Do they all look alike?

Since we are now talking about Duke, we should talk about it one many levels (this is The SuperSpade, right?). So, building on Sakara R.’s excellent piece, I’d like to look at another aspect of this situation.

In the Duke case, we have another instance of one race accusing another race of a crime. Most people know that this usually leads to complex emotional reactions from the accuser, the accusee, and fellow members of the respective races of both parties. I had a whole piece in my head about this, but I read Malcolm Gladwell’s (author of Blink and The Tipping Point) thoughts on the subject and the broader issue of eyewitness testimony.

I know that I am guilty of saying things like “There are only 5 categories of white people,” and other statements (I know how ignorant that is, but I have said it. Pray for me.). Gladwell says that many innocent people may be locked up because of this mentality. As a Black man, I know that to be the case. The question that must be asked, if we are going to be intellectually responsible, is why do we often reject that this same phenomenon occurs in the opposite direction?

The Weekly Dream: Learning to Learn

“There is a right way and a wrong way to do things. Get the fundamentals down and the level of everything you do will rise. The minute you get away from the fundamentals, the bottom could fall out .”
-Michael Jordan, I Can’t Accept Not Trying

“Don’t start something you are not going to finish…I hate that”
-My mother

For me, the process of learning and change has always been uncomfortable, if not painful. Today was my first day back on the basketball court and needless to say it was a humbling experience. However, it reminded me of the process I went through to learn the game and the fruit that came from it.

Growing up, I was more nerd than athlete and disparaged every sport accept soccer. But around fifth grade, when all the guys went to recess, there was no one to play soccer with, so I figured I might want to give basketball a try. That summer, my father sent me to the one week Kevin O’Neill Summer Basketball camp. This was the premier camp in town. There were speakers, drills, and games. Every camper was assigned a team based on age group and we played each other for bragging rights and a chance to play in the playoffs at the end of the week.

My team was the worse team in the league. By Wednesday, I was ready to hang it up. I hated losing and being the laughingstock of the camp. But I played through it and practiced my drills.

On the last day of camp, everything seemed to come together. We went into sudden death overtime with the best team in our league. On a miss, I got the rebound and scored the game winning basket. I was hero for a day.

The following two years I attended the camp, I became progressively better. And my last year, I played in the finals in front of the entire camp and my parents. Although we did not win, I felt peace because I went from being on the worse team to being one of the best.

It’s Good For You

This scenario has played itself out in my life many times over, anytime there is a new beginning. I find myself looking up at the bottom and I work my way up to the top. I always feel like the tortoise in a world full of hares. Some people rise to the challenge and others never push it past the pain. Perhaps there have been times when you have felt the same. However I have found that with faith, persistence and tenacity, you can make it to where you want to go.

What the process requires along the way is patience and humility to learn and to begin again. Our society is predicated on flawless execution, but how does one attain perfection? Unless you are an idiot savant, you are going to have work through the discomfort. Success is right around the corner.

How Do I Learn?

It is important to know the process in which change and learning occurs when you find yourself in new situations. I have developed an acronym that I use in order to stay focused on the process and not the pain: P.I.P.A (Pay attention, Internalize, Practice, Apply).

First, discern what is required and what it will take to be successful. Also, look at how you feel and your gut level reaction to everything.

Second, make sure you truly understand what the process is and if you are willing to give what is going to be required. To paraphrase Jesus: Who begins a work and counteth not the cost?

Third, practice the skills you will need. First in no pressure situations and then put yourself in a simulated environment. You can also run through your routine using visualization. Picture yourself being successful at game time.

Fourth, when the time comes, apply what you have learned. If you have done the other steps properly, chances are you won’t stink up the joint. Remember Poor Preparation Prevents Perfect Performance.

Final Thoughts

Anything you want in this life is going to cost you something. The question is whether the price is reasonable. Do not rely on your gifts too heavily. Remember that work is the catalyst that transforms talent into skill.

Life will always grant a second chance to those willing to start over.

Even a phoenix must fall before it may rise again in splendor.

Be the Phoenix-You will rise again.

Truth and Peace,
Steven M DeVougas

Question of the Week: Is there an instance where you have pushed through discomfort to be the best?

Past Lies, Present Implications

This site has not dealt with the situation at Duke University concerning the Black woman who was allegedly raped by members of the Duke Lacrosse team. Our silence is broken today, courtesy of the perspective of a valued reader and guest contributor, Sakara R.

Read, Learn, Respond.

–
Some of us may be too young to know the name Tawana Brawley- that is, until a 27-year-old black female student from North Carolina Central University
(http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/429338.html) stepped forward and alleged that she was brutally assaulted by at least 3 players of the elite lacrosse team at Duke University.

For those of you who may not know who Ms. Brawley is, she too, a young (15 at the time in the 1980’s) black woman from New York City, bravely stepped forward under the protective arms of Rev. Al Sharpton and relayed a horrific account of being abducted and brutally raped by 6 white police officers culminating in her being found bruised, bloodied, covered in human feces and dumped in the garbage.

For those of us who grew up never taking the Rev seriously (he’s never been a Dr. King, or even a Jesse Jackson for most of us) – but not necessarily knowing why –Tawana Brawley is the reason why; her claims of sexual assault were nothing more than a successful albeit disturbing method of grabbing everyone’s attention. The fallout of her hoax (Tawana Brawley has never wavered from her allegations) carried long-lasting ramifications certainly even she never conceived possible at the time: the Rev lost his credibility (and never apologized), and black women everywhere were infuriated, but not just because she lied.

We were infuriated because there is an unspoken reality to the lives of black women since before our first feet on the plantation- being raped and brutalized by white men of privilege who have gotten away without so much as a slap on the wrist. That white privilege is the very reason why women of color who have experienced such terror, never speak up. It’s one thing to be held against your will, to have your clothes ripped from your body while you scream in a way that is beyond animalistic, while you are spread apart, slapped in the face, punched into silence, and raped- forced to have sex, and in some cases, perform sexual acts on the aggressor…but it is something else entirely to not be believed- or to have the rapist’s reputation, namesake, or bank account casting you into shame and somehow distorting the facts – suddenly you’re a liar. Women have taken their own lives when faced with such blatant disregard –nothing is more sacred than the sanity within our own minds, and when we’re forced (again) away from that, when the truth is torn from us, there is nothing left.

That is the very reason why many of my sister friends, the majority of whom have experienced some sort of sexual abuse/assault in their lives (you all know someone who has, and if every woman you knew who has experienced sexual abuse/assault told you, you’d be jaw dropped and in disbelief at the numbers of victims), have called saying “I hope it’s true…I hope it’s true.”

Stop and think about that for a moment. What kind of society do we sisters live in where we as women are forced to “hope” that another sister has actually been raped? Where we “hope” she was dragged like an animal to its slaughter, into a small bathroom with three crazed, drunken white men, who ripped her fingernails from her, choked her, beat her in the face, likely forced her onto the sink, raise one of her legs so far up that it dislocated her hip, rape her not once, not twice, but three times, and then assault her with a broom handle as well? We feel this way because, though Tawana Brawley lied, her lie still lives in the bodies of every woman of color sexual assaulted, and the minds of every law official who investigates such cases; they look at us and wonder “is she lying?” We “hope” its true because, right, wrong or otherwise, if it is, and if the accused are found guilty, it will be justice for countless women who never had justice themselves. Do we want someone to be a rapist, or predator? No, but we recognize, whether we like it or not that sexual predators exist and need to be identified and severely punished; too often they just are not.

Quite simply, black America is holding it’s collective breath. We don’t know what the outcome will be. Either the student accusing the Duke elite was raped, or she wasn’t; it is absolutely that uncomplicated.

What are the influences that will make it easy? Nothing will make it easy – those who are privileged, ignorant and racist (and believe one black woman represents all black women), have a Tawana Bradley to point to and say “it’s probably all a lie”. And since we as women of color are not privileged and our voice is consistently oppressed, the fact that we have a history beyond 500 years of being abused by advantaged white men is not counted as a relevant consideration.

There are people who believe that because someone like Tawana Brawley ever existed, this is all likely to be a hoax – statistics don’t show that women of color overwhelmingly lie about being sexually assaulted/abused, in order to gain attention. There is no group of women that holds such title of stereotype. Still, an internet search of Tawana Brawley’s name is linked in every way to the current Duke case, and therefore the Duke case is linked to doubt.

There is no “black leader” stepping out on the edge to stand as the protector of this new alleged victim; a 27-year-old single mother of two children attending North Carolina Central University as a sophomore. Everyone seems to have an opinion as to whether or not she made wise decisions that fateful March night, or if working as an escort, or dancer is a good idea either, some prominent white men have even called her a “ho.” But here is another little-known fact in the lives of women: she isn’t the first and won’t likely be the last to engage in those professions to pay for her higher education – black, white or otherwise.

