Is It Time To Boycott The NFL?
From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Is It Time To Boycott the NFL?
“When
black athletes secured a toehold in the earliest versions of organized sports
in America: in baseball and horse racing and cycling- they settled for
individual success rather than trying to use what power they had to remake a
system to ensure fairness and the possibility of future success. The Negro
Leagues were undermined when Rube Foster died because he was the visionary who
understood that temporary, individual successes weren’t enough if they weren’t
accomplished by new institutions to ensure the perpetuation of that success.”
William C. Rhoden, Forty Million Dollar Slaves page 260.
Recently National Football League
owners, a bunch of privileged billionaire white men, unanimously voted to ban kneeling
and protests during the national anthem prior to NFL games. This is their official
response to two seasons of NFL players kneeling to bring attention to racial
oppression, police brutality and socio-economic inequality initiated by banned
NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick who began the practice during 2016 pre-season
games. Kaepernick’s thoughtful reasoning caught on and more professional
athletes started doing it, even as they watched the NFL white ball Kaepernick
for his activism and integrity.
The owners (this word conjures up images of modern
day enslavers attempting to control their highly paid “property”) capitulated
to Donald Trump who used his opposition to the kneelings to garner votes and support
from his corporate and voter base.
Trump on hearing about the owners
vote said, “You have to stand proudly for the national anthem or you shouldn’t
be playing, you shouldn’t be there. Maybe you shouldn’t be in the country.” Remember
Trump called the protesting NFL players “sons of bitches” but said Neo-Nazis, Skinheads
and KKKers were “very fine people” http://time.com/4904281/bigots-boosted-by-the-bully-pulpit-charlottesville/.
Trump set the tone and pressed NFL owners
to do something to halt the protests.
Last year there was a call to
boycott the NFL in support of Colin Kaepernick but it eventually fizzled. I
must admit I failed to fully support it too. There are numerous reasons to boycott the NFL.
For one Trump and the media distorted Kaepernick’s message disingenuously implying
he was anti military and anti-police, trying to make him appear un-American.
That is a lie, Kaepernick was protesting injustice.
Kaepernick’s protest also forced people to
rethink America’s
history and the singing the racist Star Spangled Banner written by a slave
owning white man. Check out the third stanza it refers to Black soldiers
fighting for their freedom on the side of the British and the last thing the fascist
oligarchs want is people thinking about this nation’s sordid history; so the
NFL kicked him to the curb! Kaepernick was a starting NFL quarterback at one
time, a Superbowl quarterback in the prime of his playing years, now he is
persona non grata banned from playing!
Some non NFL professional athletes
like Lebron James sided with Kaepernick while other athletes raised additional
issues such as mass incarceration. Kaepernick’s stand has been likened to
Muhammad Ali’s position against US
racism, imperialism and the war against people of color in Southeast
Asia. Kaepernick didn’t internationalize the scope of his protest
but US
imperialism is still a timely and topical issue.
Finally we should boycott on GP because there
are no NFL teams with Black ownership or partnerships. https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/diversity-in-the-nba-the-nfl-and-mlb/,
not that token ownership of an NFL team would benefit the masses of Black folks,
but at least the NFL would send a much different message.
It’s time we stiffen our backs, do
the right thing and stand up in support of our Brothers and Sistah of
conscience.
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East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention
East Coast Black Age of Comics Convention
Junious Ricardo
Stanton
Comic books have been around in the
US
since 1933. Superhero comic books as we currently
know them came into popularity in this country in 1938 with the introduction of
Action Comics and the creation of the
Superman character. The so called
golden age of comic books from 1930’s to around 1950 did not include people of
color as subjects or heroes. During this era Blacks rarely appeared in
mainstream comic books except as insignificant marginal images not fully developed
characters. Black comic book super heroes first appeared in mainstream comic
publications in 1966 with the creation by two white men: Stan Lee and Jack
Kirby of the Black Panther.
It’s a little know fact that Black
superhero comics created, drawn by Black artists, illustrators and published by
Blacks began in 1947 with the founding of All
Negro Comics a short lived endeavor started by Orrin Cromwell Evans which
produced only one issue. It was an anthology with characters that included:
Lion Man and Bubba, Ace Harlem, and characters for children called the Little
Dew Dillies.
Black comics featuring Black
superheroes remerged in the 1990’s with a boom of independently produced Black
comic book characters. Today Black Comic books and graphic novels abound. Many
Black comic book characters fall into the category of Afro-futurism a blend of
Black Consciousness, Black history traditions, distinctly African phenotypes, present
and future timed/themed story lines based on science fiction.
Black Comics offer their own unique
world of art, creativity, sci-fi, entrepreneurship and marketing. For the past
seventeen years Yumy Odom has produced and sponsored the East Coast Age of Black Comics Convention which brings together
fans, creative professionals, artists, illustrators, writers, publishers and
enactors with a mission of promoting literacy, story telling, creativity, art,
media development, self awareness and confidence using the genre of comic books
and graphic novels.
