaaaa!], and some people even pretended to be looking for jobs with LinkedIn ("I'm networking!"). Ha! Now, Twitter is the easiest, snarkiest, and most quip-filled donut on he shelf. One hundred forty characters at a time. That's forty, right there.

I mean, we're all still screaming "LOOK AT MEEEE!!!" at the very top of our lungs until we're all coughing and hacking and panting like dogs, but who's still doing any work? Who's still putting in any effort? I hate so badly to throw anyone under the bus to proverb town, but the "It smells like rain" tweet is not only boring, it's suicide-inducing. Blah-blah-blah, so I quit the internet blah-blah! There's a point though. Who's doing real work anymore? Not for commerce. But. Just. Because.

["Professor, what's another word for pirate treasure?"]

Let's just take me out of the analysis for a minute. I concede that, for better or worse, I am an outlier in terms of production (it's a Chinese factory up in here), I know. That's my normal though. I don't know what you people are doing with time. But, again, 94% untouched after 4 months (insert "married guy" punchline here) should serve as a decent general indicator of where we stand, as an advanced, literate, and artistic society. A single data point.

The straw man benchmark says that we are artistically ill-productive.

It's so easy now. Not only in terms of making stuff, but to share it with the whole world. I know all you producers want to SELL everything--good luck, yo. And I'm not talking the sharing of aggregate materials that others made (there's a place for that too, Matt Drudge), but for your ass to sit still for five minutes and create something with your own two bare hands seems to be losing its allure.

Of course I have a context; a history. I recall how difficult and expensive it was just to get one track onto one Compact Disc in the mid-1990s. Now? You sneeze and all your stuff is on the interweb already--before some polite old lady says, "G-d bless you." Shit we even figured out that we could make our own stickers and such back in the day. Now? Everything is so goddamn easy (but I'm old...kids today don't know how easy they have it). Embarrassingly easy. So why isn't anyone doing anything anymore? You tell me. Learn me something.

I guess what I'm saying, is thank you to the producers and creators out there. Keep doing what you do. But perhaps a bigger nudge is to those who either stopped doing their thing for whatever reason or those who never started making things but have a feeling:

Do something.

In the Bag

...or, "Cards on the Table"

From the Phone V

click for detail

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From the Phone strips

Today's Quote of the Day de Jour

"What happened with Gates is beyond horrifying and is a wake up call to anyone who thinks this type of shit is a thing of the past."

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de jour collection [clicky]