Jesse Jackson made a brief appearance on the news as his Rainbow Push Coalition dedicated itself to providing for all of the young mother’s college expenses going forward, and obviously there has been sharp criticism. Many have said that this was just a dumb idea on Jesse’s part; that he jumped the gun, should have waited to see what the courts decide, waited until the evidence was overwhelmingly in her favor. On the other hand, Jesse Jackson is no fool. He knows about Tawana Brawley – everyone does. So with those two facts on his side, he must have good cause to make that commitment. When asked if the money would still be committed if the accused were found not guilty, Jesse said yes. Again, he was accused of being out of his mind. However, I’ve heard quite a few people who seem to think that it’s helpful – one less “motive” for lying about being raped; college is paid for.

The alleged victim in this case never asked anyone to shine the spotlight on what she says happened and in fact the news was ignorant of the matter for weeks until a reporter came across a search warrant that peaked his interest. Students at Duke, hearing early on that a rape had occurred, complained loudly to its school administration that not enough was being done, and students at NCCU didn’t even know the woman was a member of their college community (http://www.afro.com/content/templates/?a=4840&z=1).

But other than the education support, we haven’t seen Jesse or anyone else on the news every day demanding justice is served; we’ve got DA Mike Nifong (http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/430653.html)
handling that all by himself. And while he’s working 18 hour days combing over evidence and hoping one of the 40+ attendees at the off-campus party steps forward as an act of contrition, he’s battling what has topped out at a dozen defense attorneys who are experts at securing verdicts of “not guilty,” even “not charged,” and have at their disposal money, and most of all, privilege. While Nifong is stuck with the evidence, the defense has the manipulation of public opinion. They’ve each received hefty retainers to devote every moment of their collective days, tearing up whatever information is out about the case; a simple way of tainting any jury pool against the alleged victim.

However, witness statements (an observant next door neighbor, http://www.newsobserver.com/100/story/424229.html), a time line that places her nowhere but the house rented by the lacrosse team captains, before going to the hospital by way of the nearby Kroger food’s parking lot and most important, a medical examination and rape kit that overwhelmingly point to physical as well as sexual assault, medical professionals who attended to her (and are specifically meticulous with this kind of evaluation) describe a level of emotional trauma and shock that could not be faked even an email from a teammate sent within an hour after the party broke up expressing a desire to want to have another party the following evening where he wanted to kill strippers and slice the skin from their flesh for sexual gratification lends itself towards “something happened that night” (http://www.newsobserver.com/1185/story/425834.html), are all pieces of evidence the DA stands by.

But, no one is stepping out on the edge; rather they’re talking to friends, colleagues and others and quietly thinking, “I hope it’s true.”

To make things all the more complicated, reporter DeWayne Wickham recounted in an April 17th article, an incident three years after the Tawana Brawley case, with shockingly similar details as the alleged Duke rape, where 6 white students at St. John’s University in New York were accused of raping a black student; 5 of them were members of the University’s lacrosse team. Though one of the accused agreed to testify against the others, those charged were found not guilty because the truth of her story was held in doubt
(http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/columnist/wickham/2006-04-17-wickham_x.htm).

In a warped way, it almost doesn’t matter if the current allegations against Duke’s students is true, and powerful black Americans and common black Americans know that. When you’re up against privilege, anything is possible. It often feels like (and isn’t far from the truth if not the truth itself) the elite can be caught on camera committing anything from a misdemeanor to felony murder and still get away with it. If that is the case, then what is the truth in this matter? Will we ever know it? When the blind scale of justice finally tips, what side will rise above the other, and why? What side will we be on?

- Sakara R.

Like a Rock

Do you remember those Chevrolet truck ads with the country guy singing, “Like a Rock/ I was strong as I could be/ Like a Rock/Nothin’ ever got to me”. I always liked that song mainly because I was fascinated by trucks as a boy and it seemed like a tough guy song.

This weekend I was in Bowling Green, KY at the National Corvette Museum for business and amongst the glistening Corvettes, there were speakers playing, “Like a Rock.” I chuckled, mainly because this whole weekend I felt like I was in the soul of America. And I liked it?

Black is Beautiful
So on Thursday, my colleague and I drove down to KY and when we went straight to the National Corvette Museum to set up the tent for our clinic that was to be held Friday and Saturday. Near our tent, there were two guys making sure people had the proper credentials to get in and one of them, Bill, came over to help us set up. Bill is wearing a red Corvette T-shirt, tight blue jeans, and a matching red baseball cap. After we finished setting up, Bill started talking to me about his Corvette and in a strong country accent, he said, “It’s Black on Black. Black is Beautiful.” Immediately, I went into race-conscious mode but I turned off the switch because it was actually funny; a white guy telling a Black guy that Black is beautiful but actually referring to something totally different.

Transcending Race
I was working with guys from the entire Corvette team and just about every Corvette owner that came to our tent was all white. And anyone who has known me long enough knows that I often speak negatively (mostly joking though) of Southern culture and how much White folk down there are generally backwards with respect to race relations.

As a result, I was a little nervous about how well I would be accepted. But we had a blast!!! You know the type of laugh you have when you are trying to be polite when someone is trying to be funny and the other laugh when you have to control yourself because you know you make funny noises if you laugh too hard? I experienced the latter. And if you have ever been to England and you are Black, you can attest to the feeling that people there have transcended race and treat you with a respect that you seldom see here in the States. That is how I felt down in Kentucky. Now I know that not all White Southerners are welcoming of Blacks and all that, but the guys I worked with were hard-working folks that loved the product they produced. To be sure, maybe they would not have been so cordial had we met under different circumstances, but why shouldn’t I just take the situation for what it was? Right now, I am in a place where I am in between transcending race and being a slave to race. I got a hint of transcendence as I enjoyed the comfort and freedom to talk to these White guys saying things like, “Yo, that’s what’s up, or that’s fierce”, among others, without having to explain myself.

Forced integration
As my colleague and I drove around KY, I noticed a lot of young people 18-30 in mixed groups of Blacks and Whites. And there was an ease they had that you rarely see up North. I developed a theory that because so few people live down there to begin with, you really don’t have a choice to but to integrate.

I went to a majority-White private elementary school but I wasn’t forced to integrate because everyone in my neighborhood was Black. But what if I didn’t have that Black safety net to come home to? How different would I be today? I’m not sure but as I prepared for the KY trip you have me, Mr. City Boy, thinking I might have to break out some Cornel West or Randall Robinson to potentially educate these country boys when race was the farthest thing from my mind. It was liberating and uncomfortably pleasant.

America as home
I broke bread and chopped it up with All-American country boys all weekend and I never thought I would do that, yet alone have a good time. This got me thinking about what it means to be Black in America. Unfortunately, a lot of us could spend days discussing all the things that are wrong about America, but what is right about it? In other words, what do you like about America? My question is not meant to compare the good against the bad but to truly understand what is good and why you think that way.

I don’t know how to answer that question right now but if I had to start somewhere, I would start with the guys from the Corvette Plant. And I included the lyrics to the song, Like a Rock, by Bob Seger to point out that this All-American song also illustrates the struggle Blacks have made for justice and equailty. Because if anyone had to be strong like a rock, it was us.

Stay up fam,

Brandon

The Weekly Dream: Facing your fears for change

“A friend creates comfort, but an enemy creates change. Big giants never guard small treasures.”
-Rev. Sherrill

Long ago and far away, my grandparents temporarily relocated to rural Carbondale, Illinois. On my frequent visits, I did everything a country boy could do: run, trap insects in a jar, and eat a ridiculous amount of food. One fateful day, as my grandfather and I walked along the road, I inquired what created the random tunnels in the ditches running alongside the road. Instead of telling me they were gopher holes, he told me of a mythical creature called a “pincher” because if you put your hands in their hole, they grabbed you and never let go.

Now, these holes were everywhere. You could not turn around without coming across them. In my five year old mind, the last thing I wanted was to be pinched. So, one day, I happened to look out of the window and I thought I saw a pincher, looking right up at me. I was scared to death and refused to go outside for the remainder of the day. The next day, I thought to myself, “Surely, the pincher is not still outside” and sure enough, he was. This went on for five days. I would not leave the house. Finally, I had reached my wit’s end. Pincher or no pincher, I was going outside. So the next day, I tip toed outside up to the pincher, only to find out it was only a jagged tree stump.

I have never felt as foolish as I did that day. So whenever I am afraid or anxious, I think back to that day and I realize that my fear is really just a tree stump masquerading as a “pincher.”

Fear, fear, go way

Fear is the apprehension of a negative manifestation. It has not happened yet, but how often does our perception of our fears and anxiety translate into reality, only to find out upon closer inspection that they were not as bad as we had drawn them up to be?