This year’s one day convention was
held on Saturday May 19th at the Tech-Freire Charter High School 2221 N. Broad Street
in North Philadelphia. In addition to
promoting comic book creators, artists and graphic novels the convention also
featured excellent workshops and demonstrations on: drawing, digital artistry
and illustration, writing, enacting, Black Science Fiction, screenings and
tributes to actors, artists, Cosplayers (costumed enactors/actors), writers and
publishers.
ECBACC is a serious convention that covers the
whole gamut and spectrum of comic books and graphic novels creation:
imagination, conception, starting a publishing company and the business of
comics. It is one of the original and premier urban comic book exposition and
conventions. It provides hands on instruction, workshops and panel discussions
about the $1.085 billion dollar comic book and graphic novel industry (2016 North
American figures). Black comic books are experiencing an even greater upsurge
this year due to the mainstream superhero films like Avengers and Justice
League.
Touring the convention exhibits, workshops and
panel discussions you saw youngsters drawing, Cosplayers in costumes, artists
talking, giving advice sharing their genius with an appreciative group of Black
folks. It was refreshing to see people enthusiastic about their talents,
interests and dreams come together with like minded folks to enjoy the
camaraderie, fellowship and positive energy.
People attended this year’s
convention in waves; folks came in attended the workshops then left as more
folks came in. There was a large crowd despite inclement weather. ECBACC
operates year round with a mission that extends beyond the one day convention. For
additional information about ECBACC go to www.ecbacc.com
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What Would Malcolm X Say About Fake News?
From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
What Would Malcolm X Say About Fake News?
“I’m for truth, no matter who tells it. I’m for justice, no matter who it is for or against. I’m a human being, first and foremost, and as such I’m for whoever and whatever benefits humanity as a whole.” Malcolm X
Eric Arthur Blair who wrote under the pen name George Orwell stated, “During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act.” We live in a time of universal deceit, massive falsification and lies are disseminated globally by an extremely pervasive and sophisticated electronic media the likes never seen before by humanity. Television screens and smart devices, are everywhere instantaneously blasting information, disinformation and propaganda either from a right wing fake perspective or a disingenuous left wing slant both propagating global white domination and we are caught in the middle.
In prior times we had vocal warriors, scholars, dissidents and resisters who helped us see through the maze of disinformation and propaganda to recognize the lies and propaganda aimed at us and help us engage in a process of mental decolonization to view the world from a liberation perspective. Of course over the years the powers that be targeted them and attempted to eliminate the threat these courageous Sistahs and Bruthas posed to their mind control over us. Men and women like David Walker, Ida B Wells, William Monroe Trotter, Marcus Mosiah Garvey, Noble Drew Ali, Elijah Muhammad and his ministers like Malcolm X and Louis Farrakhan and fearless educators like Angela Davis exposed the mendacity, subterfuge, oppression and violence of the American system so it demonized them and on numerous occasions killed them.
Malcolm X aka Malik El Hajj El Shabazz was uncompromising in his denunciation of the American social, economic and political system built upon racism, imperialism, violence and chicanery that he and his Nation of Islam brethren called tricknology. Malcolm knew there was a constant battle going on for our minds.
On one occasion Malcolm had this to say about the US press and media, “One of the shrewd ways that they use the press to project us in the eye or image of a criminal: they take statistics. And with the press they feed these statistics to the public, primarily the white public. Because there are some well-meaning persons in the white public as well as bad-meaning persons in the white public. And whatever the government is going to do, it always wants the public on its side, whether it’s the local government, state government, federal government. So they use the press to create images. And at the local level, they’ll create an image by feeding statistics to the press—through the press showing the high crime rate in the Negro community. As soon as this high crime rate is emphasized through the press, then people begin to look upon the Negro community as a community of criminals.
And then any Negro in the community can be stopped in the street. ‘Put your hands up,’ and they pat you down. You might be a doctor, a lawyer, a preacher, or some other kind of Uncle Tom. But despite your professional standing, you’ll find that you’re the same victim as the man who’s in the alley. Just because you’re Black and you live in a Black community, which has been projected as a community of criminals. This is done. And once the public accepts this image also, it paves the way for a police-state type of activity in the Negro community. They can use any kind of brutal methods to suppress Blacks because ‘they’re criminals anyway.’ And what has given this image? The press again, by letting the power structure or the racist element in the power structure use them in that way.” From a speech given at Ford Auditorium on Feb. 14, 1965 several days before he was assassinated on Feb.21, 1965.
Imagine what Malcolm would say about the Black Lives Matter movement, social media, fake news, the grotesque caricatures of Black people on BET, VH1, MTV, the fake reality shows, the various networks and news programs?What would Malcolm say about six conglomerates owning almost all the media in the world? Malcolm was well aware of the power of the media and its organized and systemic propaganda on one occasion he said, “The media is the most powerful entity on the earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and he guilty innocent and that’s power because they control the minds of the masses. The press is so powerful in its image making role it can make the criminal look like he’s the victim and make the victim look like he’s he criminal. This is the press and irresponsible press. It will make the the criminal look like he’s the victim and the victim look like he’s the criminal. If you aren’t careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
Malcolm X was extremely astute, well read, well traveled and he loved Black people. What would Malcolm say about us not continuing the liberation struggle? What would Malcolm say about us acquiescing to fake news, fake reality and falling for the proverbial okey-doke?