Fear must be confronted head on. When you feel the fear welling up inside, that is a cue to act. We must train ourselves to examine our fears against what we know to be true. What we do not know, we must find out because next to action, I have found familiarity and preparation are the best antidotes to fear and anxiety. Use fear as a catalyst for assessment, action and consequently change.

What about the times when your fears are not baseless and there is a substantial chance of them manifesting themselves? Then you must engage in what I call “damage control.” This is a course of action that will minimize the negative outcome on you. If it is unavoidable, then accept it with serenity, look for the reality and move on.

Five Smooth Stones

In addition to the “Pincher Story”, when I feel outmatched, outwitted, or insecure (it does happen at times), I turn to the well-known story of “David and Goliath.” David faced his greatest challenge on that field. Behind him was obscurity and the cowardice of the Israelite army. On the other side of the giant was a kingdom and immortalization-a future bigger than he could ever imagine. And with him, all he had was unwavering faith, a slingshot and five smooth stones. In slaying the giant, David became one.

Like David, we must put our fear to the side and fill it with something empowering. Our fear is a challenge calling us to our destiny. Sometimes, all we will have is faith to guide us down the path. But I believe that faith is enough.

Life is an adventure, face it head on.

Big giants do not guard little treasures. Get what is yours.

Truth and Peace,
Steven M DeVougas

Question of the Week: How do you overcome your fear?

Redefining Property Values

Anyone who knows me that I past and present segregated housing patterns along with white flight is a large factor in explaining various socio-economic problems that we see today. From education to jobs to healthcare, and wealth, your address alone can and does have a huge impact on a person’s life. But now, self-segregation is reaching new levels.

In the affluent, Orange County, CA thousands of people were mailed surveys after they responded to highway billboards announcing that a new planned community, Ladera Ranch, would be coming soon. For starters, I work in the market research industry and all of the survey questions are fact-based and don’t require any moral inquiries. But the survey that went out for Ladera Ranch had questions like, “Abortions should not be legal unless there’s a threat to life,” read another. And, “I have been born again in Jesus Christ.” There were questions about corporate greed, divorce, the merits of foreign travel.

And over the next several years, the results materialized across thousands of acres: For the more conservative-minded “Traditionalists,” Covenant Hills, where homes have classic architecture and big family rooms, was built. For the green and soul-searching “Cultural Creatives,” developers built Terramor, where Craftsman-style houses are fitted with photovoltaic cells and bamboo flooring.

At Ladera Ranch, now a thriving community of more than 16,000 people, various villages are tailored not simply to practical needs, but to what marketers call different “values subcultures.”

“We were trying to characterize the lens through which people see the world,” said Brooke Warrick, who heads Ladera’s marketing firm, American Lives. I think Brooke said it best, they are trying to characterize the lens through which people see the world. To be sure, I do agree that “It’s not that the builders and marketers actually care whether buyers are right-wing Bible belters or left-wing tree-huggers as much as they care about selling houses… They must also manufacture community itself, which has become an amenity people crave, right along with tray ceilings.”

The reason why I am so intrigued by this story is that I often think about housing patterns in strictlw racial and economic terms, but this values thing is interesting. For example, “the religiously oriented “Traditionalists,” who, it was assumed, would prefer the more classic architecture there, and more family-oriented activities, such as the annual Easter egg hunt.” “On the other hand, the “Cultural Creatives” tended to be more liberal-minded, environmentally oriented and “less into conspicuous consumption.”

Obviously, this is a heightened form of social engineering and while initially, I thought this entire project was a conservative ploy to find a new term for white flight but then I started thinking about a quote from Randall Robinson. He said, (and I am paraphrasing), “One thing I learned in life is that I stopped wanting to be around people who don’t want to be around me.” Obviously those people were reference to White people but he might be on to something. Because if we keep it real, many Blacks who isolate themselves from other Blacks (generally speaking) feel that they have made it to the extent that they are surrounded by White people in the suburbs. Little do they know is that unlike many countries in South America, money does not “whiten” your skin. And just like decades of past, once a suburb has reached a critical mass of Blacks and other minorities, the White people move further from the city. (All my Michigan people please see Southfield.)

Beyond that, I wonder how I would respond to a billboard to a planned community that had cute Black babies with bright smiles and bushy hair. Furthermore, wouldn’t it be nice to live comfortably around people who shared your views and values? This is an extreme example but if you are a Christian, you wouldn’t raise your family in a community of Satists right? I just don’t see what’s so wrong with wanting to live around people who are diverse, open-minded, intellectual, believe in social justice, and are spiritually grounded.

In other words, if I could raise my family around the men of H.E.A.D.S. I would be perfectly fine with that. Those brothers possess the traits like I described before and they are funny! And if you want to talk about the importance of diversity of ideas, you can get on the internet and go on a Reading Rainbow of different ideas across the moreal and political spectrum. Also, the people of Ladera Ranch are all together so if you wanted to go to conservative town, it is probably within walking distance and I am sure the school district is a great mixing pot of kids whose ideas are greatly influenced by their parents, hence, the ability to debate is honed at an early age.

In closing, choosing a house is one of the most major decisions you will ever make. As such, is it so bad to self-segregate based on values or would we be doing more harm than good? I’m still thinking.

Stay up fam,

Brandon

Who’s accountable for Education?

Michigan, my home state, is one with an elite educational system at the university level. University of Michigan (http://www.umich.edu/), Michigan State University (http://www.msu.edu/), Wayne State University (http://www.wayne.edu/), and others are great schools. Michigan also has a number of private colleges that serve the citizenry, such as Kalamazoo College (http://www.kzoo.edu/) and Lawrence Technological University (http://www.ltu.edu/). I’d like to talk about one private school in particular: Baker College (http://www.baker.edu/). Maybe I’m ignorant, but I think that a college should be able to graduate more that 19% of its students (http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2006604170386), but that’s exactly (well, the *exact* rate is 19.2%) the graduation rate at the particular institution. Why is this? How does this happen? Let us attempt to address these questions and others.

There are millions of possible reasons for a student to go to a college and not finish it by graduating. Some may argue the legitimacy of these claims, but they are what they are. Ones I’ve heard have been, but are not limited to:

1. “It was too expensive.”
2. “They didn’t have anything that really interested me.”
3. “I wanted to move back home.”
4. “I had a child.”
5. “School is not for me.”
6. “This is hard/I don’t feel like I can succeed here.”
7. “I’m not getting the support I need.”
8. “I don’t like the students/faculty/staff here.”

I list these here to say that there are plenty of reasons (or excuses, depending on your perspective) to start and not finish college. Some are personal, others financial, others institutional. I envision a world where we eliminate financial and institutional barriers to education, leaving only the psychological to be dealt with on an individual basis. My reasoning for this is that if a system exists to distribute education as a common good, it should then minimize things that inhibit the public to receive that goods’ benefits. The analogy is your local power company. If there is a power company that charges you for electricity, it is up to them to run wires in a way that is accessible to you as a paying customer. They should not run cable up to 1 mile away from your house and then expect you to connect that last mile. That is essentially what is asked of people who want to be educated and cannot afford to: it’s here and it’s great, so find a way to pay for it! My conservative friends may see this as calling for educational welfare, but I see it as common sense. It is criminal to dangle something that a person needs in front of them when they do not have the means to get it and you can just give it to them!

With all of that said, let’s take a look at some quotes from the article and go a bit deeper into what’s going on.

“In Michigan and many other states, ‘money is directed at getting people enrolled, rather than getting them degrees,’ said Joni Finney, vice president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education in California. ‘Michigan is getting the results it is paying for.’”

What this is describing is classic misappropriation: using a resource in the wrong way. This happens all the time in life with money, emotions, energy, and all sorts of things. A prime example or mis-spent money, as given to me by a good friend of mine today, was her description of a woman she saw who had purchased her three year old daughter a Louis Vuitton purse. If the reason for this being asinine are not apparent to you, please email me at TheSuperSpade@gmail.com for further explanation. Digressing from that, my point is that people do this, and the government does as well. This is normally the result of a lack of focus on what’s important. Instead of focusing on more pressing domestic issues like the situation in New Orleans, our current administration has prioritized these concerns below our interests in Iraq. As made painfully clear, misappropriation of anything leads to someone or something getting hurt, badly hurt. In the case of Baker, and the approach of the state of Michigan to higher education, the victims are students who have been able to enter into the collegiate ranks and then feel as though they’ve been left to fail. My conservative friends may see this as calling for educational welfare (yes, I did repeat this statement on purpose), but I retort by saying that anyone who needs help, or wants help, in any situation [including education], should be able to access it.

“One question is whether Michigan’s ultra-tight budget can afford to pay for students to try college rather than to finish college. Those who would like to see changes in higher education have said that Michigan should set graduation standards and allocate tax dollars based on specific results.”

Again, this is dealing with what the state’s focus is or should be. People who are really big on empirical evidence driving their decisions (often called technocrats) will find this data hard to ignore. But let me be clear in saying that it is not wrong to spend large sums of money to get kids into college. The suggestion made in the quote could be a valid one if it is instituted fairly. Unfortunately, ideas like this one have a history of being corrupted by personal bias and systemic prejudice. Therefore, such a system would have to have very careful oversight. That is highly unlikely given that Baker College is in the state that it is in due to lack of oversight.

“Baker Chief Executive Officer F. James Cummins said last week it’s misleading to judge the school on graduation rates because the college attracts many students with ‘formidable hurdles to retention.’”

Ok, so Baker takes on students that have challenges. That is admirable. In fact, all you need to get into Baker is a diploma. But stories like this make me question Baker’s policy for accepting any and everyone. Are they really doing it because they believe education is a basic right and need? Are they doing it because they genuinely believe that any student who graduated from high school can graduate from college? Are they doing it because they get a truckload of money from the state for each student they take? The motivation is difficult to discern and is probably some combination of these three and others. On its face, Cummin’s statement may have merit. Compare it to what Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point (haven’t read it yet, but I plan to) and Blink (interesting book, worth a read) calls The Pitbull Paradox. This basically says that Pit Bulls bite more people in part because they are more ferocious, but also because they are even-tempered; what people often overlook is the even-tempered part. Similarly, Cummins is saying that we graduate less students because we take on the students that lots of students in general and lots of students with “formidable retention hurdles.” The engineer in me says that his argument maybe has a hair of merit. The human that dominates me says that Cummins is looking for a cop-out to explain his schools poor performance. I’d like to hear what you all think and if I’m being unfair.

“‘I’m not happy with it,’ Cummins said. ‘I’d like to see it north of 30%.’”

This is just sad because of the low expectations. I’m no educator, but I’d like to think that if I ran what could be referred to as an educational institution, I’d be able to ensure the successful completion of at least half of my students. Cummins here is saying that he wants to step up from 1 in 5 students graduating to 1 in 3. Improvement is improvement, I’ll give him that. I think it is time to take big steps and not baby steps.

One Love. One II.
–
Garlin Gilchrist II
http://www.thesuperspade.com/

Sent using Windows Mobile 5.0

Confronting Employer Retaliation

I haven’t been in the workforce long enough to experience any severe discrimination but if and when that happens, one part of my response will be influenced by an upcoming Supreme Court decision based on protecting employees from employer retaliation after that employee files a discrimination complaint.

The case is being brought by Burlington Northern Sante Fe Railway Co. and they are asking the Supreme Court “to overturn a decision by the Cincinnati-based 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals that found that suspending a female forklift operator for 37 days without pay and transferring her to a more physically demanding job were “materially adverse” changes in her employment.”

The defendant, Sheila White, did not have her pay disrupted until she filed a sexual discrimination complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Burlington Northern eventually changed its mind and compensated Sheila for back pay.

According to the article, “from 1992 to 2004, employees filed nearly twice as many complaints with the government alleging retaliation by employers, making it the fastest-growing category of complaints in job discrimination-related cases.”

That’s interesting because I wonder how many of those complaints are filed by women and minorities? However, this case is an interesting chapter in the on-going tug-of-war between employers and employees. Now let’s assume you are susceptible to discrimination because of something silly as the color of your skin. And let’s further suppose you have three kids and a mortgage, how far would you push for civil and equal treatment knowing that your work-life could very easily become non-existent or extremely uncomfortable?

Your answer to this question no doubt will be affected by this decision because if you know that your employer can get away with discrimination and then force you out of your job if you file a complaint, then I would think that you would not push as hard. However, if you knew that you could sue your employer twice for retaliating against your original discrimination complaint, I imagine you would be a little bolder in speaking out. Ideally, everyone would speak truth to power whenever they see it, but I am aware that this thinking tends to fade over time. So maybe if the Supreme Court rules in favor of Sheila, then those who are really beholden to their jobs might muster enough courage to speak up for what’s right. And for as difficult as it is to actually prove discrimination, I hope the Supreme Court will not give employers the power to muffle the cries for justice.

Stay up fam,

Brandon

On Immigration

I have been pondering the current ramifications of the immigration debate and I have come up with more questions than answers. And unfortunately, I am no where as near well-versed on this issue as I would like to be. But I would like to take some time to at least steer us in the right direction.

Language
For starters, (this applies to any issue) we have to pay strict attention to the way in which language is used to frame a debate. When commentators use the words, “alien” and “illegal,” the ensuing argument already assumes its own conclusion. And to call someone an “illegal” is just plain ignorant. I heard a guy on NPR ask, “Why don’t we call Martha Stewart an illegal CEO after she was indicted?” Similarly, if you ever had to go to court to contest a speeding ticket, the bailiff or judge doesn’t label you as an illegal driver. So why are so many of us so comfortable with using this term with respect to Latinos? If we are going to have an intelligent debate, we need to create language that is clear and respectful to both sides.

Distraction
You know what is killing me about all of these Black commentators talking about how Latinos are taking away jobs is baffling. I say that because like most Black folk (perhaps with the exception of those living in the Southwest) never seriously thought or wrote about immigration policy. But now, poll numbers show that Blacks and the rest of the country consider immigration policy to be an important national issue. Did you ever once consider that maybe this immigration debate is a convenient distraction for Bush and the Republicans to not talk about the ongoing civil war in Iraq? Not to mention that while Iran is upping the ante, our national government is obsessing over immigration. So for all the Black writers who recently discovered the importance of immigration reform, go back to what you were writing before instead of taking your talking/writing points from the mainstream press establishment.

Patriotism
Another thing that perplexes me is Black commentator’s assertion that we can’t let “illegal immigrants” sneak into our country. I don’t need to get into the nuances of why Black people may not have the warmest affection for America, but I condemn anyone that will use racism/discrimination to solidify their patriotic ideals. Because when Katrina survivors STILL can’t depend on FEMA to help them and when our country ignores the plight of those in Darfur, Black patriotism for America is hard to find.

History
I know Americans are notorious for lacking an appreciation of history, but why hasn’t Manifest Destiny or the Mexican-American war of 1846 informed the immigration debate? To be sure, the US “conquered and held California and New Mexico during the U.S.-Mexican War. The nation also obtained vast cessions from Native American tribes, which were relocated to remote and unwanted regions, a process begun in the seventeenth century.” Therefore, it seems to me that for as complex as the current debate has become, it would be a little easier to understand if we put it in the context of real American history.

West Indian Immigrants
And I haven’t heard anyone talk about the vast numbers of West Indians (I am speaking generally, of course) that are patiently awaiting their green card. So my gripe with Bush’s proposed guest worker program is that I wonder how much easier it would be for Mexicans and other Latinos to participate in this program than it would be for West Indians. Again, a historic note would be fitting because if you really think that people would be trying to keep Elian Gonzalez here if he was a Jamaican, then you are seriously mistaken. My hope is that immigration reform should be just as easy to take advantage of as Mexicans or West Indians, or any one else who wants to come to this country. More importantly, letting people work illegally without any intentions of granting them citizenship is just wrong. And for all the people talking about how illegal immigration closes job opportunities for Blacks is narrow-minded at best. We see the same flawed logic used in affirmative action when people imagine two applicants where one White applicant directly competes against a Black applicant who has lower credentials. The fact is that college admissions, like the economy, is dynamic and the market place (with healthy assistance from the government interference) and therefore, cannot be simplified to one Black and one Latino competing for one job. The fact is that if American corporations were more concerned about producing better products and services than cutting costs, there would be enough jobs for everybody.

Black and Brown Unity
Hopefully, this immigration debate will serve as the bridge between Blacks and Latinos because if you keep it real, it hasn’t really been robust. More importantly, Black people are not the judges of whether a “civil rights movement” is justified. I appreciate our unique history in this country but in the same way not “every” Black person was involved during the Civil Rights Movement, not every Black person have to take sides on the immigration debate. That is to say that not every quest for civil rights requires the involvement of Black people. I think Latinos have showed themselves to be quite capable or organizing themselves around this issue. As such, Blacks people’s presence or lack thereof, is not the deciding factor in determining Black/Latino relations. We have to define our own destiny.

Stay up fam,

Brandon

The Weekly Dream: The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

“Revolution is another word for life fightin’”
-Common, “Home is where the Hatred Lives”

Every Holy Week, I try to do something to make it real to me. Some people prefer to watch the “Passion of the Christ” while others give something up for the Lenten season. Personally, I try to look at the events and life of Christ with fresh eyes and different perspectives.

This year, I went to see the film “V for Vendetta” and a thought hit me: Christianity is arguably the greatest and longest lasting revolution in human history. When Jesus lived, the Jewish people were looking for a conqueror in the military sense. But Christianity became a cultural conquest. What made the Christian business model so sustainable? To the point where nations have been founded and toppled over this believe system purported by an obscure carpenter from Galilee? What does this say about the nature of revolutions at large and how can we incorporate this into our daily lives to effect change?