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Indigenous Knowledge Systems
From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Indigenous
Knowledge Systems
“The
European philosophical conspiracy which we call the New Orthodoxy began in the
mid-eighteenth century and was fully articulated by Hegel in the early
nineteenth century when he asserted that African Deep Thought did not exist,
even more it could not possible exist; nor rather, it must not exist. Of course
the philosophical magicians could not make African Deep Thought not exist. What
they did was to suppress the truth of its existence and simply asserted that it
did not exist.” Jacob H. Carruthers from the Preface of MDW NTR Divine
Speech A Historical Reflection of African Deep Thought From the Time of the
Pharaohs to The Present
We are engaged in a life and death
struggle, we must not be fooled by the fact a bi-racial man was selected to run
for president and won the election, we must not be tricked into believing this
nation has changed the fundamental power relationship between the ruling class
and people of color no matter how many police officers, chiefs, sheriffs,
mayors, council people, judges and state legislators we have. Every day we see
evidence this culture does not value us unless it can extract something from
us, even our vey souls.
Sadly there are still many of us
who willingly sell our souls for trinkets, a pat on the head by the exploiters
or negate our African heritage and ancestry to fit into their system.
Unfortunately far too many of us do not know our history and legacy of
innovation because we have not been taught the dynamism of African deep
thought, ethics, morality and ways to navigate this thing we call life. We have
allowed ourselves to be duped and brainwashed into accepting and believing we
have nothing of value to offer or share with the world. Not so, in many ways,
we are the salvation this planet needs.
Ironically Europeans who once
ridiculed, denigrated and suppressed indigenous African knowledge, wisdom and
spirituality are now turning to African and indigenous people to find meaning
in their lives, give Western society a much needed moral grounding, sense of
purpose and to use valuable indigenous knowledge for sustainability and profit.
There is a whole new field called Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) where
Westerners are looking at ancient and aboriginal ways of living, relating to
one another, environmental sustainability, healing modalities and philosophies.
“Indigenous knowledge refers to the understandings, skills and philosophies
developed by societies with long histories of interaction with their natural
surroundings. For rural and indigenous peoples, local knowledge informs
decision-making about fundamental aspects of day-to- day life.
Sophisticated knowledge of the natural world is not confined to science.
Societies from all parts of the world possess rich sets of experiences,
understanding and explanations. This knowledge is integral to a cultural
complex that also encompasses language, systems of classification, resource use
practices, social interactions, ritual and spirituality.” Indigenous Knowledge
Systems Explained
https://www.herald.co.zw/indigenous-knowledge-systems-explained/
Our African ancestors postulated
the universe had purpose, intelligent design and a vital energy/intelligence
that permeates everything. Within traditional African groups there was a deep
seated sense of connectedness, unity, a need for reverence and living in
harmony with nature. Ubuntu, “I am because we are, we are
because I am”, was the underlying philosophy of traditional continental African
culture. Maat was the cosmological and ethical foundation of ancient African
society. Cooperation, intra and inter generational mutual aid were how Africans
lived and worked for the benefit of the whole group.
Even during enslavement we shared
our knowledge and genius with each other and the enslavers most times with no
compensation or credit! Think about George Washington Carver and his invaluable
impact on science and agriculture as one example. Indigenous knowledge was the
basis of much of Carver’s work.
Eurasians developed an ethos of
reckless greed, violence, domination, exploitation and disconnection. They
spread it globally and now are discovering these values and systems are
unsustainable. Now the West is turning to indigenous people to provide models
how to best survive. As they study
indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) we see a dual approach developing: on one
level there is the realization climate change; Western environmental disharmony;
ecological antagonism and exploitation are unsustainable that their policies
are creating disastrous consequences for the whole planet. Those who see this
are looking for ways to forestall or reverse these trends. Living in harmony
with nature and humanity is an unfamiliar perspective for the West and they’re
forced to turn to aboriginal people to show them how to do it!
On the flip side we can see they are merely
interested in indigenous knowledge systems as a way to increase their bottom
line, develop new products to market totally devoid of any change in values,
the way they do business or concern for the life of the planet.
As the direct heirs of indigenous
knowledge and the true custodians of this planet, we must recognize and
re-embrace IKS, rediscover our connection to nature, expand upon it and use it
to save the planet and ourselves from the irresponsible policies of the
exploiters. We have an obligation to relearn the deep thought of our ancestors,
become proud custodians of this knowledge and apply it in practical ways such
as urban farming/gardening, cooperative social relationships and mutually beneficial
group economics, locally and internationally.
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