First the Movement…

Revolutions are defined by rapid change of the status quo. Most revolutions begin as movements. Movements are the groundwork for revolution. These are grassroots efforts to raise awareness of an issue. Revolutions can be violent, but these are not as sustainable because there is often no new order ready to take the place of the old. And often violent revolutions lead to mistrust and instability.

Internalizing the Revolution…

A successful revolution occurs when people embrace and internalize the spirit of the revolution into their daily lives. The majority of successful revolutions are often referred to in spirit rather than actual events. For instance, history books often make mention of the American Revolution as the “Spirit of 1776.” The people identified strongly and understood clearly what they were fighting for and why change was necessary. The revolution changed the thinking of the people.

This is why I believe Christianity, as well as any other major movement turned revolution, has been sustainable. It started by meeting people where they were with the intent of helping them realize their potential. Once people understand that they can be better, then they believe that their surroundings can be better too. And what’s more, they feel empowered to make it happen.

How Does This Apply To You

At some point, you have to define what is worth fighting for. How much are you willing to let slide? What will it take for you to speak out against the injustice in your community, government and in your own life? How dedicated are you to the struggle, to change inside and out?

These are questions we all must answer. And that is what Easter/Resurrection Season means to me. It is a constant reminder that there is still a lot of work to be done in my little corner of the earth.

This is the purpose of these articles and www.thesuperspade.com. We want everyone to be aware and live the lives that the Good Lord intended. We challenge for us to use all of the tools at our disposal to do so. If a man armed with only a group of fishermen and some conviction can turn the world upside down, why can’t we? If we don’t, it is because the Spirit of Revolution, the spirit of change has been lost upon us.

I cannot tell you how to fight your fight. I cannot tell you how to foment your own revolution. I cannot tell you how much to give. That is for you to determine. I can tell you this: The revolution will not be televised because no one can see what is in your heart.

The world will not get better until you get better.

Internalize the Revolution.

Truth and Peace,
Steven M DeVougas

Question of the Week: What does revolution mean to you and how do you choose to wage the battle within?

No more war fatigue

As if this is any surprise, the Bush administration is caught in another lie related to the flawed reasons why the US invaded Iraq. You remember those mobile weapons labs that could be used for developing anthrax or smallpox? Well, at the time Bush made this harrowing claim, “U.S. intelligence officials possessed powerful evidence that it was not true.”

By now, I hope no one believes that the reasons for invading Iraq were anything but fluff. However, as the truth slowly comes to light, we should be careful not to become desensitized to the enormous harm these mishaps have cost America in blood and treasure.

Having said that, try to comprehend how brazen Bush is in his lying. “Leaders of the Pentagon-sponsored mission transmitted their unanimous findings to Washington in a field report on May 27, 2003, two days before the president’s statement.” Bush’s lie was when he claimed, “we have found the weapons of mass destruction.” To be sure, Colin Powell talked about these same mobile weapons labs in his testimony before the UN, but if you looked at the pictures, they just looked like empty trucks.

What’s more alarming is that “the three-page field report and a 122-page final report three weeks later were stamped “secret” and shelved. Meanwhile, for nearly a year, administration and intelligence officials continued to publicly assert that the trailers were weapons factories.” The report was conducted by the Defense Intelligence Agency (which would have a clear bias in my opinion) which means that rather than the typical assertion that this whole debauchery is based on Bush receiving bad intelligence, Bush’s own civilian-led Pentagon had it right, but he ignored their findings.

The previous story is eerily related to the other discovery that Bush was outed by Scooter Libby when Libby testified that Bush authorized the declassification of documents that resulted in the outing of Valerie Plame. This is wrong on many levels but I will only cover three for the sake of brevity. When the Valerie Plame story broke, Bush repeatedly asserted “If there’s a leak out of my administration, I want to know who it is. … I want to know the truth. Leaks of classified information are bad things.” But he is the one who authorized the leak!!! Secondly, it is disturbing that had not Scooter Libby forced Bush’s hand, it would have taken years before the truth came to light. Bush, if you are reading this post, lies of omission are just as bad as lies of commission. And lastly, Bush authorized the leak eight days after Plame’s husband, Joseph Wilson, criticized the administration for manipulating pre-war intelligence to exacerbate a war with Iraq.

I have no doubt that as time progresses, even more lies will be accounted for, but in the mean time, I urge everyone not to get war fatigued. The people who wanted this war went to great lengths (and probably sold their soul) to make it happen so we who believe in justice and truth must meet and overcome this challenge. But it will take stamina so if you are tired, hopefully this post gave you some energy.

Stay up fam,

Brandon

The Weekly Dream: Aint I A Woman?

“*This Woman’s Work/This Woman’s Work/Oh, it’s hard on a man*”
-Maxwell, “This Woman’s Work”

“*Being a real woman means saying you are sorry and meaning it. It also means coming to grips with 3 fundamental facts over time: You are not perfect (twenties), you will never be perfect (thirties) and you do not have to be perfect *.”
-HD

Let’s be clear: I have a deep, enduring love and admiration for women. I truly am a fan. As a result, a large part of my life has been oriented in trying to understand what makes them tick; in hopes that I would procure a method for bridging the gap that often exists between the sexes. Often, we define ourselves through the lens of the opposite sex and their construction of what we should be. A definition by opposites so to speak. This can be good or bad, depending on what ideal is being projected. It is this formulation I am interested in. How does our sex define/influence us and how does it influence our interactions with the opposite sex? For my own part, I have been blessed to encounter some truly phenomenal women from all walks of life, and as a result, I am a better man for it.

I figured it would be a little disingenuous of me to pontificate on what it means to be a modern day woman. Therefore, I have solicited a little help. I petitioned a view individuals to write about what it means to be a woman, and how that relates to their other identities. I received some interesting responses, while with others, the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak (read: did not make the deadline). In any event, here are some very different responses. You may or may not agree, wherever you are on this issue, let your voice be heard.

My Struggle from Foreign Soil…

Needless to say, defining the above concept is a task that requires me to draw from entirely different places in my life – from the problems I face daily to the company that I keep. There is no overarching way for me to define what being a woman means, period. I can however lay out the theory to which I, as a Foreign Black Woman, vehemently subscribe that wholly describes the plight of the black women in modern American society today (Pardon my harsh cynicism in advance):

The quadrant theory puts race and gender into very distinct boxes, and works only in Black and White. I don’t know and don’t really care for the purposes of this piece where Asians, Latinas, Arabs, etc, fit into all of this, but as far as Blacks/Whites are concerned, follow me on this: The quadrant theory divides White Men, White Women, Black Men and Black Women into four sections. A ++ (positive/positive) ranking is given to the white man, a +- (positive/negative) to the white woman, a +- (positive/negative) to the black man, and a — (negative/negative) to the black woman.

Some of you may already see where this is going. White men suffer from excessive privilege (hence the ++). White women, though white, are still forced to grapple with issues of sexism. Black men, though fending off constant racial profiling, can still play the “Male” card, which leaves us with the Black woman. She brings up the rear fighting racism and sexism with both fists.

This theory entirely guides my thinking in nearly every aspect of life, from career opportunities to the advantages/disadvantages of pursuing a romantic relationship with a ++ vs. +-. Black women have had, currently do have, and will continue to bear the brunt of societal crunches and not to throw my own pity party, but that leaves little sympathy for others (Others in the quadrant, of course).

Our role as the Black Woman is that of the supporter & rarely the supported. I suppose that comes with the territory when 70% of us carry the weight of the Black Family.

I find myself with an added personal indignance because of how Foreign Black women (and men, to be fair – immigrant/1st-generation Africans, etc.), don’t seem to enter into this Black/White discourse at all. I can’t even count the number of times my ideas and viewpoints have been dismissed with a slight wave of the hand and a breezy, “Well, you’re different, you don’t count”. So now my struggle isn’t real? So my father having to find five different advisors before he could find one who really believed that a Black Man in the late 70’s could actually earn a Ph. D. is Me not counting? The white man at our church who patted my brother on the head when he came back from Eritrea, congratulating him for coming back with “nigger hair” is Me not counting? My cousin being raped and having the rapist blame it not on himself, but on the Hyper-sexualization of Black women in America, is Me not counting? Our experiences may be different but the struggle is still the same. Don’t get me wrong; I wouldn’t trade my position for the world. It has made me who I am now and will continue to shape who I am in the future. It’s true what they say: Perseverance builds character.

I could go on forever, but that, my friends, is what being a (Foreign) Black Woman means to me – Hard work, strength & determination = Under appreciation. Hey, but we all have our cross to bear right?
~RHG

Looking Back…Completeness

I never thought that being a woman or female meant limitations. I now recognize that there is a vast difference between considering oneself a woman and considering oneself a female. Being a female defines you by gender without consideration for the responsibility for the various roles that you play. Being a woman includes your gender the responsibilities inherent in it and that which you assume. I am a wife responsible for working with another individual to incorporate his perspective add value to his life and allow him to do the same for me. I was chosen for that role and willingly accepted it. It isn’t always easy and so the struggle, challenge and promises continue. I am someone’s mother. They did not ask to be born. I chose to have them and take this role as seriously if not more than my role as wife. I relish in the challenge of being my children’s advocate, friend disciplinarian, confidant and any other role that at 19 and 22, allow me. They are the best of what their dad and I are to each other. Having them transcended my gender and added a new dimension to my woman ness. I am a professional and the unique qualities that women bring to that role as wife, mother, person and evolved individual make me better at being an employee and a professional. Each of my roles is interdependent on and inextricably tied to each other to coexist. After years of trying to compartmentalize each of my roles… aspect of myself, I realize that it is only through harmonious integration that I can be a whole woman harmoniously coexisting, comfortable and confident with my me.
-Sheila A.

Waiting for Revolution…

Womanhood…what a beautiful word. I smile sorrowfully when I think about all that womanhood and a girl’s journey into it entails.

When Talib Kweli said “life is a beautiful struggle” he was right. In fact, that just about sums up how I feel about being a woman. The overt AND covert sexism that still plagues our country, and countries around the world, is often enough to make me feel burdened simply stepping out in the world every day, yet the ways women have struggled against and succeeded in the face of oppressions dating back to the beginning of humanity are feats worthy of eternal recognition and admiration.

My mother once dashed any possible prior hope that I might ever own a Barbie when she told me that I couldn’t have one because “we don’t look like that.” She additionally put me in “my womanly place” when I was 12 (the only time I can ever recall actually wanting to lose weight) when she sternly but lovingly told me that my body would probably NEVER look like the models in the magazines because our family had breasts and hips and, above all, was never a “genetically skinny family”. While I was never able to truly decode those messages until much later in life, my love, respect and infinite gratitude goes out to my mother for being an “undercover feminist” during my most formative years.

Sometimes I wish I had the public influence to move mountains. Yet despite my fury and frustration, I would NEVER chose not to be a woman, if I were somehow ever afforded the choice. A friend recently told me that “I’d make a good dude” and while my good self-esteem tells me that I’d probably make a good ANYTHING, I had to dissent. I can’t imagine not being a woman, I can’t imagine what it would be like to go through life masquerading as the “stronger sex” but being intelligent enough to know that I’m not and understanding that I sometimes benefit from society’s eternal fear of being overthrown or at least challenged by the likes of women and people of color and poor people and everyone else who our country owes SOMETHING.

Being a woman is indeed a beautiful struggle. There are so many difficult but wonderful things about being a woman, even in all its complexities. Our bodies, for example, are amazing. We can create a life and nurture it inside of us. Our minds are even more amazing, we dissect the ins and outs of life in a way that incessantly mind-boggles members of the opposite sex, We pay attention to detail, we know how to love and feel and understand, even if we sometimes use these powers manipulatively. And now that we are finally allowed to “be educated” at all, liberal arts colleges across the country are outreaching to men, as there is now an over-abundance of qualified female applicants. Even if y’all disappoint me more and more lately, I’m still so very proud ladies.

Sometimes I think our self-esteem is at the root of all our problems, but in a society that discourages our worth, I could never put the onus on us, exclusively.

I’m just waiting impatiently for women to collectively say “we aint standing for this any longer”, and doing what I can in the meantime.
-Machita

Truth and Peace,
Steven M. DeVougas

Question of the Week:

Ladies-What does it mean to be a woman?

Men-What is your perception of women and how does that affect the way you relate to them?

–
Garlin Gilchrist II
www.TheSuperSpade.com

Sent using Windows Mobile 5.0

New Orleans – Lunch with a FEMA Inspector

I was expecting to see a lot of things and talk with a lot of people during my time in New Orleans. Much to my surprise, when I was finished checking into my hotel, I got on the elevator with a gentleman who had on a blue windbreaker that said “FEMA” (Federal Emergency Management Agency) on the back. At the time, I was on the phone with my mother, however I was able to get the man’s name. On Sunday, I had lunch at my hotel with him. Here is how our conversation went.

The man, who was 51, was originally from Marrero, LA, which is on the West Bank not far from Gretna, LA (across the bridge). He fled the storm to a town just north of Nashville, where his brother lived. He and his brother returned to his home in Marrero, LA in mid-October only to find a pile of debris that was formerly his house. It was at this point that his brother encouraged him to seek out the help of FEMA to rebuild, since he had no insurance. They had already heard the stories of people not getting their money or any other kind of help, but they gave it a shot anyway.

He called the office of Congressman William Jefferson to get a number by which he could contact FEMA. He then told them his situation, and that he’d do anything to be able to move back to Marrero and get his house back (he did own the home). He knew “God was on the phone with him” when the person on the other end said that he could likely be helped if he was willing to work for FEMA. He happily said he would, and BAM! He was now a FEMA inspector. The fact that he had no experience here did not deter him or FEMA from hiring him (he was a chef by trade, but the restaurant he worked in was destroyed by the storm).

I asked what he did as an inspector, and he said he basically went to damaged/destroyed houses and make judgement calls on whether they were “recoverable” or not. I asked how they measured “recoverability,” and he said that they looked at “the damage of the other houses on the block, the structural damage to the building, how likely that area would be to flood again, stuff like that.” He also told me that they had “an engineer” accompany him when he went to look at the different sites. “We fill out a sheet for every house and then turn it in at the office.” “What was the ‘recoverability’ of your house?” I inquired. “Well, my house is gone, but I can afford to rebuild it.” I asked then if they took into consideration the “owner’s ability to afford rebuilding” when inspecting homes, and he said he didn’t know. “They know who owns the house back at the office, but I don’t know that when me and the engineer look at the house. I sure hope not.” He’s not the only one.

I then asked that he rate FEMA’s recovery and relief efforts on a scale of 1 to 10. “I’d give them like a 6. I mean, they are helping me out, and some other people too, but there is a lot more that can be done.” I asked him how they were helping him out, and he said that after he worked for a year, they’d give him money to rebuild his house, and that they are paying him to be an inspector. He didn’t tell me how much he made, but disturbingly, he said that the thing about giving him money for rebuilding his home was NOT given to him in writing. I’m no lawyer, but I advised him to consider getting that promise put on paper. He said he’d look into it. “I’m cool now. The money the give me is enough for me to eat, and me and my brother and my sister pay for my hotel room here [in this hotel]. I’m alive, so I got no complaints. I do wish my dog could be here [in the hotel] with me though. He’s with my sister in Nashville.” I told him I though FEMA, the Governor, and the Mayor all failed the people of the city, and that I’d give FEMA maybe a 3. He said he didn’t think it was that bad. “None of them could have stopped the hurricane.”

The last thing I asked him was if he felt the New Orleans area was better prepared now for a storm this hurricane season. He said, “Hell naw. They ain’t rebuilt a levy yet that I know of. I plan on leaving again if they say a storm is coming. I’ll rebuild my house if no storm comes before my year is up.” I told him that we’d be praying together that no storms ravaged the area like this ever again.

It was good to put a human face on FEMA.

One Love. One II.

New Orleans – Unfinished Business

Here are some pictures of buildings that are damaged in the downtown area and have yet to be fixed. The most recognizable of these will be the Louisiana Superdome.

This boat was across the street (Poydras) from the Superdome. Can you read what’s painted on its side? That sums up a lot of residents’ feelings towards the storm.

The hole in the roof of the Louisiana Superdome.

This is the best shot I could get of the construction going on inside of the Superdome. Security wouldn’t let me in. I thought I was a nice guy, but maybe I’m not that nice.

This is in the Superdome parking garage. I wonder why people who wanted to couldn’t get out?

Large puddles of standing water remain on the interior of the upper levels of the Superdome parking garage. The lowest level still has about 3 inches of standing water, but the pictures were too dark.

This traffic light is at the corner of Poydras and S. Claiborne, on the site of the Superdome.

The New Orleans Centre is a shopping complex connected to the Superdome by a pedestrian bridge. It sustained heavy damage and looks abandoned. This is its main entrance.

I was actually able to get inside the New Orleans Centre. What I saw brought me to tears. This is a little girl’s outfit.

A boy’s bike at the New Orleans Centre.

The Hyatt downtown. The lighter colored windows are the broken ones.

The remains of the building downtown that the 5 men I talked to lived in.

This was right across the street from my hotel. This used to be an auto mechanic shop.

This is a pic of Canal Street, one of the main strips of downtown, especially during Mardi Gras and other Festivals. This pic shows how some things have recovered while others have not. Notice that the building on the right is back in business while the one on the left (and connected to it!) is abandoned and not yet fixed.

This was a store during Essence Festival 2005.

Some businesses have pledged to return.

All of the pictures I took of damage can be seen on my Flickr site.

One Love. One II.

Relationagraphy

Location plays too much of a factor in relationships. Whether you or the person you are with have plans on attending graduate school in another state, switching jobs, or just want to see settle in another part of the nation/world, the chances of you having at least a part-time long distance relationship are increasingly high. What are the implications of this growing trend on relationships that have marriage potential? I got one clue from a friend of mine who said recently, “I ain’t tryin’ to be nobody’s girlfriend.”

I’m not ready yet
Are you currently in a place where you are avoiding serious relationships until you get a good feel for where you think you might be long-term? Or have you had a relationship hit a rough patch in anticipation of one or both of you relocating in different states? If not, then congratulations. If so, join the club. It is a really difficult situation that takes constant communication and trust. However, what troubles me is that one negative effect of the premium placed on location is that people will spend years in a temporary living/schooling/working situation and will close off all prospects of love because they don’t want to deal with someone who will not eventually end up where they want to be. In other words, a person getting an M.A. in New York who eventually wants to return to Kansas will only seriously engage others who either have plans on living in Kansas or live in Kansas already. I think this is somewhat closed-minded. Now I am all for being focused and being goal-oriented but when we think that the love of our lives has must be or want to be in the same state is silly. What’s more troubling is the notion that love and training/schooling don’t mix because you will always be making strides to improve yourself but love cannot be scheduled into Outlook. And once you find that person, he/she might be open to moving to Kansas and just maybe, just maybe, you might decide to stay in NY. I say all that to say that location is not as crippling as you might think.

Gender bias
Can we keep it real? Thanks, because in most long distance relationships, women are generally expected to relocate much more than men are expected to. As a result, you have situations where a man who relocates for his woman is often times labeled as “whipped,” where as a woman who relocates for her man is viewed as “doing her what she has to do.” This is extremely damaging to our relationships because these unspoken expectations result in grave misunderstandings of what the other person is looking for. Of course, these biases might be couched in the idea that the person making the most money should serve as the earth where their mate is the moon that revolves around them. So men, if your woman makes more money than you, your relocating does not take away any of your manhood. Likewise, women, your relocating does not make you any less independent than you are already.

But we should get married
You know I had to go there right? I think that making big geographical moves with someone without a ring is a very risky situation. To be clear, I am not talking about the 7-year engagement but marriage plans that have left the train station. Which brings me back to my friend’s quote I stated earlier, “I ain’t tryin’ to be nobody’s girlfriend.” Fellas, you would do well to remember this statement because you can’t expect your woman to jump through hoops and then get all quiet when marriage comes up. Man up!!! There is a reason why men propose but I will save that for another post.

I am not saying propose just to propose but before you ask someone to make that move, make sure you are willing to take it to the next level. Because if you two break up and are somewhere such that you need each other to cover the bills but both of you don’t know anyone, it could get real bad real soon. But at least if you are married, my hope is that your level of commitment would be cemented so that when times get hard, (and they will) the exit door will seem too small for you to leave. So don’t waste people’s time!!! You KNOW if you are willing to marry someone and if you know this is the one, stop trying to create doubts to talk yourself out of it. Being in a different location is not a disincentive for marriage and like I said before in previous posts, if marriage is all about compromise then how can people be stubborn as all get out but then expect to be compromising once they get married?

How do you feel distance complicates relationships? And how should it be resolved?

Looking forward to your comments,

Stay up fam,

Brandon

New Orleans – Tell Them What You See

I am in the airport in Minneapolis now, waiting to board my plane to return to Seattle.

The celebration of life I attended this morning was beatiful and inspirational. A great man who lived a great life and had a great legacy was greatly celebrated. We, his family, will continue to learn from his life until we too return home.

Today was my last in New Orleans. The images I’ve seen, the perspectives I’ve heard, the discussions I’ve had, the connections I’ve made, all of these have profoundly impacted me personally, practicality, and spiritually.

Briefly here, I will share the contents of a conversation I had with a group [of 5 men] in downtown New Orleans as they sat in front of their storm-ravaged apartment building. I greeted them and introduced myself as a writer from Seattle. They asked what I was taking pictures for, to which I happily replied, “www.TheSuperSpade.com, a site about telling the truth.” We then talked about where the were and what they did during/after the hurricane struck. 2 Latin men (brothers) said that they were able to evacuate by car with their elderly mother and go to Houston, where other relatives lived. I asked how early they left, and they told me they were gone on 27 August 2006, which was before the storm hit. On getting out early, the younger of the two said, “I just had a bad feeling. It was more than bad weather forecasts. It was a feeling, you know?” They returned on 25 September (my birthday) to find their apartment building completely destroyed (pictures will be posted upon my return) and the house of their mother greatly damaged. They moved in with their mother and are still rebuilding the home.

The other three men, who were all Black men, were neighbors in the aforementioned building, said they were part of the mass of people who went to the Superdome. They did not leave the city, and very interestingly labeled themselves as “hard-headed” for not doing so. One said, “I don’t know how I could have left, but I should have left. I blame only myself for my suffering.” I responded to this by asking is there anything else that anyone could have done to save him, and his reply was a flat “NO.” To him, his safety rested on him and him alone. “Why didn’t I leave? Hard-headed man, just hard-headed.” To him, only he could save himself and those around him, not Ray Nagin, not Kathleen Blanco, not G. W. Bush. One brother agreed with him, while the other did not. He retorted, “What kind of man won’t save himself? There’s got to be more to it than being bull-headed.” I asked if he felt hopeless or helpless and if so, did that contribute to his not leaving. “Helpless, but not hopeless. I guess if I had more help, maybe I’d have gotten out. But that doesn’t matter anymore. That was what it was; this is what it is.” I asked him if he thought a city and/or statewide emergency evacuation plan would be beneficial. “Ha ha. Yeah, but after I get my own d@mn plan,” he replied. “I ain’t nobody’s beggar, never have been, never will be.”

I left them with this question, “What can I do for you, to help you and your current situation?” The response was unanimous: “Tell them (your readers) what you see. Tell people who we are. Tell people not to forget…one more thing: tell people not to give money to the Red Cross.”

Keeping my promise to them, I am sharing my experience with all of you.

I’d like to hear reactions to these men’s stories, especially the man who blamed himself for not evacuating. More pictures will be posted soon.

One Love. One II.
–
Garlin Gilchrist II
www.TheSuperSpade.com

Sent using Windows Mobile 5.0

New Orleans – Rallying and Marching: It’s Personal

As I said earlier, I want to talk here about some of the personal accounts that people gave me during Saturday’s action.

First off, I was a bit surprised by how much people were willing to share with me. I think it was relatively clear that I was not from New Orleans, Louisiana, or the South. However, if it wasn’t everybody knew the moment I started talking. I was also taller than everybody (but that’s not too strange). I guess I kind of stick out. Nevertheless, people were very open and candid about their experiences with this stranger from Detroit by way of Seattle.

When I first got to the site of the rally, which was across the street from the Convention Center, I saw a family of 5 (mom, dad, 1 girl, 2 boys, all under 10) walking from the back of the lot. They were coming from a section that had charter buses, and so I asked them where they were from. The mother said that took a bus in from Houston, them and about 200 of their closest friends. As we walked up to the site of the rally, The little girl (6) told me that their hotel room in Houston was not as big as their apartment in New Orleans. The father agreed, and then we talked about how they got to Houston. He told me that they lived in the 7th ward. They didn’t leave the city because they did not have enough space in their car to fit all of the kids and his mother, who he refused to leave without. So the family went to his mother’s house to wait out the storm. She only lived a couple of blocks away, so they all walked over there. The rain and winds hit, they all survived, but he said that the flood waters were to high to leave. So they basically were trapped on the second floor of the house. He said he took his gun, a 12-gage, for what he called “just in case” security. He never fired any shots, but he did use the butt of the gun to break thru a second floor window, thru which he cried for help and attracted the attention of a Coast Guard helicopter. The copter came down and got all 6 of them out of the house safely. From there, they were taken eventually to Baton Rouge, where they were bussed to Houston. They have been in a hotel room there since September 10. They had the infamous FEMA Debit Card. The mother told me she was appalled at the ways in which the monies were being spent by people. She said that they stories about using the debit cards to so things like buy pornography were true. She said “I guess people do crazy things when they are helpless and hopeless.”

I only had brief conversations with people during the speeches, but I did have an extensive one with a woman who was selling books at the rally. She was selling socialist publications such as The Militant, and lots of books & writings on socialist theory by Malcolm X and Che Guevara among others. This woman, who was white, was from Gretna, LA, the city whose police force blocked people from crossing the bridge that we marched on later that day. Her home there had substantial damage she said: most of her windows were broken despite her storm shutters, a little more than half of her roof was blown off, a large tree in her front yard snapped and broke, falling about 2 feet in front of her front door. No one was hurt, but she did say her close friend who lived in the city was unaccounted for. I asked why she was there at the Rally/March, and her reason was that she saw the government’s response to Katrina as evidence of the need for a U.S. socialist movement. She admitted that it would likely never happen, and that if she had the money, she’d move away from the country. Interestingly enough, she told me that she did not feel this way until after the storm. She said that she disagreed that the biggest problem people had in the storm was that they were Black. To here, the biggest problem was “being broke.”

I spent most of the March itself conversing with a man who told me that he had 6 houses (I think he said he had one in the 9th ward), all of which were damaged by the storm. They were in various places in the city. He told me also that he worked at a ship yard that was washed out also. His point was that he lost a lot. He said he was never down though. His quote: “I got all of it legally. It was all insured. I got it before, I can get it again.” This was a sentiment of a lot of folks that participated in this action. They figured that if the got stuff legitimately, they could get it back legitimately. He told me that he had rebuilt 4 of his houses already, one he is living in, and the other three have tenants in them. He said that he had been active in the community for a long time, and that he could not miss this Rally & March. He was a union organizer at his job, so he told me that he has seen white folks try to stifle poor people coming together for a long time. Him and I spent the rest of the time talking about his son, who was 23 like me, and 55 credits from graduating college.

I met a woman at the end of the bridge who was there with her two daughters. She said her husband was killed in the storm, dying from dehydration at the Superdome.. The two girls, 4 and 7, she feared would have faint memories of their dad, especially the 4 year old. She talked about how she thought it was criminal to tell people to go there to die. I asked her if she had been able to leave the city before the storm. Her response was “How? I don’t have a car, I’ve never left the city. So, no.” She faulted the mayor for not knowing what to do and where to send people. This march and the right to vote in satellite polling places was important to her because she wanted as many people as possible to vote against Ray Nagin. She was worried about the amount of school her daughters missed, but she said that they were straight now. They eventually got bussed to Mississippi where they are living now. They rode a charter bus back for this Rally/March.

The last account I’ll share is that of a young man (19) who was there with the New Orleans NAACP. He was a freshman at Xavier. He was not from New Orleans and decided not to leave during the storm. His quote: “I couldn’t go home and watch people die on TV. I felt like I was needed here.” He told me how his dorm got flooded out, and how he and some people on his a hallway jumped from their 2nd-story windows down and waded thru waters to the Superdome. There, they volunteered their services as security people. He said “People do stupid things when they are scared. I just wanted to make sure those stupid things didn’t involve hurting other people.” He also said that while there was violence in the Superdome, he thinks that, in hindsight, the news account blew it way out of proportion. Most of the fights were over people trying to take more than a ration of water, as an example. He also made a run to a Cingular store that he said “wasn’t too far” to call his family in North Carolina to tell them that he was still alive every other day. He is not in school now. Instead, he lives with a member of the NAACP and has been working at the airport and volunteering his time helping people find housing and work.

There were others, these four are just a piece. I may be able to post more accounts later on. This was inspirational to me, and it is important to me to hear our people’s experience first hand. People of African descent have always treasured oral histories. It was powerful to hear, and it is important for me to transcribe much of this so that it can survive well into the future and inspire others to act.

One Love. One II.

New Orleans – Pictures from the Rally and March

As promised, here are some pictures from today.

Michael Eric Dyson, who was speaking when I arrived at the pre-March rally.

Judge Greg Mathis [from Detroit], who served as MC of the pre-March rally.

The front section of the pre-March crowd.

Theodore Shaw, President of NAACP Legal Defense Fund

All I can say is oh boy to this sign.

Al Sharpton addressing the pre-March crowd. This was when he chanted “Are y’all ready to march?”

New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin addressing the pre-March crowd. This audience was very pro-Nagin.

John Legend performing.

The beginning of the march. Off to the right is the Convention Center.

A T-shirt with a message.

Young brother who was pushing his little sister in a stroller across the bridge.

Young activist in training.

As you can see, there were many types of signs.

Jesse & Al at the end of the March. Neither of them wore their walkin’ shoes.

All of the pictures, including some shots with me and the speakers, can be seen on my Flickr site.

New Orleans – Marching can be Substantive AND Symbolic

Today I attended a rally and march put on by Rev. Jesse Jackson and his Rainbow Push Coalition, here in New Orleans. The action was held across the street from the infamous Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in downtown New Orleans, which people now know as the place where thousands were left stranded during the midst and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

I watched the Million Man March on television in October of 1995. I attended the Millions More Movement in October of 2005. I have helped organize similar actions both in Detroit and in Seattle. I have attended numerous meetings and gatherings to plan other mobilizations. I say all of this to say that this was the most inspirational action I have ever personally witnessed and/or participated in. It wasn’t because of the great speakers; there were many. It wasn’t because of the great food; there was plenty. It was because of the people I met and interacted with, the sharing or their Katrina experiences with me, and their pride and resilliance and focus on improving the current situation and building a better future.

First let me describe the event and what happened. The rally began at about 8 AM. I did not know what time it began, and was quite dismayed to wake up a 9 and turn on CNN only to hear them saying “…Bill Cosby is just finishing up here in New Orleans…” Oh well. I got there at about 945. The speakers at the rally included Rev. Jackson, Al Sharpton, Bill Cosby, Michael Eric Dyson (I arrived just before his address), Marc Morial, [current] Mayor Ray Nagin, and Bruce Gordon, among others. The rally before the march was MC’d by Judge Greg Mathis, and it was concluded by a suprisingly decent performance by John Legend.

We then aligned ourselves to march across the Mississippi River Bridge to Gretna, LA. Why? Because it was on this bridge that hundreds of Hurricane survivors were met with police resistance in the days immediately following Katrina as they tried to cross searching for higher and safer ground. The goal was to have the thousands that gathered today to march across this bridge, symbolically saying “You stopped us then, yet we survived. You cannot stop us now.” Stop us from what? is the next logical question. The answer is voting, or more precisely, having a fair election. New Orleans is scheduled to hold a mayoral election on April 22, 2006. Many oppose this, arguing that due to wide dispersal, those in New Orleans now do not accurately reflect New Orlean’s true residents (Translation: since so many Black folks have been displaced, the fear is that there will be a mayor elected who will not listen to or care about the interests of New Orleans’ Black residents). “Stopping us” above refers to disenfranchising voters. Signs were held by marchers that read “Iraq has fairer elections.” This pointing out the fact that during Iraq’s elections last year, Iraqi citizens were able to vote from satellite locations in the United States. The activists want the election to be postponed so that satellite locations can be set up in places where evacuees now reside. The U.S. Department of Justice has OK’d the election to move forward with its April 22 date in spite of these requests. A goal of the march was to symbolize the residents’ opposition to this.

After we marched the approx. 2.5 miles from the Convention Center across the bridge to Oakbrook Mall, we reassembled and heard remarks from the organizers and local leaders. Here they (William Jefferson, Diana Bajoie, and other members of the Louisiana Legislativ Black Caucuss) summarized the next steps that they are taking legislatively and told people specific things that they could do to help. The largest step they would take would be issuance of a demand for Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco to exercise her executive authority and issue an executive order that would authorize satellite polling locations and postpone the election until they are set up. The idea is that if the federal government won’t stop it, maybe the state government will. As for what the people can do, we were advised to contact our representatives and urge them to lean on Blanco to issue the order, while in the meantime informing those we know who left New Orleans of how to register for and receive an absentee ballot. Those who wanted to be were then transported back across the bridge to the Convention Center. It all was done around 4 PM.

What is described in and of itself is the makings of an effective substantive and symbolic action. What is happening here is the re-emergence of the poll taxes of the Jim Crow South of the 20th century. Telling people that they have to (well had to, considering that the deadline for registration was March 22 (click here and go to the middle of the page)) come to New Orleans to register to vote (if they are not registered or 1st time voters) and then return to vote on April 22 is a sinister way of saying, “You can vote if an only if you can afford 2 trips. If not, oh well, sucks to be you.”

Since this is turning out to be much longer than anticipated (some people said my stuff is too long!!!), I will put my chronicles of different conversations I had in a separate post. Pictures from the rally are forthcoming, along with hopefully some scanned versions of some of the handouts I received.

One Love. One II.

The SuperSpade in New Orleans

Brothers and Sisters,

I am in New Orleans this weekend celebrating the life a family member and the father of my closest mentor.

While I am here, I will chronicle my time in NO with pictures and commentary on the happenings in the city and the status of the recovery, first hand, from NO residents. I encourage you to respond and react to what I see and hear.

One Love. One II.
–
Garlin Gilchrist II
http://www.TheSuperSpade.com

Sent using Windows Mobile 5.0